497: Chapter 514 Nowhere to Escape!!

"Holy crap, there's something nasty!"

Yuan Tu was startled, but the combat instincts accumulated over hundreds of years meant he didn't hesitate. Almost the moment he saw the person, he instinctively attacked.

A withered bone claw extended from his sleeve, clawing toward the person's face.

Although this strike was hasty, it was both swift and fast. If it landed, Yuan Tu was confident he could severely injure the opponent!

As for killing, he hadn't considered it; the fact that the opponent could appear here silently already explained everything.

Therefore, killing was not the goal; deterrence was.

It would be best to force the opponent back in one move, or at least let them know he wasn't a soft persimmon.

However, when the bone claw was three inches from the person's face, a simple, ancient-looking large bell appeared out of thin air beside him, and an invisible force field instantly enveloped him.

When the attack landed, it was like a clay ox entering the sea; it didn't stir up the slightest ripple, nor did it even make a sound.

"Look at you, getting impatient again!"

The person didn't show the slightest anger at being ambushed; he just tilted his head, his tone slightly mocking.

"Who exactly are you, Your Excellency?" Yuan Tu's voice was heavy as he stared at the large bell.

He was not an ignorant person; he could tell at a glance that this bell was an extraordinary treasure.

Being able to take his claw strike head-on without a scratch meant it was at least Peak Third Tier, perhaps even touching the threshold of Fourth Tier.

With this thing protecting him, it would be difficult for Yuan Tu to harm the person's true body.

Therefore, Yuan Tu did not hesitate in the slightest; his figure violently retreated, putting distance between himself and the opponent.

However, the person had no intention of pursuing him, nor did he answer Yuan Tu's question.

His gaze merely passed over Yuan Tu and landed on the corpse behind him.

That look was full of curiosity and scrutiny, as if confirming whether his property had been touched by anyone else.

Yuan Tu frowned and instinctively stepped aside by half a step, shielding the corpse behind him, his eyes watching the person with extreme vigilance.

Seeing his view blocked, the person retracted his gaze and curled his lips, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Don't be so nervous, I'm just looking!"

His tone was casual, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

This person was none other than Lu Ming!

His appearance here was no accident.

Ever since Soul-Devouring Demon Lord had been plotted against by him, and his descent body failed its Undergoing Tribulation and turned into a Dao Abomination, he had begun planning.

To him, this thing was the opportunity for a Breakthrough to Nascent Soul, so he had to get his hands on it.

But he couldn't just seize it by force; those five people all had Nascent Soul means at their disposal. If he went head-to-head, he would definitely be the one to suffer.

And Lu Ming was the type of person who would never stand out if he could avoid it; hiding in the shadows and shooting cold arrows was his style.

Therefore, he set up a trap, intending to make those five people turn on each other, so that at least for a short time, they wouldn't be able to pay attention to him, giving him a chance to fish in troubled waters.

And the golden book played a crucial role in this.

Lu Ming had intended to repeat his old trick, using the backlash transfer of the karma golden book to achieve this goal.

But the awkward part was that because Lu Ming had hidden himself so well, none of the five people remembered him, let alone harbored malice toward him.

So, to solve this problem, Lu Ming engaged in some fishing Law enforcement.

Thus, he mixed into the crowd and activated "The True Scripture of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Governing All Spirits," hooking out the dissatisfaction, jealousy, resentment, and unwillingness that those Cultivators had accumulated over the years toward the Inner Domain Grotto-Heavens, bit by bit.

Then, he ignited it and stoked the flames!

This was not mind control in the conventional sense, forcing those Cultivators to rush to their deaths; after all, all living beings have an instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm, and no one would willingly go to their deaths.

But Lu Ming merely amplified their emotions, letting them say the things they once dared not say and do the things they dared not do; that was all.

In a sense, Lu Ming had actually done a good deed, giving them a channel to voice their grievances.

Well, at least that was what Lu Ming thought.

As for how many of these people died, that was none of Lu Ming's business; in any case, his goal had already been achieved.

For on the karma golden book, the names of Yue Qingyao, Xuan Zhenzi, Hua Nongying, Yin Leici, and Yuan Tu were all brightly lit.

As for how he achieved this, it was very simple.

It was under Lu Ming's deliberate guidance, making the five of them feel angry and dissatisfied with the entire group of Cultivators.

And Lu Ming, mixed in the crowd, would naturally be caught in the crossfire, counted as part of the whole and thus resented, which was why he appeared on the golden book ranking list.

He had discovered this mechanism back in the Southern Wilderness Region at the Green Bamboo Market, when Zheng Tianming wanted to use a beast tide to attack the market.

Back then, Zheng Tianming wasn't targeting him, but the entire market, yet he still harbored malice toward him, and he ended up on the golden book.

That time, Lu Ming learned that sometimes one didn't need to be the bird that sticks its head out to attract fire and draw hatred.

Just like this time, the greatest concealment is to hide in the city; he hid in the crowd, using the entire group of Cultivators as cover. No one noticed his existence, yet he still achieved his plan.

And what followed was even easier to handle.

Using the hot-tempered Yin Leici as an entry point, he transferred all the backlash force onto him.

Then, by using infighting, suspicion, and doubt, he tore the fragile temporary Alliance relationship of these five people to shreds.

Finally, he even made Xuan Zhenzi and Yue Qingyao go up against Hua Nongying, with the few of them engaging in a slaughter.

Everything was proceeding according to Lu Ming's plan; if he had just a little more time, he could have stealthily completed the switch and stolen the Fourth Tier spiritual object transformed from the Dao Abomination.

But Lu Ming had calculated everything, except for one thing he hadn't foreseen.

That was, there was another person in the field who could "hide" just as well as he could.

Yuan Tu!

This guy had been lingering on the outside from the beginning, not attacking, not taking sides, even deliberately keeping his presence low.

While a group of people were fighting to the death, he stood by watching the show.

While a group of people were arguing until their faces turned red, he pretended not to hear.

By the time Yue Qingyao, Xuan Zhenzi, and Hua Nongying unleashed their Nascent Soul means and fought until heaven and earth cracked, Yuan Tu had already silently approached the corpse.

Using the concealment effect of the hunyuan bone bead, he had stolen the corpse without alerting anyone.

By the time Lu Ming arrived, he only saw a Void Realm crack about to close, and a blurry figure.

At that moment, Lu Ming laughed in anger.

So, all his hard work in setting up the plan had ended up being a wedding dress for this old thing.

Simply outrageous!

He wanted to chase after him immediately, but before leaving, he tilted his head to look at Yin Leici, who was lying in the pile of rubble.

This Dao Child of Zixiao Grotto-Heaven had cultivated his Lightning Dao Law to the extreme.

And he had long coveted this Law Origin.

Once he devoured it, his Hunyuan Dao Law would be further strengthened.

He had just been suffering from not having a chance to act.

But wasn't the opportunity right here now?

Adhering to the principle that a thief doesn't leave empty-handed, he knocked him out, packed him up, and took him away.

As for Yuan Tu wanting to run? Could he run?

Lu Ming was not panicked at all.

Although the hunyuan bone bead concealing the heavenly secrets did cause Lu Ming some trouble, as long as the opponent was on the golden book, they couldn't escape the palm of Lu Ming's hand.

Lu Ming repeated his old trick, selecting Yuan Tu's name on the golden book, grafting the opponent's Karma onto himself, and then divining his own Karma.

In this way, the opponent's whereabouts were exposed to him without a trace.

Then, with Yin Leici on his back, Lu Ming directly tore through the Void Realm to pursue him. Under the connection of Karma, he quickly found the opponent's trail.

However, this person was cautious enough, changing his route or altering his aura from time to time.

To prevent the opponent from slipping out of his control again, and to save time and effort, Lu Ming directly used a Karma secret technique recorded in the "Heavenly Mandate Fate-Altering Manual."

Using Yuan Tu as an anchor point and his own Karma as the lead, he tied a "dog chain" made of "Karma" to Yuan Tu.

In this way, no matter where the opponent went, Lu Ming would follow him like a shadow.

If the opponent was fast, Lu Ming would be fast; if the opponent was slow, Lu Ming would be slow.

As long as the opponent didn't cut this Karma dog chain, he would never escape from the palm of Lu Ming's hand.

However, it was clear that the opponent was not proficient in this Dao and couldn't see through Lu Ming's trick at all.

He also had no idea that he had been put on a dog chain.

Seeing that Lu Ming had no intention of attacking directly, Yuan Tu's eyes flickered slightly.

Immediately, the Void Realm above his head suddenly split open a thin, long opening, and black mist surged out from the crack, enveloping Yuan Tu.

His body quickly merged into the black mist, finally turning into nothingness and disappearing; not even a trace of aura remained in the field.

Lu Ming stood in the empty Void Turbulence and blinked.

He ran away without saying a word? This old ghost was quite decisive.

"However..."

Lu Ming retracted his gaze and turned to look at the "dog leash" woven from Karma threads in his hand.

At this moment, one end of the chain was held in Lu Ming's hand, while the other end submerged into the Void Realm, leading to some unknown direction.

Lu Ming pulled the chain; hmm, not bad, it was very sturdy.

As long as the chain was still there, that old ghost wouldn't be able to escape the palm of his hand even if he ran to the ends of the earth.

Just at this moment, a huge dragging force came from the other end of the chain.

Lu Ming did not resist, took a step forward following the force, and then his whole person was pulled into the Void Realm crack.

On the other side.

In the Void Turbulence, Yuan Tu was tearing through the Void Realm to travel.

His escape technique was very peculiar; it wasn't tearing through the Void Realm to pass directly, but turning into a mass of black mist to merge into the Void Realm cracks.

The black mist spread forward along the texture of the cracks, like mercury seeping into stone crevices, pervasive and silent.

This was the life-saving Divine Ability that Yuan Tu relied on for survival—Void Ghost Evasion.

Transforming his body into mist and sneaking through Void Realm cracks, it was extremely fast and extremely difficult to track.

Yuan Tu had cultivated this technique for many years and had long since reached perfection.

He was confident that among all the Golden Core Cultivators in the entire Profound Spirit Domain, no more than five people could surpass him in escape techniques.

In any case, that green-robed person who popped out of nowhere was definitely not among them.

After several more Void Realm traversals, Yuan Tu removed his Void Ghost Evasion and landed on a barren ridge.

He did not get careless because of this; instead, he urged the black mist of the hunyuan bone bead to surge out, covering him tightly from head to toe.

Immediately afterwards, he took out a jade talisman and crushed it; the jade talisman transformed into a transparent film that covered his body, which could isolate his aura, blind Divine Sense, and interfere with the deduction of heavenly secrets.

After doing all this, he looked around and confirmed that there was nothing unusual, then let out a long breath of turbid air.

Although he hadn't fought with that green-robed person, the pressure he gave him was too great.

The opponent's aura was unfathomable, sometimes far, sometimes near, flickering in and out of existence; even though he was clearly standing right there, if he closed his eyes, he couldn't feel anything.

Rather than having a direct conflict with such a person, it was better to just run away and not give him a chance to attack.

Yuan Tu touched the corpse behind him; hmm, still there!

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

That green-robed person must still be standing there in a daze, right?

"Heh, standing there not saying anything, pretending to be an expert; now you're foolish, aren't you!"

He laughed in a low voice and was about to turn around to continue his journey.

But just at this moment, "Hullo!"

A ghostly voice came from behind him, very close, so close that it sounded like someone was whispering right against the back of his head.

Yuan Tu shuddered all over but didn't turn around.

Black mist exploded from his body again, and his body instantly turned into a mass of void mist, merging into a Void Realm crack.

The speed of Void Ghost Evasion was pushed to the limit; Void Realm cracks within a radius of dozens of miles were as dense as a spider web, and his consciousness shuttled through them, traveling a thousand miles in an instant.

The place where he appeared was a desolate plain with withered grass, gravel, and dim sky light.

But before Yuan Tu could catch his breath, that voice sounded again.

"You run quite fast!"

This time it came from his left, still so close, and still so casual.

Yuan Tu's eyelids were twitching wildly; he remained silent and used Void Ghost Evasion again.

This time it was faster, further, and more hidden.

He shuttled aimlessly through the Void Realm, not even knowing where he had arrived.

"Surely I should be able to shake that guy off this time!"

When Yuan Tu appeared again, it was in a swamp with rotting mud, blackened dead wood, and foul-smelling pools.

He waited for a few breaths in place, and confirming that the voice did not sound, Yuan Tu finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Immediately, he prepared to leave this land of trouble and find a quiet place to go into seclusion and Cultivate.

As long as he waited until he achieved a Breakthrough to Nascent Soul True Monarch, then all troubles would be solved!

But when he turned around, Yuan Tu's face finally turned pale.

He saw a green-robed figure standing quietly behind him.

He stood with his hands behind his back, watching Yuan Tu with a smiling face, his eyes filled with an indescribable, playful meaning.

Yuan Tu was silent; this time he didn't even think about running.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he knew he couldn't escape.

That person being able to catch up to him once might be a coincidence, twice might be an accident.

But three or four times meant it wasn't that his escape technique wasn't fast enough, but that the opponent's methods were too brilliant.

No matter where he ran, that person would appear beside him.

Following like a shadow, never leaving.

He simply couldn't escape.

Since that was the case, there was no need to run!

He turned around and began to carefully examine the green-robed person in front of him.

Yuan Tu looked at that face and suddenly felt it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember for a moment where he had seen it.

"Fellow Daoist, have we met?"

Although his voice was a question, it was very certain.

Hearing this, Lu Ming raised an eyebrow.

Of course they had met, and it was not long ago.

When he had just exited the trial, he was trapped in the same Restriction with those five people and had even crossed paths.

However, at that time, everyone's attention was entirely attracted by the movement of the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's descent body breaking through to Nascent Soul.

Subsequently, coupled with his deliberate lowering of his presence, and later using the Karma technique to wipe his own presence clean, those five people naturally forgot him after one look.

Now that he was not hiding his image, the opponent's memory, which had been blocked by the Karma technique, was reviving; it was not surprising that he could recognize him.