Chapter 430

Chapter 430: Full Pursuit

As the Copper Orb entered the ocean, its speed increased, infuriating the Old Ghost. He took out a heavy ruler imbued with dark energy, gripped it tightly, and struck forward, opening a silent rift in the sky and sea.

"Little runt, let’s see where you can run this time!” The Old Ghost entered the rift and, in an instant, crossed tens of thousands of miles of sea. He saw a faint red glow coming towards him and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “So fast? You almost escaped!”

“Boom, boom, boom…” Massive ghostly hands reached out repeatedly, shattering the outer layer of the Copper Orb. The speed suddenly surged, piercing through the ghostly hands and narrowly escaping.

“Break for me!”

Furious, the Old Ghost swung the ruler.

The Copper Orb broke through five layers consecutively; combined with the earlier damage from the ghostly hands, only twelve layers remained. Its speed increased sixfold, and in an instant, it reached the boundary of the sea and sky, about to fade out again.

“What an extreme scoundrel.” The Old Ghost continued to wave the ruler, opening rift after rift to pursue relentlessly.

Someone like him valued his reputation greatly; how many old ghosts were watching from Sleepy Moon Ridge! If he returned empty-handed, where would he hide that old face?

He had no choice but to push himself, no matter the cost; he had to capture this troublesome brat, strip him bare, and extract his soul to save his pride.

The red glow shot forward, and the Old Ghost continued to intercept. Every time a layer was broken off the Copper Orb, its speed doubled, and soon the Old Ghost was panting heavily, opening his mouth to swallow the dark energy of thousands of miles of sea to replenish his strength.

“Damn, damn it, how can you be so fast?”

As the Copper Orb lost its last two layers, its speed surged to an outrageous level, making the faint red glow barely visible, as if it were formless and intangible.

With the sea relatively flat, without mountains to block the way, Li Hui had calculated his position, rapidly returning toward Dalong from the ocean. As the saying goes, “Sharpening the knife doesn’t delay the chopping of firewood”—though he had wasted some time earlier, he was now making up for it.

If it weren’t for this Old Ghost constantly intercepting him, by the time the Copper Orb exhausted its power, he would be extremely close to Da Lai Country’s waters, and afterward, it would only take a month of following the coastline to get back to Dalong.

But now! He would at least be delayed another month, but thankfully there was still a way to salvage things.

After rushing for two hours, the Old Ghost used all his strength and finally, after a deafening explosion, struck the Copper Orb, causing it to shatter.

“Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze…”

The Old Ghost’s hand shook violently, darting forward, trembling as he blocked Li Hui’s path, gritting his teeth as he shot out a series of black shadows, causing the sea surface to cave in by four or five zhang.

He had stopped him; he had finally stopped the little thief! But the cost had been unimaginable.

Li Hui had already slowed down in advance, skillfully avoiding the attacks with a few reflections, and using the momentum to break through further until the Old Ghost made several more attempts, finally completely blocking him.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Over a dozen Buddha Treasures flew out and self-destructed.

“What a terrifying Old Ghost; how could he keep up this speed!” Li Hui was alarmed and no longer held back. He sent out his cherished Buddha Treasures to explode, then took out three exotic treasures: the Qianyang Duanlang Stone, the Soul-Severing Divine Nail, and a pitch-black bell, launching them one after another.

“Boom…” A heatwave surged, and the Old Ghost was in immense pain.

He had exhausted all his strength to stop Li Hui, and at the critical point of being out of old energy and not yet having new energy, the little brat unleashed over a dozen powerful Buddha Treasures that perfectly countered ghostly beings.

And let’s not forget the Qianyang Duanlang Stone! It had been years since he had seen something like it; he never expected this little brat to produce such a large chunk.

Boundless Heaven, Yang Fire burns the sea!

Even the ocean could be boiled; the vast dark energy made the ghost cultivator a target that couldn’t escape.

This wasn’t even counting the Soul-Severing Divine Nail, which was troublesome; it could subdue gods and even sever souls, making it equally effective against ghostly beings. While it was not a spirit treasure, its power surpassed any spirit treasure in ferocity. Despite being a one-time use and rendered useless afterward, it forced a cry of pain from the Old Ghost.

However, the Qianyang Duanlang Stone and the Soul-Severing Divine Nail paled in comparison to the last pitch-black bell.

This bell had sunk into the Demon Calamity Pool for many years and was originally a holy treasure of Buddhism, yet its origins had become untraceable. It had been tainted, losing its Buddhist nature and, in turn, becoming this treasure.

It was neither a Buddha Treasure nor a demonic creature, but due to its unique materials, it had become muddled under the pressure of two powers, blending the Buddhist energy with the demonic aura. Later, through fortunate coincidences, it assimilated multiple powers, achieving a bizarre balance.

Now, that balance had become incredibly fragile, and if an external force broke it, one outcome was inevitable: a massive explosion.

The Qianyang Duanlang Stone and the Soul-Severing Divine Nail were merely fuses; once the chaos expanded and exploded outward, it was too late for the Old Ghost to escape.

As for Li Hui? He was already a step ahead, soaring swiftly! Wings of the Red-Winged Xuan Dragon Bat erupted from his back, covered with numerous talismans. Although they were much smaller and tattered compared to the pair he had burned earlier, he easily performed mid-tier Dao arts to boost his speed, continuously creating afterimages to escape.

“Boom…” The explosion covered fifty miles, and Li Hui barely managed to rush out.

Such dangerous items would not suffice to harm the Old Ghost, and even so, he didn’t dare to hope for a single hit to be effective; that old fellow was surely not dead and could rush over to battle at any moment.

“Pop, pop, pop, pop!”

Faint ripples came from behind; even the slightest tremors indicated footsteps, as a gigantic figure stepped out of the explosion zone, moving surprisingly steadily.

It appeared; it was a colossal entity towering six hundred zhang.

Seeing such a massive ghostly being for the first time, it had horns, shoulder-length white hair, eyes glowing red, and its body wrapped in black mist, revealing a skeletal form. It was an ancient white-haired Yaksha, utterly terrifying.

It let out a terrifying roar at the dark moon, opened its massive mouth, and with a powerful inhale, absorbed all the surrounding dark energy, taking great strides that covered a thousand miles.

“Damn, that’s the Old Ghost’s true form!” Li Hui urged his wings, his body flickering, each flicker covering a hundred miles, but he couldn’t match the other’s speed. In less than half a tea’s time, he was caught up.

“Crack!” A loud explosion echoed as the ghostly hand blotted out the sky.

“No matter what, Bug talisman, swift, swift, swift…” At this critical moment, Li Hui launched the dark energy jar, slamming it against the enormous ghostly being’s chest, shattering it and releasing a powerful stream of dark energy, which caused the white-haired Yaksha to momentarily pause.

“Gahahaha!”

The white-haired Yaksha laughed maniacally, opening its mouth to greedily absorb energy to replenish its strength. It underestimated Li Hui, not believing the little brat had any means to harm its true form, and failed to notice the bug worms mixed within the powerful dark energy.

To be honest, at this moment, Li Hui didn’t think those bug worms would be very effective either; he merely hoped to buy some time. He raised his hand and threw out his game board, scattering pieces that transformed into bronze-armored soldiers and purple-feathered swift snakes to attack the giant ghostly body while turning to burn all the talismans on his wings with all his might, his form rapidly flickering to escape.

He discarded the Dao soldiers! Along the way, he continuously threw away Buddha Treasures to self-destruct, investing a significant amount of talismans—his entire wealth—if it had been anyone else, they would have been struck down by the Old Ghost’s ruler long ago.

And so, after running for thousands of miles, Li Hui found himself blocked again.