Thanks to the passive skill [undying body], Xiao Hao recovered quickly.
He had collapsed from exhaustion because he had been using his skills nonstop, clearly pushing his body beyond its limits.
Once he recovered, Xiao Hao felt that his body had grown a little stronger.
Undying body already had the ability to unlock his body's potential. Xiao Hao figured that forcibly squeezing out that potential had allowed it to work even more effectively.
I've been out for almost half an hour, haven't I?
The moment he thought about the time, Xiao Hao's heart lurched.
He hurriedly opened the game panel and upgraded the Coral Shell Room!
When he had left, the Coral Shell Room had only 35 L of mana remaining. He had set the Shield Card to keep it running, then gone out to farm monsters.
He glanced at the Shield Card's duration. Not a single second had been used.
Thank goodness. If he had gone over the time limit and wasted such a game-breaking card, he would have been heartbroken.
Xiao Hao was just about to check how many Spirit Pearls he had farmed when one of his eight seahorses suddenly died!
An instant kill like that could only mean the Deep-Sea Ghost!
The eight seahorses were spread out around him, a little over ten meters away. One of them suddenly dying meant the Ghost was only a little over ten meters from him!
Xiao Hao didn't even have time to think. His body instinctively entered Shadow Transformation and fled!
On the armored back of the mantis shrimp where Xiao Hao had been sitting, sparks flew as five cracks suddenly appeared in its jade armor!
Blood slowly seeped from within the five horrifying cracks that marred the once-flawless jade armor.
Within the shadows, Xiao Hao immediately recalled all his Guardians and fled for his life!
But the Ghost was too close. There was no way Xiao Hao could escape, nor could he hide somewhere out of sight!
Perhaps all the commotion from this round of monster farming had drawn the Ghost over!
The Reaper's Scythe swung behind him, leaving gouges in the ground even deeper than those made by the mantis shrimp's ultimate attack.
The Aurora Shadow Xiao Hao had become darted around with wildly evasive movements. Without them, its scythe fingers would probably have sliced his entire shadow apart.
His extreme S-shaped weaving kept Xiao Hao narrowly ahead of death, at the cost of deep gouges clawed into every stretch of ground he passed.
Even solid earth and stone were sliced apart by the Ghost in an instant.
Its scythe fingers were every bit as formidable as Mantis Scythe.
Xiao Hao couldn't keep up this desperate escape using Shadow Transformation for long.
After an all-out sprint, a sudden turn put a little distance between Xiao Hao and the Ghost.
But the Ghost would close that gap in just a few seconds.
Xiao Hao and the seahorses split up and fled using Shadow Transformation. The Ghost stubbornly pursued Xiao Hao himself, completely ignoring the seahorses heading in another direction.
We're all blobs of shadow, so why can the monsters always lock onto me?!
Xiao Hao had a vague idea of the answer.
He simply wasn't willing to test it.
The answer was the Exploration Bubble.
The Exploration Bubble held open a bubble roughly two meters in diameter around him, shielding him from the deep-sea pressure and supplying air.
In return, that bubble also made him a glaring target in the monsters' eyes.
Even in Shadow Transformation, Xiao Hao didn't dare deactivate the Exploration Bubble.
He couldn't be sure that Shadow Transformation could withstand the deep-sea pressure.
If his body was still just as frail in Shadow Transformation, the deep-sea pressure could crush him into pulp in an instant!
With the Exploration Bubble active, there was no way the Deep-Sea Ghost could lose track of him.
But if he deactivated the Exploration Bubble, the terrifying water pressure might crush him to death in an instant.
He was too far from the Coral Shell Room. Xiao Hao's stamina wouldn't last, and even if he pushed his skills beyond their limits, he couldn't make it back to the Coral Shell Room.
Xiao Hao was trapped in a hopeless situation. Either way, he would die.
At that moment, no one knew just how delighted the Ghost felt.
Although it couldn't catch Xiao Hao just yet, a few minutes of cat and mouse would let it savor the pleasure of tormenting its prey!
For daring to toy with it, it would tear out his tendons one by one and peel off his entire skin intact!
There's no other way.
The Ghost clung doggedly to his heels, leaving Xiao Hao no chance to escape.
I'll have to stake everything on this!
Maybe risking death is the only way to survive!
Within the shadows, Xiao Hao grimly deactivated the Exploration Bubble. The terrifying water pressure flooded the entire bubble in an instant!
The Aurora Shadow drifting in the sea froze for a moment, then felt a rush of relief at having escaped death.
He was still alive!
The deep-sea pressure hadn't crushed him!
That's right. No matter how great the water pressure is, how could it affect a shadow?
I should have thought of this ages ago!
He simply hadn't wanted to gamble.
Now that the Exploration Bubble was gone, he wanted to see how the Ghost would locate him!
Watching the bubble vanish before its eyes, the Ghost suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the mass of shadow ahead suddenly split into eight blobs, fleeing in eight random directions.
The Ghost was dumbfounded.
Which one should it chase?
Suppressing its fury, the Ghost picked one and gave chase. Pursuing it at least offered a chance of catching the player himself. If it didn't pursue, even that one chance would be gone.
The Ghost chose that shadow because it was fleeing toward the Coral Shell Room.
Unfortunately, just as it was about to catch up, the shadow it had chosen suddenly dissipated.
That meant the player had recalled it.
It had chased the wrong one.
The Ghost roared in fury where it stood. It had lost count of how many times this player had toyed with it!
His rush to come out and farm monsters had made it realize he hadn't had any Spirit Pearls at all!
That meant its retreat last time had played right into his hands!
Once again, it had watched him slip away right before its eyes!
And now, even after it had ambushed him, he had still escaped just like that!
He had slipped right through its fingers!
Its prized scythe fingers!
The Ghost screamed with rage, venting its fury on the surrounding ground. The poor earth was ravaged over and over, while its terrifying aura sent the nearby lesser monsters fleeing.
After venting its rage, the Ghost clenched its scythe fingers tightly, its hollow eye sockets turned toward the Coral Shell Room.
It would kill him!
It would use the cruelest methods possible to make him wish he were dead!
Seething with rage, the Ghost headed straight for the Coral Shell Room. At the sight of the renovated room, it flew into another fury.
Just as I thought!
I was tricked!
Staring at the dark, empty Coral Shell Room, it resolved to stay right here and keep watch this time!
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, scratches appeared across the glass. Before they could fully seal up, several more were added.
Meanwhile, in a concealed corner not far away, a bubble expanded like a balloon, gradually reaching roughly two meters in diameter.
The shadow at its center waited until the Exploration Bubble was fully active before slowly coalescing into human form.
A drop of sweat fell from his chin. His arms trembled slightly, and his black clothes were completely soaked with sweat. Xiao Hao's heart pounded as though it had leaped into his throat and was trying to jump out.
Having narrowly escaped death, Xiao Hao was still shaken. He spent several minutes catching his breath before recovering.
Only after his heartbeat settled did Xiao Hao's anger begin to rise.
One Shadow Seahorse had died.
He would never let its death be in vain!
Xiao Hao swore it!
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