Chapter 77 Pursuit Deep in the Forest
Ying Hou's expression changed and he hastily looked up, only to see that Long Chen had already fled hundreds of meters deeper into the mountains.
"Fuck!"
For the reserved and elegant Ying Hou, that was the first he had shouted out such a vulgar word. His eyes were spitting flames; he had been fooled!
So the truth was that Long Chen had noticed that his full strength attack was actually not enough to incapacitate him and that he was simply not a match for a Muscle Rebirth expert.
After saying a couple ruthless words, he had stabbed his sword into the ground to fill the air with dust and then immediately fled. Perhaps fleeing was actually the most valuable combat skill to have.
However, when Long Chen noticed that Aman hadn't fled with him and was instead just foolishly standing in his original spot, he was angered to the point of almost spitting out more blood.
He had purposely given him a glance just now to tell him there would be a chance to flee. He hadn't expected him to not react and just stand there.
But since he had already fled now, he absolutely could not return. Ying Hou's target was him. As long as he fled, Aman should be safe.
As he expected, he had only gone a couple hundred meters before Ying Hou angrily roared and started charging after him.
"Stop!"
Suddenly Aman angrily roared and a red light started to come from his skin. A violent energy soared from his body. He was just like a wild ancient beast that had been awakened.
Just as Ying Hou was about to chase after Long Chen, a huge battle-ax whistled over at him, causing his heart to tremble.
What most surprised him was that Aman's attack had all of a sudden become much stronger than before. Even before the ax landed, just the wind from it alone was enough to make it hard for him to breath. The power behind his attacks had at least doubled.
BOOM!
Ying Hou didn't take it head on. The new sword in his hand wasn't an equal to his old sword, so he didn't dare meet those blows. The result was that Aman's ax ruthlessly smashed into the ground.
His terrifying energy caused the whole valley to shake. Broken rocks shot out everywhere and a shockingly huge crater appeared.
"Brother Long, quickly run! I'll block him!"
Seeing his attack miss, he once more sent his ax smashing at Ying Hou.
The fleeing Long Chen was both shocked, angered, and moved. He was shocked that Aman would be able to explode with such terrifying strength.
He was furious because there was no point in blocking him! Long Chen wanted Ying Hou to chase after him!
He was also moved that Aman would actually use his own life to try to protect him. Although Aman was a bit foolish, maybe even flat-out stupid, but he had a complete and total trust in Long Chen. He was even willing to give up his own life for him.
Long Chen had an urge to both cry and curse. He was extremely worried, but he also didn't dare to stop running. That would simply be telling Ying Hou that he wouldn't abandon Aman, thus revealing his weak spot. Then both of them would die.
Originally he was planning on drawing away Ying Hou and having Aman flee a different direction. But the result was that Aman didn't seem to understand the slightest of Long Chen's intentions.
BOOM!
Ying Hou dodged Aman three more times. At this time, Aman's strength was growing stupendously. That last attack had been so powerful that he hadn't been able to dodge. Blocking with his sword, he was forced back five steps.
"Die!"
Ying Hou raged. Today he had been repeatedly thwarted from killing Long Chen. A grand Muscle Rebirth expert like him was actually this helpless in front of two insignificant Qi Condensation beginners.
More importantly, Long Chen's final attack just now had caused an internal injury that was not minor. Although he made himself appear fine, the truth was that he had merely suppressed the injury.
That was why he didn't want to use any of his power to get past Aman who was blocking him. He might end up making his internal injury worse. But he was becoming increasingly anxious as he saw Long Chen flee further and further.
If he couldn't throw off this giant fellow, then Long Chen really would escape. That was something completely unacceptable. His entire body's green veins bulged again as he also sent a slash out at Aman's attack.
Aman suddenly felt an unstoppable force push him back. He only managed to stabilize himself after almost ten meters. Although Ying Hou didn't specialize in power, the sharp increase in strength after entering the Muscle Rebirth realm was simply too great.
He managed to force Aman back, but Ying Hou also wasn't well off. His stomach was aching dully. That was the result of provoking his internal injury.
Long Chen's last attack had now only shaken his internal organs, but even his Dantian had been somewhat jolted. That led to his spiritual qi being much more sluggish.
In the process of forcing Aman back, he had almost been unable to continue suppressing his injury. Immediately after forcing Aman back, he immediately went to go chase after Long Chen. Long Chen was his main target.
"You're not going anywhere!"
Ying Hou almost went mad with rage. Aman actually hadn't even received an injury despite being blown back and was now charging at him again.
Aman truly was a Magical Beast in human form. His physical body had reached an absolutely frightening level. Just by relying on his physical strength, he had actually managed to forcefully take a Muscle Rebirth expert's attack.
Being unable to throw off Aman, Ying Hou's eyes turned icy cold and he once more used his sword to block Aman's battle-ax. He then snaked his sword through an opening to stab at Aman' stomach.
Ying Hou had obviously been infuriated and was willing to kill to get away from this hindrance. But when his sword struck Aman's skin, it was as if he had struck a hard surface. His sword slipped and his full strength blow immediately lost over half its power.
The sword still managed to pierce through Aman's skin. However, it only managed to get two inches in before being unable to go any further. It was unable to pierce through Aman's bones.
Ying Hou was greatly shocked, as that was the first time such a thing had happened. Even a Magical Beast's body would be easily pierced through with his cultivation base. But he was apparently unable to do the same to Aman.
"ROAR!" Aman didn't even seem to notice the wound, viciously smashing down his battle-ax on Ying Hou.
He had attacked Aman twice now without being able to give Aman a true injury. Seeing Aman attacking him with that huge battle-ax, he could only first retreat.
At this time, he glanced into the distance and couldn't help being worried. Long Chen had already fled over five miles. He was just about to enter a thick forest.
If he really did enter that forest, then by relying on the coverage, he would have an unacceptably high chance of getting away.
But Aman continued to firmly block his way. Grinding his teeth, he raised his sword with both hands and a scarlet flame color appear over it.
"Cliff Breaking Slash!"
Aman's battle-ax went flying away while he himself was sent tumbling back dozens of meters. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and at the same time, the strange red light from his body faded. His aura sharply fell.
Ying Hou had actually been so pressed for time that he had used an Earth class Battle Skill. He had managed to send Aman flying, but Aman only spit out a single mouthful of blood. But on the other hand, that one attack caused his internal injury to almost flare out of control.
He hastily took out a healing pill from his ring. That was a precious high grade healing pill that he had collected many years ago.
For his cultivation base, middle grade or lower medicinal pills were basically without any effect, while high grade medicinal pills were extremely rare. So swallowing that medicinal pill truly caused him a heartache.
Ying Hou glanced at Aman who was lying on the ground and hesitated for a moment. He really wanted to kill Aman, as he was practically a monster. He would definitely be terrifying once he matured.
But then looking at Long Chen who was on the eve of hiding in the forest, Ying Hou ground his teeth. Weighing his options, he still decided to ignore Aman and chase directly after Long Chen.
Aman was extremely worried when he saw Ying Hou go straight after Long Chen. He crawled back up to give chase as well.
But he only managed to take two steps before he felt the world spinning around him.
Aman fell on his butt. His face was completely pale and he couldn't stop his hands from shivering. That was a sign that he had overdrafted his strength.
Viciously punching the ground, he could only watch as Ying Hou's figure faded deep into the valley.
Long Chen had kept a watch over their battle as he had fled. Seeing Aman unwaveringly block Ying Hou truly caused him to panic.
If Aman really did enrage Ying Hou, then he really might not take Long Chen into consideration and just kill Aman. If that happened, then Long Chen would regret it for a lifetime.
But according to his understanding of Ying Hou, he wasn't the type of person to lose his cool because of anger.
When he was just about to enter the forest, he saw Ying Hou ignore Aman to chase after him, causing him to finally feel some relief. He then focused his full strength on running.
Entering the forest, everything suddenly turned quiet. Countless huge trees reached for the sky, making it so that it was extremely difficult for any sunlight to get through.
Long Chen quickly adapted to the lighting and charged forward, doing his best not to step on any vegetation.
Doing so would leave behind obvious tracks. Long Chen instead did his best to land on rocks or perhaps overturned trees. That way Ying Hou would not find his trail and would require a great deal of time to search for him. Then his advantage would become much more obvious.
The most important part of this chase would be this beginning part. He was rushing forward as quickly as possible. Once Ying Hou entered the forest though, he would have to become completely silent and not move at all at the beginning. Otherwise Ying Hou would manage to find his position through sound.
Long Chen's only advantage over him was that he was a Pill Cultivator. His spirit was exceptionally strong. He would be able to sense his opponent from a large distance. From such a distance, he wouldn't be able to get a perfect view on him, but he would still be able to sense Ying Hou's relative position.
Once Long Chen had fled over five miles, he suddenly stopped and even suppressed his own breathing, not moving at all. That was because he had sensed that Ying Hou had just entered the forest.
Long Chen also closed his eyes and let himself enter an empty spirit state, making it so that he seemed like just another rock in the forest, completely isolating his aura.
Having entered this state, he could 'see' Ying Hou who had just entered the forest. As he had expected, he immediately paused and listened closely for Long Chen.
Ying Hou waited for over the time it took for an incense stick to burn, but was unable to hear any breathing. Having just entered the forest, everything was completely silent to a frightening degree.
But after fifteen minutes had passed, birds and insects began to play their own music, causing the forest to immediately become bustling with noise.
Those bird calls caused Ying Hou's expression to become increasingly ugly. He hadn't expected LOng Chen to be so crafting. He actually knew to use such a method to hide his trail.
Long Chen smiled. It seemed his chances of fleeing successfully had increased again.
Although the two of them were only separated by around five miles, while hidden deep in this forest, such a distance was already extremely safe. And with the passing of time, he would only become even more at ease.
Two hours.
Four hours.
Six hours later, Ying Hou finally gave up and began to search for his trail by eye.
Following Ying Hou's search, the entire forest began to once more turn quiet. Long Chen also finally opened his closed eyes.
"Hehe, Ying Hou, even if I can't beat you, I still have to properly play with you."