Chapter Twenty-Four: The Pursuit

Li Ruoyu had just stored the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow into his Sumeru Mustard Seed when five figures surged into the icy corridor. These five had been pursuing him and arrived just in time to witness him putting away the precious treasure.

Three men and two women comprised the group. Of the men, one wore blue, another white, and the last black; all three hailed from the Sword Sect, one of the seven great powers of Yan Kingdom. The two women, one in azure robes and the other in pale pink, were cultivators from the Celestial Yi Sect.

All five were at the Dao Realm, with the three Sword Sect disciples displaying even greater strength.

"Hand over the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow," commanded the blue-robed Sword Sect disciple.

Discovered—there's only one option: eliminate them all, Li Ruoyu thought to himself.

The white-robed man spoke, "Junior brothers, the Triple Severance Sword Formation."

At his words, the swords of the three Sword Sect disciples flew from their backs. Chains of Order radiated from their bodies, coalescing into a black lotus that struck toward Li Ruoyu. The so-called "Triple Severance" referred to the severing of Heaven, Earth, and Man. The essence of the formation was to cut off the last thread of life from Heaven, the opportunity of Earth, and the path of fate from Man.

Li Ruoyu had once read about the Triple Severance Sword Formation in the *Common Knowledge of the Cultivation World*.

As the black lotus surged toward him, the two Celestial Yi Sect women summoned their Chains of Order, each manifesting a divine whip that lashed out at Li Ruoyu.

The black lotus was formidable indeed. The formation required the combined might of three, and as the Sword Sect disciples were on the verge of breaking through to a higher realm, the force of this strike had already surpassed the Dust Refinement stage, reaching the level of Dao Body.

Facing the oncoming black lotus and twin divine whips, Li Ruoyu's eyes flashed coldly. Without hesitation, he awakened the power sealed in his left hand.

"Desolate Strike!"

Ever since practicing the Forbidden Burial of Heaven and Earth, his left hand had become numb and lifeless. In daily life, it was effectively crippled, but Li Ruoyu knew the hidden power within was immense. Just how powerful, or how long he could wield it, he did not know. What he was certain of was that to destroy these five in short order, ordinary means would not suffice. Thus, he resolutely revived his left hand.

A hazy arm appeared behind him, growing larger and larger until it shattered the surrounding ice. Its palm swung toward the black lotus and divine whips. Though its movement seemed slow, in truth, it collided with its targets in an instant—far beyond the expectations of the Sword Sect and Celestial Yi Sect disciples.

"Crush," he intoned.

At first contact, the great palm shattered the black lotus and divine whips, continuing its sweep toward the five attackers.

"One hand veils the sky"—only such words could describe the Desolate Strike at this moment.

“Three Suns Shatter Heaven!” “Heaven’s Veil!”

The three from Sword Sect and the two Celestial Yi Sect women reacted instantly, unleashing their most potent arts in an attempt to block the palm.

Yet the Desolate Strike swept away all resistance as if the five were but phantoms, severely injuring them in a heartbeat.

"Retreat!" shouted the white-robed man, sensing disaster.

"Can you escape?" Li Ruoyu replied coldly, unleashing another strike with his left hand. Again, the sky-shrouding palm descended. In a blink, the five were drenched in blood, their robes as crimson as sunset—an image of dusk stained with their lives.

Though on the verge of death, the five managed to flee into the Ice Valley.

Before dying, the blue-robed Sword Sect man cried out, "The Extreme Cold Ice Marrow has been stolen!"

Li Ruoyu wasted no time, escaping the ice cavern and fleeing across the valley.

"Pursue him!"

The others in the valley abandoned their assault on the Hengjiu Sect disciples and gave chase.

The one closest to Li Ruoyu was a woman in azure, stunningly beautiful—her three thousand strands of black hair streaming behind her, skin as fair as snow, and long, graceful legs lending her the air of a celestial maiden. She was Su Qingyi, the pride of this generation from the Celestial Yi Sect. Having entered the Abyss of Fallen Demons a year ago, she had already stepped into the Dao Body stage, making her one of the most powerful cultivators in the abyss. Her cultivation of the Celestial Yi Sect’s core art, the "Heaven’s Will Sutra," made her seem untouched by mundane dust.

“Cold Moon Bathes Autumn Snow!”

This was Su Qingyi’s Dao Manifestation, a legacy stretching back to the primordial era, exclusive to the Pure Yin physique. It brimmed with the power of extreme Yin, growing stronger when nourished by lunar essence and Yin treasures. Now, as Su Qingyi summoned her manifestation, the world seemed frozen—a cold moon bathed in autumn snow, intensifying the chill. Even those pursuing behind her felt its effects, their speed slowed by the pervasive cold.

But the one most affected was Li Ruoyu. The moon’s icy blade slashed toward him, radiating a frosty gleam.

“A Pure Yin body, no wonder her pursuit is so relentless,” Li Ruoyu thought.

Without delay, he revived his left hand again, breaking free from the moon’s freezing grip in an instant. The sky-shrouding hand clashed with the moon blade, meeting it as an equal. Li Ruoyu was astonished—the Cold Moon Bathing Autumn Snow could actually contend with the revived power of his Desolate Physique.

But then, he reminded himself—he was only at the Heaven-Linking stage, while Su Qingyi had already stepped into the Dao Body realm and begun cultivating her supreme art. Moreover, she possessed one of the world’s supreme physiques. Her prowess was naturally extraordinary.

In truth, Su Qingyi was even more shocked than Li Ruoyu. Her usually cool gaze now flickered with astonishment. She was certain Li Ruoyu remained at the Heaven-Linking stage, not even having entered the Dao Realm, yet he could withstand her Dao Manifestation’s assault. In the Dao Body realm, all one’s power was vested in the body and the manifestation. This was truly unsettling.

After exchanging over ten blows, Li Ruoyu found that not only had he failed to shake off Su Qingyi, she was actually closing the distance. Despite his supreme foundation—built from the Mother Qi of All Things and Divine Star Metal—granting him speed equal to or greater than most Dao Body cultivators, his cultivation was still only at the Heaven-Linking stage.

Meanwhile, other pursuers began to close in.

Gu Tianyi, a leading figure of the Ancient Sect—one of Yan Kingdom’s seven great powers—had also reached the Dao Body stage. Clad in plain hemp robes and bearing a world-weary face that looked forty but belied his true age of just over twenty, Gu Tianyi joined the assault the instant he caught up.

He unleashed his Dao Manifestation—a mighty ancient tree, suffused with the aura of time, as though it had traversed the river of history. The tree was entirely golden—branches, leaves, and gnarled roots all glowing with a luminous brilliance.

“One Tree, Spring and Autumn!”

Such was the name of Gu Tianyi’s manifestation. As Li Ruoyu beheld it, a sense of mortal peril washed over him. A single misstep here, and he would perish, lost to the ages. This opponent was even more dangerous than Su Qingyi. If he did not flee now, there might be no more chances.

Li Ruoyu shrouded his Great Soul Banner with Chains of Order to conceal its nature, then hurled an attack at his pursuers. Then, with desperate speed, he fled northward out of the Abyss of Fallen Demons.

The Great Soul Banner’s strike landed instantly on those behind him. Su Qingyi summoned the cold moon to block it, while Gu Tianyi’s Spring and Autumn Tree stood before him in defense. Though they managed to resist, both coughed blood and suffered grievous wounds. Those behind them were less fortunate—caught off guard, most were instantly struck down, some killed outright. Only a handful of Dao Body cultivators, relying on their manifestations for defense, escaped with minor injuries.

Su Qingyi, unwilling to concede, tried to pursue Li Ruoyu again, but Gu Tianyi stopped her. “We can’t give chase. That man carries a great killing artifact. If not for his low realm, unable to use it often, we would all have perished here.” As he spoke, he coughed blood again—proof of the Great Soul Banner’s devastating impact. He and Su Qingyi had borne the brunt of it.

Li Ruoyu fled north at full speed. Only when the pursuit vanished from sight did he feel a measure of relief. Even then, he continued on for another day and night before finally finding a safe haven.

Once he had recovered his strength, Li Ruoyu took the World-Destroying Pearl from his Sumeru Mustard Seed, then also retrieved the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow. Placing the two together—one as fire, one as ice—he watched as the World-Destroying Pearl hungrily absorbed the marrow. Four yards of marrow, and already five feet had vanished, leaving Li Ruoyu deeply pained. The Extreme Cold Ice Marrow was a divine material on par with the Nine Divine Metals—precious beyond compare, rarely seen in the world, found only by Dust Refinement cultivators in the Abyss of Fallen Demons. Had he not known from the start that the World-Destroying Pearl was of cosmic origin and destined for greatness, he would never have allowed it to absorb so much of the marrow.

When the World-Destroying Pearl had consumed about a yard of ice marrow, it finally ceased. Now, the once jet-black stone bead had become half black and half white. Li Ruoyu pricked his finger and dripped blood upon it, but still the pearl gave no response.

“Is it still lacking something?” he wondered. “I recall a passage from the Forbidden Burial of Heaven: 'From non-being comes being, know the white but keep the black; the great sound is rarefied, the great form is formless.' The pearl absorbed a Yin-type spiritual treasure this time—does it also require a Yang-type treasure before it can recognize a master?”

Pondering this, Li Ruoyu took out several other items—a string of gray prayer beads, a golden copper shard, and a broken spear tip. All three had been recovered from the White Bone Wasteland. He and Wang Bo had found four relics there; Wang Bo had chosen a bowl that looked like a rice vessel and a small ornamental sword, while Li Ruoyu had kept the prayer beads and copper shard. The spear tip was found later in another venture into the wasteland. They had also obtained a five-foot cube of Heaven-Severing Purple Gold, now in Li Ruoyu's possession, half of which he planned to share with Wang Bo upon leaving the abyss.

The gray prayer beads’ purpose was unknown, though they appeared to bear Buddhist inscriptions. Li Ruoyu recalled a record in *Common Knowledge of the Cultivation World* of a powerful sect called the Buddhist Sect, from a land extremely far away. Presumably, the beads were once a Buddhist treasure.

The golden copper shard was flawlessly smooth, untouched by the ravages of time, and must be extraordinary. As for the broken spear tip, it seemed to be the remnant of a powerful treasure—damaged, yet unable to recognize a master. But anything that had survived for such an immense span of ages would surely one day find a use.