True Dragon Qi circulated all around Zhang Chen's body, and every Dragon Pearl Fragment that passed by was directly drawn in by the Dragon Qi around him, hovering around him.
"This stuff is great. If I use it for my little brother and sister to build their Foundation, or give it away as gifts later, it's all pretty nice. I definitely can't feed all of it to the True Dragon Qi. I can use Points to strengthen my True Dragon Qi, and the result is even better. Using Dragon Pearl Fragments for that would just be a waste."
Zhang Chen stretched out his palm and collected those Dragon Pearl Fragments one by one, then directly swallowed them into the Ba Snake Space, wrapping them with the Qi Mechanism formed from the liquid in the Ascension Pool.
Fragments kept flying over one after another. Zhang Chen's face was full of excitement as he harvested nonstop. After he had collected over a hundred pieces, a white shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, a pair of eyes locked tightly onto him.
"It's you!" Zhang Chen looked at the white shadow before him, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes, because he knew who it was—the Fox Race ancestor, Bai Cang.
"So it was you." Bai Cang also recognized Zhang Chen.
"Ancestor, what do you intend to do?" Zhang Chen grew wary in his heart, his left hand forming seals in secret with his Immortal Hand.
Bai Cang said unhurriedly, "You took my stuff. Just now I was tracking a Dragon Pearl Fragment here, and that fragment ended up in your hands."
Zhang Chen's eyes fell on Bai Cang in front of him. This guy was already a seven-tailed fox; Zhang Chen didn't want to cause trouble. It was just a single Dragon Pearl Fragment anyway—he had collected over a hundred and didn't care about that one.
"So that Dragon Pearl Fragment belonged to you, Ancestor. You should've said so earlier! If you'd said so earlier, I would've given it to you." Zhang Chen wiped his mouth with his hand and spat the treasure back out from the Ba Snake Space. The smallest Dragon Pearl appeared in his palm:
"Please accept this, Ancestor."
"You're quite sensible." Bai Cang took the Dragon Pearl, gave Zhang Chen an up-and-down look, and praised him once. He was just about to turn and leave when, all of a sudden, a dozen streaks of light flashed before their eyes. Before the two could react, those streaks of light were already floating in front of Zhang Chen, like a bunch of obedient babies waiting for him to collect them.
Seeing the Dragon Pearls take the initiative to fly over, Bai Cang's eyes went wide, his gaze full of disbelief. He rubbed his eyes hard and kept staring at the Dragon Pearls in front of him, suddenly starting to doubt life a little.
Experts like him chased Dragon Pearls, going through untold hardships, scouring Heaven and Earth and running their legs off. But this Human kid in front of him? Dragon Pearls actually came to him on their own. This was simply the damn definition of a Child of Destiny.
"I'm screwed! This doesn't look good at all! That old fox is probably getting some crooked ideas…" Zhang Chen sensed the True Dragon Qi still swirling openly around him, then met the old fox's gaze and felt a chill in his heart. But he still pretended not to notice, collecting all the Dragon Pearl Fragments and then saying to Bai Cang:
"When luck comes, you can't block it even if you try!"
These ten-odd Dragon Pearl Fragments, Zhang Chen was definitely not handing over. Even if he did, that old fox opposite him probably wouldn't just let him walk away.
So Zhang Chen swiftly gathered up all the Dragon Pearl Fragments and put them into his Ba Snake Space. Meeting the old fox's burning gaze, he calmly said, "It's getting late today, I still have to go back and bring in the laundry, so let's part ways here."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Chen turned to leave. But the moment he stepped forward, the Heaven and Earth around him suddenly shifted; the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers in front of his eyes twisted. He found himself standing on a lone island, the surroundings packed densely with venomous snakes that had him tightly encircled. If he so much as made a reckless move, he would be swallowed by those countless snakes and turned into bare bones in an instant.
"Illusion Realm!" Zhang Chen stood where he was, looked at the countless venomous snakes around him, and fixed his gaze on Bai Cang opposite him.
Bai Cang was still standing in place. Hearing Zhang Chen's words, he nodded. "Correct, it's an Illusion Realm. But not just that. This is a higher-level Illusion Domain I mastered after advancing to the Seventh Tier."
Zhang Chen didn't move rashly. A streak of Golden Light flashed in his eyes. His True God Golden Light just so happened to see through Tenth Tier Illusion Techniques and restrain Tenth Tier evil beings, while this Tushan Qing in front of him was only Ninth Tier; naturally, he couldn't deceive Zhang Chen's eyes.
As the True God Golden Light ignited, the scene before him shifted. The Illusion Technique had already dispersed completely in Zhang Chen's eyes, but he still didn't dare be careless, because a unique Law was circulating throughout this entire Illusion Domain. This Law hovered between illusion and reality. In other words, although the Illusion Realm in front of him was false, it was blessed with real power; any injury suffered in the illusion could instantly transform into real damage.
That was to say, being bitten once by a venomous snake in the Illusion Realm and being bitten once in the real world wasn't much different at all.
"Human kid, if I recall correctly, you're Chen Sanliang's student, aren't you?" Bai Cang asked with a squint-eyed smile.
Zhang Chen opened his mouth to correct him, "It's grand‑master."
"What grand‑master, grand‑mistress, it's all the same thing. Since your grand‑master Chen Sanliang has already thrown in with the Demon Race, how can you, as his student, stay out of it?" Bai Cang's voice was霸道 and brooked no refusal: "How about you come along with me to the Demon Race and reunite with your grand‑master?"
"I appreciate Ancestor's good intentions, but in the end I'm still of the Human Race, I don't dare betray my own homeland. Besides, my relationship with Chen Sanliang is so‑so, nowhere near as good as you think. Let's not get all tangled up together—this is where we part ways." As Zhang Chen finished speaking, the Immortal left hand in his sleeve formed a hand seal, he silently chanted a formula in his heart, and directly escaped out of the Illusion Realm.
Since Zhang Chen had already seen through the Illusion Realm, how could he possibly be trapped by a mere illusion?
Zhang Chen escaped straight out of the Illusion Realm, leaving Bai Cang stunned, his eyes full of disbelief: "Impossible! Even a Ninth‑Tier expert would still be dazed for a moment before seeing through my Illusion Technique. How could a mere ant like him have the ability to see through my illusion?"
"This brat has a secret on him! And it's the kind of earth‑shattering secret." Greed rose in Bai Cang's heart; the next instant he turned into a mass of white light and chased right after Zhang Chen.
Zhang Chen's Escape Technique was indeed profound, but Bai Cang was no ordinary cultivator; the true force within his Illusion Technique could already interfere with the flow of energy.
Bai Cang's speed while flying was extremely fast, even faster than Zhang Chen's Escape Technique, but Zhang Chen kept changing direction in looping detours. Though Bai Cang was fast, he had to keep dodging obstacles back and forth.
For example, when faced with a large boulder, Zhang Chen could directly use his Escape Technique to pass through it, whereas Bai Cang had to go around.
Or say there was a big mountain ahead, Zhang Chen just went straight through, while Bai Cang? Bai Cang had to climb and cross layer after layer of obstacles before he could catch up to Zhang Chen's tracks.
Even though Zhang Chen had escaped into the soil, he constantly sensed every movement of the outside world; he had already sensed Bai Cang tracking him, hanging on behind and chasing relentlessly.
"That damned beast, what speed— I actually can't shake him off." Zhang Chen cursed to himself. After passing through two large mountains, he revealed his figure at the edge of a cliff. Just then several streaks of purple flowing light came chasing, hovering in front of him, flickering obscurely, bright one moment, dim the next.
"I already put away this True Dragon Qi, so why are the Dragon Pearl fragments still tailing me? Don't tell me this is some innate tracking attribute that Dragon Qi comes with?" Zhang Chen collected the Dragon Pearl Fragments that had chased after him and casually swallowed them, then looked around left and right before plopping down on the ground, cursing, "Damn old beast, you'd better pray I never get a chance, or I'll make sure you learn why the flowers are so red."
Zhang Chen really didn't want to fight Bai Cang. First, leaving aside his Illusion Technique, Bai Cang's bloodline power alone was already at the peak of the Eighth Tier, a top figure among Yin Spirits, not someone easy to provoke. Second, if they fought, it would stir up a huge commotion, and Zhang Chen did not want to draw too much attention at this time.
Of course, the most crucial point was that he felt this Bai Cang was off. He kept feeling the guy had some trump card up his sleeve, and a very dangerous one at that.
"Junior, you run pretty fast, really made this Ancestor work to chase you."
Just as Zhang Chen was cursing, a voice sounded not far ahead. He saw a big fox standing upright like a large wolfhound, staring at him with great interest:
"That trick you used to shuttle through rocks, what kind of ability is it? The more I see, the more interested this Ancestor becomes in you."
Hearing Bai Cang's words, Zhang Chen wanted to curse, but in the end he held back. Without another word, he chose to escape again.
"If this place weren't within the Dragon Vein, I'd really like to try the Earth Control Technique and see if I can arm‑wrestle this old guy a bit." Zhang Chen grumbled inwardly.
Zhang Chen did want to use the Earth Control Technique, but this place had Dragon Vein Qi reinforcing it. If he accidentally disturbed the Earth Vein and caused it to riot, drawing down the Power of Celestial Punishment, there would definitely be a catastrophic disaster.
"But this old guy does have some skills. I'm using the Five Elements Escape Technique and he can still track my whereabouts; this means his methods are already no worse than a Great Zhenren at the Yang God Level, right?" As Zhang Chen thought of this, he suddenly recalled Fox Fairy Nannan's Void Transformation, then thought of Tushan Qing's Void Transformation, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: "As the Ancestor of the Fox Race, this old fox should also have mastered Void Transformation, right?"
"Damn it, this old fox is playing with me! With Void Transformation in his hands, he's long since developed a deep understanding of the energy conversions between Heaven and Earth, so my Five Elements Escape Technique path can't fool him. Could it be this old thing is coveting my Five Elements Escape Technique, trying to take the chance to peek at its secrets?" A thoughtful look flashed in Zhang Chen's eyes.
"I can't keep being this passive. I have to think of a way to give this old fox a heavy blow and let him see what I'm made of." As Zhang Chen thought this, countless ideas spun rapidly in his mind. Finally, a spark of inspiration rose in his heart: "I've got it. I can't mobilize the Earth Control Technique in the Land of the Dragon Vein, but that doesn't mean I can't use the Water Control Technique, does it?"
"I can also wield Weak Water Power. If I trap this old fox so he can't dodge my Buzhou Seal, he'll definitely die for good." Zhang Chen said to himself in secret.