Chapter 520: Secret Art (II)
The bald man curled his lip as he watched Woo Yixuan and the others disappear into the distance, letting out a low chuckle. "Slippery little bastards. Come on. If they can come looking for trouble with us, we can do the same to them."
"Haha, that's right! Beat the hell out of them!"
"Hmph, I've hated those bastards for ages. So what if they're from esteemed families? They're just a bunch of trash living off their ancestors!"
The other martial artists quickly echoed in agreement.
The esteemed family martial artists looked down on them, but the Martial Alliance looked down on those esteemed family martial artists just as much. In their eyes, these people who relied on bloodline power to cultivate without tempering true martial intent were nothing but flashy weaklings.
Of course, there were exceptions. Someone like Woo Yixuan, whose bloodline purity had reached a terrifying level, possessed genuinely frightening strength. Across the entire Martial Alliance, among those of the same realm, there were fewer than five people capable of defeating him. That was also the reason he dared to act so arrogantly.
Within a crimson three-leaf forest, eight figures rapidly flashed into view. They were none other than Woo Yixuan and the others who had just escaped.
A man dressed in flashy purple combat robes clicked his tongue in surprise. "Tsk, tsk. Those guys reacted surprisingly fast this time."
He looked toward Woo Yixuan and said with a grin, "Brother Xuan, who else left the city? Who are we beating next?"
Woo Yixuan waved his hand with a chuckle and replied, "No rush. Let's wait a little longer."
They had planted informants throughout Yanwu City, so Woo Yixuan would quickly learn whenever someone left the city. The only people worth his attention were those with status and reputation within the Martial Alliance. As for ordinary martial artists, he could not even be bothered to deal with them.
Suddenly, Woo Yixuan's expression shifted, delight appearing on his face.
"Haha, he actually left Yanwu City this quickly. I thought the bastard would hide there forever and never dare come out," Woo Yixuan said with obvious excitement.
Just moments ago, he had swept out his spiritual sense and received a report from one of his informants.
"Kong Xia, Woo Tailin, you two are coming with me."
Woo Yixuan let out a low laugh and motioned for his two companions to follow him. While inside the Martial Realm, he still had to exercise some restraint. But once outside the Martial Realm... hehe...
"If we personally make a move, won't that be a bit risky?" Kong Xia asked cautiously with a slight frown.
The other party was an expert from the peak Divine Repository realm. If someone at that level died outside, the Martial Alliance would definitely launch an investigation. If they personally acted, it would be easy to suspect them.
"Who says we are responsible? The outside world is chaotic right now. Barbarians, the Sea Clan, and all kinds of evil sects and shady groups are lurking in the shadows. As long as we bear the cost, someone else will happily do the job," Woo Yixuan said, a slight smile on his lips and a cold glint in his eyes.
"Then what are we doing now...?" Woo Tailin asked in confusion.
"We're going to leave him a little gift and mark him. If he escapes, where the hell are we supposed to find him in a world this huge? I already left something on him last time, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't go too far, or he would've noticed. I need you two to stall him for a while so I can add a little more. Only then will it truly work. Move. If we're late, the bastard might already be gone." Woo Yixuan snorted coldly.
Did they really think he had taken that beating for nothing last time? As a genius of an ancient martial family, Woo Yixuan might have been a martial artist, but he possessed all sorts of unusual treasures. The item he had planted was extremely concealed, though it had its limits. If Lin Zheyu stayed hidden in Yanwu City for an entire year, the effect would be completely lost.
Who would have thought the other party would cooperate so nicely? This was truly an unexpected delight.
***
Within the forest, beside a black swamp, a flash of light flickered. A man in green robes suddenly appeared, his figure slowly materializing. This person was naturally Lin Zheyu, who had just left Yanwu City.
His appearance was now completely different from before. Under the concealment of his enchanted robes, unless someone possessed overwhelming strength, they would not be able to detect his aura at all.
"Mmn..." Lin Zheyu frowned slightly, a wave of discomfort washing over him.
Leaving behind the dense, pure spiritual qi of Yanwu City and arriving in the mortal world, where spiritual qi was thin and mixed with demonic qi, created a clear sense of discomfort.
Even someone like Lin Zheyu, who had not opened the Bridge of Heaven and Earth and only possessed an inferior immortal cultivation aptitude, could clearly feel the difference. For cultivators and Martial Innate realm martial artists, the sensation would be even worse.
Powerful golden blood qi rapidly circulated through his body, instantly erasing the traces of demonic qi that had seeped into him. Only then did Lin Zheyu feel somewhat better. His figure flickered and vanished from the spot in an instant.
"Hehe, I've been waiting for you for a long time now. Stay right there!"
Several figures suddenly appeared nearby as a massive golden net descended toward Lin Zheyu. His expression remained calm. The moment he exited the teleportation formation, he had already detected the three hidden auras lurking in the darkness. He stepped forward, and waves of rule fluctuations spread out from his body.
A giant net suddenly dropped, passing straight through Lin Zheyu's body. He had already vanished from the spot, leaving behind only an afterimage.
Lin Zheyu had no intention of fighting here. This was outside a Martial Realm teleportation formation and not far from the Martial Realm itself. Killing people here was far from a wise choice. If discovered, the consequences would be endless.
"Hm? What a strong power of rules!" Kong Xia cried out in surprise. The giant dharma artifact net in his hand possessed the ability to seal and stabilize space itself.
He had expected the other party might escape, but he had not expected it to happen so effortlessly. For Xiao Yu to slip out from beneath the net so easily, his comprehension of spatial laws was truly astonishing. Still, despite his surprise, Kong Xia was not worried that the other party could escape so easily. There was a reason Woo Yixuan had specifically brought him and Woo Tailin along.
The instant Kong Xia failed, a deep, resonant bell chime rang through the void. The sound rippled outward, sending waves through space itself. Lin Zheyu's figure, which had merged into the void, abruptly faltered. The rule power surrounding his body was violently disrupted beneath the toll of the bell.
A dharma artifact that interferes with space! Damn it, are these people really this rich? What happened to martial artists being crude brutes?
Lin Zheyu cursed inwardly in frustration.
This was basically cheating! They were all martial artists, so why the hell were these people using such absurdly powerful dharma artifacts? Lin Zheyu did not even need to think to know these people had come because of his conflict with Woo Yixuan. What he had not expected was for them to catch up this quickly.
Every teleportation formation in Yanwu City connected to hundreds of different teleportation points, all scattered extremely far apart. When Lin Zheyu teleported, he had specifically chosen random transmission. Even he himself did not know which teleportation point he would emerge from. Yet these people had somehow managed to wait for him in advance. Something had clearly gone wrong somewhere.
An informant?
The thought flashed through Lin Zheyu's mind as he recalled the slight delay while lining up to enter the teleportation formation earlier.
The bell continued to ring as wave after wave of spatial ripples spread outward, severely disrupting Lin Zheyu's Earth Shrinking Technique.
Lin Zheyu frowned slightly. If his rule power was being interfered with, then he simply would not use it. Without hesitation, he decisively abandoned the technique, his body smashing down from the sky like a cannonball.
A thunderous explosion rocked the forest, blasting a massive crater into the ground. The instant he landed, Lin Zheyu's speed skyrocketed. Terrifying sonic booms exploded around him. With a single thought, his blood qi, essence origin, and martial true intent instantly condensed into true origin, greatly reducing the immense air resistance caused by his terrifying speed.
A pair of golden wings unfurled from Lin Zheyu's back. With a single flap, his already extreme speed surged even higher. Under the circulation of true origin and golden runes, the air resistance caused by surpassing the speed of sound was drastically reduced. Lin Zheyu's speed continued climbing.
"So fast! This monster can still reach such terrifying speeds without using rule power? That's insane!" Woo Tailin stared dumbfounded at the figure below, whose speed had already exceeded fifteen times the speed of sound.
Is this guy even human?
Earlier, when the other party was using rule power, such speed could still be understood. Now, under the suppression of his artifact, Lin Zheyu could no longer rely on rule power. Yet purely through raw physical power alone, he was still able to unleash such horrifying speed. That was truly terrifying.
Woo Tailin reacted decisively and slammed his palm against the enormous bronze bell before him. The bronze bell trembled violently. This time, as spatial ripples spread outward, gigantic phantom bronze bells rapidly appeared throughout the sky. Then, one after another, the bell phantoms descended from above at astonishing speed, crashing down toward Lin Zheyu.
Lin Zheyu fully unleashed his Perception Domain. Although the phantom bronze bells descending from the sky were unbelievably fast, within his Perception Domain, they appeared slowed by more than tenfold.
His movements were incomparably nimble as he continuously shifted direction, weaving through the phantom bells' attacks. A few breaths later, his figure disappeared into the forest, escaping the bell's area of influence.
Woo Tailin looked toward a certain spot in the void and asked helplessly, "Brother Xuan, did it work? That monster is way too ridiculous. We couldn't hold him back for long at all."
He stared in shock at Lin Zheyu, who had burst free from the bronze bell's coverage at terrifying speed before instantly using Earth Shrinking Technique and vanishing without a trace.
Energy fluctuations suddenly appeared within the void as Woo Yixuan's figure abruptly emerged. He let out a long breath. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his complexion looked somewhat pale.
After taking a moment to recover, Woo Yixuan grinned smugly. "Hehe, it worked!"
That bastard had nearly escaped just now. Fortunately, he had reacted decisively and used a secret art to accelerate himself. The price, however, had been rather steep. After returning, he would probably need two or three months of rest before recovering the bloodline power he had overdrawn.
"That's good. But we made quite a commotion this time. If he really dies, then surely..."
Kong Xia still looked somewhat hesitant. Before he could finish speaking, Woo Yixuan interrupted him.
"Heh, what are you afraid of? We're both descendants of an ancient martial family, yet you're acting this cowardly. It's embarrassing. He's nothing more than a former servant. Not to mention there's no evidence. At most, there'll only be suspicion.
"And even if there really was evidence, does the Martial Alliance truly dare to completely tear relations apart with us over a single Divine Repository realm martial artist?" Woo Yixuan sneered disdainfully.
