Chapter 831: Closing In
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As Dou Zhong ventured some distance away from where they were hiding, he managed to attract the attention of a Martial Dipper Realm expert.
Ever since they left the hidden valley, Dou Zhong seemed as though he had something on his mind, but he never lost his sense of reason. As such, he didn’t venture too far away.
However, he seemed to be down on his luck that day. He didn’t find any opportunities despite combing through the surrounding hundreds of miles. He didn’t even find a single low-level spiritual herb!
Of course, at his current cultivation level, he might not care about picking those low-level herbs if they appeared, but not finding any was another story altogether.
The real problem came when he was returning to the hidden valley.
Without any warning, a region of space not too far away from him started to collapse, and strong spatial fluctuations rushed in his direction.
Hastily summoning his Extermination Origin Protection Barrier, he circulated his inner qi and sent an attack in that direction. At the same time, he tried to run in the opposite direction. In a state of panic, he failed to judge the proper direction he was running.
With the pressing and folding of space, a bronze book that was pretty thick fell from the cracks and smashed into his protection barrier.
His heart trembled slightly as he kept the book. He didn’t care about its contents at the moment as he continued to escape from the spatial fluctuations. Only after getting out of the range of danger, he discovered that he was more than 800 miles away from the hidden valley.
Before he could heave a sigh of relief, the always careful and level-headed Dou Zhong released his divine perception to inspect his surroundings.
The next second, he discovered a terrifying aura that wasn’t too far away. Feeling the strong aura wasn’t as scary as realizing that the owner of the aura had also located him and had locked on to his location.
The owner of such a powerful aura had to be a Martial Dipper Realm expert, and there was only a single thought left in Dou Zhong’s mind. Run!
As the Martial Dipper Realm expert was attracted to the region by the collapsed space, he noticed everything that happened when Dou Zhong tried to escape from the spatial fluctuations earlier. There was no way the expert would allow him to easily escape.
“Hehe, junior, leave the bronze book behind and this old man will let you live!” The voice of the Martial Dipper Realm expert rang in Dou Zhong’s ears.
Obviously, Dou Zhong wouldn’t believe what the other party was saying. After all, who could be sure that the Martial Dipper Realm expert would let him live after he did what he was told? As he felt the terrifying aura closing in, he turned and flew in a certain direction.
Understanding that he was close to 1000 miles away from the hidden valley at that point, trying to return would be pointless. He wouldn’t be able to make it in time, but more importantly, he would jeopardize everyone there.
Chu Jia might have said that she would be able to resist the attack from a Martial Dipper Realm expert with the formation she laid down, but that was a mere formation! How many moves would it be able to resist before it completely crumbled?
Fortunately, the Martial Dipper Realm expert was slightly cautious due to the collapsed space earlier. He didn’t dare to travel through the void to catch up with Dou Zhong immediately. He could only rely on flight as he chased after the Martial Extermination Realm Dou Zhong. His actions allowed Dou Zhong to find a chance to catch his breath.
Dou Zhong quickly thought of something. The moment he flew out of the region of unstable space, the Martial Dipper Realm expert would be able to catch up and kill him by traveling through the void. If he continued to run around the area, the other party would be forced to fly after him and he would be able to buy a bunch of time.
The Martial Dipper Realm expert quickly realized what Dou Zhong was saying. He sneered softly, “Petty tricks... Let’s see how long you can last.”
After he spoke, his aura burst forth and tried to disrupt Dou Zhong’s divine perception. It managed to suppress Dou Zhong’s inner qi as well.
With his heart sinking, Dou Zhong’s brain was working in overdrive to think of a way to escape. It didn’t take long before his hands started fumbling through the talismans he received from the Talisman Hall before he left for the trip.
He didn’t even need to bother with rank three talismans at the moment. Of the rank four talismans he had, he was sure almost none of them would be able to threaten the Martial Dipper Realm expert behind him. However, he discovered that there were 2 rank four talismans he didn’t recognize, and one of them was the rank four Teleportation Talisman, and the other was a rank four Five Element Evasion Talisman.
Holding the rank four Teleportation Talisman, he recalled Shang Xia’s serious warning about not using it in the Celestial Remains unless he had no other choice.
Even though he never saw eye to eye with Shang Xia since they were students, he didn’t dare to play around and ignore Shang Xia’s warnings.
Keeping the rank four Teleportation Talisman, he quickly reached for the Five Element Evasion Talisman.
It was a talisman Shang Xia just came up with, and Dou Zhong wasn’t actually very confident he would be able to use it to escape from the pursuit. However, the space around him was starting to solidify again after the spatial fluctuations swept through it and the Martial Dipper Realm expert was quickly gaining on him. He had gotten so close that he would be able to grab Dou Zhong soon.
Just as a grin appeared on the Martial Dipper Realm expert’s face and was about to grab Dou Zhong, he felt as though the scene before him blurred slightly as his prey disappeared from right under his eyes.
The Martial Dipper Realm expert was shocked, and a look of amazement flashed in his eyes. He didn’t feel the slightest spatial ripple when Dou Zhong disappeared, and that meant that the other party didn’t travel through space.
That’s not possible!
How can a Martial Extermination Realm cultivator disappear from a Martial Dipper Realm expert’s divine will without the slightest sign?!
Whatever it was, the truth was displayed right in front of his eyes. The junior in the Martial Extermination Realm who obtained the bronze book vanished!
Still reluctant to accept what had happened, the Martial Dipper Realm expert released his divine will and carefully scanned the area. He searched through the surrounding 100 miles and could only return empty-handed.
Even so, he didn’t give up completely. His instincts told him that losing the bronze book meant that he had lost a massive opportunity.
As such, he could only widen his search range...
In a deserted patch of land 500 miles away from the hidden valley, Dou Zhong crawled out from the earth with his face filled with dirt. Using whatever inner qi left in his body to get rid of the dirt and dust on him, he carefully determined which direction he should be traveling in and he flew towards Chu Jia’s protection formation.
Obviously, the rank four Five Element Evasion Talisman Shang Xia gave Dou Zhong was of the Earth Element. The effects were exactly as Shang Xia had described. Even if they ran into a Martial Dipper Realm expert, they would be able to escape easily.
After experiencing the mythical Five Element Evasion Talisman, Dou Zhong couldn’t help but reach into his Spatial Pouch to touch the bronze book he obtained earlier. He wondered what it could be used for.
“What happened?!” A voice rang in his ears as Sun Haiwei rushed towards him from another direction.
Dou Zhong couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief after seeing who it was. “I managed to obtain a strange bronze book from the void earlier and I was hunted down by a Martial Dipper Realm expert. Fortunately, I managed to escape with the rank four evasion talisman Hall Master Shang gave me.”
Sun Haiwei discovered the weak aura around Dou Zhong and understood that he definitely exhausted a huge amount of inner qi. He didn’t seem to be in any shape to fly through the air from how wobbly he was. Wrapping him up in her extermination qi, she brought him back to the hidden valley.
“We need to inform everyone else. The Martial Dipper Realm expert might continue looking for me and rush over...” Dou Zhong was using several low-grade essence crystals to restore his energy, but he didn’t forget to remind Sun Haiwei of the danger they were in.
Naturally, she didn’t need his reminder. She sent out several transmission talismans earlier and she reassured, “Relax. The rest of them will definitely head back to the hidden valley after learning what had happened. Hall Master Chu and Instructor Liu will also make the necessary preparations. Oh right, do you know who the person chasing you was?”
A Martial Dipper Realm expert stood at the peak of the Azure Ascension World, and the Tongyou Institution had detailed records of famous experts at that level.
Even though the Tongyou Institution’s rise came a little later, unless the person was an old monster who had been in hiding a long time ago, the Tongyou Institution would have been able to dig up their information.
“It’s...” Dou Zhong wanted to say something, but he felt a chill running down his heart. A mocking voice came through the void the next second. “Hehe... Little junior, looks like you’re here. Let’s see how you escape this time!”
“Hurry, run!”
Sun Haiwei didn’t need his reminder this time either. She rushed back towards Chu Jia and the rest while sending a sword strike into the void to agitate the space around them.
With Sun Haiwei’s true strength, she might have been able to cause a small-scale spatial fluctuation, but the area would be greatly constrained. However, the space in the Celestial Remains was truly too weak. The effect she caused was no weaker than if a Martial Dipper Realm expert made a move.
Even so, it wouldn’t be possible for them to escape from a Martial Dipper Realm expert if they focused solely on running. Not to mention the fact that Dou Zhong was currently a burden who couldn’t fly.
At the critical moment, a whip emerged from the void and wrapped around Dou Zhong’s shoulder to pull him away.
Without Dou Zhong dragging her down, Sun Haiwei’s speed more than doubled. However, she didn’t fly directly towards where she was flying earlier. Instead, she turned and rushed in another direction.
Tens of miles away, Liu Qinglan stared at the Martial Dipper Realm expert who was pressing closer and she yelled, “Mister Han Mo, are you really going to make things difficult for my Tongyou Institution?”
A frosty and hoarse voice emerged from the void. “Hand over the bronze book the brat took earlier and I won’t mess with you juniors any longer!”
“Mister Han Mo, you better think this through. There isn’t a Holy Land supporting you and if you offend us today, the Martial Dipper Realm experts of my institution might go around looking for you in the future.” Liu Qinglan didn’t back down.
“Heh, you’re just a bunch of flies who lost the protection of your Martial Dipper Realm expert. If I kill all of you now, it doesn’t matter if Kou Chongxue or Shang Xia tried to investigate the matter. None of them would know that I did it!” A snort came from the void.
Turning solemn, Liu Qinglan grabbed Dou Zhong and pulled him back and a thick mist appeared behind her and covered their presence.
“A formation?” A strange gasp came from the void. The appearance of the mist caught him off guard and it assimilated into the ball of mist he created earlier.
Rumble...
A deep blast came from the void and the mist that covered a massive area started to churn. No one could tell what happened within.
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