Chapter 2849 Wolves in Front, Tigers behind

“Ambush!”

Just one word, yet it thundered across the heavens. A heartbeat later, the world fell silent. Even the void seemed to freeze, leaving only that word reverberating endlessly through the air. Wang Juehuan and the others’ pupils shrank, their expressions tightening.

“Kill!”

Before Wang Juehuan could even give an order, the Zhongli Clan experts had already sprung into action. Treasures flared, dao arts blazed, and torrents of divine power surged toward the depths of the ravine.

In an instant, the mountains convulsed and the ravines collapsed with a deafening roar. Smoke and dust blanketed the land as a crater ten thousand feet wide was blasted into existence. The heaven shuddered and the earth split apart.

Unfortunately, when the dust cleared, not a trace of the enemy remained. Then, in the far distance, a lone figure appeared. It was Li Zhen.

In one hand, he held a severed head dripping with blood. In the other, a black blade shimmered coldly in the light. His towering figure stood like a war god beneath the heavens, silent and unstoppable.

The sight of the head made the Zhongli Clan cultivators’ faces twist in fury. The slain man was one of their clan, and a pinnacle Nirvana Spirit expert who had charged into the ravine moments ago.

Li Zhen’s cold voice rolled across the land. “So, the Ten Immortal Giants wish to stand against my Origin Sect? Very well, I’ll remember this and I’ll settle accounts with each of your clans, one by one.” He turned and strode away.

“After him!” The Zhongli Clan cultivators rushed forward.

“Chase!” Wang Juehuan roared, his killing intent erupting like a storm. He had watched a comrade die before his very eyes.

Then, a deep rumble tore through the sky. Above them, the heavens seemed to split apart. A colossal rift of time and space opened, spanning ten thousand feet, its depths swirling with terrifying power of time. It was as if the gate of hell had opened above the mountains. The vast portal hung in the sky, covering the land beneath it for thousands of miles.

Wang Juehuan and the others’ expressions changed drastically. They could not discern what divine art this was, but there was no doubt that it was the power of the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer.

“Activate your treasure! Escape this area now!” Wang Juehuan’s voice was sharp but steady. He swiftly retreated as the portal began to descend.

Rumble!

The ten-thousand-foot wide portal crashed downward like a collapsing firmament, releasing an unimaginable devouring force. Mountains and rivers were torn from the earth, drawn upward like drifting leaves. The land cracked and massive slabs of stone and soil were pulled into the roaring vortex.

Wang Juehuan and others, caught in the heart of the storm, felt the terrifying devouring force wrenching their bodies out of control.

“Open!”

“Rise!”

“Press forward!”

They roared in unison, unleashing the full might of their cultivation. Divine brilliance surged from their bodies as they summoned their secret treasures in a desperate struggle to resist. The secret treasures blazed with lights of every hue, dazzling and resplendent, and actually resisted the devouring force of the portal!

Meanwhile, Wang Juehuan and several top experts seized the moment and rapidly retreated into the distance.

Rumble!

Heaven and earth quaked in upheaval, wind howled, clouds roiled and sand and stone tore through the air. From afar, the ten-thousand-foot spacetime portal resembled a vast, blood-red maw devouring the land below. Although it sounded slow, in truth it all unfolded in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

The moment the spacetime portal descended, the earth buckled and caved in like fragile paper...hundreds of feet, then thousands...

Gripping the Time Space Lightning Pearl, Wang Juehuan stood tall and spear-straight, bathed in its ghostly blue light. He stood with an expression that was as dark as storm clouds.

Only eleven others had escaped this disaster like him. The remaining seven, too slow to flee, were swallowed whole by the space-time portal! Even after activating their secret treasures meant to resist the power of time, they were swallowed without a trace.

The spacetime portal had erupted too suddenly, spanning thousands of feet in every direction. Within that range, their bodies were restrained and bound by invisible temporal power. Every movement felt like struggling through quicksand. Before they could even move, they were consumed... Then, as abruptly as it had appeared, the portal vanished.

Wang Juehuan and the other survivors stood pale and livid. In just a few blinks of an eye, disaster had struck. How could they not tremble with rage and disbelief?

“Come out!” Wang Juehuan roared, his pine-grained ancient sword sweeping upward in a diagonal arc.

The distant void split apart. From within it, a figure emerged like lightning. It was none other than Lin Xun.

“What a pity,” Lin Xun sighed. “I couldn’t send you off together.”

“Lin Xun!”

Wang Juehuan and the others erupted in fury. Their eyes burned crimson, murderous intent boiling over as they tore through the void to strike.

Lin Xun and Li Zhen exchanged a glance, then turned and fled. This was not the moment to act tough. From the previous battle, Lin Xun had already realized that his enemies had come fully prepared, armed with secret treasures capable of resisting the power of time.

In this situation, even the power of Time Stopping, the Blade of Time, or the Gate of Exile would be of little use. It would be unwise to stay and fight head-on now.

Earlier, when he fought Jing Ying and her group, he had already activated Time Stopping, and moments ago, he had poured all his strength into summoning the Gate of Exile, unleashing it across ten thousand feet of sky and earth. Now, half his cultivation had been drained.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Even with Li Zhen’s support, if they were locked in a fierce battle, anything could happen. Furthermore, Lin Xun had no doubt that the participants from the Ten Immortal Giants would be armed with lethal trump cards and hidden killing moves. Given the circumstances, retreat was clearly the wisest choice.

The Immortal Dao Battle would last for ten years. There would be plenty of opportunities to hunt them down and eliminate them one by one. There was no need to gamble his life in a head-on clash now.

Shua! Shua!

In the void, Lin Xun and Li Zhen moved like twin streaks of lightning, each leap spanning thousands of feet, their figures flickering in and out of sight. Unfortunately, the pursuers behind them were relentless. The distance never widened.

“That boy has burned through his strength by using his innate powers too often. He’s on the verge of collapse. Whatever it takes, we must bring him down this time.” Wang Juehuan’s expression was ice-cold.

The disaster that befell Jing Ying’s group wasn’t his fault. However, the earlier setback was a responsibility he could not escape. He had come fully prepared and thought through every possibility, but Lin Xun had still caught him off guard. It wasn’t the Time Stopping or the Blade of Time, but a terrifying divine power utterly beyond his knowledge or expectation.

It was this divine power that struck him unprepared. Even now, the memory of that scene left Wang Juehuan’s heart shadowed with unease. A spacetime portal capable of swallowing mountains and rivers within a radius of thousands of feet...that terrifying power far surpassed even the Omega Lord’s Blade of Time!

However, Wang Juehuan had also noticed that the power came at a cost. Lin Xun had clearly burned through an immense amount of energy to unleash it.

“Go!”

While giving chase, Wang Juehuan spat out a cold beam of light. A flying blade instantly vanished into the void. This was the Fate Slaying Flying Blade! In the blink of an eye, it reappeared thousands of miles ahead, screaming toward Lin Xun’s head.

Far ahead, Lin Xun’s heart jolted and his eyelids twitched. Without hesitation, he summoned the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron, blocking the attack just as the blade arrived.

Clang!

The Fate Slaying Flying Blade slammed into the cauldron and sparks cascaded like a storm of divine light. Lin Xun’s blood and qi churned violently. The sheer force behind that strike sent tremors through him.

“Slash!”

“Slash!”

“Slash!”

Missing once didn’t faze Wang Juehuan. He continued to unleash the Fate Slaying Flying Blade in a relentless barrage. He cared little for precision, his aim was to restrain Lin Xun’s movements.

Clang! Clang! Clang!!

Each clash boomed like the heavens shattering. Every strike carried terrifying power, yet the sword cauldron absorbed them all. Unfortunately, the bombardment still slowed Lin Xun’s movements.

Seeing this, Wang Juehuan and the others brightened, their spirits lifted.

Shua!

As the Fate Slaying Flying Blade came slashing once again, a dao sword suddenly shot forth from the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron, slashing through the void with peerless might.

Crack!

A sharp crack rang out. The Fate Slaying Flying Blade splintered and was blasted backward through the void. The recoil struck Wang Juehuan hard. A line of blood traced down his lips, and disbelief flashed in his eyes.

The Fate Slaying Flying Blade was one of the Wang Clan’s ancestral treasures, forged from tens of thousands of supreme divine materials. It was regarded as one of the finest immortal dao weapons in existence. Its fearsome reputation echoed throughout the Eighth Heaven Domain.

Now, in a direct clash, even this treasure had cracked!

“The sword cauldron in that guy’s hand is too powerful...” Wang Juehuan’s face turned ashen. He didn’t dare to unleash the blade again, fearing that one more clash might destroy it completely. However, watching Lin Xun and Li Zhen widen the distance, his heart twisted with frustration.

At this moment, in the distant heavens, a blinding brilliance erupted. Boundless Buddha light spilled across heaven and earth, illuminating the mountains and rivers.

“Zen Sect participants!” someone exclaimed.

“They must have come to kill Lin Xun!”

“Hah! That boy’s doomed now!” The crowd stirred with anticipation.

Only Wang Juehuan frowned, bitterness and unwillingness flickering in his eyes. This hunt for Lin Xun should have been his glory to claim. Now, the participants from the Zen Sect Ancestral Court had stepped in to snatch the kill. How could the proud Wang Juehuan not feel a surge of bitter resentment?

At the same time, Lin Xun and Li Zhen came to an abrupt halt, their brows knitting tightly. In the distance, amidst the boundless flood of Buddha light, four radiant figures stood tall. Each one like a living Buddha, their bodies blazing with sacred brilliance that blanketed heaven and earth, and their might immeasurable.

Looking closer, they were none other than the Zen Sect participants: Buddha Master Ku Xuan, Buddha Master Ku Ji, Buddha Master Jue Wen, and Buddha Master Jue Zhen.

“Since when did the Zen Sect stoop to preying on the wounded?” Li Zhen’s expression turned grim.

“The Immortal Dao Battle is a contest between the Four Great Ancestral Courts. Why such agitation, Fellow Daoist Li Zhen? Could it be that you lack confidence in your own strength?”

The leading figure, Buddha Master Ku Xuan, stood serene and unshakable. As his words faded, the other Buddha Masters advanced step by step from the far horizon, their auras vast enough to blanket heaven and earth. They seemed like four divine mountains wreathed in Buddha light, moving across the sky to seal Lin Xun’s path.

Behind them, Wang Juehuan and the others were rapidly closing in. At that moment, Lin Xun’s gaze turned cold. He and Li Zhen descended onto a towering peak.

“Elder,” he said calmly, “leave the rest to me.”