Chapter 381: The Pursuit

Chapter 381: The Pursuit

In an instant, Ji Xinghuo reached his peak speed.

As quick as lightning, he dodged the mightiest Cerulean Fire Dragon, darting between the other two, his acceleration exploding forth as he grew faster and faster.

"Get him!"

The Dragon Lord atop one of the dragons roared.

He was a cruel-faced True Dragon Man, appearing to be in his forties, clad in heavy armor. As he gave the command, an invisible wave of power emanated from him, instantly enveloping the area within a kilometer.

The other two Dragon Lords also took action, one hurling a black spear, while the other transformed into a ball of white flame, chasing like a meteor.

The three Cerulean Fire Dragons also changed direction, pursuing from behind.

Although the Cerulean Fire Dragons weren't renowned for their speed, their massive bodies were incredibly agile. White fire spewed from between their scales, causing their flight speed to surge.

However, the three Dragon Lords and their dragons were a step too slow. Even the leading Dragon Lord's gravity field missed Ji Xinghuo by a hair's breadth.

A moment's delay, a lifetime's delay.

In the blink of an eye, Ji Xinghuo flew out of the encirclement, and the outer army didn't have time to block him.

The leading Dragon Lord's gaze turned cold.

He was a "Dragon Marquis," a Sixth-Stage Dragon Lord.

Seeing that they couldn't catch up to Ji Xinghuo, he slowed down and descended onto his Cerulean Fire Dragon. Knowing his own lack of speed, he ordered the other two Dragon Lords to continue the pursuit and keep the target occupied. He took out a round disc and began coordinating his troops, preparing to intercept ahead.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The three Cerulean Fire Dragons sped through the city's skies, whipping up strong winds that startled the residents below, who craned their necks to look up.

In the sky, amidst the gale, Ji Xinghuo suddenly slowed down.

Then he stopped in mid-air.

He turned around to face the pursuing Dragon Lords. His eyes erupted with electric light, and with a thunderous roar, his body transformed into a massive bolt of lightning. The pursuing Dragon Lord tried to dodge in mid-flight, but he was still struck by the lightning and instantly turned pitch-black as he fell.

However, Ji Xinghuo himself had vanished.

The three Cerulean Fire Dragons looked left and right, but they couldn't find their target.

The leading Dragon Lord's face also changed, as if he'd realized something. He quickly ordered, "Return!"

The others reacted as well, realizing they'd been tricked. The one they had been chasing was just an afterimage clone, and the target's true body had slipped away right under their noses, most likely still in the original spot. But by the time they turned back, it was too late.

Time rewound back to a few seconds earlier.

When Ji Xinghuo realized he was surrounded, he immediately entered the Myriad Phenomenon Forest State.

The world slowed down, and silence reigned.

He instantly saw his enemies clearly, and his electromagnetic sensing scanned the outer army. It was an inescapable net, and with the city of Cangdu guarded by the Star Shepherd Saint, he knew he stood no chance against them.

His only option was to flee.

In a flash, a fleeing strategy formed in Ji Xinghuo's mind.

A Level 3 Afterimage Clone could create up to eight clones, or any number between one and eight.

Ji Xinghuo chose to create just one.

In the instant the afterimage appeared, he also activated his Flickering Combat Boots.

Ji Xinghuo teleported himself dozens of meters away, appearing in an empty room within a building by the street.

Taking advantage of the afterimage clone distracting his enemies, Ji Xinghuo took out a Leap Crystal. He had obtained this in the Eternal Day City auction, paying over 300 Ether Crystals for it, and he hadn't used any of its five leaps yet.

Activating the Leap Crystal, a few seconds later, a brilliant light consumed Ji Xinghuo.

The scenery changed.

Ji Xinghuo reappeared fifty kilometers to the south, the farthest distance this low-grade Leap Crystal could transmit him.

He was still in a city, still within Cangdu.

"Seal the space!"

As Ji Xinghuo was about to activate the Leap Crystal again, he heard a command. It wasn't a real sound but a mental wave that came from the peak of the western volcanic group, spreading far faster than sound, sweeping across the entire city in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

A dull thunderclap rang out from high above Cangdu, like a startling bolt of lightning.

Immediately, an enormous Leap Array appeared. Countless massive ring-shaped structures emerged from the void, like a giant ship leaping out of the sea. They formed a gigantic net composed of countless metal constructs, covering hundreds of kilometers of the sky.

During this process, Ji Xinghuo leaped once more.

When he wanted to leap for the third time, the crystal in his hand glowed, but the process was interrupted, and he remained in place.

The leap had failed! Ji Xinghuo's heart pounded, and he looked up at the sky. The array was overwhelming, giving an oppressive feeling.

If not for the Photosynthesis Ring on his hand, which negated the need for breathing, he would have surely felt suffocated.

He stood invisibly atop a building, surveying his surroundings.

"Is that all?"

He scoffed.

In the Milky Way Galaxy, he could still use his Dimensional Stomach, and a mere array blocking space was useless against him.

Ji Xinghuo flipped his hand, and a True Dragon Coin appeared, taken from his Dimensional Stomach.

"Heh..."

The third attempt at Crystal Leaping had failed, but only because he hadn't utilized the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupils. He glanced around; after two leaps, he had reached the outskirts of Cangdu, where the height and density of the buildings had noticeably decreased, nearing the suburbs.

Cangdu had no city walls, so he could directly see the scenery outside.

"About a hundred kilometers."

Ji Xinghuo looked back at the spot where he had been surrounded. Although he had put a good distance between them, he was still within Cangdu.

With the Dragon Lords' heavenly connections, they would definitely find a way to track him down through his leap traces.

This was the knowledge he had just read in the stone tablet.

"Running is the best option for now."

Ji Xinghuo took off in the air while remaining invisible, heading south of Cangdu.

He didn't attempt to leap again, even though he was almost certain that activating the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupils would allow him to succeed. However, it would leave a trace, and if the Dragon Lords of the Canghuo Realm realized that he was unaffected by the space blockade, it might cause an even bigger commotion.

If that happened, those pursuing him would include a Dragon Marquis and two Fifth-Stage Dragon Lords, and perhaps even the Canghuo Dragon King would get involved.

While invisible, Ji Xinghuo flew at a moderate speed.

The 'Invisibility' ability of the Flickering Combat Boots was far superior to the 'Refraction' of the Stealth Ring, as it could even conceal his magnetic field.

However, creating too much disturbance would still attract attention.

Additionally, Ji Xinghuo didn't fly too high, using the buildings as cover, and constantly scanned the surroundings with his electromagnetic sensing to avoid any Fourth-Stage or higher beings, be they Dragon Lords or other races, reducing the chance of his invisibility being seen through.

He flew slowly for a few minutes.

Ji Xinghuo silently navigated through the city for several kilometers, nearing the edge of Cangdu's urban area.

In the sky, Canghuo Dragons roared as they flew by.

Numerous beings clad in armor bearing the Canghuo family dragon insignia patrolled the skies, their eyes like lightning, scanning every corner as they searched for him, and their numbers were growing.

In the distance, more Dragon Lords rode their Canghuo Dragons, heading south to gather near Cangdu.

"They know I leaped here."

"Their reaction is so fast!"

Ji Xinghuo was secretly astonished but remained calm.

He had reached the outskirts of Cangdu, and while his pursuers were still some distance away, he maintained a steady speed and flew out of the city, using the terrain and vegetation as cover. After flying a few more kilometers, he finally left the area affected by the space blockade.

Using the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupils, he observed that the space around him had returned to normal.

"Good."

Ji Xinghuo hid himself in an ordinary house and took out the Leap Crystal again. He activated it, and after a flash of light, he disappeared from the spot.

"I can still use it twice."

He looked at the Leap Crystal in his hand and, after some consideration, used it once more.

After four leaps, Ji Xinghuo had traveled over two hundred kilometers. He decided to save the last leap for a critical moment when he might need to escape.

Ji Xinghuo looked around and realized he was on a plateau.

Cangdu was built on this plateau, and there were many other towns nearby. After getting his bearings, he continued flying, increasing his speed but remaining invisible to avoid detection.

High in the sky, Ji Xinghuo flew with the speed of lightning.

"Leaving Cangdu, I'll be in the Qinglu Plateau. After leaving the plateau and heading east for about twenty-five thousand kilometers, I'll enter the Tungsten Mountain Realm, and I should be safe there."

"Beyond the Tungsten Mountain Realm lies the Yuan Magnetism Realm."

Ji Xinghuo planned his route in his mind, but he still couldn't understand how he had been exposed.

The most likely places were two.

One was the public array. The fake identity he had used must have been seen through.

But the Emperor had clearly stated that member information was not shared among the True Dragon families. While the True Dragon Dynasty could quickly reach most places within its territory through the leap arrays, information transmission was delayed and not as convenient as the internet in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Even if they could be traced, it would take a long time.

It had only been a few hours...

"I've never heard of the Canghuo Family and the Yuan Magnetism Family's titanium-cobalt branch having such a close relationship.

The second possible exposure point was at the bookstore.

Although he had mixed in many other books when purchasing those stone tablets, it was still unusual for a True Dragon Man to buy so many history and geography books.

If the bookstore staff reported it and traced it back to him, his cover could be compromised.

"What bad luck..."

Ji Xinghuo sighed inwardly.

"Once I'm safe, I won't pretend to be a True Dragon Man anymore," he thought, regretting his decision to use the status of a True Dragon Man for convenience, which had now brought him so much trouble.

After flying several hundred kilometers in one breath, Ji Xinghuo gradually relaxed.

What he feared most was the Dragon King making a move.

As long as the Dragon King didn't show up, even the strongest Dragon Marquis was only a Third-Stage Heavenly King. He might not be able to defeat them, but he could always escape.

Suddenly, a sense of alertness arose.

Ji Xinghuo turned to look in the direction of Cangdu, and a black dot was rapidly approaching, growing larger in his field of vision and revealing its silhouette. It was a massive Cerulean Fire Dragon, its scales azure-white, its body more slender than usual, its wings ablaze with white flames, like a huge ball of fire streaking through the sky.

"Such incredible speed!"

Ji Xinghuo was startled, but what surprised him even more was that the Dragon Lord on the dragon's back could see him.

The Dragon Lord was very young, with a handsome and cold demeanor. He wore a long robe, and his skin was the same azure-white as his dragon's. His long gray-white hair billowed behind him, and his eyes burned with fire, as if they could see through all illusions. When Ji Xinghuo turned to look, their gazes met briefly.

In that instant, Ji Xinghuo understood.

"Eye of Truth."

This Dragon Lord, like Zhao Manying, possessed the "Eye of Truth," and invisibility was useless against him.

"He's relentless..."

Ji Xinghuo's heart sank. Even from dozens of kilometers away, he could tell that this Dragon Lord was incredibly powerful, at least a Dragon Marquis.

The Dragon Lord profession had unlimited potential.

From the beginning, they gained strength and abilities from True Dragons, using them as a starting point for their evolution, giving them a stronger and faster start than other mutants.

After evolving three or four times, the bond between Dragon Lords and True Dragons became solid, and they no longer saw each other as distinct entities. Their own strength also became formidable, allowing them to choose an evolution direction, much like a profession's advancement, where Dragon Lords could select abilities from various aspects.

As Dragon Lords evolved, they also nurtured their True Dragons to evolve with them.

They complemented each other, making up for each other's shortcomings.

Usually, by the sixth stage, when they became Dragon Marquises, even within the same Dragon clan, their abilities were never exactly the same, and there were always differences.

Of course, Dragon Lords could also choose not to advance their profession but instead seek a second True Dragon, obtaining the bloodline power and abilities of other True Dragons. However, such "Dual Dragon Lords" were very rare and not the mainstream path.

The pursuing Dragon Lord had chosen the first path.

His Cerulean Fire Dragon was clearly bred for speed, fused with multiple speed-enhancing species, resulting in its incredible velocity.

However, compared to Ji Xinghuo, it was still much slower, mainly because Ji Xinghuo was currently invisible and couldn't fly at full speed.

"I must shake him off," Ji Xinghuo thought, intending to disregard his invisibility and accelerate. But then he realized that his pursuer must have a tracking method to keep up, and simply outpacing him wouldn't work.

If he couldn't intercept his pursuer, more enemies would soon be on his tail.

As he deliberated, the distance between them continued to shrink.

The Cerulean Fire Dragon let out a dragon roar, its white flames surging as it picked up speed. Ji Xinghuo could now see it clearly—its body length exceeded sixty meters. The strength of True Dragons was directly proportional to their size; the larger the body, the more powerful the dragon. This Cerulean Fire Dragon was a Shock-class True Dragon!

20 kilometers, 15 kilometers, 10 kilometers...

Ji Xinghuo maintained his speed, pretending to be flying at full throttle. After a few minutes, the Cerulean Fire Dragon closed in to within 5 kilometers.

He took out the Spirit String Song and used his body to block the pursuit.

Myriad Phenomenon Forest State!

The spirit strings on his right-hand gauntlet pulled back, and starlight poured into the wing-shaped bow. A lightning-filled "Chain Arrow" formed on the string, larger and longer than a regular arc arrow. The arrow shaft was divided into five sections, consuming a total of 2,000 star points.

As he pulled the string, Ji Xinghuo suddenly turned and flew backward. The pursuing Cerulean Fire Dragon in his vision seemed to slow down, as if the scene were in slow motion.

He aimed at the Dragon Lord on the dragon's back, freezing the frame, and released the string.

A hum filled the air as the arrow shot forth.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end