Translator: GodBrandy Editor: Kurisu
Even after all the delay, Pavilion Master Chu didn't come over to the Time City to pick Song Shuhang and Chu Chu up.
Thereupon, Song Shuhang and Chu Chu explored the various passageways in the Time City, as well as the rooms, caves, and halls inside, after their daily training. They wanted to see if they could find a way to leave the Time City.
When Song Shuhang and Chu Chu entered the 'Time City', it was Pavilion Master Chu that brought them there. At that time, the restrictions and the maze of passages surrounding the Time City were in an inactive state. As such, it was going to be quite difficult if they wanted to get out of the Lower City of the Time City without Pavilion Master Chu's help.
In the blink of an eye, another two days passed.
Within these two days, Song Shuhang and Chu Chu explored nearly seventy rooms, halls, and caves... but they were still unable to find a way out of the Time City.
At this time, the duo was in a predicament because not all the halls of the Time City could be regarded as 'safe'.
Song Shuhang and Chu Chu had entered an underground arena with a lot of bronze statues inside a few minutes ago.
There were 108 bronze statues in the underground arena, and all of them had the strength of the Second Stage rank.
Had it been a one versus one match, Song Shuhang and Chu Chu wouldn't have been scared of the statues.
But as soon as they entered the underground arena, the 108 bronze statues were activated all together and arranged themselves according to a special formation, completely surrounding Song Shuhang and Chu Chu.
Even by joining their forces, Song Shuhang and Chu Chu were able to barely resist against the attacks of the 108 bronze statues.
Chu Chu's sword light flashed through the air and got rid of the three bronze statues before her eyes. "Fellow Daoist Shuhang, let's quickly get out of this place! These bronze statues don't seem to suffer from fatigue. We won't have any strength left if we keep fighting them!"
Song Shuhang used his fist of steel and sent flying the bronze statue in front of him, saying, "Miss Chu Chu, try to get me some time, two breaths are enough! I'll operate the ❮Inverted Scale Saber Technique—Dragon Dance Style❯ at full strength and hold the bronze statues back. We can use the opportunity to get away from here!"
The ❮Inverted Scale Saber Technique❯ didn't have any attack power, but its defensive abilities were very good!
"Sure, no problem!" Chu Chu replied. At the same time, she reduced the range of her sword qi and formed a circle, encompassing Song Shuhang and protecting him.
Song Shuhang took a deep breath and operated the true qi inside his body. Afterward, he used the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Technique❯ in conjunction with the ❮Inverted Scale Saber Technique❯, bringing his power into full play.
Immediately after, he shouted, "❮Dragon Dance Style❯!"
In the next moment, the true qi turned into a lifelike dragon made of saber light that wrapped Song Shuhang's body, forming a tight defense around him that repelled the bronze statues trying to come over. Even Chu Chu was forced to take two steps backward due to the saber light of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯.
Song Shuhang immediately controlled the defensive ring of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ and temporarily opened a gap in the place Chu Chu was standing.
The dragon-shaped true qi continuously danced in the air as the range of its defense expanded, heading toward the exit!
"Now is the chance! Miss Chu Chu, quickly enter the range of the defense of my ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ and let's get out of here together!" Song Shuhang called out.
Chu Chu immediately took back her ring of sword qi and jumped toward the gap Song Shuhang had opened inside the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯, getting inside the defensive barrier.
"Success, let's get going! Ahahah!" Song Shuhang laughed out loud.
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But right at this time, a wooden box automatically drilled out of Song Shuhang's size-reducing purse, starting to float next to him.
In the next moment, the wooden box opened on its own and revealed a magical rune inside... it was precisely Venerable White's Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique!
Song Shuhang had already stayed inside the lower portion of the Time City for 26 days.
In addition, he had already spent another four days visiting Venerable Seventh Cultivator of True Virtue's immortal cave, exploring the grave of Venerable Sixth Cultivator of True Virtue and visiting the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion.
Therefore, it had been 30 days in total since he had come to space.
Venerable White's Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique was supposed to automatically activate after 30 days; the countdown started as soon as Song Shuhang was launched into space.
Now that the time was over, the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique that Venerable White had prepared finally activated!
The runes turned into a ring of light particles that surrounded Song Shuhang.
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Not even 0.01 seconds passed since the time the wooden box came out of the size-reducing purse to when the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique was activated.
Neither Song Shuhang nor Chu Chu had the time to react.
The light of the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique shrouded Song Shuhang and made him fly upward!
"No! This is too sudden~" Song Shuhang called out. It wasn't only him... even the saber qi of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ was picked up and brought upward! Afterward, Song Shuhang whizzed out of the underground arena with the 108 bronze statues inside.
Song Shuhang suddenly left—just like that. Everything had been so sudden that Miss Chu Chu was still standing in her original position with a dumbfounded look on her face.
She was looking at Shuhang 'pewing~' away with an unbelievable expression on her face.
Chu Chu had just taken back her ring of sword qi and was preparing to rely on the defense provided by Song Shuhang's ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ to run away from the encirclement of those 108 bronze statues...
But now, Song Shuhang had suddenly flown away together with the saber qi of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯, leaving Chu Chu without defenses and completely exposed to the attacks of the bronze statues.
"Isn't that the same as backstabbing your teammate?!" Chu Chu wanted to cry but had no tears.
At this time, tens of bronze statues had formed a circle around her, attacking her simultaneously. In the meantime, the remaining ninety or so statues formed a big battle formation and surrounded Chu Chu to stop her from escaping.
The 108 bronze statues versus Chu Chu, second round, start!
Even with Song Shuhang's help, Chu Chu could barely hold on against the formation of the 108 bronze statues!
Now that she was alone, she really had no hope of resisting them!
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Song Shuhang could only helplessly wave at the distant Chu Chu. As soon as the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique activated, he entered the 'spectator mode' and was unable to control the flying technique.
He had no alternative but to send a message to Chu Chu via secret sound transmission. "Chu Chu, try to follow behind me once you manage to break through the formation of the bronze statues."
There was the possibility that the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique could allow him to leave the lower portion of the Time City.
Then, just in this fashion, Song Shuhang was shrouded in a layer of light and forced to shuttle back and forth at high speed within the passageways of the Lower City.
Nevertheless, the current version of the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique seemed to have been improved.
Song Shuhang remembered that he bumped into all kinds of obstacles back when Venerable White gave him that tattoo of the Calabash Brothers with the 'Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique' engraved on it.
Back then, he bumped into the back of 'Cold Flame Sword', a member of the Penniless Thief Sect, and was forced to travel alongside him for a long time.
But now, it felt as though the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique had a certain intelligence. Whenever something appeared in front of it, it would quickly dodge it.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to leave the Time City.
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The layer of light was like an experienced driver and would timely turn left and right whenever there was a need to. In the end, it thrust into a jet-black passageway.
All the passageways in the lower portion of the Time City were brightly illuminated, but this jet-black tunnel seemed different from the others... was it possible that it was the exit?
Song Shuhang's mood got much better.
The jet-black passageway was very long, and even after flying inside for more than ten minutes with the incredibly high speed of the layer of light, he was still unable to see the end.
Afterward, as the layer of light traveled for around half an hour, a bright light suddenly appeared before Shuhang's eyes.
He was about to get out!
Since the end coordinates of Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique were set on Venerable White's body, it was very likely that Song Shuhang would directly leave the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion and return to Earth.
Such being the case, he wouldn't have the opportunity to say goodbye to Pavilion Master Chu. Actually, it was pretty embarrassing for a guest to sneakily leave without even saying goodbye.
There was also Li Yinzhu. Song Shuhang was likewise unable to pick her up. Therefore, he could only hope that Chu Chu would take care of her after she managed to get out of the Time City.
Although Li Yinzhu wasn't his daughter, Song Shuhang had been deeply influenced by the memories of the loose cultivator Li Tiansu he'd experienced back then. For this reason, he felt very close to Li Yinzhu and really cared about her.
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Just as he was in deep thoughts, the layer of light had already barged into that 'light' ahead of them.
Immediately after, Song Shuhang felt as though he had bumped into a soft barrier.
Then, his whole body was forcefully thrust into the barrier due to the strength of the impact caused by the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique!
"I'm finally out... Huh? Wait a moment, what the hell is this place?!" Song Shuhang stared at the space before his eyes.
What appeared before his eyes wasn't the scenery outside the Time City or the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion... it was instead a huge hollow tree.
Inside the tree hollow was a huge jellyfish with a luminous body.
There were tens of thousands of tentacles made of light linked to its luminous body, spreading out and covering the whole tree hollow.
"If it's not the exit... what is this place?" Just as Song Shuhang saw the big, dazzling jellyfish, his hair stood on end.
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As though it had reacted to the presence of the intruder, the countless tentacles of the luminous jellyfish rushed toward Song Shuhang.
Even the agile Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique was unable to dodge this attack that literally filled all the surrounding space! Even if it was ten times more agile, it wouldn't stand a chance against this AOE attack that covered all the space within the tree hollow.
However, the tentacles of the jellyfish didn't directly attack Song Shuhang's body.
They arranged themselves in a radius of two meters with Song Shuhang as the center, tightly wrapping him up. It was the same as a silkworm spinning a cocoon. At this time, the tentacles had formed a thick cocoon around Song Shuhang.
After the cocoon was spun, something akin to suckers appeared on each tentacle.
The suckers contracted and pasted themselves onto the layer of light generated from the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique.
In the next moment, the layer of light that the 'Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique' had generated was transformed into pure spiritual energy and absorbed by the tentacles...
It unexpectedly ate the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique?
Song Shuhang sighed faintly... such bad luck!
It seemed he had used up all the luck he had saved up during the past few days. Now, it was time for his unlucky life to begin!
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As soon as the layer of light of the 'Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique' disappeared, Song Shuhang felt like suffocating... because there was unexpectedly no air within the tree hollow!
There wasn't any gravity, either. Therefore, Song Shuhang was floating in midair while entrapped by the cocoon made of tentacles.
After swallowing down the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique, the countless tentacles of light started to wriggle. In the next moment, the tips of the tentacle headed toward Song Shuhang.
"❮Inverted Scale Saber Technique—Dragon Dance Style❯!" Song Shuhang wielded the treasured saber Broken Tyrant and his true qi burst forth, changing into a true dragon dancing in the air.
The saber qi had transformed into a lifelike dragon.
But just as the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ took shape and transformed into a dragon, the suckers on the various tentacles quickly pasted on it. Then, the suckers contracted, and the dragon-shaped saber qi of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯ was completely absorbed.
It was swallowed down by the suckers just like the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique earlier.
It can absorb true qi and spiritual energy even if they are not in their pure energy form... Just what is this jellyfish! Song Shuhang had a very bad premonition.
Whether it was the layer of light of Venerable White's Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique or the saber qi of his own ❮Dragon Dance Style❯, they were easily transformed into pure energy and absorbed by the jellyfish.
The luminous jellyfish seemed to be the natural enemy of cultivators!
Song Shuhang grabbed the treasured saber Broken Tyrant.
After eating the true qi of the ❮Dragon Dance Style❯, the luminous jellyfish seemed to have eaten its fill.
It didn't try to invade Song Shuhang with its tentacles, but still maintained the cocoon around his body, keeping him trapped inside.
Is it not planning to attack me on its own volition?
Song Shuhang operated his true qi and drew the rune of the Turtle Breathing Technique in the center of each palm. Afterward, he joined his palms together and activated the runes of the technique with his mental energy, displaying the Turtle Breathing Technique.
The most important thing to do inside the tree hollow devoid of air was to find a way not to suffocate.
But just as Song Shuhang joined his palms together and activated the runes of the technique, one of the tentacles forming the cocoon stretched out at lightning speed and bumped into his palm.
In the next moment, the runes of the Turtle Breathing Technique were transformed into pure energy and absorbed by the tentacles of the luminous jellyfish.
"..." Song Shuhang.
It seemed that the luminous jellyfish didn't attack him, because it was waiting for him to use his true qi to display magical or saber techniques so that it could absorb it!
But if this keeps going on, I'll die due to the lack of air!
Song Shuhang grabbed the treasured saber Broken Tyrant and put his strength in both hands. If true qi and spiritual energy were useless... he could only rely on pure, physical strength.
Shuhang started to ruthlessly slash after grabbing the saber. He didn't use any true qi, just pure physical strength.
"Ding, ding, ding~"
A series of sparks flew out.
But each and every one of those soft-looking tentacles was harder than a godly weapon.
Although the treasured saber Broken Tyrant could cut the physical body of a cultivator of the Fourth Stage, it didn't leave so much as a scratch on the tentacles.
As expected, physical attacks were also useless. After all, the jellyfish had easily taken care of the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Escape Technique that Venerable White had prepared. Even if it wasn't an existence of the Venerable rank, it was surely an existence of the Sixth Stage True Monarch rank!
Song Shuhang couldn't use saber qi, and magical techniques were likewise useless...
Such being the case, he could only give that a try!
Song Shuhang put away the treasured saber Broken Tyrant and took out a huge two-handed sword.
❮Holy Light Sword Technique❯— Evil Slashing Holy Light Sword!
The raw power of this sword technique was pretty good, but it was nowhere near enough to break the tentacles of the jellyfish.
Song Shuhang's true aim was to summon the holy flames that appeared whenever the sword technique was used.
Although the power of the holy flames wasn't that high, they were ravenous, sticky, and very difficult to extinguish. Moreover, could the jellyfish eat this stuff imported from the West as well?
The Evil Slashing Holy Light Sword bumped into the tentacles of the jellyfish.
Another jingling sound was heard, but the tentacles of the jellyfish were still undamaged.
But the holy flames were now stuck to the tentacles of the jellyfish and had started to burn them up.
The holy flames had very low lethality, and they wouldn't be able to harm the jellyfish even if they kept burning for another hundred years.
The suckers on the tentacles of the jellyfish activated once more and transformed a large amount of the holy flames into pure energy, starting to absorb it.
It's not over yet! Song Shuhang displayed another small magical technique... the 'fire controlling art'!
The 'fire controlling art' could manipulate the holy flames as well. Song Shuhang had confirmed this point 14 days ago when he was practicing together with Chu Chu.
Right at this time, the holy flames happened to be attached to the tentacles of the jellyfish.
Under the effects of the 'fire controlling art', the holy flames started to burn frantically... the aim wasn't to injure the opposite party, but to increase the area where the flames were 'burning'.
The bigger the area where the holy flames were burning, the bigger the probability that the jellyfish would move its tentacles away to put out the fire, giving Song Shuhang a small opportunity to escape.
In the end... the tentacles indeed moved.
Thirty or so tentacles behind Song Shuhang twisted and combined into a large stick that headed toward him...