The sudden appearance of two auras sent a jolt through Chu Feng's face, because he realized that those auras actually belonged to Shangguan Tian — yet Shangguan Tian was clearly still chasing him from behind. How had he circled around to surround him from both sides?
"Could this be… a martial skill?"
After glancing to his left and right, Chu Feng was struck with even greater shock. He discovered in astonishment that the two auras did indeed take the form of Shangguan Tian, but they were not solid bodies. They were two semi-transparent phantom forms — similar to spiritual sense, yet clearly not spiritual sense.
"Hmph, this is a sixth-tier martial skill that I have mastered — the Phantom Body Technique. I wouldn't normally deign to use it, but today I'll let you broaden your horizons."
As he spoke, a surge of Profound power rippled around Shangguan Tian's body. Then his form flickered, growing hazy, and two more phantoms seeped out from within him, splitting apart to nearly seal off every avenue of retreat. Chu Feng was left with no choice but to keep charging forward — he could no longer change direction.
"Damn it, how does a skill this disgusting even exist?"
Chu Feng was rendered speechless. This martial skill was simply too vile. The phantoms carried the same aura as the original, which meant they wielded the same power. When fighting an enemy of equal strength, deploying this skill would create an absolutely crushing advantage.
"Hmph, making a fuss over nothing. It's merely a sixth-tier martial skill. The path of martial cultivation is vast and profound — there are all manner of bizarre techniques out there."
"His skill is just flashy, that's all. If he ran into someone with absolute superiority in power, numbers wouldn't help him in the least. But using it to chase you down — that's actually quite effective," Dan Dan remarked.
"Easy for you to say. If he keeps pushing me like this, I'll run out of road sooner or later. Can't you think of something to help me shake him off?" Chu Feng was growing desperate. The last thing he wanted was to be killed in the middle of nowhere without even understanding how.
"In a situation like this, all you can do is rely on fate. If a towering cliff appears ahead, climb it. If a bottomless abyss opens up, jump in. As long as you can dodge his pursuit, you still have a sliver of a chance. But if he catches you, you're dead for sure," Dan Dan replied.
"Damn it."
Dan Dan was right — Chu Feng had no options. All he could do was leave it to luck. He had no one to blame but himself for being outmatched. Even if he were driven to his death, he couldn't complain.
Galloping on at full speed, Chu Feng climbed higher and higher. Before him, sheer cliff faces loomed as obstacles, but mercifully they were not too steep — with his movement technique, he could scale them.
After roughly three hours of running through the vast mountain range, Chu Feng suddenly sensed something wrong. Ahead of him, the path had truly come to an end. A bottomless cliff, ten thousand feet deep, yawned before him.
"Could it be… that the Heavens truly intend to cut off my path?"
Standing at the cliff's edge, Chu Feng peered downward and saw that this cliff was truly hopeless — it was as sheer as sheer could be. If he jumped, the chances of survival were slim at best.
"Don't be afraid, Chu Feng. Listen carefully — there's the sound of water. There's a river down below. No matter how high this cliff is, you'll at most suffer severe injuries from the fall. You shouldn't die," Dan Dan analyzed calmly.
"Go on, run! Let's see where you run now. This is Desperation Cliff. The rock here is so peculiar that even cultivators in the Xuan Wu Realm can't grip it."
"And at the bottom of Desperation Cliff lies the Dragon Serpent River. The currents in the Dragon Serpent River are ferocious beyond measure — sharp as blades. Any living thing that enters will be shredded to pieces by the waves. And there are demon beasts lurking within the river. Even if the waves don't crush you and the whirlpools don't drag you under, the demon beasts will swallow you whole."
Shangguan Tian strolled over, no longer in any hurry to chase. His pace had slowed to a leisurely walk, his face brimming with smug satisfaction. The gaze he directed at Chu Feng was laced with mockery. From the very beginning, he had been herding Chu Feng down a road to nowhere.