Chapter 970

In the Star Ruin starfield, four Emperors from different factions simultaneously received brief messages sent via special means by their subordinates, True Persons.

Because this was the Star Surge Chaotic Void region, a special communication method was used, so the messages were extremely terse.

The meaning conveyed was nearly identical: they had failed to seize the secret realm’s treasure—it had been taken by an outsider.

Failed to seize it?

An outsider?

The four Emperors all turned to look at one another, faces filled with suspicion.

Especially—what did “outsider” even mean?

All four were utterly baffled.

With that lineup, how could an outsider have taken it?

But at this critical moment, they dared not waste time.

In the next instant, the four Emperors simultaneously activated their sensing secret arts, each racing toward the direction of the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root they sensed.

After their prior agreement, each had used their own method to imprint their aura onto the Purple Yuan Bodhi Branch.

Those who had achieved Emperor status were never lacking in cunning.

While imprinting their aura, they had also secretly embedded tracking marks using secret arts.

If the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root had been seized by any one of their own subordinates, it would have been no issue!

First, because they had agreed beforehand not to pursue one another; second, since all were Emperors, they could easily dismantle each other’s methods with a little time.

But if an outsider had taken it, everything changed!

They had originally placed these marks as a precaution—but never expected they’d actually be needed.

In an instant, the four Emperors all raced toward the same direction.

In the Star Ruin starfield, Xu Jin began rapid spatial teleportation to flee after securing the treasure.

His retreat direction was clear: toward the Thousand Stars War Zone.

The difficulty of securing it was far lower than Xu Jin had imagined.

It mainly relied on exploiting an information gap.

Because he had immediately slain an alien True Person upon acting, the human True Persons of the Hongluan War Zone assumed Xu Jin was on their side.

They became his allies outright.

Only when Xu Jin moved to collect the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root after severely wounding the alien True Person did the Hongluan human True Persons realize something was wrong.

He seized it outright under the surprise of his sudden assault and lethal strike.

On the surface, Xu Jin faced twelve Gao Jie True Persons—but in reality, he only truly faced three or four.

With time acceleration, he instantly escaped the battlefield.

But Xu Jin understood: securing the treasure was only the beginning of true hell.

In the very instant he secured it, Xu Jin sensed four distinct, bizarre aura imprints above him.

Without doubt, these were imprints left by Emperor-level cultivators.

No need to ask—these four Emperors could certainly use these imprints to track the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root.

If it were Xu Jin, he would have left such imprints too.

This was precisely why Xu Jin had first stored it in his Sumeru Space.

Even as he teleported through space, his spiritual sense sank into the Sumeru Space, carefully probing to erase the four Emperor-level aura imprints.

Only by erasing these four tracking imprints could he truly claim victory.

After several breaths of careful spiritual sensing, Xu Jin’s expression turned grim.

The aura imprints deliberately planted by the Emperors were indeed stubborn.

His spiritual sense had merely attempted to erase them lightly, yet the lingering aura within the imprints coiled back like venomous snakes.

Faintly, they wound around his physical body and Dao embryo.

Xu Jin was horrified.

If these coils reached him, he would be unable to shake them off in a short time—he would almost certainly be caught by these Emperors.

“Can the Abyss Domain block these four Emperors’ tracking imprints?”

Xu Jin abandoned attempts to erase the four Emperor imprints, paused briefly, and directly transferred the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root into the Abyss Domain.

In that same instant, within the range of his Ming Qian Chu, two Emperor-level auras appeared—then, one breath later, two more.

This brief delay allowed the four Emperors to close in.

Because he had continuously teleported, Xu Jin had long since left the Star Surge Chaotic Void region; thus, when he sensed the four Emperors’ auras, they were still twenty-five thousand li away.

Had he still been inside the Star Surge Chaotic Void region, sensing them would have meant they were about to arrive and kill him.

Xu Jin used time acceleration to enhance his spatial teleportation.

But after sustaining it for one breath, he slowed his teleportation speed and began changing direction with each jump.

Primarily to test whether the Abyss Domain could block these four Emperors’ tracking imprints.

If it could, then what followed would be simple.

But if it couldn’t, trouble loomed.

Emperor-level cultivators possessed deep reserves and could instantly resonate with the Dao’s origin to restore their star power; traveling through the Star Ruin starfield consumed virtually nothing.

Theoretically, they could chase Xu Jin to the ends of the universe until they caught him.

Two breaths later, one human Emperor vanished from Xu Jin’s Ming Qian Chu sensing.

One breath after that, another alien Emperor vanished.

But two Emperors still pursued relentlessly.

“The Abyss Domain cannot fully block these Emperors’ tracking imprints!”

In the next instant, Xu Jin’s spiritual sense shifted—he activated Plan B, directly sending a message into the Abyss Domain to Zhu Lin: “Lin’er, immediately try to erase the aura imprint on the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root I just placed before you.”

“Be careful—it’s four Emperor-level aura imprints.”

“Husband, rest assured—I’ll begin at once.”

Within the Abyss Domain, Zhu Lin immediately activated her spiritual sense and star power to erase the aura imprint on the Purple Yuan Bodhi Root.