Chapter 168: Chase and Escape

Over a million li away, above a snow-covered mountain range, countless bolts of lightning appeared alternately, forming a slowly rotating spell formation.

With a flash of silver light, a giant figure materialized within the formation—a three-headed, six-armed golden-furred giant ape.

As soon as the giant ape appeared, its body rapidly shrank, and as the surrounding silver lightning dissipated, it reverted to human form.

He flipped his hand to produce a medicinal pill and swallowed it, then, after briefly orienting himself, transformed into a streak of cyan light without any pause and fled at full speed into the distance.

This long-distance teleportation consumed a considerable amount of the Thunder Peng's lightning power. He still couldn't determine whether Fang Pan and the others' tracking had a distance limit. If he exhausted his lightning power and was caught by them again, he would lose his last escape route.

However, before he had flown far, he felt a disturbance in his vital blood—clearly, Fang Pan and the other were using the same trick to sense his location.

Without a second thought, Han Li immediately changed direction and fled wildly.

While fleeing, he focused on refining the medicinal pill within him while meticulously scanning his body with his spiritual sense, trying to find where a mark had been placed on him.

But no matter how thoroughly he searched, he couldn't find any trace.

Despite Han Li's desperate flight, Fang Pan's flying speed was truly too fast. After half a day, the two gradually caught up to him.

This time, Han Li had no intention of engaging them in battle. The moment they appeared within his field of vision, silver light burst from his body.

Crackle!

Countless silver lightning bolts emerged alternately, about to form a lightning spell formation again.

Several hundred li away, Fang Pan let out a cold snort, his voice like a thunderclap:

“Don't even think about it!”

Before his words faded, his palm radiated a dazzling cyan light, within which countless cyan runes danced. He struck the brocade-robed old man beside him.

A cyan halo immediately appeared around the old man, with countless cyan runes spinning inside.

The old man's figure vanished on the spot and then reappeared not far from Han Li.

At that moment, only half a breath had passed since Han Li began his spell. The surrounding silver lightning had already coalesced into a lightning spell formation, with silver light surging, about to engulf his form.

Countless blood-colored flames suddenly emerged from the brocade-robed old man, and his entire body transformed into a blood-red sun.

A dazzling blood light radiated outward, enveloping an area several li in radius.

The lightning spell formation around Han Li, upon being illuminated by this blood light, immediately dissipated like snow meeting fire.

“What?!” His expression changed drastically.

At that moment, a brilliant blade light suddenly appeared in Han Li's vision, emerging from an extreme distance, but in the next instant, it was right before him, thrusting straight toward his heart like a flash of lightning, moving with inconceivable speed.

His pupils instantly shrank to pinpricks, and a dazzling cyan light erupted from his body as he shifted sideways.

Blood light flashed!

Han Li's figure appeared several dozen zhang away, a huge gash on his arm revealing white bone, with blood gushing out.

His face grim, he ignored the wound. Golden light blazed from his entire body, and he instantly transformed into the Mountain Ape form, with countless golden scales covering his body.

Fang Pan's figure emerged behind the blade light—he had been hiding somewhere earlier—and he waved his hand to grab the gleaming long blade.

Without a word, his body swayed left and right.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Four identical Fang Pans appeared around him, each holding a gleaming long blade, and they charged straight at Han Li with lightning speed, their blades tracing five dazzling arcs of light.

The five Fang Pans suddenly crossed paths, and the five blade lights merged into one, forming a hazy blade shadow that suddenly accelerated several times, creating layers of afterimages as it thrust straight toward the golden-furred giant ape's heart.

Everything nearby seemed to slow down at that moment, leaving only this dreamlike blade light.

Pfft!

The dreamlike blade light pierced into the golden-furred giant ape's body and emerged from its back.

But it was not at the heart's position—it was off by a few inches.

The golden-furred giant ape spat out a mouthful of blood, shock flashing in its eyes. Then it raised a hand and struck its chest heavily.

Bang!

The giant ape's body shot backward, spouting another large mouthful of blood that transformed into a blood light and merged into its body.

Its entire skin suddenly turned blood-red, and a huge blood-colored rune appeared on its chest and back, emitting a dazzling blood light.

Bang!

The giant ape's body suddenly exploded into a mass of blood light, which tumbled forward and shot out, instantly breaking free of the brocade-robed old man's blood light range.

Countless silver electric arcs shot out from the blood light, instantly forming a lightning spell formation.

With a flash of dazzling lightning, the blood light within the formation vanished without a trace.

The brocade-robed old man stared dumbfounded.

Whether it was Fang Pan or Han Li, their series of actions were as fast as lightning. Before he could even react, Han Li's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

Fang Pan's five bodies swayed and merged back into one. He stared at the spot where Han Li had vanished, his face ashen.

The brocade-robed old man chanted an incantation, and the blood-colored flames on his body instantly extinguished. His face pale, he hurriedly took out a medicinal pill and swallowed it.

“Damn it! He got away again!” Fang Pan said viciously, a hint of agitation in his expression.

Han Li now knew about the Blood Burning Breath technique the old man surnamed Feng had used, and he would certainly be more cautious. Using the same method to disrupt the lightning spell formation again would likely be impossible.

“I didn't expect that Han Li to be so cunning. What do we do now?” The brocade-robed old man flew over, his face not yet fully recovered.

“...Let's chase him first!” Fang Pan said after a moment of silence, waving his hand to emit a cyan light that enveloped them both.

A million li away, the lightning spell formation appeared and then dissipated.

With a flash of blood light, Han Li's figure stumbled out, his face as pale as paper.

On his chest, three inches to the left of his heart, a bloody wound still oozed blood.

Looking at the wound on his chest, a trace of fear flashed in Han Li's eyes.

If he hadn't forcibly shifted his body a few inches at the last moment, his heart would have been pierced and shredded.

Recalling that dreamlike slash, he narrowed his eyes.

Fang Pan had clearly been hiding his true strength before; even Han Li, caught off guard, had nearly fallen for it.

But from the current situation, it seemed that to use that strange chain technique, the opponent needed a certain amount of casting time.

Thinking this, Han Li flipped his hand to produce a green talisman and pressed it onto the wound.

The talisman emitted a soft green light that merged into the wound. The bleeding immediately stopped, and the wound quickly closed.

He then took out another Guiyuan Pill and swallowed it. A surge of cyan light enveloped him as he flew off in one direction, simultaneously refining the pill with his cultivation.

As expected, after only half a day, Fang Pan and the other caught up again.

Thanks to the miraculous effect of the Guiyuan Pill, Han Li's injuries had recovered by seventy to eighty percent.

But this time, he had learned his lesson. As soon as Fang Pan and the brocade-robed old man entered his spiritual sense range, he immediately activated the lightning teleportation without a word and fled.

Fang Pan, besides being furious, felt his heart sink.

If he couldn't get close, even if he had other means, he couldn't use them.

However, at this point, he naturally couldn't give up.

…

A few days later, above a black forest, a cyan streak of light shot across the sky, flying swiftly into the distance.

Thick dark clouds piled up above the forest, and from time to time, huge lightning bolts struck down, making it look like a forest of lightning from afar.

Within the cyan streak, Han Li's expression was grave as he dodged the falling lightning while moving forward quickly.

At the edge of the lightning forest, over a hundred thousand li away, two figures flashed into existence—Fang Pan and the brocade-robed old man.

Looking at the lightning-filled forest before them, they frowned, but then resolutely flew into it.

…

Half a month later, above a range of crimson mountains, a cyan streak sped forward like the wind.

Below, the crimson mountains were ablaze with raging flames, billowing thick black smoke that blotted out the sky and sun.

The cyan streak passed directly through this world of smoke and fire without any detour.

Hundreds of thousands of li behind, Fang Pan and the brocade-robed old man pursued relentlessly with grim expressions.

…

The chase continued, and in the blink of an eye, over a month had passed.

Above a vast swamp, countless silver electric arcs appeared and then coalesced into a lightning spell formation.

With a thunderous crack, Han Li's figure appeared at the center of the formation, his brows tightly furrowed.

After nearly two months of continuous pursuit, despite supplementing with many medicinal pills, the Thunder Peng power within him was rapidly depleting. Even though he deliberately controlled the number of uses, it was now less than half of its peak.

The distance each teleportation covered also grew shorter; this time, it had only taken him less than five hundred thousand li.

Fang Pan and the other behind him had clearly noticed this as well and pressed the chase even harder.

Han Li's expression darkened.

Continuing to be passive like this wouldn't do; sooner or later, he would be worn down both mentally and physically.

However, based on his observations and judgments over this period, it seemed that the one casting the spell to sense his location was not Fang Pan but the brocade-robed old man beside him.

That man could not only track him but also break his lightning formation and possessed a post-natal magic tool capable of trapping people. He was a major nuisance and had to be killed.

Thoughts raced through Han Li's mind. Suddenly, his brow twitched, and he activated his escape technique, flying off in another direction.

After a moment, the sound of crashing waves came from ahead. A vast sea appeared before him, its water tinged with a reddish hue and emitting a pungent, rusty smell.

He looked at the churning sea below, pondered briefly, then continued flying deeper into the sea. After a while, he stopped near a small reddish island about several dozen li in size.

“This place will do.”

Han Li muttered to himself, took a deep breath, and suddenly raised both hands. Dozens of blue spiritual lights shot out in all directions, plunging into the sea below and disappearing from sight.