24: Chapter 24 The Key

Li Fan had no time to watch the streaks of light from the two women fleeing; he adjusted his Spiritual Qi and accelerated his escape.

Although his speed was much faster than when he was carrying the two women, it was still no match for the Golden Core Cultivator behind him.

"Dozens of breaths? No… I will be caught in at most a dozen breaths or so."

His brain raced with thoughts.

"Spiritual Root, Physique, Cultivation Technique, System—which one can help me…"

As he thought this, the System was the first to respond.

[ The Strongest Escape King System has gone offline; the Strongest Survival in Desperate Straits System has come online. ]

[ Survival in Desperate Straits item has been issued. ]

Li Fan hurriedly checked the item.

[ Gathering Guide, Description: An indispensable item; wait for the opportune moment to arrive. ]

Looking at the cryptic description of the item issued by the System, Li Fan was thoroughly confused.

But there was little time left for him to think; he continued to check the System.

[ hard training points: 280 ] This was what he had accumulated over the past two days.

"What will give me the greatest boost?"

While he was pondering, a blue-glowing feather pierced through the air, went straight through Li Fan's chest, and shot into the ground.

"Damn! I misjudged."

Circulating his Spiritual Qi to stop the bleeding, he continued to fly close to the ground.

Li Fan had not expected that the Golden Core's attack methods and range were far superior to those of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and he had miscalculated the safe distance.

"It is fortunate that I reacted and shifted slightly."

Just now, he had subconsciously dodged; otherwise, he would have been shot directly in the heart and died on the spot.

The feathers kept flying toward him. This time, having prepared, Li Fan dodged in advance, but the wounds on his body inevitably increased; he could only manage to avoid sustaining fatal injuries.

At the critical moment, his hard training points decreased by 200.

Li Fan consumed his hard training points to raise his Spirit Reflection and Physique by one Rank.

The next moment, his Spirit Reflection and Physique manifestations appeared simultaneously, merging into one and pressing toward the Golden Core Cultivator not far away.

"Insignificant tricks."

The Winged Race Golden Core Cultivator snorted coldly. Although he was surprised that the junior before him actually possessed a Spiritual Root, Spirit Reflection, and Physique manifestation all at once, the disparity in Realm was plain to see.

With a wave of his wings, winds surged instantly. Every wisp of wind transformed into a sharp blade and thrust forward, and suddenly, the sky was filled with a cold glint.

The attack of a Golden Core Cultivator was truly terrifying.

Even so, the Spirit Reflection manifestation was still resisting.

At this moment, Li Fan was pouring all his Spiritual Qi without reservation into the luofeng sword.

This move was a desperate gamble.

Launching the sword, the luofeng sword silently pierced through the sky, appearing to control the wind's momentum without any warning.

As it passed through the Spirit Reflection manifestation, the Spirit Reflection manifestation, which was fighting against the overwhelming wind, suddenly contracted and attached itself to the sword blade.

This sudden strike took advantage of the luofeng sword's characteristics to bypass the wind and strike directly at the Golden Core Winged Race Cultivator.

As for Li Fan, he did not care about how much damage this sword strike would deal; as soon as the luofeng sword was shot out, he had already fled.

"A fine move!"

The Golden Core Cultivator was caught off guard by this sudden strike and suffered some losses.

When he turned back, Li Fan had already vanished.

"This sword is extraordinary and poses a great threat to our Winged Race. Go and retrieve it."

The Golden Core Cultivator instructed his subordinates to search for the missing luofeng sword.

He himself floated cross-legged in mid-air and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique.

Li Fan was still running, but his speed had slowed down considerably; that sword strike just now had exhausted almost all of his Spiritual Qi.

"It is fortunate that the Qi Spiritual Root is useful. My Spiritual Qi recovers quickly."

Having escaped death, he pressed one hand against the wound on his chest, feeling somewhat regretful.

"It is just a pity that I cannot get the luofeng sword back."

His whole body was covered in holes caused by the Winged Race's feathers; he had to slow down and circulate his Spiritual Qi to stop the bleeding.

Before the bleeding had completely stopped, a ripple came from afar, sweeping over Li Fan's body. He felt, in some inexplicable way, that something was watching him.

"That stupid bird is still chasing me."

Li Fan cursed angrily, then forced himself to endure the pain and continued to increase his speed.

"Found you."

The Golden Core Winged Race Cultivator sitting in mid-air opened his eyes; the luofeng sword was already floating quietly around him.

"Let's see how you run this time."

He then spread his wings, transformed into a flowing wind, and flew toward the direction in which Li Fan was fleeing.

Following the flow of the wind, it did not take long for the Golden Core Cultivator to see Li Fan's back from afar. His speed had slowed down significantly, his whole body was covered in wounds, and many were still bleeding.

The distance was sufficient; this time, the Golden Core Winged Race Cultivator did not underestimate his opponent.

"I did not expect that I would have to use my full strength to kill a Qi Refining junior."

His tone was somewhat self-mocking, but his hands showed no mercy.

In an instant, a fierce wind arose; feathers filled the sky, emerging from the wind and following it.

"Wind drives the feathers!"

Li Fan, not far away, was still unaware, only vaguely feeling a sense of unease.

"Something is wrong; it is too quiet…"

He realized with a start that even the sound of the wind had disappeared around him, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

But he was given no time to react; the rain of feathers poured down, piercing his body with dense, through-and-through holes.

At the moment of life and death, a dao sword flew out from the System space, echoing with Li Fan's Innate Sword Embryo, holding onto his last breath for him.

In mid-air, Li Fan, his body riddled with holes, fell downward.

As his consciousness faded, he vaguely heard a 'click' sound.

It was the sound of some kind of door lock Restriction being opened, and a key glowing with a gray light flew out from the System space.

Zhongmen Secret Realm, entrance.

A huge, transparent water curtain appeared before the entrance, blocking the Winged Race's offensive.

Two streaks of light, one red and one yellow, flew in from afar, passed through with ease, and arrived before Vice Minister Xuancha, who was maintaining the water curtain.

They were Vice Minister Xuangui and Vice Minister Xuanxing. Both of them had expended their vital blood to escape, and their complexions were not good, but there was no time to recover. Vice Minister Zhou Duan asked urgently,

"Yuanming, have all the students been evacuated?"

"A small portion."

Yuanming's reply was brief; his mind was entirely focused on maintaining the water curtain.

Watching the students constantly arriving and the Winged Race pursuers behind them, Old Zhu made a prompt decision.

"There is no time; a ruthless character from the Winged Race has arrived. We must get out quickly and seal the entrance to the Secret Realm."

"If we let the Winged Race out of the Secret Realm, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Since the three of them could hold the position of Vice Minister, they naturally understood the necessity of making sacrifices.

Vice Minister Zhou Duan took the first step, flying out of the Secret Realm to begin working on sealing the entrance from the outside.

Old Zhu formed hand seals with both hands and shouted in alarm,

"Boundless Fire Domain!"

His Spirit Reflection manifested, and for dozens of miles around, the area was instantly dyed a shade of crimson; the pursuing Winged Race members burst into flames one after another.

These flames were like maggots on a bone; even cutting off an arm or using water techniques could not extinguish them.

At the same time, the water curtain maintained by Yuanming turned into a monstrous wave, but it was not to attack the Winged Race; rather, it swept all the students within sight back.

Afterward, the two of them quickly flew out of the Secret Realm.

Outside the Secret Realm, there was more than just Vice Minister Zhou Duan, a Nascent Soul Cultivator; other Nascent Soul Cultivators who had been urgently summoned were working together to close the entrance to the Secret Realm. After Old Zhu and Yuanming came out with the group of students, they increased their output of magical power even more.

A streak of light flew in, rushing out of the portal just before it completely closed.