Chapter 519: Want to Run? Did You Ask Them?

With a crash! As Xu Xiaoshou uttered his last word, Shou Ye finally abandoned his last shred of hope. He stomped on the air and shot forward.

Refusal? If he were truly innocent, why would he be afraid of scrutiny? Xu Xiaoshou's repeated refusals, even if his connection to the ghost beasts wasn't as extreme as he'd imagined, indicated there must be some connection! And as long as there was any connection, it was Shou Ye's duty as a Red Guard to apprehend Xu Xiaoshou!

"Nightfall Shadow!" With a low roar, Shou Ye transformed into a pure black light and shot straight towards Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou dared not be careless. This was a peak-level Beheader! It was his first time facing a Beheader at their full strength, a peak among peaks, so how could he afford even a moment of laxity?

Ding-a-ling-ling... The ice lotus petals in his palm pulsed, and Xu Xiaoshou suddenly yanked hard.

"Ice Chamber Cage!" At his command, the massive hailstones falling from the sky were instantly summoned. Vast Frost Tribulation power whistled out from the ice flames, connecting all the hailstones and instantly engulfing the entire space before him.

"Condense!" The moment he spoke, "Crack! Crack!" A gigantic ice cage completely sealed Shou Ye's shadowy form within, leaving no blind spots.

This "Ice Chamber Cage" technique was inspired by Chao Shu. He still remembered when Yuan Tou and Chao Shu confronted him in the small forest of the Heavenly Sang Spiritual Palace's inner courtyard; Chao Shu had used similar ice-based methods to completely trap Xu Xiaoshou. He couldn't cry out for help, trapped without a way out; not even a shout could escape.

Now, this "Ice Chamber Cage," conjured by the power of the "Three-Day Frost Tribulation" and imbued with the terrifying "Frost Tribulation Power," was countless times stronger than Chao Shu's technique.

Of course, to prevent being broken out of from the inside, as he had done before, Xu Xiaoshou did not seal himself within the ice to fight. He'd have to be crazy to choose to fight Shou Ye! That was a Beheader! A mere gesture was enough. If he could seal Shou Ye, even for a moment, he'd grab the chance to escape and thank the heavens.

"Run!" His heart urged him. Xu Xiaoshou didn't dare delay. Despite his many dealings with Shou Ye, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't entirely sure what the old man's specific abilities were. And observing the shadowy form he had just taken, all he could say was, it was incredibly troublesome!

"The power of darkness..." Xu Xiaoshou thought of a man with a black beard. He simultaneously channeled "Frost Tribulation Power," continuously reinforcing and thickening the ice to imprison Shou Ye. At the same time, he looked up at the sky and instantly released the restraining power he had cast from the Heaven and Earth Smeltery.

Having done all this, he shot himself into the sky. Bang! However, it was as if he had hit an invisible barrier. As his body breached a hundred zhang into the sky, Xu Xiaoshou was bounced back and fell.

"This is..." Xu Xiaoshou was astonished. He knew Shou Ye might have sealed the void in advance, so he had charged with full force. But even with "Rebound" and "Sturdy," he couldn't break through the spatial barrier. Instead, he was sent reeling, utterly disoriented.

"Beheader..." Xu Xiaoshou's head throbbed. How on earth was he supposed to fight this? It was completely different from the power of a Throne!

He instinctively pulled out a "Linglong Stone" and was about to crush it. Even if it was a spatial barrier, spatial teleportation should be able to ignore it, right? As he thought this, a mocking voice came from below.

"Come on, Xu Xiaoshou, stop struggling. Don't you see I'm still here?" The Gray Fog Man's voice was full of mockery. "'Linglong Stones' are made by the Red Guards. Do you really think, given that they believe you're a ghost beast, that a Linglong Stone would still work now?"

"Shut up!" Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but snap. Not only was this guy watching the show, but he was also trying to slander him. Heaven knows, Shou Ye's suspicions about him were probably mostly due to this guy's nonchalant remarks from the side.

"Crack! Crack!" Suddenly, the sound of ice cracking came from below. With a sweep of his "Perception," Xu Xiaoshou could easily see the black shadow within the ice frantically drilling towards a single point. Even though he had channeled a large amount of "Frost Tribulation Power" to that direction, Shou Ye ignored it all, seemingly intent on breaking through the ice.

"But... is this all there is?" Xu Xiaoshou casually glanced at the ice sculpture of the Red-Robed Man frozen not far away. He vaguely felt that the power Shou Ye was currently unleashing didn't seem as formidable as he had imagined.

But he couldn't concern himself with that anymore. "Hey, Mister Mist, stop standing around doing nothing!" he snapped. "If I, Xu Xiaoshou, can't escape today, you're next. I brought you out for Mo Mo's sake; are you just going to stand there and watch?" Xu Xiaoshou glared at him.

The Gray Fog Man scoffed, "Brought out? Are you mistaken? In your last moments, if I hadn't been merciful, you'd already be dead in the spatial currents!"

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't be bothered to explain that he also had the ability to traverse spatial nodes. He simply pointed at the invisible spatial barrier: "Are you going to act or not?"

"I can't break it," the Gray Fog Man said languidly. "I'll leave the spatial barrier to you; I know you can break it. I'll take care of this Red Guard for you."

Xu Xiaoshou paused, "I can't break it."

"No, you can," the Gray Fog Man smiled and said. "You can't break it, but that doesn't mean your pet can't!"

Xu Xiaoshou immediately clenched his fists. This Gray Fog Man truly deserved a beating. If Xu Xiaoshou had wanted to expose Ah Jie in front of the Red Guards, he would have done so long ago. But clearly, if he didn't contribute now, there was no way the Gray Fog Man would help deal with Shou Ye.

"Alright." Xu Xiaoshou nodded, grabbed the black stone on his chest, and threw it out. "Go, Pika Jie, chop it down for me!" Whoosh! A stream of light shot out. The moment it was thrown, Ah Jie transformed into a massive ring-saber and slammed directly into the spatial barrier.

Snap, crackle... Instantly, a dense web of cracks spread across the void. The next second, Ah Jie exerted more force, and a yellowish aura seemed to emanate from it. With a rumbling sound, the void was completely shattered.

"Come back." Xu Xiaoshou tapped his foot, ascended instantly, and brought Ah Jie back into his embrace.

"What is this?" Shou Ye, trapped in the ice chamber, was stunned. He had held back, allowing Xu Xiaoshou to act, wanting to see how this guy, despite his innate cultivation, would break through his spatial blockade.

If there were no surprises, the sealed ghost beast that had successfully parasitized this space couldn't break through it right now. To break through, it would have to pay a huge price. As for Xu Xiaoshou, if he wanted to break it, he would definitely need to transform into a ghost beast, pay the price of physical injury, and unleash most of his power to shatter this spatial barrier.

"What the hell is that ring-saber?" Shou Ye was baffled. Xu Xiaoshou hadn't displayed any ghost beast abilities; instead, he had produced a ring-saber brimming with vital energy, which greatly surprised him.

Not only that, as he stared at the ring-saber, Shou Ye also felt an odd sense of familiarity. He was certain he had never seen such a weapon from Xu Xiaoshou before. So where did this familiarity come from?

Ever since he learned that the explosion was truly caused by Xu Xiaoshou, Shou Ye no longer dared to doubt his intuition as a Beheader. His thoughts suddenly flashed back, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Heaven's Will... Puppet?" Such vital energy, such Heavenly Will fluctuations... Wasn't this precisely the fluctuation of a Heaven's Will Puppet, unique to those researched by the "Dao Department," which he had encountered when he was a White Guard?

"No! That's completely wrong!" Shou Ye instantly negated his own judgment. Although "Heaven's Will Puppets" could transform, it was only partial transformation, like turning an arm into a weapon for attack. How could they possess this kind of complete transformation ability? And his own spatial blockade, imbued with Grand Void power... How could an ordinary "Heaven's Will Puppet" transformed weapon cut through it?

"Xu Xiaoshou, how many more secrets are you hiding from me!" Shou Ye gritted his teeth. Even if he could determine that the object wasn't a "Heaven's Will Puppet" researched by the "Dao Department," its aura was definitely related to "Heaven's Will Puppets." Which meant Xu Xiaoshou was also suspected of stealing internal secrets from the Sacred Palace?

"Hand of Heaven Punishment!" With a fierce shout, dark patterns emerged on his hands. Shou Ye's transformed body, no longer holding back, shot out two streaks of dark light, instantly shattering the "Ice Chamber Cage" and bringing him to the outside space.

"Stay there!" he roared, and his figure vanished from the spot. The Dao Mechanisms of the void surged, transforming into ripples that rushed towards the direction Xu Xiaoshou was fleeing.

"Pursued, Passive Value, 1." Xu Xiaoshou's face paled in shock. Indeed, Shou Ye had been holding back earlier. The moment he saw Xu Xiaoshou break through the space and gain a chance to escape, he couldn't hold back and immediately gave chase.

This evasion technique, which completely merged him with the Heavenly Dao, Xu Xiaoshou didn't even know how to defend against. Even if he were to freeze these Heavenly Mechanisms again with the "Three-Day Frost Tribulation," judging by the ice-breaking technique just now... Shou Ye would just tear it open again, wouldn't he?

"Pursued, Passive Value, 1." "Pursued, Passive Value, 1." The information bar urgently displayed message after message. Xu Xiaoshou's scalp tingled, but he continued to move away at his original speed.

Until Shou Ye, transformed into Heavenly Mechanism ripples, closed in, reaching only a few zhang behind him, he suddenly turned around, stomping his foot in the opposite direction towards Shou Ye's head. "One Step to Heaven!"

Buzz! The space trembled. Shou Ye, who had materialized from his Heavenly Mechanism evasion technique, completely missed his pounce. He flipped in mid-air, steadied himself, and spun his head back, his pupils filled with shock.

"Tele... teleportation?" "Damn it, how many more tricks does this kid have?" Looking at Xu Xiaoshou, who was now miles away, heading in the completely opposite direction, Shou Ye went berserk.

When did a swordsman and a body refiner also manage to comprehend spatial attributes and directly learn a divine spatial ability – teleportation? This was utterly preposterous!

Thump-thump... Thump-thump... Xu Xiaoshou tried to calm his wildly beating heart. Shou Ye's single pounce made him feel more nervous than facing ten Zhang Taiyings. The gap in their strength was truly no joke. Even though he hadn't been caught yet, he was absolutely certain that if Shou Ye merely touched him, let alone his "Grandmaster Body," even a Throne's body would instantly buckle.

"Beheader!" Xu Xiaoshou dared to say he had never felt such an intense craving for cultivation strength in his entire life. And yet, he had managed to escape an attack from a Beheader. It could be said that the practicality of "One Step to Heaven" was fully demonstrated at this moment.

Checking his Qi Sea, Xu Xiaoshou felt a little calmer. His cultivation had progressed to the peak of the Dwelling Void realm. Using one teleportation technique at this point consumed less than a seventh of his spiritual energy. As the two sides faced off in a stalemate, "Full of Vitality" also began to work desperately.

"Iced Heart." Xu Xiaoshou's palm, imbued with "Frost Tribulation Power," covered his chest. He barely managed to calm his tiny heart, which felt like it was about to leap out of his throat. Only then did he cast a cold glance in the Gray Fog Man's direction.

"What are you spacing out for, you worthless gasbag!" he snapped. "What are you waiting for?" He wished he could kill the Gray Fog Man with his eyes; this guy even tried to trip him up at the very last moment. This guy was truly hateful. He had broken through the spatial barrier, so why wasn't he acting immediately?

"Oh, teleportation