150: Chapter 150 Escape

An earthy yellow halo surged from the Talisman, wrapping around his legs.

The moment the halo touched his skin, a warm, viscous sensation washed over him, like stepping into a mire.

The hard mountain rock beneath his feet suddenly became soft—not broken, not cracked, but "soft."

The hard rock parted like mud beneath his soles, allowing his body to sink.

His whole body sank directly into the mountain.

His vision instantly turned black. It was not the darkness of night with starlight, but an opaque, heavy blackness.

Rock pressed in from all sides, dirt filled his ears, and all sounds became muffled, as if separated by a thick quilt.

The light shield of the earth-escaping talisman wrapped around his body. The sensation of pressure surged from all directions, and the light on his body flickered in the darkness, struggling against the pressure of the rock strata with every breath.

Then—

"Boom!"

A deafening impact came from overhead.

The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros's horn-hammer slammed into the spot where he had escaped into the ground.

The shockwave transmitted through more than twenty zhang of rock strata, like an invisible giant hand giving him a violent shove.

The earth-escaping talisman's light shield vibrated violently. The runes on its surface flashed frantically, alternating between gold and earthy yellow, emitting an overwhelmed humming sound.

Lin Xuan felt a tightness in his chest, as if someone had punched him in the face, and a metallic, sweet taste surged into his throat.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to swallow the metallic, sweet taste.

Cracks spread across the light shield like a spiderweb, extending from the bottom left corner all the way to the top right. The finest cracks were thinner than a strand of hair, but they were too numerous to count.

Then it stopped.

The light shield did not shatter.

Lin Xuan traveled through the rock strata for about twenty breaths. Feeling the pressure overhead gradually lighten, he surged upward.

The Pangolin emerged from the Spirit-Taming Tower Space to clear the path ahead. Its claws dug through the loose soil, bringing him out of the ground at the edge of a dense forest on the other side of the ridge.

He knelt on one knee, gasping for breath.

His legs felt weak, and his knees ached from hitting the gravel.

His chest felt stuffed with cotton, and every inhalation made his ribs ache faintly.

He raised his hand to wipe his face; the back of his hand was covered in a mixture of sweat and dirt.

His ears were still ringing—the lingering echo of the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros's impact, stuck deep in his ear canal, impossible to swallow away.

The skin on the outside of his left leg was scraped raw, and the oozing blood mixed with dirt, forming a grayish-brown muddy scab.

He panted for a dozen breaths before recovering.

Looking back—on the other side of the ridge, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was still roaring and smashing rocks.

Every time its horn-hammer fell, it shook the mountain. Gravel was sent flying, arcing through the air and crashing onto the distant hillside, kicking up clouds of dust.

It smashed for a full quarter of an hour before stopping. Finally, it stood in the heap of rubble it had ravaged, raised its head, and let out a low roar toward the sky.

The roar echoed back and forth between the hills several times before slowly dissipating.

Lin Xuan withdrew his gaze and checked his injuries.

The scrape on the outside of his left leg was not deep; applying some hemostatic ointment would be enough.

The tightness and pain in his chest had eased significantly after circulating the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art for one cycle. The purple thunder seed in his Dantian stabilized and stopped beating frantically.

But the earth-escaping talisman was gone.

He felt his chest; where the earth-escaping talisman had been, only a small pinch of ash remained from the burned Talisman paper.

Second-Grade Talismans were one-time use; they shattered once used. He had used two God-Speed Talismans in the Mist Sea, and now he had used his only earth-escaping talisman.

In his Storage Pouch, the only life-saving Second-Grade Talismans left were two Vajra Talismans and one Thunderstorm Talisman.

Lin Xuan took a deep breath and stood up.

He took a wide detour, spending nearly two hours returning to his original route.

By the time he saw the pale purple beam of light again, the sun had already begun to set in the west.

The pale purple sunlight shone from the side, dyeing the stones on the ground a light purple. His shadow was stretched long and thin, dragging several zhang to the east.

He found a rock cave on a cliff to meditate.

The entrance to the cave was very small, barely enough to squeeze into.

But the interior was unexpectedly spacious, a full two zhang square.

A thin layer of fluorescent moss grew on the cave walls, emitting a faint blue light that barely provided enough illumination.

The moss felt moist and cold to the touch, and pressing a fingertip into it left a shallow indentation.

The ground was dry and covered in a layer of fine rock debris—it didn't look like it had fallen naturally; it looked more like some animal had once made a nest here. But that was a long time ago; there was no trace of any aura left on the debris.

The Pangolin was still lingering in fear when it crawled into the cave.

Its scales were standing high, bristling one by one, like a startled hedgehog.

As soon as it entered the cave, it curled up in the innermost corner, lying on the Silver-Backed Bull's back and refusing to come down. The Silver-Backed Bull was quite calm. It had almost recovered; the blood scabs on its neck had begun to fall off, revealing the newly grown grayish-brown skin underneath.

It circled the cave once, sniffed the fluorescent moss on the cave walls with its nose, then snorted and lay down at the cave entrance.

Its solid body blocked the entrance perfectly, leaving only a palm-width gap.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse was even more curled up. After jumping off Lin Xuan's shoulder, it burrowed into the crook of the Silver-Backed Bull's front leg, leaving only a piece of its tail exposed.

Lin Xuan took out Spirit Spring Water from his Storage Pouch to feed it, but it wouldn't even drink the water, letting out squeaky whimpers from its little nose.

Lin Xuan sat beside the fluorescent moss on the cave wall, leaning against the cold stone wall, and began to review today's encounter.

This Secret Realm was far more dangerous than he had anticipated.

A Low Grade Second-Grade Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was active here, but what about near the beam of light? Around the Nine-Story Stone Tower?

The Formation Spirit said the center of the Secret Realm was the place of Legacy, but around the place of Legacy, there must be even stronger guardian Yao Beasts.

If just getting close was a problem, three years would not be enough.

However, it wasn't all bad news.

The Silver-Backed Bull had fully recovered. Although its defensive power was not as good as the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, it was more than enough to deal with High Grade First-Grade Yao Beasts.

Moreover, it was of the Earth and Thunder dual attributes; in this Secret Realm rich with Thunder Spiritual Energy, its combat power could be raised another notch.

The Purple-Feathered Roc was also adapting to the new environment. The Thunder Spiritual Energy in the space had a clear promoting effect on its growth—it had only been contracted for three days, and the color of the tuft of purple feathers on its head had already deepened.

Lin Xuan closed his eyes and began to Cultivate.

Thunder Spiritual Energy surged from all directions, converging into his Dantian along his Meridians.

The concentration of Thunder Spiritual Qi here was at least three times that of Chenjiao Island; one hour of Cultivation was worth nearly half a day in the outside world.

The thunder seed in his Dantian was growing steadily, slowly approaching the size of an infant's fist from the size of a dragon's eye, and the rotation speed of the Qi vortex was also accelerating.

The Bottleneck of Qi Refining Level 6 Peak was still there, but it had clearly loosened.

He had touched that layer of window paper. Just today, when he was being chased by the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, his spiritual power had circulated at high speed under the pressure of life and death. For a brief moment, the Bottleneck had been forced open by a gap as thin as a hair.

Although it was only for a moment, he had felt it—that gap existed.