The conditions of Wan You and Wei Hong were not good. After being chased throughout the night with very little rest, they were tired and worn out.
When they were targeted, they attempted to fight 'Dong Qiuyue'. However, to their surprise, 'Dong Qiuyue' easily overpowered them with her powerful cultivation level.
They tried to escape but found that 'Dong Qiuyue' blocked their paths every time they attempted to do so.
"Senior brother, there is someone else in this forest," Wei Hong followed her senior brother from behind, her face lacking its previous luster and her eyes cloudy.
"That place again," Wan You looked towards the source of the loud voices, the dense part of the forest.
"That possessed girl keeps pushing us towards this place. There must be something wrong there," Wan You added. "This possessed girl could easily kill both of us and consume our blood, but she didn't do it. Instead, she kept forcing us to this place."
Wan You was in better condition than Wei Hong since he always trained his body and mind to increase his cultivation level every day. Not sleeping for one or two days wouldn't be a big problem for him. The only damage from his fight with 'Dong Qiuyue' to protect Wei Hong was his torn clothes.
After contemplating and considering Wei Hong's condition, Wan You decided to give it a try. After all, there were other people in that place. If anything went wrong, they could make 'Dong Qiuyue' give up on them and target others.
"Are you still able to hold on?" Wan You softly asked Wei Hong. If it weren't for his junior sister, he could have escaped the pursuit of 'Dong Qiuyue' long ago.
"Um," Wei Hong weakly responded, as she had already pushed her body to its limit.
If she decided to rest, then she would make Wan You block 'Dong Qiuyue' for her.
After repeating this pattern from the previous night until now, she no longer wanted to see Wan You suffer any longer for her.
"Let's hurry up," Wan You said.
Inside the dense part of the forest, the battle over who could scream louder had already changed. Jie Tiangong decided to face Niu Chang head-on, even though he would have to endure the discomfort of being charmed by a stinky boy.
'I thought this boy's charm skill would be dangerous, but it was only a facade. His mastery is still too low to utilize this strange beguiling technique,' Jie Tiangong gave his opinion.
Jie Tiangong couldn't help but wonder how Niu Chang could use such a high-level technique with such a low level of proficiency.
Niu Chang knew nothing about the world of martial arts, so he was unaware of what was considered normal or abnormal. Even if he knew that his mastery of his newly created skills was lacking, he could only rely on the fact that he was the creator of the techniques.
Niu Chang understood the essence of the technique, but his cultivation level was too low to properly demonstrate the true value of his self-created martial techniques.
Trapped inside the invisible Burial of Silence, Niu Chang was bombarded by Hammering Beats from all directions.
However, it wasn't enough for Jie Tiangong to kill Niu Chang, who was protected by an unreasonable amount of qi shielding his body.
So Jie Tiangong used two more techniques to end the fight.
"Boy, give up. You are trapped inside my Burial of Silence. Your life and death are in my hands. If you choose to surrender, I will spare your life in exchange for your secret," Jie Tiangong said, intrigued by the secret behind Niu Chang's seemingly unlimited amount of qi. He suspected it was a special constitution, but he dismissed the idea as impossible.
'How could a simple special constitution directly boost someone to the level of a grandmaster without any drawbacks and continuously replenish their qi? It was unheard of.'
Jie Tiangong wanted to claim this secret for himself, but he knew his time was limited. If he prolonged the battle, something unexpected might happen.
Inside the Burial of Silence, all kinds of sounds were eliminated. Niu Chang's body was restricted by countless invisible chains made of sound waves.
'It went better than I expected. Although the old man's attacks were fierce and painful, it still couldn't kill me in one single strike.'
It wasn't to say that the attacks were weak by any means, but sound-based martial skills had this inherent weakness. While sounds were easily produced and controlled by martial artists, they lacked physical properties and thus had less strength compared to swords and other martial techniques.
Niu Chang had already gained many insights from his various tests, and now he could control the overflowing qi to surround his body as a means of protection. However, it was still too weak, so he compensated by continuously replenishing it with the help of the system.
Jie Tiangong shifted his gaze to a certain direction and sensed multiple presences approaching his location.
"It must be the two from last night," he acutely guessed the identity of Wan You and Wei Hong. However, his attention was drawn to another presence following them—an eerie and lifeless sensation. "The headless ghost is here too?"
"No, it's no longer a headless ghost but a possessed girl," his mind raced as he looked at the hard-to-kill Niu Chang.
He contemplated whether to stay or leave Niu Chang to deal with the uninvited guests.
"Hmph, boy, you're lucky this time," Jie Tiangong said as he released Niu Chang from the Burial of Silence and retreated into the forest.
Niu Chang, whose body was restrained in mid-air, fell to the ground with a small thud. Opening his eyes, he couldn't find Jie Tiangong's figure.
"Did he choose to give up?" Niu Chang wondered if it was a trap, but then he turned his head and saw the weary and exhausted Wan You and Wei Hong.
Wan You was wary of Niu Chang. Niu Chang's body emanated a powerful pressure, and the overflowing qi from his body was beyond his comprehension.
"A grandmaster?" Wei Hong asked the question, as both of them had encountered a few master and grandmaster stage experts in their sect and were aware of the characteristics of a grandmaster stage.
Niu Chang silently observed them. He didn't know who they were and didn't care. He chose to escape first.
However, when he tried to choose a direction, he found himself bound to the mission given by the system. Thus, he could only pursue Jie Tiangong.
He could vaguely sense Jie Tiangong's location and distance, but he discovered that the old man was hiding not far away.
"What is this old man planning? Stirring up trouble?" Niu Chang asked himself.
Fearful of the unknown punishment from the system, Niu Chang turned his body to chase after Jie Tiangong. But then he felt a vague sensation—a cold wind blowing in his direction.
Behind the two unknown individuals, he saw a figure cloaked in darkness running swiftly towards his location.
Gradually, he recognized that figure. "What? Why is it this girl?"
"Senior, may we ask for your assistance?" Wan You, with his righteous character, asked Niu Chang as he moved to avoid 'Dong Qiuyue'.
Emerging from behind the dense trees, the naked 'Dong Qiuyue' slowly revealed herself. Her skin was pale, her eyes dim and lifeless. She moved like a mechanical puppet at times and like a normal human at others.
'Dong Qiuyue' raised her eyes and fixed her gaze on the retreating Niu Chang.
[Established karma with Shen Sanhua.]
The Automatic System Answerer chose the second option without delay, but Niu Chang continued to look at the system.
'Her name is Shen Sanhua?' he carefully observed 'Dong Qiuyue'.
The longer he looked at her, the stronger the feeling of familiarity grew. It wasn't his connection with the real 'Dong Qiuyue', but rather a connection with the person called Shen Sanhua.
However, since Niu Chang didn't know 'Dong Qiuyue''s name, he couldn't be sure and deduce the source of this peculiar familiarity.
As if triggered by something, the puppet-like Shen Sanhua also felt a strong attraction towards Niu Chang, more so than the two she had chased throughout the night.
Her abyss-like black eyes were fixed on Niu Chang. With her low intelligence, she couldn't find any useful answer, so she followed her instinct as a ghost and aimed to kill him.
Ghostly qi enveloped her body as she launched herself at Niu Chang.
Niu Chang pushed away his distracting thoughts and faced Shen Sanhua head-on. He covered his body with a dim white qi and charged forward.
The height difference between them wasn't significant, with 'Dong Qiuyue' standing about one head taller than Niu Chang.
Boosting his physical attributes with qi, Niu Chang stomped with his left leg and threw a punch with his right hand.
He could feel that his body received a huge qi boost thanks to his karma with Shen Sanhua. But he was bewildered because the amount of qi wasn't much different from what he had experienced with the previous old man.
Realizing he had underestimated his opponent, Niu Chang decided to bite the bullet and channeled even more qi into his right fist.
The stiff and mechanical Shen Sanhua moved solely on instinct and skillfully evaded Niu Chang's powerful punch. Her sudden movements were precise, without any unnecessary actions, reminiscent of a trained martial artist.