Chapter 41
Taking the long path out, Xiang Shaoyun conveniently picked the golden flood snake flower as he left, along with several other old medicines. When he finally returned to where Little White was, he found that Little White's beast aura was already converging. Furthermore, Little White had a ferociousness that terrified people. Even Xiang Shaoyun found it hard to withstand.
"Little White, if you're able to suppress the power of the demonic core, please do so! The king kong giant ape is coming! If it senses our presence, we'll have to leave at once," Xiang Shaoyun urgently pleaded Little White.
Little White understood what Xiang Shaoyun was saying. Almost at once, he retracted all his beast aura and shrunk in size, returning to his cute form.
"Let's go!" Xiang Shaoyun waited for Little White to leap onto his shoulder before escaping without a second thought. As he swiftly made his escape, he picked all the blood mushrooms on the way, not leaving a single one in the cave. In the past, he would not have cared one bit for these low-grade goods. Now, however, every single one of them was a great harvest. He had learned how to treasure every single item he came across. After plucking all the mushrooms, he and Little White exited the cave from where they had entered.
After exiting the cave, they started descending the mountain. However, Xiang Shaoyun had not run far when he felt an immense pressure at his back.
"Roar! Roar!"
It was the roar of the king kong giant ape! It had actually caught up to him by circling the whole way around!
"This can't be! It's actually caught up to us already?!" Xiang Shaoyun cried out in despair.
A Great Demon beast was comparable to a human Transformation Realm expert, an existence Xiang Shaoyun could not hope to contend with. That giant ape had probably sent even all the members of the Mad Lion Hunting Group running, much less him, who had just entered the Astral Realm!
The king kong giant ape was surprisingly agile, closing the gap between the two of them with just a few leaps. Xiang Shaoyun's heart was full of unwillingness. In that very moment, he thought to himself, I'm done for now! How can this young master die in the very prime of youth?
Just as Xiang Shaoyun was readying himself to meet his maker, several people leaped out of the bushes nearby and came rus.h.i.+ng over to the king kong giant ape.
"King kong giant ape, go to h.e.l.l!" The person leading the charge was none other than the leader of the group, Mad Lion himself.
It seemed that a victor had yet to be decided between the king kong giant ape and the Mad Lion Hunting Group, with neither side gaining a noticeable advantage. Aside from Mad Lion himself, several other vice-captains of the Mad Lion Hunting Group
To Transformation Realm experts such as them, the Earth Star Spring would not aid them in increasing their combat power. However, it did have the ability to cleanse their systems, which was why it was so highly sought after.
Most importantly, if they managed to get ahold of the Earth Star Spring, it would provide them a huge boost in training their successors. Aside from the Earth Star Spring, it was rumoured that a top-tier spirit medicine was growing in the king kong giant ape's territory, a piece of news that left all of them reeling.
Since that was the case, they were all prepared to fight the king kong giant ape to the very end. Xiang Shaoyun took the opportunity to escape as fast as he possibly could.
"Stop that brat! He must've gotten ahold of the spirit medicine! Otherwise, why would the king kong giant ape chase him so furiously?" Mad Lion's roar alerted his subordinates of Xiang Shaoyun.
"d.a.m.ned old man!" Xiang Shaoyun cursed to himself.
Overlord's Nine Nether Steps!
With the explosive growth of Xiang Shaoyun's overall power, the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps could now display a sliver of its full potential. Top-tier movement techniques such as this one would usually be unravelled more and more as its user's strength correspondingly increased.
In the past, Xiang Shaoyun was a mere Basic Realm cultivator. Now that he had reached the Astral Realm, the Astral Energy in his body flowed endlessly out of his natal chart, substantially strengthening his legs. Like a gale of wind, he dashed to a place no one was blocking.
"Chase after that brat!" Although Mad Lion had been heavily injured in his exchange with the king kong giant ape, he still had numerous people by his side.
All of them rushed straight for Xiang Shaoyun, each of them riding a demonic beast. Thankfully for Xiang Shaoyun, he had already opened up a considerable distance between himself and his pursuers. Otherwise, they would've captured him long ago.
Seeing Xiang Shaoyun get faster the more they chased him, one of the men could not help but leap off his mount and rush towards Xiang Shaoyun. This was a late Astral Realm expert; hence, chasing him by foot was actually faster than riding a mount.
"It's the brat that killed Li Hui! Looks like I'll have the chance to avenge him!" the late Astral Realm expert muttered to himself, a savage glint in his eye.
"Brat, you can't escape!" This particular pursuer was indeed quick. After he yelled at Xiang Shaoyun, he drew a long spear and flung it straight at him.
Seeing all that was happening, Little White frantically yelped as he tried to warn Xiang Shaoyun. Xiang Shaoyun understood what Little White was trying to tell him and leaped to the right, dangerously avoiding the oncoming spear.
However, the dodge forced Xiang Shaoyun to tumble in an awkward direction, significantly affecting his speed. The Astral Realm expert behind him was now merely 50 meters from him!
"Dammit! I need more power! I'm still not strong enough!" Xiang Shaoyun bitterly smiled to himself.
Simultaneously, he began expending all the energy he possibly could, revolving the Heaven Conquering Overlord Manual to its very limit. His nine stars began to glow as his speed increased once again. The moment his pursuer thought he had caught the brat, he found that Xiang Shaoyun's speed had increased yet again!
This brat really is strange! He is only a first-stage Astral Realm cultivator, but his speed is comparable to that of a third-stage or even a fourth-stage cultivator! the Astral Realm expert pondered to himself.
The Astral Realm expert had to give it his all in chasing Xiang Shaoyun. After running a while further, however, Xiang Shaoyun found that he had nowhere else to run. To be more precise, he had come to a cliff's edge.
"Oh no! I've actually run into a dead end!" Xiang Shaoyun was on the verge of despair. Looking downwards, he estimated that it would be a fall at least a hundred meters high. Even a peak Astral Realm expert would find it hard to survive if they fell from that height!
"Hahaha! Brat! Keep running won't you? You're a slippery one, but I've caught you in the end!" The Astral Realm expert sneered at Xiang Shaoyun and slowly drew closer to him.
"I'll go where I want to go! You think I'm scared of you?" After Xiang Shaoyun stared daggers at the late-phase Astral Realm expert, he dove off the cliff without a second thought.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" the late-phase Astral Realm expert cursed, his eyes wide open in astonishment. Intending to grab Xiang Shaoyun, he rushed forward but found he was slightly too late to catch him.
Looking down from the cliff, the late-phase Astral Realm expert could still see Xiang Shaoyun's falling figure.
Falling from this height, this brat is a goner, no doubt about it. But the captain said the brat might have some spirit medicine on him...looks like I'll have to find his dead body and retrieve it. After pondering to himself, the late-phase Astral Realm expert returned to gather reinforcements before heading to the base of the cliff.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Xiang Shaoyun was actually still alive. At the bottom of the sheer fall was a lake naturally formed from the outflowing of the waterfall. Before leaping down the cliff, Xiang Shaoyun had used his outstanding eyesight to ascertain that there was a lake below before daring to jump. Otherwise, he would have just delivered himself to h.e.l.l's gates. Although this was the case, the moment he slammed into the surface of the water, his body felt like it was ready to split apart.