Wei Wuyin inwardly cursed. The suppression of ninth-grade pellets was a gross miscalculation on his part, costing him precious seconds to flee or plan. The approaching pressure of a Realmlord at his back was growing stronger and more oppressive with every breath of time. Despite that, he remained extremely calm, his mind circulating fiercely.
This wasn't the first time he'd been chased. In fact, he was chased by the Wall of Heaven, taking life and rending land, sky, and sea as it passed. He survived that; he had the utmost confidence to survive this. What was a Realmlord before the Wall of Heaven?
With the light of calculation effusing from his eyes, he continued his mad dash across the grey sandy desert. The female Realmlord at his back was fast, but the Season of Regression seemed to greatly suppress spatial force. If he was on the Myriad Monarch Continent running from Tuo Bihan, he wouldn't have gotten more than a few hundred meters before being intercepted.
There were a few benefits to this.
Wei Wuyin reminded himself that he had to be patient and mindful. A momentary slip-up was all it took. If he ended up in the female Realmlord's Worldly Domain in his current state, his life would no longer be his own. With a fierce glint in his eyes, Wei Wuyun scanned the world until he peered downwards at his feet.
His silver gaze erupted with scintillating brilliance. Without hesitation, he urged his Elemental Origin Intent, channeling his Desolate Earth Intent, and like a fish facing freshwater, he dove into the sand, piercing it and swimming through the hard earth beneath. His abrupt actions caused the female Realmlord watching to softly exclaim in surprise, before a cold smile emerged on her lips.
She exerted her astral force, warding around her like an egg shell, and without hesitation, dove into the earth via forceful means. Unlike Wei Wuyin, she didn't have Earth Intent, so she couldn't manipulate the pre-existing earth as freely, but she had immense power, so she didn't need to.
As she penetrated the earth, she kept her spiritual sense locked onto Wei Wuyin's burrowing form. Despite his Desolate Earth Intent transforming the surrounding earth soft, he still had to dig his way through with powerful swipes, causing immense disturbances in the environment. He was extremely easy to track.
"You somehow made a fool of me once, I won't allow you to do so again." She told herself with a fierce, fiery glint within her eyes. Wei Wuyin had humiliated her, taking the spatial ring directly before her eyes. Even still, she had no idea how he was capable of eluding her Worldly Domain, taking the spatial ring from her finger.
To add, he had taken everything she earned through centuries of embezzling, extorting the various powers, accumulating as a nest egg for after she finished her job as a protectorate of the city. She would soon leave, find a young talented male expert, and fund the beginning of a clan as she produced children.
She had it all worked out, yet not only was her funds taken, but she was even interrogated for three months by the other powers suspecting her of colluding with Wei Wuyin. After all, he was merely a Soul Idol Phase expert, and he had somehow gained control of the Grandquake Array beneath their noses.
This smelled like an inside job from all angles. Even the City Lord was decisively executed due to some random evidence that appeared out of nowhere, but her strength as a Realmlord made it extremely difficult for them to do the same. She had to swear a vicious oath and a formation was imprinted within her body as a result and was assigned with the task of hunting Wei Wuyin down. She must retrieve every piece of material lost to regain their trust.
Therefore, she used a favor to obtain this Scrying World Compass, this glowing parchment, to locate Wei Wuyin. It wasn't exactly accurate, and it needed something to fixate on to even work. For the past six months, the Scrying World Compass had been chaotic, unsure of where he was, until several minutes ago. It had suddenly pointed towards Wei Wuyin with unerring accuracy.
As for what she used to locate him? It was the wisp of his aura left behind on the City Lord's bed. She had discovered very early before the others had arrived that Wei Wuyin stayed in that area, so she investigated it and found out it had been used for hot and steamy activities. She had to delicately separate the elf's aura from Wei Wuyin's but she had found her lock.
The World Scrying Compass wasn't too reliable though. After seeing the crumbled mountain, she realized that Wei Wuyin had been sealed within a mountain filled with Desolate Power, so it restrained his aura from spreading. The moment he left, the compass discovered his location.
Of course, she would never report her findings to the others assigned to tracking him down to retrieve the spatial ring and its contents. After all, if she did and Wei Wuyin was discovered, they would find out about her activities and her situation would be even worse than right now.
She couldn't let him fall into anyone else's hands nor live to tell the tale!
Wei Wuyin winced in pain while digging, the exertion of his Elemental Origin Intent was impacting him fiercely, and the pain was like a thousand needles stabbing into the soft tissue of his brain. It was a horrific type of pain, but he had to endure it. If he delayed for a few seconds, his pursuer would catch up and a little headache would be the least of his problems.
Boosh!
Wei Wuyin dug deep enough to find a tunnel, bursting into the hollowed insides with a heavy crash. He landed in the tunnel, his silver eyes roaming for any formations, but he found none. Both relieved and frustrated, he realized this was the exact same location he entered when he was captured. The coincidental realization only lasted for a breath of time.
There were two directions, and one of them led to Ai Juling's city. His eyes flashed for a moment before he shot off in the opposite direction of that city.
A few dozen seconds later, another destructively explosive sound erupted. The female Realmlord looked around for a moment, realizing where she was. "Grey Sands Elves underground tunnels? You're thinking of escaping through here?" She sneered, using the parchment to locate his direction, spreading out her spiritual sense and noticing his footprints.
With a cold laugh, she urged her astral force and shot off even faster than before. The tunnel quivered fiercely as a response, nearly collapsing!
Wei Wuyin felt the crumbling and his heart thumped harshly for a moment. Not looking back, he sprinted faster than before. He cursed that the Grey Sands Elves had no defenses in these tunnels! How useless!
As he cursed, he sped up faster and faster, even his refined bones were creaking and making faint snapping noises. He was like a black shadow as he blurred through the tunnel at speeds that made the female Realmlord gawk in awe, feeling shock and disbelief at the sheer physical speed of Wei Wuyin.
As he traveled for a few seconds, his eyes brightened as he heard the elven language. A few soldiers were riding their lizard-like mounts while chatting in glee, a few even laughing and chuckling as the topic seemed to be quite hilarious to them.
Woosh!
Suddenly, they felt a burst of wind lift their clothes and cause their mounts to growl. The burst of wind was only for a moment, already long gone by the time they got their bearings. They asked each other questions, spreading their spiritual sense, and then they felt an incoming force from behind them. They were confused for a moment, but their mounts started to growl ferociously and scratched their claws into the ground.
They started to move without their riders permission! They started running away!!
"Too late. Insignificant insects." A cold voice resounded, sending shivers down the spines of the mounts and their riders. A mournful sound left their throats as silver force passed through their bodies. Like balloons of blood, flesh, and bones, they burst into bloody mist with bits of hardened white!
Woosh!
The female Realmlord passed them instantly, not delayed by a single millisecond.
Hearing the sound of mournful death howls behind him, Wei Wuyin didn't look back or feel sorry for those who died. He wasn't a saint nor was he above using others to survive! He needed time!
After a second or so of running, he was met with a fork in the tunnel, splitting off into two parts. He didn't stop for even a breath of time, randomly choosing the road with the most traveled footsteps.
The female Realmlord soon met this fork, inspecting the glowing parchment in her hand, looking at the left. She scowled for a moment, but shot off in hot pursuit!
"I can't lose her!" Wei Wuyin softly murmured to himself, realizing she was definitely tracking his movements. The desolate power in the tunnel made it extremely difficult to continuously send out one's spiritual sense without desolate intent infused within it. Continuous usage will drain one's spiritual energies with remarkable speeds. He felt short bursts of her sense sweep him, but never for longer than a few moments.
He hadn't felt her spiritual sense sweep by but she was definitely behind him, pursuing him like a tigress after its prey, so she must know where he went without locking onto him with her spiritual sense! She must be tracking him using some unique tool or spell!
He needed obstacles.
With another burst of forceful speed, he traveled further into the tunnel. His eyes brightened as he saw an opening far away. The entrance to a city! He didn't know what city this was or how strong its guardian was, but the formations within might delay the female Realmlord for longer than a moment!
With a horizontal leap, he shot into the entrance, startling the guards at the entrance and the elves traversing along the edge of the city. With a deep breath, he used his powerful lungs to scream out a single word: "INVASION!!!"
While he spoke in human tongue, the sound exploded like a surging tsunami throughout the city, startling the elves awake and alert!
But he didn't stop then, exploding with another leap and shot into the sky diagonally. His leap carried him to the top of the dome-like structure that held the city. With a fierce punch, he urged his Desolate Earth Intent, and dug into it.
He was just in time as the city's formations activated, sealing off the entrance and the city with various exquisite runes. If he tried to penetrate just a second before, he would've been delayed even further!
A thin film dropped down from the entrance, blocking off all new entries, and the trained elves hurriedly took to the skies with their astral forces erupting fiercely. They charged towards the various entrances, guarding against any invasion from all angles. They seemed to be practiced and swift, needing only a dozen or so seconds to react.
The female Realmlord was met with the thin film of light preventing her access. She realized Wei Wuyin's scheme and coldly snickered. "Foolish!" She shouted, flipping her palm and thrusting it forward with pulsating astral force.
BOOM!
It took less than a second for the thin film to collapse, not even earning enough time. When the female Realmlord shot into the city, she was met with a suppressive aura and force intermixed with desolate power. It halted her movements for a moment, but her expression was extremely calm as she held a cold grin.
"REALMLORD!" The elves shrieked in horror, announcing to the world as they saw the female Realmlord use her Worldly Domain. Screams and howls of pain and terror resounded! But the bitter desire to protect their loved ones from an enemy emerged in the valiant hearts of these elven soldiers, throwing their bodies towards the female Realmlord hoping to buy time!
The city-wide formation was already circulating, taking the weak, young, and old away with flashes of light. They just needed time!
Wei Wuyin was huffing and puffing, his breathing incredibly labored as he felt extremely exhausted. The lack of active energies meant he had to rely on his innate physical energies to handle the consumption of his swift and harsh movements.
"I just need time!" Wei Wuyin repeated to himself, not looking back as he sped through another tunnel. He started to run fiercely once more!
