Deep in the forest!
Su Yu did not pause in the slightest. His leg muscles tightened as he pushed Wandering Dragon Steps to its limit.
His entire body became a black shadow, plunging into the impenetrable thicket ahead.
Behind him.
"Roar!"
The scarlet tiger let out an earthshaking roar. Its cry carried extreme pain, along with the fury of a high-level demon.
Its forepaws clawed frantically at the ground, gouging out deep pits.
It had been the overlord of this region, ordered by the mystic realm tiger demon on the main peak to cooperate with those humans in green Daoist robes and surround a young man.
It had thought suppressing him would be easy, but instead, its prey had escaped, and it had been blinded.
Violent Spiritual Qi poured indiscriminately out of the scarlet tiger. Every ancient tree within dozens of yards snapped at the waist beneath this Spiritual Qi, the cuts utterly smooth.
Half an incense stick later.
A dazzling streak of green light tore through the night, descending from the sky with a shrill whistle as the formidable pressure of the mystic realm third level slammed into the ground without restraint.
Chu He, the Mystic Sword Sect's grand elder, leaped off his giant sword. The instant his feet touched the ground, the muddy water within ten meters evaporated into white vapor.
He turned toward the Three-Eyed Scarlet Tiger, which was still frantically destroying its surroundings.
The scarlet tiger was fifty feet long, and the mutated vertical eye in the middle of its forehead had burst completely, blackish-red blood coating half its head.
The flesh of Chu He's face twitched violently.
Spirit realm ninth level. This was one of the strongest demons on the outskirts of the Black Demon Mountain Range, its mutated hide and flesh offering formidable defense.
Yet it had suffered a defeat at the hands of a Demon Suppression Guard who had only recently broken through to the spirit realm.
"Where did he go?" Chu He asked coldly.
Before his words had faded, a fierce sword pressure erupted from him, bearing down hard on the Three-Eyed Scarlet Tiger.
The terrifying sword pressure instantly quieted the Three-Eyed Scarlet Tiger. It raised a sharp claw and pointed in a direction.
Chu He looked due south. Broken branches littered the ground, and a long trail of footprints carrying a lingering scent of blood extended into the depths of the darkness.
Someone at the body refinement spirit realm second level had actually blinded the vertical eye of a mutated spirit realm ninth level demonic beast with a single thrust.
A fine layer of cold sweat seeped across Chu He's back.
The scouts had reported that this young man had only been at the lower levels of the mortal realm in Nanhe County half a month ago.
If this boy was not eliminated, the Mystic Sword Sect might face utter destruction.
He raised his right hand and forcibly poured a strand of mystic realm Spiritual Qi into a blood-colored demon core.
In an instant, the red light on the demon core's surface flared, becoming a pillar of light that shot straight toward the main peak of the Black Demon Mountain Range.
This was the signal. Seal every exit on the outskirts at all costs and conduct a sweeping search.
"Everyone, heed my orders!"
Chu He clasped his hands behind his back, his powerful voice traveling several miles through his Spiritual Qi.
"Spread out and search the southern region. Once you find any trace of that boy, do not engage him. Crush your jade talisman immediately to sound the alarm."
More than a dozen Mystic Sword Sect disciples hidden in the shadows drew their longswords in unison and dispersed into the dense forest.
At the same time, an earthshaking beast's roar pierced the clouds from the summit of the Black Demon Mountain Range's main peak.
The Yao Qi throughout the outskirts of the mountain range seethed violently. Countless low-level demons lurking in the darkness emerged from their lairs and began racing through the forest.
Ten li from where the scarlet tiger had been injured.
Two Mystic Sword Sect disciples at the spirit realm fourth level advanced over the dead leaves, longswords in hand.
"The grand elder is really making a mountain out of a molehill. That boy might already have been badly wounded by that tiger demon. Even if he isn't dead, he's definitely half-crippled."
The tall, thin disciple on the left pushed aside the bushes ahead with his sword hilt.
"Better to be careful. That useless Xiang Kui was at the spirit realm fifth level, and even his corpse has gone cold," the slightly plump disciple on the right countered.
The tall, thin disciple snorted.
"Xiang Kui was just a remnant of the Ghost Shadow Sect. We're inner disciples of the Mystic Sword Sect. If I run into that boy, I'll cut off his head and take it back for the reward."
The two continued forward.
The tall, thin disciple stared intently ahead at a cave concealed by thick vines. A few drops of dark red blood remained on the dry grass at its entrance.
"He's here!" He took out a voice transmission talisman with one hand, his heartbeat accelerating. An enormous merit was right before his eyes.
But just as he was about to crush the talisman paper.
A flash of bloody light erupted from the darkness inside the cave.
Shhk!
A pitch-black saber sliced through the air, a visible layer of scarlet Sha Qi coiling around its edge.
This bloodthirsty supreme-grade martial art resonated intensely upon sensing the Qi and blood within living bodies.
The power of blood baleful intent on the blade tore forcefully through the disciple's protective Spiritual Qi.
An extremely thin red line appeared across both disciples' necks at the same time. Before their heads had even fallen, great quantities of blood essence flowed upward against the wounds, frantically drawn in by the blood Sha Qi on the black-and-gold saber.
The two became shriveled corpses and crashed to the ground.
[Slain two spirit realm fourth level martial artists. Gained 800 slaughter points.] [Current slaughter points: 2,300]
Su Yu sheathed his saber and slid down against the cold stone wall into a sitting position. He tore open his tattered robes, revealing a bruise the size of a bowl's rim on his chest. All the capillaries around it had ruptured, seeping blood.
The force of the enraged spirit realm ninth level demonic beast's backlash had been immense. Even with Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent's defense negating seventy percent of it, it had still injured his internal organs.
Under Su Yu's direction, dark golden Prison-Suppressing Spiritual Qi rapidly coursed through his damaged meridians. The intense stabbing pain made him dig his fingers hard into his thigh muscles, his nails sinking completely into his flesh.
He extended his perception to its limit, his spirit realm fourth level divine sense covering a radius of several hundred meters.
The ground trembled rhythmically, and increasingly dense Yao Qi filled the air.
Packs of Black-Armored Rats and Shadow Wolves moved outside the cave, maintaining extremely tight formations as they swept through the area in a dragnet search.
Due north, dazzling streaks of green sword light rose from time to time.
The appearance of a mutated spirit realm ninth level demon on the outskirts had already been highly unusual.
Moreover, the Three-Eyed Scarlet Tiger had appeared with an extremely clear target: it had come to kill him.
Right after he severely wounded the scarlet tiger, the Mystic Sword Sect's pursuers had arrived at that precise location, and the demons had begun a large-scale, organized search of the mountains.
Clearly, the Mystic Sword Sect had joined forces with the demons on the outskirts of the Black Demon Mountain Range.
"I can't retreat outward."
The several main routes leading out of the outskirts had definitely already been completely sealed by that beast tide driven by a great demon.
With Chu He personally overseeing things as well, forcing his way through meant certain death. If he kept circling around the outskirts, being found was only a matter of time.
Su Yu turned his head and looked toward the inner region of the Black Demon Mountain Range.
True old monsters lurked in the inner region.
Spirit realm eighth and ninth level demons could be found everywhere there, and there was even more than one mystic realm great demon.
It was a forbidden zone that human martial artists were absolutely prohibited from entering.
These demons and Mystic Sword Sect disciples on the outskirts would never dare cross that boundary lightly.
If he wanted to survive, if he wanted to devour more slaughter points, his only choice was to do the opposite.
"Since you insist on leaving no way out, let's see whose life is harder to snuff out."