Chapter 175

Lu Yan is far stronger than Sun Zuo's water-filled life-pool realm.

Wu Tie reckons he can barely defend himself against Lu Yan, but with Lu Yan, Qin Yi, and Luo He joining forces, he stands no chance.

So, run.

Along the passage, he fled in a puff of smoke.

Electric sparks continually burst across his skin; Wu Tie resembled a humanoid lightning, flashing forward a hundred-odd zhang every few dozen steps—miraculous, absurdly fast.

He fled along the main road to the Giant Serpent's Lair for over ten li, then ducked into a side passage.

In the narrow side passage, after Wu Tie had run just a few steps, a band of dwarves and rat-people emerged from behind a stone pillar in the shadows, shouting for him to pay toll.

Pop—electric light flashed, blinding light instantly illuminated a hundred-meter radius; Wu Tie's body shot forward over a hundred zhang, leaving the bandits behind.

Lu Yan and the two also turned into Blood Light and rushed forward.

They seem to have grasped a special evasion technique; Blood Light moves extremely fast, considerably faster than Wu Tie's normal running speed. Were it not for Wu Tie's secret art that lets him flash forward a hundred-odd zhang in an instant, they would have caught up already.

A dozen or so dwarves and rat-people stared blankly at Wu Tie's retreating back, not yet comprehending what had happened, when Lu Yan and the two also turned into Blood Light and flew past.

Amid a low spraying sound, vast clouds of blood mist erupted from the dwarves' and rat-people's pores; their bodies instantly withered, their essence blood violently drawn out and merged into the three Blood Lights.

Lu Yan and the two increased their pursuit speed slightly, gradually narrowing the distance to Wu Tie and company.

Wu Tie continued fleeing along the narrow passage for several li, arriving at an extremely narrow stone cleft; he flashed inside, then roared the name of the Demon Chapter King.

Pfft!

Blackish-red toxic mist billowed out, quickly spreading across a radius of several kilometers.

Wu Tie rushed into the cleft, hoisted the witch onto his shoulder, snatched the Wind and Cloud Banner and gave it a violent shake; the banner billowed, lifting Shi Fei, Yan Hanlu, etc., and they sped forward through the cleft.

Three life-pool realm cultivators?

Wu Tie did not want to clash head-on; he had to ensure his companions' safety.

Run; fleeing is not disgraceful.

As Old Tie would say, how did that go again?

When the enemy advances, we retreat; when they retreat, we pursue; when they tire, we harass…

A gale whipped up a cloud vortex, accompanied by a swishing wind as they darted swiftly through the cleft. This cleft was specially selected by Old Bai for Wu Tie; its terrain is rugged to the extreme, with elevation changes of hundreds of meters on some paths and numerous side passages and fissures, making it utterly complex.

Lu Yan and the two plunged headfirst into the toxic mist expelled by the Demon Chapter King.

These days the Demon Chapter King's cultivation has grown, so the toxicity of his mist has intensified and its hallucinatory effect grown stronger.

Upon entering the mist, they sensed something wrong; their skin, upon contact, instantly broke out in fine blisters that rapidly ulcerated, the wounds itchy and numb, and after a single breath they lost all sensation.

How strange, how vicious the poison.

Immediately, they realized things were even more wrong.

Having turned into Blood Light and flown a hundred meters above ground, upon entering the mist‑shrouded area they felt as if heaven and earth had flipped, with endless black‑red mist rolling in every direction.

They flew up and down wildly in the mist for a dozen breaths; at their speed they should have traveled over ten li, yet they remained trapped, spinning, unable even to see the rock walls flanking the narrow cleft.

Worse, their nostrils began to go numb, with plasma dripping out.

Their vision darkened, they felt dazed, their whole body went numb and limp, strength gone.

"Damn it!" Qin Yi snarled low, large patches of Blood Light flashing on him; as the Blood Light rose, it forcibly pushed the surrounding toxic mist back several dozen steps.

Lu Yan and Luo He did the same, their bodies flickering with Blood Light as they looked around in angry frustration; where the Blood Light passed, large patches of toxic mist were dispersed, only to re‑condense a few dozen steps away.

After a silence, Lu Yan sighed: "Looks like we've been out‑guessed again… Daliya, Daliya, just what is his background? Why do the leaders treat him like an ancestor to be worshipped?"

Qin Yi and Luo He remained silent, simply staring at Lu Yan.

Lu Yan shook his head, opened his waist pouch, and drew out a short arrow carved from white jade, about three cun long: "Hey, this is what he gave me before we set out; he said we'd have use for it—was he talking nonsense, or did he truly foresee?"

The white‑jade arrow emitted a hazy glow, then with a "swish" turned into a three‑foot‑long blade of white light that shot through the mist toward the direction Wu Tie and company were fleeing.

Lu Yan and the two burst into laughter, half amazed, half doubtful, as they shot forward after the white light.

The mist expelled by the Demon Chapter King merely shrouded a stretch of stone cleft several li across; Lu Yan and the two needed only a single breath to fly out of its range, and they saw a small pile of campfires on the rock wall beside the cleft, about three hundred meters up.

The fires were still burning, thin blue smoke curling up, with several chunks of giant python meat skewered above—clearly someone had camped here before.

"That brat isn't alone," Luo He immediately analyzed. "He came here to gather his allies."

Qin Yi chuckled: "If Daliya's prophecy is right, this kid is the one seeking revenge on us; his allies aren't strong—just a half‑step life‑pool cultivator? Heck, we can take them down."

The three closely followed the white light spawned from the white‑jade arrow, exerting all their strength in pursuit.

"No matter who or why, if our Golden Netherworld brothers slaughtered their whole family or wiped out their clan, isn't that just the natural order?" Lu Yan flew ahead, sneering: "The leaders have said it: in the dark jungle, only the strong survive; the weak have no right to live."

"As a fool, after feuding with our Golden Netherworld, you still dare to seek revenge?"

Lu Yan said gloomily: "He really deserves to die… and we shouldn't kill him too quickly."

Luo He chuckled lightly: "Word from the Dark Guild says this kid spent a fortune buying our Golden Netherworld's intel, or had it sent from afar. This kid is loaded."

Qin Yi laughed even more brightly: "So we'll capture that kid and squeeze him slowly—maybe we'll make a fortune."

Lu Yan, Qin Yi, and Luo He are longtime partners; they exchanged a glance, laughed together, and redoubled their effort to close in.

The white light formed from the white‑jade arrow flew extremely fast, accurately locking onto Wu Tie's escape direction.

Among Wu Tie's party, Iron Great Sword is the strongest cultivator, but the Six‑Paths Palace excels at head‑on clashes, not evasion arts; Stone Fly is adept at dealing with stone, yet evasion is also his weakness; Yan Hanlu, Lu Ji, and the Demon Chapter King lack sufficient cultivation, so they can't move fast…

As for Mountain Shield, needless to say—he's superb at defense, which really means he's superb at taking a beating while staying put.

As for Old Bai, he does have a decent shadow‑evasion technique, but that's all it is; you can't count on him to help Wu Tie lead the group onward.

Everyone was swept up by Wu Tie's Wind and Cloud Banner, fleeing with all their might.

Earlier there had been no sign of Lu Yan and company behind them; Wu Tie's mana was nearly exhausted, so he gradually slowed, took a few low‑grade primal herbs, and was slowly recovering his power.

A white light shot from behind, followed by a distant glow of rich Blood Light; Lu Yan's laughter carried over: "It's you lot, seeking revenge on our Golden Netherworld? Heh, if so, why not stand and fight us?"

Qin Yi said in a soft, yin tone: "Wanting revenge on our Golden Netherworld, mere flight won't do."

Luo He's tone was sharp and ringing: "Stop—you can't get away."

Wu Tie was slowed by a large crowd, his pace a notch slower than his own evasion speed, and he could see Lu Yan and company about to catch up.

Ahead was a narrow stone crack over three meters wide and stretching for several li; Wu Tie saw Lu Yan and the others approaching, he quickly gave a few instructions, then dove straight into the middle of the crack.

During the flight, Wu Tie waved his hand and threw Mo Zhang Wang down.

Mo Zhang Wang crashed heavily to the ground, lifted his head, and spewed a black‑and‑red poisonous mist. This time his exhalation was extremely long; he exhaled so hard his vertebral bones nearly pressed against his spine, and a trace of deep‑blue poison mixed into the mist before he violently coughed and stopped breathing.

The entire stone crack was covered in the poisonous mist.

The white light transformed from the White Jade Small Arrow locked firmly onto Wu Tie's escape direction.

Three Blood Lights shot fiercely from above Mo Zhang Wang's head, an extremely evil power enveloped his body, attempting to drain his essence and blood.

But Mo Zhang Wang's skin writhed strangely, like a gigantic humanoid amoeba; this evil sucking force failed to draw out his essence and blood, instead sucking his body up into the air.

Mo Zhang Wang's limbs writhed rapidly, swish‑swish‑swish, wrapping around Luo He's body.

Mo Zhang Wang's body became extraordinarily pliable, his arms and legs stretching to over a hundred meters, afterimages flashing; his elongated, supple body tightly coiled dozens of times around Luo He's naked form……

Luo He and the two others had just re‑condensed their bodies from the blood mist, their original clothing long since shredded to rags by the self‑explosion.

They were busy chasing Wu Tie, wearing neither clothing nor any protective gear.

Mo Zhang Wang's elongated limbs pressed tightly against Luo He's skin; beneath his skin, rings of blue, purple, black, red, and green strange circular patterns kept flashing, and all his body hair suddenly stood on end, his soft hair abruptly changing texture.

Mo Zhang Wang's body hair turned crystal clear, like tiny crystal spikes; the fine spikes elongated several times, and though his hair was already fine, these spikes became extraordinarily thin.

Each fine hair, like a living thing, found a pore on Luo He's body and stabbed in along the pore.

Luo He suddenly let out a hysterical wail, feeling countless stabbing pains all over his body as if tens of thousands of red‑hot needles were driven deep into him.

On Mo Zhang Wang's elongated cheek appeared a strange grin; he could clearly feel his hair follicles mutating into microscopic poison sacs that rapidly secreted clear toxin, which was swiftly and uniformly injected into Luo He through those ultra‑fine spikes.

Originally, Luo He had already inhaled a large amount of poisonous mist in a previous stone crack, but he had suppressed its potency with his powerful magic.

This time, what he received was not only the diluted toxicity dispersed in the mist, but the freshest, highest‑concentration poison just secreted from Mo Zhang Wang's body.

Mo Zhang Wang emitted a hiss from his mouth, one leg shooting out to over two hundred meters and hooking onto a stone crack below.

Luo He, dragging Mo Zhang Wang, flew forward ten or so meters; then Mo Zhang Wang's elongated leg snapped back, a huge force yanking both of them rapidly back, and they plunged straight into the stone crack.

Luo He opened his mouth and let out a loud roar.

Beside him, a pale yellow sword light shot up into the sky, swirled once, and fiercely cleaved Mo Zhang Wang's head.

Mo Zhang Wang's head, being supple, dented with an extremely fine groove half a foot deep; then the sword light rose, and the scar on his head sprang back, not even nicking the oily skin.

"Life Pool Realm?" Mo Zhang Wang muttered strangely.

He is merely a Sensing Mystery Realm cultivator… why can't a great expert of the Life Pool Realm pose a real threat to him?

Mo Zhang Wang couldn't be bothered to think further; he lunged forward, almost mouth‑to‑mouth with Luo He, and blasted a mouthful of extremely concentrated black‑and‑red mist tinged with blue into Luo He's mouth.

Luo He was panting violently, burning his magical power to prepare a great ability to break free from Mo Zhang Wang.

The poison entered his mouth, quickly invading his body through the oral mucosa; Luo He's body went numb, then paralyzed, and he lost all sensation.

The surface poison and internal mist erupted simultaneously, Luo He's body quickly turned multicolored, then he collapsed heavily to the ground.

"I, I actually managed to kill a Life Pool Realm expert?" Mo Zhang Wang exclaimed in disbelief: "Lord Wu Tie, I killed a Life Pool Realm expert… you said they were all Life Pool Realm experts, right? Right? You wouldn't be wrong?"

Mo Zhang Wang killed Luo He with his secretive method; it all happened in an instant.

Lu Yan and Qin Yi had already followed the white light transformed from the White Jade Small Arrow several hundred meters away; the poisonous mist blocked Luo He's roar, and they didn't notice that Luo He had been taken down so easily by an insignificant Sensing Mystery Realm nobody.

The two surged forward when suddenly a large sword flashing with blinding brilliance came down from high above.

With just one strike, Qin Yi let out a muffled groan and was slammed to the ground by an incredibly violent force from above.

In Qin Yi's hand a cyan sword light rose, barely blocking the great sword, but accompanied by a piercing crack, his flying sword was actually split cleanly into two pieces.