The flesh walls on either side of the Red Door had closed until only half a person's width remained.
Bai Zhu gritted his teeth and kept using Shunpo, but after repeatedly exhausting his Reiatsu and with his injuries, his body was already on the verge of collapse.
He clenched his jaw and looked ahead. Only a small patch of black space remained by Knov's feet. Red mist squeezed in from the edges as one Black Gate after another closed.
"Gao Mao, hurry up!"
"Quit rushing me! You think I'm not in a hurry too?!"
Gao Mao glanced back at the exit, then immediately released the mycelia maintaining Mushroom Circle. Large clusters of caps collapsed into the red mist. The fungal masses smoked white as dark-red liquid splashed onto them.
All the mycelia retracted and burrowed into Knov's back.
Knov's body swayed.
The next instant, black marks lit up across the ground he had stepped on.
Bai Zhu looked down.
The Black Gates Knov had opened along the way to block Big Dog had all been withdrawn. Now, the marks extended from beneath their feet to the exit, separated by varying distances.
Gao Mao jumped onto Knov's back and grabbed Bai Zhu's hair behind it.
"Link them up for me!"
The mycelia tightened across Knov's back, and the black marks lit up at once.
Knov lifted his foot.
As it came down, dozens of meters ahead were forcibly folded to his feet. He crossed an entire stretch of passage in one step and appeared atop the next mark.
The Black Gate behind them closed with it.
The red mist rushed over, but before it even reached halfway, the path ahead had vanished.
Bai Zhu was yanked off his feet by the sudden movement, his scalp screaming in pain. At that moment,