And… He is following me…
Feeling the terrifying demonic aura that suddenly erupted behind him before rushing over towards him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling depressed upon realizing that the other party had no idea to just let him get away.
Even worse, Xuan Hao realized that his speed was way slower compared to the demonic cultivator chasing after him.
The only advantage Xuan Hao had at the moment, was that he had managed to gain some distance between him and the demonic cultivator at the beginning. Other than that, with his current speed, he would not need more than a few seconds to reach the surface again.
Even if the demonic cultivator was faster than him, there was no way for him to catch up with him before he reached the surface. At that point, Yi Min would likely be able to sense what was happening through her formation…𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Even if he was forced to fight with the demonic cultivator by himself, Xuan Hao was more than confident in being able to stay alive.
Feeling himself calm down as he got closer and closer to the surface, Xuan Hao sensed the aura of the demonic cultivator get closer and closer with each passing second.
I should really learn a proper movement technique in the future…
Having realized just how bad his current movement technique was compared to the demonic cultivator chasing after him, Xuan Hao planned to search for a suitable movement technique when he returned to the sect after everything was done in the Iron Sky Kingdom.
"Wha-?!"
Suddenly, several small runes etched into the ceiling of the tunnels in front of him appeared out of seemingly thin air. Even when he had gone through the tunnels earlier to reach the deeper parts of the tunnels, he had not sensed any of these small runes that now covered the ceiling of all the tunnels in front of him!
Boom!
Rumble~
"Haha! There is no way you thought it would be that easy to run away?"
Before Xuan Hao even managed to react, the voice of the demonic cultivator chasing him from behind echoed out as the small symbols all exploded at the same time. Instantly blocking his way up towards the surface.
Not daring to stay around and wait for the demonic cultivator to catch up to him, Xuan Hao scanned the still intact tunnels around him and soon realized that only the tunnels leading back underground were still left intact!
Whoosh!
Knowing he would not have a good outcome from just standing around and waiting for the demonic cultivator to catch up to him, Xuan Hao decisively entered a new tunnel leading back underground.
As for digging his way up to the surface by using his domain?
Xuan Hao had no plan to try it. After all, digging his way up to the surface would severely limit his speed and the demonic cultivator would be able to easily catch up with him… At that point, he would likely not even make it half the way up!
With this in mind, Xuan Hao did not waste any time using his divine sense to search the different tunnels that appeared along the tunnel going back down once again. Searching for any tunnel that might lead to an alternate part of the underground tunnel network, where he might be able to find a way back up to the surface without having to slow down.
"There!"
Descending deeper and deeper, Xuan Hao felt that he was about to reach the deepest part of the underground tunnel network below the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom, when his divine sense suddenly managed to lock onto a small and narrow tunnel only half a meter wide and two meters tall.
However, this was not the important part of the narrow tunnel. The important part was that the small narrow tunnel continued onwards before ending up in a large underground cave!
Swish~
Not able to explore too much of the underground cave at the end of the narrow tunnel with his divine sense, Xuan Hao barely managed to dodge a thin red blade slash from the demonic cultivator that had already come close enough to attack him.
At this point, Xuan Hao did not bother exploring the underground cave up ahead any further with his divine sense as he directly entered the narrow tunnel and made his way towards the underground cave at the other side.
Rumble~
Not forgetting to destroy the tunnel as he passed through it to buy himself a few precious seconds of time as the demonic cultivator would have to dig his way through.
This method was not too useful earlier, as there were simply way too many other tunnels connected to the one, he was using to escape.
Things, however, was not the same this time around, as the demonic cultivator had no other tunnels that he could use to chase after him…
"Ah! Damnable-"
Bang!
Hearing the angry scream of the demonic cultivator behind him followed by the sound of the tunnel collapsing on top of him, Xuan Hao could not help smiling to himself as he travelled through the narrow tunnel.
Soon enough reaching the large underground cave on the other side.
"I hope this cave leads to the surface, or at the very least is connected to a tunnel leading that does so…" Muttering this to himself as he briefly stopped and surveyed the underground cave which only inhabitants were a few oversized rock eating rats happily eating the loose rocks scattered all across the cave floor, Xuan Hao soon began making his way through the underground cave.
Whoosh~
Flying through the underground cave, Xuan Hao didn't discover anything out of the ordinary. Not that he had any time to spare looking around the underground cave, there was after all still a demonic cultivator chasing after him…
Because of this, Xuan Hao didn't notice that something inside the cave was currently keeping an eye on him from the side, a pair of dark green eyes barely visible in the dark underground cave as they silently followed him as he made his way through the underground cave.
Boom!
"Haha! Do you think you can just run away from me that easily!?"
Just as the owner of the pair of dark green eyes was about to strike towards the unsuspecting Xuan Hao, a large explosion along with an evil laughter echoed throughout the entire underground cave. Instantly causing the owner of the pair of dark green eyes to shrink back into the darkness due to the shock of someone new suddenly appearing.
"He's faster than I expected…"
Frowning as he noticed the demonic cultivator had already managed to make his way to the cave, Xuan Hao felt a wave of worry wash over him.
This worry only further increased when he turned around to momentarily look at the demonic cultivator. Only to discover that the pale looking young man was long gone.
Instead, what could only be described as a demon remained, as the demonic cultivator had been completely covered in a layer of thick scales, razor sharp teeth, a pair of large bat-like wings on his back and pair of terrifying claws for hands.
Looking back at the former pale looking young man and seeing what he had transformed into, Xuan Hao understood why demonic cultivators were so terrifying. Not to mention the demonic cultivator behind him had reached the third and final transformation. One more step and he would reach the True Demon Realm and become a real demon!
The demonic cultivator in his current demonic state, was by far the strongest person that Xuan Hao had ever encountered!
Even Yi Min at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm seemed to be weaker compared to the monster behind him!
Whoosh!
Increasing his speed by a tiny amount by expending more of his qi, Xuan Hao no longer paid any attention to the demonic cultivator behind him as he rushed through the underground cave that had to his advantage, slowly begun to move up towards the surface.
In his eyes, as long as he made it back up to the surface again, he should be able to get help from Yi Min to deal with the demonic cultivator.
Even in the worst-case scenario where General Guan was together with the demonic cultivator and helped him, Xuan Hao still felt that Yi Min would have some way to deal with it.
After all, the Iron Sky Kingdom's capital was literally her home!
The damage to the formation around the capital had not yet managed to truly damage its foundation and as a Renowned Master Blacksmith, Xuan Hao doubted that Yi Min didn't have some other trump cards laying around…
Not to mention the fact that she would undoubtedly have a large arsenal of powerful weapons and artifacts at her disposal when fighting!
In a fight, a Master Blacksmith like Yi Min would simply be able to slap someone to death with her wallet as her opponent would be overwhelmed with the sheer number of weapons and artifacts at her disposal!