The reason the Six-Legged Saber Cicada flew towards Teng Qingshan was because Teng Qingshan sent a voice transmission to it. Hearing Teng Qingshan's voice, the Six-Legged Saber Cicada naturally turned back.
"Pei San's strength is immense. Back then, a single palm strike against the surface Divine Armor of the old Palace Master of the Carefree Palace instantly severed his life force, causing his death." Teng Qingshan couldn't help but hold his breath. "This You Shijin also took a blow from Pei San. It's highly likely his life force has also been extinguished. And he currently possesses two sets of Divine Armor!"
One set of Divine Armor is enough to make Void Realm experts fight over it; having two sets, one of which is the 'Vast Heaven Divine Armor,' second only to the Supreme War Armor, the power it holds is unimaginable.
Teng Qingshan was also deeply moved.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Pei Hao and the Beast King burrowed into the ground almost simultaneously.
"Those two?" Teng Qingshan instantly guessed, "They must have received orders from Pei San to intercept the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat and seize those two sets of Divine Armor. But Pei San didn't send me a transmission..." Teng Qingshan understood that Pei San didn't truly regard him as one of the core members of the Heavenly God Palace.
Hoo!
The Six-Legged Saber Cicada had already arrived at Teng Qingshan's side.
Pei San, observing from afar, frowned slightly, but quickly sent a voice transmission to Teng Qingshan: "Hu He, You Shijin is certain to die after taking my palm strike. Hurry and pursue him. That Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat is also injured and certainly won't be fast underground. You should be able to catch up on the Six-Legged Saber Cicada. If you catch up and obtain those two sets of Divine Armor, take one for yourself, and give the other to our Heavenly God Palace. I will reward you handsomely!"
His voice was still echoing in Teng Qingshan's ears as Teng Qingshan leaped onto the back of the Six-Legged Saber Cicada.
"Cicada!" Teng Qingshan pointed towards the ground below.
Chih! Chih!
The Six-Legged Saber Cicada rapidly tore through the earth, burrowing deep underground.
...
Pei San, the heavily injured Li Chao, and the Heavenly God 'Sumont' stood together in the distance. The great monk Sumont turned to Pei San with a look of doubt. "Palace Master, the Saber Cicada suddenly flying back must have been summoned by Hu He. He didn't let us pursue; he went after it himself. This Hu He is somewhat..."
Pei San smiled faintly. "He is a guest elder, not a servant of our Heavenly God Palace. How could I command him? Moreover, that Six-Legged Saber Cicada is a Void Realm demonic beast, even less something our servants can command freely."
That was what he said, and it was logical.
But—
In the eyes of the Heavenly God 'Sumont' and the others, their Palace Master 'Pei San' was an existence far above them. For the guest elder 'Hu He' to act this way showed a lack of proper deference.
"In the future, it's fine if you cannot be friends with this Hu He. But absolutely do not become his enemy." Pei San instructed via voice transmission. "Although our Heavenly God Palace does not fear him, if we truly became enemies with him, it would cause considerable trouble." In Pei San's mind, the image of the Undying Phoenix on that island surfaced.
The Mother of the Phoenix truly made Pei San quite wary. After all, the Mother of the Phoenix was too fast; if it decided to launch surprise attacks or harass them, Pei San would have no recourse. Furthermore, in terms of strength, the Mother of the Phoenix was terrifyingly formidable.
Pei San did not want to confront the Mother of the Phoenix over one 'Hu He.'
"Yes, Palace Master (Master)." Although Li Chao and Sumont were puzzled, they obeyed the order.
Deep underground, Teng Qingshan sat on the back of the Six-Legged Saber Cicada. The Cicada's six limbs flexed and contracted, and its six bladed arms enveloped its body. The sharp spines formed a vortex shape. In an instant, the Six-Legged Saber Cicada transformed into a giant drill, relentlessly tearing through the soil and advancing at terrifying speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Haha... just as I thought." Teng Qingshan's eyes gleamed. "The speed of this Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat is clearly not as fast as when it was in its prime. Right now, it's actually slightly slower than the Cicada's speed."
Within Teng Qingshan's domain, he clearly sensed the powerful soul aura representing the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat about ten li below, constantly drilling forward. Above this aura, there was another slightly smaller Void Realm expert aura—that must be You Shijin.
Clearly, the distance between the pursuer and the pursued was shrinking.
"You can't escape." Teng Qingshan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Roar~~" The Six-Legged Saber Cicada also let out an excited roar, clearly dissatisfied with its previous inability to catch the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat.
...
"This is bad."
The Void Realm expert 'You Shijin,' pale-faced and riding atop the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat, clutched the corpse of his brother 'Zou Tianchang' and crouched low on the rat's back. "The demonic beast behind us is so fast; even the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat is slightly slower than it."
He clearly sensed the two Void Realm auras behind them rapidly approaching.
The Beast King and Pei Hao from before had long been shaken off. Now, the only ones pursuing him were Teng Qingshan and the Six-Legged Saber Cicada.
"It was the Heavenly God Palace Master who injured the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Rat. Otherwise, how could that demonic beast possibly catch up?" You Shijin was extremely anxious.
Pfft!
In his agitation, a mouthful of blood involuntarily spurted from his lips.
You Shijin lightly wiped the corner of his mouth. His face grew even paler. "The Heavenly God Palace Master is indeed powerful. If I weren't wearing the 'Vast Heaven Divine Armor,' which is second only to the Supreme War Armor, and instead wore an ordinary Divine Armor, that single palm strike might have killed me instantly, passing right through the armor... But even with the Vast Heaven Divine Armor, my internal organs have fissures."
"If I can't engage in direct combat, I probably only have half an hour left to live." You Shijin knew this clearly.
However—
In just that short time, Teng Qingshan and the Six-Legged Saber Cicada pursuing them had closed the distance to only five li.
"There is no other way." You Shijin gritted his teeth, looking down at his brother in his arms. "Tianchang, brother has failed you." Saying this, You Shijin slowly brought flames forth from both hands, permeating them into Zou Tianchang's corpse. Under the fire element power gathered by a Void Realm expert, only the sound of chih-chih was heard as Zou Tianchang's body instantly turned to ash.
All that remained was an empty set of deep-green Divine Armor.
At this moment, the distance between the two parties had shrunk to just four li.
"Hmph!"
You Shijin grabbed the helmet of the deep-green Divine Armor and hurled it backward violently. The helmet shot out like a meteor toward the rear. Before the helmet, imbued with the power of Heaven and Earth, the soil offered almost no resistance. Almost instantly, the helmet shot in front of Teng Qingshan.
"Hmm?" Teng Qingshan clearly sensed a powerful surge of Heaven and Earth power shooting towards him.
Teng Qingshan swung the Mountain-Splitting Divine Axe to block. With a clang!, the Divine Armor helmet was stopped by the axe. Teng Qingshan reached out and snatched it.
"Eh? This is?"
Teng Qingshan instantly judged, "This Divine Armor helmet must have belonged to the deceased Zou Tianchang."
"Haha... Didn't you want the Divine Armor? Haha, go take it." You Shijin's wild voice echoed in Teng Qingshan's ears. Simultaneously, another section of the Divine Armor, imbued with the power of Heaven and Earth, shot towards Teng Qingshan. Teng Qingshan blocked it again with the Mountain-Splitting Divine Axe.
Grabbing the gauntlet: "A gauntlet?"
By now, the distance between Teng Qingshan and You Shijin had narrowed to two li.
Whoosh!
Yet another component of the Divine Armor, wrapped in the power of Heaven and Earth, flew over, but this time, it didn't fly directly at Teng Qingshan. Instead, it flew about several dozen zhang to Teng Qingshan's side.
Chih-chih~~ The Six-Legged Saber Cicada, understanding his intent perfectly, abruptly veered, intercepting the thrown Divine Armor component. Teng Qingshan caught it and looked: it was a greave, entirely deep green.
"A boot? Am I supposed to wear one boot?" Teng Qingshan felt something was amiss.
Because—
Because veering several dozen zhang slightly increased the distance between them.
Whoosh!
Another component of the Divine Armor, enveloped by the power of Heaven and Earth, flew over. But this time, the armor piece flew about two or three hundred zhang to Teng Qingshan's side—that was over a li away. The Six-Legged Saber Cicada turned again. Teng Qingshan didn't stop it, and this time he gained another piece of Divine Armor.
It was a leg armor piece.
"Hmph, this You Shijin indeed has ill intentions. Few of the things he gives me are useful: one boot, one gauntlet, one leg armor. He's deliberately trying not to give me matching pairs. Moreover, the distance is continually increasing." Teng Qingshan understood everything now.
"I won't fall for your trick now."
Teng Qingshan wasn't worried at all.
The distance between them was now three li, and the Six-Legged Saber Cicada was rapidly closing the gap.
Whoosh!
Another Divine Armor component wrapped in the power of Heaven and Earth zipped toward him at high speed, but this time the distance to Teng Qingshan was even greater—about two li.
The Six-Legged Saber Cicada was about to turn again.
"Cicada," Teng Qingshan sent a voice command, simultaneously indicating the direction.
The Six-Legged Saber Cicada understood Teng Qingshan's meaning. It wasn't foolish; with Teng Qingshan's guidance, it realized they had been caught in a small scheme earlier—using the Divine Armor components as bait to gradually increase the distance... Once the distance reached thirty or forty li, catching up would be extremely difficult.
...
You Shijin sensed that Teng Qingshan and the Six-Legged Saber Cicada had not changed course to chase the scattered armor, causing him to startle. He immediately took out another gauntlet and threw it toward a spot about one li from Teng Qingshan.
"Hmph." The pursuing Teng Qingshan ignored it completely and continued the chase.
The distance between them had shrunk to one and a half li.
"What, you don't want the Divine Armor anymore?" You Shijin's voice reached Teng Qingshan's ears, while simultaneously, another Divine Armor component wrapped in the power of Heaven and Earth flew toward a spot only several dozen zhang beside Teng Qingshan. "This piece is the inner lining of the Divine Armor."
"Cicada." Teng Qingshan immediately instructed the Six-Legged Saber Cicada to make a turn.
Hoo!
Only several dozen zhang away, the Six-Legged Saber Cicada traced an arc, and Teng Qingshan obtained this Divine Armor component—the inner lining.
It was entirely deep green. Touching it sent a chill through his hand. Inner linings were the parts Void Realm experts preferred to wear, as they could be worn underneath clothing... Typically, Void Realm experts were too lazy to wear a full set of Divine Armor, so one inner lining was equivalent to nearly half a set of Divine Armor.
"Only several dozen zhang," Teng Qingshan scoffed via voice transmission. "You Shijin, your little tricks have been seen through. Don't even think about shaking me off."
"None of you from the Heavenly God Palace will obtain the Divine Armor!" You Shijin angrily transmitted back.
"I am not part of the Heavenly God Palace. Earlier, I did not attack to kill you," Teng Qingshan transmitted.
"Don't try to fool me!"
You Shijin transmitted furiously. "That demonic beast participated in the battle earlier... You saying you didn't attack me just now must be because you hadn't reached Great Accomplishment in the Void Realm yet. That's why the Heavenly God Palace Master didn't trust you to attack, right?" As he transmitted this, You Shijin couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of blood.
Teng Qingshan sensed that something was wrong with You Shijin's speech; he seemed severely injured.
"You Shijin, I advise you to stop running. You are likely near death now. Don't struggle anymore," Teng Qingshan transmitted.
At this moment, the distance between them had shrunk to only half a li!