NOVEL NEXT Chapter 444: Strike From Behind
Sun Tianhan and Wen Renxiu had chased for a long stretch, hope rising with every breath that they'd finally corner Jiang Chen and his group.
But just as their confidence peaked, a dragon's roar—Roar!—shook the heavens.
The sound sent a shiver through both squads. Faces drained of color, eyes wide.
"No! Impossible!" someone shouted.
"A True Dragon at the Nirvana Peering realm—how could it do this?"
"This has to be a trick! It can't be real!"
Before their eyes, Ying Luo soared into the air, space tearing open around her as she vanished into the distance.
Two more dragon roars followed in quick succession, each one splitting the sky.
Ying Luo ripped through space twice in a row, slipping completely out of range of Sun Tianhan, Wen Renxiu, and the others' divine senses.
"Damn it!" someone cursed. "Why is this so hard?!"
"I've been burning my secret art too long—I can't keep it up!" another gasped, sweat running down his face.
Several Nirvana Peering realm cultivators groaned in frustration, looking ready to tear their hair out.
"Hold it together!" Yuan Liangjun snapped. "We still have the tracking marks—they can't hide."
"That True Dragon must be burning its own life essence to force these jumps," Lang Xingyuan said sharply. "It won't last—keep chasing!"
Neither Sun Tianhan's men nor Wen Renxiu's slowed down. Every one of them threw everything they had into the pursuit, streaking through the skies after Jiang Chen.
Whichever side caught Jiang Chen and Lu Yi first would walk away with the glory.
The chase had turned into a brutal race to decide the winner.
Sun Tianhan and Wen Renxiu were certain their prey had run out of options, nothing more than spoils to settle their rivalry—
But Jiang Chen muttered, "My concealment art is ready again."
In the same breath, he triggered the innate power of his Death Calamity Dark Star Moon Dao Embryo.
Before Lu Yi's stunned eyes, the auras of the two men and the dragon vanished without a trace.
A heartbeat later, Jiang Chen plunged straight down, disappearing into the depths of the earth.
"They're gone! The tracking mark's useless—we've lost Jiang Chen completely!" The cultivator holding the imprint in Sun Tianhan's team went pale, shouting in alarm.
Before Wen Renxiu's group could even react, the same news hit them—the mark had failed on their side as well.
In the blink of an eye, all traces of Jiang Chen and his companions were gone.
"This is impossible!" several voices cried out.
"They should've burned through everything just escaping—how could they erase the mark too?"
"Damn it, what kind of monster is Jiang Chen? Are all dragon-blooded cultivators this outrageous?"
The Nirvana Peering realm experts stood frozen, eyes wide, disbelief written all over their faces.
Time dragged on.
An hour had passed since Sun Tianhan and Wen Renxiu's forces had taken to the skies, yet the tracking mark still showed nothing.
Whether from the Purple Crest Immortal Sect or the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace, every cultivator's mood sank lower with each passing breath.
They kept pushing forward at full speed, burning secret arts to squeeze out more power.
But they were closing in on their limits.
Earlier, they'd clung to the thought that Jiang Chen would stumble sooner or later.
Now, even that fragile hope was gone.
"We can't keep this up! If we burn everything in the chase, we'll have nothing left to fight with…" Sun Tianhan swallowed a pill, forcing down his frustration as he addressed the other eight.
"And don't forget—the hidden prodigy from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace still hasn't shown himself. Stay sharp."
Lu Puxing spoke up cautiously. "Tianhan, that mysterious figure hasn't appeared this whole time. Maybe he isn't even after Jiang Chen's life."
His gaze hardened, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "Right now Wen Renxiu's down to six men, and they're barely holding on. Shouldn't we take this chance to finish them?"
"I agree," Yuan Liangjun said darkly. "If that prodigy was going to act, he would've done it already. In our condition, picking off a few enemies is a good move."
He paused, face unreadable. "Besides, making a move on Wen Renxiu's group will test the waters. If the prodigy appears, we pull back at once. If he doesn't—Wen Renxiu and his men die."
Sun Tianhan's eyes flickered with calculation. "...I'll think on it."
...
Far below the surface, Jiang Chen's pale face twisted in strain. "I can't keep this up… hiding three people at once is draining me dry. The concealment won't hold much longer."
Lu Yi's face tightened. "Then what do we do? Should we split up? If we scatter, they'll have to divide their forces. That'll give us a chance to pick them off one by one!"
Jiang Chen shook his head, eyes flashing cold light. "No. You and Ying Luo aren't ready for a direct fight. Let Ying Luo draw them off in another direction—I'll ambush them on the way."
"Wait! I can still fight," Lu Yi said quickly. "And with your condition right now, can you really handle this alone?"
Jiang Chen shot him a sideways glance. "Don't worry. I haven't even used my trump card yet—the dragon-human form."
Before Lu Yi could argue, Jiang Chen was gone—his figure flickering away to set up an ambush against Sun Tianhan and Wen Renxiu's forces.
"Roar!" Ying Luo obeyed his order, veering off in the opposite direction with Lu Yi in tow.
Damn it… I'm missing out on the real fight—and losing out on hundreds of millions in spoils, too. What a waste! Regret welled up in Lu Yi's chest as Ying Luo carried him farther away.
He glanced back once, toward the path Jiang Chen had taken. For a moment, he almost turned back—but in the end, he lowered his gaze with a bitter sigh. I'm just too weak.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen's concealment dropped, and his presence—along with Ying Luo's—flared back into range. Both Sun Tianhan's and Wen Renxiu's groups locked on instantly.
"The tracking mark's back!" one of them exclaimed, eyes widening. Their grim expressions cracked into excitement.
"Good! Looks like Jiang Chen's finally run out of tricks!"
"They're doubling back—clever bastard. Turn around, quickly!"
Both sides wheeled around midair. Wen Renxiu's team, who had been falling behind, suddenly pulled ahead, exhilaration flashing across their faces.
But before they could savor the moment, Sun Tianhan barked, "Strike!"
His attack ripped out first, crashing into Wen Renxiu's group from behind.