Grinding EXP From a Demon Hunting Ship

Chapter 366: Chapter 361: Oil Exhausted and Lamp Withered, a Deadly Ambush

「Several hours later.」

Mist Forest Divine Kingdom.

A forested canyon.

"Damn it..."

Ziyuan’s expression was grim as she cursed under her breath.

A large patch of blood stained the right side of her moon-white robes.

Not long ago, she had once again crossed paths with the Shadow-Binding Incarnation.

She’d been forced to sustain an injury to escape.

SPURT.

Blood spurted from the wound.

It gushed like a spring, impossible to staunch.

"Ngh..." Ziyuan grunted, her face deathly pale.

Shadow Binding Divine Power clung to her wound, preventing it from healing.

’To heal this, I have to expel this Divine Power first...’

Ziyuan gritted her teeth, mobilized her Sun-Eclipse Power, and covered the wound with it.

SIZZLE.

The Sun-Eclipse Power manifested as a black-gold color, like a dark sun.

It clashed violently with the Shadow Binding Divine Power clinging to the wound!

However.

Ziyuan tried several times.

She manipulated her Sun-Eclipse Power to wash away the Shadow Binding Divine Power, but each attempt ended in failure.

Logically,

’This shouldn’t be happening, should it?’

After all, as a type of the Power of Rules,

even if the level of the Sun-Eclipse Power differed from Divine Power, the gap shouldn’t be that large.

But...

Ziyuan frowned deeply.

For some reason, the Sun-Eclipse Power that she usually controlled as easily as her own limbs was now difficult to command.

’That palm strike...’

A trace of fear appeared in Ziyuan’s eyes.

This change had started right after she was crippled by that palm strike outside the Divine Kingdom!

Ziyuan remembered it clearly: the terror of being in front of that person, when her Sun-Eclipse Power had almost turned against her, spiraling completely out of control!

"Don’t waste your energy."

"Even if your race has some unique talent for shadow power,"

"you want to resist the Divine Master’s power?"

"Heh heh... That’s absolutely impossible!"

A mocking voice came from behind Ziyuan.

Her pupils shrank. She spun around and saw him at the entrance to the canyon.

The Shadow-Binding Incarnation had his hands in his pockets, a Crystal Ball floating beside him. A cold sneer was on his face as he slowly walked into the canyon.

Ziyuan’s face instantly turned ashen!

...

「A quarter of an hour later.」

The entire canyon floor, as well as the rock walls on both sides, looked as if they had been shaved down a layer!

Thousands of tons of earth, mushrooms, and vegetation had been blasted into the air by the force of their exchange, scattering them throughout the canyon!

In the center of the canyon.

Ziyuan was on her knees, her body covered in wounds. Blood flowed ceaselessly, pooling beneath her into a viscous, dark-red spring!

"Will you surrender?"

"If you give yourself up, I can make it less painful for you..."

The Shadow-Binding Incarnation smiled. His words carried a bewitching quality that assaulted the soul, causing deep despair and fear to rise in Ziyuan’s heart.

Ziyuan bit the tip of her tongue, guarding her soul and dispelling the Shadow-Binding Incarnation’s influence.

However, the fact that this bewitchment could affect her at all, given her powerful Divine Sense, was proof of two things: the Shadow-Binding Incarnation’s own Divine Sense was formidable, and Ziyuan’s situation was indeed extremely dire!

’What do I do...’

’Burn my blood essence and try to flee?’

’But he seems to have a way to locate me... For the past few days, no matter how I’ve run, he’s always been able to find me in the end...’

’Now... I’m running on empty... I don’t have much blood essence left.’

Ziyuan gritted her teeth, mustering her Demon Power to sense the blood essence within her.

But after days of being chased, the blood essence in her body had nearly run dry!

Suddenly,

she gave a miserable laugh, as if she had realized something.

’I get it now... The previous times I managed to escape, it might have been because he let me...’

’This cat-and-mouse game gave me the illusion of hope, but it was really just death by a thousand cuts. Now, I don’t even have the strength left for a final, desperate struggle.’

A miserable smile appeared on Ziyuan’s face.

This thought,

the moment it surfaced, nearly drained all the fight from Ziyuan.

’Could it be that even by hiding in the Divine Kingdom, I can’t escape death?’

Ziyuan fell into despair.

But suddenly, a voice echoed in her ear.

"Ziyuan?"

"Can you hear me?"

"What’s your situation?"

"Huh?!"

"Mr... Mr. Su?!"

Ziyuan’s heart was instantly flooded with overjoyed surprise!

She quickly and concisely explained her current situation to Su Ye.

"A Divine Incarnation, you say?"

"Understood."

"Now, listen to me."

"In a moment, you’re going to flee north out of the canyon, and then..."

...

’Looks like...’

’...she’s almost out of tricks...’

’Still, I can’t be careless.’

’A cornered beast is the most ferocious... Hmm, not that I’m afraid of what she can do, but if her body is too damaged, it will be very troublesome to repair when I turn it into a puppet later.’

’It’s better to keep using the Soul-Devouring Demon Sound to bewitch her, make her give up the will to fight, and offer her neck for the slaughter...’

The Shadow-Binding Incarnation thought to himself, holding the Crystal Ball.

But at that moment,

a scarlet light flashed over Ziyuan’s body, and the rich scent of blood filled the air!

Then, this bloody aura enveloped her. Despite her grievous injuries, Ziyuan shot forward with astonishing speed, desperately fleeing toward the north end of the canyon!

Seeing this,

the Shadow-Binding Incarnation was not alarmed, but delighted.

’Burning blood essence to try and escape?’

’This is exactly what I wanted!’

"My Shadow Weaving Crystal Ball has already recorded her aura."

"Even in this Mist Forest Divine Kingdom, I can still get a rough lock on her position within five hundred li!"

"In her current condition, there’s no way she can escape that far in one go, right?"

"Once she’s exhausted her blood essence, I can easily capture her, obtain a complete corpse, and turn it into a puppet..."

With that in mind,

the Shadow-Binding Incarnation took his time.

He even deliberately slowed his pace.

Because the Shadow-Binding Incarnation was deliberately holding back, Ziyuan managed to flee more than twenty li to the north of the canyon!

Then,

her speed began to drop drastically.

The Shadow-Binding Incarnation knew what was happening; the effects of her burning blood essence had worn off.

But he didn’t give chase immediately. Instead, he waited a while longer, until Ziyuan had fled another ten-plus li, before smiling slyly like a seasoned hunter.

CRUNCH.

Stepping on dry twigs and fallen leaves,

the Shadow-Binding Incarnation slowly emerged from the forest.

He watched Ziyuan and asked with a smile,

"Still running?"

However,

to his surprise,

what he saw on Ziyuan’s face was not the fear, despair, collapse... or any of the other familiar negative emotions he had expected.

But rather...

a savage, bloodthirsty glee!

This caused the Shadow-Binding Incarnation’s victorious mindset to waver slightly.

"This...?"

And then,

he saw Ziyuan’s lips move, her mouth forming silent words.

In the language of the Divine Continent, that lip shape should be...

"Go... to... hell?"

The Shadow-Binding Incarnation sounded out the phrase, word by word.

And the next moment!

BOOM!

The ground where the Shadow-Binding Incarnation stood instantly collapsed!

An incredibly scorching blood flame erupted from beneath his feet!

In an instant,

it completely devoured his figure and everything else within a several-hundred-meter radius!