The Sect Master Was Gravely Wounded

Though the previous blow had left Zhou Yong's blood churning and his breathing unsettled, he had no choice but to intervene again.

He drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the searing pain in his organs, then instantly moved between the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage and the fleeing elders. Resolve shone in his eyes, and the sword clenched in his hand blazed with dazzling light. Gathering all his spiritual power, Zhou Yong unleashed a brilliant streak of sword light, like a meteor crossing the night sky, intercepting every attack the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage had launched. But he had struck in haste, and the impact ruptured several of his organs, wounding him.

A flicker of astonishment crossed the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's eyes, then gave way to solemnity. He had not expected the sect master of the Righteous Qi Sect to cover his subordinates' retreat rather than flee himself. Judging that this sect master had a strong sense of responsibility, he turned and fixed his gaze on Zhou Yong.

A bloodthirsty smile spread across his face. A sect master like this was all the more reason to root him out early! He spread his hands, gathering demon power in his palms, and it instantly took the shape of a massive Tiger-Shaped Demon Beast.

Zhou Yong felt unprecedented pressure. The Tiger-Shaped Demon Beast formed from the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's demon power had not yet fully taken shape, but its aura alone revealed its immense might. Without using a secret art, he would be unable to withstand it.

Yet he refused to give up. Today, I'll stake everything on this fight! Silently reciting the secret art's incantation, he began circulating his spiritual power along its prescribed route, and his aura surged higher and higher in an instant. As his spiritual power compressed within his meridians and raced through them, waves of swelling pain spread along them, while his dantian throbbed with agony as though it were being emptied. Zhou Yong gritted his teeth and endured, continuing to accelerate the circulation of his spiritual power.

His strength increased little by little, and Zhou Yong gripped his sword tightly, determined to survive. The light of the Top-Grade Spirit Sword in his hand grew ever brighter, as though it would cleave through all darkness and let light spill across the land. Zhou Yong's sword light and the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's Tiger-Shaped Demon Beast clashed repeatedly in midair, unleashing deafening booms. Every impact seemed ready to tear the earth apart and rip the sky to shreds.

After several exchanges, Zhou Yong began looking for a way to retreat. Given the elders' strength, they should have nearly reached the outskirts by now if they had fled at full speed. Even if demon beasts intercepted them along the way, they should not have been able to withstand the full-force attacks of several Spirit Transformation cultivators.

Seeing Zhou Yong's strength suddenly soar and his attacks remain so tenacious, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage had no choice but to take him seriously. Drawing on his Mahayana Realm cultivation, he released even greater demon power, making the beast grow larger still. The beast opened its blood-filled maw and launched a lethal attack at Zhou Yong. Zhou Yong darted aside, narrowly evading the attack, while his sword light swept out in an arc and drove the beast back.

Then he turned and fled toward the outskirts of the Demon Beast Forest on his flying sword.

Oh? He's running? A trace of astonishment appeared on the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's face. This young sect master was fighting for his life just moments ago. Why had he suddenly started fleeing?

Hmph! If he managed to escape right under my nose, I'd lose all face. The few little insects who had fled earlier meant nothing to Scarlet Radiance. But if he let Zhou Yong, the sect master, escape, his pride would never bear it. The others of the Demon Race would mock him. At that thought, he raised his hand and unleashed a palm strike at Zhou Yong's fleeing figure.

Hearing the palm strike whistle toward him from behind, Zhou Yong did not take it lightly. He took a high-grade spirit sword from his Storage Ring, poured spiritual power into it, and sent it striking backward with all his might. But this time, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage had attacked in fury. The high-grade spirit sword consumed only half the palm strike's power, briefly halting it before it continued hurtling toward Zhou Yong.

Seeing that he had failed to break the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's attack, but had reduced its power by half, Zhou Yong's eyes shifted as an idea came to him. Why not use this palm strike's force to send me on my way? He channeled spiritual power into his palm and gauged the attack's distance. When it came within less than an arm's length of his body, he thrust his palm out to meet it.

The two forces collided with a deafening boom. A massive shock wave spread outward from the point where the palm strikes met, reducing the surrounding trees, flowers, grass, and rocks to dust. The ground trembled beneath that power, and even the rocks within five hundred meters shattered.

But Zhou Yong was close to the center of the explosion, and his strength was a full realm below his opponent's, so his organs were injured once more. He also harnessed the energy of the explosion's shock wave to propel his Top-Grade Spirit Sword, fleeing desperately toward the outskirts of the Demon Beast Forest.

Zhou Yong's trick of borrowing the east wind enraged the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage enough to make him spit three liters of blood. Not only had he failed to kill Zhou Yong with his palm strike, he had helped him escape instead. His face turned cold as he gave chase at full speed.

Zhou Yong focused solely on escaping. Only when the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage caught up and left him no room to flee did he turn to exchange a few blows, sometimes even using the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's attacks to speed his flight. After activating the secret art, his strength had doubled, narrowing the gap between them considerably. Since he refused to fight head-on and sought only to escape, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage could do nothing about him for the moment. He could neither kill him nor catch him. Furious, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage roared again and again behind him.

As he fought and fled, Zhou Yong drew ever closer to the outskirts. Once he escaped the Demon Beast Forest, Scarlet Radiance would not dare pursue him any farther. The trouble was that, as time passed, his secret art was nearing its limit. If he failed to escape the Demon Beast Forest before it wore off, only death awaited him today.

Zhou Yong had to endure his injuries, exchange blows with the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage from time to time, and keep track of how long remained before his secret art wore off. Anxiety burned within him like fire. It seemed he could only take another risk. As he fled on his sword, he dodged and observed the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage's attacks.

At last, an opportunity appeared. When the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage unleashed another palm strike, Zhou Yong repeated his old trick, waiting until the attack was close to his body before using a palm technique to meet it. He was wounded again and blasted violently away once more. Riding the force of the explosion, Zhou Yong flew toward the edge of the Demon Beast Forest at full speed.

Faster, faster, faster still! With the boundary already in sight, Zhou Yong poured every last bit of his spiritual power into flying out, coughing up blood as he went.

Seeing that Zhou Yong was about to escape the Demon Beast Forest, the Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage grew anxious too. He could no longer catch him now, so he drew a blade unique to the Demon Race, filled it with demon power, and shot it toward the center of Zhou Yong's back.

By now, Zhou Yong's body and spiritual power had been exhausted to their limits. Seeing the Demon Blade hurtle toward him like wind and lightning, he knew he could no longer evade it completely. He could only twist his body as far as possible to protect his vital points, while spreading his scant remaining spiritual power over his entire body to form a rather weak spiritual barrier.