With Shui Linglong on his back, Lin Ye looked like a blood-soaked demon god. Every step left a trail of blood as he hacked a path through the crowd.
He didn't slow for an instant. He charged toward the opening in the formation on the side of the camp, fighting his way forward like a man possessed!
"Stop him! Don't let him get away!"
"That's the brat who killed several of our brothers! Capture him, and the deputy hall master will reward you handsomely!"
More Blood Fiend Hall disciples surged toward Lin Ye from every direction, throwing themselves at him without a thought for their lives.
Blades flashed, swords carved through the air, palms struck, and poisoned hidden weapons rained down on him like a storm.
Lin Ye's gaze was icy. The mysterious seed inside him spun at dizzying speed, and an invisible force field solidified around him, deflecting most of the attacks. He dodged the rest with ghostlike footwork or simply endured them with his body.
The Star-Shattering Sword in his hand became a streak of deadly light. Every strike found its mark, aimed straight at a vital point.
Wherever he passed, bodies littered the ground and blood ran like a river.
But there were simply too many enemies! Among them were no shortage of experts in the late True Qi Realm, or even at its peak.
Lin Ye was ferocious, but he had someone on his back and had to maintain the force field, too. The strain was immense. Worse still, several terrifying auras from the Hua Yuan Realm were rapidly closing in from the center of the camp!
I can't afford to get bogged down!
Lin Ye forced back a Blood Fiend Hall underling at the peak of the True Qi Realm with a single sword strike, then pushed off the ground and shot toward the wall on the side of the camp!
The opening in the formation he had broken through earlier had already begun to mend, but it had yet to close completely.
"Stop him! He's trying to escape that way!"
"Activate the Trapping Kill Formation!"
Several blood-red pillars of light shot into the sky, weaving together in an instant to form a vast crimson net that descended over Lin Ye!
Dozens of blood-red runes lit up on the ground near the gap in the wall, unleashing a powerful pull in an attempt to pin Lin Ye in place.
Lin Ye's pupils contracted, alarm bells ringing in his mind.
"Break!!"
He poured every last bit of True Qi remaining in his body into the Star-Shattering Sword!
"Humm—!!"
The Star-Shattering Sword rang out! A sword intent that devoured everything erupted with a thunderous roar!
"Starfall—Shattering the Firmament!!"
Dark-gold sword light, carrying the terrifying might to suppress all things, crashed down on the crimson net!
"Rumble—!!!"
A deafening explosion rang out! The dark-gold sword light and the crimson net blazed with dazzling radiance. The energy storm tore the surrounding ground to shreds in an instant.
The crimson net was ripped wide open! The binding runes on the ground dimmed as well.
Forcing a breath of True Qi from his body, he moved like a ghost through the shattered opening, burst through the camp wall, and vanished into the shadows of the hills.
"Useless! You're all useless!!"
A furious roar exploded across the camp. A gaunt old man in the middle stage of the Hua Yuan Realm appeared at the heart of the blast like a ghost. He surveyed the wreckage and the bodies strewn about, his face livid.
He was Xue Li, the Blood Fiend Hall's deputy hall master stationed here.
Two more figures in the early stage of the Hua Yuan Realm rushed over. Their expressions darkened at the sight before them.
"Deputy Hall Master, that brat got away," a one-eyed burly man in the early stage of the Hua Yuan Realm said hoarsely.
"He won't get away!" A cruel light flickered in Xue Li's eyes. "He forced himself to use that sword technique. He must be badly wounded, and he can't have gone far! Besides, he's carrying that bitch Shui Linglong."
"Pass on my order. Seal off every route leading to the Blood Pool and Tongtian Tower. Send out every squad to search! Cover a fifty-mile radius. Turn the ground over if you have to—dig him out! I want him alive or dead, but I want a body! We must get the Shuiyue Token!"
"Yes!"
The entire Blood Fiend Camp erupted into a frenzy.
Dozens of squads made up of experts in the middle and late stages of the True Qi Realm fanned out through the dark-red hills beyond the camp, searching every inch of the terrain.
Several tamed monstrous birds circled overhead, screeching as they scouted from the air.
With Shui Linglong on his back, Lin Ye struggled through the gullies and ridges of the dark-red hills.
He dodged the vultures' eyes in the sky and the search parties on the ground, making his way toward the agreed-upon hiding place.
But when it rains, it pours.
He had just rounded a hill and was less than two miles from the hiding place when—
A Blood Fiend Hall search party came around the bend ahead and ran straight into him!
"He's here! We found him!"
"Get him! The deputy hall master will reward us handsomely!"
The five Blood Fiend Hall disciples were both startled and delighted. Greed flared in their eyes as they drew their weapons and fanned out around him.
They were no weaklings: one was at the peak of the True Qi Realm, two were in the late stage, and two in the middle stage.
"Put me down... go on without me..." Shui Linglong's faint voice came from his back. She seemed to have regained a little consciousness and sensed Lin Ye's predicament.
"Be quiet," Lin Ye snapped. His gaze was cold as he watched the five closing in, his right hand slowly tightening around the hilt of his sword.
There was no way out.
"Shh-shh-shh—!"
Several fierce streaks of Sword Qi suddenly shot from the shadows of a nearby hill, aimed straight at the five Blood Fiend Hall disciples!
It was Su Muxue!
She had been keeping watch from the shadows and had rushed to intervene the moment she saw Lin Ye in danger.
"Senior Sister Su!" Chen Feng charged out from the other side, roaring as he pounced on the underling at the peak of the True Qi Realm and engaged him in a fierce struggle.
"Go!" Su Muxue rushed to Lin Ye's side and caught his swaying body.
At the same time, she flicked her sword several times, forcing back two Blood Fiend Hall disciples who tried to rush at them.
With Su Muxue supporting him, Lin Ye summoned the strength to charge toward the hiding place. Chen Feng feinted with his blade, forced his opponent back, and turned to run.
"Don't let them get away! After them!" the underling roared, both shocked and furious, then took the remaining three in pursuit.
Su Muxue fought as she retreated, her Sword Qi sweeping in all directions and greatly slowing the pursuers.
In a flash, the three of them reached the far side of the enormous boulder where they had hidden earlier.
"This way!" Supporting Lin Ye, Su Muxue rushed toward the narrow, well-concealed crevice behind the boulder. Chen Feng followed close behind.
The moment the three squeezed deep into the crevice, the pursuers reached the boulder outside.
"Where are they? Where did they go?"
"They must be hiding nearby! Search!"
Inside the crevice, all four struggled to keep their panting quiet. Lin Ye leaned against the cold rock wall, unable to hold on any longer. He slid to the ground and passed out.
Su Muxue hurried to catch him, then checked on Shui Linglong. Her condition was just as dire.
Chen Feng gripped his blade and stood just inside the entrance to the crevice, staring fixedly at the shifting light outside, cold sweat running down his forehead.
The sounds of the search continued for the time it took an incense stick to burn. It seemed the pursuers hadn't found the crevice, and their voices gradually faded into the distance.
For now, they were safe.
But Su Muxue and Chen Feng's hearts sank to the bottom.
Lin Ye was gravely wounded and unconscious, Shui Linglong was on the verge of death, and outside, the Blood Fiend Hall had cast a net that spanned heaven and earth. Trapped in the narrow crevice, they had no help coming...
How much longer could they hold on?
The crevice was as silent as the grave.
Only the occasional shouts from outside, and a faint humming from the direction of the Blood Fiend Camp, broke the silence.
Was that the roar of the Blood Pool being activated?
The Day of Blood Sacrifice was upon them.
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