Jiang Chen had no time for further thought. At this moment, their Golden-Winged Sword Birds were already at their absolute limit, with no possibility of increasing speed further.
Judging by the opponent's speed, the gap of several dozen li would likely be closed very soon.
"Don't hesitate, keep moving forward. If he catches up, I'll hold him off for a bit."
Jiang Chen had no other options and could only resort to his old tricks again. Fortunately, this time, only this Senior Brother Liu was pursuing alone; the others were still far behind.
Against a single Senior Brother Liu, Jiang Chen knew he couldn't win, but delaying him for a short while was still manageable.
Moreover, he suspected the other must have used some secret technique. Otherwise, if there was room to increase speed, the opponent would have done so already.
Why only boost speed on this final stretch of the journey?
"The opponent's speed increase must come at a certain cost. Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until now!" Thinking of this, Jiang Chen felt a little more confident.
A speed boost that required paying a price couldn't possibly be sustained for long. Just like a short sprint—speed could reach the absolute limit, but it absolutely couldn't last.
A hundred li, when traveling at full speed, actually didn't take very long at all.
According to Jiang Chen's calculations, they should have already entered Qingyang Valley's territory by now. In reality, Qingyang Valley and Qianlan Northern Palace's territories did not border each other.
It was just that the disciples of Qianlan Northern Palace had always been overbearing, and they had long since encroached far beyond their borders.
At this moment, Senior Brother Liu, driving his spirit beast forward, finally closed to within a five-li range. Jiang Chen abruptly halted, the Dayu Bow in his hand, pointing it from afar at Senior Brother Liu.
Jiang Chen's eyesight was extremely sharp, and his knowledge was vast. Seeing that the eyes of Senior Brother Liu's mount were sunken, he knew the mount must have used some secret technique earlier, damaging its own essence blood and vitality.
"As expected of Qianlan Northern Palace disciples—truly unscrupulous. For the sake of profit, they are so ruthless even to their own spirit beasts. These people are indeed profit above all else, devoid of any human feeling."
Seeing this scene, Jiang Chen felt a few more degrees of disgust and disdain toward this Senior Brother Liu.
Many cultivators might be cruel to their enemies, but toward their own companions—like their mounts—they were usually very kind.
Someone who could sacrifice even a close partner like a mount for profit was definitely someone consumed by greed, a cold-hearted and ruthless individual.
Such a person, even if they made a promise, absolutely could not be trusted. They would definitely turn on you without hesitation.
"Why stop? Why aren't you running anymore?" Senior Brother Liu, having chased for so long, was also extremely annoyed.
"Sacrificing your spirit beast's essence blood just to boost speed—your Qianlan Northern Palace disciples really are all cut from the same cloth," Jiang Chen mocked coldly.
"Trying to provoke me?" Senior Brother Liu scoffed with a contemptuous smile. "I am not that waste Yi Qiansui. Kid, I won't waste words. Surrender now, and I can make your death quicker. Once I capture you, I will make you endure every torture imaginable, wishing for death but unable to find it."
Jiang Chen burst into hearty laughter. "I heard plenty of such big talk earlier. Four idiots were busy arguing over how to divide the loot, as if they already had me cornered. Look at me now—perfectly fine!"
"In that case, then..." Senior Brother Liu's sentence was cut short.
Jiang Chen pulled back the string of the Dayu Bow—*whoosh*!
The sound of the bowstring rang out. Senior Brother Liu didn't dare be careless and focused his attention to block.
But in his line of sight, no arrow had been fired at all—it was a feint.
Jiang Chen laughed heartily. "Idiot! Even after breaking into the Spirit Realm, you're still an idiot!"
With a laugh, Jiang Chen urged his Golden-Winged Sword Bird forward once more, fleeing at high speed. He had no intention of clashing head-on with Senior Brother Liu.
His earlier pause had only been to buy some time for Gouyu and the others. Now that this goal was achieved, Jiang Chen naturally wouldn't linger.
Furthermore, he had figured out that Senior Brother Liu, burning his spirit beast's essence blood to increase speed, definitely couldn't sustain it for long.
With this, he felt even more confident.
"Running? Still trying to run?" Senior Brother Liu was also angered, urging his spirit beast to chase faster.
"Watch my arrow!"
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
This time, they were real arrows. Although not the special arrows made for the Dayu Bow, they were still top-quality arrows.
Three arrows in rapid succession aimed straight for Senior Brother Liu's vitals.
Jiang Chen knew that ordinary arrows were almost impossible to kill a Spirit Realm expert with. He hadn't harbored that hope either. His only goal was to delay this guy, to slow his speed as much as possible, and to hold him back.
Though a Spirit Realm expert was powerful, they weren't so strong as to completely ignore spirit weapon attacks.
With a casual sweep, Senior Brother Liu brushed the three arrows aside. His qi sea trembled slightly, and he was secretly shocked: "This ordinary attack actually made my qi sea shake? What kind of monstrous bow is that in his hands? It's probably no ordinary first or second-grade spirit weapon!"
With this slight pause, his speed dropped a little further, and the distance between him and Jiang Chen opened up once more.
Senior Brother Liu was also frustrated. He knew they had already entered Qingyang Valley's territory. Although there weren't many experts from Qingyang Valley in this area, he wasn't afraid of anything.