Chapter 426 - 422: The Hunting Of Da Shan
"DON’T LET HER ESCAPE!" A deep, thunderous voice exploded throughout the world, causing the earth to quake and the sky to roil.
"Yes sir!" Several synchronized voices responded in unity, their shout followed by sonic booms. Several figures swished through the air, engulfed in astral wards, fueled by astral force, and they flew with extreme purpose. These figures dodged the following gigantic snowflakes that fell from the skies, flickering from one area to another with practiced movements.
Ahead of them by several miles was a figure that stood at nearly eight-feet tall, with a pair of mountainous breasts, and a voluptuous figure. Garbed in tight-fitting leather battle armor that accentuated its bodily figure yet gave optimal defenses while not restricting motion, the figure shot through the gigantic snowflake-filled world like a bulldozer.
It was a figure that Wei Wuyin was distinctively familiar with, body and all! Da Shan! Her golden irises were flickering with intermittent light of bright and dim radiance. At the corner of her lips was a stream of violet-colored blood. She was injured!
With her violet-colored ward enshrouding her body, she kept crashing into those sharp gigantic snowflakes that cluttered the world, unable to adjust to dodging them like those who pursued her. She didn’t have such luxuries as making indirect adjustments might consume less astral force and bodily strength, but it would slow her down considerably.
Da Shan turned her head around to see nearly a dozen figures blaze their way through the skies, and they exuded ill-intent and the vicious aura of predators after prey, causing her heart to quiver. She bit her lips, feeling angered at their actions of fiercely hunting her down.
Clenching her pearly white teeth stained with violet blood, she urged her astral force further as she exploded with speed, gaining some distance between her pursuers and herself. Unfortunately, she continued to crash heavily into the falling snowflakes and her astral ward was being filled with a unique frost power that was stagnating the flow of her innate energies. She even felt cold, her lips had a faint icy-blue sheen to them. Even the demonic blood that leaked out of her lips contained an icy shimmer.
Seeing her separating further from them, the nearly dozen figures pursuing released whistles, and they kept following at a steady pace. Their actions were clear that they have a lock on her, waiting for her astral force and innate energies to run dry before sweeping in for an easy capture.
Da Shan wasn’t an idiot. She knew that she had been marked by an expert at the Spatial Resonance Phase. Their Spatial Marks weren’t something that she could dissipate without enough time and breathing room. It was unfortunate that they wouldn’t give her that time.
If this continued, she would be affected by the icy power in the world and her astral force and innate energies would stagnate. Then, she would be helpless to resist. She bit her lips harshly, turning her head back as she cursed within her heart.
In the end, she decided to stop. With a stomp of her powerful feet, she condensed her astral force around her and stared at the incoming shadows flickering through the sea of falling snowflakes. The figures didn’t halt, continuing at the same pace until they arrived, and they instantly split, surrounding her in a circle.
They released their astral force cautiously, watching Da Shan with eyes filled with ridicule, disdain, and a little fear. To them, Da Shan was not a creature that could be underestimated. Several of their companions had fallen to her monstrous strength and unique demonic force that could infect others.
Therefore, they only surrounded her and waited for their leader, a cultivator with a much higher cultivation, to arrive. When they arrived on scene, her capture attempt wouldn’t cause further casualties. Their job was simply to ensure she didn’t escape.
Da Shan gritted her teeth. She had entered this World Realm and found herself in this icy environment with blade-like gigantic-sized snowflakes that released icy power that seemed to stagnate energies and astral force alike. It was rather horrible, especially considering the lack of demonic energies present in the air.
This meant this environment hadn’t given birth to even the slightest demonic existence, causing her to grow wary. When she explored this icy world, she discovered it was called The Snowfall Lands from traveling human cultivators. These cultivators were startled by her demon-like appearance, seemingly ignorant of her race’s existence.
But they were too weak in comparison, so they had to answer all her questions, unable to act on their curiosity and ill-intent to examine her thoroughly. In the end, she learned a lot and left. But these humans had spread word of a ’unique’ creature traveling. Somehow or another, a group of human cultivators started to hunt her down like a wild beast.
She had mercilessly killed most, but a few escaped, but that didn’t deter any attempts at capturing her! They kept sending more and more, stronger and stronger, until three Spatial Resonance Phase experts gathered together and launched a combined assault on her. If it wasn’t for her unique bloodline, the armaments Wei Wuyin had forged for her, and her strong foundation, she would’ve long since been captured and experimented on like a marvel.
Da Shan was helpless, feeling extremely indignant and aggrieved. When had she ever experienced such a feeling before?
While she escaped those experts, even killing one and heavily injuring the other two after detonating her warhammer, they had subordinates that continued to track her down with relentless effort.
As she waited, her golden gaze swept around these human cultivators. She breathed out heavily with a ferocious bark, "Despicable trash!" But her words were met with no change of their expressions, their astral force still erected and ready for her to escape once more.
She had to take several breaths to regulate her energies, slowly expelling the icy power that had insidiously infiltrated her meridians and dantian, threatening to stagnate her entire cultivation.
Two different-colored comets speckled with silver dots shot out of the horizon, arriving on scene. These were the two Spatial Resonance Phase cultivators who had been heavily injured by her Astral Armament’s detonation. They were garbed in white attire like the rest, seemed very suited to resist the icy power that lingered in the air. They had strange masks that covered the lower-half of their face, preventing the icy power from entering through their mouth into their lungs.
She couldn’t determine how they looked or what gender they were from their outward appearance, but from their voices and screams, she knew they were both males. She stared at these two figures with blazing hatred and severe killing intent. If looks could kill, this white snowy land would become a sea of red stained by blood.
"Why?!" She questioned in anger. They had been hunting her down for nearly four days, giving her very little time to rest or relax.
"Hahaha! You’ll go for a good price on the market!" A male voice with similarly hate-filled emotions shouted, originating from one of the Spatial Resonance Phase experts. When the male laughed, the subordinates they surrounded her similarly chuckled, sounding quite wicked and evil.
"Market?" Da Shan thought they were going to interrogate her, try to determine her origins. But they wanted to sell her? This caused her to feel immense disgust.
The other male expert interjected, "If you’re lucky, you might be bought by someone who likes your odd appearance. Maybe they’ll treat you delicately! If not, and I hope you’re not, you’ll experience how it feels to suffer!" Clearly this person hated Da Shan, and if one looked at his right arm, seeing its absence and recently wrapped stumped still bloody, they would fully understand why.
Da Shan’s expression changed. She shouted fiercely, "Do you know who I am?!"
"..." The men went quiet. They glanced at each other, seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes. In truth, they believed she was just a mutant human who cultivated a strange method, hence the violet-skin and tall stature. But she was abnormally strong with high-quality armaments. Her strange astral force was definitely rare and would sell for a high price, especially if she cultivated a unique energy source.
She would be a high-value Energy Converter.
That being said, they didn’t know who she was. Considering they’ve been hunting her down for several days, not just them but other groups, they didn’t know if she had any backing. Wouldn’t they already come if she did?
Da Shan sneered, "I am the Ascendant Emperor’s woman!" Her words were tinged with pride. While she didn’t want to use Wei Wuyin’s name to escape a lethal crisis, she didn’t reject it!
"...!" The two were instantly shocked! Their expressions beneath their masks became ugly and twisted, horrifying fear flickering in their eyes. But then when they looked at each other, sending transmissions to gather information, they were confused and bewildered.
Who was this Ascendant Emperor? He sounded incredibly impressive, but they’ve never heard of him. They were scared for some reason, though. It was as if a sudden shock of dread circulated throughout their minds when they heard this name.
Da Shan’s smile froze when she remembered this was another world realm. If she said this in her starfield, even Grand Imperial Sages would halt, likely begging her for mercy by now. But these people were ignorant of Wei Wuyin’s existence. How could they beg?
The two soon calmed down after some discussion, turning to Da Shan with blazing anger. They had actually felt fear for someone they didn’t know by some mutant? How embarrassing! Their prestige as Spatial Resonance Phase cultivators would be called into question if this leaked.
Feeling the situation turn for the worse, Da Shan decided to use her last trump card. With a wave of her hand, a crimson-colored pellet appeared in her palm. When it emerged, the surroundings became hotter, and the icy power in the surroundings started to disperse rapidly, like ice meeting the sun.
In seconds, the area of ten feet around the pellet became dry! Not even the falling snowflakes dispersed upon reaching a certain distance within its influence.
The two experts’ expressions changed, so did the subordinates. One of the leaders shouted in abject fear, "A fire-attributed Alchemic Pellet?!" With a screech of horror, the leader didn’t hesitate to turn into a comet, flying away.
The other leader shouted, "ARE YOU MAD?!" And erupted with explosive astral force, shooting off in the opposite direction. The subordinates all exclaimed with fear! They, too, erupted with their greatest strength and left in fear.
"..." Da Shan was extremely shocked. This was an eighth-grade fire-attributed pellet that Wei Wuyin had left her, and she intended to use it to escape from this crisis, but...
Just as she was curious why they had run off so suddenly, the sky above started to roil. She looked up and her golden eyes constricted into needlepoints! Without any hesitation, she sent the pellet upwards and shot off as well!
Unfortunately, she only got a few steps in before her figure froze, then became encased in ice!! As for the pellet? It was frozen in the air! It and her were soon pulled into the sky, vanishing into the roiling clouds!
-----
In Grandquake City, Wei Wuyin was interrogating the ’former’ City Lord when he felt a pinch of pain. He moved his arm slightly, lifting up his sleeve with astral force, and his eyes narrowed.
Karmic Luck Value: 982.0 → 944.6.
First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.
Second Calamity: Suppressed - 7 Years.