Chapter 855: Sent to Jiuli

In mid-air, Xu Qing was moving at full speed, racing forward within the vast Mountain and Sea Domain. The heteromorphism was too dense, and the domain was also enveloped by a seal from the Three Blazing Moon Gods. This made large-scale teleportation techniques difficult to use, and many transportation artifacts became useless.

Despite this, Xu Qing had managed to buy some time and widen the distance between himself and his pursuers by interfering with them several times. However, the cost was significant. The damage sustained by the Vajra Sect Patriarch, the fading of Little Shadow, and Xu Qing's own injuries were all at a critical point. Continuing like this would be very disadvantageous.

Then there was Ding Yi San Er. Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. As a divine ability, Ding Yi San Er wouldn't simply vanish. Although its collapse was inevitable, as long as it bought him time, it was well worth it. With some time to recuperate, he could form another Ding Yi San Er cage. After all, the Authority of Misfortune, while seemingly originating from the God's finger, had long been mastered by Xu Qing. As for the Forgetfulness aspect, it was formed by the integration of his own luck.

“It's just a pity that the finger and the prisoner are gone. I’ll need to capture new ones,” Xu Qing thought with a touch of regret. But then he dismissed it, considering the God's finger had become somewhat useless.

Having now confirmed his direction, he sped away. At this moment, Xu Qing's original choice of route proved crucial. If he had chosen to continue towards the Mountain Wing Land a day earlier, he would now be in an impossible situation, unable to escape. But now it was different. This location was very close to the Nine Li Forbidden Zone. In just another hour or two, he could reach its peripheral area.

“If I hadn't revealed the Ancient Sun before, this Jidongzi might have had a chance to pursue me inside. But now... he’ll likely not risk chasing me in.” He also considered other countermeasures if Jidongzi managed to catch up. Xu Qing pondered these thoughts as he flew at high speed.

A moment later, he felt Ding Yi San Er collapse, and his heart tensed. “So fast. That finger really is useless,” Xu Qing thought, his expression turning cold. He bit the tip of his tongue, boosting his speed. His figure became invisible, leaving only a faint streak across the sky.

Thus, an hour passed. He was now less than an hour away from the edge of the Nine Li Forbidden Zone. As Xu Qing moved through the sky, his body suddenly swayed, dodging to the side. The moment he moved, a crimson light exploded where he had just been, forming a blood-red flower. Soon, more blood-red flowers appeared around him, blooming and exploding in dense succession, spreading across his path and turning the surrounding landscape crimson. Furthermore, a figure approached from the horizon, heralded by the sound of surging thunder, heading directly for him.

Xu Qing's expression was grim. He swiftly dodged, avoiding one blood-red flower after another. However, with countless flowers blooming, one eventually affected him. Xu Qing wasn't sure if he had misjudged or was simply caught in the blast. As the blood-red flower exploded, its crimson light transformed into threads that enveloped his entire body. His body swayed as his soul threads spread out to resist the surrounding blood threads. But these blood threads were formidable. Although some were broken, a single strand wrapped around Xu Qing's waist. It swiftly coiled around him, forcing him to halt in mid-air.

During this brief pause, Jidongzi, who had been pursuing from the horizon, suddenly accelerated and, in the next instant, tore through the void to appear in front of Xu Qing. His expression was ferocious, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent. The moment he arrived, he didn't immediately attack but swiftly formed hand seals. Immediately, all the exploded blood-red flowers around them transformed into crimson light rays, converging from all directions. They rapidly coiled around Xu Qing, enveloping his entire body. In the blink of an eye, as Xu Qing's face turned pale with anxiety, the crimson light rays formed a massive blood cocoon around him.

“Let's see how you escape this time!” Seeing Xu Qing completely trapped, and with his soul still throbbing in pain, Jidongzi's murderous intent fully erupted. He swayed his body and directly merged into the blood cocoon. But the moment he merged into the blood cocoon and saw Xu Qing, he clearly noticed that Xu Qing's anxious expression was gone. Instead, Xu Qing's eyes gleamed sharply as he raised his right hand towards him. On his right hand was a small, fingernail-sized brown flame. The flame itself flickered erratically, expanding and rapidly contracting, appearing extremely unstable. Even more astonishing was that its appearance stirred the external sky. Clouds swiftly turned black, thunder instantly roared, and streaks of lightning darted within, seeming to be drawn outwards. Jidongzi's mind trembled. He instinctively sensed danger, as if every fiber of his being had gained independent consciousness, screaming at him to warn him of the extreme peril of this object. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately retreated, but it was too late.

Xu Qing gently flicked the fingernail-sized brown flame outwards, sending it directly towards Jidongzi. As it floated closer, it rapidly expanded and grew larger. Its instability also intensified. The next moment, a roar echoed as a sheet of brown flame erupted from the small fire, blazing within the blood cocoon. Accompanying it was an utterly terrifying aura, an aura of destruction. It seemed that nothing in heaven and earth could withstand its incineration. As it spread, the blood cocoon couldn't withstand it and was instantly incinerated. Countless bolts of lightning descended from the sky like a thunderstorm, whistling towards the location. In the blink of an eye, they struck the brown fire mass. The instant the lightning hit, it exploded over a wide area. A terrifying thunder-fire erupted within, forming an earth-shattering flame storm that swept roaring in all directions. Everything in its path was utterly obliterated. The power contained within was immensely vast, shaking even Jidongzi's cultivation and enveloping him directly in this storm of gray flame. This flame was precisely the mysterious fire Little Shadow had formed when it devoured the forbidden zone.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

As for Xu Qing, he was well-prepared. The moment the flame erupted, he had already controlled Little Shadow to cover his entire body. Even though Little Shadow let out a soul-piercing wail as it was incinerated, since it was the origin of this fire, it still possessed a certain specific resistance. Thus, although Xu Qing was affected, he could still withstand it. He didn't even check the outcome. While there was a certain probability that his opponent would be killed by this terrifying fire, Xu Qing was cautious by nature and worried about a trick. After all, this was an unknown. All unknowns had a fifty-fifty chance. But if he didn't deal with it, then the probability of no issues occurring was one hundred percent. Therefore, Xu Qing didn't hesitate. He immediately retreated and sped towards his predetermined direction.

Not long after he left, within the brown flames, the moment Jidongzi's figure was completely incinerated to ash, a self-detonation force suddenly erupted. It enveloped a hundred-mile radius, emitting a tremendous roar. Wherever it swept, although its destructive power couldn't compare to the brown flame, it was still a deadly force to a certain extent. Fortunately, Xu Qing had already left, otherwise he would undoubtedly have been caught in it.

Moments later, as the hundred-mile fluctuation dissipated and the mysterious brown flame extinguished, a deep crater appeared within a ten-mile radius, and everything within it had been incinerated into nothingness by the mysterious fire. Within the hundred-mile range, a destructive aura lingered, a result of the self-detonation.

At the same time, a figure whistled from the horizon, paused in mid-air, and after looking down, his expression immediately turned grim. “This Xu Qing is surprisingly difficult to kill!” Jidongzi's eyes flashed with a cold light. Previously, out of caution, he had dispersed his blood avatar during the pursuit while his main body remained behind. This was specifically to prevent Xu Qing from using any more strange methods. Furthermore, his blood avatar could self-destruct with astonishing lethality. In his mind, it would surely make Xu Qing pay a heavy price no matter what. But now, it seemed the opponent's methods were far stranger than he had anticipated. And his cautious nature had rendered his blood avatar's self-detonation useless.

“Damn it!” Jidongzi looked up, his expression growing even gloomier as he gazed in the direction Xu Qing had departed. Deep down, he actually felt some regret. He had initially thought Xu Qing would be easy to kill. However, this entire pursuit, and his previous attacks, though he held the advantage, Xu Qing had too many methods, forcing him to confront them with full effort.

“Should I continue the pursuit...?” Pain shot through Jidongzi's soul. After taking a deep breath, his eyes revealed unwillingness. “Since you're going to the Nine Li Forbidden Zone... I'll just send you there,” Jidongzi scoffed coldly. As a Grand Heaven's Chosen of Blazing Moon Profound Heaven, he naturally understood the Nine Li Forbidden Zone better, clearly knowing it was a place of certain death. Every Great Hunt, some people held onto a glimmer of hope, believing themselves to be chosen by destiny and capable of finding fortune within. But in reality, no one who entered during the Great Hunt ever came out; they all perished inside.

Thinking this, Jidongzi's body flickered as he gave chase again. However, his speed wasn't as urgent; he merely trailed from a distance, using his murderous intent to create a sense of oppression, as if herding Xu Qing. Xu Qing quickly detected this behavior. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, but it swiftly turned to resolve. There was no real retreat, and continuing like this would ultimately be disadvantageous. Rather than that, it would be better to follow his original plan and enter the Nine Li Forbidden Zone. Thinking this, Xu Qing touched his chest, where the purple crystal was located, and pressed hard. His cultivation surged towards it. The next moment, his entire body glowed with purple light. By stimulating the purple crystal, he gained more recovery power. Then, without slowing down, he whistled towards the Nine Li Forbidden Zone.

Half an hour later, the region of the Nine Li Forbidden Zone, shrouded in gray mist, came into Xu Qing's sight. The very air seemed to be filled with countless anguished faces formed within the swirling gray mist, silently screaming outwards. Accompanied by desperate and crazed roars, these sounds echoed from deep within the mist. Gazing at the Nine Li and listening to the sounds, Xu Qing took a deep breath, his body flickered, and he plunged directly into the gray mist, disappearing from view.

A stick of incense later, Jidongzi's figure appeared outside the Nine Li. Staring at the gray mist, Jidongzi sneered, “This Xu Qing probably thinks he understands the Nine Li Forbidden Zone, but he doesn't know that some secrets are only known to the Sequences. For example, this gray mist—as long as you touch even a thread of it, you'll never be able to leave the Nine Li Forbidden Zone.”