Escaping

Kalu landed and immediately shot towards Shi Yan like lightning, moving incredibly fast. A Martial Artist in the Innate Realm possessed deep Essence, far beyond what ordinary Martial Artists in the Postnatal Realm could compare to.

Mo Yan Yu's phoenix eyes glinted with hostility as she pursued relentlessly, ignoring the Mo Family's entourage behind her. She was determined to capture and kill Shi Yan.

Shi Yan's face was grim. He channeled all the Essence within his body into the meridians of his legs. With each forceful stomp of his foot, his lean body surged forward seven to eight meters, bringing him closer to the six White Blade Jade Spiders.

"Crunch! Crunch!"

The White Blade Jade Spiders dug their legs into the wet ground and paddled together, quickly burrowing into the dense undergrowth.

Shi Yan plunged headfirst into the bushes, five to six meters high. His expression grew more serious as he fixed his gaze on the lead White Blade Jade Spider, unfazed by its fearsomeness.

Upon entering the undergrowth, the White Blade Jade Spiders' speed suddenly decreased. Two of them abruptly turned back, their compound eyes gleaming, seemingly angered by the pursuit.

The White Blade Jade Spiders, unaware of Shi Yan's intentions, saw three humans chasing them and assumed the humans intended to fight them to the death. One White Blade Jade Spider let out a strange screech, and suddenly, the other four turned their heads, all focusing on Shi Yan.

Shi Yan's expression remained unchanged; his speed did not slow. Instead, he charged towards the White Blade Jade Spiders even faster.

His focus was unprecedentedly sharp. Shi Yan's mind was as clear as a mirror. Suddenly, he found himself entering that wondrous state again. The surrounding scenery seemed to become incredibly clear. He could even hear the low chirping exchanges of the White Blade Jade Spiders. The rushing wind generated by Kalu's high-speed movement behind him reached his ears without a hitch.

"Whoosh!"

As Shi Yan charged forward at breakneck speed, his body disturbed the air, creating a growing rush of wind.

Just as Shi Yan was about to charge directly into the center of the White Blade Jade Spiders, he suddenly and bizarrely changed direction in mid-air. He darted past the gleaming leg of a White Blade Jade Spider as it moved, narrowly slipping past the spider group and continuing to fly forward without stopping.

The White Blade Jade Spiders were enraged.

The six White Blade Jade Spiders, feeling they had been toyed with by this audacious human, let out a piercing shriek and simultaneously exerted their strength, suddenly giving chase to Shi Yan.

Kalu and Mo Yan Yu, charging into the undergrowth one after another, found Shi Yan's tracks gone. They only saw the six White Blade Jade Spiders running at full speed.

Kalu abruptly stopped, a cold glint in his eyes. "That brat must be hiding somewhere in the surrounding bushes."

"Could he have passed through the White Blade Jade Spider group and gotten ahead of them?" Mo Yan Yu asked, her delicate brows furrowed, uncertainty in her voice.

"Hmph," Kalu scoffed dismissively. "Even if he had the guts, he wouldn't survive among the White Blade Jade Spiders. Their eight legs in the undergrowth are like a meat grinder. This area is their territory. If he truly became a target for them, it would be a dead end."

"That's true," Mo Yan Yu nodded. She then parted ways with Kalu, and they began searching the surrounding bushes for Shi Yan's trace.

Shi Yan fled frantically through a patch of undergrowth in the Gloomy Forest, the six White Blade Jade Spiders hot on his heels, the distance between them steadily closing.

This area of undergrowth had no towering ancient trees, only continuous bushes. The bushes were not very sturdy; as the White Blade Jade Spiders moved their legs, the bushes snapped with a "crack," unable to withstand their assault.

Shi Yan couldn't find any high ground to stand on and could only run for his life, hoping to increase the distance between himself and the White Blade Jade Spiders.

Fortunately, a portion of a strange power had previously overflowed from the acupoints in his body, mixing with his Essence and making it more than twice as potent and pure. Otherwise, under the pursuit of the White Blade Jade Spiders, he feared he would have already collapsed and been hacked to death by their legs.

Essence surged through the meridians in his legs. Shi Yan felt as if his legs were inflated. With every stomp, he could leap forward several meters with the lightness of a swallow. He secretly marveled at the wondrous use of Essence, further strengthening his resolve to become a powerful Martial Artist.

He didn't know how long he had been running, but Shi Yan gradually began to feel his strength waning. The Essence in the meridians of his legs had significantly weakened after prolonged exertion, and his speed had also decreased.

His speed slowed, but the White Blade Jade Spiders showed no signs of slowing down. These beasts, relying on their physical strength, required no power support and could move like the wind through the undergrowth. The White Blade Jade Spiders, with their eight legs, were indeed deadly in the bushes.

The distance between them continued to shrink...

Shi Yan's nerves were taut, sweat beading on his back. If this continued, the White Blade Jade Spiders would catch him before long. By then, his Essence would be depleted; how could he fight them?

Damp moisture suddenly wafted from his left. Shi Yan, with his keen senses, took a few breaths, his expression brightening. He abruptly changed direction, charging straight towards the left.

Water!

Shi Yan's mental power was highly concentrated, his ears taking in every sound from the left. Indeed, after only a few minutes of running, he heard the pleasant sound of rushing water in the distance.

A few more minutes passed, and Shi Yan's vision suddenly opened up. Before him, a waterfall cascaded like a silver ribbon into a deep pool below. Pearls of water sprayed as the waterfall struck the massive rocks, and mist rose from the pool.

"Plunge!"

Shi Yan shot into the cool pool like an arrow, feeling an immense sense of relief. This time, I'm safe, he thought.

"Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!"

The six White Blade Jade Spiders rushed forward and, one after another, plunged into the deep pool. The spiders floated in the water like small boats, their eight sharp legs slashing through the water as they rapidly charged towards him.

Shi Yan, who had just caught his breath, cursed inwardly. Seeing the White Blade Jade Spiders getting closer, he quickly sank towards the bottom of the pool.

Holding his breath, Shi Yan submerged seven to eight meters in the pool before daring to look up.

From beneath the pool, Shi Yan could clearly see the White Blade Jade Spiders' sharp, knife-like legs. The six beasts continuously slashed their legs, driving them fiercely into the pool.

The White Blade Jade Spiders were not afraid of water and could float on the surface, but they seemed reluctant to sink to the bottom. The six beasts thrashed their legs on the surface, but they only swam around the top of the pool.

Only then did Shi Yan truly relax. Holding his breath, he stayed at the bottom of the pool.

Holding his breath underwater was a limit Shi Yan often challenged in the past. He had experience in this area; he could stay underwater for over ten minutes on a single breath.

The White Blade Jade Spiders didn't stay in the pool for long. After slashing around on the surface for a while and seeing that Shi Yan hadn't surfaced, they climbed ashore one by one.

Shi Yan floated up slightly from the bottom of the pool. When he could see the six White Blade Jade Spiders on the shore, he immediately stopped ascending and secretly observed the beasts on land from underwater.

The six beasts soon left.

Shi Yan surfaced, taking a deep breath of the humid air, and immediately sank back to the bottom. Only when his breath ran out would he pop his head up near a large rock at the edge of the pool, inhale, and then sink again, repeating the process.

He worried that the White Blade Jade Spiders might return, and even more so that Kalu and Mo Yan Yu might follow the spiders' tracks. That's why he was so cautious, not daring to emerge from the pool immediately.

Bottom of the pool.

Shi Yan held his breath, his mind racing to understand the anomaly in his acupoints from earlier. When the two Martial Artists died, he happened to be right beside them. It was as if their Essence and vital blood were absorbed by his acupoints, and he had clearly benefited from them.

While escaping with the White Blade Jade Spider, he distinctly felt a strange power emanating from within his acupoints. This peculiar power was incredibly pure, and after merging with the Essence within his body, it immediately more than doubled the volume of his internal Essence, leaving Shi Yan utterly perplexed.

Could it be that the power absorbed from the two Martial Artists by his acupoints was purified into pure Essence and then gifted back to his body?