Boran and Maha, the two brothers, leaped simultaneously from the ground. Boran formed a lotus hand seal, and layers of white barriers, thick as a foot, materialized before Montetedi. Under the cover of these barriers, Maha clenched his fists, a searing red aura of energy coiling around them; his two fists descended upon Montetedi like twin meteors.

"Ridiculous!" Dozens of figures, illusory duplicates of Montetedi, swarmed in from all directions. Boran and Maha saw only a dizzying flash of forms, and before they could pinpoint Montetedi’s true body, dozens of fists slammed heavily onto them. The razor-sharp, bone-chilling true energy pierced straight into their vital organs. Even at the mid-stage of the Jupiter realm, Boran and Maha lacked the strength to resist; sharp currents of true energy shredded their internal defenses like dust, gravely wounding their viscera.

Even more terrifying was the potent mental shock contained within Montetedi’s true energy. Waves of psychic frenzy crashed directly into their Sea of Consciousness. Boran and Maha both vomited blood and crashed to the earth. It felt as if hundreds of high-frequency thermal-pressure bombs had detonated beside their ears; a deafening wum-wum roared in their heads, their vision went pitch black, and all five senses failed them.

Popov, still shouldering his heavy machine gun, didn't even have time to squeeze the trigger before several shadows lunged at him. A ferocious burst of true energy erupted like a tidal wave, and Popov was sent flying back, spewing a mouthful of blood.

Medusa shrieked and burst forth from the tall grass, spraying clouds of toxic smoke and powder.

Montetedi struck Medusa with a single mental shock, crippling her soul. Medusa collapsed, screaming and writhing on the ground. The poisons and powders that adhered to Montetedi’s body did not so much as singe a single hair. Montetedi sneered mockingly, "Foolish woman, don’t you know we are all beings existing half as energy?"

Gu Xiechen turned and saw his subordinates gravely injured. He roared in incandescent fury, "Montetedi!"

Having already fled several hundred meters, Gu Xiechen pivoted and twisted his body, rocketing toward Montetedi like a projectile launched from a cannon.

Still over a hundred meters from Montetedi, Gu Xiechen channeled the strongest true energy his physical body could sustain into the middle finger of his right hand. A dense wave of cold air enveloped his fingertip, and Gu Xiechen violently thrust his finger toward the center of Montetedi's brow.

Montetedi’s body blurred once more, and he effortlessly evaded Gu Xiechen’s full-force strike.

Dozens of illusory figures surrounded him from every side, and heavy fists hammered down upon Gu Xiechen like a relentless drumbeat.

Following a series of booming impacts like a massive drum roll—bang-bang-bang-bang—even though his Daoist robe, transformed into a black divine mantle and crane cloak, deflected seven or eight tenths of the punch force, Montetedi’s dense barrage still sent searing pain through Gu Xiechen’s entire body. The bizarre attacks, combining true energy and mental shocks, gravely injured him further.

Montetedi’s cultivation was at least three tiers higher than Gu Xiechen’s. If not for the truly extraordinary mystery held within Gu Xiechen’s set of Daoist vestments, he would have already been pulverized by that barrage of heavy blows.

Even so, the heavily wounded Gu Xiechen was spitting blood from all seven orifices. He wildly swiped his claws several dozen times in a desperate, haphazard motion, choosing a random direction before fleeing. As he left, he didn't forget to kick the fallen, severely injured Boran, Maha, Medusa, and Popov, sending them flying far into the dense woods.

Chss-chss went several sounds. Montetedi’s semi-energized body was still cut by the Ruyi Gloves, and viscous blood sprayed out from within him again. This time, the two were extremely close. Montetedi could never have imagined that Gu Xiechen, whom he had just viciously attacked, still had the reserves to fight back. Gu Xiechen managed to rake dozens of long gashes across Montetedi’s form.

The astonished Montetedi cursed madly, disregarding Boran and the others. He surged forward again, chasing after Gu Xiechen.

The Phantom Clan artifact, the Phantom Emerald Blade, was destroyed. Montetedi had to give his clansmen an accounting; he must return with Gu Xiechen’s heart and brain for the sacrifice, or he could never forgive himself.

Gu Xiechen bolted forward, his heels striking his own buttocks repeatedly, illustrating the sheer speed of his flight. Endless currents of true energy were poured into his Cloud Boots, accelerating Gu Xiechen further—faster, and faster, and faster still. Aided by the miraculous auxiliary effects of the Cloud Boots, Gu Xiechen’s velocity gradually approached supersonic speeds.

The faster Montetedi chased, the more alarmed he became; Gu Xiechen’s escape speed was terrifying. Helpless, Montetedi could only fire continuous mental shocks while pursuing.

Blue light flashed violently above Gu Xiechen’s head. Most of the power from the mental shocks was intercepted by the Azure Jade Dao Crown, but the remaining force still left Gu Xiechen dizzy and nauseous, causing him to vomit mouthfuls of blood incessantly.

Gu Xiechen was truly out of options—he couldn’t win the fight, and he couldn’t shake his pursuer. He could only pour all his strength into fleeing, hoping to find some way to escape the predicament. So consumed was Gu Xiechen by his desperate flight that he completely forgot the three level-nine divine spell scrolls he had snatched from Andre, which were tucked away in his sleeve!

Flee, flee, flee... he ran without pause.

Several times, Montetedi’s mental shocks nearly shattered Gu Xiechen completely, but in the final moments, Gu Xiechen’s heart would begin to beat wildly, sending pure surges of energy that nourished his body and spirit. His collapsing physique, constantly sustained by this influx, would slowly recover to a respectable level.

After seven days and seven nights of non-stop flight, during which they traversed nearly half a continent, Gu Xiechen’s mental trauma had gradually healed. His body, which Montetedi had grievously injured, was now fully recovered—and perhaps even slightly stronger than before the injury. Most exciting for Gu Xiechen was that the energy from the Drought Demon Blood hidden within his Dao Embryo had been stimulated further, seemingly strengthening his very soul origin.

After summoning the one hundred subordinates of Xin Jia, Gu Xiechen’s soul origin was about ten times stronger than that of an ordinary person. But after seven days and nights of continuous running, after Montetedi’s repeated injuries and his own repeated healing, Gu Xiechen’s soul origin had actually increased to about fifteen times that of an ordinary person.

Gu Xiechen grew more relaxed as he fled. He even had the leisure to pluck a few fruits from roadside trees to sate his hunger while running.

This blatant provocation only enraged Montetedi further. Montetedi lost his capacity for rational analysis, shedding all reason; his entire focus was solely on catching Gu Xiechen.

Behind Montetedi, hidden from his sight, a palm-sized, dark-green rune flickered with a faint, sinister light.

With a swoosh, Gu Xiechen rounded a line of massive Bodhi trees, only to find a vast expanse of purple bamboo forest ahead. Gu Xiechen lowered his head and plunged into the purple bamboo grove, too preoccupied to examine what distinguished this grove from any other.

Montetedi, completely blinded by fury, charged straight in after him.

With a dull rumble, as soon as the two stepped into the purple bamboo, a mass of translucent blue clouds materialized overhead. The clouds slowly coalesced into six altars, upon each of which floated a palm-sized, water-clear flag gate.

The six flag gates fluttered briefly in the wind. Suddenly, thick white clouds and mist billowed up from the surrounding forest, enveloping an area of over a hundred miles in dense vapor.

No light from the sun, moon, or stars, nor any energy wave, could penetrate this thick fog. The naked eye could only discern the churning vapor.

Two Paradise Star Expeditionary Force and three Roman military satellites happened to pass over this stretch of forest, and the anomaly immediately alarmed the supreme commanders of both sides.

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