Chapter 574: Misleading the Enemy

Shang Xia didn’t expect them to possess such a strange secret art.

He no longer intentionally erased his tracks after leaving their range of perception and they quickly caught signs of it.

“This person’s aura is a little strange. He’s obviously at the grand completion stage like us, but it seems unusually weak…” Zhui Fengzi asked.

A snort left Chen Yuanzi’s lips. “What’s strange about that? If either of us caused such a disturbance, do you think we’ll have a lot of energy left?”

After he spoke, he continued to track Shang Xia down.

Zhui Fengzi still felt something off about the aura but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Helpless, he could only shake his head and follow his fellow comrade.

Shang Xia didn’t know that he was being hunted down. Even though he heard Chen Yuanzi’s yell earlier, he felt that there was no possibility of them locating him as he had left the range of their divine perception. As such, his flying speed slowed and he let his guard down.

He had been focusing on the change within himself at the moment. A transformation seemed to happen earlier when he started to circulate his Four Seasons Samsara Art after using up a huge portion of his inner qi.

As soon as he recovered the first traces of his inner qi, Shang Xia discovered that his extermination origins were rapidly being refined.

He understood that what he was experiencing was extremely hard to come by and it could be said to be a super lucky encounter.

Ordinarily, cultivators would find it really easy to refine their extermination origins during the initial phase, but it would get harder and harder as they progressed. The refinement of their first extermination origin would be the easiest and the difficulty would increase as they refined more of them.

Shang Xia discovered that his situation seemed to be the complete opposite. He was placed in an extremely precarious situation when he first started to refine his extermination origins. When he finally completed the initial phase of refining his extermination origins, his cultivation proceeded rather smoothly.

Refining his extermination origins to him was the same as building his accumulations. The greater the degree of refinement, the easier it would be for him to continue. That was also why Shang Xia’s cultivation speed was increasing the further he traveled down the path.

Of course, refining his extermination origins was one thing, recovering his inner qi was another. The process of recovery only allowed him to notice the changes that were happening in his dantian.

When he successfully completed the refinement process of his extermination origins, they would fuse and become a single entity. He could use it to strengthen and supplement his source energy in his dantian while remaining independent.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

To use an example, the source energy in his dantian was the roots while his extermination origins were the branches. Using up all the energy in the branches was like shaping the branches of a tree. As long as the roots of the tree remained to suck up enough energy, the branches would be able to regrow. The only problem was the time it would take.

However, if the roots were to suffer catastrophic damage, the entire tree would be affected.

Shang Xia grasped the chance that arrived and tried to complete the final portion of his extermination origins refinement. Using them, he would be able to strengthen his dantian, which was equivalent to him toughening his roots. With stronger roots, he would be able to restore more energy, allowing him to recover much quicker than before.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia’s luck ran out really quickly. He felt 2 terrifying auras charging into the range of his divine perception as they shot in his direction at high speeds.

Snapping awake immediately, Shang Xia immediately recognized the presence flying his way.

Even though he didn’t know how they managed to track him down, he knew that he would be in serious trouble if they caught up to him. In his current state, death would be a blessing he might not receive.

Making his decision instantaneously, Shang Xia didn’t retain any inner qi he recovered. Using them, he ran with all his might.

When he flew previously, his extermination origins would cycle under his feet, allowing him to reach high speeds without consuming too much energy. Now, they seemed to fuse together, increasing his speed even further. In an instant, he seemed to disappear from his original spot, leaving behind a blurry figure that started to fade.

Shang Xia held 3 Paper Figure Talismans in his hand and sent a trace of his divine perception into each of them. After traveling some distance, he tossed all of them out and 3 figures fled in 3 different directions.

When Zhui Fengzi and Chen Yuanzi entered the range of Shang Xia’s divine perception, they also discovered his presence.

Too bad for them, they didn’t expect Shang Xia to be so decisive in his actions. They didn’t push themselves to their limits and by the time they reacted, Shagn Xia’s aura disappeared.

Glancing at each other, they quickly increased their speed as they ran in the direction they last felt his aura. Despite their actions, they didn’t discover Shang Xia’s aura again.

Due to the large spatial fluctuations caused by Shang Xia’s sudden burst of speed, the 2 of them were able to confirm the direction he ran in. However, Zhui Fengzi discovered a problem. “That’s weird… Why is there only a single person?”

Throughout their pursuit, they only discovered traces of a single expert. They deduced that there had to be a huge group of experts who attacked their island earlier, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“All the more we can’t let him escape them!” Chen Yuanzi growled. He adapted to the situation really quickly and he didn’t hesitate to use his secret art again. Opening his mouth, a loud roar started to spread in the direction Shang Xia had run. “You can’t escape!”

In order to find traces of the people who attacked their island back then, Chen Yuanzi had to widen his search radius and look in all directions.

This time, they grasped Shang Xia’s approximate direction and the sound wave could be concentrated there. The range of his secret art increased significantly.

However, what he discovered shocked him. He felt different auras flying in different directions.

“Illusion art?” Chen Yuanzi’s expression sank. However, he quickly corrected himself. “No! It’s some sort of substitution art!”

They quickly arrived at the spot where Shang Xia tossed out his talismans. They discovered the appearance of 3 new auras and their heads started to hurt.

They understood that even though the distraction would only last for a short period of time and would eventually run out of power and disappear. However, they could also try to catch up to one to try to understand the situation.

However, if they chose the wrong path to take, the time taken for them to locate the distraction would allow the perpetrator to disappear.

“There are 3 tracks here. We’ll choose 2 of them. The probability of running into the real one is still pretty high. Let's split up and try our luck!” Zhui Fengzi knew that Chen Yuanzi paid a huge price to track the culprit down and wouldn’t give up now that they were so close. He quickly gave his suggestion.

They disappeared the next instant as they raced after the distraction. In several short breaths of time, they traveled really far away.

Unfortunately, their expression sank when they finally discovered the end of the tracks. It seemed as though luck wasn’t on their side.

Unwilling to give up, Chen Yuanzi wanted to unleash his secret art a third time after he regrouped with Zhui Fengzi. By this time, Zhui Fengzi no longer had the urge to capture the culprit and he thought of several ways to persuade Chen Yuanzi to give up the chase. A light flashed in his eyes as he discovered a ray of spiritual light behind him.”

Chen Yuanzi seemed to notice it as well and he turned to stare in the same direction. They saw a streak of light flying at the 2 of them as it contained a secret transmission.

Grabbing it, Zhui Fengzi scanned through its contents before handing it over to Chen Yuanzi. A bitter smile appeared on his face. “Let’s return. We have to limit the loss we suffered before dealing with anything else.”

Chen Yuanzi’s expression sank and he failed to control his anger. “A bunch of useless fools! They can’t even deal with something like this!”

“We can’t blame them. All 3 of our Formation Grandmasters suffered serious internal injuries. The grand formation was also greatly damaged. It won’t be easy for the Northern Sea Island to correct its course.” Zhui Fengzi sighed.

Hatred flashed in Chen Yuanzi’s eyes and he spat, “I might not know who that asshole was, but he won’t be able to fake his aura! The next time we meet, I’ll recognize him for sure!”