168: Demon general pursues, desperate teleportation

Deeper into the White Bone Wasteland, the soul-eroding yin wind grew increasingly violent. The howling wind was no longer a whimper but had transformed into the shrieks of tens of thousands of resentful Souls, frantically battering the mind of the Cultivator. The gray wind kicked up bone powder from the ground, forming pale tornadoes that connected heaven and earth; visibility became extremely poor, and Divine Sense was also severely interfered with.

Ye Chen's Chaos Domain contracted to within three inches of his body, the gray airflow spinning rapidly, constantly devouring and converting the invading Yin wind and bone powder. He no longer relied entirely on the soul-fixing talisman but actively guided a portion of the Yin wind to temper his Divine Sense. The process was agonizing, as if he were undergoing the torture of a thousand cuts at every moment, but his eyes grew sharper and clearer. Under the intense tempering, his Divine Sense became more solid and resilient; although its coverage area had shrunk, the precision of his perception had improved by a level.

The route on the incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace guided him to avoid several areas where the energy reactions were extremely chaotic and marked with giant skulls. In those places, even the soul-eroding yin wind appeared more violent, and one could vaguely sense a heart-palpitating, terrifying aura lurking within.

On this day, as he was following the route through a "Skull Hills" composed of countless giant beast skulls, the chaos monitoring compass in his arms suddenly issued a sharp warning!

At the same time, a cold, brutal, and terrifying pressure carrying a thick sense of death suddenly enveloped him from the rear left like an invisible giant net! It had locked onto him!

This pressure far exceeded the Earth Fiend Realm! It was actually the Tiangang Realm! And it was definitely not someone who had just entered the Tiangang Realm; the charm of the Death Rules contained within its aura was perfectly integrated with this White Bone Wasteland!

"Ant! How dare you trespass into the Demonic Lord's Forbidden Ground and slaughter the Demon Soldiers? Leave your life behind!"

A raspy voice, like two bones rubbing together, pierced through the howling Yin wind and resounded directly in Ye Chen's Sea of Consciousness! The Divine Soul impact contained in the voice caused Ye Chen's figure to stiffen abruptly, and his Sea of Consciousness buzzed as if struck by a heavy hammer!

He whipped his head around and saw a pale figure several hundred zhang behind him, stepping through the Void Realm at an irrational speed, chasing him down!

That figure was three zhang tall, its entire body composed of a crystal-like jade bone, draped in a tattered black cloak, and holding a pale bone spear polished from the spine of an unknown giant beast! Two clusters of eerie green Soul Fire burned in its eye sockets, dead-set on Ye Chen, radiating a heaven-towering killing intent!

White Bone Demon General! An existence at the Tiangang Realm level!

Ye Chen's heart shook violently! He hadn't expected to attract such a powerhouse so soon! It seemed that cleaning up those White Bone Demon Soldiers earlier had still drawn attention!

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Chen pushed his speed to the limit, even resorting to burning his essence blood again, turning into a gray blood-shadow as he fled desperately in the direction guided by the incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace! Meanwhile, he fully activated the chaos ancestral talisman, its clear-stream-like Chaos charm protecting his Sea of Consciousness and resisting the Divine Soul attack contained in the Demon General's voice.

"Humph! A deathbed struggle!"

The White Bone Demon General gave a disdainful cold snort and pointed the bone spear from afar!

"Buzz!"

The space in front of Ye Chen suddenly solidified! Countless pale bone spikes were generated out of thin air, shooting toward him like a torrential rain! Every bone spike contained powerful Death Rules energy, enough to easily pierce through the Protective Aura of a Peak Earth Fiend Realm Cultivator!

Space Imprisonment! Rule Manifestation!

This was the fundamental difference between the Tiangang Realm and the Earth Fiend Realm!

Ye Chen's pupils constricted as the guixu sword instantly appeared in his hand, the gray light on the blade shining brightly!

"Chaos guixu — Sword Lotus Protection!"

He brandished the guixu sword, the sword light transforming into a slowly blooming lotus composed of countless gray Sword Qi, protecting his body so tightly that not even wind could pass through!

"Clang clang clang... Puff puff puff!"

Dense sounds of impact and annihilation rang out! Most of the bone spikes were shredded and annihilated by the Chaos sword lotus, but a few still managed to pierce through the lotus's defense and slammed hard against Ye Chen's Chaos Domain!

"Bang! Bang!"

The Chaos Domain fluctuated violently. Ye Chen felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow; a sweetness rose in his throat, and he forcibly swallowed back the blood that welled up. His body was knocked forward by the massive impact, and his speed couldn't help but slow down!

And with that slight delay, the White Bone Demon General had already closed in to within a hundred zhang! It raised its bone spear again, the eerie green Soul Fire flickering, as even more terrifying energy condensed at the tip of the spear!

"Nirvana Death Light!"

A beam of light, condensed to the extreme and appearing gray and desolate, seemed to cross space and was behind Ye Chen in an instant! Everywhere the beam passed, even the soul-eroding yin wind was completely annihilated, leaving a vacuum channel!

The aura of death was thick to the extreme! Ye Chen felt his Soul trembling! This hit was something he absolutely could not take!

A matter of life and death!

At this critical juncture, Ye Chen had a sudden flash of inspiration and abruptly took out the incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace from his robes, frantically pouring his remaining Chaos Gang Qi into it!

"Buzz—!!!"

The incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace erupted with an unprecedented dull yellow light! The lines on the surface writhed violently like living blood vessels, and the Demon Eye Mark shone as brightly as if it were physical! A powerful fluctuation—ancient, chaotic, yet carrying a sense of guidance—suddenly spread out!

This fluctuation seemed to share the same source as the White Bone Wasteland and the power of the White Bone Demon General, yet it carried a trace of a higher-level quality!

The shooting Nirvana Death Light, upon touching this dull yellow light, actually seemed to encounter some kind of restraint; its power suddenly decreased by thirty percent, and its trajectory underwent a slight deviation!

"Boom!"

The weakened death light grazed past Ye Chen's body, blasting a section of the Skull Hills on his right into powder!

Meanwhile, on the incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace, the Demon Eye Mark shot out a dull yellow beam of light, shining straight ahead onto a seemingly ordinary patch of bone-covered ground!

"Crackle..."

The bone-covered ground illuminated by the light beam instantly collapsed, revealing a pitch-black hole about a zhang in diameter and seemingly bottomless! Around the edge of the hole, ancient demonic sigil from the same source as the incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace were carved, emitting faint spatial fluctuations!

A Teleportation Formation! This incomplete map of the nirvana demonic palace had actually opened a hidden Teleportation Formation here!

Ye Chen was overjoyed. Without the slightest hesitation, he used his last bit of strength and plunged toward the hole like a falling star!

"Trying to run?! Stay here!"

The White Bone Demon General was both shocked and enraged; it hadn't expected this ant to possess an item that could trigger the ancient Restrictions of this place! It violently threw the bone spear in its hand! The bone spear turned into a bolt of white lightning that tore through space, piercing straight toward the center of Ye Chen's back! Its speed was at the absolute limit!

Just as the bone spear was about to impale Ye Chen—

Ye Chen's figure had already vanished into the pitch-black hole!

"Puff!"

In the very last instant before his figure completely disappeared, the tip of the bone spear still grazed his left leg!

"Ugh!"

Intense pain surged; Ye Chen felt his left leg instantly lose all sensation, as if all vitality had been stripped away by that Death Rules power! He forced himself not to faint as his figure completely disappeared into the hole.

"Boom!"

The bone spear slammed heavily into the edge of the hole, shattering a large area of bone, but the hole remained unmoved. The demonic sigil on the surface flowed and quickly closed the opening, and in the blink of an eye, it returned to its original state as if it had never appeared.

The White Bone Demon General landed where the hole had been, its eerie green Soul Fire flickering violently, radiating an aura of rage. It reached out its bone claws, attempting to tear through space and pursue, but it found that the coordinates of the Teleportation Formation were extremely obscure and ancient; with its abilities, it couldn't lock onto them in a short time!

"Roar—!!!"

It let out an unwilling roar, the sound waves causing the surrounding Skull Hills to collapse one after another.

"Pass down the order! Seal off this area! Search for all clues related to this person! He was hit by my 'Soul-Extinguishing Spear', and his left leg is crippled; he won't get far! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find him for me!" The White Bone Demon General's cold Divine Thought order instantly spread to the White Bone Demon Soldiers within a radius of hundreds of miles.

Countless eerie blue Soul Fires lit up in the sea of bones, flickering like ghost fires... A bout of dizziness and a sense of spatial distortion and tearing followed, more intense than any teleportation he had experienced before. Ye Chen felt as if his Physical Body and Soul were about to be torn apart by this force. The sharp pain and sense of desolation from his left leg constantly eroded his consciousness.

He didn't know how much time had passed; it felt like an instant, yet also like eternity.

"Thud!"

He fell heavily onto the hard, cold ground. The intense shock caused him to spit out another mouthful of blood, and his vision went dark.

He forced himself not to pass out and immediately circulated the Chaos Myriad Transformation Art to check his condition.

His injuries were extremely severe! His internal organs were wounded, his Meridians were damaged in many places, and his Chaos Gang Qi was nearly exhausted. The most troublesome part was his left leg; below the knee, it was a patch of gray desolation, the flesh withered as if it had lost all vitality, occupied by a pure and stubborn Death Rules power. Even the purification from the chaos ancestral talisman appeared exceptionally slow.

He looked around. This seemed to be a massive, enclosed underground cave. Strange Ore emitting a cold white light were embedded in the ceiling of the cave, providing faint illumination. The air was damp, filled with a stale, musty smell and a faint scent of sulfur; the Devilish Qi concentration was not high, but it was mixed with an even more ancient and chaotic energy.

He was currently in the center of a massive circular stone platform carved with complex demonic sigil; this should be the destination of the Teleportation Formation. Around the stone platform, some damaged weapons and armor and long-weathered skeletons were scattered, as if a tragic battle had taken place here.

Where was this place? Was he still in the White Bone Wasteland? Or had he been teleported elsewhere?

Ye Chen was wary. Enduring the intense pain, he struggled to sit up, leaning against a broken stone pillar. He had to treat his injuries first, especially his left leg; otherwise, let alone exploration, even self-preservation would be an issue.

He took out several healing Medicinal Pill and swallowed them, while simultaneously fully activating the chaos ancestral talisman, mobilizing that faint Origin power to slowly, bit by bit, wear away the Death Rules at the wound on his left leg.

The process was extremely slow and painful, like cutting flesh with a dull knife. Every bit of Death Qi he refined made him break out in a cold sweat, his face pale.

Just as he was focused on healing—

"Tap... tap... tap..."

A faint and rhythmic sound, like a hard object tapping on the ground, came slowly from the darkness deep within the cave, from far to near.

Ye Chen abruptly raised his head, his gaze as sharp as a blade, looking in the direction of the sound, the guixu sword already in his hand.

In this unknown desperate land, danger was never far away.