"You’re going to pay with your life!"
Chen Nan let out a furious roar, pushed off the ground with both feet, and, like a meteor, pounced on Long Zhigang to kill him.
The Crack Sky Hand, swirling with the indestructible Xuanhuang Battle Qi, smashed through the Cultivation Treasures that Long Zhigang had deployed, pulverizing each one like scraps of copper and iron, leaving debris scattered on the ground.
"You... you can’t kill me, or our organization will never let you off!"
Seeing Chen Nan’s unstoppable advance, Long Zhigang, with nowhere to escape, cried out in utter fear.
"I don’t give a damn about your bloody organization. Out here in the wilderness, if I kill you two, who’s to know it was me!" As Chen Nan spoke, he didn’t stop moving. His body had already caught up with Long Zhigang, and he slammed his palm down toward his back.
Feeling the terrifying surge of energy behind him, Long Zhigang felt a chill in his heart.
In the critical moment, he brought out his ultimate magic treasure.
The Xuanming Shield, forged together with the Xuanming Sword, was also a Nine-grade Spiritual Artifact, but whereas the sword specialized in offense, the shield focused on defense.
Strictly speaking of defense, the Xuanming Shield was significantly stronger than the Xuanming Sword. Even Chen Nan’s mighty Crack Sky Hand, unparalleled in the world, could not leave a scratch on it.
"Chen Nan, you can’t kill me today. One day, I will make you pay back double!"
Long Zhigang said viciously. He left the Xuanming Shield behind to block Chen Nan while his own body flew away, attempting to flee for his life.
Chen Nan struck down with three consecutive palms, causing the Xuanming Shield to shake, but still showing no sign of breaking.
As Long Zhigang’s figure grew more distant, Chen Nan grew anxious. He disregarded the consumption of his cultivation, and at the risk of backlash to himself, he unleashed his strongest attack—Heaven Breaking Kill!
Metal shards flew as waves of Qi rolled.
Chen Nan, like a spiral drill, shattered the Xuanming Shield with one strike, then shot forward like a blade of flowing light, continuing to chase down Long Zhigang.
As Long Zhigang fled, a look of panic crossed his face. He circulated his power to its limit, pushing out with both palms at the moment Chen Nan bore down on him. His enormous force collided with the residual power of Chen Nan’s Heaven Breaking Kill.
Long Zhigang’s body was knocked flying backward, leaving a trail of blood in mid-air, before he crashed into a huge rock.
Struck by Long Zhigang, the rock, which was as tall as ten feet, broke in two in an instant. The upper part of the rock fell, creating a deep pit, while Long Zhigang lay on the ground spitting blood, his internal organs feeling as if they had shattered, suffering unbearable pain, unable to rise.
However, as the huge rock broke, it seemed to trigger some mechanism. The entire forest shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.
Chen Nan landed steadily on the ground but did not pursue Long Zhigang any further.
Having just executed Heaven Breaking Kill, he was severely drained of his inner strength, and the knife wound in his heart began acting up again. He did not have the strength to continue the chase and had feigned strength in an attempt to scare Long Zhigang away.
Since the last strike didn’t kill him and the opportunity was lost, Chen Nan hadn’t imagined that following the broken rock, the ground itself would begin to tremble as if the earth was about to split open.
Chen Nan knew that within the rock that Long Zhigang had broken, there must have been a secret mechanism.
Feeling the ground beneath him shaking violently, Chen Nan summoned the last bit of his strength, attempting to run to the side. However, just as he was about to step forward, a loud boom resounded, and the earth shook so fiercely that it was hard to stand. Then, with a "crack" sound, a fissure tore open right where Chen Nan stood.
Like a stampede of ten thousand horses, the quake grew more intense.
Chen Nan’s face turned pale as he saw the crack extending from under his feet. He hurriedly leaped to one side and rapidly ran towards where Long Zhigang stood, for the shaking seemed much less severe and more stable there.
Seeing Chen Nan running over, unable to perform Qinggong, Long Zhigang burst into loud laughter, "So you have completely exhausted your Inner Strength, today you are surely going to die!"
Chen Nan sneered, "You’re also out of Inner Strength, what can you do to me!"
As the earthquake became more and more violent, Ye Ruoshui also quickly fled towards Long Zhigang’s side, "I’m still here, Chen Nan, you’re doomed for sure!"
Chen Nan’s expression changed.
Currently, he was seriously injured and had exhausted his Inner Strength. If he had to face both Long Zhigang and Ye Ruoshui at the same time, it would indeed be very difficult to win.
However, as he hesitated whether to rush over, cracks appeared all around the spot where he stood, shaking more and more violently until finally, with a "thunderous crash," an area of about two hundred square meters around him collapsed into the ground.
The ground beneath turned out to be hollow!
Chen Nan was stunned, and at this moment, he no longer had the energy to leap to safety. He could only sink with the collapsing ground.
A sound of water splashing rose, and in the next moment, Chen Nan felt himself choking; he had fallen into water.
The ground beneath was not only hollow but also contained water!
Above ground, Long Zhigang and Ye Ruoshui were also startled, not expecting the ground to cave in.
When everything calmed down and the earth stopped shaking, the two of them approached the collapsed area and found a clear pond below, covering an area of about two hundred square meters, with no bottom in sight, and Chen Nan had already fallen into it without a trace.
Ye Ruoshui asked, "Young master, what should we do?"
"We don’t know what’s underneath this water. Let’s wait here. If Chen Nan manages to come out, we’ll kill him," Long Zhigang said. "He has depleted his Inner Strength and can’t stay underwater for long. If he doesn’t surface in five minutes, he’s probably done for. Let’s wait here for half an hour. I’ll go to the side to heal with Qi Movement, and you stand guard here."
Ye Ruoshui nodded in agreement.
Having no Inner Strength to protect his body, and also suffering from internal injuries, Chen Nan was struck by a falling stone as he hit the water, causing his body to be pushed rapidly towards the bottom of the pond. The wound near his heart, without the suppression of Inner Strength, bled continuously, leaving him quickly drained of strength and falling into unconsciousness.
The pond was exceptionally deep, and it seemed to take a long time before Chen Nan finally settled at the bottom, the large stone still pressing upon him.
Chen Nan had completely lost consciousness.
As the life energy in his body grew weaker and weaker, the last trace of Inner Strength left within him began to circulate automatically, traveling through his meridians.
A dark, ink-black glow radiated from his body. This was the Demon Gang Qi.
During the slaughter of the Ling family, Chen Nan had once deployed the Heavenly Reversal Demon Technique, which was now operating on its own.
(I will start updating regularly from today, do you believe me? Anyway, I believe! Also, I recommend my friend’s masterpiece "Peak Soldier Dominator" for those experiencing a book drought. You can check it out.)