The corpse of the giant python was devoid of blood, indicating that Qian Ye had replenished himself. However, replenishment always required time to digest, so Qian Ye couldn’t travel far. This thought slightly calmed the witch’s murderous aura.
She pondered for a moment, her figure flickered, and she appeared in another location. She then began to meditate, scanning her domain to pinpoint Qian Ye’s position.
It didn’t take long for Qian Ye to be found again. To her surprise, this time Qian Ye didn’t hastily use the Void Flash to escape; instead, he sprinted through the forest.
Slightly taken aback, the witch let out a cold smile and gave chase. In her view, Qian Ye was merely seeking his own death. Among the four major races of Evernight, apart from the Spider Demons, the other races were naturally fast. Without any special skills, the witch felt no threat from Qian Ye’s speed.
Was Qian Ye truly out of Origin Power, or was he setting up a trap?
The witch did not rush to catch up, instead, she kept a close but not too close distance, continuously launching attacks with her demonic energy.
Qian Ye’s hands were burning with crimson-gold Origin Power flames, slicing through the black demonic bands that entangled him like a knife. Each time a band was severed, it burst into flames and burned out instantly. It seemed Qian Ye had a safety line in his mind, maintaining a certain distance from the witch. Whenever she tried to close in, he would use various techniques and fully utilize the terrain.
This turned into a war of attrition, with both sides depleting their Origin Power and demonic energy at the same rate. However, the witch had to maintain her vast domain, causing her to consume more demonic energy than Qian Ye.
But the witch was not alone; she was accompanied by a group of strong Evernight fighters. If Qian Ye made a wrong move and got surrounded, he might not be as lucky as before to break free unscathed.
Thus, the chase continued, and before long, Qian Ye and the witch had circled the Wellspring of the Stars twice. By now, they had left the Evernight fighters far behind, even Anwen couldn’t keep up. Since Qian Ye stopped using the Void Flash, the witch, either intentionally or unintentionally, did not leave any marks to guide the path.
At this point, the witch sensed Qian Ye’s intention. He didn’t want to stray too far from the Wellspring of the Stars, likely to prevent the Evernight fighters from obtaining the Source Blood. For the Evernight side, the best strategy would be for her to continue pursuing Qian Ye while letting Edward, Luo Le, and others go to the Wellspring of the Stars to extract the Source Blood, putting Qian Ye in a difficult position.
If she ignored it, the war of attrition would lose its meaning, but if she engaged, she risked falling into a trap.
Yet, for some reason, she did not inform Anwen of this. She remained single-mindedly focused on hunting Qian Ye.
Now, the chase had lasted over an hour. When the witch realized Qian Ye’s intention to buy time, she ceased her long-range attacks and launched a direct interception. They exchanged blows at a distance, and sometimes in close combat.
Seeing the witch change her strategy, Qian Ye finally stopped circling the Wellspring of the Stars and began to run with all his might, darting wherever there was an opening. Every part of the forest became a point of leverage, his direction and speed constantly shifting, making it impossible to predict.
Qian Ye moved like lightning and as elusive as a ghost, almost maximizing his advantages in combat skills, physical strength, and perception. One mistake by the witch, and Qian Ye could escape tens of meters away. This was a distance sufficient for the Void Flash. How could she accept this? She immediately used her agility to intercept him.
At this point, the difference between them became apparent. The witch moved within her domain in a manner similar to the Void Crossing, becoming almost weightless and moving incredibly fast, covering tens of meters in a blink.
In terms of short-distance movement, the witch was nearly on par with the Void Flash. The Void Flash was a supreme secret technique that truly traversed space, while the witch simply moved within the space. This showed the terrifying power of the witch.
However, the witch’s method, while advanced, relied heavily on the flow of demonic energy within her domain, lacking in flexibility when changing directions. In contrast, Qian Ye used a brute-force method, relying on his physical strength, with speed and directional changes determined by his footwork.
In the Great Maelstrom Forest, Qian Ye’s method was clearly more suitable. Here, the plants and trees were extremely tough, and no matter how hard Qian Ye stepped, he couldn’t break even slightly thicker branches, meaning he could always find a source of support. On the other hand, the witch had to be cautious, unable to simply break large trees in her path as she could on the mainland.
Here, she could indeed break a massive ancient tree, but she might also get disoriented from the impact. Moreover, flattening a forest would create a significant disturbance, comparable to a strike from an Origin Power gun. Now, each flash and movement was relatively short, far from reaching her maximum speed.
If not for the forest, the witch would have caught Qian Ye long ago. But such things are never certain.
Seemingly fueled by genuine anger, she abandoned her perception of Anwen and others, focusing entirely on chasing Qian Ye. The witch noticed that Qian Ye had several opportunities to use the Void Flash but didn’t, indicating he was no longer capable of using this secret technique. This was the perfect time to kill him.
Qian Ye moved like the wind, narrowly dodging the witch’s lethal attacks, gradually becoming cornered. Yet, he showed no panic, no outward signs of distress. He was focused on the Black Book, waiting for the stored vital blood to complete its refinement.
By now, most of the vital blood had been refined, and in a few more minutes, the entire process would be complete. The primal vital blood from the giant python would be purified to a degree usable by the blood core.
The Great Maelstrom was indeed a magical place. Outside the maelstrom, the Black Book served only as storage and did not refine the vital blood. Or perhaps it did refine, but to a negligible extent. Inside the maelstrom, not only did the refined vital blood become purer, but the refinement process was also significantly faster, taking only a couple of hours compared to a whole day outside.
Thus, due to the Black Book, the witch’s assessment of Qian Ye’s Origin Power state was completely reversed.
While monitoring the Black Book’s refinement, Qian Ye meticulously calculated the consumption of Origin Power and blood energy. He now minimized blood energy loss, using Origin Power to assist his physical movements and combat. This way, he couldn’t use his full strength, gradually losing the upper hand, but he could still hold on.
As he neared the end of his strength, a glimmer flashed across the cover of the Black Book, signaling the completion of the vital blood refinement!
Qian Ye let out a long cry, and the Dawn’s Awakening burst forth, a circle of Origin Power flames centered around him, igniting hundreds of small and large fireballs. These were the demonic energy set by the witch, now swept away by the dawn’s Origin Power.
Before the witch could set new demonic energy, Qian Ye stomped on an ancient tree, bending its massive trunk. This force propelled him like an arrow, instantly increasing the distance between them.
The witch merely sneered, pleased that Qian Ye was willing to deplete his Origin Power. In her calculations, Qian Ye was no longer capable of continuous Void Flashes. When his Origin Power was exhausted, he would be at her mercy.
She waved her hands, and several black demonic threads appeared in front of Qian Ye, crisscrossing to intercept him. Simultaneously, her body turned into a streak of light, speeding towards him. A hundred meters was nothing to her.
But right in front of her, Qian Ye’s figure began to flicker and distort.
A sense of unease crept into the witch’s mind. She ignored the drain on her magic and flung dozens of demonic threads, surrounding Qian Ye from all directions.
However, Qian Ye’s figure twisted and blurred, then vanished, evading all the demonic threads, which tangled together in confusion.
Killing intent surged within the witch. She looked around and saw Qian Ye appear a kilometer away, immediately giving chase. Her killing intent was fierce, stemming from her misjudgment and Qian Ye’s taunting. But she was only angry, not panicked. If Qian Ye had only two or three more Void Flashes, he would still be within her grasp.
Midway through her flight, Qian Ye disappeared again. She searched with all her might, and a moment later, caught his trail several kilometers away. But when she located him, his figure was already faint, and the third Void Flash had already been activated.
The witch turned into a streak of light, making a wide arc, and changed direction. But this time, she couldn’t find Qian Ye, who had clearly teleported away.
She had to stop, her icy gaze sweeping over the vast forest, but there was no sign of Qian Ye.
Her domain’s perception was as usual, with various creatures moving about in chaos. The forest was in turmoil due to their battle. In this chaos, how could she distinguish Qian Ye’s movements?
There were numerous reactions to the blood energy, mostly gathered in one area, undoubtedly belonging to Edward’s group.
“A bunch of incompetents!” the witch cursed. These bloodline fighters were still unaware of being under her domain, wandering aimlessly, with their movements completely under her control. In her eyes, they were truly worthless. But was she really cursing these bloodline fighters?
At this moment, her domain sensed something new—a presence of dawn’s Origin Power in a certain direction. Though it was impure, it was still dawn’s Origin Power.
The witch, seething with anger, flashed to the vicinity of the dawn’s Origin Power and unleashed several invisible demonic blades without a second glance. With the detected level of Origin Power, she could easily cut the person into pieces.
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