Zhao Laoba took a slight step forward.
In the next instant, he vanished without a trace.
When he reappeared, he was already in an entirely different location.
He turned to look behind him, and sure enough, a figure was hurtling toward him at breakneck speed from the distance.
It was Old Man Song.
As Old Man Song flew, he kept glancing back over his shoulder, terrified that Zhao Laoba was giving chase.
In truth, he had already released his spiritual sense. Under normal circumstances, there was no need to look back — the area covered by his perception was considerable.
But he was afraid. He was uneasy. He had no confidence whatsoever.
That was why he kept doing it.
He was filled with extreme regret right now.
Earlier, he had feared that Chu Feng and the others would see through the contents of the second layer atop the Soaring Sky Peak and figure out the method to escape, so he had forcibly dragged the two of them away from that peak.
The irony was that he himself hadn't fully comprehended the teleportation formation either.
Which left him in his current predicament — able only to flee within this spatial world, completely on the defensive.
This was all caused by carelessness.
He had been far too confident in his own strength, and so he had paid the price.
Meanwhile, Chu Feng had known full well the situation was dire. He had seized his trump card early and escaped directly.
The more Old Man Song thought about it, the more he regretted it.
He had always been extremely cautious in his actions — who could have guessed that today, of all days, he would suffer such a catastrophic loss?
"Just who is that guy? He actually knows the Palace Master of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace?"
"Damn it all to hell. What wretched luck."
"So many people entered, yet only three of them were in this place. Why did I have to run into this particular scourge?"
Old Man Song's mood was absolutely foul.
When he had first encountered Chu Feng, he had thought his luck had skyrocketed. Now he realized he had simply hit rock bottom.
But when he withdrew his gaze and looked forward, his face instantly turned deathly pale.
There was Zhao Laoba — standing at the distant horizon, that smug, smiling look on his face making it abundantly clear he had been waiting.
And Zhao Laoba's position was well within his range of perception.
Yet had he not seen it with his own eyes, his spiritual sense would have registered absolutely nothing.
Sensing the danger, Old Man Song spun around and changed direction.
But the instant he did, Zhao Laoba appeared before him once more — and at the same considerable distance.
He turned his head to look at where Zhao Laoba had been standing before, only to find it completely empty.
In that single moment of change, Old Man Song broke into a cold sweat, his composure utterly shattered.
He was now virtually certain that Zhao Laoba's strength exceeded his own.
There was no escape.
So Old Man Song's hand moved to his Universe Bag, and a divine sword materialized in his grasp.
With the sword in hand, his imposing aura surged forth like a hurricane sweeping across heaven and earth.
Even the impossibly durable stone of this place cracked in visible lines under the sheer force of his presence.
The spectacle was imposing to the extreme — as though a god or demon had descended upon the mortal world, as though no one under heaven could stand against him.
But Old Man Song did not strike. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the distant Zhao Laoba, the panic on his face hidden away, and instead let a faint smirk curl at the corner of his lips: "The Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace couldn't trap me. You think you can?"
"Let me tell you — Song is not someone to be trifled with. Even if I can't beat you today, I guarantee you won't walk away unscathed."
"Think about it. You and I have no prior grudge. Just because of your suspicions, you're willing to fight to the death? Is it really worth it?"
"Fight to the death? You?"