Chapter 273

Chapter 273: You Are Being Foolish!
A destructive force swept across heaven and earth in an instant.

Before Hua Tu could even get close, the raging gang wind from the explosion slammed into him and sent him flying.

Wu Ying Zi, Tou Tuo, and the other two were closest to the center of the blast. They did not even have time to run before they were reduced to ash.

Gui Lao and the others were also badly affected. Their defensive tools shattered, and all of them suffered different degrees of injury.

One especially unlucky Nascent Soul old fiend had to pour all his strength into resisting the aftershocks. Even so, half his arm was blown off, leaving a fist-sized wound that bled nonstop.

Gui Lao’s face was as dark as ink.

She had never imagined that the people she brought out would not fall to demonic beasts but would instead die because of internal strife.

They had been just about to leave the Dragon Pool Mountains, yet something went wrong at the very last step.

That gave her a bad feeling.

The commotion from the self-detonation was far too big. Right now, every demonic beast in the Dragon Pool Mountains was rushing toward this place.

If they did not leave now, they would definitely fall into a siege of demonic beasts.

She urged in her hoarse voice: “Don’t just stand there. Move!”

As soon as the words fell, her figure vanished from where she stood and reappeared hundreds of li away.

Even her hunched back looked a little panicked.

The other Nascent Soul old fiends thought of their situation and, not daring to waste time cursing, hurried to chase after her.

Just as they left, Yu Zhao’s figure appeared at the center of the self-detonation.

She held the Mirror of Fleeting Lives in her left hand. Her right hand’s index and middle fingers pinched together in the air, then sank into the yang side of the Mirror of Fleeting Lives.

The colorless mirror surface rippled like water.

A moment later, countless tiny points of light shot out of the mirror.

Drawn by some call, the light gathered into a faint shadow.

A purple daoist robe, a sinister face, a huge crescent scythe.

An “Old Xie” slowly took shape.

Yu Zhao studied him for a moment, then took out a drop of blood from her fingertip and pressed it into the center of “Old Xie’s” brow.

His stiff features suddenly became vivid and alive.

Yu Zhao nodded in satisfaction and said softly: “Go.”

“Old Xie” let out a strange cry, waving his crescent scythe as he ran forward in a strange posture.

As he ran, his movements grew smoother and more natural. His speed kept climbing.

The corner of Yu Zhao’s eyes curved upward.

She hoped they would like the surprise she had specially prepared for them.

When Old Xie self-detonated, Hua Tu had been farthest away. His physical body was also very tough, so after crashing through a few big trees in a row, he managed to stop without suffering any real injuries.

Even so, when he thought back to what had just happened, he still felt lingering fear.

Then he remembered how the fox girl wanted him to block their path in front, and he instinctively wanted to back out.

But those negative emotions were soon drowned out by his anger.

The Dragon Pool Mountains were the territory of the demon race.

These cultivators not only broke into the Dragon Pool Mountains without permission, they even dared to kidnap their offspring. It was like they did not take demonic beasts seriously at all.

If they let them get away so easily today, then tomorrow the whole demon race would become a laughingstock.

And he would be the shame of the demon race.

He, Hua Tu, was a Three-Eyed Leopard who would one day become a beast king. There was no way he would allow cultivators to trample on the dignity of the demon race.

They had to be stopped!

Hua Tu stomped heavily with all four limbs and charged toward the direction where Gui Lao and the others were fleeing.

As he ran, a golden light flowed over his body and finally gathered at his forehead.

The vertical line on his forehead writhed silently, releasing a dangerous aura.

Gui Lao, who was using Blink Step, seemed to sense the coming danger. She reached into the air and pulled out a skull as tall as three men, placing it in front of her.

At that exact moment, Hua Tu appeared above Gui Lao and the others.

He roared, and the vertical line at his brow slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black eyeball.

“Roar!!!”

A black beam shot out from Hua Tu’s third eye and hit the giant skull in front of Gui Lao.

With a loud boom, the skull shattered into countless pieces that scattered everywhere.

Before Hua Tu could feel happy, he saw that the space where the skull had been suddenly filled with countless ghosts.

They streamed out from the skull fragments, their faces twisted in rage as they rushed toward him.

He jumped in fright, and another black beam shot out from his forehead.

Any ghost touched by the black light let out a miserable scream and vanished into the air.

But there were many more ghosts still surging toward him.

Seeing that the situation was bad, Hua Tu immediately retreated.

The ghosts chased him from behind and did not let up.

Gui Lao did not even glance at Hua Tu. She continued to race toward the outer edges of the Dragon Pool Mountains.

The Nascent Soul cultivators following her made the same choice. The group howled past, completely unaffected.

Hua Tu ran for a while and realized no one was coming after him. He did not know what to do.

Did this count as finishing his task or not?

Among the Nascent Soul old fiends was one whose dao name was Blood Demon. He had only just formed his Nascent Soul, and he had also suffered moderate injuries in the self-detonation earlier, so he had fallen to the back of the group.

Right now, he was full of regret. He should never have let Gui Lao talk him into coming to join this mess.

He was not the one who needed demon beast cubs to cultivate. Why should he bring this trouble on himself?

And the share of spoils he would get in the end was not even as good as what he earned as a guest elder in a small sect.

While he was stewing in his regrets, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if some unusual aura was quickly closing in on him.

Blood Demon swept his divine sense behind him and his pupils shrank. He opened his mouth wide in disbelief: “O-old Old Xie?!”

“Why are you shouting for him?”

Up ahead, another cultivator spoke in annoyance.

He had also been hurt in the self-detonation and now hated Old Xie to the bone.

Blood Demon stammered again: “Old Xie, O-Old Xie h-he… he’s chasing us!”

“I thought it was something serious. So what if he’s… what did you say? He’s chasing us?!”

The man’s careless expression turned into shock.

Hadn’t Old Xie already died?

How could he be chasing them?

“See for yourself.”

As Blood Demon spoke, he pushed himself to move even faster and rushed past his companion.

What he had just seen with his divine sense had almost scared him into wetting his pants.

No matter what that Old Xie behind him was, he definitely was not going to be the one at the back!

The other Nascent Soul old fiends also heard their conversation. Their first reaction was that Blood Demon had seen it wrong.

They had all seen Old Xie self-detonate with their own eyes. There was no way Old Xie was still alive.

But when they saw the figure drawing closer and closer, everyone felt a chill from head to toe. Cold sweat poured down their backs.

“I-it really is Old Xie?”

Blood Demon’s stutter spread to his companion.

He shivered as he spoke.

“That is not Old Xie.”

The one who spoke was Gui Lao.

Everyone felt as if they had just swallowed a Calming Heart pill.

Gui Lao had the deepest cultivation level in their group and was the leader of this operation.

Her words carried more weight.

Even so, some of them were still not fully convinced.

“Gui Lao, if he isn’t Old Xie, then who is he?”

That aura was exactly the same as Old Xie’s, and even their divine sense could not see any flaw.

To them, it was clearly Old Xie.

Gui Lao frowned deeply and was about to speak when Old Xie’s voice suddenly came from behind them.

“Gui Lao, wait for me!”

“Blood Demon, Qian Si Zi, slow down!”

The familiar voice shook the faith of those who had just convinced themselves that Old Xie could not still be alive.

There was no helping it.

The Old Xie behind them was just too realistic. No one could find anything wrong with him.

“You are being foolish. Under the power of a self-detonation, no one can survive! Not even me!”