The Pursuit of Refining Void, Hidden Moon Shocked

The moment the last three layers of talismans shattered, Zhou Heng's calm expression finally crumbled completely.

The six silvery-white fragments tumbled through the air like shattered glass, each fragment reflecting a widening crack in his pupils. He stood in the center of the ruined light barrier, his grey robes stained with stone dust and scorch marks, his face shifting from ashen to a dry, cornered expression. He opened his mouth, forcing out a crushed syllable: "No…"

Then he took out a dark gold talisman from his sleeve.

That talisman was completely different from the six silver-white talismans from before. The surface of the talisman paper was covered with a layer of fine dark gold runes, and several extremely hidden spatial ripples were engraved on the edge.

He crushed it violently, and a blinding golden light exploded from his palm, enveloping his entire figure. Space distorted for a moment within the golden light, and his figure, like a wisp of smoke blown away by the wind, rapidly contracted, collapsed, and disappeared the instant the golden light touched the spatial barrier at the edge of the secret realm.

Escape Talisman.

Li Hanshan determined the grade of the talisman the instant the golden light appeared.

A sixth-grade superior-level escape talisman can teleport a person thousands of miles away in an instant. However, Zhou Heng clearly underestimated one thing: he had already sealed the spatial barrier of this secret realm himself. When the golden light of the escape talisman touched the edge of the barrier, it was as if it had hit a copper wall and was bounced back.

"Damn it!"

Zhou Heng's figure fell out of the golden light in mid-air and staggered to the ground several feet away, his face even more pale than before.

Although this secret realm is vast, its area is ultimately finite.

"Should we open the secret realm?"

Zhou Heng hesitated, wondering whether or not to open the secret realm.

This time, his and Li Hanshan's roles were switched several times, with him constantly transforming from hunter to prey. Li Hanshan dared to step into such a simple trap; he must have a backup plan.

Zhou Heng originally thought that Li Hanshan must have backup, but after being severely injured by Li Hanshan, he felt that Li Hanshan might not have any external support even outside. That's why he wanted to open the secret realm.

The main problem is that if he doesn't open the secret realm, he's very likely to die inside. But he still wants to kill Li Hanshan, so he hasn't made a final decision yet.

The distance is several thousand miles, and it will take Li Hanshan quite a while to fly there. He can play cat and mouse with Li Hanshan and deal with him after his injuries and strength have recovered somewhat.

The recovery speed of a Void Refiner is unmatched by that of a Nascent Soul Transformer.

However, he soon had no time to hesitate, because a streak of light had already caught up with him.

"So fast!" Zhou Heng's expression changed again. Li Hanshan obviously also had a top-grade escape talisman!

"You've sealed off the secret realm, so you can't get out yourself either." Li Hanshan's voice came from afar, and the Crimson Sun Sword shone again in his hand. He didn't give Zhou Heng a second chance to use the escape talisman. Purple-gold flames exploded beneath his feet, and his figure shot straight towards Zhou Heng like a lit arrow.

Xiao An attacked from the side, and the Netherworld Chains shot out from her palms like living things, wrapping around Zhou Heng's limbs and neck. Zhou Heng dodged to the side, and the chains swept past his shoulder, shredding the small mountain behind him into dust.

He slapped out a dark gray palm print, the Void Refining Spiritual Power within it still as heavy as a mountain, but noticeably weaker than before. The Crimson Sun Sword slashed horizontally, its crimson-gold sword light precisely slicing the palm print in two. Before the aftershocks of the shattered palm print had even dissipated, Xiao An's chains had already tightened once more.

Zhou Heng was sandwiched between the two. Every time he tried to create distance, Li Hanshan's Fire Shadow Step blocked his path in advance. Every time he tried to cast a spell, Xiao An's Netherworld Chains interrupted him from the side.

Although his spiritual power had been largely restored by the elixir, the hidden wound left by the Soul Sword still lingered deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, like an unquenchable dark fire that continued to scorch the foundation of his soul. Every time he tried to concentrate his divine sense to cast a spell, that dark fire would flicker violently in his sea of ​​consciousness, causing his attention to momentarily falter at crucial moments.

"You're courting death!" Zhou Heng finally let out a muffled growl after being forced back by the sword light of the Crimson Sun Sword once again.

He took out a jet-black bead from his sleeve and crushed it. The bead shattered instantly, transforming into a thick black mist that enveloped him. The mist contained extremely strong Yin energy, corroding even the air it passed through. Li Hanshan sensed that the spiritual power contained within the black mist far surpassed that of ordinary spells. He held the Crimson Sun Sword horizontally in front of him, and pure Yang fire surged on the surface of the flaming sword, burning away the Yin energy that was seeping into his meridians layer by layer.

However, Zhou Heng did not launch an attack under the cover of the black mist. The instant Li Hanshan resisted the black mist, he turned and fled into the depths of the secret realm, his speed nearly twice as fast as before.

His figure was like a gray-black lightning bolt, swiftly passing through the dense forest canopy, snapping spirit trees in his wake and leaving a long trail of destruction behind him.

"Chase!" Li Hanshan burned away the remaining black mist, and flames exploded beneath his feet once more. He didn't slow down; instead, he pushed his Pure Yang Meridian to its limit, his purple-gold escape light streaking across the night sky like a shooting star. Xiao An transformed into a streak of dark blue light, closely following beside him, Netherworld Chains coiling around her, ready to launch an attack at any moment during the pursuit.

In the hidden realm, a chase begins.

"Master, will we be able to get back alive?" In the secret realm, A Yuan's two disciples were filled with worry.

He Yuan could not answer this question.

"Something's happening!" At that moment, he sensed the movement and froze when he looked into the distance.

The far-seeing bead in his palm reflected the scene of three figures moving through the secret realm. He opened his mouth, his eyes fixed on how the purple-gold light in the bead approached the gray-black figure in front of him time and time again. Each time it approached, a crimson-gold sword light would fall, and each time it fell, it would leave a new scorch mark on Zhou Heng's body.

Zhou Ping and Zhao Yao, who were behind He Yuan, had already squeezed to his side, their young faces filled with the same disbelief. Zhou Ping's fingers, gripping the water-repelling artifact, were turning slightly white, and his voice, dry and strained from the shock of what was happening beyond his comprehension, asked, "Master... that Fellow Daoist Li, was he chasing after Elder Lianxu?"

Zhao Yao didn't speak, but covered her mouth with her hand, her almond-shaped eyes swirling with a complex mix of fear and relief.

He Yuan did not answer his disciple. He simply did not know how to answer. He accepted Zhou Heng's spirit stones and brought Li Hanshan into this secret realm. According to the agreement, Li Hanshan should die here.

But now the situation is completely reversed. Zhou Heng is being chased all over the secret realm by that young man at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Every time he tries to stop and fight back, he is caught between the two beams of light and is forced to flee in a sorry state.

"Damn it, damn it!"

The atmosphere around me was extremely depressing.

On his escape, he frantically tried to reopen the secret realm's seal. But every time he stopped to try and activate the secret realm token to open the barrier, Li Hanshan's Crimson Sun Sword would pursue him from behind, scattering the spiritual power he had painstakingly gathered once again. Meanwhile, Xiao An's Netherworld Chains would cut in from the side when he was distracted by the sword light, further tearing at his attention.

Zhou Heng was forced to continue his escape. He dared not linger in any one place, for the sword light of the Crimson Sun Sword was always chasing after him. He could not find any opportunity to safely recover his spiritual power. Every time he tried to circulate his cultivation technique, he was interrupted by the hidden injuries left by the Divine Soul Sword. The areas in his meridians that had been burned by the Crimson Sun Sword continued to ooze a burning, stinging pain.

His speed slowed down, his body became heavier, and even the spells that he used to use with ease began to stiffen and falter.

Li Hanshan followed behind him, watching the gray-black figure move through the secret realm, a smile appearing on his lips. He didn't rush to accelerate, nor did he try to win with a single blow. He simply maintained a steady pace, using the light of the Crimson Sun Sword to gradually compress Zhou Heng's space, and using Xiao An's Netherworld Chains to slowly sever the path Zhou Heng was trying to take to recover his spiritual power.

"You've brought this upon yourself," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the misty depths of the secret realm.

Zhou Heng paused for a moment, then sped forward even faster.

He didn't turn around, but the slightly tense shoulder line of that gray-black figure indicated that those words had precisely struck his sore spot. This secret realm was the battlefield he had chosen, and this blockade was the one he had personally laid. He originally thought everything was under control, that he had lured Li Hanshan into a carefully designed death trap. But he never expected that the lid of the jar would be sealed by himself from the outside.

Three days and three nights. The chase lasted for a full three days and three nights.

Zhou Heng couldn't stop for a moment. Li Hanshan and Xiao An's pursuit was like a persistent, venomous wound; whenever he slowed down even slightly, crimson-gold sword light would slash from behind; whenever he found a secluded corner to try and recuperate, the Netherworld Chains would shoot out from the shadows. In these three days, he had almost exhausted all his reserves of healing pills; those pills that could quickly restore spiritual power were now just empty bottles. And the sealing barrier of the secret realm remained as sturdy as ever.

He tried to find loopholes in the blockade, and tried to forcibly tear open the defense he had personally reinforced, but each attempt ended hastily in the pursuit of the Crimson Sun Sword, without even a 50% chance of success.

Li Hanshan's condition was also depleting. The continuous activation of the Crimson Sun Sword kept his pure Yang energy reserves at an extremely low level, and each swing of the sword required him to squeeze out the last bit of spiritual power from the depths of his meridians.

But he knew Zhou Heng was even less likely to hold on. The lingering embers left by the Divine Soul Sword were still burning in Zhou Heng's sea of ​​consciousness, and each interruption of his spellcasting would worsen his injuries. Zhou Heng was unable to recover, but with Xiao An by his side, he didn't need to bear all the burden alone during the pursuit.

As for why Zhou Heng wasn't allowed to open the secret realm, it was because Li Hanshan wanted to be on the safe side. Although Yin Yue was outside, Li Hanshan didn't know if Zhou Heng still had that kind of escape talisman. Once he escaped and used the talisman, it would be very difficult to catch him.

Furthermore, it's unclear whether there's another exit from this secret realm, so Li Hanshan intends to resolve the matter here.

On the morning of the fourth day.

The spatial barrier at the edge of the secret realm suddenly trembled violently. A silver-white crack extended from the barrier to both sides, seeping in a wisp of silver-white light. Then, the crack grew larger and larger.

The next second, a silver-white figure darted into the secret realm through the gap, moving as fast as a fully drawn bowstring.

This was Yin Yue, her silver veil clinging to her jawline in the wind, her calm eyes surging with an urgency and anger that had been repeatedly confirmed for far too long. She had been relentlessly attacking outside the secret realm for four days and four nights, exhausting nearly half of her spiritual power before finally tearing open a sliver of light to enter.

But when she rushed into the secret realm, the scene before her was completely beyond her expectations.

Li Hanshan stood in a valley scorched by crimson-gold flames, the purple-gold light around him not yet fully subsided. The Crimson Sun Sword in his hand pointed diagonally at the ground, the remaining flame patterns on the blade slowly fading, clearly indicating that a sustained pursuit had just ended.

Several hundred feet directly in front of him, a dark gray figure was struggling to get up from a pile of broken rocks. His gray robe was covered with scorch marks and dried bloodstains. His face was as pale as paper, and his steps were so unsteady that he could barely stand.

Zhou Heng was fleeing. He was fleeing towards the rift at the edge of the secret realm, which had just been torn open by Yin Yue.

Yin Yue stood at the bow of the flying boat, her lips slightly parted beneath her silver veil. She could sense that Zhou Heng's spiritual energy fluctuations had weakened to the extreme. The dark fire left by the Divine Soul Sword was still burning the foundation of his consciousness. Although his cultivation aura was still at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, it was like an anvil that had been repeatedly struck, having lost all the resilience needed to sustain a prolonged battle.

Although Li Hanshan's aura had been largely depleted, it remained steady and sharp, like a newly quenched blade, slowly approaching the gray figure that could no longer run.

She stood at the edge of the shattered barrier, behind her the crack she had forcibly torn open, and in front of her the young man chasing a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator all over the secret realm. Her silver-white robes fluttered gently in the wind of the secret realm, and she stood there quietly, as if frozen in place by some scene beyond ordinary comprehension.