Although Huang Xiaolong transformed using the Asura Physique, activating the Wings of Demon and Phantom Shadow ability to move at a speed on par with a mid-Tenth Order warrior, he couldn't easily escape his pursuer. Lin Zhiren was a peak late-Tenth Order warrior with half a step into the Xiantian realm. He caught up to Huang Xiaolong in no time.
Advancing to within ten meters of Huang Xiaolong, killing intent erupted in Lin Zhiren's eyes and he quickly slashed out with his long sword.
"Go die!"
The light from the long sword mutated into a roaring flood dragon and attacked Huang Xiaolong's back.
Just as that sword attack was about to tear into Huang Xiaolong's back, Huang Xiaolong's silhouette disappeared from Lin Zhiren's view in an unforeseen manner.
The sword missed its target, hitting the reefs several hundred meters away. Pieces of coral shattered and were washed away by the current.
"He disappeared? How could he disappear?!" After a moment of shock, Lin Zhiren screamed in a rage. The sound waves rippled underwater violently, and Lin Zhiren scanned the surrounding area with bloodshot eyes, appearing similar to that of an injured beast.
At this time, the Elders of the Big Sword Sect caught up to Lin Zhiren.
"Sect Leader, that brat is over there!" Suddenly, one of the Elders yelled, pointing a finger in a direction towards their front.
Lin Zhiren quickly looked over and noticed Huang Xiaolong's figure one thousand meters away.
"Doggy Huang, let me see where you can run to!" Lin Zhiren howled as he tore through the water, once again in pursuit of Huang Xiaolong. The Elders and disciples of Big Sword Sect followed without delay, participating in the hunt.
In less than a minute, Lin Zhiren had traversed more than half the distance, but when he launched another attack, Huang Xiaolong's silhouette eerily disappeared a second time, appearing another thousand meters away from the previous spot.
The same sequence repeated more than a dozen times. Every time Lin Zhiren caught up to Huang Xiaolong and attacked, Huang Xiaolong disappeared mysteriously. Lin Zhiren nearly turned mad with exasperation, and his fury seemed to radiate outward endlessly underwater.
The Big Sword Sect Elders and disciples following the chase were even more annoyed and irritated.
An hour later during the long chase, many of the disciples were panting out of breath.
In the water, the consumption of battle qi was larger than on land.
Huang Xiaolong was concealed within a separate space, observing the Big Sword Sect disciples the entire time. Following that, with the Blades of Asura in hand, he instantly slit the throat of a Big Sword Sect disciple.
This Big Sword Sect disciple was merely at early Ninth Order. It never crossed his mind that Huang Xiaolong could be hiding next to him and would attack him suddenly. After a brief moment of negligence, his throat was slit.
Fresh blood seeped out, dyeing the waters around him a crimson color.
"Ninth Junior Brother!" Some of the Big Sword Sect disciples exclaimed in shock.
They were furious but their reaction was too late. Huang Xiaolong was already one thousand meters away.
Each time they stopped to catch their breath, Huang Xiaolong would launch an attack with the Blades of Asura.
As another half hour passed, six Big Sword Sect disciples met their deaths under Huang Xiaolong's blades.
Watching these Big Sword Sect disciples die one after another by Huang Xiaolong's hands, Lin Zhiren was jumping in anger as he roared like a vengeful lion. A manic light shone in his gaze. He wished to chop Huang Xiaolong into mincemeat!
These six were core disciples, important individuals of the Big Sword Sect whom the sect raised with great effort and resources. But now six of them were dead!
Lin Zhiren's heart was bleeding while thinking of the loss.
Another two hours passed.
Huang Xiaolong sat cross-legged in a cave hidden among reefs at the bottom of the Enlightenment Lake, triggering his Instant Recovery ability. Within seconds, all his depleted battle qi was completely restored.
He had successfully killed eight Big Sword Sect disciples and escaped Lin Zhiren's dogged pursuit.
Fortunately, that old fellow Yu Chen was not in that group. If he was, Huang Xiaolong would have met a miserable end. Before a Xiantian Second Order, even if he could conceal himself within a pocket space, he wouldn't be able to flee or hide from Yu Chen.
However, if this goes on, I will have no choice but to return to land in an hour or so! Huang Xiaolong was muttered to himself. From the time they entered the lake, more than two hours had passed. In another hour or so, Huang Xiaolong would need to return to the surface for air.
"I wonder how Fei Hou is faring."
In the past two hours, ignoring the Heavenly Treasure itself, not even a fart could be found. What irritated Huang Xiaolong the most was the lack of response from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda.
"Could it be that the Heavenly Treasure was already subdued by someone else?" Huang Xiaolong's brows creased into a furrow.
It was said that Heavenly Treasures placed in the top ten rankings could only be subdued by people who had a grade thirteen martial spirit and above. Perhaps…? A name appeared in Huang Xiaolong's mind – Duan Wuhen!
Only Duan Wuhen had the highest probability of possessing a martial spirit at grade thirteen and above.
Thinking of the possibility, Huang Xiaolong's heart sank.
If it was as he surmised, his plan of breaking through the Xiantian realm within three years' time would be forfeit. Thinking one step further, if Duan Wuhen really got his hands on the Enlightenment Lake Heavenly Treasure, he could enter the Duanren Institute after returning to Duanren Empire, then search for and subdue the fourth-ranked Absolute Soul Pearl. After refining it, that would be yet another Heavenly Treasure in his grasp!
If things happened as Huang Xiaolong speculated, it would be troublesome for him.
However, as he was thinking of the sequence of events, the Linglong Treasure Pagoda inside Huang Xiaolong's body shook once...
"En, this is?!" Huang Xiaolong almost jumped with joy. He quickly stood up and hurried in the direction he just sensed.
A short while later, Huang Xiaolong stopped at a certain spot. According to what he sensed earlier, it should be right around there.
Huang Xiaolong looked around carefully at the surroundings. In the end, his eyes fell upon a mountain not far away. He moved closer and then halted before the mountain wall.
The mountain was roughly twenty meters wide, and there were carvings etched into the wall's surface. Huang Xiaolong studied them one by one and was surprised to find that these carvings depicted scenes of an ancient war. In that war, the participants had strange physical characteristics, and there were even races with two, four, and even six wings fighting and killing.
Giving the carvings on the wall a once over, Huang Xiaolong's attention finally focused on a brilliant golden circle carved above the battle scenes.
No matter how he examined it, this roundish circle looked a bit strange and conspicuous to Huang Xiaolong.
When Huang Xiaolong's gaze fell onto the brilliant golden circle, the initially quiet carving of the circle that was etched into the mountain wall suddenly shook in all directions, and a terrifying fluctuation flooded out from it.
This type of unique fluctuation was vaguely similar to the Linglong Treasure Pagoda yet subtly different at the same time, and it was definitely more powerful and even more terrifying than the atmosphere coming from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda.
The Linglong Treasure Pagoda in Huang Xiaolong's body shook violently, and just like the last time, Huang Xiaolong's twin dragon martial spirits flew out without being called and pounced onto the golden circle.
The moment Huang Xiaolong's black and blue twin dragons flew towards the golden circle ring, all the experts in the Enlightenment Lake vicinity could see the brilliant light piercing from the lake below.
Some dozens of li away, joy emerged on Duan Wuhen's strict when face seeing the resplendent pillars of light. He flashed, speeding in Huang Xiaolong's direction at breakneck speed, leaving only blurred afterimages of himself as he tore through space.
Other than Duan Wuhen, Big Sword Sect's Yu Chen, the Martial Ning Family's Ning Wang, and the Xiantian experts of the Yuwai Kingdom… all of these experts were rushing towards Huang Xiaolong's direction.
Detecting the strong aura descending on him from all directions, Huang Xiaolong had an ugly expression on his face, pushing his battle qi to the max. The black and blue dragons entwined around the golden circle ring wanting to return to Huang Xiaolong's body, but the golden ring suddenly vibrated with a hum, releasing a mysterious energy that repelled the twin dragons.
At this point, Duan Wuhen was less than ten li away.