The Bloody Chase

Xiao Chen breathed a silent sigh of relief at having escaped the Undying King’s sight. With the three skeletons, he rushed out of the swamp without looking back. Behind them, from the boundless darkness, terrified screams rang out from time to time, harrowing cries filled with fear that made one’s hair stand on end.

He led the three skeletons around the Death Swamp, speeding in the direction Gu Luo and his party had broken through.

The Undying King did not pursue them out of the gloomy marsh. It seemed to be taking a casual stroll, reaping a few lives along the way.

By the time Xiao Chen caught up, he saw Gu Luo and Zhao Lin’er moving with unsteady steps, leading two or three others out of the Death Swamp to join those waiting outside. They were fleeing for their lives into the distance.

Xiao Chen glanced back into the swamp. Amid the endless netherworldly death-energy, a ten-meter-tall corpse shadow seemed to be clutching a body and chewing. Two cold, ghastly green beams of death-light shone from where its eyes should have been, terrifyingly bright in the dark, gloomy forest.

“Roar!”

A howl shook the heavens and rattled the mountains. Boundless death-energy surged skyward, blotting out the moon. In the dimness, Xiao Chen glimpsed a pair of huge, rotting wings unfold.

Xiao Chen and the three skeletons did not look back. They turned and chased after Gu Luo’s fleeing party.

Along the way, he found two corpses, their deaths horrifying—their bodies corroded by death-energy beyond recognition, white bone exposed in many places.

After three or four li, he caught up with Gu Luo and Zhao Lin’er’s group. Clearly, both Gu Luo and Zhao Lin’er had been infected by the death-energy; their combat strength had fallen sharply, or they would not have been overtaken so quickly.

When they saw Xiao Chen approaching with the three skeletons, everyone’s face turned ugly.

Gu Luo’s brows shot up. Today had infuriated him—heavy casualties, and now the threat of total annihilation. Rage and regret burned within him. His combat power had plummeted; the corpse poison had seeped into his flesh. If he did not expel it quickly, his life might be in danger.

Zhao Lin’er was a city-toppling beauty. Even bedraggled, her ethereal grace remained. But when her limpid eyes fell on Xiao Chen, they were filled with enmity. She had never expected to lose so miserably when holding the absolute advantage.

“Sir, flee! We will hold them off!”

Ten figures blocked Xiao Chen and the three skeletons, while three others escorted Gu Luo and Zhao Lin’er as they retreated like the wind.

There was no time for words. Xiao Chen and the three skeletons charged. It was a one-sided slaughter!

Sword-light crisscrossed through the forest. With a fierce swing of Xiao Chen’s longsword, a head flew sideways, the headless corpse spraying a two-meter geyser of blood before crumpling to the ground.

Then a shrill scream rang out. The three snow-white skeletons seized a man by his limbs and tore him apart. Before the scream died, Xiao Chen’s blade struck again, blood splattering as a bisected body fell in two pieces into a pool of blood.

The disparity in combat strength was too great. Xiao Chen’s bloody methods and the skeletons’ brutality chilled the remaining men to the bone. In that moment, they forgot loyalty. Too terrified to block, they all fled in panic after Gu Luo.

It was a deathly pursuit!

Xiao Chen was like a bathed Asura. Along the way, he swung his sword of destruction again and again. As bodies fell, his own clothes were drenched in sprayed blood.

“Puh!”

Blood blossomed; a head rolled.

“Puh!”

A lung pierced, a body toppled.

“Puh!”

A shoulder cleaved, blood gushed.

…

A bloody trail all the way!

When the last blocker was split open at the skull, Xiao Chen was completely stained red. Now like a god of slaughter, he and the three skeletons blocked Zhao Lin’er and Gu Luo’s path once more.

Black lines had already appeared on Gu Luo’s and Zhao Lin’er’s arms—the Undying King’s corpse aura was spreading further.

Now, only one expert guarded Gu Luo. The guardian said nothing, staring coldly at Xiao Chen and the three skeletons. With a sharp hiss, a Flame Blade ignited in his hand, dazzling in the night—both the heat of blazing fire and the sharpness of a cold weapon.

Xiao Chen was in no hurry to strike. The enemy’s combat strength could not match his now. He and the three skeletons held absolute dominance. He looked at the expert wielding the Flame Blade with some surprise. “How did you manifest the Flame Blade?”

“Hmph!” The man snorted coldly, ignoring him.

Not getting an answer did not anger Xiao Chen. He turned to Zhao Lin’er. “I do not wish to taunt you from the height of victory. How do you think I should deal with you?”

Feeling his gaze sweep over her body, Zhao Lin’er’s graceful form stepped back. She set aside her cold haughtiness and instead smiled faintly, very calm and composed. “Victory and defeat are clear to me. But who will be the final victor is still uncertain.”

A beauty that topples cities and realms—the Royal Celestial Maiden was indeed peerless, retaining her splendor even in such straits.

“Victory or defeat—we will know soon enough.” Xiao Chen turned to the brown-haired Gu Luo and said evenly, “I will not waste words. I cannot let you live; I will not leave a hidden threat. But before the end, I cannot resist asking: what exactly were those scrolls you released?”

To Xiao Chen’s surprise, Gu Luo actually answered. “An application of the fusion of ancient Eastern and Western incantations.”

“And the Flame Blade—is that also an application of that art?”

“Yes.”

Receiving the confirmation, Xiao Chen nodded. The World of Immortality was more mysterious than he had imagined. Many things required personal experience to understand.

“Gu Luo, will you do it yourself, or shall I?” Xiao Chen leveled his coldly gleaming sword at Gu Luo’s chest.

Far from the Death Swamp, the moonlight was exceptionally soft. But the forest was filled with killing intent. The three skeletons gleamed bone-white under the moon, their jaws clacking together with a rhythmic “click-clack” that was terrifyingly eerie in the night.