Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Finally Made It Out
But Jiang Xu had barely escaped and hadn’t gotten far.
A muffled grunt echoed from the sky.
Then, a colossal hand descended from the heavens, pressing down upon the North Gate!
The cultivators who arrived later discovered that when they tried to leave through the North Gate, an invisible barrier now blocked their path, making it impossible to pass.
Even their attacks seemed to vanish into it without a trace, eliciting no reaction whatsoever.
After the same colossal, sky-blotting hand pressed down on the other three gates, they too became impassable.
"Useless fools! You can’t even guard a single gate! How can I ever entrust the great responsibilities of the Demon Dao to you?!"
Seeing that far too many people were escaping, Su Duo flew into a rage. He spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the array before him, enabling it to operate on its own temporarily.
With his hands now free, he personally used an array technique to lay four Trapping Arrays, sealing off the Marketplace completely.
Then, he commanded his subordinates below:
"Kill them all. Leave no one alive. If even one gets away, you will answer to me with your heads!"
After giving the order, Su Duo felt a little perplexed.
’Are all these Righteous Cultivators so decisive?’ he wondered.
’I had only just withdrawn the Demon Array, and they immediately organized a group to charge our lines and escape?’
Recalling how his Counter-Array had been altered earlier, Su Duo’s expression turned grim.
’I originally thought I could take this Marketplace with ease.’
’It seems there’s a hidden master in the Marketplace after all.’
’I’ll have to be more careful from now on.’
’If I were to fail at the hands of a group of cultivators who haven’t even reached the Golden Core realm, it would be a colossal joke.’
...
"Kill them all. Leave no one alive. If even one gets away, you will answer to me with your heads!"
High in the sky, Su Duo’s figure was imposing and ruthless. His voice was bone-chilling, each word an invisible chain crushing the hope in everyone’s hearts.
Hearing that familiar voice, Jiang Xu immediately recognized the attacking Golden Core Demon Cultivator as the infamous Elder Demon Su.
At his command, the already ravaged ground was once again stained red with blood. Wails and despair intertwined as the Demon Cultivators struck with even greater ferocity.
After slaughtering the Cultivators within the walls, they turned their sights on those who had fled.
The fastest of the fleeing Cultivators were already dozens of kilometers away, while those closer were still running for their lives, all pushing themselves to their absolute limits.
But though they were fast, others were faster still.
The Demon Cultivators who had been guarding the other gates were now free, as Su Duo’s array had sealed the Marketplace’s exits.
One by one, they locked onto the fleeing Cultivators. Spitting out a large mouthful of blood essence that erupted into a crimson mist, they shot forward at more than twice their targets’ speed.
This was the Demon Dao’s Secret Technique—the Blood Escape Technique!
Streaks of blood-red shadows closed in from behind like reapers in the night, instantly cutting off the fleeing Cultivators’ paths.
Though terror filled their hearts, the instinct to survive drove the fleeing Cultivators to push forward desperately. Yet no matter how hard they tried, they could not shake the Demon Cultivators who clung to their heels like ghosts.
Just when someone thought they were about to escape, a blood-red shadow would dart from the darkness and mercilessly reap their life.
Jiang Xu’s heart pounded in his chest. Pushing his Concealing Breath Spell to its absolute limit, he lost count of how many times he had narrowly brushed past those crimson shadows.
As the number of survivors dwindled, Jiang Xu put more and more distance between himself and the Marketplace.
There was a reason Jiang Xu had chosen to escape through the North Gate; it hadn’t been a random decision.
The North Gate directly faced the Profound Origin Sect.
Jiang Xu was a disciple of the Profound Origin Sect, albeit one on an external assignment. Reaching the Sect’s territory would naturally grant him an extra layer of security.
And so, with every step, he drew closer to the Profound Origin Sect.
He didn’t know how long he had been running, nor how far he had come.
Sweat trickled down his temples, soaking his robes, and his heart pounded like a drum.
After the long, desperate flight, his stamina was nearly depleted. Thankfully, when Jiang Xu looked back, his Spiritual Eye Technique revealed no trace of the jarring crimson color in his wake.
Gasping for breath, he looked back toward the Purple Profound Celestial Marketplace, still engulfed in flames and cries of agony, his heart a turmoil of emotions.
"I... I’ve... finally, damn it, I’ve escaped!"
But while he had escaped, the Marketplace was still under threat from Elder Demon Su.
Jiang Xu took out his Communication Pearl and sent a message:
"The Purple Profound Celestial Marketplace is under attack from Elder Demon Su—the one from the Secret Realm. The situation is critical! A large group of Demon Cultivators is with him. We need to get support from Elder He immediately!"
Now, what happened to the Purple Profound Celestial Marketplace was no longer his concern.
He didn’t have the power to intervene anyway; it had taken everything he had just to escape.
But what was he to do now? Where should he go?
’If I return to the Profound Origin Sect, what will I say if they ask me how I escaped?’
’If I say I just happened to be passing by, it would be too much of a coincidence.’
’But if I don’t go to the Profound Origin Sect, where else can I go?’
’When in doubt, cultivate in seclusion!’
If you can’t fight them, you can always hide.
Jiang Xu decided to head to the Endless Forest and find a place to enter seclusion.
He would cultivate in seclusion for at least two or three years and see if anything changed once his Limit-Breaking Points reached one hundred.
He would decide whether to emerge then.
’My lifespan is long enough, anyway. If worst comes to worst, I don’t mind staying in seclusion for twenty or thirty years.’
It had only been a little over a year since he transmigrated, and in that time, Jiang Xu had grown from a Qi Cultivation Second-Layer Cultivator who only knew the Spirit Rain Technique to someone on the verge of the Foundation Establishment realm.
That speed was simply too fast. In the Immortal Dao, Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment were merely the fundamentals. Without a solid foundation, one could never build a towering pagoda in the future.
Fortunately, his Perfect Level Cangmu Skill could compensate for any deficiencies in his foundation. It wasn’t too late to calm his mind and carefully polish it now.
...
As soon as Jiang Xu relayed the information to Zong Ziqi, Zong Ziqi immediately told Qin Muxian.
Understanding the urgency of the matter, Qin Muxian didn’t delay either, immediately reporting it to the Golden Core Zhenrens within the Sect.
However, within the Profound Origin Sect, Elder He was in seclusion healing the lingering injuries to his Golden Core. The Sect Leader Zhenren, meanwhile, had already left to support the Purple Flower Palace, taking another Golden Core Zhenren with him.
Of the remaining Golden Core Zhenrens in the Profound Origin Sect, some were in seclusion and others were needed to guard the Sect. As a result, they couldn’t immediately spare anyone to send as reinforcements.
By the time they had assembled a party and set out to reinforce the Purple Profound Celestial Marketplace, the Marketplace had already fallen.
When they arrived, Su Duo and his Black Ink Guard were in the midst of slaughtering the Cultivators inside the Marketplace.
A great battle erupted between the two sides. Su Duo, relying on the Demon Array he had prepared, fought against three Golden Core Cultivators of the same level. Drawing upon the power of the Demon Array and the sacrifice of a city’s worth of blood and qi, Su Duo managed to escape alive from their combined assault.
Although he was severely wounded, the feat only added to his fearsome reputation.
Furthermore, in the aftermath, he spread a shocking piece of news.
The Demon Dao of Canglang State had declared war on the Righteous Cultivators of Dinghai State.
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