Flee! Flee! Flee!
A dark shadow, like a flying serpent, shot through the wild grass at terrifying speed.
Moments later, the shadow dissolved with a whoosh, its momentum gone. Hei Cheng plummeted downward, crashing directly into a clump of overgrown weeds.
A clear stream trickled nearby, burbling in his ears.
Hei Cheng lay face-down on the ground, gasping for air, too drained to even roll over.
His condition was wretched.
Wounds covered his entire body — some so deep the bone was visible, others still gushing blood. Pain radiated from every inch of him, but Hei Cheng had long since gone numb.
All these injuries had been sustained during his desperate battle against the Hei Family's pursuit squad.
If the Hei Family hadn't been trying to capture him alive, even someone of Hei Cheng's caliber wouldn't have managed to break free again and again.
"Am I reaching my limit..." A dark cloud of despair settled over his heart. Gritting his teeth, he dragged his upper body upright and stared at his own reflection on the surface of the stream. A bitter smile crept across his face.
Once, he had been dashing and handsome, a picture of careless elegance. Now his face was chalk-white, his lips tinged blue, his clothes soaked in blood — a fugitive running for his life.
Suddenly, Hei Cheng's pupils contracted to pinpricks, like a viper startled from its lair. He recoiled instinctively, coiling his body like a serpent striking.
"Who's there?!" Hei Cheng's eyes blazed with a sharp, murderous gleam as he shouted toward a spot in the tall grass.
The next instant, with a deafening boom, a wave of force exploded outward, ripping countless stalks of wild grass from the earth and revealing a cleared path.
Hei Loulan stepped forward, a mask covering her face.
In her dark eyes burned a hatred that cut to the bone.
"It's you!" Hei Cheng's face drained of color. He scrambled to his feet, but his head swam and his body lurched violently. He nearly collapsed again.
Fortunately, he managed to steady himself at the last moment, crouching halfway down, every muscle in his body taut, his expression savage — yet unable to mask the panic churning beneath.
Captured alive by the Hei Family's Gu Immortals, Hei Cheng might still have had a sliver of a chance to survive, however impossibly slim.
But if he fell into Hei Loulan's hands, death was certain. The end would be unimaginably horrifying!
"So the great Hei Cheng has finally fallen to this!" Hei Loulan stood before him, her posture straight as a spear, separated from him by the stream. She looked down at him with cold superiority.
Fate was truly unpredictable.
Who could have imagined that Hei Cheng would end up like this?
Hei Loulan certainly hadn't!
So when this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for vengeance lay before her, alongside the hatred and fury, there was also a faint trace of pity in her heart.
Father and daughter stared at each other across the water.
All their grievances, debts, love, and resentment converged in that single moment.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
"Stop looking at me like that!!!" Hei Cheng roared, struggling to straighten up.
He could accept the hatred and anger in Hei Loulan's eyes. But he absolutely refused to accept that glimmer of pity.
The great Hei Cheng needed no one's sympathy!
Whoosh!
A gust of wind swept across the land, driving dark clouds swiftly overhead. The surrounding wild grass swayed and rustled.
Ripples spread across the stream, and Li Shan Fairy's voice drifted on the wind: "Fine wind, fine scenery. This nameless place is the perfect burial ground for you, Hei Cheng."
Hei Cheng let out a cold laugh, naturally catching the veiled hatred and killing intent behind her words.
He turned his head with difficulty, his gaze sweeping the surroundings: "A tiger driven to the plains and bullied by dogs. And there's another one hiding out there, isn't there? Why not show yourself?"
Fang Yuan lay concealed nearby, silent and still. Utterly motionless, as if he hadn't heard Hei Cheng's words at all.
"You think you're a tiger? You're nothing but a mangy dog scrabbling between life and death. Traitor — hand over your life!" Hei Loulan could endure the fire burning inside her no longer. She took a massive stride forward and threw her punch.
In an instant, the air cracked with a thunderous boom, and a vicious gale of fist wind howled forth.
A stirring rose in Fang Yuan's heart, a spark of desire: "This is only a Mortal Level Killing Move, yet after being amplified by the countless Strength Dao Marks on the Great Strength True Martial Body, its power has climbed to this level."
Before the fist even reached Hei Cheng, the latter already felt a suffocating pressure crush down on him.
An overwhelming sense of crisis flooded every fiber of his being.
If this punch landed clean, Hei Cheng would die on the spot!
Flee!
Hei Cheng clenched his teeth and activated countless Gu Insects.
With a sharp whistle, he transformed once more into a long shadow-serpent, darting left.
Hei Loulan's punch hit empty air, and she immediately gave chase.
But Hei Cheng's speed was extraordinary. In the span of just a few breaths, he had already pulled over thirty meters ahead of her.
It turned out that although Hei Cheng had lost the Immortal Gu House Black Prison, he still possessed the Immortal Gu Dark Arrow.
During the Hundred-Day War, the Shadow Sect had specially designed an entire set of Immortal Level Killing Moves to bolster Hei Cheng's strength, all centered around the Dark Arrow Immortal Gu.
Now, as Hei Cheng fled in the form of a shadow-serpent, he was using one of those very killing moves.
"Hei Cheng, why don't you just stay here." Li Shan Fairy leaped into the open. Around her, the barren grass surged upward at a terrifying rate, and countless blossoms burst into bloom from thin air.
Battle Formation — Pear Garden.
Hei Cheng's movement hitched for the briefest instant, but he immediately broke through the Pear Garden, veering sharply westward.
Swish, swish, swish!
Countless Strength Phantoms erupted from the depths of the grass, intercepting Hei Cheng.
The identity of Star Seer was something Fang Yuan had never revealed before Li Shan Fairy or Hei Loulan. At this moment, he was deploying his Strength Path combat power.
Covertly, Fang Yuan had employed Wisdom Path methods to deduce three likely escape routes and had quietly stationed Strength Phantoms at each — a hidden kill zone.
Hei Cheng's flight path happened to lead him straight into the ambush, and the phantoms bought precious time by blocking his advance.
Even so, Hei Loulan was still far from catching up.
Seeing Hei Cheng about to slip away, Li Shan Fairy grew anxious and sent a voice transmission to Fang Yuan: "Quick — stop him!"