Escaping Death

Facing the attacks raining down from all directions, Fu Yanqing remained composed, calmly chanting an incantation.

The next second, the flames on the ground before him suddenly surged to the height of a man. In the blink of an eye, they condensed into three solid flame shields, effortlessly blocking this wave of attacks one by one.

Han Xuanwu's face filled with despair at the sight.

But just then, Zhao Sheng suddenly leaped to his side and shouted excitedly, "Do you have any water-ice type Spell Talismans? We're saved!"

Hearing this, Han Xuanwu was overjoyed and quickly yelled, "Yes, yes!"

As he spoke, he pulled a thick stack of Spell Talismans from his waist as though performing a magic trick.

Fortunately, Han Xuanwu was not particularly skilled at gathering herbs. To support his cultivation, he worked part-time as a secondhand dealer, keeping a constant supply of basic cultivation materials such as Spell Talismans and medicinal pills.

"I still have eight water-ice Spell Talismans. But I don't have much Spiritual Power left."

"Enough to activate all eight?"

"Enough!"

"Good! In a moment, wherever I tell you to throw them, use your fastest speed to smash them all out. Understand?"

"Mm, understood!"

With life and death hanging in the balance, Zhao Sheng and Han Xuanwu spoke at breakneck speed, settling their plan in just a few sentences.

"Follow me!"

Zhao Sheng swept his gaze across the surroundings, then immediately pointed at a patch of ground several yards away.

Flames rolled there in waves, and the ground had nearly been burned into magma.

"Throw them!"

Though Han Xuanwu could not understand why, he did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately mustered his last bit of Spiritual Power and activated every water-ice Spell Talisman.

In an instant, three or four azure water balls the size of vats, seven or eight ice arrows as long as an arm, and dozens—nearly a hundred—Mystic Ice Needles came crashing down upon the glowing-red ground.

In that instant, it was like pouring ice water into scorching magma. Vast amounts of grayish-white vapor erupted and billowed up, filling the space within several yards in the blink of an eye.

The thick mist not only swallowed Zhao Sheng and Han Xuanwu, but also blocked Fu Yanqing's view.

The whole process seemed long, but in truth, only a few seconds had passed.

Hiss! The magma-like ground rapidly cooled and solidified, revealing gray-white stone once more. Then, with a series of cracks, countless tiny fissures suddenly split open across it.

"Ah! I understand now!"

Ignoring Han Xuanwu's wild joy, Zhao Sheng immediately drew a three-foot Soft Sword from his waist and poured Innate True Qi into it. The flexible blade instantly straightened, hard as steel.

He reversed his grip, pointed the tip downward, and viciously drove it into the ground.

With a soft crack.

Most of the Soft Sword's blade sank into the stone.

Gripping the hilt, Zhao Sheng slashed with all his strength. The blade cut horizontally and vertically again and again. In barely two seconds, the three-foot-thick stone ground beneath his feet had been carved into countless fragments, while the nearby cracks rapidly lengthened and deepened.

The next moment, dense cracking sounds rang out. The ground within a radius of two zhang suddenly shattered apart.

The ground instantly collapsed. Zhao Sheng felt emptiness beneath his feet, and his body fell alongside countless broken stones into a bottomless abyss.

Saved!

He shouted inwardly, unable to keep the wild delight from his face.

"No!"

At that moment, an utterly unwilling roar came from above. Immediately afterward, seven or eight Flame Beasts pounced down from the stone platform, looking crazed enough to fight until death.

The mountain wind howled and beasts shrieked. A red streak tore through the night like lightning, crossing more than ten zhang in an instant and slashing into the Defensive Light Shield before Zhao Sheng.

Crack! Crack!

The Defensive Light Shield abruptly shattered into countless motes of light.

The red streak slowed slightly, but it still slashed toward Zhao Sheng's head at a speed no ordinary person could see.

As though he had caught the scent of death, Zhao Sheng's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints. The red streak in his vision suddenly slowed by more than tenfold, its blade becoming distinctly visible as it flew through the air at a normal speed.

Zhao Sheng's heart was clear as a mirror, reflecting the flying sword's path. His right hand thrust the Soft Sword out with all its strength, its tip striking the flying sword's tip with incomparable precision.

Needlepoint against wheat awn—a full sixty years of Innate True Qi erupted with a thunderous burst!

In that instant, an immense impact traveled through the blade into Zhao Sheng's body.

His body shook violently, and the Soft Sword that had accompanied him for over a decade shattered inch by inch.

Fortunately, that pale-red flying sword was finally knocked away as well.

And thanks to that life-risking strike, Zhao Sheng's falling speed suddenly increased by a great deal.

In just a few breaths, he plunged into the sea of clouds below, his vision blocked by layers upon layers of mist.

Only then did ripples return to Zhao Sheng's heart. He knew he had narrowly escaped disaster.

After falling another two thousand zhang, he swiftly spread the Flying Wings at his sides. Riding the wind, he silently merged into the dark night sky and fled without a trace.

More than a decade later.

Zhao Sheng was curled up inside a tree hollow, his expression exceedingly tense.

He held his breath and focused, not daring to move a muscle.

The reason was that, on a massive branch as thick as an embrace just over a zhang away, a colossal creature was crouching.

It was an enormous flying beast with a wingspan of several zhang. Its crocodile-dragon-like head was layered with dense dark-red horn scales, yet they could not conceal its distinctly crocodilian jaws, draconic eyes, and domineering fangs. The farther the horn scales spread across its body, the more vivid their color became, until it looked as though it had been drenched in blood. With the slightest shudder of its body, a veil of bloody light spread through the mist.

This enormous beast was called a Bloodwing Flying Lizard, a demonic bird found only on the shaded side of Heaven Pillar Mountain. Ferocious and belligerent by nature, it could not only tear apart tigers, eagles, flood dragons, and pythons alive—its Combat Strength was even comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Zhao Sheng's small frame was far too frail. He absolutely could not withstand even a single claw strike from this demonic bird.

After quite a while, as waves of foul stench flooded Zhao Sheng's nostrils, faint sounds drifted out from the thick fog, as if some enormous creature were approaching the great tree.

The Bloodwing Flying Lizard let out a shriek, spread its wings, and swooped down through wind and mist. Beneath its claws was a gigantic Mountain Ape that had just emerged.

But this Mountain Ape was built like a mountain itself, with four arms and inborn, unmatched strength.

With an enraged roar, it leaped three zhang into the air and pounced onto the Bloodwing Flying Lizard, throwing a punch. The two vicious creatures immediately began battling amid the clouds and fog, flesh, blood, and shattered scales scattering through the air.

While the two monsters were locked in fierce combat and had no time to notice their surroundings, Zhao Sheng secretly crawled out of the tree hollow and silently fled into the thicker mist farther away.

As the saying went, walk the night roads long enough, and eventually you would meet a ghost.

As the pioneer of wingsuit mode, Zhao Sheng had been incredibly unlucky to encounter Cloud Sea Turbulence during yesterday's flight.

Cloud Sea Turbulence was a common climatic phenomenon on Heaven Pillar Mountain. Extremely dangerous and complex, it was like a hurricane or tornado; once caught in it, even Foundation Establishment cultivators found it difficult to break free in time.

After Zhao Sheng was accidentally swept into it, his body completely lost control, tumbling and spinning endlessly through the turbulence.

Wave after wave of dizzying vertigo left him disoriented. He had no idea how long he had flown within the turbulence before a sharp pain struck his head and he lost consciousness.

When he woke, he was dumbfounded. It was not because his body had nearly fallen from the vines, but because he discovered that thick fog blanketed everything around him.

Zhao Sheng struggled to his feet from among the vines, slowly making his way to an ancient tree beside the mountain wall as he cautiously observed his surroundings.

The rocks, vegetation, and moss were all common sights on Heaven Pillar Mountain.

Everything seemed perfectly normal?