Overlord of the Wilderness

The moment a Cultivator passes their Celestial Tribulation is when they are at their weakest. If they were to encounter an enemy or a powerful Barbaric Beast at this time, the consequences would be unimaginable. Therefore, Zhaang Ye had to find a remote, deserted place where he could safely undergo his tribulation.

Zhaang Ye flew swiftly, searching for a suitable location. Just then, the Fire Spirit suddenly said, ”Master, you’re being followed. There are four people tailing you closely, and they don’t seem to have good intentions.”

Zhaang Ye was startled. After advancing to the True Dao Second Layer, his Spiritual Sense was even stronger than that of an Early-stage True Dao Third Layer expert, and his perception covered a hundred-mile radius. For these four people to approach him undetected meant their Cultivation was definitely not beneath his. Zhaang Ye couldn’t for the life of him figure out when he had offended so many experts.

Zhaang Ye quickly calmed down and asked, ”What are their Cultivation levels? How far away are they?”

The Fire Spirit said, ”Judging by their auras, all four of them are at the Late-stage of the True Dao Third Layer. Right now, they’re two hundred miles away and rushing toward you at full speed!”

”Late-stage True Dao Third Layer!”

Zhaang Ye’s heart skipped a beat as he thought, ’In the Land of Divine Abandonment, the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi is extremely thin. There are no Spirit Elixirs or Essence Stones, so True Dao Experts rarely come here. It’s practically impossible for four True Dao Third Layer experts to appear at once. This means these four must be experts from the Land of Divine Abandonment itself.

’Within the Land of Divine Abandonment, the only ones with the strength of the Late-stage True Dao Third Layer are the Hall Masters of the various kingdoms’ True Halls. And among the fifty-two Hall Masters of the thirteen True Halls, only the Great Hall Masters possess Late-stage True Dao Third Layer Cultivation. In other words, these four experts are likely the Great Hall Masters of several True Halls…’

Zhaang Ye had extremely high Comprehension and a remarkably sharp mind. In the blink of an eye, he deduced his pursuers’ origins. Having figured out their identities, Zhaang Ye continued his deductions.

’These four are pursuing me so relentlessly, they must hold a deep-seated grudge against me. That’s it! I must have killed their disciples or descendants, so they’re willing to take enormous risks just to see me dead.

’In the Little World, I killed several talented experts, including Helian Bi Bi, Chu Yuxiang, Ling Kongyun, and Fu Songcheng. Among them, the masters of Helian Bi Bi, Chu Yuxiang, and Ling Kongyun are the Great Hall Masters of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall, the Great Rong Country True Hall, and the Da Ling Kingdom True Hall, respectively. And Fu Songcheng’s father is the Great Hall Master of the Moon Country True Hall.

’In other words, the four experts relentlessly tracking me are very likely the Great Hall Masters of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall, the Great Rong Country True Hall, the Da Ling Kingdom True Hall, and the Moon Country True Hall!’

Having deduced this much, Zhaang Ye had basically confirmed their identities. The four experts pursuing him relentlessly had to be Helian Changtian, the Great Hall Master of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall; Chu Fangyuan, the Great Hall Master of the Great Rong Country True Hall; Ling Dahuang, the Great Hall Master of the Da Ling Kingdom True Hall; and Fu Yuguang, the Great Hall Master of the Moon Country True Hall.

After deducing their identities, Zhaang Ye moved on to their motives. ’As the Great Hall Masters of their respective True Halls, these four should know my standing within the Sect. Knowing my status, how could they still dare to move against me? Aren’t they afraid of the Sect’s punishment?’

Zhaang Ye pondered this for a moment and quickly found the answer. ’These four bear an immense grudge against me, and their lifespans are nearly exhausted; they don’t have many years left. That’s why they’re so desperate, completely disregarding my status as the Inner Sect’s Senior Disciple. Their only goal is to kill me.’

At this thought, Zhaang Ye’s heart sank.

Late-stage True Dao Third Layer experts were incredibly formidable, but four such experts who were fighting with desperate abandon were terrifying to the extreme. Even though Zhaang Ye’s Cultivation had advanced to the True Dao Second Layer and he wielded the Punishment Whip, he had no desire to face such fearless opponents.

At this moment, the Fire Spirit said, ”Master, with your current combat strength, combined with the Wind Realm, you should be able to handle two Late-stage True Dao Third Layer experts. My own combat strength has increased significantly recently, so I’ll have no problem handling the other two. We don’t need to be afraid of them.”

Over the past five months, Zhaang Ye and the Fourth Hall Master had killed over five hundred Barbaric Beasts together. Most of a Barbaric Beast’s Essence Qi was concentrated in its Inner Core, but its flesh and blood still contained a considerable amount. By Zhaang Ye’s estimation, the Essence Qi in the flesh of one Barbaric Beast was equivalent to about twenty thousand Essence Stones. Thus, the flesh of over five hundred Barbaric Beasts was equivalent to more than ten million Low-grade Essence Stones.

Half of the Essence Qi from the Barbaric Beasts’ flesh had been used to replenish the Little World, while the other half was absorbed by the Fire Spirit. After absorbing its share, the Fire Spirit’s power had increased rapidly. Dealing with two Late-stage True Dao Third Layer experts would be a simple matter, which was why it was so eager for a fight.

Zhaang Ye pondered for a moment, then shook his head. ”These four are likely coming here prepared to die. In a fight, they’d probably resort to mutually destructive attacks, maybe even self-detonating their Top Three Flowers.”

”Our combat strength isn’t weak, but we definitely wouldn’t gain any advantage against them. It’s better to shake them off and find a place to get through the Celestial Tribulation first.”

His second Celestial Tribulation was imminent. Both Zhaang Ye and the Fire Spirit needed to be in peak condition to face it. He absolutely could not afford to get injured at such a critical moment, so he decisively gave up the idea of fighting.

WHOOSH!

Zhaang Ye slowly accelerated, his entire body transforming into a pale cyan stream of light that skimmed faintly above the clouds. In just a few blinks of an eye, Zhaang Ye had already flown a thousand miles.

”Huh?”

Two hundred miles away, four old men were flying straight toward Zhaang Ye. Just as he had deduced, these four were indeed Helian Changtian, the Great Hall Master of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall; Chu Fangyuan, the Great Hall Master of the Great Rong Country True Hall; Ling Dahuang, the Great Hall Master of the Da Ling Kingdom True Hall; and Fu Yuguang, the Great Hall Master of the Moon Country True Hall.

Zhaang Ye’s sudden increase in flight speed immediately caught their attention. The four Great Hall Masters cried out in surprise at the same time, their eyes filled with astonishment.

Fu Yuguang, the Great Hall Master of the Moon Country True Hall, frowned and said, ”Why did Zhaang Ye’s speed suddenly increase? Could he have discovered us and is trying to shake us off?”

The gaze of Chu Fangyuan, Great Hall Master of the Great Rong Country True Hall, crossed the two hundred miles to lock onto Zhaang Ye’s figure. ”That... should be impossible. Zhaang Ye’s Cultivation is a notch below ours. How could he possibly detect our pursuit?”

Helian Changtian, the Great Hall Master of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall, said coldly, ”It doesn’t matter if he’s found us or not. We just need to stick to him, find a place, catch up, and kill him. That brat advanced to the True Dao in such a short time. If we don’t kill him now, we’ll never get another chance!”

A vicious glint flashed in the eyes of Ling Dahuang, the Great Hall Master of the Da Ling Kingdom True Hall. He said in a low voice, ”Brother Helian is right. We must seize this opportunity. Let’s go! We need to hurry, catch up, and kill him!”

The four Great Hall Masters unleashed their Body Techniques to their fullest and chased after Zhaang Ye. All four were Late-stage True Dao Third Layer experts, and at full tilt, their speed was incredible, crossing a thousand miles in an instant. But to their astonishment, Zhaang Ye’s speed was actually a bit faster than theirs. No matter how hard they chased, they couldn’t close the distance.

Fu Yuguang said in horror, ”That brat... his speed is monstrous! At this rate, we’ll never catch him. We’ll have to burn our Innate True Qi, or he’ll lose us!”

The expressions on the four Great Hall Masters’ faces were exceptionally ugly. They had toiled in their Cultivation for centuries, yet they couldn’t even catch a young man in his twenties. It was a complete loss of face.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The four Great Hall Masters glanced at each other and, without exchanging a word, began to burn the Innate True Qi within their bodies. Their speed abruptly increased by thirty percent as they chased after Zhaang Ye at full power.

Burning Innate True Qi was equivalent to forcibly squeezing out one’s latent potential. Although this Secret Technique could grant a massive boost in speed, it was extremely damaging to both the body and one’s Cultivation. The four Great Hall Masters of the True Halls were, of course, aware of the pros and cons, but in their haste to catch Zhaang Ye, they couldn’t be bothered with the consequences.

Their speed was already incredibly fast, and after the thirty percent boost, it became astonishing. In just a few blinks of an eye, they had closed the distance considerably.

But before the four Great Hall Masters could even feel happy about it, Zhaang Ye’s speed also began to climb rapidly. In a few blinks, his speed had also increased by thirty percent!

HISS!

Sensing the increase in Zhaang Ye’s speed, the four Great Hall Masters all drew a sharp, cold breath.

The Great Hall Master of the Great Marsh Kingdom True Hall, Helian Changtian, locked his gloomy gaze on Zhaang Ye and said in a low voice, ”That brat’s speed can still increase! Don’t tell me he’s burning his Innate True Qi, too?”

Ling Dahuang said coldly, ”Zhaang Ye’s Cultivation is lower than ours. Even if he’s burning his Innate True Qi, he can’t be faster than us. Let’s keep chasing. I’d like to see just how much Innate True Qi he has to burn!”

The four Great Hall Masters kept Zhaang Ye locked in their sights and continued the pursuit. But then, something unexpected happened. Two hundred miles away, Zhaang Ye’s speed increased again, and then again, getting faster and faster!

”He can still increase his speed at a time like this! How is that possible?” the four Great Hall Masters cried out in unison.

Zhaang Ye’s performance had far exceeded their expectations.

WHOOSH!

The four Great Hall Masters frantically increased their speed, but Zhaang Ye still slowly vanished into the distance. Soon, even with their powerful eyesight, they could no longer see a trace of him.

The four Great Hall Masters stopped helplessly, their expressions incomparably gloomy. After a long while, Ling Dahuang clenched his fist and said fiercely, ”What a brat! It seems he must have cultivated some powerful Body Technique in the Sect, which is why we couldn’t catch him. However, I am famous throughout the Land of Divine Abandonment for my Inference Technique. No matter how far that brat hides, he can’t escape me!”

Helian Changtian, Chu Fangyuan, and Fu Yuguang’s eyes all lit up. The three of them looked at Ling Dahuang and said in unison, ”Brother Ling, quickly, use your technique to find Zhaang Ye’s whereabouts!”

Ling Dahuang nodded slowly. He took out nine Copper Coins from his sleeve and began his calculations...

-(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote with Recommendation Tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)-