Chapter 38: The Escape Route

  "Ah!!!!" Tang Yan let out a loud roar, the dark blue flames surged again, and with one step, the fierce flames churned, his right eye gathered a thick, evil glow, and from it, a blood-red doll's eerie shadow crawled out, surrounded by the shadows of demonic beasts like the Earth Ox.

  The eyes of extinction burst out with a pitch-black evil light, piercing through all things with a terrifying power that shot across the sky, and in the same instant it pierced two powerful martial artists, it traversed nearly a thousand meters, charging towards that Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile that was crawling down from the mountain top!

  "ROAR!!" The Ice Crystal Crocodile let out a deafening bellow, clearly enraged by this sudden attack. The Extinction Eye had been infused with powerful energy from the Blood Doll, and its might was truly astonishing, but having traversed nearly a thousand kilometers, what remained of its power was not great, and certainly not enough to harm the Ice Crystal Crocodile. What truly incited the beast's fury was this direct provocation! And the evil power it contained!!

  After a loud roar, the Ice Crystal Crocodile rushed towards this battlefield, its massive body causing the ground to tremble. The surrounding trees crashed down, and the already frightened demonic beasts fled in succession, with a considerable number of them charging towards Tang Yan's location.

  The battlefield suddenly solidified, and everyone stared at the 'Inferno' in shock. The sudden explosion that had just occurred contained a destructive power and an evil aura that made them feel a chill to the bone. The two martial artists who were pierced through their abdomen were still in shock, desperately stimulating their spiritual energy to heal their wounds while cautiously retreating backwards.

  Tang Yan's dantian, which had been turbulent with waves of energy, quickly returned to calmness. The blood doll was enveloped in a golden striped aura and burst forth with powerful tearing force, slowly pulling it into the depths of the dantian. As it was about to be completely submerged, it raised its resentful eyes and gazed sideways at mid-air: "Little guy, remember that Old Ancestor saved you once today, this is the only time in my life I've ever saved someone. If you don't repay me tenfold in the future, I'll explode your dantian!"

  Tang Yan panted heavily, his body trembling slightly, the blue flames on him quickly receding to reveal a pale and sallow complexion, as if he had lost a lot of weight in an instant. He stumbled and staggered a few times before falling headfirst onto the ground.

  Ailinda killed again, before Tang Yan fell down, she pulled him back and threw him on her back, rushing towards the dense forest.

  Zhou Lingluo and others woke up from their trance, looking at each other in dismay, still somewhat frightened, as if that evil aura had affected their minds. However, the crowd quickly recovered and launched another pursuit.

  ROAR!!! The furious roar shook the dense forest, and the ice crystal crocodile's massive body was extremely fast, just like a speeding train crushing over. In front of it, there were many frightened second- and third-level demon beasts rushing towards here, including some fourth-level demon beasts.

  Ailin had never been so crazy as she was today, with such a thrilling and terrifying experience. She fled desperately amidst the dense pack of ferocious beasts, gazing at one grotesque face after another, their fearful forms, and the brutal aura that surrounded them. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her throat, and her nape sent shivers down her spine from time to time.

  "Don't be afraid of them, spread out your aura and rush to the Ice Crystal Crocodile at full speed." Tang Yan was exhausted and could only temporarily lie on Ailinda's body, silently circulating the Undead Heavenly Technique to recover his physical strength and energy.

  Aileen quietly gasped, her expression suddenly fierce, and with a swift swing of the icy blue sword, she instantly killed a second-level demon beast that was charging towards her. The scarlet blood and mangled corpse had a very good deterrent effect, causing many large demon beasts that were about to rush over in panic to slightly change direction.

  Zhou Lingluo and others chased with all their might, but were defeated by these rioting demons, even some people who tried to chase from the top of the tree crown were disturbed by some flying demons that flew over.

  The chaos played an excellent blocking role, and in a short moment, Airda carried Tang Yan out of the demon beast group and appeared in front of the Ice Crystal Crocodile, but they didn't have the guts to follow this kind of brutal creature.

  "Turn turn turn!!" Tang Yan was so anxious he almost jumped up.

  "Don't remind me!" Elinda, who was running wildly, suddenly turned sharply and almost rubbed against the body of the ice crystal terror crocodile, rushing into the dense forest beside her. In this instant, they even felt the cold chill of the terror crocodile's scales.

  The ice crystal crocodile continued to rampage, ignoring Tang Yan and Ailinda's existence, focusing its attacks on Zhou Lingluo and others. In its simple mind, Tang Yan was just a small fly, only someone of Zhou Lingluo's level would dare provoke it, so... strike!!

  "Disperse!!" Having learned from the lesson of the four-winged snake, Zhou Lingluo gave an early order, and the team quickly dispersed in all directions to escape, far away from the range of the ice crystal crocodile's anger. After sending out a signal to gather again to pursue Tang Yan, however...the two people were nowhere to be found!

  "Don't stop! Keep running!" Tang Yan urged Eryndor while keeping an eye on the pursuing soldiers and the chaotic battlefield of the Wu Wang class in the distance. He was worried about Tang Qiang's situation, after all, Zhou Ling Wang was too sinister, and it was a joint effort by the three major Wu Wangs. Even if Tang Qiang was strong, it would be difficult to resist.

  Ailin carried Tang Yan on her back and ran for seven or eight hours, rushing left and right in the dense forest, without knowing where she had arrived, until the night retreated and the sky gradually brightened, and she almost fell to the ground due to exhaustion.

  "You rest first, I'll go get some food." Tang Yan had basically recovered, and the not-so-serious injury was already healed halfway by the 'Life Mist', but the sudden assistance from the Blood Doll seemed to have absorbed a large amount of vital energy, his face was still pale and frightening, with dull skin that lacked luster.

  "Don't go too far, come back soon." Eriinda sat cross-legged among the treetops, silently circulating her spiritual energy to recover her physical strength.

  Soon after, the sound of furious beasts and mournful wails came from nearby. Everything quickly returned to silence. After more than a dozen minutes, the same sounds came again from a slightly farther place, only this time they lasted a little longer, accompanied by intense fighting.

  About two hours later, when Ailin had finished turning ten big cycles and basically calmed down the chaotic air, Tang Yan stumbled back with a wounded and floating pace.

  Ailinda came down from the tree: "What have you done with the prey? How did it get hurt like this?"

  "Two third-level demon beast spirit liquids, hurry up and refine them, they will help you recover a bit." Tang Yan weakly leaned against the tree root and sat down, casually tossing two spirit liquids to Ailinda, swallowing one himself, and began to meditate and absorb.

  "Huh?" Eriol was visibly startled, staring intently at the liquid drop in her hand that emitted a rich spiritual energy. She vaguely recalled the scene when she was kissed by Tang Yan in the valley that day, and it seemed like something had been sent into her mouth back then. Was it this thing?

  What's Lingyuan Liquid? Where did you get it from? I've never heard of this thing before.

  Looking at Tang Yan's focused and meditative state, Ailinda felt increasingly drawn to his mysterious aura, almost completely overturning her previous impression of this charming playboy. Feeling the intense spiritual energy of the two drops of Lingyuan liquid, Ailinda no longer hesitated, swallowing them whole and beginning to refine them. Her previously dry meridians quickly filled up, and the recovery of her wounds accelerated.

  The sky gradually darkened, and after refining the Spiritual Source Liquid and calming their minds for a while, Tang Ye and Ailin awakened one after another.

  "May I ask a question?" Elinda looked at Tang Yan with a complex gaze.

  "It's still the same sentence, when you enter the Tang family gate, I will tell you everything."

  Ailinda rolled her eyes: "Consider me as not having asked."

  "I remember you have a map of the psychedelic forest, where are we approximately now?"

  "The map is lost, but I can roughly guess the range. It should be... still within the inner circle of the Mystic Forest, closer to the Divine Spring Town. If I'm not mistaken, this area should be where the demonic beasts are more concentrated. For us, it's both advantageous and disadvantageous. We can create chaos at any time and evade the enemy's pursuit, but we don't know when we'll become food for the demonic beasts." Elinda leaned lightly against the tree trunk, her azure eyes gazing at the curved moon in the sky, her expression gradually becoming dazed.

  Looking back on the events of this period, it's as if I've been through a nightmare, getting entangled in a confusing plot, repeatedly pursued by enemies, and now it seems like I'm being swept into an even bigger whirlpool, forced to flee into the forest.

  Ailing would rather have died in the chaos at first, rather than knowing that the mastermind behind it was Zhou Ling Wang. It's better than now dodging and hiding, clearly knowing who the murderer is but not daring to speak out of turn, and possibly already being framed by the other party for some crime.

  Noticing Eilinda's worry and loss, Tang Yan suddenly said: "I have a proposal, want to hear it?"

  "What proposal?"

  Tang Yan leaned in towards Erynda, a sly smile spreading across his face: "Or... why don't we just settle down in this forest? Get married, have a kid? Wouldn't that be carefree and wonderful? Professor Erynda, you should know my heart, I swear to cherish and love you well."

  Ailinda stomped her foot and said with a blush: "Can't you be serious for once?"

  "Haha, don't get excited, just kidding, liven up the atmosphere. Don't look so gloomy, come what may, we'll deal with it. Zhou Ling Wang can't possibly frame us for anything, the most likely outcome is that he'll announce to the outside world that they were ambushed, the team suffered heavy casualties, and even he himself was seriously injured. You, me, Du Yang, and Tang Ying will all be listed as missing in the chaos, and as for Tang Qiong... she should also be included on the list of those who met with disaster."

  "But can we really go back? Once we return, Zhou Ling Wang will definitely not let us off! Even if you tell your grandfather about this matter, he won't dare to act blindly and might even force you to forget about it. After all, in the Northern Wilderness... Zhou Ling Wang has absolute power, and we don't have any solid evidence."

  "If we go back to Giant Elephant City, Zhou Ling Wang will probably try every means to get rid of us, but he doesn't dare to kill people openly. As long as we are careful, maybe we can find a way to foil his conspiracy."

  "I don't ask for much, I just want to go back to the calm of before." Eriinda was a bit dazed, from being a commoner's child who struggled to grow up to now, she had paid too much hardship, and finally obtained the position of mentor, really didn't want to lose it like this.

  "Erlinda mentor, how long have you broken through to Wu Zong until now?"

  "It's been one year and five months."

  "Has the border been solidified?"

  "It's been half a year since it was completely solidified, why are you asking this?"

  Tang Yan hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said: "You accompany me for two months, I'll help you break through to the second stage!"