Louder, I can't hear you!

"By Lord Xun's decree, let the heavenly thoroughfare shine clear!"

"Unhindered, unceasing, myriad transformations in the unseen!"

"By decree!"

Sensing the formidable presence suddenly swell and erupt behind him, Qi Yun sprang forward while forming hand seals and chanting an incantation, stirring his True Qi to cast a Law Technique!

Azure light flashed at his fingertips. As [Clear Breeze Technique] unfolded, currents spiraled beneath Qi Yun's feet, and his fluttering robes turned to wisps of smoke.

The instant he plunged into the mountain forest, his figure burst apart into flowing wind, ignoring the jagged rocks and gnarled branches blocking his path as he merged completely into this gloomy landscape.

"Hmph! Trying to leave? Too late!"

Expressionless, Zhou Hao strolled out from behind the shadow of a thick stone pillar. His indifferent gaze swept over Wu Tao's still-warm corpse on the ground. He turned his palm over, and the jet-black flying sword shot back with a whoosh, landing firmly in his grasp.

"Trash!"

Zhou Hao stepped forward, his broad sleeves billowing like waves. His figure abruptly blurred into a streak almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.

At the same time, an eight-bearer sedan chair formed from dense black mist, steeped in Yin Qi, seemed to materialize beneath him out of thin air.

Silent and soundless, the ghost sedan carried the seated Zhou Hao swiftly forward like a phantom, treating rocks and trees as nonexistent and passing straight through walls and barriers, as though it had itself become nothingness!

Gone?

After searching the surroundings without finding any sign of Qi Yun, Zhou Hao raised an eyebrow.

Could this boy's Law Technique be faster than my ghost sedan?

After a brief hesitation, Zhou Hao immediately realized.

Impossible!

At merely the Qi Refining Third Layer, even with a Law Artifact, it was still impossible.

In that case, there was only one possibility... a method of illusory embodiment and concealment!

He was a Foundation Establishment True Person's personal disciple, after all.

Within moments, Zhou Hao had worked out why Qi Yun had vanished-decisive and perceptive, without the slightest dithering.

"You must have relied on this method to ambush and kill Tang Shun."

His indifferent eyes swept the scene before him. Zhou Hao formed a method formula with both hands, and an eerie, blue-gray glimmer quietly appeared deep within his eyes.

"By Fengdu's decree, pierce the darkness of the Nine Netherworlds!"

"Earth spirits hide their forms, wood spirits flee through shadows!"

"Soul sand lights the lamp, blood debts point the way!"

"Through myriad tribulations, all shines clear; no form may hide!"

"Seize!"

Reciting the incantation, Zhou Hao bit through his fingertip without hesitation. Bright red beads of blood seeped out, and he swiftly traced an intricate, sinister [Fengdu Mountain Talisman] on his palm.

With a fierce surge of True Qi, the blood talisman on his palm turned into a wisp of blue smoke with a hiss and burrowed into the cracks in the soil beneath his feet.

Rumble-!

The ground abruptly heaved violently.

Five mounds radiating dense Yin Qi swelled and rose like boiling water. Teeth-grating scraping sounds came from within, as though vicious creatures were about to burst out of the earth!

Then five sickly green ghost flames ignited out of thin air at Zhou Hao's five fingertips. Their eerie light flickered and instantly condensed into a sharp, flaming arrowhead, pointing coldly toward a spot deep in the mountain forest!

"Five Ghosts Tracking Great Method! Rise!"

Zhou Hao pointed with his hand seal. The five burial mounds exploded, and five ghosts surged out wrapped in chilling winds amid shrill, piercing shrieks.

Several hundred meters away, Qi Yun was calmly watching it all when Zheng Yi's voice transmission sounded in his ears.

"Go! It's the [Five Ghosts Tracking Great Method]. If those five lesser ghosts entangle you, you won't be able to get away."

Hearing Zheng Yi's warning, Qi Yun turned and left, unable to help thinking to himself.

As expected, higher-realm cultivators all had some means of tracking. [Clear Breeze Technique]'s concealment was still too inadequate against a genuine tracking Secret Method...

I wonder whether a later update can strengthen this mechanic!

Five flickering ghostly figures, cackling strangely, darted through the forest, following the guidance of the ghost flames as they lunged toward Qi Yun at tremendous speed.

Qi Yun drove [Clear Breeze Technique] to its limit. The flowing wind veered sharply through the forest and skimmed the ground, its speed no slower at all.

Without taking visible form, he began a chase with the five ghosts across Drifting Remains Mountain.

"Little thief! Quite the slippery one."

Seated in the ghost sedan, Zhou Hao sensed through the five ghosts how troublesome Qi Yun was, and a cold smile curled his lips.

"Unfortunately, this ends here!"

Circulating his True Qi, Zhou Hao's chest swelled slightly. Then he opened his mouth and spat a sickly green mist of light onto the [Fengdu Mountain Talisman].

This [Fengdu Mountain Talisman] was the source of the five ghosts. With this reinforcement, an eerie green glow also rose from the five ghosts pursuing Qi Yun.

As though given precise instructions, the five ghostly figures stopped pursuing blindly and began coordinating. In an instant, they scattered and flanked him like five great nets of Yin Qi rapidly drawing shut, sealing off every avenue of evasion ahead, behind, and to either side of Qi Yun in the blink of an eye!

Every path forward and back was sealed. The five ghosts kept closing in, tightening their encirclement.

Could he no longer escape...?

Watching from the shadows, Zheng Yi frowned slightly. Zhou Hao was Song Kun's third disciple, with cultivation at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

Although his cultivation put him at the bottom among the disciples, just like that youngest disciple.

But this man had an excellent talent for Law Techniques and loved studying them. Few in his realm could match him.

Sending someone so skilled in employing methods showed that Song Kun was determined to get Qi Yun.

Just as Zheng Yi hesitated over whether to intervene and help Qi Yun escape his predicament.

He saw Qi Yun hesitate only briefly before immediately springing toward the nearest lesser ghost.

"Do you think this lesser ghost of mine is made of paper?"

Noticing this, Zhou Hao sneered. He had nurtured these five lesser ghosts for eighteen years. Their bodies brimmed with Yin Qi and resentment, and all they needed to do was pounce on someone for that resentful, chilling Qi to freeze them on the spot.

Those with slightly weaker cultivation would simply freeze to death.

"If you can break out, I'll let you..."

Before he could finish his threat, a sudden change occurred.

Qi Yun, charging fearlessly toward the ghost blocking his path, reached into his robes and pulled out a great handful of already activated Evil-Dispelling Baleful Intent-Breaking Talismans, which hummed incessantly and radiated vast magical might.

These talismans were all treasures Qi Yun had kept in reserve.

Unlike the budget versions he had sold before, he had poured a hundred and twenty percent of his concentration into drawing these talismans.

Though their power could not match the prized works drawn by the professional talisman masters in the treasure market, they were only a notch below.

And now, he had grabbed fifty or sixty at once!

Boom-

Dazzling golden light blazed as though a raging little sun had abruptly risen over this gloomy Drifting Remains Mountain.

Vast, surging evil-breaking power gathered into a devastating golden tide, instantly swallowing the lesser ghost blocking his path.

Two sharp streaks of Sword Qi, condensed until almost tangible, were cleverly hidden within the torrent of golden light erupting from the talismans. Like snakes flicking their tongues, they pierced the lesser ghost's core with precision!

In an instant, a shriek so agonized it was distorted, filled with endless pain and venomous resentment, tore through the deathly still air of the mountain forest!

Crack-

At the same time, a crack suddenly split the [Fengdu Mountain Talisman] in Zhou Hao's palm.

This meant that the lesser ghost he had nurtured for eighteen years... had croaked.

The golden light faded, and the Yin Qi dispersed.

Qi Yun's figure re-formed at the edge of the explosion. He panted slightly, his face a little pale, but an exhilarated smile curved his lips.

He turned his head, his gaze cutting precisely through the gaps between the trees to fix upon the face in the distant ghost sedan, which had instantly turned livid.

"I think I just heard someone say that if I could break out, he'd let me... let me what, again?"

Qi Yun's voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly across several hundred meters.

Provocation!

Naked provocation!

Flashing Zhou Hao an internationally renowned gesture, Qi Yun laughed loudly and transformed, bursting apart into flowing wind as he fled toward the depths of the more treacherous mountains without looking back!

He left behind only Zhou Hao, his face alternating between green and white, and Zheng Yi, whose hidden expression revealed surprise and amusement.

This brat... truly had the gall to defy heaven (was courting death)!