Escape

The moment Kalu landed, he shot toward Shi Yan like a bolt of lightning. His speed was astonishing. A Martial Artist in the Innate Realm possessed far deeper essence than an ordinary Martial Artist in the Postnatal Realm.

Mo Yan Yu's phoenix eyes gleamed with Baleful Intent. She pursued him relentlessly, not even bothering with the Mo Family's group behind her. She was determined to catch and kill Shi Yan.

Shi Yan's face darkened. He poured all the essence in his body into the meridians in his legs, stomping hard with every step. His lean body surged forward seven or eight meters at a time, drawing closer and closer to the six White Blade Jade Spiders.

"Click-clack! Click-clack!"

The White Blade Jade Spiders' legs dug into the wet ground. All eight legs moved in unison, and they quickly disappeared into the dense undergrowth.

Shi Yan plunged into the five- or six-meter-high thicket, his expression growing more grave as he fixed his eyes on the White Blade Jade Spider in front. He paid no heed to how terrifying it was.

As soon as they entered the thicket, the White Blade Jade Spiders' speed abruptly slowed. Two of them suddenly turned around, their compound eyes glittering as if the pursuit had stirred their anger.

The White Blade Jade Spiders had no way of knowing what Shi Yan was thinking. Seeing three humans chasing them, they assumed the humans meant to fight them to the death. One White Blade Jade Spider let out a strange, piercing cry. At once, the other four turned around, and all six fixed their eyes on Shi Yan.

Shi Yan's expression did not change. He didn't slow down—instead, he charged even faster toward the White Blade Jade Spiders.

His focus reached an unprecedented intensity. His mind was clear as a mirror, and suddenly he found himself in that wondrous state again. Everything around him seemed to grow startlingly clear. He could hear the White Blade Jade Spiders' low calls as they communicated, and the wind howling behind him as Kalu raced along reached his ears without the slightest sound lost.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

As Shi Yan hurtled forward, his body drove the air aside, and the rushing sound grew louder and louder.

Just as Shi Yan was about to charge headlong into the middle of the White Blade Jade Spiders, his body abruptly shifted direction in midair. He darted past one White Blade Jade Spider's gleaming, scythe-like legs, narrowly slipping around the edge of the group before shooting onward without stopping.

The White Blade Jade Spiders were enraged.

The six White Blade Jade Spiders seemed to think that this audacious human had made fools of them. With a piercing shriek, they all sprang into motion and suddenly chased after Shi Yan.

Kalu and Mo Yan Yu charged into the thicket one after the other, only to find that Shi Yan had vanished. The six White Blade Jade Spiders were racing away at full speed.

Kalu forced himself to stop, cold light gleaming in his eyes. "That brat must be hiding somewhere in the surrounding thicket."

"Could he have passed through the White Blade Jade Spider group and gotten ahead of them?" Mo Yan Yu asked uncertainly, her slender brows slightly furrowed.

"Hmph." Kalu looked disdainful. "Even if he had the guts, he couldn't survive in the middle of that group. In the thicket, the White Blade Jade Spiders' eight legs are like meat grinders. This thicket is their territory. If he really became their target, he'd be dead either way."

"True." Mo Yan Yu nodded. Then she and Kalu split up to search for Shi Yan in the surrounding thicket.

Shi Yan sprinted blindly through a thicket in the Gloomy Forest, with six White Blade Jade Spiders hot on his heels. The distance between them was steadily shrinking.

There were no towering ancient trees in this stretch of thicket, only endless shrubs. They weren't particularly tough; the White Blade Jade Spiders' legs sliced through them with a crack, and the shrubs couldn't withstand their assault.

Unable to find a higher place to set foot, Shi Yan could only run for his life, hoping to put more distance between himself and the White Blade Jade Spiders.

Fortunately, some strange power had previously seeped from the acupoints in his body and mingled with his essence, making it more than twice as abundant and pure. Otherwise, under the White Blade Jade Spiders' pursuit, he would likely have already run out of strength and been hacked to death beneath their flailing legs.

Essence surged through the meridians in both legs. Shi Yan felt as if they had been inflated; every time he stomped, he could dart several meters forward, light as a swallow. He marveled inwardly at the wonders of essence, and his resolve to become a powerful Martial Artist grew stronger.

He had no idea how long he had been running when Shi Yan began to feel his strength give out. After being drained for so long, the essence in the meridians of his legs had weakened considerably, and his speed had begun to drop.

His pace slowed, but the White Blade Jade Spiders did not. These demonic beasts relied on their powerful bodies and needed no energy to race through the thicket like the wind. With eight legs, the White Blade Jade Spiders were truly deadly in this terrain.

The distance between them kept shrinking...

Shi Yan's nerves were taut, and sweat trickled down his back. At this rate, the White Blade Jade Spiders would catch him before long. Once his essence was exhausted, what could he possibly use to fight them?

A damp, watery scent suddenly drifted from the left. Shi Yan's senses were sharp; after taking two breaths, his face lit up. He abruptly changed course and dashed toward the left.

Water!

Shi Yan focused his mind and listened to every sound on his left. Sure enough, after only a few minutes of running, he heard the pleasant rush of water splashing in the distance.

A few minutes later, his view suddenly opened up. Ahead, a waterfall plunged like a silver ribbon into a deep pool. It pounded against enormous rocks, sending pearl-like droplets flying as mist hung over the water.

"Splash!"

Shi Yan's body shot into the icy pool like an arrow. His whole body relaxed, and he thought, I'm safe now.

"Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop!"

The six White Blade Jade Spiders charged in one after another, leaping into the deep pool as well. They floated on the surface like little boats, hacking at the water with their eight sharp legs as they rapidly pursued him.

Shi Yan had only just caught his breath when he cursed under his breath. Seeing the White Blade Jade Spiders drawing closer, he hurriedly sank toward the bottom of the pool.

Holding his breath, Shi Yan sank seven or eight meters before daring to look up.

From beneath the water, Shi Yan could clearly see the six White Blade Jade Spiders' knife-sharp legs. The six beasts hacked at the water again and again, plunging their legs viciously into the pool.

The White Blade Jade Spiders weren't afraid of water, and their bodies could float on the surface. But they seemed afraid to sink to the bottom. The six beasts slashed about with their legs, yet remained on the surface, swimming back and forth.

Only then did Shi Yan finally relax. Holding his breath, he stayed beneath the water.

Holding his breath underwater was an endurance challenge Shi Yan had often tested himself with in the past, so he had experience. With a single breath, he could stay underwater for more than ten minutes.

The White Blade Jade Spiders didn't stay at the pool for long. After slashing around on the surface for a while and seeing that Shi Yan still hadn't come up, they climbed onto the bank one after another.

Shi Yan rose a little from the bottom, but as soon as he could see the six White Blade Jade Spiders on the bank, he stopped and watched them from below.

The six beasts soon left.

Shi Yan surfaced and took a deep breath of the damp air, then immediately sank to the bottom again. Once he had used up his breath, he would surface beside a large rock at the edge of the pool, take a breath, and sink again. He repeated this over and over.

He feared the White Blade Jade Spiders might return, and worried that Kalu and Mo Yan Yu would follow their tracks and come after him. That was why he was so cautious, not daring to climb out of the pool right away.

At the bottom of the pool.

Holding his breath, Shi Yan began to ponder the strange changes in his acupoints. When those two Martial Artists died, he had been right beside them. The dead men's essence and blood seemed to have been sucked away by his acupoints. He had clearly benefited from them.

As he fled alongside the White Blade Jade Spiders, he had distinctly felt a strange power seeping out of his acupoints. That power was exceptionally pure. Once it blended with the essence in his body, his essence immediately grew more than twice as strong, leaving Shi Yan utterly baffled.

Could it be that the power absorbed by the acupoints from those two Martial Artists had been purified into pure energy, then given back to his body?