Two Hundred Thousand Miles of Pursuit: The Holy Land Grows Numb from Taking the Blame

The Corpse-Sealing Heavenly Seal exploded in midair.

Thirty breaths had passed.

Ji Wushang regained the ability to move.

It abruptly turned its head, its damaged sinister eye fixing itself on Wang Hao.

Or rather, on the Sixteen Holy Lands’ manifestations surrounding Wang Hao.

“Twelve Holy Lands…”

“This seat…”

“Will never rest…”

“With you…”

“Until one of us dies!”

Wang Hao did not hesitate in the slightest.

He turned and ran.

“Withdraw!”

Yin Jiuyou had been ready for this.

The Formation-Breaking Compass erupted with a burst of black light.

The Great Xia Spirit Vessel disguised itself as a Blood Lotus Holy Land escape vessel and shot into the black fog.

Before leaving, Wang Hao did not forget to toss a Thunder Zenith Holy Land token in Ji Wushang’s direction.

Of course, it was fake.

But it looked incredibly authentic.

Ji Wushang’s pale, enormous hand seized the token.

Four words were engraved on it.

Thunder Zenith Must Win.

Lord of Thunder Zenith went numb at the sight.

“Beast!”

“What an utter beast!”

Ji Wushang threw its head back and roared.

“Thunder Zenith—!”

The roar caused all ten thousand coffins across the Burial Yin Plain to ring in unison.

Everyone from Thunder Zenith Holy Land went deathly pale.

The Thunder Zenith Ancestor remained silent for a long while before slowly saying,

“From this day onward, tear down every plaque outside the mountain gate bearing the words ‘Thunder Zenith.’”

Lord of Thunder Zenith looked as though he might cry.

“Ancestor, will that help?”

The Thunder Zenith Ancestor gazed at Ji Wushang, raging in the depths of the Burial Yin Plain.

“No.”

“But seeing them irritates me.”

Meanwhile.

The Great Xia Spirit Vessel tore madly through the black fog.

Yin Jiuyou controlled the formation disk, his face pale.

“Your Majesty, it’s coming after us!”

Wang Hao looked back.

From the depths of the Burial Yin Plain, a black heavenly river surged forth.

Dragging its grievously wounded strange body, Ji Wushang was actually ignoring the allied forces of the Twelve Holy Lands and pursuing them directly.

The Demon Lord’s expression darkened.

“It has locked onto us.”

Wang Hao narrowed his eyes.

“No.”

“It has locked onto the Twelve Holy Lands.”

“Right now, we are the Twelve Holy Lands.”

Everyone fell silent.

Although it sounded absurd,

it also made perfect sense.

Wang Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Han Shanyue was startled.

“Your Majesty!”

Wang Hao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

“Pass on my orders.”

“Continue fleeing north.”

“Every three thousand miles, throw out one Holy Land token.”

Yin Jiuyou’s eyes widened.

“Your Majesty, where are we going to lure it?”

Wang Hao looked toward the vast lands of the north.

There, endless mountains and rivers stretched across the horizon.

Forbidden zones, ancient battlefields, Holy Land borders, and the former territories of ancient dynasties were spread out like pieces on a chessboard.

“Hunt it down.”

Yin Jiuyou nearly thought he had misheard.

“Who is hunting whom?”

Wang Hao replied calmly,

“Of course we’re hunting it.”

“If it runs, we chase it.”

“If it chases us, we chase it too.”

“Either way, the history books will say that the Twelve Holy Lands pursued Ji Wushang for two hundred thousand kilometers.”

Everyone fell silent.

New Emperor Sword murmured,

“Master, you really aren’t human.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“I am the Emperor.”

“Something more advanced than a human.”

The Spirit Vessel tore through the black fog and burst out of the Burial Yin Plain.

Behind them, Ji Wushang charged after them with a tenth-level strange domain in tow, roaring furiously.

Farther back, the allied forces of the Twelve Holy Lands watched the scene, momentarily unsure whether they should pursue.

Lord of Lunar Shade’s face was livid.

“That black-robed man lured Ji Wushang away.”

Sword Ruins Patriarch said coldly,

“He also redirected its hatred toward us.”

Lord of Thunder Zenith gritted his teeth.

“Pursue them!”

“If we don’t, Ji Wushang will wipe us out once its injuries recover.”

“If we do, perhaps we can take advantage of its worsening condition and kill it.”

Blood Lotus Ancestor said quietly,

“That black-robed man must die as well.”

Everyone nodded in unison.

Thus, an utterly absurd yet magnificent scene unfolded across the northern borderlands of the Central Continent.

At the very front, a battered vessel disguised as a joint warship of the Twelve Holy Lands fled at full speed.

In the middle, the tenth-level aberration Ji Wushang dragged its ruined body in relentless pursuit.

At the rear, the Twelve Holy Lands and the Central Continent’s allied forces pursued Ji Wushang in turn.

The three sides crossed mountains and rivers.

They fought all along the way, cursed all along the way, and shattered the heavens and earth wherever they went.

Standing at the bow, Wang Hao faced the raging wind, his eyes deep and unreadable.

This hunt

had only just begun.

The sky above the northern borderlands of the Central Continent split open.

It was not merely a single crack.

The entire sky looked as though it had been clawed apart by a gigantic black hand.

Ji Wushang’s tenth-level strange domain swept across the heavens and earth. Wherever it passed, mountains turned into withered bones, rivers became black blood, and entire ancient forests withered overnight.

It was fleeing.

It was also pursuing.

It was fleeing the encirclement and slaughter of the allied forces of the Twelve Holy Lands.

It was pursuing the battered Spirit Vessel bearing the manifestations of the Twelve Holy Lands.

More precisely, it was pursuing Wang Hao.

But in Ji Wushang’s eyes, that was not Wang Hao.

That was Thunder Zenith.

That was Lunar Shade.

That was Blood Lotus.

That was Sword Ruins.

It was every Holy Land’s face layered together, grinning in an infuriatingly smug manner.

The longer Ji Wushang pursued, the angrier it became.

And the angrier it became, the worse its injuries grew.

Its recovery had been interrupted in the Burial Yin Plain. The backlash from the Ten Thousand Corpses Yin Spring had invaded its body. Not only had its damaged sinister eye failed to heal, the cracks in it had grown even deeper.

Countless black veins writhed within the eye like worms.

Every time it opened, black blood flowed down.

Every time it closed, it emitted a sound like bones being crushed.

It should have stopped to recuperate.

But it could not stop.

Because the vessel ahead was simply too damn infuriating.

Every three thousand miles came another provocation.

Every five thousand miles brought another strike.

Whenever Ji Wushang slowed down even slightly, a bolt of Thunder Zenith divine lightning would fly over from ahead.

Or a Lunar Shade moon blade.

Or a Blood Lotus killing seal.

Their power was not enough to be fatal.

But they were precise.

Every attack struck directly at the damaged sinister eye.

Once, Wang Hao even had New Emperor Sword disguise itself as a broken Sword Ruins blade and launch a sneak attack through a crack in the void.

The sword light skimmed across the fissure in Ji Wushang’s sinister eye.

The damage was minor.

The humiliation was immense.

Ji Wushang went completely berserk on the spot and pursued them for another seventeen thousand miles.

Aboard the Great Xia Spirit Vessel.

Yin Jiuyou’s hair was disheveled, and his eyes were webbed with blood vessels. He pressed both hands firmly against the Formation-Breaking Compass.

“Your Majesty!”

“If we keep running like this, the vessel is going to fall apart!”

The entire Spirit Vessel could no longer be called a spirit vessel.

It should have been called a patchwork heap of junk.

The left side of the hull was reinforced with armor plates taken from a Golden Palace Holy Land troop carrier.

The formation core on the right had come from the warship of some unfortunate dynasty.

A tattered Blood Lotus Holy Land banner hung from the stern.

At the bow was a broken Thunder Zenith spear that no one knew where they had picked up.

Overall, it did not look like a warship.

It looked like the Twelve Holy Lands’ united pile of scrap.

Wang Hao sat cross-legged at the bow, his face slightly pale.

He was regulating his breathing.

After repeatedly using the Nine Swords of Creation and the Heaven-Imprisoning, Earth-Covering Palm, then being pursued by Ji Wushang for tens of thousands of miles, even his formidable body was beginning to feel the strain.

But he could not stop.

Stopping now would render all their previous efforts meaningless.

Ji Wushang’s injuries had to keep worsening.

They had to drag things out until it was unable to recover for a hundred years.

Until the Twelve Holy Lands began hearing Ji Wushang shout their names even in their dreams.

Wang Hao opened his eyes.

“If the vessel falls apart, replace it.”

Yin Jiuyou asked in anguish,

“Replace it with what?”

Wang Hao pointed behind them.

“The allied Holy Land forces have plenty of vessels.”

Yin Jiuyou froze.

Then realization dawned on him.

“Your Majesty is wise.”

The Demon Lord sat to the side, staring at the two of them expressionlessly.

This was wisdom?

This was shamelessness.

But the Demon Lord said nothing.

Because just moments ago, he had personally dismantled two Lunar Silver formation panels from a damaged warship belonging to Lunar Shade Holy Land.

Several Lunar Shade disciples had still been lying nearby, coughing up blood while he took them apart.

The Demon Lord had asked,

“Do you still need them?”

A Lunar Shade disciple had answered weakly,

“Yes…”

The Demon Lord had nodded.

“Then they can still be used.”

And he had carried the panels away.

Strictly speaking, Wang Hao had already corrupted him.

Han Shanyue stood at the stern, his mountain-like vital energy spreading outward as he resisted the impact of the strange domain behind them.

His armor was covered in cracks, and a patch of his shoulder had been corroded black by the strange energy.

But he still stood there like a wall, silent and resolute.

"Your Majesty, Ji Wushang is getting closer," a voice reported.

Wang Hao stood up.

In the distance, a vast black river of strange energy was surging towards them.

Within it, the huge and grotesque form of Ji Wushang loomed in and out of sight.

It no longer maintained a complete shape.

Half of it was in a human form.

Half of it was a mist of strange energy.

A mutilated and grotesque eye hung in the middle of the river, like a rotting black sun.

That eye stared fixedly at the spiritual boat.

Wang Hao let out a soft breath.

"How far are we?"

Yin Jiuyou glanced at the map.

"We've passed the Cold Crow Ridge in the northern border. Two thousand miles ahead is the northern mining vein of the Lunar Shade Holy Land."

Wang Hao raised his eyebrows.

"Belonging to the Lunar Shade?"

Yin Jiuyou nodded.

"Yes, it's one of the important resource areas of the Lunar Shade Holy Land, rich in Cold Moon Crystals."

Wang Hao pondered for a moment.

"Go around it."

Yin Jiuyou was stunned.

"Has Your Majesty had a conscience?"

Wang Hao said calmly,

"Go around it from above the mining vein."

Yin Jiuyou: "..."

He knew it.

An incense stick of time later.

At the northern mining vein of the Lunar Shade.

Tens of thousands of disciples of the Lunar Shade were in a hurry to evacuate.

They had already received the news that Ji Wushang was fleeing north and that the holy land coalition forces were in pursuit.

But they never expected that the disaster would come so soon.

Even less did they expect that the first to arrive was not Ji Wushang.

But a spiritual boat flying the tattered flags of the twelve holy lands.

At the bow of the boat, a man in a black robe was surrounded by the outer appearance of the ancient Lunar Shade moon, and his voice was solemn.

"Fellow practitioners of the Lunar Shade!"

"Ji Wushang is coming!"

"We are ordered by the Holy Lord to borrow the Cold Moon Crystals to set up a formation to kill the enemy!"

The elder of the mining vein was overjoyed.

"It's the reinforcements from the holy land!"

"Quick, open the warehouse!"

The next moment.

Yin Jiuyou, Xue Wuhen, the New Emperor Sword, and the Demon Lord rushed into the warehouse at the same time.

They carried the crystals.

They dismantled the formation plates.

They pried at the earth veins.

Their actions were smooth and seamless, so skillful that it was pitiful.

At first, the mining vein elder was quite relieved.

"Fellow Daoists, you've worked hard."

It wasn't until he saw the New Emperor Sword dismantling the warehouse door.

His expression changed.

"Fellow Daoist, this door..."

The New Emperor Sword said seriously,

"This door has been contaminated by strange energy."

The elder looked at the shiny and spotless Cold Moon iron door.

"Where is the contamination?"

The New Emperor Sword was silent for a moment, and suddenly a wisp of black energy emerged from the sword body.

"Now it's contaminated."

The mining vein elder: "..."

It was that familiar smell.

He suddenly remembered a certain rumor circulating on the front line.

A rescue team that was better at looting than the strange beings.

The mining vein elder's voice trembled.

"You're not from the Lunar Shade!"

Wang Hao descended from the sky, enveloped by the outer appearance of the ancient Lunar Shade moon.

"Nonsense."

"I... I have such a pure Lunar Shade aura. Can't you tell?"

The mining vein elder was both shocked and angry.

"Who on earth are you?"

Wang Hao looked at the black river of strange energy rapidly approaching in the distance and smiled slightly.

"I do good deeds without leaving my name."

"If you really want to remember, just remember the Lunar Shade Holy Land."

After saying that, he raised his hand and sent out a blade of Lunar Shade moonlight.

The blade of moonlight soared across the sky.

It precisely grazed Ji Wushang's mutilated and grotesque eye.

Puff!

Black blood spurted out again.

Ji Wushang let out an earth - shattering roar of anger.

"Lunar Shade—"

The mining vein elder's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.

This blame.

It was firmly placed on them.

Wang Hao waved his hand.

"Withdraw!"

The people of the Great Xia left with a full load.

Before leaving, Wang Hao was also very considerate and helped the Lunar Shade mining vein open the mountain - protecting formation.

Then he left a trace of Thunder Zenith aura at the formation's eye.

When Ji Wushang chased here, the mutilated and grotesque eye saw the Lunar Shade mining vein and felt the Thunder Zenith aura.

The hatred instantly reached its peak.

Boom!

A palm struck down.

Half of the Lunar Shade mining vein collapsed.

The Lord of the Lunar Shade, who was chasing from behind, saw this scene and almost went into a frenzy on the spot.

"My Cold Moon Crystals!"

The Lord of Thunder Zenith also exploded in anger.

"It wasn't me!"

The Lord of the Lunar Shade turned around, his eyes cold.

"There's your Thunder Zenith aura at the formation's eye."

The Lord of Thunder Zenith roared,

"It's fake! All fake!"

The Blood Lotus Ancestor said quietly,

"Fellow Daoist of Thunder Zenith, you've said this many times along the way."

The Sword Ruins Patriarch added insult to injury,

"But Ji Wushang doesn't believe it."

The Lord of Thunder Zenith covered his chest.

He suddenly understood what despair was.

It wasn't that the enemy was too strong.

It was that all the teammates knew you were wronged, but the enemy didn't.

Moreover, because you were wronged too often, the teammates began to suspect that you might really have a problem.

The chase continued.