"Whoosh"

Three blood-colored bats flew out from the blood light between Sha Hao's eyebrows.

Immediately after, Sha Hao stepped into the valley without hesitation and walked briskly. The three bats fluttered and danced within a range of more than ten zhang from him, constantly probing their surroundings.

Along the way, he noticed nothing unusual, but suspicion surged in his heart, and his pace began to slow.

After taking a few more steps, he suddenly turned around with a shiver.

The path he had come from began to drift with strands of white mist, giving off an unreal, dream-like sensation, and an inexplicably sweet, cloying scent filled the air.

Sha Hao suddenly became alert and immediately held his breath, intending to retreat, but his movements were somewhat delayed.

"Boom"—the ground beneath his feet suddenly exploded, sending up a large cloud of dust that enveloped everything in the valley.

"Crack"

Four or five blue wooden dragons burst from the ground, each four or five zhang long and as thick as a barrel, lunging towards Sha Hao with bared teeth and claws.

Under the cover of the wooden dragons and the dust, the Cold Star Sword and Willow Leaf Linked Rings Saber shot out from the nearby jungle, striking at Sha Hao's body.

Shock did not lead to chaos for Sha Hao. He slapped his hand on his waist, and a burst of yellow light suddenly rose, forming an oval protective shield around him.

The wooden dragons, Cold Star Sword, and Willow Leaf Linked Rings Saber struck it, causing the oval shield to tremble incessantly yet without collapse.

Not far from the thicket, there was a "boom" as it exploded; a white illusion darted out from it, reaching Sha Hao in a flash. It was the White Ape King Kong.

The Vajra's arms flipped up and down, his fists furiously slamming down, striking the yellow shield violently.

A force as immense as overseeing mountains burst forth from its fists, shattering the yellow light curtain into pieces.

The Vajra's arms, without the slightest pause, tightly grabbed Sha Hao's body like iron hoops and violently tore him apart.

Sha Hao's body "splattered" open, and blood-soaked remnants with blood-red substances scattered around.

In the nearby jungle, Yuan Ming, wearing a gray cloak and concealing all his aura, merged seamlessly with the nearby bushes.

Seeing this scene, he suddenly changed his expression and rolled to the side to dodge.

A silver light shot forth, brushing past his ear, leaving several blood marks on his cheek with its sharp momentum.

The remains of Sha Hao on the ground also transformed into clusters of white light bubbles, quickly dispersing and vanishing.

"Illusion Technique!" Yuan Ming's expression suddenly sank, filled with disbelief.

Since Sha Hao had entered the valley, he had been continuously cautious guarding. When had he fallen for Sha Hao's illusion?

Yuan Ming did not panic, waved his hand to recall several magic artifacts, and then frantically circulated the Moonlight Technique, attempting to break the illusion as before.

However, no matter how he operated the Divine Soul Power, he still could not find any breakthrough.

Silver light flashed in the nearby void, and four or five streaks of silver light, just like those before, shot towards him.

Yuan Ming was about to counter, but the Vajra flashed and flew close to Yuan Ming, its body bursting with golden light while the other two ape arms also emerged from its back, meeting the several streaks of silver light.

The anticipated sound of collision did not occur; the Vajra's fists easily penetrated those silver lights, which turned out to be yet another set of false illusions.

Yuan Ming's eyes slightly darkened. The few streaks of silver light, whether in aura or appearance, were identical to the previous ones. His Divine Sense detected no anomalies, but they turned out to be illusions. It seemed that Sha Hao's illusion technique was more terrifying than he had anticipated.

At that moment, the surrounding environment changed again, as large swaths of gray-white mist suddenly emerged, and the scene transformed within a blink of an eye.

The White Ape King Kong became agitated, its four fists furiously striking the surrounding area.

The overwhelming power of the punches hit the gray-white mist but seemed to dissolve into nothing, merely causing the mist to swirl, without any effect.

"Vajra, stop wasting your energy. I have something to ask you. How did you break free from Sha Hao's illusion before?" Yuan Ming called out to the White Ape and asked.

"I don't know how it happened, I just suddenly came to. Wasn't it you, Master, who broke the illusion for me?" Vajra said, slightly confused.

Yuan Ming remained silent. At that time, he had intended to break the illusions affecting Hua Zhi and Vajra, but before he could act, they had already returned to normal.

He recollected the situation at that time when Vajra and Hua Zhi had suddenly awakened while he was ascending into the sky on the White Jade Shuttle.

"Could it be that Sha Hao's illusion can only be cast at close range, and once out of range, the illusion automatically dissipates?" Yuan Ming suddenly thought of a possibility, decisively deployed the White Jade Shuttle, and swiftly lifted off with the Vajra.

The spirit light on the White Jade Shuttle intensified, soaring into the sky.

However, not far into the flight, a "bang" resounded, hitting something extremely thick and hard, seemingly a mountain wall, though he was sure he had flown upward.

"I was clearly flying upwards, so why did I hit a mountain wall? Has my sense of direction also been scrambled?" Yuan Ming flipped over to stabilize his form, his expression growing even darker.

At that moment, a strange expression flickered across his face, then he quickly returned to normal, turned around, and flew back to the ground. His hands formed seals at an extremely fast pace, and he executed the Fire Cloud Secret Technique.

A column of red light shot into the sky reaching several dozen feet high, instantly forming a thick canopy of fire clouds.

No sooner had the fire clouds formed than the void around again flashed with silver light, and over a dozen streaks of silver light roared from all directions toward Yuan Ming.

Although the Vajra was brave, it could not block all the incoming silver light.

Yuan Ming's expression was exceptionally calm as he formed a hand seal and pointed.

Dozens of huge red fireballs cascaded from the sky, colliding with the silver lights.

Bang!

All the fireballs burst open, creating a raging sea of flames around them, engulfing all the silver lights.

Almost all the silver lights were illusions, except for one real streak of silver light which penetrated the barrier of flames, heading straight for Yuan Ming's head with incredible speed.

A white shadow flashed, and the White Ape stood behind Yuan Ming. A newly grown ape arm shot out dazzling golden light, blocking the silver light.

The punch of the White Ape was half-pierced by the silver light, creating a bloody hole, with blood splattering, yet its eyelids did not flicker, as if the injury was not its own.

Yuan Ming glanced at the wound on the White Ape's fist, a pained expression appeared on his face, and he hastened the stimulation of the Fire Cloud in the sky.

Fist-sized fireballs fell from the sky like raindrops.

Bang!

Everything nearby was devoured by flames, and the grey-white fog was completely torn apart, revealing the once-hidden quiet valley.

The cliffs on both sides collapsed significantly, the vegetation within the valley was utterly destroyed, spewing towering dust, and the ground was blasted with huge cracks.

However, Sha Hao neither appeared nor revealed any trace of his aura.

Yuan Ming did not stop the Fire Cloud Secret Technique, while holding a mid-grade Spirit Stone in one hand, he frantically replenished his Mana and continued to stimulate the Fire Cloud Skill, sending fireballs raining down on various parts of the valley, seeming intent on leveling the entire valley.

Amidst the rising smoke, Sha Hao's body transformed into an invisible shadow, dodging fireballs from left to right, slowly closing in on Yuan Ming.

The three Blood Bats hovered above his head, their mouths open towards Yuan Ming, seemingly spitting something.

Sha Hao quickly approached within ten yards of Yuan Ming, grabbing the Silver Orb and channeling Mana into it.

As the Silver Orb spun around, all four runes were activated, releasing a beam of silver light.

This silver light was entirely different from before, exceptionally slender and twice as fast.

Yuan Ming had no time to react, and was pierced through the chest, tumbling to the ground.

The Fire Cloud in the sky became chaotic and rapidly disintegrated.

Sha Hao nodded in satisfaction. The slender silver light was a special attack from the orb, activated at the cost of a vast amount of Mana not only for its immense power but also for its incredible speed, which even a Cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment might not dodge.

The only downside to this move was its narrow range of attack; the master had to hold the Magic Artifact in hand and activate it at close range.

Sha Hao stored the Silver Orb and walked over to Yuan Ming's corpse.

In the Central Plains, Soul Cultivators were even more oppressed than in the Southern Border. Encountering a Soul Cultivator here was utterly unexpected for him.

Now that Yuan Ming was dead, there was no point in dwelling on this, but as Soul Cultivators were rare, Sha Hao was quite curious about Yuan Ming's lineage and the Soul Cultivation Method he practiced. He reached for the Storage Ring on his hand but grasped at thin air.

Yuan Ming's corpse suddenly turned into an illusion and disappeared into thin air.

"Illusion!" Sha Hao's expression changed drastically, and his hands swiftly formed an intricate Seal Technique.

His Divine Soul emitted threads of crystalline light, then shook violently, causing a tremendous upheaval in the Sea of Consciousness, centered around the Divine Soul and rapidly spreading to the entire Sea of Consciousness.

Sha Hao's vision shattered like glass, freeing him from the influence of the illusion.

The next moment, he felt a scorching wave of heat descending from above, as seven or eight fist-sized fireballs flew towards him, closing in within three feet.

Sha Hao hastily retreated backward, but his speed could not compare to that of the Bursting Fireballs. In the blink of an eye, he was overtaken, and the fireballs exploded simultaneously.

A thunderous explosion rang out, and deep red flames engulfed Sha Hao's body, further morphing into a mushroom-shaped pillar of fire shooting dozens of yards into the sky.

The scorching blast swept through, the ground shook, and the entire valley trembled lightly.

However, the next moment, Sha Hao's figure shot out from the column of fire, swiftly fleeing into the distance.

His clothes were ripped, revealing a shining golden inner armor on his upper body, which had astonishingly remained unscathed under the ferocious attack of the Fire Cloud Secret Technique, not even a scratch on it.

The golden inner armor protected Sha Hao's upper body, but not his lower body. His legs were bloodied, with some spots even showing white bone, his fleeing figure slightly staggering.

A figure chased after him from behind, it was Yuan Ming, forming a hand seal directed at the Fire Cloud above.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Four or five more huge fireballs shot down, emitting more powerful than before, howling as they chased after Sha Hao.

With his legs injured, Sha Hao was quickly overtaken by the fireballs. Gritting his teeth, he took out a Yellow Talisman and crushed it, immediately a yellow Array appeared under his feet.

Dazzling yellow light burst out, and his figure flickered before vanishing into the ground, quickly escaping into the distance.

Several fireballs hit empty space, crashing into the mountain wall behind and violently exploding.

The mountain wall collapsed, and large and small rocks flowed down like a torrent.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming did not pursue, but stood in place, spreading out his Divine Sense in all directions, sensing for Sha Hao's aura.

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