Boom! Boom! Boom! …
At this moment, fierce battles were still raging in other parts of the field, yet many people had already begun fleeing outwards.
With the sealing light barrier gone and their ninth-level Martial Emperor dead, their objective was no longer to wipe out the Ji family members; it had become pure survival.
The moment someone started to run, panic spread like wildfire, and others followed suit.
Even though their overall strength was not much inferior to the Ji family’s, their morale had completely collapsed.
Lin Xiao had anticipated this long ago. He had ordered the Purple Corpse Puppet to slaughter fiercely while constantly moving closer to him.
“Flee! Rendezvous a thousand miles due north. I will bring you all into the Azure Dragon Sect; the sect will protect you!”
At that instant, Bi Zhuang’s divine sense transmission reached Lin Xiao’s ears.
Immediately afterwards, Bi Zhuang blasted the crowd apart, his speed surging once more as he shot into the distance, paying no attention to the other Sacred Heaven Sect disciples.
Lin Xiao was momentarily speechless. Was Bi Zhuang really that confident he could escape?
Still, under these circumstances, scattering and fleeing individually was indeed the wisest choice. Everyone else was already running; staying behind would only mean being overwhelmed by the Ji family’s assault.
The longer they delayed, the greater the danger.
“I have no need to join the Azure Dragon Sect. Lin Xiao, Bo Haixuan, can you both get away safely?” Immediately after, Xi Yucheng’s divine sense transmission also rang in his ears.
“No problem for me!” As the words left his mouth, Bo Haixuan, covered in blood at the edge of the battlefield, suddenly erupted with a ferocious assault. Then, at extreme speed, he shot towards the horizon. Several pursuers immediately gave chase.
“No problem here!” Lin Xiao replied. At that moment, the Purple Corpse Puppet came barrelling through the enemy ranks.
A large number of attackers were also closing in around Lin Xiao.
Whoosh!
Spiritual force circulated through mysterious pathways in Lin Xiao’s mind. The Heaven Devouring Art was instantly activated. A massive tri-coloured vortex of black, cyan, and blue condensed overhead. Terrifying devouring power surged outwards, flooding in all directions.
In addition to the devouring force, the tri-coloured vortex also radiated incinerating flames and thunderous might.
Many of those charging forward were sucked into the vortex before they could even unleash their attacks. Screams of terror rang out one after another.
“This is… spiritual ability?” Ji Yang was utterly shocked.
He had been about to strike Lin Xiao, but when he saw so many people swallowed by the vortex and felt his own body being violently pulled, he hurriedly unleashed his power and blasted the tri-coloured vortex.
Torrents of energy crashed directly into it.
Taking advantage of the moment, Lin Xiao threw out the Void Heaven Phoenix Wings, stepped onto them, instantly recalled the Purple Corpse Puppet, then poured a large handful of pills into the wings. The entire sequence was completed in one fluid motion.
Swoosh!
A golden light burst from the Void Heaven Phoenix Wings as they shot towards the horizon.
Xi Yucheng also seized the opportunity to repel his opponents and fled outwards.
Shock was written across his face; he was stunned that Lin Xiao, who dual-cultivated essence and spirit, actually possessed a spiritual ability as well.
After the few of them had escaped, many people were still locked in deadly combat, while others chased after the fleeing enemies.
The devouring vortex was finally shattered by Ji Yang’s power.
The battlefield had descended into complete chaos.
“Chase them!!!”
When Ji Yang saw Lin Xiao suddenly produce a flying treasure and vanish in an instant, his hair stood on end with rage as he roared furiously.
Their ninth-level Martial Emperor had been killed, yet the murderer escaped right under their noses; this was an enormous humiliation for the Ji family!
Many outsiders watching were secretly horrified. One could imagine the shockwaves this would cause: for the first time in countless years, someone had dared to slaughter a ninth-level Martial Emperor elder and over two hundred Ji family members right on their doorstep.
…
After making several wide detours, Lin Xiao completely shook off the Ji family pursuers and headed north.
It did not take long before he arrived roughly five hundred thousand li north of the Ji family, then another thousand li further in the exact same direction.
His injuries were not serious; there was no need to take any pills.
“Could this Bi Zhuang be from the same lineage as Long Tutian?” Lin Xiao wondered silently.
He had saved Bi Zhuang once, and Bi Zhuang had also saved him; they had shared life-and-death hardship.
Logically, Bi Zhuang should be trustworthy. However, this was the Central Continent after all, and after everything that had happened, Lin Xiao was prepared for any possibility.
In any case, he had originally planned to head to the Azure Dragon Sect to find Long Tutian. Even if Bi Zhuang harboured ulterior motives, once inside the sect and face-to-face with Long Tutian, the problem could be resolved; Long Tutian would definitely give him that much face.
So there was no real need to worry about that point.
Even if Bi Zhuang did not lead the way, Lin Xiao would still have to go himself, and it would be far more troublesome.
The speed of his Void Heaven Phoenix Wings far exceeded Bi Zhuang’s. While waiting, Lin Xiao took inventory of the storage rings he had obtained from the ancient city.
Among them were rings that had belonged to eighth-level Martial Emperors.
This trip had yielded considerable rewards: more than five thousand blue spirit stones alone, over a dozen seventh-grade pills, several dozen sixth-grade pills, plus various weapons, martial skills, medicinal ingredients, and some special items.
One of those items was a door plank.
This was no ordinary door plank; its material appeared identical to the walking stick he had obtained earlier. It had clearly come from the ancient city.
This was probably his greatest harvest.
The rest of the miscellaneous items did not seem particularly useful.
Of course, there was another major gain: human pills. Adding together everything he had collected, he now possessed forty-five of them.
These human pills varied in colour depth, which roughly indicated their grade.
The deeper the colour, the higher the grade; Lin Xiao had observed this when the eighth-level Martial Emperor had condensed his pill.
Counting these human pills, the haul this time was truly substantial.
Afterwards, Lin Xiao took out the Yaoguang Broken Sword and tested it against the wooden door plank, gradually increasing his force.
As expected, the plank’s defence was astonishing; no matter how much power he used, he could not damage it in the slightest.
This door plank could definitely serve as a defensive treasure.
Not long after, a figure rapidly approached from the horizon. Lin Xiao immediately grew wary, but relaxed once he recognised the face.
It was Bi Zhuang.
Bi Zhuang was stained with blood, yet he appeared largely unharmed.
“Those wings are truly extraordinary; what incredible speed!” Bi Zhuang could not help exclaiming. Then he looked at Lin Xiao and said, “Back in the ancient city, you saved me once and killed people from the Sacred Heaven Sect. That is correct, yes?”
After a brief pause, Lin Xiao nodded. “Yes.”
More than just Bi Zhuang; people from the Sacred Heaven Sect had probably guessed the same thing.
There was nothing he could do about it. In a life-or-death crisis, Lin Xiao had been forced to unleash his full strength. Although he had not brought out the Yaoguang Broken Sword as directly, the Sacred Heaven Sect disciples were bound to grow suspicious.
After all, among those whose cultivation had been suppressed, only a handful had displayed exceptional combat power, and Lin Xiao had even revealed the Purple Corpse Puppet.
In other words, from now on, Lin Xiao would have to contend not only with the threat from the Ji family, but also with danger from the Sacred Heaven Sect.
