Chapter 106: A Formidable Foe Approaches

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That shrill laughter lingered beside Xu Cheng’s ears for a long while before finally fading away. Then, riding the wind and snow, it pursued Yan Mengdie and Ju Hua.

Not long after Xu Cheng had departed, a dense black fog coalesced inside the house, taking the form of a man in black whose entire body radiated a chilling aura.

In a hoarse voice, he said, “Chu Tianrui, hand over the treasure.”

“The treasure? It’s no longer with me!” Chu Tianrui replied with a frown.

The man in black gave a soft cry of surprise. Several red characters appeared in his palm as he calculated the secrets of fate. Then he said, “Someone actually got there first! Still, considering your abilities as a carpenter, my master says you deserve a little reward.”

Several black-and-red objects resembling vines appeared in the man’s hand and burrowed straight into Chu Tianrui’s body. In the blink of an eye, Chu Tianrui let out a low, anguished roar, feeling as though his body were about to split apart completely.

With a resonant hum, the strange spell within him—which had originally rejected the talismans of the Immortal, Martial, and Demonic Paths—was utterly assimilated by a completely new black-and-red aura.

With a cry of agony, the man in black vanished without a trace.

Having reunited with Ju Hua and Yan Mengdie, Xu Cheng remained entirely unaware of what had happened behind him as the three made their way toward the town.

The man in black appeared in midair. As he calculated the runes between his fingers, he sped after the three, following their faint, almost imperceptible aura.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived above them. A pair of completely black eyes noticed the footprints on the ground, and he thought, “They’re using an invisibility spell. Unfortunately, that’s still not enough to fool me.”

Faint red radiance flickered in his eyes, allowing him to see through Xu Cheng and the others’ concealment. One of them had the form of a colossal elephant, another had skin that was blue with a purplish tinge, while the third looked remarkably like an evil ghost.

After seeing through their disguises, the man in black murmured, “The aura of my kind. Yet they bear none of my master’s mark. Any of my kind who refuse to submit to my master have only one path before them—that of death!”

When he spoke the final word, “death,” his voice erupted with tremendous force. His figure vanished like a specter, and a gigantic ghostly-head seal appeared in his palm before descending toward the ground.

By the time Xu Cheng reacted, the ghost-head seal was already before him. At this critical moment, he activated the Great Radiance Seal, hoping to withstand the enemy’s terrifying strike.

The Great Radiance Seal, which should at least have been able to withstand the full-powered attack of a cultivator who had endured a Lightning Tribulation, shattered instantly. The remaining force struck Xu Cheng head-on, blasting apart the skin formed by his Minor Five-Element Creation Art and shattering the white bones throughout his body.

A single immortal seal had reduced Xu Cheng’s body to ruins. An enemy of such power had most likely endured three Lightning Tribulations.

“Right Envoy!”

“Xu Cheng!”

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Yan Mengdie and Ju Hua shouted at the same time and rushed to Xu Cheng’s side.

“Not bad, little ant! You actually managed to withstand my strike!”

The man, whose body was shrouded in darkness, spoke as black-and-red energy began radiating from his back.

Meanwhile, Xu Cheng’s body was slowly recovering.

“You think you can stand against me? Hand over the treasure you obtained, or I will show no mercy!”

The man in black roared. His voice sounded like thunder exploding out of a clear winter sky, and his aura instantly rose to its absolute peak, pressing down on Xu Cheng and the others until they could barely breathe.

Xu Cheng’s mind raced. Even if the three of them merged their Dharma images, they would still be no match for this opponent. He quietly said to Yan Mengdie and Ju Hua, “Run!”

The instant he finished speaking, he struck out three consecutive Great Radiance Seals, intending to give Yan Mengdie and Ju Hua enough time to get farther away.

The man in black immediately said, “Do you really think you can hold me back?”

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of vine-like objects appeared around him and effortlessly destroyed the three layers of Great Radiance Seals Xu Cheng had set up.

Seeing Yan Mengdie and Ju Hua fly into the distance, Xu Cheng transformed into a streak of black light and appeared in midair. He took out the Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Transformations Box and said, “The treasure is with me!”

A flash of red glimmered in the man in black’s pupils. In an instant, he appeared beside Xu Cheng, and the head of a terrifying monster materialized in his hand, lunging toward Xu Cheng’s throat.

Xu Cheng hurriedly retreated several steps, barely dodging the fatal blow. He then sped away in a certain direction without looking back.

The man in black snorted coldly and took a single step. He instantly appeared behind Xu Cheng. He was, after all, a great expert who had endured the baptism of the Lightning Tribulation, and his methods were mysterious beyond measure.

He would probably catch up to Xu Cheng with no more than one additional step.

In his anxiety, Xu Cheng noticed the Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Transformations Box in his hand. An idea struck him, and in an instant, two enormous white wings appeared behind him. As they gently beat, combined with his Netherworld Escape Art, the two of them unexpectedly found themselves evenly matched in speed.

The chase continued for more than half an hour.

“Little ant, you’re quite good at running!”

The man in black spoke from behind Xu Cheng.

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Xu Cheng did not answer. With his life hanging in the balance, he had only one thought: run for all he was worth.

At that moment, the outline of the Heavenly Master Dao’s entrance appeared ahead.

Perhaps the people of the Heavenly Master Dao would save him. Having made up his mind, Xu Cheng seemed to unleash his hidden potential, and his speed increased once more.

Fury surged in the eyes of the man in black. An ant he could crush to death with ease was about to escape his grasp. If Xu Cheng entered the Heavenly Master Dao, then given the sect’s nature of exterminating demons and evil spirits, its members might surround and attack him. Every one of those old, troublesome priests would be difficult to deal with—especially the sect master, the Old Heavenly Master. His mastery of the arts was profound enough to rival the workings of creation itself. It was entirely possible that the man in black would perish here.

Enraged, the man in black murmured, “The Ghostly Way of All Living Beings, spirits and specters! Hear my command—Myriad Ghosts Seal!”

Countless shrieking ghosts appeared from thin air. The entire world seemed to become a procession of a hundred ghosts as they lunged toward Xu Cheng.

Sensing the change behind him, Xu Cheng could not help turning his head. His heart immediately trembled.

Ten thousand ghosts transformed into a gigantic ghostly claw that blotted out the sky and sun, as though it could suppress him directly.

With such overwhelming force, there was nowhere to evade. Xu Cheng had time only to activate the Origin Feathering Grand Immortal Art, unleashing his most powerful magic, while repeatedly casting the Great Radiance Seal.

With a thunderous boom, the terrifying ghostly claw crushed him into the earth. Only a few fragments of Xu Cheng’s body remained, and his primordial spirit was nearly shattered as well.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, the golden pearl containing Xu Cheng’s primordial spirit at his chest also blocked part of the enormous claw. Otherwise, he truly would have died this time.

The man in black, who had been pursuing him, seemed unwilling to approach too closely. He also believed that his terrifying strike had destroyed Xu Cheng, along with the Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Transformations Box, reducing it to fragments. Thus, he did not look any closer and simply departed at great speed.

“Is he afraid that people from the Heavenly Master Dao will appear and surround him?”

A wisp of Xu Cheng’s consciousness muttered to itself. Although the situation was dire, he could still be saved. For that reason, he did not immediately begin recovering. He intended to wait until the enemy had gone farther away.

After a short while, however, if he did not save himself, his primordial spirit would completely dissipate into the heavens and earth.

With no other choice, he stopped worrying about anything else and concentrated on restoring himself.

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