Within the continuous Black Bone Mountain Range, the air was thick with bloody slaughter.
Every hundred miles or so, one would witness thrilling chases and escapes, with large swathes of forest destroyed by Daoist techniques. However, looking out, the ravaged areas were but a small corner of the Black Bone Mountain Range.
Chen Qianqian's face was pale, and the skin on her arms had an unhealthy dark purple hue. She was fleeing in the opposite direction of Black Bone City.
She had just consumed a pill to recover when she heard rustling sounds of pursuit behind her. She had no choice but to drag her poisoned body and hide once again in a gloomy, dark area.
"To be poisoned by Elder Xiao's toxic technique and still manage to kill three Golden Core Elders from our Elephant Strength Sect, this woman must possess an ancient inheritance. We must see her alive or bring back her corpse! This matter brooks no failure!"
"Strange, she should be nearby, so how come there's no trace of her? Could she have escaped using a Realm-Breaking Talisman?"
"Absolutely impossible. With Elder Xiao's poison in her system, she won't be able to mobilize her true energy for three days."
"Could it be that she has already detoxified herself?"
"That's even more impossible. This poison is extremely difficult to condense and the release conditions are stringent, but its strength lies in the fact that once you're poisoned, there's no cure. You can only wait for it to dissipate on its own after three days."
"Stop talking nonsense and search carefully, don't miss any corner."
The Elephant Strength Sect was a force specializing in strength cultivation. To compensate for the sect's shortcomings, they supported a large number of guest elders proficient in esoteric arts.
This Elder Xiao was one of them, possessing a strange poison that could seal a cultivator's true energy for a short period.
Chen Qianqian faced numerous Golden Core cultivators, and she didn't know when she had been infected with the opponent's poison. The poison rapidly spread throughout her body, and before her true energy was completely exhausted, she forcibly killed three Golden Core cultivators and escaped.
But the Golden Core within her seemed to have disappeared, and she couldn't muster any true energy at all. She couldn't even use the Void-Breaking Talisman. She bought a pile of detoxification pills from the Group Mall, but none of them worked.
As expected of esoteric arts, sometimes they are more terrifying than the methods of powerful figures.
Helpless, Chen Qianqian could only seek help from Chen Changsheng through the chat group and activated the Ancient Immortal Token to mark her location in real-time.
As long as Chen Changsheng could find her, he could activate the Void-Breaking Talisman and take her away.
Chen Qianqian suppressed her aura, her breathing rate becoming extremely low, and hid in a tree hole. Only after the sounds gradually faded away did she cautiously climb out.
Just then, a wave of scorching true energy pressed down from above.
Chen Qianqian's expression changed slightly. Relying on the limits of her physical strength, she managed to dodge. She rolled on the ground, looking utterly disheveled.
Boom!
A sky-piercing pillar of fire suddenly erupted, and the shockwave of the explosion sent her flying, crashing into a giant rock. A sweet taste welled up in her throat.
"Pfft!"
Chen Qianqian spat out blood. She immediately got up from the ground and ran without hesitation into the winding, thorny thickets. Her arms were scratched with several bloody marks by the thorns, and her dress was covered in blood and mud.
"I've found her! She's still struggling to survive!"
The Elephant Strength Sect cultivator who had just ambushed her immediately shouted, instantly attracting the nearby Elephant Strength Sect cultivators.
More than a dozen people surrounded her from different directions.
Chen Qianqian held a bow and arrow, aiming and drawing the bow at the weaker cultivators. Unfortunately, without true energy attached and not being a body cultivator, only a Qi Refining cultivator's shoulder was hit by the arrow.
Whoosh!
A flame spewed out from the cultivator's mouth, instantly igniting the entire thorny thicket.
Chen Qianqian ran towards the flames and thick smoke, using the black smoke to conceal her figure. She had cultivated the Nihility Breath Concealment Technique, which was the same top-tier breath concealment technique as Chen Changsheng's.
Unless someone was two major realms higher than her, they wouldn't be able to see through her true cultivation level, and it could also shield against divine sense sweeps.
Running in the black smoke, the cultivators couldn't find her figure at all. They could only chase based on a general direction or directly blow away the thick smoke.
"Damn it, who the hell set the fire?"
"Wasn't the idea to burn her to death directly? Who knew she'd run into the fire and smoke like she didn't value her life."
"Anyone would try to survive a desperate situation. If you want to kill her, just kill her with a sword. How long will it take to burn her to death?"
"I was thinking of burning open this thorny thicket to make it easier to find her..."
The cultivator who set the fire expressed his innocence and grievance.
It was clearly because the other party was too good at escaping. Why was he the only one being blamed for randomly setting fires? And they didn't stop him before he set the fire, what a bunch of hindsight experts!
Inside the forest, Chen Qianqian's footsteps faltered, her whole body scorched black. It was already impossible to tell if the charred bits on her body were from her dress or blood.
She ran from the thorny thicket into the forest. The Elephant Strength Sect cultivators were chasing closely. With a burst of speed, they instantly overtook her, a look of victory on their faces.
"Alright, little bug, you can die now!"
The Elephant Strength Sect cultivator grinned hideously, swinging his longsword. The sword energy cut through the sky, instantly cleaving the trees within a thousand meters in half.
A shield suddenly appeared in Chen Qianqian's hand.
Pfft!
The sword energy that cleaved through the sky struck the shield, leaving not a trace, but the force of the impact still sent her flying.
The pupils of several Elephant Strength Sect cultivators constricted, thinking that Chen Qianqian had detoxified herself from Elder Xiao's poison. Their hearts stopped for a moment.
Facing Chen Qianqian in her Golden Core state, they didn't even have the qualifications to lick her shoes.
But they quickly realized that if Chen Qianqian could really mobilize her true energy, she wouldn't have been blasted away by his sword.
"The shield wasn't taken from a storage ring. She's still hiding other tricks. Take her down together!" One of the cultivators shouted loudly.
More than a dozen cultivators erupted with true energy, their bodies turning into afterimages as they pounced.
Facing enemies from all directions, Chen Qianqian didn't have time to buy countermeasures from the Group Mall. The aura of death assaulted her face.
But she didn't show the slightest hint of fear.
As a Golden Core True Person, she wouldn't allow herself to show fear to the weak.
Boom!
As the Elephant Strength Sect cultivators unleashed their killing moves, a scorching and vast aura suddenly descended from the sky.
A deafening roar shook the heavens and the earth, shattering all surrounding Daoist techniques! A cloud of dust was kicked up.
A violent gust of energy followed closely behind, blowing away the stirred-up dust.
The Elephant Strength Sect cultivators who had reached Chen Qianqian first were sent flying like kites with broken strings!
The bones in their faces shattered, and their bodies were carried away by an unknown terrifying force, smashing through two small hills along the way.
Finally, in mid-air, they exploded into a cloud of blood mist!
"What's going on?! ! !"
The pupils of the Elephant Strength Sect cultivators, who were half a beat slower, shrank drastically, and they retreated in terror.
They saw a handsome young man suddenly appear in front of Chen Qianqian.
A golden-red Daoist robe blazed with brilliant flames, like a phoenix spreading its true fire wings and emitting a sharp cry. Thick, scarlet qi and blood floated on his body surface, condensing into a phantom of a savage dragon, roaring towards the sky.
The dragon and phoenix chimed together, erupting with a terrifying aura that made everyone's hearts tremble.
"Could you come a little earlier next time? I was almost scared to death," Chen Qianqian's dark face revealed a hint of a smile, she teased softly.
Chen Changsheng smiled awkwardly: "I encountered a few robberies on the way, which delayed me."
