"What are we supposed to do then? Even if Master uses the Blood Shadow Escape, he can only cover a hundred li at most—he'd still be within that Divine Master's spiritual sense range. There's no way to shake the lock." Silver Moon murmured, genuinely worried.
Though Silver Moon had never spoken of the life-saving grace Han Li had shown her, it had stirred something deep within her. Without quite realizing it, she let sincere concern seep into her words.
"Hmph!" Han Li's expression suddenly changed. He raised his head to look at the murky sky behind him. "He's catching up again. Tighter each time. I can't afford to wait any longer—I have to take the risk!"
Seeing this, Silver Moon said no more.
Han Li took a deep breath. His ten fingers danced through a rapid series of strange hand seals. At the same time, blue light flickered around his body, and a startling surge of spiritual energy burst from within.
He opened his mouth and spat out a glob of scarlet essence blood. It dissolved the instant it met the wind, transforming into a dense blood-mist that merged with the blue spiritual glow.
The glow instantly shifted to an eerie blue-red hue.
At the same time, Han Li's exposed hands and face began flushing an abnormal crimson—turning blood-red in the blink of an eye, countless tiny blood vessels swelling beneath the skin as though about to burst through. The sight was utterly terrifying.
But Han Li seemed entirely oblivious. His fingers wove through the seals ever faster.
Two more mouthfuls of essence blood, and Han Li was completely shrouded in the blood-mist, his figure flickering in and out of visibility.
At that moment, lights flickered on the distant horizon. Three clusters of silver light appeared there, drifting slowly toward him.
Figures flickered within—it was the Zhong Divine Master and his two incarnations.
The three wore identical scholar's robes that billowed in the wind as they flew unhurriedly toward Han Li, yet their speed was terrifying. In the blink of an eye they had crossed several hundred zhang, close enough to make out his figure with the naked eye.
"Eh?" One of them showed a look of surprise. His gaze sharpened, and his brow furrowed.
With a soft pop, the blue-red blood-mist in the distance detonated. A blinding sphere of blood-light appeared in its place.
Han Li stood ramrod straight within it, casting one cold glance at the approaching Moulan Divine Master. With a rumbling peal of thunder, the Wind Thunder Wings on his back spread wide.
The next instant, the surrounding space warped. Han Li's figure blurred, and he vanished from where he stood.
A piercing shriek drifted in from the distance, fading so rapidly it became almost inaudible—as though he had fled far beyond their reach in a single bound.
All three scholars' faces simultaneously showed shock. After exchanging glances, they suddenly converged toward the center.
A flash of silver light, and the three merged back into one.
The lone scholar immediately closed his eyes and extended his spiritual sense in the direction the shriek had faded.
"He's actually over a hundred li away. What kind of escape technique is this? It resembles the Demonic path's Blood Escape, but the distance is simply staggering." The scholar stared toward the spot where Han Li had vanished, a trace of surprise on his face.
Over the past several days of pursuit, Han Li had truly astonished him.
To be able to flee without rest or sleep, non-stop until now...
An ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, even one who possessed a lightning escape technique, should have long since exhausted his magic power and been reduced to helplessly awaiting death. It seemed the boy either possessed some heaven-defying treasure capable of instantly restoring magic power, or had resorted to a secret technique at severe cost to his vital essence.
And to think he had possessed such a bizarre escape technique all along, yet only deployed it now. It seemed he truly hadn't been going all out before.
But it didn't matter. Even though he had now fled over a hundred li, he was still within the range of the scholar's spiritual sense. It would simply take a bit more time.
The scholar's eyes narrowed. His spiritual sense locked onto Han Li in the distance once more.
A cold smile touched the corner of his mouth. White light flickered over his body as he prepared to give chase.
But just then, the scholar suddenly sensed that Han Li's aura had vanished again in the most baffling manner. He froze, his body halting in midair.
Then he remembered something. He hastily expanded his spiritual sense to twice its range—and finally located Han Li once more.
Before the scholar could even smirk, Han Li's aura flickered and vanished yet again.
This time, the scholar's face went completely blank with astonishment. He simply stood there, stunned.
His spiritual sense was powerful, but at most it could cover roughly two hundred li. Beyond that range, while he could still vaguely sense the presence of objects, he could no longer lock onto a specific person in an instant.
Unless the target remained motionless and waited for him to sweep the area—which was, of course, utterly impossible.
And the other party was far too cunning. The moment he sensed he was still being detected, he had deployed that bizarre escape technique several times in succession, actually slipping free from his grasp.
For a man who had gone virtually undefeated for years, to be toyed with like this... The scholar's face alternated between red and white.
He was a dignified Moulan Divine Master, and he had actually lost track of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. If word of this spread, the humiliation would be catastrophic.
However, he had no immediate intention of giving chase.