After the arrow exploded, the poisonous powder it released took down another twenty or thirty unprepared warriors.
This poison powder was extremely potent. Once inhaled, it quickly infiltrated the dantian sea of qi. Once it entered the inner chamber, it was all over.
With the toxic energy invading the inner chamber, the warriors could no longer channel their true essence. Any attempt to mobilize true essence would only accelerate the poison's spread.
The force of over a thousand finally escaped the arrow's range and reached a relatively open area.
Killing intent burned in the eyes of several elders as they exchanged glances toward the direction the arrow had come from, silently debating whether to charge over and kill Jiang Chen in one decisive stroke.
It wasn't that they didn't want to go — they too had been shaken by Jiang Chen's seemingly endless arsenal of tricks.
In terms of raw strength, any one of these elders was far superior to Jiang Chen. But with the enemy hidden and themselves out in the open, having witnessed so many of Jiang Chen's methods, they didn't dare provoke him lightly.
Send one or two after him, and they'd likely fail to capture Jiang Chen — and might even fall to his counterattacks.
Send everyone, and the main force would be left unguarded.
So the elders hesitated, torn between wanting to go after Jiang Chen for the glory and worrying about leaving their forces unprotected.
After all, Jiang Chen's methods were too dangerous. What if he lured them away again with a diversion, only to turn back and attack their forces...
At that thought, the elders' impulse gradually faded.
Just when they thought it was safe, someone in the crowd let out a terrified scream.
"Ah, my dantian... I've been poisoned too!"
"No good, there's a poison source here too..."
"A poison formation... this is a poison formation, it's everywhere... it's over, it's over."
Terrified cries erupted from the crowd once more. The elders felt their hearts go cold, as if this nightmare would never end.
A poison formation! There was actually a poison formation deployed on-site!
This poison formation was ingeniously laid out, its lethality far surpassing the first wave.
In just a few breaths, over a hundred people collapsed from the poison, among them no small number of Saint Realm powerhouses.
"Retreat! Keep retreating!"
The elders were on the verge of losing their minds — when would it end? Wave after wave, one after another. Was Jiang Chen trying to wipe them all out?
For all their vast experience, even these elders were stunned by such methods.
They each suppressed their spiritual sense and sealed their dantians, clearly worried about the toxic energy infiltrating them.
This time, they'd learned their lesson. Rather than retreating in chaos at the cost of more casualties, they sent scouts ahead first, and only moved the force forward once safety was confirmed.
After roughly a quarter of an hour, the force was finally reorganized.
Three consecutive waves of attack had left everyone from both sects trembling with fear — like birds startled by the twang of a bowstring. The slightest rustle sent them into panic, seeing enemies in every shadow.
Tallying the losses, the three successive attacks had cost both sects over a hundred casualties — mostly Origin Realm warriors, but also nearly ten Saint Realm powerhouses.
This was undoubtedly a devastating blow to both sects. While it wouldn't cripple them entirely, it had certainly shaken them to the bone.
Though both sects had no shortage of talented individuals, their Saint Realm powerhouses were plainly finite.
They had dispatched their elites in full force — more than half their experts had been sent to Danqian Palace — yet they never expected losses this severe.
The most frustrating part was that their assault on Danqian Palace had yielded relatively few casualties. Instead, it was Jiang Chen's solo attacks that had left everyone living in fear, dreading each passing hour.
Less than half an hour later, Gong Wuji returned with two guards and the sect masters of both sects.
They returned empty-handed, having accomplished nothing. Gong Wuji's expression was so dark it could have wrung water. Clearly, being toyed with and humiliated again and again had pushed even this Imperial Realm fourth-level powerhouse to the edge of his patience.
Seeing the chaotic devastation on the ground, both sect masters felt their hearts sink and hurriedly demanded to know what had happened.
Upon learning the full story, the two sect masters were beside themselves with anguish, cursing furiously.
"That beast is truly cunning!"
"Jiang Chen, my Thunderclap Sect will never rest until you are dead!" The Thunderclap Sect Master, having endured days of misfortune, could no longer contain the fury in his chest and let out a wild roar toward the heavens.
Gong Wuji was even more furious. By now, he knew that Jiang Chen must have learned about what had happened in the imperial capital of the Red Cauldron Central Domain.
Otherwise, he would never have launched an attack of his own accord. This time, it was no mere show of force — it was an outright severing of ties.
"My lord, that fellow Jiang Chen is cunning. Since he already knows the Danqian Palace people aren't in our custody, in my humble opinion, we should pursue immediately. Every moment's delay puts Young Master Gong in greater danger..."
One of Gong Qi's guards mustered his courage and made the suggestion.
Though Gong Wuji was angry at these two guards for failing to keep watch over Gong Qi, he knew this was no time to alienate the men at his disposal.
He took a deep breath and nodded. "There's no time to waste. Pursue!"
He glanced at the two sect masters. "What about you?"
The Thunderclap Sect Master's eyes blazed with fire. "Pursue, of course. When I catch that brat, I'll grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes!"
First Ding Rong had been killed, and now the Thunderclap Sect had suffered catastrophic losses. This had undoubtedly struck at the very foundation of the sect.