**”Boom!”**
Waves crashed against the shore, shattering the clouds with flying debris!
The scene was utterly spectacular—a vast black ocean churned with towering waves, swallowing the sky and drowning the cursed land beneath.
It was too violent, too terrifying!
In truth, this was no true ocean, but a surging tide of black energy, indistinguishable from the wrath of a divine sea, sweeping across heaven and earth.
Shi Hao fled desperately, putting as much distance as he could between himself and that dreadful force. He was certain it could slay cultivators far beyond his own realm—gods would perish, Buddhas would fall.
Behind him, the three supreme experts were also in a life-or-death sprint, burning their very essence to escape in the same general direction.
**Bang!**
Shi Hao attempted to tear through the void, hoping to traverse the heavens in a single leap.
But his arms went numb, his fingers searing with pain. Though he managed to rend faint fissures in space, he found it impossible to fully open a passage.
At that moment, he finally understood why the Gu Clan expert behind him—despite wielding fragments of time in one hand and shards of space in the other—could not manipulate the fabric of reality.
This place was sealed. Spatial pathways could not be opened, and no one could simply leap across dimensions to escape.
Thus, they could only run—madly, desperately—trying to outpace the source of their impending doom.
**”Damn it!”**
Shi Hao’s dread deepened as he realized that, despite pushing himself to the limit, he had only managed to cover six hundred miles. His divine movement technique, which should have allowed him to traverse vast distances in a single step, had failed.
Worse still, he couldn’t even take flight. An oppressive force weighed him down, preventing him from rising into the sky.
The sensation was chilling. They were being forced to the ground, unable to escape swiftly. Behind them, the black waves roared like an army of thousands, their deafening howl filling the air as they surged forward like an unstoppable tide.
The three supreme experts at his back were figures of immense prestige, yet now they were reduced to this pitiful state—running for their lives.
By comparison, Shi Hao was relatively safe, as he was ahead of them.
**”This black energy… what kind of power is this?”**
As he sprinted, Shi Hao studied the phenomenon, probing its nature with his senses.
This energy was peculiar—it warped the heavens, destabilized space, and even seemed to slow time itself, as if freezing the land in place.
Moreover, their divine abilities and ancestral techniques were severely restricted. Under normal circumstances, a single flap of his Kun Peng wings would have carried him into the skies.
Shi Hao’s eyes flashed with sharp light as he struck backward with a palm. Sure enough, his most formidable techniques could not take form, unable to gather properly.
Yet his divine power remained, albeit weakened. A portion of it still surged forth as radiant light, crashing into the black waves behind him.
The result was unpredictable.
**BOOM!**
When that divine radiance met the black tide, the collision erupted with a sound like mountains and seas splitting apart, shaking the heavens and earth. A terrifying backlash of energy erupted in response.
It was as if a million volcanoes had erupted at once, their dark fury flooding the skies—not with crimson fire, but with hellish black magma, scouring the heavens clean.
**”ROAR!”**
The golden lion skeleton let out a soul-shaking bellow, enraged. The black tide had surged toward its position, striking it directly.
**”Which clan do you belong to? Seeking death?!”**
The true descendant of the Fearless Lion bloodline, one who had undergone ancestral reversion, was furious—so much so that it roared these words aloud. Normally, it was cold, ruthless, and sparing with words, preferring to act rather than speak.
But in this dire moment, it could no longer restrain itself, revealing its most primal emotions.
**”Did your ancestors not warn you before you came here? You cannot resist it—the stronger you are, the stronger it becomes!”**
The humanoid skeleton also spoke. This was a prodigy nurtured by one of the Emperor Clans, emerging from seclusion after tens of thousands of years to tread the borderlands once more, its might unfathomable.
Yet before it could even display its power, it had already fallen into peril.
Shi Hao’s mind raced. **So this place has such a rule?** He understood their meaning now.
The black energy grew more violent the more power was used against it, retaliating with ever-greater force.
For a fleeting moment, Shi Hao was tempted—what if he poured all his strength into attacking the black tide, letting it swallow the three supreme experts whole?
But he quickly dismissed the idea. His divine abilities were suppressed, his magic weakened. Even if he struck with everything he had, the effect would be minimal.
Otherwise, the Fearless Lion would already be dead—not merely injured.
In that instant, Shi Hao’s thoughts moved like lightning. Right now, he was in skeletal form, deliberately concealing his true aura. Perhaps he could pretend to be a foreign cultivator for a time, then deliver a fatal blow to the three experts when the moment was right.
**”My apologies. I was tense and forgot for a moment.”**
The humanoid skeleton said nothing further. The Gu Clan expert remained silent. Only the golden lion skeleton let out another furious growl—its tailbone had been struck by the black energy, a segment of it shattered!
This was an unbearable humiliation. A Fearless Lion that had undergone ancestral reversion could battle immortal-level experts once fully grown. When had it ever suffered such indignity?
Its eyes blazed with cold golden light, but it did not speak again, focusing solely on fleeing.
Just then, a streak of light flashed—another creature emerged from the rocky forest, also fleeing, unable to conceal itself any longer.
Shi Hao recognized it at once—the immortal medicine plant! It, too, was scrambling to escape, likely never expecting this place to be so dangerous.
**”Damn it!”**
Shi Hao cursed inwardly. That slippery old tree had deliberately lured him here, hoping to kill him. Furious, he charged toward it the moment he spotted it again.
**”Aaaah!”**
The old tree actually let out a scream, its leaves trembling in terror as it sped up.
It could no longer phase through space or burrow underground—it was forced to sprint across the surface, fully exposed.
For an immortal tree, this was deadly!
Yet its speed was astonishing. Even without spatial traversal, its long legs carried it away at an unbelievable pace.
Behind it, the young lord of the Emperor Clan, the Gu Clan inheritor, and the reverted Fearless Lion all narrowed their eyes, their hearts pounding.
Had they been ordinary cultivators, they would have cried out in shock. An immortal tree—here! Its value was beyond measure, enough to make even immortals covetous.
The three experts adjusted their course, giving chase in unison!
**”You’re not getting away!”**
Shi Hao pushed himself to the limit, pursuing the immortal medicine. This was a rare opportunity—the old tree could no longer evade effectively.
Its roots slithered like tentacles, propelling it forward at a speed that left the young experts dumbfounded.
It was fighting for its life. Any slower, and it would be captured—with dire consequences.
Especially since it had provoked Shi Hao earlier. If caught, it would suffer dearly.
The tree glowed, wreathed in five-colored immortal mist, its tender branches swaying as they emanated traces of the Great Dao.
Shi Hao’s speed increased beyond even his earlier desperate sprint—all because the old tree, thinking itself safe, had the audacity to wiggle a branch at him in mockery.
**”Swoosh!”**
Like an arrow piercing through clouds and mist, Shi Hao left a trail of radiance as he closed the distance in an instant.
**”Aiya!”**
The immortal medicine shrieked, fleeing even faster.
**BOOM!**
Shi Hao struck out with a fist, his intent clear—he would rather destroy the tree than let it escape again.
**”Whoosh!”**
Suddenly, the gnarled roots trembled, and a single immortal leaf detached, flying toward Shi Hao.
**”Hm?”**
Shi Hao hesitated. Was this an attack? It didn’t seem so—there was no killing intent.
He caught it in his palm and immediately sensed an overwhelming vitality, brimming with immortal life essence.
In that same instant, the old tree shot out of the cursed land, vanishing into the sacred burial grounds.
With a final **”swoosh,”** it burrowed underground and disappeared.
**”A moment of distraction, a shred of mercy… and you slipped away again.”**
Shi Hao sighed, stepping back into the sacred grounds himself.
Truthfully, he knew he could never bring himself to destroy the immortal medicine. Even if he had struck, the distance was too great—he might have wounded it, but not captured it.
Without pause, he pressed onward.
Yet the three supreme experts, upon entering the sacred grounds, suddenly halted and turned to face the black ocean.
**”They’re not afraid of death?”** Shi Hao wondered.
Something strange happened. The towering black waves, upon reaching the border of the sacred land, met an invisible barrier, unable to advance further.
Clearly, the three experts had known this would happen.
**”It worked… That place has been opened! The thing has emerged!”**
The normally silent Gu Clan prodigy spoke at last, his voice trembling with excitement.
Shi Hao also stopped, watching from a distance.
Deep within the black ocean, a radiant light rose—brilliant, sacred, and serene.
The object that Yu Tuo and An Lan had coveted… had finally appeared!
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