Chapter 16: Line Between life and death

Elder Yang halted briefly upon coming across Jiang Feng's lifeless body, his fury intensifying as he resumed his pursuit with even greater vigor. "I'm gonna gut you and eat your flesh, you damn brat!!" he yelled at Wudi. Although Wudi smiled, he felt immense pressure, as Elder Yang had locked onto him with his Divine Sense, and shaking him off would not be easy. Wudi was despondent, feeling like he had done nothing but run for the past few days. However, he was not one to give up easily and was gradually increasing his speed as he ran.

Wudi was a clever individual who was not only mastering his movement technique but also incorporating his understanding of the essences of lightning. His Thundering Punch contained the essence of lightning, while his Descending Steps incorporated the essence of earth. He was making inferences and slowly merging his comprehension of lightning into the technique. This would have been impossible without experiencing the power of lightning firsthand, as his understanding would have been too shallow. Although combining different forms of Qi was considered suicidal, Wudi had personally witnessed how lightning could coexist harmoniously with various types of Qi. He knew that it was possible, and he felt that the cultivation of this world was somewhat flawed.

Wudi understood that this world had only existed for ten thousand years or so. According to the prevailing belief, there were higher planes, and some individuals had even attained cultivation realms high enough to travel to these planes. However, Wudi had never heard of an actual name for these people or the realms they had reached.

As Elder Yang's anger began to dissipate, his expression grew more serious. "This kid must die at all cost," Elder Yang thought. He contemplated all that had happened so far, realizing that being able to kill cultivators a whole realm above your own was unheard of, let alone multiple like Wudi had done. Wudi's life suddenly became more important than the Golden Drum Medallion in Elder Yang's eyes. Even if Wudi had used some tricks to kill his targets, it was only more reason to kill him. He was smart, cunning, and, most importantly, lucky.

Elder Yang had a hint of greed in his eyes. He thought, "If I can get my hands on his technique that allows him to hide, then I'll really have come out big in this." Elder Yang wanted the secrets on Wudi's body. After all, being able to hide from cultivators in higher realms was an amazing feat, especially to fool Elder Yang. One had to know that below Elder Yang's Realm, one couldn't congeal Divine Sense.

So it was an incredible feat to fool someone of Elder Yang's level, but he wouldn't lose Wudi again. His Divine Sense was locked onto Wudi, and he wouldn't let him escape at all costs. Elder Yang was slightly alarmed, though, because Wudi's speed was slowly increasing. He was still closing the distance, but at this rate, it might be a while before he actually caught Wudi.

Wudi was pushing his body to the limit as he ran, and as he became more accustomed to the movement technique, the less Qi he expended from using it. His body left deep marks in the earth as if he weighed a thousand pounds, but he was shooting across with slight lightning leaving trails behind himself as he shot through the forest.

Wudi had actually become unaware of the area around himself as he fled. His movement became natural, and he seemed to be in a weird state of enlightenment as he shot through the forest. His Qi was slowly changing, and he was somehow circulating his cultivation technique while in this state. His movements were so fluid, and his use of Qi was amazing as his speed hit its limits.

Before anyone knew it, Elder Yang had been chasing Wudi for thirty hours without rest, and he had finally caught up to the brat. Elder Yang screamed, "Die!" as he sent out a green palm that looked menacing. Wudi's movement suddenly changed, and the attack had seemed to break his state of enlightenment as he suddenly performed some weird footwork. He was able to almost dodge the blow, but it still landed on his shoulder as he shot out like a kite. Wudi was now facing Elder Yang as his feet skidded across the ground.

Wudi wasn't even aware of how much time had passed, but he felt that his Qi was almost depleted, and he knew his speed would give out soon. He knew he couldn't compete with Elder Yang in stamina and that he was a candle in the wind right now about to blow out. Elder Yang had a seemingly shocked face but wasn't surprised about Wudi dodging the attack.

"Ethereal state, damn brat you actually reached an ethereal state while being chased for nearly two days, what kind of freak are you!" Wudi was shocked as he sputtered "T- two days?" Elder Yang had a wicked grin as he said, "It's good I caught you, you have to die!"

Elder Yang suddenly lunged for Wudi. Elder Yang this time had a sickly green claw around his palm as he fiercely slashed at Wudi. Wudi couldn't even catch the movement with his eyes, but he felt the pressure from the wind and decided to just let instinct take over as he bent both knees and swiped his palm upwards.

Miraculously, his palm hit the bottom of Elder Yang's hand and moved the trajectory just above his head since he dropped down when he bent his knees, but Elder Yang wasn't done as he sent a palm out from his other hand that struck Wudi in his abdomen. Wudi once again skidded across the ground but wasn't sent flying as he had used the Descending Steps to stay planted in the earth.

It was at this moment that Wudi suddenly launched forward with his Unassuming Fist. Elder Yang laughed seeing this but suddenly turned around hastily as a hammer from behind was striking from his back. Wudi had seemed to have just noticed this as he squeezed every ounce of strength into his fist, hoping to land a blow on Elder Yang's back as he faced the hammer.

Elder Yang faced the claw completely ignoring Wudi's attack as he threw the hammer as strong or stronger than himself. Elder Yang was able to strike the hammer accurately and deflect it, but his arm was shaking, and his internal organs had slightly shifted. It was at this exact moment that Wudi's fist landed on Elder Yang's back. Elder Yang immediately felt blood come up his mouth as he actually tumbled to the ground and coughed up blood.

Wudi had also staggered backward, despite having punched forward the recoil from the hammer was actually much stronger than Wudi's fist and in actuality Wudi's fist wouldn't have caused that much damage to Elder Yang. But the recoil from the hammer was also pushing Elder Yang into Wudi's fist which caused the two to face the powerful recoil of the attack together. Wudi was injured but Elder Yang was much worse off as he'd faced both attacks and taken the brunt of the strength.

He felt pieces of his organs come up his mouth as he puked but despite that he stood up and was about to run with all his strength but suddenly looked down in shock as Wudi's hand was stabbed into his chest while holding his claw. It seemed he lost it in the exchange with the hammer and Wudi grabbed it. Elder Yang was shocked because Wudi should not only be injured but heavily poisoned.

Elder Yang looked up at Wudi to see a mischievous grin and both clasped to the ground together. The only difference being that only one of them was still breathing.