"Fellow Daoist, you're not getting away either."
Chen Changming activated Dragon Glide Step. While killing the man before, he had already begun pursuing the seventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator.
Now, that man was facing Chen Changming.
He had witnessed the entire process of his companion's death.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
He roared and charged with his sword.
He had also figured it out: once he turned his back to his opponent, unless he had a magical treasure or talisman to protect him, he wouldn't stand a chance against those terrifying pillars of light.
"Good. Come at me."
Chen Changming didn't meet him head-on. Instead, he activated Dragon Glide Step and began to circle around his opponent.
The man's swordsmanship was formidable, but with the power of Dragon Glide Step, Chen Changming could always dodge by the narrowest of margins. On top of that, his Spirit Finger Flick could be launched instantly, disrupting his opponent again and again.
Even when sword light struck him, it couldn't pierce his golden skin.
This real battle had also given the youth a much deeper understanding of the Heavenly Furnace Body-Forging Art.
The technique had been powerful to begin with, and after he strengthened it twice, its might had increased to a terrifying degree!
As time passed,
the seventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator finally couldn't hold on any longer. A Spirit Finger Flick struck his left arm, sending him flying.
Chen Changming seized the opportunity and instantly unleashed more than a dozen Spirit Finger Flicks.
Pfft! Pfft!
In his panic, the man managed to block seven or eight pillars of light, but the rest struck him squarely, killing him on the spot.
That was the end of everyone from the Four Seas Merchant Alliance. Chen Changming had killed them all.
"Wonderful..."
The youth stood silently on the ground, his expression revealing a complicated joy.
He had never imagined he could defeat someone above his level. He hadn't expected to achieve it today, and it all stemmed from practicing the Heavenly Furnace Body-Forging Art.
That Golden Core elder surnamed Ouyang had been right. Judging by his body-refinement cultivation, Chen Changming could at least rival a sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivator. With the mighty Dragon Glide Step and Spirit Finger Flick, he could fight a seventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator.
Chen Changming let himself marvel at it for a moment, then got to work in a frenzy. He gathered up everyone's weapons and Storage Bags, along with Li Changfeng's bow.
Then he started digging up the spirit herbs.
It took him more than an hour to shovel up all the herbs with their soil and put them into a separate Storage Bag.
Crack, crack, crack...
As he reached the final stretch of digging, the space above the herb field began to destabilize. Once the last of the spirit herbs had vanished, the space finally began to collapse.
Rumble!
With a deafening boom, the space above the herb field was shattered. It was like a glass bottle breaking, with cracks spreading rapidly in every direction from a single point.
By then,
Chen Changming had already fled.
He had prepared in advance, and Dragon Glide Step was so fast that he escaped the area where the secret realm's space was collapsing.
But that was only the beginning.
He fled desperately toward the back mountain as the entire space rumbled and crumbled behind him, like the gaping maw of a giant beast in relentless pursuit.
Splash!
At last, he reached the river and plunged into it, diving into the pool.
He had cleared away the silt at the bottom of the pool long ago. A simple, ancient teleportation array lay beneath it.
The youth took out the Teleportation Token. As he infused it with spiritual power, the teleportation array burst into dazzling light.
Vrrm!
The moment the secret realm's space began to collapse, the teleportation array activated fully, and a thick pillar of light shot into the sky.
Outside the Ziyuan Secret Realm,
dozens of people lay in pools of blood. A battle had just ended.
"The secret realm is collapsing! Run!"
Someone shouted and bolted.
The others fled in a panic too, but some were too slow and were mercilessly swallowed by the spatial storm.
After a long while,
a hundred li away, a White-Clad Woman stumbled out from behind a boulder. Gazing toward the Ziyuan Secret Realm, she began to weep.
"All that effort, for nothing..."
Her heart sank. In that moment, she even wanted to die.
Amid the teleportation light, Chen Changming felt as though he were dreaming. But the powerful force of spatial tearing made his skin ache in waves, filling him with alarm.
It seemed that riding a long-distance teleportation array could easily kill anyone whose body wasn't strong enough.
A full incense stick's time passed. Suddenly, his vision blurred and a tremendous force struck him, leaving him unsteady on his feet and nearly toppling over.
He had arrived!
The light faded, revealing a deep, secluded cave.
"Have I reached the Yan Kingdom?"
Chen Changming stretched his limbs and slowly stepped away from the teleportation array. Some white stones in the ceiling of the cave emitted a faint glow.
He glanced back at the teleportation array and sighed inwardly. Its other end was inside the Ziyuan Secret Realm, and if the secret realm collapsed, the array over there would be destroyed too.
From then on, this teleportation array would be useless.
"Why did the Medicine Sect build a teleportation array in the Yan Kingdom..."
Chen Changming stared at the array and pondered for a while. There had to be some deeper reason behind it.
Perhaps, when the Medicine Sect was wiped out, some valuable things had been moved away.
And the place they were moved to was somewhere in the Yan Kingdom.
The youth slowly climbed an ancient flight of steps. After half an incense stick's time, the passage came to an end.
A huge boulder blocked the exit.
Chen Changming tried to move it, but it was far too heavy. His only option was to use the Purple Lightning Sword to cut a way out.
Scree, scree...
As rubble fell, the youth dug out a passage half a meter in diameter.
A ray of sunlight and a breath of fresh air drifted in, falling across the youth.
Chen Changming's spirits lifted. He crawled out through the passage.
Before him stretched a vast, green forest. The trees were thick and towering, dozens of meters tall, and vines and weeds covered the ground. In the distance, he could hear a river rushing by.
"The Medicine Sect's teleportation array was hidden incredibly well..."
He was just about to slide the rest of his body out of the passage when he suddenly heard an eagle's cry. It was so high and powerful that even Chen Changming's mind reeled.
He instinctively looked up.
A gigantic Black Eagle flew over the treetops, wings spread wide.
Foundation Establishment aura!
Chen Changming's expression changed drastically, and he hurried back into the passage.
The Black Eagle was a terrifying Level 2 Demonic Beast.
Rumble!
The earth trembled as a huge gray-black figure swung through the forest, clambering along the branches.
"Another Level 2 Demonic Beast!"
Chen Changming was horrified.
The black ape was three zhang tall, but fortunately, it was far away from him.
He had spotted two great Level 2 Demonic Beasts in the space of a moment. Without hesitation, the youth retreated into the cave, quickly blocked the passage with the boulder, then followed the steps back toward the teleportation array.
"Terrifying..."
The youth panted, his heart pounding. His face had gone pale, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Fortunately, the two beasts had appeared in time. Otherwise, once he left the cave and was spotted by one of them, he would likely have met a fate worse than death.
"This place must be like Cloud Mist Mountain, with Demonic Beasts roaming outside. I can't go out for now..."
Chen Changming murmured to himself, his gaze gradually growing resolute.
He decided to hide here for a while and search for a way out once he had grown stronger.
There were hundreds of thousands of jin of Spirit Rice in his Storage Bag—enough to last him for several hundred years.
The only thing he lacked was water.
But there was a river not far outside. If he waited for the right moment, he could risk going out to gather more water.
One risky trip would give him enough to last a long time.