Jungle Tracking

"Damn it!" Ying Hou, who always maintained his composure, shouted the name of an unusual plant for the first time. His eyes were filled with rage; he had been played.

It turned out that after Long Chen discovered his full-force strike couldn't heavily wound Ying Hou, he realized he was no match for an expert at the Tendon Tempering Realm.

He left a harsh threat, stirred up a sky full of dust with a sword strike, and turned to run. Perhaps running away was the best way to fight.

However, when Long Chen realized that A-Man hadn't followed him but was standing there foolishly, he was so angry he almost spat blood.

He had given A-Man a look earlier, intending to tell him to escape if he had the chance. He hadn't expected him to be so slow to react.

But since he had already run, he absolutely could not turn back. He believed Ying Hou's target was him; as long as he ran, A-Man would be safe.

Sure enough, just as Long Chen had run a few hundred zhang away, Ying Hou roared and charged toward Long Chen.

"You want to kill my Brother Long? You come back here!"

Suddenly, A-Man roared. A red luster radiated from his skin, and at the same time, a violent power rose within him, as if an ancient savage beast had awakened.

Just as Ying Hou was about to chase Long Chen, a giant axe whistled through the air, hacking down at Ying Hou's head, making his heart tremble.

What surprised him was that A-Man's attack had suddenly become much stronger. Before the axe even arrived, the whistling wind made it hard for him to breathe, and the power had more than doubled.

"Boom!"

Ying Hou didn't block it head-on. The longsword in his hand wasn't the treasure sword he originally had, so he didn't dare to block it directly. As a result, A-Man's axe hacked fiercely into the ground.

The terrifying power made the earth shake, sending gravel flying. A large pit was carved into the ground, a truly shocking display of force.

"Brother Long, run! I'll hold him off!"

After missing his first strike, A-Man hacked at Ying Hou with another axe strike while shouting.

Long Chen, in the midst of sprinting, was shocked, angry, and moved. He was shocked by how terrifying the combat power A-Man was currently erupting with was.

He was angry because, why are you stopping him? I did this specifically to make him chase me!

He was moved because A-Man was risking his life to cover him. Although A-Man was a bit clumsy, even a little stupid, his trust in Long Chen was absolute, to the point where he didn't even care about his own life.

Long Chen wanted to cry and scold him at the same time. He was anxious, but he didn't dare stop. Stopping would be equivalent to telling Ying Hou that he wouldn't abandon A-Man, exposing his weakness and leading to both of their deaths.

The original plan was for him to lure Ying Hou away and let A-Man escape. As it turned out, A-Man hadn't understood Long Chen's intentions at all and instead created such a huge blunder.

"Boom!"

Ying Hou dodged A-Man's three attacks in a row. He hadn't expected A-Man's strength to be so abnormally large at this moment. He couldn't dodge the final strike and had to block it head-on, resulting in being shaken back four or five steps.

"Looking for death!"

Ying Hou was furious. Today, he had been repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to kill Long Chen. As a dignified Tendon Tempering expert, he actually couldn't deal with two little Qi Gathering boys.

Most importantly, Long Chen's strike had caused him non-trivial internal injuries. Although he looked fine on the surface, it was only because he had suppressed them.

Now that he was being blocked by A-Man, he didn't want to use too much force for fear of aggravating his injuries, but seeing Long Chen moving further and further away, he couldn't help but grow anxious.

If he didn't shake off this big guy, Long Chen would really escape. That was something he absolutely could not tolerate. Seeing A-Man's attack coming, his veins bulged, and he swung his sword as well, a strike powerful enough to break the world.

"Bang!"

A-Man suddenly felt an irresistible force coming at him and was shaken back more than two zhang before stabilizing his figure. Although Ying Hou wasn't a strength-type expert, the increase in power after entering the Tendon Tempering Realm was too great.

Ying Hou had shaken A-Man back with one sword strike, but he didn't have it easy either; his chest throbbed with pain, a result of aggravating his injuries.

Long Chen's sword strike had been too ruthless. It hadn't just cracked his internal organs; it had even caused his Dantian to suffer a massive shock, leading to his Spiritual Qi circulation becoming sluggish.

He had just clashed swords again, almost causing him to lose control of his injuries. After shaking A-Man back with one sword, he lifted his feet to chase after Long Chen. Killing Long Chen was the top priority.

"Where are you going?!"

What almost drove Ying Hou crazy was that A-Man, who had just been sent flying by him, hadn't suffered any real injuries and was attacking him again.

A-Man was practically a humanoid Demonic Beast. The toughness of his Physical Body was simply shocking; he had actually blocked a strike from a Tendon Tempering expert using only the power of his Physical Body.

Seeing that he couldn't get rid of A-Man, Ying Hou's eyes turned icy. With a shout, he blocked A-Man's giant axe with another sword strike, while simultaneously stabbing his sword straight at A-Man's heart.

Clearly, Ying Hou was furious and wanted to finish off this annoying guy. However, when his longsword pierced A-Man's body, it felt like stabbing into a piece of tough, dry cowhide. The sword tip slid, and the original ten percent of his power was strangely dispersed by more than half.

"Chi!"

The longsword pierced into A-Man's skin, but it only went in two inches before it couldn't go any further; it had actually been blocked by A-Man's bones.

Ying Hou was shocked. It was the first time he had encountered such a situation. Even with a Demonic Beast's body, his cultivation would allow him to pierce it easily, yet A-Man had blocked it just like that.

"Roar!"

A-Man ignored the longsword in his chest and hacked his giant axe down fiercely at Ying Hou.

Ying Hou tried to use force several times but couldn't pierce A-Man's bones. Seeing A-Man's axe coming, he could only retreat to dodge.

At this moment, Ying Hou glanced into the distance and couldn't help but panic. Long Chen had already run more than ten miles and was about to disappear into the forest.

If Long Chen entered the forest, his chances of escaping would increase greatly with the forest's cover.

Seeing A-Man still pestering him, Ying Hou gritted his teeth, held his sword with both hands, and a fiery red light appeared on the blade.

"Rock-Breaking Slash!"

"Boom!"

The giant axe in A-Man's hand was sent flying, and he himself rolled dozens of zhang away. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and the eerie red color on his body gradually faded as his aura began to wither.

Ying Hou had been forced to use an Earth Rank battle skill to send A-Man flying, but he also coughed up a mouthful of blood; this strike had made his internal injuries almost impossible to suppress.

He hurriedly took a Medicinal Pill from his ring and swallowed it. It was a Second Grade High Grade healing Medicinal Pill that Ying Hou had treasured for many years.

For his level of cultivation, healing pills below Medium Grade had almost no effect, and High Grade Medicinal Pills were extremely rare, so swallowing this pill made his heart ache to death.

He glanced at A-Man lying on the ground and hesitated for a moment. He wanted to finish off A-Man while he was at it; this person was simply a monster, and if he grew up, he would be too terrifying.

However, looking at Long Chen, who was about to disappear into the forest, Ying Hou gritted his teeth, weighed the options, and abandoned A-Man to chase after Long Chen.

A-Man watched Ying Hou chase after Long Chen and grew anxious. He hurriedly grabbed the axe beside him, stood up, and chased after them.

But after running just two steps, he felt the world spinning.

"Thud."

A-Man sat down on the ground on his butt. His face was pale, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably; it was a sign of exhaustion.

He punched the ground fiercely and could only watch helplessly as Ying Hou's figure disappeared at the end of the valley.

Long Chen sprinted all the way, glancing back at A-Man's battle. Seeing A-Man holding Ying Hou back desperately, Long Chen couldn't help but be extremely anxious.

He was afraid that if Ying Hou were provoked, he would ignore him and kill A-Man instead, which would make him regret it for the rest of his life.

However, based on his understanding of Ying Hou, with his gloomy nature, he wouldn't easily lose his cool out of anger.

When he was about to enter the forest, he saw that Ying Hou had indeed abandoned A-Man and was chasing him, which lifted the heavy stone in his heart, and he ran with all his might.

After entering the forest, it suddenly grew dark. Countless towering trees blocked the entire sky, making it hard for sunlight to penetrate.

Long Chen quickly adapted to this light and sprinted forward desperately, while trying his best not to step on the wild grass on the ground.

Because the grass on the ground would leave very obvious traces, Long Chen tried to jump on stones or fallen logs. This way, when Ying Hou lost his trail, he would have to follow the footprints to find him, which would give Long Chen a much greater advantage.

However, the distance just after entering the forest was the most important. He had to sprint at maximum speed, and then, when Ying Hou entered the forest, he would have to soften his movements to avoid being tracked by Ying Hou due to his own sounds.

Fortunately, Long Chen had his own advantage—being a pill cultivator. His Soul power was exceptionally strong, allowing him to sense the opponent from a distance. Although he couldn't observe him directly, he still had a certain degree of confidence in sensing his general distance.

After Long Chen had sprinted for more than ten miles, he suddenly stopped and held his breath, motionless, because he felt that Ying Hou should have just entered the forest at this moment.

At the same time, Long Chen closed his eyes, letting himself enter a state of emptiness, as if he were a rock in the forest, completely isolating his own aura.

In this state, Long Chen seemed to "see" Ying Hou, who had just entered the forest. Sure enough, after entering, Ying Hou immediately stopped and listened carefully.

For a full incense stick of time, Ying Hou couldn't hear any of the sounds that should have been there. When he had just entered the forest, everything was terrifyingly quiet.

But after a quarter of an hour passed, some insects began to chirp, and the entire forest became lively.

The chirping of these insects made Ying Hou's expression look worse and worse. He couldn't have imagined that Long Chen was so cunning, knowing how to use such a method to evade his tracking.

A cold sneer appeared on the corner of Long Chen's mouth. By this calculation, his chances of survival had increased by a lot.

Although the two were only separated by a distance of more than ten miles, in the dense forest, this distance was already very safe, and as time passed, it would become safer and safer.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three full hours passed, and Ying Hou finally couldn't hold back anymore. Staring at the footprints on the ground, he began to move into the depths.

As Ying Hou moved, the entire forest began to grow quiet again. Long Chen, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them instantly.

"Hehe, Ying Hou, I can't beat you, but I'm going to play you to death."