Volume 1, Chapter 303 – Interception

Shi Lan watched the Cloudvault Treasure Ship slowly rise into the air and vanish into the clouds. After lingering a moment, she once again headed for the frontier.

As she drew closer and closer to the border, traces of human life grew ever scarcer. In the end, she could go days without seeing a single person, with only the occasional Cloudvault Treasure Ship streaking across the sky.

A few days later, Shi Lan entered the border region, now only a little over ten thousand li away from the Boundless Demon Domain.

After an absence of three years, Shi Lan returned to Tenglong City once more.

At this moment, Tenglong City was nothing but ruins. Half the city had sunk into the ground, and in the depression there was an enormous footprint, clearly left when some unknown giant beast had stamped it into the earth with a single step.

Before Shi Lan could look more closely, her heart suddenly turned cold, the hairs on her body stood on end, and a terrifying killing intent enveloped her whole body.

Shi Lan did not hesitate in the slightest and instantly shot backward in retreat, but she was still too late.

Lines of array patterns lit up one after another, sealing off all directions. Four figures occupied the four cardinal points of heaven and earth, while a white-haired old man stepped out of the void and stared at Shi Lan, an eerie blue light flickering in his pupils.

“What a fine robe.”

The old man could not help but sigh in admiration. Had this place not been so devoid of human traces, and had his Piercing Delusion Dharma Eye not already reached a high level, he would never have been able to see through Shi Lan’s true appearance.

For a Heaven-Man, finding out Shi Lan’s background was not a difficult matter.

Since Shi Lan was heading for the frontier, then by reason and sentiment alike, there was every chance she would return to her old home for a look.

Thus, after accepting the order to intercept and kill Shi Lan, the old man and his companions had not gone scouring all across Chengtian Domain for her trail. Instead, they had arrived at Tenglong City ahead of time, laid down this formation, and waited for the rabbit at the stump.

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“Who are you people?”

Shi Lan stopped retreating and shouted the question.

“We are all nameless nobodies, not worth mentioning. I have come only to behold the Sword Emperor’s Dao legacy. I ask, little friend, that you make this convenient for us.”

The old man smiled faintly, looking very kindly.

Shi Lan frowned but said nothing more, nor did she bring up her identity in the Demon-Suppressing Army. She had already sensed the killing intent on the old man. Since these people dared come to kill her and had even set an ambush here, they had certainly made every possible preparation.

“The Sword Emperor’s Dao legacy is not on me.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly while slowly shifting her steps, edging toward one corner of the formation.

The old man did not answer. A flash of light burst from his brow, his killing intent surged, and a nine-zhang nascent soul stepped out in one stride, raising a foot to stamp down on Shi Lan, who had already retreated to the edge of the formation.

Faced with Shi Lan, the old man said not one extra word. He went all out from the start, striking with an ultimate killing move the moment he acted. Yet the kindly smile remained on his face, while deep in his pupils there was only indifference.

The void split open with countless cracks, wind and thunder moving together. The nine-zhang nascent soul regarded Shi Lan as an ant and meant to crush her to death in one step.

Shi Lan suddenly turned around. She paid no attention at all to the nascent soul stamping down above her head. Her hand traced a full moon, and she formed a seal before her chest, a strand of dazzling Dao resonance condensing in her palm.

The seal swept through the void and struck toward the martial artist maintaining one corner of the formation.

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A cold smile hung on that martial artist’s lips. He raised a hand to receive the seal head-on. He had never placed Shi Lan in his eyes at all. With only Heavenly Astral Realm cultivation, no matter how heaven-defying she might be, she could not possibly stir up any great waves.

The Myriad Phenomena Realm was already close to stepping into the ranks of martial immortals. It was fundamentally not something the Heavenly Astral Realm could compare to.

At the instant the seal approached, the cold smile on that martial artist’s face froze. His expression changed drastically. Sensing killing intent bearing down on him, he tried to pull back and retreat, but it was already too late.

Boom!

The palm force penetrated through his bones and blew him apart in an instant, exploding him into a cloud of blood mist, leaving neither corpse nor bones behind. The formation shuddered and split open a gap.

With her True Martial Undying Body having achieved success, the divine strength in Shi Lan’s body was now simply bottomless, like a humanoid tyrannosaur. Even ordinary late-stage Myriad Phenomena Realm martial artists could not meet her head-on.

What was more, the Heaven Extremity Seal was an Emperor-level killing secret art, vast and boundless in might. This man’s cultivation was only at the middle stage of the Myriad Phenomena Realm. Shi Lan killed him in a single exchange.

The expression of the old man in the distance did not change in the slightest. Even as he watched Shi Lan kill one man the instant they met, his expression remained indifferent.

Over his long years, he had seen far too many geniuses. Among them, there had even been two or three with the battle strength to fight immortals across realms.

A genius who failed to grow up was still only a genius in the end.

Amid flashing lightning and roaring thunder, the old man’s nine-zhang nascent soul had already stepped above Shi Lan’s head, suppressing the surrounding space. Shi Lan at once felt as though a mountain were pressing down on her body, to the point that even lifting her arm became difficult.

Bzz—

The void trembled lightly, and nine blood-colored flying knives slashed out of empty space, splitting out over a hundred streaks of blood-red astral qi in an instant and carving line after line of marks across the nascent soul.

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God-Slaying Flying Knives, made to sever spirit-souls and divine souls.

The old man’s expression changed. He let out a muffled grunt, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Waves of stabbing pain burst through his mind, and his nascent soul was injured.

The nascent soul’s foot halted, the suppression around her eased, and Shi Lan did not pause in the slightest. She thrust out both hands, tore open the formation, then broke through the sound barrier and fled into the distance.

The God-Slaying Flying Knives had injured the old man purely through a trick. This old man’s nascent soul was monstrously powerful, and his cultivation was unfathomably deep. She was no match for him at all. She could only run.

“So she actually has something that specifically harms the soul!”

The old man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze dark. He stood where he was with his hands hanging at his sides, not at all in a hurry to give chase.

Once out of the formation, Shi Lan immediately fled toward the depths of Chengtian Domain.

She had already sensed through the Demon-Suppressing Token that the nearest squad of Demon-Suppressing Army troops was still thirty thousand li away, in the direction of Xianwu City.

At present, that was her only life-saving straw.

Yet after fleeing less than a hundred li, a giant palm a thousand zhang wide, formed from magical power, suddenly appeared in the void and slammed down with brutal force.

Shi Lan could not evade it in time and was struck from the air. The palm print carried a mountain-shattering force, and it instantly inflicted heavy injuries on Shi Lan, shaking her until she coughed up mouthfuls of blood that sprayed across the sky.

Had her body not already become strong to a certain degree, with partially undying properties, that one palm strike would have blown her apart outright.

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For the sake of intercepting and killing Shi Lan, they had sent out two great cultivators of the Nascent Soul Realm in total. Apart from the old man, there was another hidden in the nearby void to ensure nothing went wrong.

A middle-aged man stepped out of the void, expressionless, divine light flickering faintly in his eyes.

Shi Lan did not look up. Blood seeped from the corners of her eyes, staining them crimson as she once again used the Spirit-Burning Secret Art.

Her already meager remaining lifespan began burning away once more. Her entire body instantly became a streak of bloody light as she shot straight toward the Boundless Demon Domain.

Her path forward had already been cut off. She could only flee toward the Boundless Demon Domain and struggle to seize a chance at survival.

In less than half a quarter hour, Shi Lan had already been driven into a dead end.

With her lifespan burning to its utmost limit, Shi Lan’s speed became terrifying beyond compare. She tore through space and fled hundreds of li in a single instant.

That middle-aged man tore through space and teleported after her, yet for a time even he could not catch up.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Shi Lan plunged headfirst into the Boundless Demon Domain, utterly decisive.

The Yu family group stopped at the border of the Vast Land of Shenzhou, somewhat hesitant.

The Boundless Demon Domain was full of dangers, and especially now, with the demon race having only just suffered defeat, the borderlands were a chaotic mix of all kinds. There might well be a giant demon hidden there.

“Chase her! That girl’s lifespan is nearly exhausted. She won’t be able to hold on much longer!”