Chapter 291 - 286: Pursuit and Engagement
The night rain fell, dreary and hazy.
Relying on his Five Senses Divine ability, Su Yu trailed behind Hong Lei, tracking his aura.
Hong Lei had been repeatedly wounded by Pang Xuan, Li Jingxuan, and the others. Although his strength had plummeted, with his cultivation realm, dealing with an ordinary initial-stage Muscle Forging Realm expert would still be a trivial matter.
’If I activate the White Ape Transformation now, I’d be considered a top contender among those in the initial Muscle Forging Realm,’ Su Yu thought. ’But I still wouldn’t have what it takes to face a deeply proficient master like him head-on.’
’However, Hong Lei is like a spooked bird right now. He has to split his focus between suppressing his worsening injuries and desperately pushing his Qi and Blood to flee. His combat strength will only weaken over time. I can use the incredible speed of the Seven Fiends Thunder Collapse Step to wear him down, clinging to him like a hunter training a falcon!’
A contemplative glint flickered in Su Yu’s eyes.
’I’ll wait for the right moment, catch him off guard, and unleash that divine ability I’ve been saving as my trump card... A single hit, and he’s as good as dead!’
The plan rapidly took shape in his mind. Su Yu pushed off forcefully, his Seven Fiends Thunder Collapse Step instantly leaving a series of afterimages barely visible to the naked eye. He moved as if on solid ground across the muddy wasteland, rapidly closing the distance to his prey.
Ahead.
Hong Lei clutched the wound on his chest. With every step, the coppery, sweet taste of blood uncontrollably surged up his throat.
’Damn it... these injuries are getting worse too fast. If I don’t find a place to circulate my energy and suppress them soon, I’ll pass out from blood loss even if my pursuers don’t kill me!’
Under the bleak moonlight, Hong Lei’s face was ashen and ferocious.
He whipped his head around, staring intently into the deep, dark night behind him.
Although the darkness obscured his vision, his seasoned experience told him that a faint aura, clinging like a persistent sickness, was still latched onto his trail!
’Shit! Who the hell is it? Why aren’t they chasing Luo Gui? Why are they so fixated on me?!’
Is it Li Jingxuan or that Ye Xiaohong?
No matter who it is, in my current state, if they catch up to me, I’m absolutely dead! There’s no chance of survival!
Hong Lei gritted his teeth so hard they could have shattered. He knew he couldn’t keep running like this!
’No, I have to find a place with complex terrain to hide! As long as I can conceal my aura and evade their search, I’ll have a chance to live!’
Having made up his mind, Hong Lei didn’t hesitate. He abruptly changed direction and plunged into a dense, dark forest of ancient trees to his left.
Behind him.
When Su Yu sensed the change in direction, he sighed internally. ’As expected, this Hong Lei is a cunning one.’
However, he remained calm and changed his own course to continue the pursuit.
A moment later, he stood at the edge of a forest of black ironwood trees.
This area was beyond the range of the storm clouds that the Black Lotus Sect’s Earth King had summoned with his Array.
The night sky had cleared, and brilliant starlight filtered down through the dense canopy, casting mottled shadows on the ground.
Su Yu looked at the dense forest, having already guessed Hong Lei’s plan.
’He thinks he can use this forest to cover his tracks.’
’But he doesn’t know that with my Five Senses Divine, I can easily hear the slightest rustle of leaves under his feet!’
’Time to close the net,’ Su Yu thought. ’It’s best to kill him before Li Jingxuan and the others arrive!’
Su Yu took a deep breath, retrieved the seventy-year-old mountain ginseng from his storage ring, and swallowed it in a few bites.
The immense medicinal power instantly turned into searing molten lava in his stomach.
"White Ape Transformation!"
Su Yu recited the name in his mind.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The familiar sound of bones lengthening erupted throughout Su Yu’s body.
His body shot up in an instant. This transformation was even faster than before, and he quickly grew to two and a half meters tall.
His once well-proportioned frame rapidly became burly. Thick tendons, like crimson pythons, writhed and coiled madly beneath his skin, finally converging into terrifying, dragon-like muscles.
His skin turned a deep, dark gold at a visible rate. On his chest, several esoteric, ancient demonic patterns faintly emerged, radiating a heart-pounding, malevolent power.
His wild black hair grew uncontrollably, cascading down to his waist in the blink of an eye and dancing wildly in the wind.
WHOOSH!
Su Yu exhaled a plume of white vapor as hot as a sword’s blade and casually clenched his fist. Feeling the tyrannical power within him—enough to shatter mountains and split stone—a new level of confidence appeared in his eyes.
’With this ultimate physical state where All Attributes are doubled, if I then add that great divine ability on top... just how terrifying will the final destructive power be?’
Su Yu was very much looking forward to finding out.
BOOM!
He stomped down, and the muddy ground instantly exploded, leaving a half-foot-deep crater. His demon-god-like body then vanished into the dark woods without a sound.
Deep in the forest, behind an ancient hemlock tree so thick it would take several people to encircle it.
Hong Lei kept his body pressed low, holding his breath and lurking like a lifeless boulder.
As he remained on high alert, his sharp senses detected an aura entering the forest.
However, after he carefully gauged the strength of that Qi and Blood, his terrified expression suddenly changed, replaced by an irrepressible, wild joy!
’Huh? The fluctuations of this Qi and Blood... are so weak! At most, they’re at the threshold of the initial Muscle Forging Realm!’
’It’s not those old bastards Li Jingxuan and Ye Xiaohong? HAHAHAHA! Heaven never seals all exits! It seems Luo Gui’s plan to lure the tigers from the mountain really worked!’
The great weight on Hong Lei’s heart finally lifted, and he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Previously, Luo Gui, realizing he couldn’t escape, had suggested they split up. It seemed those two had indeed fallen for the trick!
He couldn’t blame them, though. Even he hadn’t expected Luo Gui to be so fanatically devoted to the Black Lotus Sect.
To be willing to act as bait, to lead those two away, and even entrust the task of escorting the Divine Statue to him.
Hong Lei fished out the miniature Divine Statue from his robes; it was smaller than his palm.
In the faint starlight, he could see that the statue depicted a deity.
She had no facial features, her face as smooth as white porcelain, but from her back fanned out a thousand skeletal arms like a peacock’s tail. She had no plump flesh, only translucent, crystal-like jade bones, and she sat upon a black lotus throne built from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood...
Just by looking at it for a few extra seconds, Hong Lei felt a wave of dizziness and confusion wash over his mind, as if a gentle yet deadly voice was calling for him to slit his own throat.
Terrified, he quickly looked away and stuffed the Divine Statue back into his robes.
’I don’t care which blind fool is chasing me. A piece of trash who’s barely stepped into the Muscle Forging Realm dares to hunt me? Just because I’m seriously injured, does he really think I’m some helpless kitten ready for the slaughter?’
A cruel, savage grin flashed in Hong Lei’s eyes. ’Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll be happy to send you on your way tonight!’
Like a cheetah lying in wait in the darkness, he stared intently at the clearing ahead, preparing to launch a sudden attack the moment the reckless tracker revealed himself.
However, he had no idea that his every move was already in Su Yu’s sight.
Su Yu didn’t choose a frontal assault. Instead, he relied on the Body Technique of his Seven Fiends Thunder Collapse Step to silently circle around, creeping up to a spot less than ten zhang behind Hong Lei without a sound!
’Hmm? The aura’s gone?’
Hiding behind the tree, Hong Lei frowned when he could no longer sense the aura. A strong sense of unease suddenly surged within him.
But before he could investigate.
BOOM!
Su Yu, like an erupting demonic ape, lunged at Hong Lei’s back, wrapped in a terrifying, mountain-toppling killing intent.
"Mountain-Toppling Annihilation!"
At that instant, all the acupoints in his body thundered in resonance. A torrent of Qi and Blood, as vast as a great river bursting its banks, surged madly into his right fist. With a shriek that tore through the air, it smashed down toward the vital spot on Hong Lei’s back!
If this strike landed, even if it didn’t kill him, it would definitely injure Hong Lei severely once more, completely stripping him of his ability to resist!