Upon hearing that sound, the reactions of both parties immediately shifted in vastly different directions.

He Yiming and his two companions were visibly overjoyed, for they instantly recognized the voice of the Grand Elder, Yu Jinglei. With the arrival of this Sky-Piercer expert, everyone felt a wave of reassurance wash over them, and even their morale saw a welcome transformation.

Conversely, the faces of the opposing three turned distinctly grim.

They had pursued Yu Xichen for days, never anticipating that upon reaching this location, innate experts would seemingly materialize as if they cost nothing.

By this point, even the dullest among them understood: this must be the base of a reclusive sect. Only such a stronghold could account for the sudden appearance of so many innate masters.

The three exchanged a look, and their bodies abruptly shot into the air, fleeing in three different directions.

Having witnessed He Yiming’s swordplay and speed, they knew that remaining together meant none of them would escape.

Yu Jinglei let out a cold snort. He calmly extended his hand and, with a mere gesture across the distance, his palm visibly concave inward.

The airborne figure of one of the trio suddenly halted. It was as if an unseen, immense force was dragging him back from behind.

His face instantly contorted in stark panic, as if he had encountered something utterly terrifying, and he let out a shout filled with utter despair.

Although He Yiming couldn't decipher the words, the moment that person screamed, the other two fleeing figures seemed to accelerate even faster, as if some object of terror were chasing them, unleashing every shred of their potential.

Yu Jinglei laughed heartily. "Since you dared to trespass upon my Hengshan, you shall remain here!"

As he spoke, his body lunged forward like a great bird, soaring high over the head of the man being forcefully drawn back. His other palm shot out, the muscles beneath the skin twitching, instantly appearing withered. Under the sunlight, it even emitted a nearly blackened hue.

Yet, from this hand, resembling a withered branch, He Yiming sensed an abundant, unprecedentedly powerful life force.

His gaze shifted slightly. So this was Yu Jinglei’s true strength. The Xiantian Kumugong (Innate Withered Wood Art), cultivated to its pinnacle, could unleash such shockingly terrifying power.

The black-clad man roared, wildly swinging his massive two-handed greatsword, desperately attempting to thrust past the terrifying palm toward Yu Jinglei. But the broad expanse of the blade, wide enough to obscure his entire face, appeared utterly clumsy before Yu Jinglei’s hand.

No matter how he wielded the heavy sword, it was firmly pressed down upon by Yu Jinglei’s palm.

A force far exceeding his wildest imagination slammed against the blade, sending his greatsword violently aside. The sheer magnitude of this power was akin to the difference between an adult and a child; even for an innate expert like him, resistance was futile.

After batting aside the greatsword, Yu Jinglei swiftly swept and pushed, landing his palm directly upon the man’s chest.

The black-robed figure was instantly hurled upward like a kite whose string had snapped, soaring into the distance.

Although He Yiming himself had tossed a few people into the air before, compared to the black-robed man now, the difference was astronomical. Watching the man fly dozens of meters before slowly beginning to fall, He Yiming felt deeply shaken.

A Sky-Piercer expert—so this was their might. With every casual movement, a Hundred Dispersion Heaven expert looked like a complete novice in martial arts before him.

This gap was even significantly larger than the difference between an innate expert and an ordinary acquired-level cultivator.

This time, he was truly shaken to the core. Recalling his own previous spar with Yu Jinglei, he inwardly gasped at his luck. If Yu Jinglei had truly intended murder, he likely wouldn't have survived.

The exchange between the two had concluded in mere breaths, yet the formidable power displayed by Yu Jinglei created massive, surging waves in He Yiming’s heart.

In that instant, his soul was filled with an intense yearning for the Sky-Piercer realm. He became utterly energized, his gaze brimming with renewed fighting spirit.

After striking the man away, Yu Jinglei didn't even glance back. He swiftly chose a direction and gave chase, calling out, "Elder He, the other one is yours."

He Yiming finally snapped back to reality, responding with a simple acknowledgment, and pursued the path where the other man had fled.

As he took his first step, he understood why Yu Jinglei had specifically assigned him this pursuit. All three were innate experts with profound mastery in their martial paths. If Yao Daoren were left to fight alone, he might not necessarily be able to hold them. Furthermore, in terms of lightness skill, He Yiming’s Wind element techniques offered unmatched speed in Hengshan; even Yu Jinglei was slightly inferior in pure velocity, making him the optimal choice for tracking or escape.

Yu Jinglei and He Yiming vanished instantly. Yao Daoren and Yu Xichen exchanged a look; they showed no inclination to pursue and assist, appearing entirely confident in the abilities of the other two. They were certain that once those two engaged, capture would be swift.

He Yiming dashed through the jungle. His feet seemed never to touch the earth; he appeared to have merged with nature itself, transforming into that ubiquitous, subtle breeze. He weaved past the lush, towering canopy of the dense forest, maintaining a close pursuit of the fleeing man just behind him.

To He Yiming’s surprise, although the man’s lightness skill was inferior to his own, it was still incredibly fast—perhaps not much slower than the maximum speed Yu Jinglei could achieve.

He sighed inwardly. Yu Jinglei indeed had keen judgment, discerning in a single glance that only his speed could reliably keep up with this opponent.

Although Yu Jinglei was a Sky-Piercer expert, he lacked significant innate talent in lightness skill. If faced with a Hundred Dispersion Heaven expert who excelled in that area, he too would be at a loss.

The man ahead was the only one of the trio wielding a flexible sword, and his heart sank into despair.

The strength of this hidden sect was terrifyingly formidable: not only did they possess at least four innate experts, but one of them had even reached the transcendent Sky-Piercer realm.

He knew precisely the level of power a Sky-Piercer expert commanded. Had they known such a formidable master was here, they never would have dared to pursue.

Now, through the aura behind him, he sensed that while the pursuer wasn't the terrifying Sky-Piercer, his power was equally unfathomable. More maddeningly, the pursuer clung to him like a persistent ghost; no matter how he exerted his full capabilities, he could not shake the tracking.

His internal terror was unparalleled. Others might not grasp the situation, but he knew clearly: his cultivation method was unique, and his attainment in lightness skill was second to none among masters of the same tier. Even against an ordinary Sky-Piercer expert, escaping without direct confrontation should not have been impossible.

Yet, under the pursuit of this unnaturally youthful-looking man, the distance between them was not widening; it was shrinking.

He gritted his teeth and suddenly opened his mouth, letting out a bizarre cry. Then, his feet seemed to gain the momentum of wind-fire wheels, and with a shhh, he instantly accelerated to a speed three parts faster than before, moving away rapidly.

He Yiming, chasing closely behind, was startled. After hearing that unintelligible, ghastly howling, the distance that had been closing in a blink of an eye suddenly stretched again.

Such a freakish occurrence, reaching the pinnacle of strangeness, was enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart.

But He Yiming was no ordinary person. When faced with such a bizarre, inexplicable phenomenon, it only stoked the rebellious fire within him—that inherent refusal to accept defeat.

He took a deep breath, an incredibly long inhalation, as if his body were a bottomless pit capable of absorbing all the air in the forest.

As he inhaled, his frame seemed to expand slightly. Then, all the sealed acupuncture points across his back burst open, and the inhaled air instantly flooded every channel.

Under the immense pressure of his internal Zhenqi (True Energy), this air was violently expelled like compressed energy projectiles.

In an instant, a spectacular, strange scene erupted behind He Yiming, as if a massive tornado had suddenly swept through, leaving devastation in its wake.

Almost simultaneously, influenced by this violent gale, He Yiming’s speed, already at its limit, suddenly surged, as if a massive booster had attached itself behind him, propelling him upward.

He carved an immense arc through the air at an unparalleled velocity, leaving a brilliant rainbow trail behind him like a crop duster.

He Yiming’s eyes snapped wide open. This method of compressing and releasing air and Zhenqi was inspired by insights gained from the Hidden Needle Seal and the Dual-Headed Spirit Beast’s breath. The original purpose of creating this technique was not for tracking enemies, but a life-saving trump card he devised after his fight with Yu Jinglei. If he could no longer stay in Hengshan, or if he offended a Sky-Piercer expert like Yu Jinglei, this technique would at least allow him to escape far away.

However, at this moment, in order to catch this bizarre enemy, he couldn't afford to hold back.

The black-clad man had just managed to pull slightly ahead when he suddenly sensed something above him. He looked up, stumbled, and nearly fell while running wildly.

A rainbow streaked overhead, instantly overtaking him and appearing ahead. The speed of this rainbow far surpassed anything he could have imagined.

A myriad of thoughts flooded his mind in an instant: What kind of monster is this? How have I never heard of such a technique? But upon focusing his gaze, he was stunned speechless—that rainbow was the very man who had been pursuing him.

He shivered violently and, without a second thought, abruptly changed direction, fleeing at an even greater speed.

He Yiming flipped in mid-air and landed steadily on the ground. He felt a lingering sense of dread. This reckless method of short-distance gliding flight was undeniably ferocious, but the problem was that he couldn't fully control it; while fast, it was clearly too fast.

He glanced at the direction the other man had taken, his teeth clenched, and with renewed determination, he pursued again.

Both men were innate experts, and as they chased and fled, they continuously absorbed the energy of heaven and earth. However, since their Zhenqi was currently exerted at its peak, the rate of Zhenqi depletion far outstripped the rate of ambient energy absorption.

Yet, even at this stage, their speed had not slowed at all; instead, it trended toward accelerating.

Every time the man ahead let out a frantic, loud cry, his speed would briefly spike significantly. And whenever this happened, He Yiming would deploy the "Jet Propulsion Impact Method" he had recently comprehended, overtaking the enemy along a straight line, forcing him to change direction and seek alternative escape routes.

The chase had lasted for a full three hours. Given their pace, heaven knew how far they had traveled.

At this point, even He Yiming felt a touch of exhaustion, and he sensed that his internal Zhenqi had been depleted too severely. Continuing to use the reckless straight-line pursuit method was no longer cost-effective. Fortunately, although the man ahead hadn't slowed down, he had stopped emitting that bizarre vocalization.

This indicated that the magical chanting required a significant price and couldn't be used casually.

Without the boost from the sound, the man’s speed, though still fast, was no longer sufficient to outpace He Yiming.

Suddenly, as he ran, He Yiming felt a stir in his heart. He reached into his robes and retrieved a small, jade-like box.

He deftly opened the lid. Inside lay a small piece of white stone, barely the length of his thumb.

This was the fragment he had chipped off the weightless white stone after slaying the Dual-Headed Spirit Beast.

Strangely, once this fragment broke away from the main stone, perhaps due to its minuscule size, it lost its ability to interfere with his Shunfeng Er (Clairaudience function). Otherwise, He Yiming wouldn't have casually stored the piece in a box.

Now, with massive Zhenqi depletion—a slow drain comparable to being gnawed by a dull blade, equally unpleasant—He Yiming finally remembered the strange stone.

He took out the small stone and gripped it tightly in his palm. To his disappointment, having left the large stone, this fragment, while no longer affecting his clairaudience, had also lost its marvelous ability to enhance Zhenqi gathering, becoming no different from common jade.

He Yiming cursed fiercely. Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly felt a subtle movement within his Dantian.

He was greatly mystified. Since the fortuitous encounter at the bottom of the lake, his Dantian had become utterly transformed. It seemed to have turned into a chaotic world where any energy attribute entering it turned into a swirling black mass, as if returning to the primal origin of the universe. Were it not for the fact that the energy within his Dantian could still be manipulated at will and converted freely into any attribute according to his intent and meridians, He Yiming would have hesitated to continue cultivating.

Now, as He Yiming tried to absorb Zhenqi from the jade in his hand with no reaction, the Dantian inexplicably began to operate on its own.

Then, an unusual kind of energy was released from his Dantian, flowing through his meridians and into that tiny piece of jade.

Even while running, He Yiming’s face was etched with shock. He sensed that the Zhenqi emerging from his Dantian was incredibly close, almost identical, to the energy attribute contained within the jade.

He Yiming’s heart pounded rapidly; he instantly understood something. Not only did he master the basic Five Elements and the energies of Wind and Cloud in his body, but it seemed he also possessed a related cultivation talent for the power contained within this jade stone.

In the blink of an eye, the Zhenqi in his Dantian made contact with the jade’s energy.

He Yiming’s body trembled slightly, and his heart filled with an intense surge of joy.

His internal Zhenqi resonated with the jade’s energy, and this resonance rapidly expanded, covering every corner of his surroundings in an instant.

He Yiming keenly noticed that subtle changes were occurring around him. The miraculous properties of the jade stone seemed to be spreading to his body. The sensation of being enveloped by the milky white light from the stone that day returned.

His spirit immediately lifted. The fatigue accumulated from three hours of relentless running vanished in an instant.

Moreover, the ambient energy of heaven and earth began to pour into all his acupuncture points like a tide. After running for so long, He Yiming realized that for the first time, the rate at which he absorbed Zhenqi surpassed the rate of consumption.

He Yiming’s eyes gradually brightened. He locked his gaze once more onto the fleeing man. He felt certain that the moment his internal Zhenqi was fully replenished, that would be the moment he caught his opponent.

However, just then, He Yiming saw the man pull out a green vial. He uncorked the bottle and poured a single drop into his mouth.

Immediately, the man’s body convulsed, and that long-absent, bizarre, wolf-howl sound echoed out once more. And this time, the sound was robust and full of spirit, entirely lacking any previous hoarseness or unpleasantness.

He Yiming was instantly enraged. What in the world was that cursed thing...

His eyes widened. His Zhenqi was now about eighty to ninety percent restored. He retracted the jade box, reached behind his back, and instantly drew the fearsome great Guan Dao.

Ps: When you see this chapter, Bai He should still be on the plane. I met many authors at the annual meeting; although it was exciting, I’m also exhausted. Please allow Bai He to rest for a day; I’ll deliver a 10,000-character update tomorrow, and starting the day after, it will be 15,000 characters. Sweat... Also, Seventy-Two is climbing again; Bai He needs to [censored]—please vote with monthly passes!

Originally, I intended to take revealing photos of that fellow the night before last, but I reconsidered, thinking it too shameless, especially with Lao Mao, Geng Su, and Yao Ji watching like hawks. This grand plan had to be aborted. I’ll try again next year and see if there’s a chance!