System Possession, One Sword Shocks the Gods

144: The Heavenly Gang’s Dead End, the Sword Points South to the WildernessThe chaos monitoring compass in his arms vibrated violently, its sharp warning like an icicle piercing straight into Ye Chen’s mind. There wasn’t just one! There were at least three obscure and powerful Auras, like an invisible spider web, sealing off all exits near the city gate. What was most heart-palpitating was the Black-Robed Figure on the city wall; just being swept by his gaze made Ye Chen feel the Chaos Gang Qi around him slightly stagnate, as if suppressed by an invisible mountain!

A Tiangang Realm expert!

And it was definitely not someone who had just entered the Tiangang Realm. His Aura was as deep as an abyss, far beyond what the Earth Fiend Realm could compare to!

Ye Chen’s footsteps stopped instantly. He blended into the bustling crowd, using the passing Cultivators as cover to quickly withdraw all his Aura and reduce his presence to the minimum. His brain worked rapidly, thinking of a way to escape.

Forcing his way through? Absolutely impossible. There was a fundamental difference between the Tiangang Realm and the Earth Fiend Realm; the transformation of Protective Aura into form and the mobilization of the power of heaven and earth meant that every movement carried immense power. Even though he possessed the Chaos Legacy and Guixu Sword Intent, he would have little chance of winning in the face of such an absolute gap in Realm, not to mention the multiple Dark Hall experts of the Earth Fiend Realm watching like tigers nearby.

Retreating back into the pass? That would be walking right into a trap. Zhennan Pass was a stronghold the Dark Hall had operated for a long time. Killing that Gu-using old man earlier had likely already attracted the attention of more spies. If he delayed, he would only fall into a heavy siege.

“I must find another way out...” Ye Chen’s eyes were as sharp as an eagle’s, and his Divine Sense spread out like spilled mercury, carefully sensing every detail of the surrounding environment. The city walls were towering and inscribed with sturdy Formation runes; forcing a Breakthrough would inevitably trigger a backlash from the Formation, making too much noise. The city gate was the only conventional exit, and it was now heavily guarded.

His gaze swept over the buildings standing tall within the pass, finally landing on a quiet, even somewhat filthy alleyway not far away. That was... the direction of the drainage channels? Zhennan Pass was built against a mountain. To deal with the humid and rainy weather of the Southern Border, a complex underground drainage System had been built within the pass, extending in all directions and eventually merging into the main river outside the pass.

A risky plan instantly took shape in Ye Chen’s mind.

Just as his thoughts were racing, the Black-Robed Figure on the city wall seemed to lose patience, or rather, he had used some secret technique to vaguely lock onto Ye Chen’s general location.

“Search.”

A cold word, devoid of any emotion, was like cracking ice as it clearly reached the ears of the several disguised Earth Fiend Realm Dark Hall members below.

In an instant, the Aura of those seemingly ordinary figures changed abruptly. A sharp killing intent mixed with cold Demonic Astral Power spread out, causing the surrounding Cultivators preparing to leave the pass to change color in alarm and hastily retreat.

“Dark Hall business! Unrelated people, get lost!” a man with a scar on his face barked coldly, his gaze scanning the crowd like a venomous snake.

Chaos began to spread.

An opportunity!

This brief Chaos was exactly what Ye Chen wanted! His figure moved like a ghost, no longer heading for the city gate but instead charging in the opposite direction into that quiet alleyway!

“Trying to run?”

On the city wall, the Black-Robed Figure snorted coldly. Without even a visible movement, he simply pointed a finger from afar.

“Ssh!”

A highly condensed black finger beam seemed to pierce through space, ignoring distance. Carrying a destructive Aura of death, it reached Ye Chen’s back in an instant! Wherever the finger beam passed, the air made a sizzling sound as if being corroded, and even the light was distorted by it!

A strike from a Tiangang Realm expert across the distance!

Ye Chen’s hair stood on end as an intense sense of deathly crisis enveloped his entire body! He didn’t even have time to look back. The guixu sword seemed to possess a spiritual nature of its own as it automatically moved to block behind him, while he poured his Chaos Gang Qi into the blade without reservation!

“Boom!”

The finger beam slammed violently against the broad spine of the guixu sword!

An indescribable, massive force surged through. Ye Chen felt as if he had been hit by a flying mountain. His blood and qi churned wildly, and a sweetness rose in his throat as he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. Using the force of this terrifying impact, his figure did not stop; instead, he shot forward at an even faster speed, crashing into the depths of the alleyway like a kite with a broken string.

“Huh? He actually survived a finger strike from me?” The Black-Robed Figure on the city wall let out a light exclamation, clearly somewhat surprised. That finger strike of his was enough to easily kill a Cultivator at the seventh or eighth level of the Earth Fiend Realm. This person was only at the third level of the Earth Fiend Realm, yet he was merely injured?

“Pursue him! Dead or alive!” The Black-Robed Figure’s voice turned cold, and his figure flickered, disappearing from the city wall as if teleporting.

Inside the alleyway, Ye Chen endured the intense pain in his internal organs and wiped away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. If not for the special material of the guixu sword and the extremely high quality of his Chaos Gang Qi, which constantly wore down the death energy in that finger beam, he would likely have been heavily injured or even killed just now!

“The Tiangang Realm... is indeed terrifying!” He felt a chill in his heart, but his movements didn’t slow down at all. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, he immediately found a drainage outlet sealed by a heavy iron grate. There was also a faint light from a Restriction flickering on the grate.

“Break!”

Without hesitation, Ye Chen concentrated all his power into the guixu sword. Carrying the intent of Judgment and the annihilation power of Guixu, he struck the connection between the grate and the wall with a single sword blow!

“Crack!”

The Restriction light flickered violently before shattering. The iron grate was forcibly hacked open with a gap by the violent sword qi! A blast of humid air mixed with the smell of silt and rot rushed toward him.

Without hesitation, he shrank his body and dove into the dark, cramped underground drainage channel.

Almost the second after his figure disappeared, the Black-Robed Figure and his several Earth Fiend Realm subordinates appeared at the entrance of the alleyway.

“My Lord, he entered the sewers!” the scarred man said in a deep voice, looking at the destroyed grate.

The Black-Robed Figure’s Divine Sense flooded into the drainage channel like a tide, but the passages inside were complex and the Aura was foul and mixed, greatly interfering with his perception. He snorted coldly: “A deathbed struggle! This drainage System eventually leads to the Blackwater River outside the pass. Send people to guard all the exits! You, take two people in and flush him out for me!”

“Yes!” The scarred man responded, picked two experts skilled in tracking, and dove into the drainage channel without hesitation... The inside of the drainage channel was pitch black, with ankle-deep sewage underfoot emitting a nauseating smell. The passages were sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, extending in all directions like a maze.

Ye Chen held his breath, contracting his Divine Sense to a range of several meters around him, carefully distinguishing the direction of the water flow and the movement of the air. He had to find the main channel as quickly as possible to leave the vicinity of Zhennan Pass at maximum speed.

However, the people from the Dark Hall were clearly also very familiar with the environment here. Before long, the sound of splashing water and a faint tracking Aura came from behind him.

“Kid, you can’t run! These sewers will be your burial ground!” The scarred man’s cold voice echoed in the passage, carrying an echo that added a bit more terror.

Ye Chen’s eyes turned cold. Instead of speeding up, he deliberately slowed his pace slightly, while quietly transforming several strands of Chaos Gang Qi into pure earth-attribute Spiritual Qi and silently merging them into the rock ceiling above.

Soon, three figures appeared behind him. The leader was none other than the scarred man, whose Earth Fiend Realm Sixth Level cultivation was released without reservation.

“Found you!” A cruel smile appeared on the scarred man’s face. A poisoned short spear appeared in his hand, and he was about to throw it.

Just then—

“Boom!”

The rock ceiling above them suddenly collapsed without any warning! A large amount of rubble and soil mixed with sewage crashed down! It was exactly the hidden trap Ye Chen had set earlier!

“Watch out!” The three were caught off guard and hastily circulated their Protective Aura to block this sudden cave-in. Although they weren’t injured, their vision and movement were instantly obstructed, and their Formation fell into Chaos!

In this moment of Chaos, a gray sword light, like a sudden kiss of death in the darkness, silently pierced through the falling mud and stones, accurately grazing the throat of an Earth Fiend Realm Fourth Level Dark Hall expert!

“Urgh...” The man’s eyes widened. He clutched his spurting throat and slowly fell over in disbelief.

“Old Five!” The scarred man’s eyes nearly split with rage. He roared, his violent Demonic Astral Power blasting away the surrounding rubble, but he only saw his companion’s fallen corpse and the fleeting, cold gaze of Ye Chen at the end of the passage ahead.

“Pursue him! I’m going to tear him into ten thousand pieces!” The scarred man was completely enraged. Taking his only remaining subordinate, he gave chase frantically.

Using his quick Judgment of the terrain and occasionally setting small traps, Ye Chen constantly widened the distance. He seized another opportunity to launch a surprise attack with Guixu Sword Intent, heavily wounding another Earth Fiend Realm Fifth Level pursuer. Although he didn’t kill him, he caused him to lose most of his combat power.

Now, only the enraged scarred man was still in hot pursuit.

The sound of flowing water ahead gradually grew louder, and the air became a bit fresher. Ye Chen’s spirits rose; he knew the main channel was almost there!

He suddenly accelerated and burst out of a massive drainage outlet!

The view ahead suddenly opened up!

A wide, rapid, and turbid blackish river appeared before him—the Blackwater River! On the opposite bank were the lush Southern Wilderness mountains, shrouded in a faint miasma!

However, on the riverbank, two Dark Hall members with cold Auras were already standing there, clearly waiting to ambush him!

Blocked in front, pursuers behind!

The scarred man also burst out from the drainage outlet, sealing off Ye Chen’s retreat with a cruel smile on his face: “Kid, let’s see where else you can run!”

Ye Chen stood by the river, holding the guixu sword. His clothes were stained with blood, yet his expression remained calm. He looked at the river water in front of him, then at the enemies behind and to his sides, and a cold arc suddenly curled at the corner of his mouth.

“Who told you I was going to run?”

As his voice fell, before anyone could react, he suddenly leaped backward, actually choosing to plunge into the rapid and turbid Blackwater River!

“Trying to use a water escape? Don’t even think about it!” the scarred man roared. He and the two companions on the bank struck almost simultaneously. Several sharp Demonic Astral Power attacks, like a web of death, covered Ye Chen in mid-air!

Facing this certain-death situation, Ye Chen, while in mid-air, suddenly caused the guixu sword to erupt with unprecedented light. He forcibly fused the three intents of Chaos, Guixu, and Judgment, transforming them into a Chaos-colored ring of sword qi that violently expanded outward!

“Chaos Guixu—Ring of Judgment!”

“Boom!”

The sword ring collided violently with the several Demonic Astral Power attacks, erupting in a startling energy storm! The river surface was blasted with waves of water reaching the sky!

Using this counter-force, Ye Chen plunged into the river at an even faster speed. With a splash, his figure was instantly swallowed by the turbid and rapid river water and disappeared.

The scarred man and the others rushed to the riverbank, their Divine Sense frantically scanning the river surface, but they only saw rolling turbid waves and some fish and shrimp that had been killed by the shock. Ye Chen’s Aura had completely vanished!

“Damn it!!” The scarred man was so angry he punched a rock on the riverbank, sending fragments flying.

At that moment, the Black-Robed Figure’s form appeared silently on the bank. Looking at the rapid Blackwater River, a ghostly light flickered in his eyes beneath the black robe.

“My Lord, he...” The scarred man lowered his head in fear.

The Black-Robed Figure was silent for a moment before his cold voice rang out: “He was hit by the force of my ‘Death Soul Finger.’ He then forcibly used a secret technique to take your combined attack. Even if he isn’t dead, he must be heavily injured. In this crisis-ridden Southern Wilderness, he won’t last long.”

He looked up toward the endless and vast mountains on the opposite bank, his tone carrying absolute killing intent:

“Pass down the order. Notify all Dark Hall strongholds in the Southern Wilderness to issue a ‘Blood Soul Pursuit Order’! I want to see him if he’s alive, or his corpse if he’s dead! The things on him are something the Holy Hall is determined to obtain!”

“Yes!”

Beneath the turbid Blackwater River, Ye Chen withdrew all his life force, drifting with the current like a piece of dead wood. He clenched his teeth, enduring the surging Death Soul Finger force within his body and the intense pain in his Meridians as he quietly sneaked toward the Southern Wilderness.

The road ahead was the even more dangerous and unknown land of the Southern Wilderness, as well as the inescapable net laid by the Dark Hall.

But his gaze remained as firm as iron.