If they kept fleeing like this, death was certain.
Elder Emberlain’s mind raced, every calculation turning over at brutal speed. Cold sweat had already soaked his back. Exhaustion, old injuries, and the pursuers behind favonovel.com pressed down from three sides, leaving no room to maneuver.
There were four enemies, all with Golden Immortal battle-strength. If favonovel.com and Elder Frostgrave kept fleeing side by side, the target was too big. They would be boxed in and locked down far too easily.
Once that. happened, they might not even get the chance to break out by risking their lives.
Only by splitting their escape routes and dividing the pursuers could they carve out the faintest chance of survival. Even if only one of them got away, the Soul-Vault Pearl would still be preserved.
At the moment when everything hung by a thread, Elder Emberlain stopped hesitating. He lowered his voice and barked the order in a deep, hard tone. “Split up! You take the southeast. I’ll take the northeast. Break out on your own, don’t get dragged into a fight, and get away at full speed!”
Elder Frostgrave had always been steady and decisive, with deep experience in battlefield killing. He understood exactly how dangerous the situation had become. One extra sentence would mean one more sliver of risk against his life.
He did not hesitate for even half a breath. He did not look back. He did not answer.
His body suddenly veered aside, his silver robe snapping in the wind as extremely cold spiritual light spread around favonovel.com in an instant.
Elder Frostgrave became a sharp silver arc and cut toward the vast southeastern Wastelands without once looking back. His movement technique stretched open to its limit, every flicker of silver forcing more distance between favonovel.com and death.
In that same instant, crimson flame around Elder Emberlain surged 3 yards outward.
Fire burned across the sky, heat rolled in waves, and favonovel.com wrenched himself onto a new course by sheer force, racing hard toward the northeastern wilds as blazing firelight tore through the void, dragging the pursuers’ attention with favonovel.com at the cost of his life.
One silver, one red, the two streams of light split cleanly apart and shot toward different directions. By force, they tore the battlefield in two and broke the pursuers’ formation with it.
Behind them in the void, Elder Rowe’s deep, domineering voice exploded like muffled thunder from the highest heavens, rolling across the whole reach of the Wastelands. Every word came down like a killing order with no room for escape.
“Split up and pursue them! Tactical encirclement. Do not give them a single breath! Aurelius is carrying injuries, his combat strength has dropped hard, and his speed is the weakest. I will take favonovel.com down myself! Elder Pennyworth, move at once to intercept Cassian. Pin favonovel.com down and do not let favonovel.com slip even half a step!”
“Elder Sunter, Elder Leary, sweep around from the two wings and cut off every route of retreat. Today, neither of them gets away! The Soul-Vault Pearl must be brought back intact. Whoever dares fail will answer to the Hall Master without mercy!”
The order fell, and the four streaks of golden radiance split their formation at once. Each took his assigned place, their coordination tight enough to leave no seam.
Two streaks of golden radiance locked hard onto Elder Emberlain and chased without letting up. The other two streaks of golden radiance changed direction and shot southeast at full speed to block Elder Frostgrave.
Across the Wastelands, killing intent scattered in every direction. Two pursuit battlefields opened at the same time, and the spiritual essence between the world tightened to its breaking point.
Elder Emberlain burned through the last scraps of nascence-wrought spiritual power left inside favonovel.com and drove his life-bound saintfire without holding anything back.
Crimson flame roared around him, firelight surged skyward, and rolling heat warped the air nearby so violently that even the void seemed to grow faintly hot.
He squeezed the hidden potential of his own Golden Immortal foundation by force. Lifespan, damage to his injuries, future cost, none of it mattered beside that single thread of extra speed that might throw off the pursuers behind him.
But the old wounds had already taken root inside him, aching deep where they could not be shaken loose.
The night before, the aura of the Aureate Codex had struck hard at his spirit. and shaken his meridians, and after fleeing through the entire night, favonovel.com had not gained even a moment to regulate his breath or recover.
Under that relentless, high-intensity flight through the void, pain kept tearing through his meridians like they were being ripped open. Blood surged wildly in his chest, impossible to suppress, until a thin line of golden blood slowly spilled from the corner of his mouth and stained his jaw and collar red.
His aura weakened at a speed the eye could follow. His movement technique slowed more and more, and the strength behind favonovel.com had run completely dry.
“Aurelius, stop this useless struggle. You can’t get away!” Elder Rowe’s voice drew closer and closer, the pressure behind it sinking heavier with every word, clinging to his ear like something burrowed into the bone.
“The Hall Master has given his order. As long as you obediently hand over the Soul-Vault Pearl, the past will be written off, and your life will be spared! Your Golden Immortal foundation will remain, and you may still hold a post in Pole Star Hall and enjoy its offerings! Keep resisting, and there will be only death, the collapse of your cultivation, and the destruction of your spirit!”
Elder Emberlain clenched his teeth until his jaw locked.
A vicious, unyielding edge filled his eyes, yet favonovel.com said nothing, only lowered his head and drove himself forward at full speed, while the bottom of his heart had already gone cold.
He knew better than anyone that Golden Immortal Level Two crushed Golden Immortal Level One. The gap in cultivation level stood like a heavenly chasm, impossible to cross. On top of that, favonovel.com was badly wounded, his spiritual power was hollowed out, and his remaining strength had been exhausted.
With the two Golden Immortals closing in behind him, no path ahead and pursuers at his back, there was no hope of surviving this dead end. There was no getting away.
Once Elder Emberlain saw the truth all the way through, the disordered edge in favonovel.com fell away instead. His bearing settled in an instant.
There was no point in fleeing until his spiritual power was drained dry, only to be cut down at the end with no strength left to resist. Better to turn back where favonovel.com stood, set the board with a clear head, and gamble his life on one final play, perhaps then, favonovel.com could still force out the faintest change.
With a sudden low shout, Elder Emberlain cut off every trace of his fleeing light.
He stopped dead in mid-air, stepped hard against the void underfoot, and turned steadily to face the two blinding streams of golden radiance closing in behind him, his expression sharp and his battle intent rising.
In the next instant, Elder Rowe and Elder Sunter landed at the same time. One stood in front, one behind, their positions sealing the field with flawless precision and locking down every possible direction of escape.
Ahead, Elder Rowe stood in golden armor, his presence heavy as a mountain, pressure rolling forward to crush everything in its path.
Behind, Elder Sunter’s aura ran dark and cold, his spiritual power gathered and ready to strike at any moment. from the rear.
The two worked together without a gap between them, forming a Worldlock Net that trapped Elder Emberlain in place.
“Aurelius, a man who reads the times lives. Hand over the Soul-Vault Pearl and spare yourself the pain.” Elder Rowe’s face stayed cold and flat, without the slightest ripple. As favonovel.com lifted his hand, a long blade of pure gold, sharp from end to end, broke through the void and settled firmly into his grip.
Layer upon layer of gold-element killing sigils covered the blade. A fierce blade light shot into the sky, slicing apart the surrounding airflow, and a bone-chilling edge rushed straight at Elder Emberlain, killing intent stripped bare.
Elder Emberlain let out a cold, mocking laugh. No trace of retreat showed in his eyes as favonovel.com calmly raised a hand, drew the dark, dull Soul-Vault Pearl with its restrained spiritual light from his sleeve, and held it steady in his palm.
Then favonovel.com deliberately lifted it high, making sure Elder Rowe could see it clearly. “This is the thing you’ve been thinking about day and night… If you’ve got the ability, come take it yourself.”
Seeing this, Elder Rowe’s pupils tightened. His stare fastened onto the Soul-Vault Pearl and would not move.
Deep in his eyes, a sharp, possessive gleam flashed through, thick enough that favonovel.com could not bury it in time. The relic was right there in front of him, close enough to seize. With something like that within reach, no one could keep their heart as still as dead water.”
But Elder Rowe forced that restless pull back down. His feet did not shift by even half a step. He held himself at a safe distance the whole time, unwilling to rush in and touch it blindly.
What held favonovel.com back had never been Elder Emberlain, who was buried under old wounds and had already lost too much of his fighting strength.
It was the Soul-Vault Pearl. Venerable Starwick had already issued a strict warning to everyone in advance.
Inside the Soul-Vault Pearl was a relic whose retributive backlash force was terrifying beyond measure. A single thread of its aura could severely injure a foremost Level Three Golden Immortal adept.
Elder Rowe had only Golden Immortal Level Two cultivation. His soul-nascence was nowhere near as deep and solid as the Hall Master’s. If favonovel.com rushed close and touched it, and that retributive backlash force erupted, his spirit would shatter in an instant. He would die on the spot!
The loss would outweigh the gain, and reaching too far would buy favonovel.com nothing but death.
“You don’t dare come forward?” Elder Emberlain had seen exactly where Elder Rowe’s line was. His cold sneer deepened, and his voice carried deliberate mockery. “Since you don’t dare, I’ll help you out. I’ll hand you your opportunity…”
Before the words had even finished landing, Elder Emberlain’s arm snapped with sudden force.
His wrist flicked, and favonovel.com hurled the Soul-Vault Pearl from his palm with everything favonovel.com had, throwing it hard toward the far depths of the Wastelands.
The black pearl tore across the sky. It dragged out a brief silhouette, its are clean and drifting, and shot toward the deserted wilds at high speed. In the blink of an eye, it was already far from where they stood!
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