In the chilling, obscure void sea, Shi Yan transformed into a beam of starlight, threading through space in a serpentine manner. At times, he would vanish in a flash, sweeping past countless spatial blind spots, temporarily disabling the masked woman's lock; other times, the starlight would become invisible, leaving no trace, merging with the void amidst the sea of stars.

He dared not linger or rest for a moment.

The phantom tribe masked woman trailed him like his own shadow, relentlessly pursuing. Whenever he allowed the slightest slackening, that shadow would instantly close the distance, sending a bone-deep chill that locked onto him from afar.

Every second, he felt the hatred and murderous intent radiating from the masked woman intensify towards him.

The prolonged hunt had not eroded her patience one bit, nor had it planted a single thought of quitting; it had only solidified her resolve!

"Hee hee, dear little brother, stop running now. Sister only wishes you well, why waste energy hiding and scurrying about? Besides, you are destined to fail. How long can your cultivation realm sustain such divine power consumption? You will eventually exhaust your strength."

The masked woman chuckled sweetly, her tone soft and alluring, but to Shi Yan’s ears, it was more terrifying than a cold blade.

The phantom tribe masked woman’s inner hatred surged like overflowing rivers and mountains. The more concentrated it became, the sweeter and more charming her laughter grew, hoping to coax a moment of carelessness from Shi Yan.

For a Spatial Profound Master of exquisite cultivation, if they focused solely on evasion, they became the pursuer's nightmare.

Yet, Shi Yan was not only an exquisite cultivator; his power, profound understandings, resilience, decisiveness, and alertness were all outstanding. Even in this protracted chase of attrition, the masked woman secretly admired him, staggered by the tenacity and the purely profound strength Shi Yan displayed.

Shi Yan had clearly only just broken through to the Immortal realm. With the current state of his divine power condensation, he should have long since been depleted and extinguished during this taxing pursuit.

But even now, Shi Yan was still full of vigor; his divine body showed no sign of impending exhaustion.

This deeply alarmed the masked woman.

She was unaware that on the Dragon Lizard Continent, due to her ruthless slaughter, many latent members of foreign tribes had perished. The vital energies of those deceased had been absorbed by Shi Yan’s acupoints. Shi Yan had been able to sustain himself this long solely due to the power replenished by purifying those death energies, leaving his Divine Power Ancient Tree crystal clear and radiant.

However, by this day, the purified power within his acupoints was gradually running out.

He had not cultivated or gathered strength along the way; he had only been consuming it. Even the greatest power has a day when it will be spent.

It had become a contest of endurance and patience between him and the masked woman. When he sensed that his acupoints yielded no further power feedback, he decisively swallowed the two Spirit Condensing Pills gifted by Ya Yun. As the elixirs melted within his physical body, a fresh surge of power saturated his entire being.

Once again, he was brimming with vitality.

Moreover, he deliberately allowed a slight trace of his presence to show. Then, he ripped open the spatial curtain ahead and instantly vanished again through a sudden teleportation.

The masked woman’s expression turned icy. Just as she detected signs of Shi Yan’s power flagging, he was once again replete with divine energy. This dealt a massive blow to her confidence.

Back on the Dragon Lizard Continent, Shi Yan had taken advantage of an opening to strike her, injuring her with the explosion of the Realm Within a Realm’s shattering snow lotus. She herself had suffered massive power drain. After this long pursuit, her divine power was also severely depleted.

If not for her position at the peak of the Immortal realm, possessing deep and pure reserves of strength, she would have already collapsed.

She refused to yield!

To exhaust all her might chasing a mere novice at the early Immortal realm, only to fail—it would be a lifelong disgrace!

Therefore, despite risking further grievous injury, she gritted her teeth and persevered, determined to capture Shi Yan and torment him to death.

For the first time, anxiety gripped Shi Yan's heart.

The two Spirit Condensing Pills were his last reserve of strength. Once their power was depleted, he would only be able to rely on the Divine Power Ancient Tree to maintain his escape.

Along the way, every brief spatial teleportation required enormous power. Had it not been for the purifying energy within his acupoints sustaining him, he would have already perished from exhaustion. Now, seeing the masked woman still relentlessly pursuing, forcing him into continuous teleportation lest he be caught, he knew the end was near.

Sensing the steady drain of divine power within him, he understood that just as the masked woman had said, he might ultimately be unable to escape this calamity.

Initially, when the phantom tribe masked woman saw that he could perceive dark energy, she intended to take him to the phantom tribe, to treat him as an honored male guest. However, her intentions shifted dramatically when she discovered that he had merged with a fragment of a Primal Being’s soul.

The masked woman, at the peak of the Immortal realm, like the Dragon Lizard, was just one step away from comprehending the true essence of dark energy to break through to the Domain Ancestor realm.

By killing and refining him, and stimulating the memories within the Primal Being’s desolate fragment soul, the masked woman could seize the chance to advance to Domain Ancestor! This outcome was far more tempting than treating him as a distinguished guest in the phantom tribe. Thus, his only choice now was evasion, otherwise, his fate would be refinement unto death.

In the void sea, meteorites, shattered stars, broken mountains, and islands littered every corner like dust motes.

Here, fragments of continents could be seen. A massive, suspended island suddenly flickered into view from a dark recess ahead. The island was stark white and rather terrifying. The moment the island manifested, a subtle force flared, allowing it to momentarily conceal itself again.

Shi Yan keenly captured the anomaly. After a brief contemplation, he suddenly surged toward the island with all his might.

"Boom!"

Piercing through layers of bone-white mist, he violently materialized on the island. Instantly, gravity multiplied several hundredfold, and he plummeted like a meteor, smashing down onto the island.

He punched a hole through the island's surface.

Crawling out from the crater, he circulated his power, floating up several dozen meters again. Gazing out at the vast expanse of terrain, the ravines and gullies, he felt a wave of shock.

This island was enormous, perhaps ten times larger than the Undying Island. As far as the eye could see, the entire island was covered in stark white skeletons—skeletons of humanoid shapes, beast shapes, and various members of foreign tribes. Most of the bones were incomplete, scattered and fragmented across every section of the island. Faintly, it seemed that several areas of bones had even formed specific, patterned arrays.

As he surveyed his surroundings, the phantom tribe masked woman suddenly arrived above the island.

The island appeared differently in her eyes. Focusing her gaze, she realized the entire landmass resembled a colossal skull floating in the void, complete with two empty sockets and a massive maw—three deep, profound chasms.

The giant skull-shaped island swayed faintly, emitting strange fluctuations. The skull seemed to be adjusting itself, as if capable of shielding itself from vision.

"The Skeleton Island of the Bone Tribe..."

Astonishment flickered in the masked woman’s eyes. She hesitated, knowing that this island belonged to the Bone Tribe, and rashly entering might cause conflict or offend their people.

However, she was unwilling to give up after pursuing him this far.

After a brief pause, she suddenly spoke with stern composure, "Meiji of the Phantom Tribe seeks audience. May I ask which friend of the Bone Tribe resides here?" For the first time, she revealed her name, directing it toward a floating skeletal island while announcing her identity.

The skull island continued to flicker in and out of visibility, and the empty eye sockets pulsed with an eerie, strange color.

Yet, there was no response.

"Then I shall intrude." Meiji considered for a moment, let out another sweet cry, and then also charged toward the massive skull island.

Crossing the layer of bone-white mist, her captivating figure descended onto the island. Even under hundreds of times gravity, she remained suspended, slowly floating down like an ethereal fairy, her eyes, which carried a bone-chilling coldness, searching everywhere.

She could not see any trace of Shi Yan.

With a cold snort, she employed soul-searching techniques. Her divine sense spread out like a meticulous net from above, intending to capture every minute detail.

The skull’s cranium formed the surface of the island, covered in countless piles of scattered, dusty white bones separated into distinct regions.

At this moment, as Meiji unleashed her soul consciousness search, the disturbance caused by her soul power seemed to activate a secret magnetic field. Three distinct clusters of scattered bones faintly emanated a spectral white glow, and a bizarre, chilling aura rose from them.

Viewed from the outside, the empty eye sockets of the giant skull suddenly flashed with an eerie, stark white radiance, which vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

"I am here to retrieve someone; I will not disturb your cultivation. Please do not take offense."

Meiji seemed genuinely wary of the Bone Tribe members. Even while probing with her soul sense, she cried out sweetly to indicate she meant no harm, only acting out of necessity.

"Whoosh!"

Meiji's graceful body suddenly darted, flying toward a pile of accumulated bones.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The bones shattered. Shi Yan’s concealed body abruptly manifested, and he immediately began cycling his Profound Understandings, intending to teleport away.

"Boom!"

A strange energy slammed down from the pale white mist above his head. Space seemed bound by layers of ethereal clouds, and his spatial Profound Understanding met heavy resistance, unable to construct a bridge for teleportation.

He froze on the spot, watching helplessly as Meiji approached with a cold sneer, her eyes suddenly blazing with savage ferocity!

"Then let us fight to the death!"

He roared like a trapped beast, but his divine power did not cease; instead, it erupted with full force. In an instant, he activated his blood power, bone wings ripped open along his spine, and his entire body was encased in jagged armor, activating every last drop of his potential.

He resolved himself: in this battle, he would hold nothing back! The Profound Understandings of Death and Devour would be fully activated. To save his life, he would pay any price!

A malevolent, killing aura suddenly flowed out from his divine body. As his thoughts shifted, he first brought the Profound Understanding of Life and Death into play, rapidly forming the Soul Burial Ground of Death!

Surprisingly, amidst the countless spectral white bones, billions of crystalline white light dots suddenly floated out. These dots, like fireflies or raindrops, all converged toward him.

The approaching Meiji’s gaze wavered, and she couldn't help but frown. "I already said I meant no disturbance. I will capture this person and leave immediately; I won't stay a second longer!"

She assumed the sudden attack came from the Bone Tribe members on Skeleton Island, and she did not believe those energy points emerging from the bones were connected to Shi Yan.

Skeleton Island offered no verbal reply.

Meiji snorted, saying no more. Her slender jade hand moved like a nimble venomous snake, suddenly lunging toward Shi Yan's head.

A chilling aura, like an arctic glacier, pierced deep into his limbs and bones. His divine body began to crackle as it froze over... (To be continued) RQ