Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1338 - 1338 0763 The Escape Trump Card_2

Chapter 1338: Chapter 0763: The Escape Trump Card_2 Chapter 1338: Chapter 0763: The Escape Trump Card_2 Zhao Deyi gritted his teeth. His recent ascension to the Nascent Soul Stage seemed glorious, but it still left many hidden dangers behind. These dangers weren’t of the physical kind, but rather external conditions that were indispensable. He didn’t know what it would be like for people in the outside world to advance to the Nascent Soul Stage, but personally, after his own advancement, all of his equipment, including his weapons and armor, no longer matched his cultivation level, leaving him without suitable armament. Although he had snatched two Nascent Soul Level weapons from the sky and absorbed the Tribulation Clouds, making a grandiose display, those three treasures had already been destroyed by Qi Tian, and the Banana Fan basically served little purpose. Thus, when faced with adversity, he discovered that escaping from Qi Tian without relying on external objects was a truly lamentable situation.

Zhao Deyi could only resort to the most primitive method, which also incurred the greatest loss to his essence. He began to burn his Essence Blood, using the intrinsic force that burst forth from it to add new strength to the flying sword beneath his feet, enhancing its speed so that he might escape his pursuers.

At the same time, Zhao Deyi repeatedly went over the map of the Imperial Family Secret Territory in his mind, searching for a direction to take and a place to hide for a few days.

Qi Tian had realized that the Imperial Family Secret Territory had its borders, and having lived in it for centuries, Zhao Deyi was even more aware of this fact. He knew that flying straight ahead would almost certainly result in being captured by Qi Tian. The only way to elude him was to change his flight path and find a safe location.

During the centuries he had spent in the Imperial Family Secret Territory, Zhao Deyi had nearly set foot on every inch of its land. His familiarity with the area was vast, yet he could find no suitable place. Xidu was definitely out of the question, Eastern Capital City was Qi Tian’s stronghold, and without any remarkably powerful individuals there, no one could help him. North Capital was even less viable, with its situation being similar to Xidu—no one there could stop Qi Tian.

In the end, Zhao Deyi set his sights on the core area of the Imperial Family Secret Territory—the place that every cultivator yearned for and respected in awe. The core area.

The core area still had several unexplored Saint’s Tombs. If he could dash in there and enter a Saint’s Tomb, maybe he could shake off Qi Tian. At worst, if he could find artifacts usable by Nascent Soul Stage cultivators inside one of the tombs, and manage to acquire one or two of them, it would alter his current predicament of having no weapons to wield. Then he could turn around and fight Qi Tian once more, potentially turning defeat into victory. Of course, that would be the best outcome. If that didn’t happen, going to the core area would present another choice—if he couldn’t win the fight, he could run. Not just within the Imperial Family Secret Territory, but to leave entirely.

In the core area, there was a space gate that led out of the Imperial Family Secret Territory. This was something Zhao Deyi had stumbled upon many years ago while adventuring in the territory, which no one else knew about—he had kept it to himself, not even mentioning it to his father Emperor Longqing or his brother Zhao Depin. Now, this was his trump card for escaping; if worse came to worst, he could just leave. With his Nascent Soul level cultivation, even if he went out into the vast world outside, he should still be able to thrive. Perhaps he could even access the cultivation resources of the outside world to greatly enhance his cultivation level. Then, once his power increased, he could turn back and settle the score with Qi Tian. By then, killing Qi Tian would be as easy as flipping his hand, wouldn’t it?

In an instant, Zhao Deyi made his decision. He immediately changed the direction of his flight, heading straight for the core area. He made no attempt to conceal his intentions from Qi Tian, nor did he use any feints to confuse him. Everyone was not foolish—playing little tricks was completely pointless and might even jeopardize his already precarious situation.

Qi Tian frowned slightly. He hadn’t expected Zhao Deyi to choose to fly toward the core area. Judging by Zhao Deyi’s demeanor, it was very likely that he planned to enter the core area. It was unclear whether Zhao Deyi intended to use the Saint’s Tomb as a barrier to engage him in a prolonged fight or whether he had hidden some secret inside the tomb.

No matter the possibility, it suggested one outcome: once Zhao Deyi entered the core area, things would become very troublesome. If they wanted to capture Zhao Deyi and then kill him, it might come at a much higher cost. This was not what Qi Tian wanted. He had to find a way to change Zhao Deyi’s mind and prevent him from entering the core area.

As Qi Tian frantically fed fuel into the Heavenly Dao Engine, he issued commands to Liuli Sand and Ghost Face once more, urging them to increase their speed even further. Yet, even so, catching up with Zhao Deyi was not something that could be done in an instant. Qi Tian estimated that, maintaining their current speed and reducing the distance to Zhao Deyi minute by minute, it would still take quite some time to catch up. By then, Zhao Deyi would likely have already burst into the core area.

Their current range of movement was not far from Xidu. Zhao Deyi intended to enter the core area of the Imperial Family Secret Territory, and Xidu itself had a portal to the core area. The distance from where they were to entering the core area was limited. This limited distance was the last stretch where Qi Tian could capture Zhao Deyi with the smallest price. Beyond this range, it would no longer be easy to capture Zhao Deyi.

In order to increase the chances of capturing Zhao Deyi, Qi Tian disregarded the potential for unnecessary losses. He took out a large number of Wolf Teeth Knives, all of which were at Half-step Nascent Soul level or above that he had repaired, and then hurled them all towards Zhao Deyi.

This was more than a dozen Wolf Teeth Knives, each of which held immense value in the Imperial Family Secret Territory. If used well, a single knife could potentially kill a cultivator of the same level. But at this time, to deal with Zhao Deyi, he had used them all up.

Although these Wolf Teeth Knives were not as high-level as Zhao Deyi, they had one advantage: their speed was sufficiently fast. Qi Tian’s speed was slightly stronger than Zhao Deyi’s. On this basis, plus the speed of the knives, he should be able to catch up with Zhao Deyi in a short time.

No sooner had these Wolf Teeth Knives flown out of Qi Tian’s hands than they formed a dense and intricate net of blades, aimed at every possible direction Zhao Deyi could dodge to, and then they flew toward Zhao Deyi.

Zhao Deyi was constantly keeping an eye on Qi Tian. Noticing Qi Tian throw out so many Wolf Teeth Knives all at once, he was startled, but despite the shock, he did not lose his composure. What was done was done, and there was no use in worrying or being afraid now. He made a move that Qi Tian did not anticipate: he once again took out the Banana Fan and fanned it behind himself.

When Qi Tian first saw Zhao Deyi do this, he thought Zhao Deyi was trying to use the Banana Fan to produce a gust of wind, which could force the knives to slow down or change their direction. However, when the Banana Fan actually produced the gust of wind, Qi Tian realized he had underestimated Zhao Deyi’s Banana Fan. Indeed, it did interfere with the knives, causing their flight to become somewhat unstable, but the overall effect was limited. Surprisingly, it was not the knives that were significantly affected.