Chapter 157: Placed in a Dead End to Survive

Shi Kun was utterly bewildered. Was this guy really committing suicide because he couldn't win? Well, it was good he died.

His two fourth-rank subordinates also breathed a collective sigh of relief. This man was simply too bizarre; he was supposedly a third-rank, but if a normal third-rank could possess such combat power, they'd rather rip their heads off and kick them like balls. So, seeing him commit suicide was a relief.

Chu Chuyan, held in his arms, could distinctly feel specks of blood falling onto her. Her voice, uncharacteristically, held a hint of panic: "What... what are you doing?"

She had told him to kill her, so why was he killing himself? Had he realized he couldn't save her and intended to die with her?

As expected of master and servant, their thoughts surprisingly coincided.

A faint blush appeared on Chu Chuyan's exceedingly pale cheeks. "You don't have to do this, we're not..."

Before she could finish, Zu An interrupted, "We can talk about romance later. Let me kill these annoying guys first."

With that, he put one arm around her, letting her lean against him, while with the other hand, he held his sword, centered his energy in his dantian, and roared, "Behold my forbidden technique—Myriad Swords to the Ancestor!"

Everyone was still processing his strange behavior when he suddenly roared. Involuntarily, they all backed away. After all, Chu Chuyan had previously used a forbidden technique to instantly kill the "Phagokun," so the mere mention of "forbidden technique" now made them wary.

His recent bizarre actions, combined with the blood covering him and his unyielding momentum, made even Shi Kun, whose cultivation was clearly far superior, decide to avoid direct confrontation and observe the situation first.

Just as everyone was secretly on guard, Zu An suddenly threw his sword away, picked up Chu Chuyan, and bolted.

Shi Kun: "???"

Qiao Xueying: "???"

The two fourth-rank martial artists: "???"

Amidst their astonishment, the few of them finally realized that he had merely been bluffing, attempting to seize an opportunity to escape. The realization that they had been deceived by such a simple trick filled them all with rage.

Rage value from Shi Kun: 666!

Rage value from the fourth-rank martial artists: 233,233!

Only Qiao Xueying's expression was complex. Zu An's life or death was irrelevant; the crucial matter was her young lady's safety. On one hand, she hoped her young lady could seize the chance to escape, but on the other, she worried that Zu An lacked the ability to heal her. For a moment, she was deeply conflicted.

"Chase them!"

Shi Kun, enraged and humiliated, pursued them like lightning. He practiced wind-element cultivation, which naturally excelled in speed. Given the disparity in their cultivation levels and the fact that the other party was carrying someone, he should have caught up in just a few breaths. Yet, after pursuing for a considerable time, he had only slightly narrowed the distance, leaving him utterly bewildered.

Chu Chuyan had initially been confused by his self-harming behavior, but when he picked her up and ran, she immediately understood and even admired his quick thinking. However, the gap in their cultivation levels meant the outcome was inevitable: "Put me down. With your current speed, you might still have a chance to escape alone."

"Shut up, how could I abandon you?" Zu An's face was solemn. His self-harm was merely to activate the burst effect of the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture triggered by severe injury and near-death. Although the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture was difficult to cultivate through self-harm, upon reaching a certain level of severe injury, strength, agility, and essence energy would enter a berserk state, significantly boosting one's power compared to normal.

He had previously relied on this to escape from the Chu Manor when fighting the two fifth-rank cultivators, Pei Mianman and Qiao Xueying. However, he also knew that back then, the two women had reservations, fearing to alert the Chu family's experts and thus not daring to use elemental power, opting for close-quarters combat instead, which was why he had been able to hold on.

Once elemental power was employed, the gap between fifth-rank cultivators and other lower-ranked practitioners was simply too vast.

Shi Kun, Qiao Xueying, and their subordinates clearly wouldn't hold back now. Even though he had entered a berserk state, he still couldn't be their match.

The reason he intentionally entered this state was not to boost his attack power, but to increase his speed for easier escape. That's why he hadn't been caught despite carrying Chu Chuyan for so long.

"Ultimately, there's no escaping," Chu Chuyan sighed faintly. Although she didn't know what secret technique he had used to greatly boost his speed, Shi Kun's wind-element cultivation naturally excelled in speed, and the enormous gap between a fifth-rank and a third-rank meant escape was impossible.

"There's a place that might give us a glimmer of hope!" Zu An said in a deep voice, gazing at the distant small mountain. He had been pondering how to escape, but after reviewing all his skills and items, he still couldn't resolve the current predicament.

There was only one option left: a do-or-die situation.

He had previously witnessed that terrifying zombie army entering the small mountain, a fact Shi Kun and his group were unaware of. Leading them there might offer a slim chance of survival.

He knew perfectly well that given the horror of the zombie army, the greater probability was that they would all die there together. However, remaining here guaranteed death, whereas going there might offer a sliver of hope. Even if they died, it would be worth it; dragging his enemies down with him before his demise would be a satisfying prospect.

Moreover, what if, by some fluke, they survived? What difference was there between a person without dreams and a salted fish?

At this moment, the pursuers behind them drew closer, and Shi Kun's mocking voice drifted over: "Hmph, run, I'd like to see how far you can get. When your essence energy is exhausted, that will be the moment of your demise."

Before coming here, he had ascertained the distance to the academy's other teachers; they were all very far away and wouldn't be able to arrive anytime soon.

And he could catch up to them in, at most, the time it took for half an incense stick to burn.

"Xue'er, stop him quickly!" Shi Kun urgently shouted as a small grove of trees appeared ahead.

Qiao Xueying hesitated for a moment, then flicked her wrist. The trees in front of Zu An seemed to come alive, and various vines snaked and coiled around his legs.

Zu An had learned from his previous encounter and, with experience, executed Sunflower Phantom to its fullest, dodging each vine that swept towards him.

For some reason, he felt that this vine attack had far more flaws than the last time.

Shi Kun's expression darkened. With his cultivation, how could he not notice this? However, at this crucial moment, he revealed nothing.

Wind God's Legs!

His feet blurred into afterimages, and his speed suddenly increased significantly. This skill consumed a large amount of essence energy, so Shi Kun only used it when he found the right opportunity.

Hearing the whistling sound behind him, Zu An secretly cursed his misfortune and quickly dodged to the side. Unfortunately, he was a step too late; Shi Kun's longsword had already struck his back.

"Huh?" The imagined scene of his sword piercing through the chest didn't happen. He felt immense resistance from the sword tip. This fellow was actually wearing precious armor!

Shi Kun had never expected this impoverished wretch to possess protective precious armor. As a result, his initial strike, which should have pierced through the chest, only penetrated an inch. By the time he tried to apply more force, the opponent had already seized the opportunity to dodge away.

With a cold snort, Shi Kun thought, "Now that I've caught up, can he still escape?"

Now, with the enhancement of Wind God's Legs, his speed was two points faster than Zu An's. Coupled with the difference in their cultivation levels, the opponent was currently carrying someone and had even thrown away his sword. If he still couldn't handle this, he might as well buy a block of tofu and bash his head in.

He thrust his sword towards Zu An's feet; if he could sever his Achilles tendon, Zu An's peculiar movement technique would be rendered useless.

Just then, Zu An suddenly flicked his sleeve back, and a dark gleam shot out.

Shi Kun instantly recognized it as a hidden weapon fired from a sleeve-arrow device; it seemed one of his subordinates possessed such a mechanism.

However, he paid it no mind. Such sleeve arrows posed a threat only to low-rank cultivators; for someone like him, they probably couldn't even penetrate his protective essence energy. So he didn't bother with the sleeve arrow, and instead continued to thrust his sword towards the opponent's feet.

Just as the sword tip was about to strike the opponent's ankle, he suddenly trembled. The sleeve arrow had, in fact, directly pierced through his protective essence energy and embedded itself in his shoulder socket. Although it was blocked by his soft armor and didn't penetrate very deeply, a strange chill spread from the wound, causing his whole body to shiver involuntarily.

"What is this? Is there poison on the arrow?" Shi Kun was greatly alarmed and hastily circulated his essence energy to blockade the insidious qi within his body.

At that moment, Zu An suddenly turned his head and, with an incredibly strange move, thrust at Shi Kun's wrist. A dark, black dagger had appeared in his hand at some unknown point.

"Young master, be careful!" Xue'er, having witnessed the dagger's potency before, hastily warned him.

Shi Kun had just suffered a loss by presumptuously using his essence energy to withstand the sleeve arrow. At this moment, how could he dare to physically block this attack? The dagger's pitch-black appearance alone looked very strange.

He simply discarded his own sword, then several wind blades shot out, striking Zu An's body.

With a muffled grunt, a faint mist of blood dispersed. Zu An was clearly not lightly wounded. Blocked by the wind blades, it was too late for his dagger strike to injure the opponent again, and he couldn't help but inwardly lament the missed opportunity.

His sleeve arrow device was confiscated from Jia Zhengjing and others earlier. He had merely replaced the ordinary arrows it fired with the zombie army's arrows he had picked up.

Fortunately, the sleeve arrow mechanism was relatively simple. He cut off the front half of the zombie army arrows, which fit perfectly, explaining why Shi Kun suffered such a significant loss just now.

Too bad he didn't manage to kill him!

Noticing Qiao Xueying and the other two fourth-ranks catching up, Zu An dared not linger and continued to turn and run.

Shi Kun remained in place, hastily taking out and consuming a healing and detoxification pill. Only after circulating his essence energy was he able to expel the insidious qi that had invaded his body. He then removed the strange arrowhead from his chest, his expression subtly changing. "What kind of arrow is this? It's incredibly potent."

However, at that moment, he couldn't afford to think too much. Zu An had already run far away, so he hastily urged his subordinates to continue the pursuit.

After a long chase and escape, Zu An finally arrived beneath the mountain mausoleum he had seen before. Seeing Shi Kun and the others still hot on his heels, he gritted his teeth and headed directly for the stone gate.

Chu Chuyan, held in his arms, watched closely as his clothes, soaked in blood, clung to his chest. She listened to his rapid heartbeat and his ragged, heavy breaths. In her originally ash-gray eyes, a hint of something indefinable began to stir.

In the past, her unique status and exceptional cultivation meant she was always the one protecting others from above, never needing anyone to protect her. Yet now, in her most helpless state, she was being held and protected by this man. He could have clearly escaped alone, but he never abandoned her, his burden.

"Foolish..."

She silently offered that assessment, then slowly closed her eyes again.

Zu An, naturally unaware of the thoughts of the beauty in his arms, ran to the stone gate with a worried expression. He had initially feared he wouldn't be able to enter, but whether it was the berserk effect of the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture making him stronger or something else, this time, when he pushed the massive stone gate, he actually managed to force open a gap wide enough for a person to pass through.

Gazing at the pitch-black, dim opening inside, he gritted his teeth, carried Chu Chuyan, and vanished into the darkness.

Not long after, Shi Kun and his group caught up. Looking at the strange gate and feeling the chilling aura that emanated from it, their expressions subtly changed. "What is this place?"

"Hmph, if someone named Zu can enter, are we afraid to? Chase them!" Shi Kun waved his hand and was the first to jump in. He had invested too much in today's events; how could he be willing to give up now?