Escape

Chapter 19 Escape

Giddy up! Giddy up! Giddy up!

In the wilderness, the young man galloped on his horse, racing wildly all the way.

Hundreds of feet behind him, a middle-aged man in yellow robes wearing a blue Taoist hat and with narrow eyebrows flew on a magical artifact, watching him with icy eyes as he relentlessly pursued him.

As time went by, the distance between the two sides grew closer and closer, soon falling to less than a hundred feet.

Generally, the range of a cultivator's divine sense in the late stage of Qi Refining will not exceed 100 zhang, so 100 zhang is the normal limit of attack range for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage.

Attacks beyond this distance will no longer be able to lock onto the enemy with divine sense, ensuring that the attack can be successfully landed.

So, shortly after entering the hundred-zhang distance, the middle-aged man in yellow did not hesitate to pinch a magic talisman between two fingers and strike it downwards.

In an instant, a flash of fire appeared, and the magic talisman instantly burned, transforming into a crimson firebird that swooped down on the young man on horseback.

It is a mid-grade first-tier magic talisman, the "Firebird Talisman"!

On horseback, Zhou Chun looked back and saw the middle-aged man in yellow's movements. His face immediately darkened, and he instantly recognized the origin of the talisman the man was using.

As a member of a cultivation family, you don't necessarily have to learn every kind of spell, but you must be familiar with most of the spells that ordinary cultivators can learn.

Otherwise, if someone uses a spell whose origin and effect you don't know, you might lose your life because of your ignorance.

Most spells can be made into corresponding talismans.

Therefore, after recognizing the origin of the magic used by the middle-aged man in yellow, Zhou Chun immediately slapped the back of his horse, the [Ink Scale Steed], and his body suddenly soared into the air, leaping away.

Rumble!

Less than two breaths after Zhou Chun leaped off his horse, the firebird flew to the top of the galloping [Inkscale Steed] and exploded with a bang.

Then the blazing flames instantly engulfed the [Inkscale Steed].

The mournful neighing of the horse echoed across the wilderness. The fiery [Inkscale Steed] continued to gallop for over a hundred feet before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

By the time the flames on its body were completely extinguished, its entire body, even its bones, had been charred and cracked.

However, at this moment, neither Zhou Chun nor the middle-aged man in yellow cared about the life or death of a beast.

Zhou Chun escaped by jumping off his horse, thus avoiding a calamity.

However, without the [Inkscale Steed] for transportation, he could no longer continue his escape.

After casting the "Firebird Talisman," the middle-aged man in yellow controlled his flying magical artifact to land on the ground. By the time Zhou Chun, who had just jumped off his horse, had regained his footing, he had also landed safely on the ground.

After landing, he flipped his palm and put the flying artifact into his storage bag, then took out two other artifacts and strode towards Zhou Chun.

As he walked, he called out to Zhou Chun with a mocking tone, "Why don't you keep running? I can give you a few dozen more feet ahead!"

Zhou Chun ignored the guy's arrogance. He knew that a battle was inevitable today. After gaining his footing, he quickly patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist and released the rock tortoise inside. Then he took out magic artifacts and talismans from his storage bag.

At this time, after more than two years of cultivation by Zhou Chun, the Rock Tortoise had grown to the size of a bathtub, and its magical power cultivation had reached the level of a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator, making it a first-tier mid-grade demon beast. It had also awakened and mastered four kinds of innate spells.

Upon seeing Zhou Chun release the Rock Tortoise, the middle-aged man in yellow was slightly surprised, looking at him with astonishment and saying, "You actually have a Rock Tortoise by your side? It seems you're quite favored in the Mu family!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but say, "You are mistaken. I am not a cultivator of the Mu family, but a member of the Zhou family of Nine Peaks Ridge."

"The Zhou family of Jiufeng Ridge? That's the cultivation family that migrated from Feng Kingdom?"

The middle-aged man in yellow was slightly taken aback, and then asked a couple of questions in response to Zhou Chun's words, indicating that he had also heard of the Zhou family's reputation.

This gave Zhou Chun a glimmer of hope, and he immediately took a deep breath and replied solemnly, "That's exactly right."

Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man in yellow, after a moment's thought, shook his head dismissively and said, "So what? They're just a bunch of stray dogs driven from their lair!"

After saying that, he looked at him with a half-smile and said, "You don't actually think that just because you've revealed your name, you can scare me into letting you go, do you?"

Zhou Chun fell silent immediately; he did indeed have such thoughts.

But judging from the appearance of the middle-aged man in yellow, he was clearly not going to let it go.

Therefore, he quickly extinguished those unrealistic fantasies, steadied himself, and looked at the middle-aged man in yellow, saying, "Since you are so confident, then let me experience your skills!"

Before he could finish speaking, the rock tortoise beside him launched the first attack.

With a slap of its tortoise-like paw, a sharp stone spike as thick as an arm burst forth from the ground where the middle-aged man in yellow stood.

But the middle-aged man in yellow seemed to have anticipated this, and as soon as the stone spike broke through the ground, he moved away from his original spot.

Then, taking the opportunity, he mocked Zhou Chun, "Don't embarrass yourself with such petty tricks. I've been through countless battles; what haven't I seen? Do you think a junior like you can outsmart me?"

Zhou Chun's expression was somewhat unpleasant, but he still didn't respond to him. Instead, he summoned his pale gold flying knife magic weapon.

This magical artifact is called "Golden Willow Blade". It is shaped like a willow leaf and is extremely sharp. It is a pretty good first-tier mid-grade magical artifact.

But the middle-aged man in yellow, being a cultivator at the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage, even possessed a flying magic weapon; how could his other magic weapons be inferior?

He raised his hand and a dark iron shield automatically blocked the willow-leaf throwing knife, easily knocking it away.

Before Zhou Chun could change his move, he flicked his sleeve and uttered the word "Go".

Instantly, a silvery glint shot out from his sleeve, heading straight for Zhou Chun.

Zhou Chun was startled and hurriedly raised his hand to summon his protective magic weapon, a green wooden shield.

However, he severely underestimated the power of that silvery gleam.

With a flash of cold light, his first-grade low-level magic weapon, the "Azure Wood Shield," which he used for protection, shattered into more than a dozen pieces that fell to the ground. Then, his protective "Diamond Shield" shook violently, causing his legs to buckle and him to sit down on the ground with a thud.

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man in yellow burst into laughter, "Hahaha, it seems I overestimated you. Your protective magic artifact is just such trash. It's clear you're not exactly a powerful figure in your family. I'm afraid no one will even care about you after you die!"

He's right, but not entirely right either.

Zhou Chun didn't have any powerful elders in the Zhou family to rely on, but his original protective magic weapon was not actually a piece of junk like the "Green Wood Shield".

The Zhou family used to be one of the three giants of the Three Absolutes Sect, so it wouldn't be difficult for them to provide each family member who had reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining with two first-grade mid-level magic weapons, one for offense and one for defense.

Unfortunately, the first-tier mid-grade defensive magic weapon that Zhou Chun used had already been damaged in the previous battle with Li Han of the Li family.

After the Zhou family of Jiufengling split up, most of their assets were taken away by Yu Jinghua, a Golden Core cultivator, to create the Spirit Beast Manor. Now, they simply cannot casually reissue magic artifacts to their family members.

Even if the family didn't reissue the magic weapon for free, Zhou Chun could still buy it from the family at a discounted price using spirit coins.

The problem is that since Zhou Chun hatched the Rock Tortoise, he has used most of his spirit coins to buy pills from his family to cultivate spirit pets.

If this weren't the case, even if a demon beast's initial growth rate is much faster than that of a cultivator, the Rock Earth Turtle couldn't possibly become a mid-grade first-tier demon beast in just two years after hatching.

It can only be said that plans can never keep up with changes.

Zhou Chun, who had assumed he would be safely cultivating within his family for the next few years, could never have foreseen that he would encounter such a dangerous situation today.

Fortunately, the rock tortoise did not waste all those pills and did not disappoint Zhou Chun's kindness.

Upon realizing its master was in danger, it glared angrily at the middle-aged man in yellow and slammed its fist on the ground, causing five or six stone spikes to burst forth from the earth simultaneously, centered on it.

This is the spell "Chain Ground Spikes" that it awakened and mastered after becoming a mid-grade first-tier demon beast.

It was also because the middle-aged man in yellow was careless, or rather, too confident in his own strength and experience, that he did not set up a protective shield spell from the beginning like Zhou Chun.

At this moment, several stone spikes appeared at the same time. Even though he had sensed the danger in advance with his divine sense, he was unable to dodge in time. One of the stone spikes grazed his left thigh and pierced through it, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.

"Ouch! That hurts like hell!!"

The middle-aged man in yellow, whose left leg was injured, collapsed to the ground with a thud, letting out a piercing scream as his face contorted in pain.

He clutched his thigh in agony, his eyes blazing with fury as he roared at the rock tortoise, "Damn beast, I'll boil you alive!"

While uttering harsh words, he quickly took out a "Diamond Shield" talisman and activated it, transforming it into a protective shield to protect himself.

Then he hurriedly took out hemostatic and healing powder and ointment from his storage bag to provide first aid.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun's eyes lit up with joy. He praised the Rock Tortoise in his heart, then quickly put it into his spirit beast bag and used the "Wind Control Technique" to escape.

If you don't run now, when will you?

Taking advantage of the fact that the middle-aged man in yellow was busy healing his wounds and had no time to pursue him, he could escape this calamity as long as he ran out of the man's sight.

(End of this chapter)