Stone blossoms sprang from the cliff, water lotuses rose upon the river

"I have to get out of here now!"

Seeing the situation turn against him, Mo Chen rapidly circulated his Spiritual Power and activated the Wind-Riding Technique again.

Yet even as Shi Tian dodged the pursuing crimson-flame Flying Sword, his hands raced through seals as though playing cat's cradle.

In an instant, more vines as thick as a child's arm burst wildly from Dragonwall Cliff, reaching for Mo Chen from every direction.

Mo Chen flickered through the air, repeatedly evading the overlapping layers of vines closing in around him.

Seeing that ordinary vines could not trap Mo Chen, Shi Tian's eyes flashed with menace. He grabbed the nearest vine and poured his Dharma Power into it without restraint.

Nourished by his Dharma Power, the main vine immediately transformed, branching wildly in midair. Branches sprouted new branches, leaves grew fresh buds, and within a few blinks, they had woven themselves into a Vine Net that descended upon Mo Chen, sealing off his retreat like a netted sack.

Mo Chen's heart tightened, and he plunged downward.

"Trying to escape? In your dreams!" Shi Tian sneered, stepping onto a vine and sliding down it as easily as if he were walking on level ground.

As Mo Chen dropped toward the river, he saw Shi Tian diving after him and decided to pull a dirty trick to catch him off guard.

He lightly touched the water with his toes, cast the Water-Avoidance Technique, and sprang off the surface.

At the same time, Mo Chen scooped up a handful of river water and flung it straight at Shi Tian.

His Dharma Power stretched the water into a thread in midair, then condensed it into a long, slender blade that slashed upward toward Shi Tian's crotch.

Detecting the sudden water blade with his divine sense, Shi Tian was badly startled. He used the Wind-Riding Technique to slow his descent while summoning a blackish-purple shield beneath him.

The water blade struck the shield with a metallic clang, leaving Shi Tian shaken. Mo Chen had actually cultivated even this most basic Water Blade Technique to such a level.

Who devoted themselves to practicing such minor tricks?

Naturally, Shi Tian had no idea that Mo Chen's forty years in the Scripture Pavilion and seventy years in a mountain cave had honed these Five Elements Spells to a razor edge.

"Who the hell are you, brat?"

Mo Chen could not be bothered to answer. When his first strike failed, he formed another set of seals with both hands. The eight Firebirds that came with the Flame-Drinking Art appeared out of thin air and beat their wings toward the enormous vine net.

The moment they collided, the vines withered and burned, and flames began spreading along them.

Mo Chen inwardly cursed Shi Tian again. With his own Flying Sword seized by that golden thread, he could only use the old prince's Flying Sword.

If he did not use it now and became entangled in the vines again, he would be dead for certain once Shi Tian's reinforcements arrived!

At that thought, Mo Chen formed a sword seal, and the white Flying Sword he had obtained from the old prince shot out.

At the same time, Mo Chen employed the Sword Shadow Technique from the Dark Gold Sword Art. He sent a stream of Dharma Power into the blade, and the white Flying Sword trembled with a hum before producing two illusory copies of itself.

One real blade and two phantoms, three Flying Swords in all, spiraled upward. After circling several times, they shot out through the Firebird flock and continued whirling upward, shredding the Vine Net Shi Tian had summoned.

For a moment, scattered lengths of vine rained into the river, throwing up splash after splash.

After shredding the Vine Net, the three Flying Swords continued without slowing, making a sharp right-angle turn in midair to strike at Shi Tian.

Shi Tian's brow furrowed at the sight. He reached toward the cliff and grasped through the air, forcibly wrenching a thick slab of rock the size of a door from the cliff face. It flipped over and hung horizontally in midair.

Shi Tian leaped up and landed steadily on the stone slab.

The Flying Sword merely struck once, lightly, before flying backward. The three merged into one again and returned to Mo Chen's Storage Bag.

Mo Chen had already lost one Flying Sword. If he lost this mid-grade Spirit Artifact too, he would suffer a tremendous loss today.

Most importantly, he was using these techniques to force his enemies back, not to kill them.

Seeing Shi Tian take shelter behind the stone slab, Mo Chen immediately turned and fled.

Even as he rode the wind away, Mo Chen did not forget to teach the tall, thin cultivator who had activated the voice-transmission talisman and taken a shot at him from hiding a lesson.

Mo Chen held two fingers together like a sword and flicked up a splash of water toward the tall, thin cultivator who had blocked his path earlier.

The splash grew larger and larger, becoming a water blade perpendicular to the river's surface that slashed toward the man.

Having just witnessed the power of Mo Chen's Water Blade Technique from the sidelines, the tall, thin cultivator naturally dared not take it head-on and dodged repeatedly.

Fortunately, powerful though it was, the distance between them was too great, and the tall, thin cultivator evaded it easily.

Forcing him back was enough. Mo Chen was not seeking a kill; he only wanted to drive off his pursuers and slip away.

After blocking the Flying Sword's attack, a trace of smugness flashed in Shi Tian's eyes. But when he realized it had merely been Mo Chen's feint, he flew into a rage and stamped both feet hard against the stone slab.

The slab beneath Shi Tian's feet immediately broke free of his control and crashed down toward Mo Chen with crushing force.

The enormous rock slammed into the river with a roar, sending up a towering wave several dozen feet high.

By then, Mo Chen had already cast the Earth-Escape Technique. The moment he struck the mountainside, he vanished without a trace.

Seeing Mo Chen escape into the mountain, Shi Tian's savage grin deepened. He pulled a Talismans from inside his robes and said, "Hmph! Ignorant rat! No matter where you flee today, I'll drag you back and refine you into a corpse!"

With that, Shi Tian injected Spiritual Power into the Talismans in his hand. The yellowish-brown Talismans burned to ash in an instant, then turned into a dense surge of brown Spiritual Power that struck Dragonwall Cliff.

At the impact, the whole of Dragonwall Cliff seemed to come alive. It let out a muffled rumble and immediately began shaking violently.

Loose rocks showered down, and the cliff face rose and fell in a steady rhythm, as though the entire cliff were breathing.

What kind of talisman is this? It actually has the power to shake mountains?

Mo Chen raced through the mountain's interior with the Earth-Escape Technique, inwardly startled.

Whatever Talismans Shi Tian had activated, it was not merely making the entire mountain shake violently—the earth and stone within it were also growing increasingly hard.

It was clearly restricting the Earth-Escape Technique, trying to force him out.

Mo Chen kept trying, but he truly could no longer burrow any deeper, and the area in which he could use the Earth-Escape Technique kept shrinking.

Once the entire mountain hardened completely and they finished setting their trap outside, he would truly be done for when he emerged.

If he had to withdraw, then withdraw he would. Mo Chen flashed out of Dragonwall Cliff once more.

The instant Mo Chen emerged, he saw that the two men had already summoned their Flying Swords and were waiting for him.

Mo Chen did not pause at all; he turned sharply and plunged headfirst into the river.

Yet at that moment, the enormous Dragonwall Cliff twisted like a piece of soft cloth, curling upward from beneath the riverbed at an inconceivable speed.

Mo Chen cursed inwardly and could only climb higher again, charging toward the riverbank.

Shi Tian muttered an incantation, and the surface of the curling cliff instantly spread across the river. Before Mo Chen could do anything, eight fissures split open around the rock layer, transforming it into an eight-petaled stone flower.

The stone petals closed with a thunderous crash. Mo Chen immediately accelerated, and as he neared a petal, he cast the Earth-Escape Technique on himself again, slipping through the stone like a fish through water.

But before Mo Chen even had time to catch his breath, one clear look ahead sent his heart plunging into the depths!

Three more figures had flown out from the direction of Shuinan Village and were approaching on Flying Swords. Their swords shone with spiritual light of various colors, and their grades were higher than that of his own mid-grade Flying Sword.

Judging the men by their swords, all three were certain to be formidable.

The four men were moving to surround Mo Chen, intending to seal off every route of escape.