The one who had launched the sneak attack from the shadows was none other than the sole surviving leader of the Yin Kui tribe—the Yin Kui King.
He had only managed to survive the explosive energy of thirty Rank-5 core-detonation pills by relying on a Rank-5 protective formation plus a Rank-6 life-preserving talisman. Even so, he was already grievously wounded—otherwise, he wouldn’t have resorted to using a precious Rank-6 talisman against Ye Qingxuan.
Part of that was certainly due to his wariness of Ye Qingxuan, but the greater reason was that the Yin Kui King was simply too badly injured. His strength had plummeted, and he didn’t want to take any risks—he wanted a single, decisive strike to settle everything.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was that Ye Qingxuan had already detected his presence from the very beginning—and had even pulled out a Rank-6 talisman against him first.
The collision of two Rank-6 talismanic energies made both Ye Qingxuan and the Yin Kui King’s expressions change at the same time. Both of them retreated backward simultaneously.
As Ye Qingxuan withdrew, he activated another Rank-5 protective talisman, forming a Rank-5 energy shield around himself.
The Yin Kui King did the same.
Though he was originally at the Nascent Soul stage, his severe injuries meant that he had less than one percent of his original strength left, and the defensive power of his personal barrier had naturally declined as well. So he, too, activated a Rank-5 talisman to protect himself.
Boom! Bang!
The fierce sound of energy colliding once again rang through the sky—though this time, the shockwave was much weaker. The residual energy left over from the clash of the two Rank-6 talismans could now be easily blocked by a Rank-5 protective talisman.
But Ye Qingxuan didn’t stop after the first exchange.
Gazing at the Yin Kui King in the distance, who couldn’t even suppress his own injuries anymore, Ye Qingxuan unleashed another Rank-6 talisman in his direction.
This time, the Yin Kui King’s face contorted in sheer shock—because he had no more Rank-6 talismans left.
Without a Rank-6 talisman to neutralize the inherent suppressive force of another Rank-6 talisman, given his current condition, there was absolutely no way he could break free from its pressure. He would have no choice but to endure the full brunt of its power.
But then—he lowered his head and looked at his own battered body. A bitter, helpless smile crept across his face.
Seeing that the Yin Kui King had no more tricks left, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
If he could take down the Nascent Soul–stage Yin Kui King, along with the several Golden Core–stage Green Demon corpses he already had, then after the sacrificial offering, he would definitely be able to advance to the peak of the Golden Core stage.
The moment he unleashed that Rank-6 talisman, Ye Qingxuan could almost taste victory.
But in the very next instant, his expression drastically changed.
Sensing the spatial fluctuations beginning to roil around him, Ye Qingxuan cast a reluctant, unwilling glance at the soon-to-perish Yin Kui King—then quickly pulled out another Rank-5 teleportation talisman.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he activated it directly.
As a flash of light blazed forth, Ye Qingxuan’s figure vanished from the spot in an instant. At the same time, the Yin Kui King was struck by the Rank-6 talisman Ye Qingxuan had launched, and his life force began to rapidly dissipate.
The very next moment, as spatial turbulence surged, a Spirit Transformation–stage Green Demon appeared on the scene, radiating an overwhelming aura.
In a small thousand-realm level world like the Demon Domain, Spirit Transformation cultivators were already capable of tearing through space and performing void traversal.
After arriving, the Spirit Transformation Green Demon glanced at the Yin Kui King’s already lifeless body as it tumbled downward, then casually collected it with a wave of his hand.
He then sensed the spatial ripple left behind by Ye Qingxuan’s teleportation talisman and let out a cold sneer:
“Wiping out my tribe’s settlement, and you still think you can run?”
With that, he took a single step forward, his figure vanishing as he followed the spatial trail left by Ye Qingxuan’s teleportation talisman.
——–
On the other side.
After landing, Ye Qingxuan didn’t pause for even a second—he immediately activated another Rank-5 teleportation talisman.
The reason he didn’t use a Rank-6 teleportation talisman was simply that his current cultivation level was too low. He had already used two Rank-6 talismans consecutively, and activating a third would completely drain his spiritual power.
If he were tracked down after that, he would be left utterly defenseless.
And Ye Qingxuan didn’t believe for a moment that a single Rank-6 teleportation talisman could shake off a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s pursuit.
After all, a Rank-6 talisman was still just an external aid—how could it possibly compare to a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s own cultivation and abilities?
The light of a Rank-5 teleportation talisman blazed once more, and Ye Qingxuan’s figure disappeared again along with the glow.
Barely a few seconds later, the Spirit Transformation Green Demon appeared once more at the very spot where Ye Qingxuan had just vanished.
Sensing the renewed spatial disturbance, the Green Demon’s face twisted into an amused smile. He murmured softly:
“An ant of a human. Let’s see just how many teleportation talismans you have left.”
Then, with another step, he followed the spatial trail and resumed his pursuit of Ye Qingxuan’s escape route.
After Ye Qingxuan landed for the second time, he sensed the space behind him rippling again—but he didn’t panic.
Calmly, he pulled out five Rank-5 teleportation talismans and activated them all at once.
Activating five Rank-5 teleportation talismans simultaneously consumed a massive portion of his already dwindling spiritual power. His face went pale, but the high-grade spirit stones he kept clutching in his hand continuously replenished his expenditure.
Once the five talismans were activated, Ye Qingxuan tossed four of them in different directions around him—keeping only one in his own hand.
Five beams of light shimmered at the same time, and Ye Qingxuan’s figure vanished once more.
After landing again this time, he did not continue activating another Rank-5 teleportation talisman. Instead, he pushed himself to his absolute limit and darted into a nearby mountain range, finding a narrow crevice. There, he activated the minor divine ability, Deception of Heaven, to completely conceal his aura and presence.
He waited.
Before long, the Spirit Transformation Green Demon’s figure materialized not far above Ye Qingxuan’s hiding spot. After sensing the surrounding fluctuations, he frowned:
“Not here either? Wrong choice again?”
Then his figure vanished once more, returning to the previous location to pick another direction to chase.
But Ye Qingxuan, who had been lying low all along, did not immediately get up and leave. He remained perfectly still in his concealment.
Sure enough, after a short while, the Spirit Transformation Green Demon reappeared. A trace of vital energy floated in his palm, and he muttered with confusion:
“Still nothing? That human ant just disappeared? Interesting…”
The wisp of vital energy in his hand was one that Ye Qingxuan had left behind in his hasty escape—one he hadn’t had time to erase.
It wasn’t difficult to extract a residual aura that hadn’t been cleansed—it just took a bit of time. Originally, the Green Demon had thought tracking Ye Qingxuan would be a simple task, so he hadn’t bothered to waste time extracting Ye Qingxuan’s lingering aura from the Yin Kui tribe’s ruins.
But now that he’d lost the trail, he had no choice but to return to the site of the ruined tribe and deliberately extract that aura to track Ye Qingxuan.
Yet even with the aura’s help, he still couldn’t find Ye Qingxuan’s whereabouts.
After sweeping his divine sense across an area of nearly ten thousand miles, he confirmed that there was no trace of that human ant anywhere.
Feeling that he had been toyed with, the Spirit Transformation Green Demon forcibly suppressed his fury and growled:
“Human ant—don’t let me lay eyes on you again. Hmph!”
With a snort of anger, he took one step and disappeared from the area.
He didn’t continue searching for Ye Qingxuan’s trail.
Having faced off against the Spirit Transformation squads from the Dì Xuán Realm for years, he was well aware of their formidable concealment techniques. Since the target had successfully evaded pursuit and gone into hiding, unless he revealed himself or acted again, there was no easy way for the Green Demon to find him.
What he hadn’t anticipated was that a mere human—below even the Spirit Transformation stage—would dare to run rampant in the Demon Domain.
Even more unexpected was that this human ant had managed to slip right through his grasp, causing him to lose face.
Still—now that he had captured the human’s aura, he wouldn’t make the same mistake next time.
