The Ethereal Domains

Chapter 575: Apprehend Danger in Every Sound!

Apprehend Danger in Every Sound! . . .

Fueled by a blend of fear and rage, the man who had impulsively rushed ahead had descended into madness. His actions surpassed mere recklessness as he executed a human-sword merge technique. With each flash of his sword's light, the bush before him disintegrated into countless fragments that soared skyward.

He didn't stop there. He continued to wield his blade with relentless intensity, delivering blows in every direction. His powerful strikes cleaved through the surrounding terrain.

Strangely, despite the man's flagrant depletion of energy and the vulnerabilities he exposed, the terrifying adversary, who embodied death itself, refrained from launching an instant kill.

No swift demise?

This bewildered the thirteen men who followed in his wake. The realization finally dawned on them, prompting a hurried rush to restrain their comrade.

Upon reaching the location where the bush once stood, they were met with a gaping hole in the ground, a stark absence that pointed to the elusive nature of Feng Monarch's departure.

He had chosen not to hide there!

Their shock and fear were palpable.

"He's not here. So, where is he?"

"Could he have finally retreated?"

The fourteen men remained vigilant, swords at the ready. Every sound, every nook and cranny, held the potential for Feng Zhiling's concealment. The pervasive sense of impending doom made them cautious to the point of near-paranoia.

They maintained this heightened state of awareness throughout their journey. Their apprehension remained unyielding, as if Feng Monarch lurked around every corner, saturating the environment with lethal intent.

While their passage had remained surprisingly tranquil, devoid of any trace of Feng Monarch, the tension gnawed at them. They remained alert, believing that danger was ever present.

They eventually arrived at the gates of Chen-Xing City, gasping for breath. Relief washed over them, but they struggled to adapt to the unaccustomed tranquility.

It seemed almost surreal that no one lay in ambush, waiting to eliminate them. Their joy mingled with disbelief.

The city's gate guards observed the fourteen men, brandishing weapons and acting somewhat bewildered. The guards shouted, demanding an explanation, "Hey, you fourteen! What's going on?"

The heightened state of alertness that gripped the survivors mirrored that of the city's guards. They had witnessed men adorned in a vibrant, sky-blue glow, a telltale sign of superior cultivators in the Sky Origin Stage. If they were more experienced, they would have immediately alerted the entire city, suspecting a mutiny in progress.

Hearing the guards' shout, the fourteen men cried out in feigned terror and then turned and fled.

In an instant, they had vanished from sight.

The blue glow shimmered and vanished as well.

One of the guards mumbled to himself, "How did they move so swiftly? Could they be mutineers?" A sudden realization dawned, "What the heck! That blue glow! Sky Origin Stage cultivators…"

Within seconds, the guard was drenched in cold sweat, his complexion pallid. "My god... I had a close call... If they had come to kill me, it would have been as easy as squashing an ant... Thankfully they didn't..." Confusion set in, "A group of Sky Origin Stage cultivators, they should be invincible. Why did they flee? They appeared utterly terrified. The panic in their escape… What could scare such powerful cultivators? Is there an even greater force at play?"

The guard's mind churned with speculation, and he was tormented by unanswered questions for the rest of his life. Each time the story resurfaced in his thoughts, he experienced cold sweats and a profound sense of gratitude.

The tale became a favored anecdote, one he shared with pride: "That day, I shouted so loudly... Fourteen Sky Origin Stage cultivators were scared out of their wits, fleeing immediately. Just imagine how fierce I must have sounded..."

For the rest of their lives, the fourteen men also grappled with overwhelming worry. It turned out Cha Eun Xiao had never ambushed them at all.

In truth, following the clash of vigor power, the latent, seething murderous intent within Cha Eun Xiao surged forth. Undeniably, this surge inflicted significant harm upon his adversaries. However, in the process, Cha Eun Xiao endured substantial self-inflicted damage as well.

Were it not for the East-rising Purple Qi stabilizing Cha Eun Xiao's condition and preventing grave physical injury, he would have suffered even worse than the twenty-eight men from Lunisolar Glory. As it stood, he was hardly in good shape. His ears rang incessantly, and the tumultuous sensation within his body was overwhelming. His organs felt as though they were aflame, and there was an itchiness in his head's seven apertures, as though blood could spill forth at any moment.

This moment was his sole opportunity to escape. Failure to seize it would result in certain death.

Hence, Cha Eun Xiao exhausted the full extent of his remaining energy to propel the seven needles outward. Fortunately, he struck the most grievously injured foes, dispatching the seven of them with the needles.

Subsequently, he made a swift exit.

Cha Eun Xiao's escape came at the cost of immense energy expenditure. It was far from the casual retreat that onlookers might have imagined.

He found himself in an extremely precarious situation, a far cry from his usual demeanor.

If fleeing were as effortless as suggested by the men, he would never have opted for escape. Instead, he would have relentlessly pursued his enemies, seeking their annihilation.

In his confrontations with vile adversaries, Cha Eun Xiao seldom left room for retaliation or vengeance. He only chose to flee when his capacity to deliver punishment had been exhausted.

Although he labored to unleash the seven needles, it was indeed his limit against seven formidable opponents. This act depleted all the spiritual qi within his dantian.

But for the infusion of spiritual qi from the Endless Space, he might have struggled merely to remain upright after expending all his spiritual energy on that critical needle strike.

Hence, his decision to escape was made without hesitation, grounded in the understanding that he had no alternative.