Chapter 1080: Pursuing Troops

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two sharp tearing-through-air sounds almost grazed his back! The arrows, infused with icy spiritual power, slammed into the rock not far ahead, exploding in a spray of ice shards! They were the Qinglin Peak's 'Frost Arrow'!

"He's ahead! Don't let him escape!" a sharp voice came through the wind and snow, filled with excitement and killing intent.

Han Wuxian didn't look back, he suddenly lowered his body and rolled, diving behind a huge boulder covered in snow. Puff puff puff! Several more Frost Arrows struck the stone, sending ice shards flying!

The pursuers were already within arm's reach! He could even hear their footsteps trampling the snow, their rapid approach, and their heavy breathing!

"Surround him! He's been hit by the Bone-Eating Azure, he can't run far!" a deeper, commanding voice rang out—clearly a minor leader.

He couldn't hesitate any longer!

Han Wuxian suddenly thrust his body out from behind the boulder, his left hand wrapped in the faint, dim dark-gold light, and he slammed a fist hard into the snow beneath his feet!

Boom!

It wasn't an attack, but a detonation! He mixed the last trace of Blazing Yang Pill's medicinal power in his body with a wisp of earth-vein source power and ruthlessly poured it into the snow below!

Boom—!

The snow layer instantly exploded into a pit several zhang wide under the violent energy! A wave of snow mixed with stone and ice shot up like a fountain, instantly obscuring visibility for dozens of zhang around! The violent airflow carried ice shards and snow fragments like countless tiny hidden weapons, firing indiscriminately in all directions!

"Watch out! It's a trap!" The pursuers were caught off guard; cries of alarm, angry shouts, and the thuds of their protective spirit barriers being struck rang out instantly, halting their pursuit!

Taking advantage of this brief chaos!

Han Wuxian shot forth like an arrow released from a bow, using the explosion's recoil, he summoned his last strength and leapt desperately toward the edge of the Falling Star Broken Cliff, which was right before him!

The wind screamed shrilly in his ears, and a sensation of weightlessness struck him instantly! Below lay a bottomless abyss filled with rolling clouds and biting gales!

"He jumped off the cliff!" the pursuers' voices rang with shock and disbelief.

"Pursue! Alive, we want the body; dead, we want the corpse! He's poisoned—if he falls, he'll be smashed to pieces! Search along the cliff wall! I must find him!" the minor leader's voice, strained with frustration, came through.

Several figures rushed to the cliff's edge, peered downward, then either launched flying magic artifacts or employed the Wind Control Technique, carefully searching down the steep, rugged cliff wall.

At that moment, Han Wuxian's body plummeted like a meteorite! The biting gales scraped his body like countless steel blades, and the dark-gold material coating him rapidly dimmed under the violent friction and wind's shearing, emitting a groan of overload! The weightlessness and immense pressure of the high-speed fall pushed his already wounded body to the brink of collapse!

He endured the dizziness and excruciating pain, his crimson‑gold eyes locked on the tumbling clouds below and the faintly visible rugged cliff wall. He had been to the Falling Star Broken Cliff before; during an early expedition he had accidentally discovered an extremely concealed natural cave entrance midway up the cliff wall! That was his only hope now.

"That's it!" In the midst of his rapid fall, Han Wuxian's gaze instantly locked onto a black fissure hidden in a gap of the clouds below—half concealed by massive horizontal dead-tree roots and hanging vines, utterly inconspicuous!

He no longer tried to control his fall; instead, he suddenly curled his body, clutching his poison‑paralyzed right arm tightly to his chest, while his left arm wrapped the last condensed dark‑gold light around his head like a drill bit!

Boom!!

His body, like a cannonball, slammed hard into the fissure entrance concealed by vines and dead roots!

Crack! Crack!

The tough vines and dead roots snapped instantly under the tremendous impact! Han Wuxian felt a massive recoil surge through him, as if his organs had shifted; his throat sweetened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood tinged with golden light and dark as ink! He tumbled like a torn sack, crashing deep into the cave!

Thud! Thud!

His body rolled over the rough stone floor a dozen times before finally slamming into a cold rock wall and coming to a stop.

Agony like a tsunami instantly engulfed him! His consciousness teetered on the edge of darkness, struggling wildly. He could clearly hear the howling gales outside the cave and the pursuers' search shouts, seeming to come from the cliff wall not far above his head!

"Search! Search carefully! He must have fallen somewhere around here!"

"Look! There are broken vines here! Fresh traces!"

"The cave mouth! There's an opening here!"

Han Wuxian's heart leapt into his throat! He clung to the last thread of consciousness, struggling to sit up, but his body felt like it had fallen apart—the poison‑induced paralysis and exhausted weakness made even moving a finger extremely difficult! The broken vines and fresh impact marks at the cave entrance were impossible to hide from the pursuers!

It's over… Did he just escape the tiger's den only to walk into the wolf's lair? Is he going to die in this dark cave?

Despair coiled around his heart like an icy venomous snake.

Just then, the core within him—a fusion of Earth Vein Heart Will and Stellar Vein—on the verge of collapse, seemed to be stirred by some external aura, and it sent out an extremely faint yet crystal‑clear resonance!

This resonance… wasn't coming from the earth, but from… the depths of this cave?! And this aura… actually resonated faintly with the dark‑gold material on his skin, giving a sense of shared origin, an ancient, heavy feeling of star and earth intertwined!

Han Wuxian's crimson‑gold pupils contracted sharply! He strained to turn his head, gazing toward the dark‑shrouded depths of the cave.

"Inside… there's something…"

The pursuers' cries outside the cave clung like bone‑eating maggots, crystal clear. The traces of broken vines were like guiding lanterns, leading them to this sole entrance! Han Wuxian could even hear the sound of boots trampling gravel and pulling aside vines, growing ever closer!

Despair surged like an icy tide, nearly engulfing Han Wuxian completely. He struggled to rise, but the pain and paralysis left him only able to lean helplessly against the cold rock wall, watching helplessly as the light at the cave mouth was blocked by approaching figures.

"We found the entrance!"

"There's movement inside! Be careful!"

"Capture him alive!"

At this critical moment!

Hum!!

Han Wuxian's inner core—the fusion of Earth Vein Heart Will and Stellar Vein—resonated with the ancient, vast, shared‑origin aura emanating from the cave's depths, instantly surging to its peak! This resonance was not gentle; it was more like a forced awakening, a stress response charged with strong repulsion and a protective will!

This resonance felt like an invisible shockwave, instantly spreading to the dim dark‑gold material coating Han Wuxian's body!

A miracle occurred!

The layer of dark‑gold material clinging to his skin like a second embryonic membrane suddenly flared with mysterious star‑patterns! No longer a faint glimmer, it burst forth with a deep, inwardly condensed yet immensely heavy dark‑gold luster!

At the same time, an indescribable aura—mingling Stellar Extinction with the Earth's Slumbering Will—burst forth from Han Wuxian like the breath of a slumbering beast, instantly filling the entire cave entrance!