Ambush on the Return Journey

Chapter 34: Ambush on the Return Journey

Taiyi remained in the side chamber for another half a day.

During this time, he didn't touch the bowl of Blood Dew or the Bone Fragment. He merely slowly dissolved the residual energy from the last bit of fruit, mixing it with the technique he'd comprehended from the Axe Imprint, circulating it through his meridians again and again. The pain was still there, but after enduring it for so long, he'd almost grown accustomed to it—like wearing ill-fitting iron armor that chafed his skin raw, yet the armor, at least, could shield him from the wind and cold.

He tested the mark on his palm. Away from the Sea of Blood, it was completely inert, like dead flesh. But whenever he deliberately activated the murky, Yin energy within him, it would still react, feeling cool, as if reminding him of something.

"Time to go," Taiyi opened his eyes and muttered to himself.

Staying any longer wouldn't significantly speed up his recovery, and it might make that old bat think he was easy to manipulate. He stood up and walked to the blood-red curtain at the entrance of the side chamber. Without lifting it immediately, he cleared his throat.

His voice wasn't loud, but in the dead silence, it carried far enough: "Fellow Daoist Styx, I've troubled you these past few days. This Emperor has urgent matters to attend to and will take his leave today."

His words were neither humble nor arrogant, showing respect while clearly stating his intention to depart.

He waited a few breaths. There was no response from outside. He stopped waiting and reached out to lift the curtain. The corridor was empty, with only the dim glow of blood crystals on the walls illuminating the bone-paved path.

The same Blood Slave, formed from congealed blood, silently floated over and led the way. This time, they didn't take the original route. After many twists and turns through more secluded bone corridors, they finally stopped in a corner even more hidden than before. There were few blood crystals here, and the light was so dim that one could barely see. A small, black bone slab was embedded in the ground, etched with a simpler, more ancient teleportation array pattern.

The Blood Slave drifted to the side and became still.

Taiyi stepped into the array. He could feel that cold, viscous gaze from the depths of the palace sweeping over him again. This time, it lingered longer, especially focusing on his Dantian and the barely stable aura surrounding him.

There were no words, no farewells, not even a "farewell."

The array pattern lit up with a dark red light, thicker than before, carrying a more intense sweet, bloody scent.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already evening.

Taiyi's legs buckled, and he almost fell. The after-effects of the teleportation were stronger this time, his head buzzing for several moments before subsiding. He steadied himself and looked around.

It was a desolate mountain valley, surrounded by bare stone peaks with hardly a tree in sight. The ground beneath his feet was covered in gravel, and the light from the teleportation array was rapidly fading. The last trace of Blood Fiend energy was blown away by the valley wind, leaving no discernible mark.

The sun was setting on the western mountainside, painting the clouds red. The wind was a little cool, carrying the scent of earth and withered grass.

He moved his limbs. His bones still ached, but they were mobile. His magic power had recovered about fifteen percent, not much, enough for travel but questionable for a fight. The few forces within him were behaving themselves, confined to their respective territories by his will. Though they disliked each other, they hadn't caused any trouble.

He needed to leave this place quickly. The Witch Race forces were definitely still around, possibly lurking nearby.

He didn't fly immediately. Instead, he walked behind a large, wind-sheltered boulder, sat down, closed his eyes, and slowly extended his divine sense. Ten feet, twenty feet, fifty feet... only the mournful sound of wind whistling through rock crevices, a few scuttling rock scorpions, and trembling withered grass. There were no unusual auras.

But the tension in his heart didn't ease.

Styx letting him go so readily was suspicious. Could Di Jiang, having lost so much face, simply let it go? And what about the schemes within the Sea of Blood...

He rested for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, waiting for his aura to completely stabilize, before standing up. He chose to head north—the terrain there was more rugged, with crisscrossing ravines, making it easier to hide.

He didn't fly high, skimming almost at ground level. He conserved his magic power, relying mainly on his residual physical strength and subtle control of air currents. The wind felt rough against his face. The old wound on his right chest throbbed faintly with each breath.

He flew like this for nearly an hour, crossing several barren mountains, and then a wide, dry riverbed appeared ahead. Grey-white pebbles covered the valley floor, with towering earth cliffs on either side. The sun was about to disappear behind the cliffs, casting long shadows.

This place was open and exposed. Taiyi didn't hesitate, intending to fly straight across.

Just as he reached the center of the riverbed, about twenty feet from the opposite bank—

Disaster struck!

The grey-white pebbles beneath his feet, without any warning, came alive!

They didn't roll; the entire riverbed rippled like water! Immediately, seven or eight millstone-sized pebbles shot up from the riverbed, whistling through the air with a dull roar, smashing down towards him! The stones were coated in a yellowish-brown light, fast and fierce, blocking him from all directions!

Almost simultaneously, a large section of the seemingly solid cliff face on the left side of the river exploded with a "boom"! It wasn't just flying debris; the entire cliff face transformed into countless sharp earth spikes, raining down on his left side!

To his right, dozens of transparently thin, yet razor-sharp water blades materialized out of thin air, silently sealing off his right flank and the area above his head!

Three attacks, earth, earth, and water, coordinated flawlessly, timed with vicious precision—exactly at the critical moment when he was airborne, his old strength spent and new strength not yet gathered!

Taiyi's heart constricted violently, and his hair stood on end!

There was no time to think! The moment the pebbles sprang up, his remaining magic power instinctively surged into his legs, and his body plummeted downwards! Not retreating, not advancing, but directly downwards—towards the pebble-strewn riverbed—he fell heavily!

As he fell, his mutated left arm swung up. Not to block the stones (which would be impossible), but towards the left side of his body, the edge of the densest area of earth spikes, with all his might, sweeping diagonally!

This sweep was undisciplined, even clumsy. But along the trajectory of his swinging arm, the forces within him that had been quiet for only a short time—the meager residual warmth of the True Sun Fire, the remaining ferocity of the Blood Fiend, the turbid essence of the earth veins—were forcibly twisted together by a savage will, forming a chaotic, violent gust of wind that surged out with his arm!

"Whoosh—boom!"

The gust of wind collided with the rain of earth spikes attacking from the left. It didn't scatter them completely, but it tore open a small, irregular gap at the very edge! A few earth spikes were deflected, colliding with each other and causing a minor disturbance.

In that flash of lightning, Taiyi's body, following the momentum of his descent and the slight opening created by the gap, twisted hard towards the lower left!

"Bang! Bang!"

Two pebbles grazed his right shoulder and back, instantly shattering the meager protective spiritual light. The immense earth-elemental force attached to the stones jolted his blood and essence, making his throat sweet. More earth spikes and water blades brushed past his sides and scalp, the gale-force wind stinging his skin.

But the most deadly three-sided encirclement, he had largely evaded with this near self-mutilating, hair's-breadth twist!

"Thud!"

He landed heavily on the dry, hard riverbed, his spine aching, stars dancing before his eyes. His right shoulder and back burned, and his bones had likely fractured again. But he didn't dare stop. The moment he fell, he rolled, coming to rest behind a low mound of pebbles. He crouched, leaning against the stones, gasping for breath, his eyes fixed ahead.

On the opposite bank of the riverbed, and on the cliffs on either side, three tall figures slowly emerged.

On the left cliff, a lean man with dark skin, wearing simple leather armor, held a short, yellowish-brown club.

On the right cliff stood a pale-faced, sinister-looking middle-aged man, his hands forming strange mudras, with faint blue water vapor swirling around him.

On the opposite bank of the riverbed directly ahead, a burly man as massive as a small mountain was slowly retracting the hands he had placed on the ground. He was bare-chested, his bronze skin covered in scars. He was now staring intently at Taiyi with eyes like copper bells, his gaze filled not only with killing intent but also with a look of a cat playing with a mouse.

Three Great Witches. Judging by their seamless coordination, they weren't assembled on the fly.

Taiyi's heart sank.

"Eastern Emperor Taiyi," the burly man spoke, his voice booming like thunder, "you've got a tough life. Even the Pangu Hall couldn't kill you."

Taiyi remained silent, quickly scanning his surroundings. A direct confrontation would be suicide. Escape? That surprise attack earlier had already churned his Blood Essence and depleted most of his magic. These three clearly specialized in combined attacks and encirclement; the hope of escape was slim.

"Why waste words with this blasphemous, flat-feathered beast!" the lean man on the left snarled. "Take him down, rip out his tendons and skin, and offer him to Ancestral Witch Di Jiang!"

Di Jiang! It was him after all!

Taiyi's heart tightened, but a cold, wry smile, a mix of pain and defiance, twisted his face. "Di Jiang? He doesn't have the guts to come himself, so he sent a few minnows like you to die?"

"You're asking for death!" the middle-aged man controlling the water blades on the right hissed coldly. His hand seals shifted, and dozens more solidified water blades, their edges gleaming with a faint blue cold light, instantly condensed in the air. "Kill!"

Before his voice fell, all three moved!

The burly man stomped his foot fiercely, shaking the entire riverbed! Countless pebbles floated up again. This time, they didn't shoot out but rolled and piled up like living creatures, forming four "stone walls" that enclosed Taiyi in moments, rapidly squeezing inward!

The lean man jabbed his short staff into the ground. The pebbles beneath Taiyi's feet suddenly turned into quicksand, exerting a massive suction force, trying to trap him firmly!

And the middle-aged Great Witch's water blades, like sharks smelling blood, precisely drilled through the gaps in the stone walls, aiming for Taiyi's vital spots!

A desperate situation! Even more brutal than before!

Taiyi's pupils contracted to pinpricks. Stone walls squeezing, quicksand trapping his feet, water blades seeking his life... they were trying to trap him here until he died!

He couldn't be trapped!

Almost without thinking, Taiyi did something that stunned the three Great Witches for a moment – he poured all his remaining strength, including the little magic he had just recovered, into his legs, and then...

He stomped down fiercely!

"Open--!"

He wasn't crushing the pebbles; he was channeling that chaotic force, mixed with the lingering heat of the True Sun Fire, the ferocity of the Blood Fiend, and the turbid energy of the earth's veins, through his feet deep into the already unstable riverbed layer beneath him, agitated by the Great Witches' power!

It was like throwing red-hot iron balls into a pot of boiling oil!

"BOOM--!!!"

Centered on him, the riverbed pebble layer within a radius of over ten zhang exploded upwards! Countless pebbles and sand shot into the sky, obscuring the sun and moon!

The four closing stone walls and the suction force of the quicksand beneath his feet were instantly thrown into disarray and slowed by this sudden, violent disturbance originating from the depths of the earth!

Leveraging the ferocious recoil from his feet and the cover of the chaotic stone rain, Taiyi's body, like a blasted stone, slammed uncontrollably towards the left – in the direction of the earthen cliff where the lean man stood!

He chose the left because the lean man was using "Turning Cliffs into Thorns," and his direct control over the ground beneath his feet was likely inferior to the burly man's. Moreover, the earthen cliff on the left was closer, and the terrain was more complex!

"Stop him!" the burly man roared, waving his hands rapidly, trying to control the splashing pebbles to block him.

But Taiyi was too fast and completely unrestrained, charging like a desperate gamble. He deflected several incoming pebbles with his mutated left arm, feeling a bone-cracking pain, but he ignored it, his eyes fixed only on the earthen cliff.

The lean man was clearly caught off guard by Taiyi's almost rogue-like method of breaking through the encirclement. In haste, he raised his short staff, and an earth-yellow light condensed into a thick earth shield in front of him.

Taiyi had no intention of a head-on collision. The moment he was about to hit the earth shield, he twisted his body awkwardly, narrowly brushing past the edge of the shield. Simultaneously, his right palm, with fingers like hooks, carrying the residual power of the True Sun Fire, fiercely clawed towards the lean man's face – forcing him to defend!

The lean man instinctively turned his head back, and the spell on his short staff was interrupted for a moment.

In that instant!

Taiyi, like a civet cat, leaped onto the earthen cliff. Without looking back, he fled desperately towards the more rugged, denser forest (though they were merely low shrubs) behind the cliff, deep into the mountains!

"Chase!" the burly man roared in fury, leading the pursuit. The other two immediately followed.

Taiyi heard the whistling wind and angry shouts behind him but dared not look back, nor could he run in a straight line. He deliberately chose paths with many rocks, dense bushes, and uneven terrain, using his subtle control over his body and his instinctive sense of danger to make a series of seemingly chaotic, yet narrowly evasive, sharp turns that dodged the earth, stone, and water blades chasing him.

His lungs felt like they would explode, and every breath tasted of blood. The wound on his right shoulder and back had completely burst open, and blood poured out continuously. His left arm was numb with pain, and the right side of his body was covered in tiny cuts from the wind of the water blades.

But he couldn't stop.

The pursuers behind him were getting closer. Several times, sharp earth spikes pierced the ground almost at his heels, and icy water blades grazed his scalp.

If this continued, being caught was only a matter of time.

A ruthless glint flashed in Taiyi's eyes. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, a bloody sweet taste flooding his throat, forcibly stimulating his nearly depleted spirit. Then, he stopped simply fleeing and began to consciously guide his escape route towards areas with steeper mountains, seemingly unstable rock formations, and more chaotic earth vein energies.

At the same time, he desperately squeezed the imprint of the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint in his sea of consciousness – not to "see," but to "feel" the destructive intuition about "structures" and "nodes" within the imprint.

Where was the weakest point? Where would it collapse with a touch?

As he rushed onto a narrow mountain ridge, with steep scree slopes on both sides, he stopped, turned, and faced the three Great Witches who had pursued him to within thirty zhang.

His face was as pale as paper, covered in blood. He leaned on a protruding rock, barely able to stand, clearly at the end of his rope.

"Can't run anymore?" the burly man sneered, approaching, while the other two closed in a fan formation.

Taiyi said nothing, merely looking at them, his gaze eerily calm.

Then, at the moment the three simultaneously attacked, launching their final blow--

Taiyi used his last ounce of strength and slammed his mutated left fist fiercely onto a seemingly ordinary rock on the mountain ridge beneath his feet!

He wasn't smashing the rock; he was channeling the last bit of chaotic, violent energy he had condensed in his fist, along with the information about the most fragile "node" in the ridge's structure, "seen" through the intuition of the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, into it!

"Crack... Bang!"

A faint, crisp sound, like ice cracking.

Immediately after, the entire narrow mountain ridge violently collapsed, centered on the spot where his fist had landed! It wasn't a landslide; it was a structural collapse! The scree slopes on both sides poured down like an avalanche, instantly engulfing the three Great Witches who had chased him to the brink!

"Bastards!"

"Watch out!"

Angry curses and startled cries were drowned out by the thunderous roar of rolling earth and stone.

The moment Taiyi threw his punch, he used the recoil to leap toward a crevice he had spotted earlier on the side of the ridge, hidden behind several massive rocks!

The tumbling earth and stone nearly grazed his heels as it buried the spot where he had just been standing.

He fell into the rock crevice, disoriented, his vision blurring, the roar of the collapsing earth and stone filling his ears, along with the faint, enraged curses of the Witch Race from a distance.

He knew he was safe, for now.

The collapse was significant. Even if those three Great Witches weren't injured, it would take them some time to clear the debris and pursue him.

He lay in the cold crevice, too exhausted to even move a finger. Blood seeped from his lips, shoulders, and back, quickly staining the rocks beneath him red. His consciousness began to fade, cold and darkness enveloping him from all sides.

Before he lost consciousness, his last thought wasn't relief at escaping, but a desperate clinging to a question that had flashed through his mind during the battle:

Those three Great Witches... how did they just happen to be lurking by that dry riverbed?

Did Di Jiang... truly possess the ability to divine the future?

Or... did someone tip him off?

Darkness completely consumed his consciousness.

Outside the crevice, the earth and stone gradually settled. A burly man, covered in dust and dirt, climbed out of the rubble. He stared in the direction Taiyi had disappeared, his expression terrifyingly grim.

"Search! He's so badly injured, he can't have gone far! Turn these mountains upside down if you have to, but find him!"

Night was slowly descending upon the desolate mountain range.