Chapter 137: Where Do You Think You Are Fleeing!

Xia Jiuxuan dared not linger for even a second. If he were caught by the elite masters of those sects, his death would be certain.

"Thief! Where do you think you're going?"

After flying for several hundred miles, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted from behind. Xia Jiuxuan expanded his spiritual sense and could faintly perceive a powerful aura surging toward him.

"The old man is on my tail! That was fast!"

Xia Jiuxuan knew the pursuer was the one who had been cultivating deep beneath the Luanfeng Sect. The old man’s strength was at least at the Guiyuan Realm, perhaps even at its peak.

"Faster!"

In an instant, Xia Jiuxuan refined five thousand spirit crystals, flooding his body with spiritual power.

"Wind-element spiritual power, imbue!"

He converted his formless energy into wind-elemental power, imbuing it into the flying beast beneath him.

"Chirp!"

With a sharp cry, the flying beast’s speed increased several times over. However, Xia Jiuxuan knew this state could not last long before the beast would succumb to the strain.

"Little thief, you cannot escape from my grasp!"

The old man behind him pursued relentlessly, his powerful spiritual sense having completely locked onto Xia Jiuxuan. His speed was still a fraction faster than the beast, despite the wind-element infusion.

Another half-hour of flight passed. Looking back, Xia Jiuxuan could now see the old man's figure with his naked eye.

"Charge!"

At this moment, he reached the exit of the Outland and steered the beast plunging directly into the mortal realm.

"Damn it, this mortal kingdom hasn't even activated its boundary barrier!"

Xia Jiuxuan panicked. The place he had entered was not the Xianwu Imperial Dynasty. This mortal kingdom’s barrier being wide open meant the old man behind him could charge in as well.

After flying over the mortal kingdom for a while, Xia Jiuxuan, who was familiar with every inch of the land, easily identified the direction of the Xianwu Imperial Dynasty. He was still over four thousand kilometers away. At the beast's current speed, it would take at least two hours to reach it.

"Let’s see where you can run!"

Boom!

The old man behind him unleashed a palm strike. A surge of majestic origin power rolled forward, crashing toward Xia Jiuxuan.

"Bad!"

Sensing the immense power, Xia Jiuxuan knew he could not outrun it. He abruptly steered the beast to dive sharply downward.

"Little thief, to be able to accelerate a flying beast—you have some tricks up your sleeve!"

The old man’s strike missed, and he looked down with slight surprise as Xia Jiuxuan descended rapidly.

Xia Jiuxuan desperately urged the wind-element power, causing the beast to crash into a forest on the ground.

Boom!

With a deafening sound, the flying beast slammed into the earth and shattered into fragments. Xia Jiuxuan, meanwhile, converted his neutral energy into earth-elemental power and began tunneling frantically underground.

"Hm?"

A few moments later, the old man landed, scanning his surroundings with a puzzled expression. To his surprise, his spiritual sense could no longer lock onto the little thief.

"What a peculiar little thief!"

The old man probed the ground with his spiritual sense and discovered traces of earth-elemental energy. This meant the thief possessed two types of spiritual power.

"Humph, do you think diving underground will save you?"

The old man’s eyes narrowed, a silver light flashing across his irises. With a single sweep, every living thing moving within a hundred-mile radius appeared in his vision.

"You move fast!"

In the next moment, the old man vanished from his spot.

Xia Jiuxuan had nothing if not an endless supply of spirit crystals. He kept refining them, converting them into wind and earth-elemental power to flee at high speed. For a while, he and the old man were neck and neck, and the pursuer could not catch him.

An hour passed, and Xia Jiuxuan had fled over a thousand miles, reaching the edge of a vast sea. Once he crossed this strait, he would be within the borders of the Xianwu Imperial Dynasty.

"Like a fish in water!"

Xia Jiuxuan converted his neutral energy into water-elemental power. Using a secret technique, he began to travel rapidly through the depths of the sea.

Dozens of miles behind him, the old man faintly sensed the change in Xia Jiuxuan’s aura.

"This wretch actually possesses water-elemental power too!"

He was truly shocked this time. In thousands of years, only a handful of people in the Outland had ever possessed three types of spiritual power! This little thief clearly had a significant background.

"Elder Zhao Baihe, where are you?"

At that moment, the voice of the Luanfeng Sect Leader came through the old man’s transmission jade.

"I am in the sea off the northern border of the Lan Kingdom! Where are you all?" Zhao Baihe replied.

"We came down from the Shiling Kingdom and should be ahead of you now."

"Good! The boy is fleeing toward the Xianwu Imperial Dynasty. Sect Leader, intercept him!"

As they spoke, Zhao Baihe could already sense the presence of others—thousands of Outland masters were just over a hundred miles away.

"Thank you for your hard work, Elder Zhao. We have found him!"

A hundred miles away, Xia Jiuxuan stopped at the bottom of the sea. Above the water, layers of powerful spiritual senses had descended, locking him firmly in place.

"Damn it!"

Xia Jiuxuan’s face darkened. There were too many masters. They had completely blocked his path. He could no longer attempt to force his way through; if he were intercepted by the crowd, he would surely die.

"Xia Jiuxuan, come out this instant!"

A wild, booming roar pressed down from the sea, causing massive waves to churn across the surface.

"Spread out and encircle a five-hundred-mile radius. Don't let Xia Jiuxuan escape even with wings!" commanded Yang Guirong.

"Understood, Elder Yang."

Countless masters from the hundred great sects spread out rapidly, flying for a distance before plunging into the sea. Within a range of several hundred miles, groups of experts stood guard at intervals. Xia Jiuxuan was now thoroughly surrounded.

"Humph, Xia Jiuxuan, are you still not coming out?"

"You have no path to the heavens and no door to the earth. Come out and face your death!"

"You little scoundrel, you destroyed the foundation of my sect. You shall pay for this with the rest of your miserable life!"

...

Xia Jiuxuan remained silent at the bottom of the sea, circulating his Concealment Technique to mask his presence to the absolute limit.

"This is troublesome."

Xia Jiuxuan frowned. According to his original plan, he would have slipped away quietly after securing the resources. He had never expected a hidden old monster to be lurking within the Luanfeng Sect. All his plans had been thrown into disarray, and he was now effectively in a desperate situation.

"Move forward step by step, tighten the circle, and root out that wretch Xia Jiuxuan!" Yang Guirong stood in the sky, continuing to issue commands via his transmission jade.

"As you command!"

Everyone began to move, gradually closing in toward the center of the circle.

Just then, experts from the nearby mortal kingdoms rushed toward the scene. Upon sensing the overwhelming presence of the Outland masters, the leaders of these groups, who were at the Saint-Entering Realm, were left stunned.

A general from the Shiling Kingdom steeled himself and stepped forward.

"May I ask, why have you all intruded upon our territory?"

Dozens of Sect Leaders standing in the sky turned their gaze toward him simultaneously.

"Spare us the nonsense. We are hunting a demon. You mortals need not interfere, or you shall bear the consequences," a Sect Leader said coldly.

"This... have you all requested permission from our Majesty?" the man asked again.

"Get lost!"

One of the Sect Leaders flicked a finger, striking and wounding the general, sending him reeling back.

"When we act, since when do we need anyone's permission?"