At this moment, Lin Xiao was already controlling the dozen-zhang floating heavenly palace, speeding towards the outer perimeter.
The members of the Ji family and Sacred Heaven Gate all sprang into action, charging furiously in the direction Lin Xiao was fleeing. Waves of power poured down like a storm, blasting towards him.
At the same time, the people from Sacred Heaven Gate also moved. This concerned a supreme treasure; naturally, they would hold nothing back.
Moreover, they had long wanted Lin Xiao dead.
Of course, the Azure Dragon Gate members were not idle either. They unleashed attacks against the forces of the other two sides, rushing forward to intercept them.
Even those who harboured grievances against Lin Xiao or Long Tutian had no choice but to act.
If the floating heavenly palace was truly comparable to the Ji family’s clan-suppressing treasure, then it concerned the entire future of Azure Dragon Gate.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Lin Xiao manoeuvred the palace behind himself, using it to block the incoming assaults while he himself shot forward at full speed.
To his surprise, even under the barrage of so many experts, the palace was barely shaken from its course.
The gap between a Martial Saint and anyone below was simply unbridgeable, no matter how numerous the attackers.
The rest of the crowd, those not belonging to the three great powers, did not dare make a move. With three Martial Saints present, anyone who snatched the treasure would instantly become the common target of all three and would never escape alive.
Besides, while the three great powers fought amongst themselves, these outsiders planned to bide their time, waiting for the major forces to exhaust one another before seizing any opportunity that arose.
Joining the fray now would only mean doing the dirty work for one of the three powers.
Lin Xiao had originally expected the palace to be blasted far away, but it barely deviated. He could only continue pouring spiritual force into it, making it follow him as he fled.
He found it strange: the palace was almost impossible to budge with physical attacks, yet under his spiritual control it could still move swiftly.
In other words, guiding it with spiritual force did not slow his vital-energy speed in the slightest.
With his current vital energy, capable of sweeping aside any Ninth Layer Martial Emperor, almost everyone chasing from behind could not hope to catch up.
Therefore, Lin Xiao chose to flee at once.
Even with Azure Dragon Gate blocking some pursuers, at least five or six hundred people would still be giving chase.
The Ji family alone had far too many members.
At Lin Xiao’s present speed, with the palace shielding him from attacks while maintaining his full vital-energy velocity, probably only half-step Martial Saints and a very small number of extremely fast Ninth Layer Martial Emperors could keep up.
He did not yet know exactly how many half-step Martial Saints the Ji family had brought.
But there would certainly be no fewer than Azure Dragon Gate.
The two peak lords of Azure Dragon Gate were tying down two of them, which meant the Ji family and Sacred Heaven Gate would still have at least two half-step Martial Saints free.
In other words, Lin Xiao would very likely have to face two half-step Martial Saints plus several exceptionally swift Ninth Layer Martial Emperor experts.
If he were stalled, he might end up surrounded by even more enemies.
For a moment he felt the urge to curse Long Tutian. The man could clearly contend with two Martial Saints himself, yet he had tossed this burning-hot treasure straight into Lin Xiao’s lap.
Of course, he also understood Long Tutian’s reasoning: as long as Lin Xiao escaped beyond the sensing range of the two Martial Saints, and since Long Tutian could locate him at any time, the floating heavenly palace would completely belong to them.
Although Long Tutian’s battle prowess was monstrous, facing two Martial Saints at once would still make it difficult for him to carry the palace away.
But that was only Lin Xiao’s guess; the truth remained uncertain.
For now, though, Lin Xiao was not overly afraid of half-step Martial Saints. Having stepped into the Martial Emperor realm, he could feel the formidable power within his body. Combined with his spiritual force, even if he could not defeat a half-step Martial Saint, they would not find it easy to pin him down.
However, two of them, plus several Ninth Layer Martial Emperor experts, would spell serious trouble.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As Lin Xiao streaked towards the horizon, several figures indeed pursued at terrifying speed. Three were the fastest, rapidly closing to within a few dozen li behind him.
They did not attack the palace; doing so would only slow themselves and barely affect Lin Xiao. Instead, they chased at maximum velocity.
Behind those three and a few others slightly further back, a huge crowd followed, but the distance between them and the leaders was steadily widening.
“Three half-step Martial Saints!”
Lin Xiao’s brow furrowed.
Two would already have been troublesome enough. Three meant he was in genuine danger.
Whoosh!
Moments later, one of the half-step Martial Saints, who had been trailing close behind the palace, suddenly veered sharply to the side, attempting a flanking assault on Lin Xiao.
“Perfect, you can be the first to test this treasure!”
Lin Xiao snorted coldly. He had long been prepared. Gathering abundant spiritual force, he abruptly commanded the floating heavenly palace to swing sideways, smashing directly towards the grey-robed Ji family half-step Martial Saint elder.
The Ji family elder’s brows knitted. He had thought his sudden flank would catch Lin Xiao off guard, but Lin Xiao had spotted him anyway.
Now the ambush had reversed.
He hurriedly redirected the sword strike meant for Lin Xiao towards the oncoming palace, unleashing peerless sword radiance to block it.
At the same time, his body shot backwards in retreat.
Boom! Sizzle!
The Ji family elder’s attack passed through the clouds and struck the dozen-zhang palace.
Yet it barely hindered the palace at all. Under Lin Xiao’s spiritual control, it continued hurtled towards the elder at full speed.
Because the elder had been hiding behind the palace for his sneak attack and had darted out from the side, he was already very close to it. His strike had failed to slow it even slightly, and Lin Xiao’s spiritually guided smash was lightning fast. The elder simply had no time to evade before the palace slammed into him.
He raised his sword horizontally to block, vital energy surging around him for protection, but the cloud restriction passed straight through his defences and struck his body.
Immediately afterwards, the solid wall of the palace itself crashed heavily into the elder, who was already reeling from the restriction.
Against a dozen-zhang palace, his sword was useless.
Bang!
With a tremendous explosion, a mangled figure, almost half its original size and drenched in blood, was hurled sideways through the air.
By the time it flew out, all signs of life had vanished.
A half-step Martial Saint had been killed in a single blow from the floating heavenly palace.
“What!”
The other pursuing Ji family half-step Martial Saint and the one from Sacred Heaven Gate were both horrified.
Lin Xiao had actually smashed a half-step Martial Saint to death?
Did that mean that, with the floating heavenly palace in hand, Lin Xiao could now kill half-step Martial Saints?
Then weren’t they in extreme danger as well?
