Chapter 2923: Chapter 2923
Ye Liuyun and the others were being pursued by every disciple and a large number of elders from the An Family. If they were caught up with, even if Ye Liuyun utilized his temporal powers and the white light, it would still consume an enormous amount of his profound energy.
The three Tang Family disciples trailing behind him were equally bewildered. Just moments ago, they had been worried that the elders would attack them, but suddenly, all those elders had vanished.
"Huh? Where did those elders go?" Tang Qianyu muttered in confusion, unable to hold back her question. Her steps faltered again, causing her to fall even further behind Ye Liuyun and the others.
*What an idiot! Now’s not the time for questions!*
Ye Liuyun, irritated by her repeated delays, couldn’t be bothered to deal with her anymore. He didn’t even bother responding, simply continuing to sprint forward.
Tang Xinyao quickly realized that Ye Liuyun was annoyed with Tang Qianyu. Even in a life-or-death escape, Tang Qianyu still had the luxury of idle thoughts.
*Sigh, Qianyu-jie is strong, but her brain just doesn’t work fast enough!*
She thought about slowing down to wait for Tang Qianyu, but Ye Liuyun, through the slave mark, forced her to keep moving.
"Don’t stop. If we delay any longer, I won’t be able to save you! The entire An Family—elders and disciples—are right behind us, and there are ambushes ahead!"
Helpless, Tang Xinyao could only shout back while running, "Qianyu-jie, hurry! If you lag any more, it’ll be too late!"
But Tang Qianyu had already lost too much time. The An Family disciples had closed the distance.
"Tang Qianyu! Your Tang Family has gone too far! Since you dared to come, don’t even think about escaping now!"
One of the An Family’s elite disciples, faster than the rest, was nearly upon her. Without hesitation, he hurled a treasure straight at her.
Tang Qianyu finally snapped out of her hesitation—she was moving far too slowly. With a sweep of her divine sense, she detected the swarm of martial cultivators closing in from behind.
And it wasn’t just the pursuers at her back. Elders were already rushing in from both flanks to cut her off. Ye Liuyun and the others had already broken free from the encirclement, but at her current speed, there was no way she could escape now.
It dawned on her—her repeated hesitations had left her behind. Ye Liuyun and the rest were sprinting ahead without so much as a backward glance, clearly unwilling to wait for her.
Her true energy was nearly depleted, and the enemy’s artifact was already hurtling toward her. If she didn’t act now, escape would be impossible.
The An family had already recognized her. If she were captured, they would surely use her to provoke the Tang family. But if she escaped, the Ans would have no proof—nothing to pin on her.
Gritting her teeth, she swung her spear backward, deflecting the incoming artifact. Then, with a surge of desperation, she burned her core essence, her speed skyrocketing as she shot past the two intercepting elders in a blur, racing toward Ye Liuyun’s group.
Ye Liuyun and Tang Xinyao had been watching her, certain she wouldn’t make it out.
*"That fool finally wised up!"* Ye Liuyun exhaled slightly in relief. If someone could be saved, he wouldn’t abandon them.
*"Qianyu-jie... why did it have to come to this? Why not just run sooner?"* Tang Xinyao sighed inwardly, helpless.
Burning one’s core essence was a desperate gamble—it damaged the very foundation of cultivation. At best, it meant regressing in strength; at worst, it doomed a cultivator to stagnation for life. But Tang Qianyu was clearly fighting for survival, unwilling to fall into the An family’s hands.
*"Master..."* Tang Xinyao opened her mouth to plead with Ye Liuyun.
But he cut her off sharply, snapping, *"No time for talk! If we delay even a second, we’ll be burning our cores dry for nothing!"*
Just as Ye Liuyun’s focus wavered, another elder—a Unity Realm expert—suddenly closed the distance, launching a soul attack at him.
With the gap still wide enough, Tang Xinyao managed to send a frantic mental message: *"That’s the elder who controlled us last time!"*
She wanted to warn Ye Liuyun—to dodge. Because that elder’s soul power was terrifyingly strong.
Yet Ye Liuyun neither dodged nor evaded. As he continued running, he shot another streak of black light at the elder, instantly obliterating the second soul within the elder’s consciousness. Meanwhile, the elder’s invading soul that had surged into his own mind was devoured by him, replenishing his spiritual energy.
*Just how strong is he?!* Tang Xinyao couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
She had already noticed earlier that the white light Ye Liuyun shot came from his eyes. Now, even this black light was emitted the same way. And against these powerful elders, each strike was a fatal blow.
At that moment, Tang Qianyu caught up. However, having just burned her core energy, she was severely drained. The moment she stopped exerting force, she could barely even sustain flight.
Tang Xinyao wanted to beg Ye Liuyun to let her pull Tang Qianyu along in their escape. But before she could speak, Ye Liuyun moved swiftly, grabbing Tang Qianyu’s arm and yanking her forward, dragging her along as he continued charging outward. Only then did Tang Xinyao feel somewhat relieved.
Tang Qianyu hastily thanked him, "Thank you—"
But Ye Liuyun cut her off, annoyed that she was distracting him from scanning their surroundings. "Shut up. Do you ever stop talking? Don’t you realize we’re running for our lives?"
His sharp rebuke flushed Tang Qianyu’s face crimson. She immediately tried to wrench her arm free, thinking she’d rather be captured by the An family than be rescued by him.
Yet Ye Liuyun paid her no further attention, gripping her tightly as he sprinted forward at full speed. Tang Qianyu, having just exhausted her core energy, had no strength left to resist. In fact, Ye Liuyun didn’t even register her feeble struggle.
"You two, go ahead!" Ye Liuyun was nearly at the breach Qiong Qi had torn open and ordered his clone and the beast to exit first and stand guard.
His second clone had already warned them—An family elders and disciples stationed outside the secret realm were rushing toward them. They must have detected the breach and guessed their escape route.
Once the clone and Qiong Qi emerged, Ye Liuyun immediately stashed the beast into his spatial world and kept watch over the An family patriarch with his golden pupils.
The moment Ye Liuyun and the others burst through the breach, the An family patriarch and several elders closed in. Without hesitation, the clone activated his temporal power, firing streaks of white light from his eyes and instantly killing the seven nearest elders. With a wave of his hand, he collected all the corpses into his Interspatial Ring.
The An family patriarch never imagined he would meet his end at the hands of a mere Tang family disciple.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun and the others, having cleared the formation barrier, raced onward without pause, fleeing straight into the starry void.
At that moment, Tang Xinyao and Tang Hao were on the verge of exhausting their true essence.
"Master, I can’t run anymore!" Tang Xinyao sent a mental message to Ye Liuyun.
In response, Ye Liuyun slowed his pace slightly, grabbed hold of Tang Xinyao once more, and with one hand pulling each of them, continued racing toward the starry void.
"Master, my true essence is almost depleted too!" Tang Hao immediately transmitted his own plea.
No sooner had he spoken than an invisible force suddenly seized his arm, yanking him forward into the vast expanse of stars. Startled, he couldn’t see anyone—yet he could distinctly feel the grip of a human hand dragging him along.
