Forcing a Breakthrough

Tons of water flew in from dozens of meters away, crashing down so hard that it was difficult to stand up.

Before Zhao Liang could react, he was smashed to the ground with the long bamboo pole in his hand.

The groom and Zhang Debiao, who were guarding Zhao Liang, also failed to escape.

Zhang Xuezhou, focused solely on escaping, retreated extremely quickly. Meanwhile, his retainer Xu Man slashed wildly, cutting his way out of the water sphere's impact zone. Dong Zhongshu, on the other hand, thrust his longsword forward and weaved through the water curtain.

"It's over!"

Seeing Zhao Liang knocked over by the water balloon, Dong Zhongshu's heart skipped a beat.

He glanced into the distance and saw that the water monster in the river was also staring at him.

A faint purple aura gathered in the water monster's eyes, making Dong Zhongshu aware of the opponent's strength.

"He is a Demon Saint, a ninth-rank Demon Saint!"

The Ninth-Rank Demon Saint corresponds to the True Self Realm as defined within the Han Dynasty, and is the lifelong pursuit of many cultivators.

Being pursued by such a powerful demon across the river, Dong Zhongshu not only had little chance of protecting Zhao Liang, but he himself was also in grave danger.

He is capable of fighting cultivators at the Sole Self Realm, but he cannot challenge cultivators at higher realms.

Once someone is pressed down to the point of immobility by the opponent using their cultivation level, they become like fish on a chopping block, completely at the mercy of others.

The previously imagined cost of reclaiming the merchant group's goods did not materialize; Su Fei's decisive move shattered the hopes of Dong Zhongshu and the others.

"Can we still go to the Northern Border Military Region?"

Zhang Xuezhou shouted a question, and without stopping, continued to run backward.

He appeared to have run several tens of meters, but that was not a safe distance.

He can run, and his opponent can chase him. Moreover, this demon saint in the water possesses the ability to exert pressure from his realm, and can forcefully suppress within a certain range in an instant.

Zhang Xuezhou sensed that Zhao Liang and his group were doomed, and their plans to go to the Northern Border Military Region were also ruined.

These river pirates don't play by the rules at all. Not only did they outnumber the enemy, but while they were attacking the mistress, the enemy started throwing bombs.

The key issue is that they can't out-bomb the other side.

The plan was for Dong Zhongshu to play the fool and outsmart others, but before Dong Zhongshu could even begin his performance, an even stronger player appeared who was also playing the fool.

"I don't know either!"

Dong Zhongshu cried out.

He felt that he was no good at anything and was always being targeted maliciously.

Now, not only have they failed to retrieve the carriage and other items, but Zhao Liang and his group are also trapped.

This misfortune left Dong Zhongshu speechless.

Whenever Dong Zhongshu wanted to do something legitimate that involved his own interests, he always failed to do it well.

The Ninth-Rank Demon Saint brought Dong Zhongshu despair.

He was in a difficult position to hold out against the enemy, let alone have anything to do with Zhao Liang and the others.

"As long as we're alive, we can always rebuild. Let's run! We'll come after them later!"

Zhang Xuezhou gave a greeting and had already jumped more than a hundred meters away.

This startled Dong Zhongshu for a moment, and then he too took long strides and fled desperately.

"Grab him, kill him! That's what you just promised!"

In the middle of the river, Su Fei looked at Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu, who were fleeing for their lives without any sense of morality, and couldn't help but point and shout.

Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu fled too decisively; they didn't even have a chance to fight the Great Sage of the Water Ape before running away for their lives.

These two were clearly at their most frenzied with killing, slaughtering nearly thirty hunting dogs, and now they're just abandoning them like that.

Su Fei didn't know whether to criticize the two men's low character or praise their ability to recognize risks.

He urged the Water Ape Great Sage repeatedly, and the enormous water monster could only grunt in response.

I hate land!

The Great Sage of the Water Ape spoke in a low, humming voice.

It tugged at its chains and strode toward the riverbank.

His towering height of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) allowed him to take a stride of more than one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), making him faster than a human runner.

Once the Great Sage of the Water Ape had firmly planted himself on the muddy riverbank, he continued to stride forward, carrying a chain tens of meters long on his back, even accelerating as he transformed his strides into a running attack.

When they looked into the distance, Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu's bodies had already turned into small black dots, but this distance was nothing in the eyes of the Water Ape Great Sage.

Unless the opponent is a bird, these two have no chance of escaping his relentless pursuit.

He began to run like the wind, and the two small black dots became clearer and clearer, getting closer and closer.

"Accountant Du, I'm outmatched, I'll fly ahead first!"

The shouts from afar caught the attention of the Water Ape Great Sage, and also surprised Dong Zhongshu, who felt that Zhang Xuezhou's words were grammatically incorrect.

But Dong Zhongshu quickly accepted it.

In just a few steps, Zhang Xuezhou's sleeves billowed up, revealing the bronze feathers on his arms.

With just a few running steps, Zhang Xuezhou leaped into the air.

"Yufeng and borrowing its strength!"

Dong Zhongshu's eyes widened as he fanned himself repeatedly with his Law Treasure fan, and a wind rope was tied to Zhang Xuezhou's legs.

He couldn't fly, but Dong Zhongshu had the skill of using leverage to leap.

As the Law Treasure fan swung downwards repeatedly, Zhang Xuezhou, who was flying using the demon wings, was not significantly affected.

The two swayed continuously in the air, then flew over high mountains.

This caused the Great Sage Water Ape behind them to bar its teeth and roar. As it gave chase, it casually plucked a small tree from the ground and threw it at Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu.

The whistling wind as it passed through the low trees cut through the air before falling below Zhang Xuezhou and the others.

"There are too many demons here!" Zhang Xuezhou exclaimed. "Doesn't the imperial court usually fight and kill demons?"

"We fight every year, but these things hide in remote and impoverished areas; how can we possibly catch them!"

Dong Zhongshu responded loudly, and then repeatedly uttered curses.

Master Jiang, dog demon, fox demon, Bashe, demon tiger, water ape sage—over this period of time, demons have indeed emerged one after another.

Dong Zhongshu believed this was related to the bad luck he was experiencing.

Encounters with demons were not so frequent within the territory of the Han Dynasty; they were simply unlucky to have encountered such a situation.

"Let me tell you, we just had really bad luck and ran into this mess. I... fly higher, get out of the way!"

Having dodged the low tree thrown by the Water Ape Great Sage, Dong Zhongshu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when he saw a huge rock rushing up below.

He only wiped the light sweat from his forehead after the boulder had passed by him.

"Your Demon Power is limited; you cannot escape my pursuit!"

A buzzing sound came from behind, and not only Dong Zhongshu had a headache, but Zhang Xuezhou also frowned.

"Accountant Du, can we split up?" Zhang Xuezhou shouted.

"This demon saint's target Non-Self; he'll hunt you down too. I can't fly, so I can't hold you off for long. Once I'm gone, it'll be your turn," Dong Zhongshu cried out. "Besides, you'll be falling into a deep sleep tomorrow. Without my help, you'll be in great danger in this desolate wilderness!"

My life has been so hard!

Zhang Xuezhou shouted.

Having exhausted all his options, he could only seek out terrain that might offer some assistance, hoping to make the demon saint waste some of his energy.

"I am currently only at the Divine Ability Realm. Once I break through to the Sole Self Realm, eliminate the influence of his Yao Qi aura, and gain a greater casting range and enhanced Technique Method power, I will surely have the ability to fight him!"

Maintaining the rope wouldn't waste much of Dong Zhongshu's Law Power, but there's always an end to escaping.

Forced into a corner with no way out, Dong Zhongshu couldn't help but think of forcibly breaking through to the Sole Self Realm to find a way out.

In the past, Sole Self Realm of Sovereignty required considering various potential consequences, but compared to death, these consequences are insignificant.

The potential for future problems can only be discussed while one is alive; once one is dead, everything is gone.

Dong Zhongshu's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but greet Zhang Xuezhou was trying his best to leap and dodge.

"You want to forcefully break through to the Sole Self Realm and kill this great demon? No problem, I'll definitely fly smoothly and won't let you get crushed to death in a short time!"

Zhang Xuezhou felt he could fly hundreds of miles.

However, the distance that the Great Sage Water Ape could escape by leaping across seemed to pose no problem for him.

The opponent's massive body could easily traverse the ridge.

The ninth-rank demon saint can lock onto a target at an extremely long distance, ensuring that the target is not lost during pursuit.

Only by flying fast, flying long distances, and flying high enough can one evade the pursuit of such a top-tier demon saint.

Clearly, Zhang Xuezhou's current abilities are not up to par.

He was at best a mid-to-low level True Spirit Realm cultivator, and it would be difficult for him to deal with this level of situation.

He made decisions extremely quickly while fleeing, and Dong Zhongshu's decision was obviously also swift, as he sought to forcefully break through the realm to confront the Great Sage Water Ape in a short period of time.

When forced into a corner, Zhang Xuezhou would inevitably have to reveal his true abilities, Dong Zhongshu would obviously inevitably suffer losses as well.