Xu Qing, who had just stepped into the forbidden region, looked back and saw what was happening. His pupils constricted as an intense sensation of deadly crisis filled him. He even started trembling physically. Of course, it was all because… of the tall, burly old man in the red robe.

Foundation Establishment!

That was the main thing Xu Qing was thinking about. The immense pressure he felt caused him to tremble even a great distance away. It was truly stupefying.

This man’s identity was self-evident. He was the patriarch of the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect. The image of the golden vajra warrior behind him was especially noteworthy. It was like a heavenly warrior that caused Xu Qing’s eyes to sting when merely looking at it. It reminded him of his days in the slums when he caught sight of Qi Condensation cultivators from a distance. However, the sensation vastly surpassed that.

What was more, when looking at the patriarch, he felt like the man had somehow locked onto his position. Even after closing his eyes, an image of the man seemed burned into his mind. Worse, that image brought pain with it, causing Xu Qing to feel like his head was aching.

In some ways, this correlated to a mental attack. That said, because of Xu Qing’s experience struggling with control over his shadow, he was familiar with such sensations. Furthermore, after practicing the saber strike from the god-like statue, he had grown mentally resilient, so the pain wasn’t too much to deal with. Looking away from the patriarch, he started picking up speed.

As he ran through the forbidden region, he pulled a handful of his black boluses out and threw them behind him.

When they hit the ground, they exploded. Once the outer surface formed from seven-leaf clover sap vanished, the interior of black medicinal powder spread out, then turned into vortexes that attracted the surrounding mutagen.

Because he’d thrown about a dozen pills, it looked like a huge tide of mutagen rushing from all directions to the convergence point.

The grand elder who’d been about to rush into the forbidden region suddenly stopped and frowned. Not sure what was happening, he didn’t dare proceed.

Though the black boluses were the result of Xu Qing’s failed experiment to create white boluses, he was loath to waste them. However, in the heat of this moment, it seemed the perfect thing to do.

As Xu Qing fled, the mutagen behind him turned into an astonishing storm. Rumbling sounds filled the area, until the distant beams of light grew near.

Upon reaching the edge of the forbidden region, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior’s eyes flickered with killing intent, and instead of stopping to look around, he shot straight inside.

The two grand elders gritted their teeth and followed. They shot right through the convergence of mutagen, but when they came out the other side, what was waiting for them was a large cloud of poison gas.

“Patriarch,” cried the grand elder with the injured foot, “this little punk fights dirty!”

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior snorted coldly, then exhaled sharply, creating a blast of wind that spread out and dissipated the poison gas. At the same time, he grabbed the two grand elders, then continued after the fleeing Xu Qing.

It was already evening, and darkness approached. Everything was getting cold, and the mutagen was strong. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior wouldn’t have any problem continuing onward with flight, but the grand elders didn’t have that luxury. That was especially true of the injured one.

Thus, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior coldly said, “You two catch up. I’m going to nab the Kid!”

Tapping into his cultivation base, the patriarch threw his head back and roared. At the same time, the golden vajra warrior behind him started to grow taller, until it was ninety meters in height. Then the giant started running forward. Each stride took it the same distance as it was tall, and standing on its head was the patriarch.

Someone who couldn’t tap into spirit power wouldn’t be able to see the golden vajra warrior, so from a distance it would seem like the patriarch was floating through the air.

“The patriarch is so mighty!”

“The patriarch is going to bring this brat’s corpse back sooner rather than later.”

Both of the grand elders were visibly excited. As far as they were concerned, now that their patriarch was taking action personally, the Kid was going to die beyond the shadow of a doubt.

But then time started to go by. Two hours later, the two grand elders seemed less excited. Then they exchanged a bewildered glance, having long since lost sight of their patriarch. They really couldn’t figure out how a mere body cultivator in the Qi Condensation level could be so fast and skilled that the patriarch hadn’t dealt with him already. They were confused. But Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was even more confused.

Far from the location of the two grand elders, the patriarch was glaring in frustration at the small figure speeding madly away from him in the distance. Although there was still a speed difference between the two, he had to admit that his target was very fast. Furthermore, every time he launched a fist strike with the power of the golden vajra warrior projection, a glittering field of light would appear around the young man to protect him.

There would be a boom, and then the glittering field of light would fill with cracks, but at the same time, his target would use the momentum to get further away.

As night fell, the mutagen got stronger. And it seemed to be even worse on the path the young man took. Everything behind him was completely frigid.

It caused even the patriarch to worry a bit, and forced him to circle around the coldness. In turn, that slowed him down, and made the chase take even longer.

***

“Dammit!” Xu Qing muttered. His face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot as he pushed forward with all the speed he could muster. His left hand was clenched so tightly into a fist that the blood vessels bulged on the back. It was a ghastly sight. Inside that hand was a scorpion tail.

Back when he fought Flamecrow, he still had a bit of that tail left. However, as this chase continued, the venom was slowly draining out. There wasn’t much left. He knew it would only keep him going for a short time.

In his right hand was a paper talisman with barely visible calligraphy on it. That was the paper talisman he’d taken from Sergeant Thunder’s nemesis. By now, the calligraphy was almost gone.

However, thanks to the incredible speed he’d been maintaining, he had already spotted the familiar city ruins in the distance.

Eventually, the boost from the scorpion tail faded, and Xu Qing finally started to slow down. Gritting his teeth, he made one final leap, sailing through the stark moonlight and landing on the city wall. This… was the place Xu Qing had been trying to reach.

He had no way to fight Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior or the two grand elders, and therefore, he had no choice but to find heavenly timing, earthly advantage, and human harmony!

Heavenly timing was the mutagen in the forbidden region.

Earthly advantage was the familiar terrain.

And human harmony was the grues in the city and the mutant beasts in the city magistrate’s manor.

By using these advantages, he hoped to get out of the sticky situation he was in. Once in the ruins, his speed slowed down significantly. Then he heard a rumbling sound behind him, whereupon a huge fist pierced through the air and slammed into him.

RUMBLE!

The defensive barrier provided by the paper talisman shattered.

Blood sprayed out of Xu Qing’s mouth as he tumbled forward, his internal organs quivering as they sustained serious damage. The pain caused his vision to swim, but he gritted his teeth and ran frantically forward through the familiar streets. Moments later, he disappeared into the ruins.

Not long after, the red-robed Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior appeared on the scene. His expression was cold as he rolled his right hand to loosen his wrist. The punch he had just launched from a distance had been blocked by a talisman treasure. However, he knew that not all the force had been rebuffed. And he was convinced that a mere Qi Condensation cultivator who was hit by that blow would either die or be severely injured.

The patriarch shot into the city. However, the moment he was inside, his face fell as his ears picked up on the sound of weeping.

Then, a sinister, cold aura drifted out from the street Xu Qing had just disappeared down.

On this dark night, within the sinister moonlight and icy cold, a woman appeared at the end of the street. Given how far away she was, she seemed small. But as she walked forward, she grew larger and larger, until she was taller than the surrounding buildings. Soon, she was fully thirty meters tall. She wore a white gown, had long black hair, and had… no facial features. Her face was completely empty, as if it didn’t exist. However, her long garment had countless human faces on it, all of them weeping. The weeping sounds mixed together into a mournful sound that echoed in the area. Surrounded by that sound, the faceless woman in white slowly walked toward Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.

As she neared, the weeping grew louder.

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior sucked in a breath. Despite how valiant he was, his heart pounded. He knew what this woman was, and as that realization sank in, he felt a growing sense of reverence.

Without an ounce of hesitation, he turned and fled.

He didn’t continue his pursuit of Xu Qing, but instead, chose a different avenue to go deeper into the city.

This brat is in the Qi Condensation level. He doesn’t have much chance of surviving the dangers here. But I’m not going to rest easy until I can confirm he’s dead. The patriarch’s eyes shone with killing intent.

Based on his past experience, he knew that the Kid was someone that… if he didn’t kill him right now, would return years later and slap him to death. With great care, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior proceeded deeper into the city ruins.

There were two options: find his target alive, or recover his dead corpse.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing was back in his little cave that he had used as a hiding place in the past. Sitting there cross-legged, he breathed hard until he coughed up some clotted blood. Only then did some color return to his face.

Wiping the blood from his mouth, he looked grimly out the crack to the outside. Then he gritted his teeth and started doing breathing exercises with the Sea and Mountain Incantation.

Thanks to all the effort fleeing, as soon as he recovered, he found himself at a breakthrough point with his cultivation base.

I’m going to reach the seventh level of the Sea and Mountain Incantation! Without hesitation, he attempted the breakthrough.

In the sixth level, he could project the spectral image of a hobgoblin. At that point, he was able to kill the camp owner, who was in the eighth level of Qi Condensation. However, someone in the ninth level would be much more difficult to deal with. Because of that, he was eager to see what battle prowess he could attain in the seventh level.

My Sea and Mountain Incantation is uniquely incredible thanks to the blessing of the violet crystal!

Taking a deep breath, he endured the pain in his chest and continued with his breathing exercises.