The Golden Core True Person's Pursuit!

Everyone's gaze turned involuntarily toward the north, all harboring the same question in their hearts: Who exactly was the person who killed Zhang Hongxiu and provoked a Golden Core master into a personal pursuit?

Could he possibly escape from the hands of an enraged Golden Core master?

Li Qingshan utilized the Earth Escape Technique, burrowing frantically through the underground, not daring to pause for even a second.

He had not yet had the time to carefully examine the damaged Crimson Dragon Sword, the captured low-grade spirit weapon flying sword, or even the two storage bags; all his focus was poured into his flight.

However, just as he had escaped barely a hundred miles, an indescribable, terrifying pressure—like the might of heaven itself—swept over from the horizon behind him like a tangible tsunami!

The intensity of this pressure made Li Qingshan feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar; his blood nearly froze, and the Longevity True Essence within his body began to circulate sluggishly!

It felt as if an invisible giant eye were coldly watching him from the nine heavens, leaving him nowhere to hide!

"A Golden Core master! Zhang Yuzhen!"

Li Qingshan was horrified, realizing the truth in an instant!

Zhang Hongxiu had likely sent word back before she died, and the Spring Autumn Sect possessed her life tablet; the moment it shattered, Zhang Yuzhen would have known of her death.

It was just that Li Qingshan had not expected Zhang Yuzhen to arrive so quickly.

He could even feel a cold, bone-chilling divine sense, filled with boundless rage and killing intent, locking onto him from afar!

Its speed far exceeded his Earth Escape Technique!

He could not run in a straight line! He would absolutely be caught!

Li Qingshan made a split-second decision. He abruptly changed direction, no longer heading away from the sect, but veering toward the side—toward the core area of the Ancient Battlefield, a place known as a forbidden zone for the living!

The space there was unstable, the spiritual energy chaotic and violent, and it was even permeated with lingering Sha Qi from the ancient battlefield and shattered laws, which exerted a powerful interference and suppression on divine sense!

This was his only chance at survival!

"Little thief! Hand over your life!!"

A shriek containing heaven-toppling fury exploded behind him like a thunderclap, shaking Li Qingshan until his blood surged!

He could even feel a destructive golden light rapidly closing in; wherever it passed, even space itself slightly distorted!

Life and death hung by a thread!

Li Qingshan gritted his teeth, burning his True Essence without regard for the cost, pushing the Five Elements Escape Technique: Earth Chapter to its limit. Like a startled earth dragon, he burrowed frantically into the depths of the ancient battlefield!

Finally, he charged into that region filled with gray mist, where the earth appeared dark red and was littered with broken weapons, bones, and spatial rifts!

The moment he entered, that terrifying divine sense that had been firmly locked onto him faltered slightly and became much blurrier, yet it still pursued him like a maggot on a rotting bone!

Li Qingshan hardened his heart, continuing to burrow toward deeper, more chaotic regions.

Only when he felt the oppressive weight of that divine sense weaken to its limit did he suddenly stop beneath the bones of a massive, unknown beast.

He immediately exerted the Lesser Heaven-Veiling Secret Art with all his might. His internal True Essence circulated in an arcane manner, constructing a faint yet perception-warping and probe-blocking "Heaven-Veiling Spirit Domain" on the surface of his body!

At the same time, the Shadow-Hiding Cloak was activated to its limit. Under the blessing of this dual concealment, his aura instantly became ethereal, nearly merging with the surrounding soil and Sha Qi!

He held his breath, his heartbeat nearly stopping, reducing his state to the absolute minimum. Like a true piece of stubborn rock, he lay deeply hidden dozens of feet underground.

The next moment, that terrifying golden rainbow light descended upon the sky above the ancient battlefield!

The rainbow light dissipated, revealing a middle-aged beauty dressed in luxurious palace attire, her pretty face twisted by extreme rage—it was none other than the Golden Core master, Zhang Yuzhen!

She hovered in mid-air, her powerful Golden Core divine sense sweeping downward like a storm, scanning the desolate, deathly silent earth inch by inch!

Mountain rocks, bones, broken weapons, distorted space... she let not a single anomaly escape her!

"Get out here!!" Zhang Yuzhen shouted sharply, the Golden Core pressure contained in her voice making the very earth tremble. "You killed my descendant; no matter where you flee to the ends of the earth, This Seat will drag you out, extract your soul, refine your spirit, and hang you as a heavenly lamp for ten thousand years!"

Her powerful divine sense swept over the area where Li Qingshan was hiding again and again.

Li Qingshan's heart rose to his throat. He could clearly feel that terrifying divine sense passing over his head like a searchlight; the concealment field formed by the Lesser Heaven-Veiling Secret Art and the Shadow-Hiding Cloak fluctuated violently, as if it might be torn apart at any moment!

He bit his lip hard, suppressing all his fear, maintaining his concealment state with all his might, not daring to make the slightest move.

His Longevity True Essence was being consumed at an unprecedented rate.

Time seemed to become infinitely long.

Zhang Yuzhen's divine sense swept back and forth dozens of times. She even descended in her light to personally strike several suspicious spots with powerful spells, blasting deep craters into the earth, yet she found nothing.

"Impossible! That figure clearly disappeared in this area!"

Zhang Yuzhen's face was livid, her eyes filled with unwillingness and rage. "He must have used some secret treasure or technique to hide!"

She searched for a long time, unwilling to give up, even risking probing her divine sense into several spatial rifts, but still found nothing.

Finally, she let out a shriek of extreme frustration that made the entire ancient battlefield hum: "Little thief! Don't think you can hide forever! This Seat has remembered your aura! As long as you appear, This Seat will definitely find you!"

With that, she transformed into a long golden rainbow and departed, looking disgruntled.

Feeling that terrifying pressure gradually recede until it vanished, Li Qingshan still did not dare to relax in the slightest.

Sure enough, two days later, that powerful and hidden divine sense returned, sweeping over the area once more in silence, even more carefully and patiently than before!

Cold sweat streamed down Li Qingshan's back, and he secretly called himself lucky! Truly, ginger is spicier the older it gets! If he hadn't been sufficiently cautious, he likely would have been caught red-handed!

He continued to lie in wait like a fossil, unmoved as a mountain.

Over the next month, the divine sense of Zhang Yuzhen descended like a phantom three more times!

Each time was completely irregular, and the searches were even more meticulous, sometimes even carrying the fluctuations of some kind of investigative magic treasure.

However, relying on the miraculous nature of the Lesser Heaven-Veiling Secret Art, the effects of the Shadow-Hiding Cloak, and the cover provided by the chaotic environment of the ancient battlefield, Li Qingshan dodged her time and again without incident.

A month later, that Golden Core divine sense finally vanished completely and never appeared again.

Presumably, Zhang Yuzhen could not afford to spend such a long time searching outside, or she truly believed the culprit had already fled far away.

But Li Qingshan still did not move.

He knew all too well the terror and patience of a Golden Core master.

He remained lurking deep underground for another two full months!

For these three months, he relied entirely on hunger-suppressing pills and the true essence within his body, his mind kept in a state of high tension, not daring to slacken in the slightest.

It was not until one day, three months later, that he became certain Zhang Yuzhen had truly left; only then did he cautiously begin to dig at an extremely slow pace toward even deeper depths, carving out a narrow stone chamber just large enough to fit his body.

After setting up a few simple warning restrictions, Li Qingshan finally let out a long sigh of relief, and an indescribable sense of exhaustion welled up in his heart.

But soon, he suppressed this fatigue, his eyes flickering with a resolute light.

The crisis had not been resolved!

Zhang Yuzhen would never let this matter rest, and he had to increase his strength as quickly as possible!

He felt no regret for killing Zhang Hongxiu.

Although he acted with caution, he was also a man who clearly distinguished between gratitude and grudges. After killing Zhang Hongxiu, his thoughts became clear, and even the circulation of his magic power became a few degrees smoother.

For the coming year, Li Qingshan prepared to seclude himself for cultivation within this lightless underground stone chamber.

He did not know the methods of a Golden Core master, so he could only be as cautious as possible.

He first placed the low-grade spiritual weapon flying sword belonging to Cultivator Feng into the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd.

The next day, after being enhanced by the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd, that low-grade spiritual weapon flying sword had actually transformed into a top-grade spiritual weapon.

"A top-grade spiritual weapon, the Ice Sword? What a treasure! The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd truly did not disappoint me!"

Li Qingshan was filled with excitement; once he refined this Ice Sword, it would surely allow his strength to skyrocket.