Dusk fell like cold iron, pressing heavily over the Cangwu mountains.
Chu Yunfei dared not stop for even a moment. He drove his movement technique at full power, fleeing the area.
Mountain wind poured through the tears of all sizes in his robes, piercing his skin with the chill of early autumn, but that cold was nothing compared to the upheaval unfolding inside his body.
The forbidden technique's backlash had arrived.
It came faster and more violently than he had expected.
The moment he pulled out the silver needles, the power granted by the forbidden technique began draining away at an irreversible pace.
It was like a river whose level had been artificially raised. Once the dam collapsed, the floodwaters receded far faster than they had risen.
Spiritual power surged violently through his meridians, not growing, but shrinking.
It was a peculiar sensation.
As though an invisible hand had reached into his body and was drawing out, thread by thread, the spiritual power he had painstakingly gathered.
Every strand pulled away sent a tearing stab of pain through his meridians, as though the departing spiritual power were stripping a layer of flesh and blood from their walls.
His cultivation regressed at a visibly rapid pace. His spiritual power was draining too quickly.
First level of Spirit Martial.
He had returned to his cultivation before using the forbidden technique.
But the regression did not stop.
The barrier of the first level of Spirit Martial shattered under the impact of his regressing cultivation, as helpless as a sandcastle collapsing beneath the tide.
Inside Chu Yunfei's dantian, the vortex of spiritual power representing the Spirit Martial Realm contracted sharply, degenerating from a vortex into a ball of light, then from a ball of light into a thin, feeble stream of spiritual power.
Qi Condensation Realm.
He had fallen from the Spirit Martial Realm back to the ninth level of the Qi Condensation Realm.
Chu Yunfei's body abruptly stiffened. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, and he failed to suppress it. Mouthful after mouthful of blood gushed out, splashing a shocking expanse of dark red across the rocks beneath his feet.
Within his sea of consciousness, the cracks that had already appeared during battle were spreading faster.
His soul was like a mirror repeatedly battered by a heavy hammer, riddled with cracks and liable to shatter into dust at any moment.
Just then, a cool yet distinctly weak voice came from the depths of his sea of consciousness.
"Brat, this is all I can do for you."
Xiaoxiao Dragon's remnant soul transformed into a pale blue light, enveloping Chu Yunfei's tottering soul.
The light was not strong-it could even be called faint-but it filled the most dangerous cracks with perfect precision, forcibly stabilizing his soul on the verge of collapse.
This was the limit of what she could do as a remnant soul.
Had she not begun mending the cracks in his soul the instant the forbidden technique activated, Chu Yunfei's meridians would probably have already ruptured inch by inch, his soul shattered.
Having his cultivation regress to the Qi Condensation Realm was already the best possible outcome. For anyone else enduring backlash of this magnitude from a forbidden technique, never mind losing cultivation-even surviving would have been an extravagant hope.
"Thank you."
Chu Yunfei's voice was hoarse and low, carrying exhaustion he could not suppress.
He was not someone skilled at expressing gratitude, but those two words were sincere.
From being beset by Zhou Huanzhang to confronting Zhang Qingfeng, then sustaining the forbidden technique throughout, Xiaoxiao Dragon's remnant soul had already been more than half depleted. She was now even weaker than he was.
"Save your breath. Conserve your strength." Xiaoxiao Dragon sounded as impatient as ever, but the weakness in her voice could not lie.
Chu Yunfei pushed himself upright with the Giant Que Sword, drew a deep breath, suppressed the surging blood within him, and continued down the mountain.
He could not stop.
Although the Azure Mystic Sect had backed off for now, those elders, especially Zhou Huanzhang, would not let the matter rest. He had to use the cover of night to get completely beyond the Azure Mystic Sect's sphere of influence.
His Qi Condensation Realm cultivation greatly reduced his speed. In the Spirit Martial Realm, the Divine Movement Art had carried him dozens of zhang in a single breath; now, it could only sustain a pace slightly faster than an ordinary person's.
The mountain path was rugged and littered with loose stones. The soles of his feet had already been rubbed raw, and his blood traced a winding dark line along the path behind him.
The night grew darker.
The outline of the Cangwu Mountain Range looked towering and indifferent beneath the moonlight. The distant peaks resembled crouching behemoths, silently watching the young man walking alone.
Chu Yunfei's footsteps suddenly halted.
It was not because his strength had failed him, but because Xiaoxiao Dragon's voice abruptly rose in his sea of consciousness. The agitation and vigilance in her tone sent a chill through his heart.
"Someone's coming after you, brat. Run!"
"This one's not to be trifled with."
Chu Yunfei did not hesitate or look back. He poured the last of his Qi Condensation Realm spiritual power into his legs, driving the Divine Movement Art to its utmost as his figure became an afterimage darting toward the dense forest ahead.
Though his speed was nowhere near his peak, his movement technique had the advantage of unpredictable shifts, his footsteps following an elusive course.
This was a habit he had developed in his previous life, before his rebirth: never run in a straight line when fleeing for your life.
Yet the presence behind him was closing in at a speed that inspired despair.
That presence was powerful and restrained, like a fierce beast lurking in the darkness. With every measure it drew closer, the hairs along Chu Yunfei's spine rose further.
Heavenly Origin Realm.
And no ordinary Heavenly Origin Realm cultivator.
"Heh."
A low chuckle came from behind him. It was quiet, yet as clear as someone speaking right beside his ear.
"Not a bad movement technique. Unfortunately, it's useless."
The next second, the scene before Chu Yunfei abruptly changed.
The presence that had been more than ten zhang away appeared directly in front of him without warning.
A masked figure in black blocked his path, tall and slender, hands clasped behind his back in a relaxed posture.
Moonlight shone on the man's eyes, revealing an icy amusement.
Teleportation.
Genuine teleportation.
It was not movement too fast for the naked eye to follow, but a true crossing of a short stretch of space between two positions.
Such a feat required cultivation at least at the late stage of the Heavenly Origin Realm.
Chu Yunfei's pupils contracted sharply.
"Leave the sword, and I'll spare your life."
The masked man's voice carried a condescending nonchalance, as though he were issuing an ultimatum to an ant he could crush at any moment.
His gaze settled on the Giant Que Sword in Chu Yunfei's hand, undisguised, burning greed deep in his eyes.
The inheritance of the ancient Heaven-Slaying Sword Emperor.
Something so many people dreamed of obtaining!
This was what he truly wanted.
Within his sea of consciousness, Xiaoxiao Dragon's cool, weak voice sounded. "He's the Heavenly Sword Sect's Holy Son."
Chu Yunfei's eyes widened.
Damn it!
It's him!
"Damn you, you're Nangong."
Chu Yunfei's voice carried anger he could not suppress.
At those words, the masked man raised his right hand and slowly pulled off his face covering.
Beneath the moonlight, Nangong Wuhen's face, so handsome it bordered on the uncanny, was fully exposed to the night. A hint of an ambiguous smile curved his lips, yet there was not the slightest warmth in his eyes.
"Oh, you actually recognized me."
Nangong Wuhen casually tossed the face covering onto the ground, his tone turning somewhat colder.
"Then I can't let you live."
The instant his identity was exposed, killing intent replaced his earlier composure, pouring from Nangong Wuhen's body as though it had substance.
He unleashed the full extent of his late-stage Heavenly Origin Realm cultivation.
That pressure descended like an invisible mountain, warping the space within several zhang of Chu Yunfei.
Loose stones on the ground gave faint cracking sounds beneath the pressure. Plants bent and flattened, and even the dust in the air seemed to have been frozen in place.
Chu Yunfei's knees bent slightly, his entire skeleton creaking under the unbearable burden.
Yet his back remained straight, and his bloodshot eyes held no fear, only cold calculation.
Qi Condensation Realm against Heavenly Origin Realm.
The gap was even greater than when he had faced Zhou Huanzhang and the others in the martial training grounds.
At least when he had fought Zhou Huanzhang, he had used the forbidden technique to raise himself to the first level of Heavenly Origin Realm. Now, he was not even in the Spirit Martial Realm.
"This bastard actually came for the Giant Que Sword." Chu Yunfei's thoughts raced as he rapidly calculated a way to escape.
Nangong Wuhen did not give him much time to think.
Killing intent surged toward him like a tide.