The entire mountain forest was filled with roars, collisions, the sounds of fighting, and explosions. Wu Yi carefully avoided the experts of Great Wei, entered the deep mountains, and chased in the direction of Lin Zheyu. Before long, an enormous energy light curtain appeared ahead of him. Inside and outside the curtain were two completely different worlds. This light curtain was the so-called demon god barrier.

Wu Yi stopped before the light curtain and let out a long breath.

"This time it is going to cost me..." Wu Yi murmured.

He took out the Ink Jade Disk and confirmed Lin Zheyu's location once more. The other party was still inside the demon god barrier. If he wanted to capture him, he would have to enter the barrier. Inside the barrier, the extremely dense Baleful Yin force was fatal to geniuses with powerful aptitude like them. They were different from martial artists who had cultivated martial cultivation to the Martial Innate realm.

Martial artists who had reached the Martial Innate realm had opened the Bridge of Heaven and Earth, yet they could still use powerful true strength to form a thin barrier that greatly reduced the erosion of Baleful Yin force. They were not like ordinary people who possessed a natural defensive barrier. Powerful natural talent and aptitude were like opening a window to the outside world in the sealed walls of a house.

This window granted them extraordinary affinity with spiritual qi. Their cultivation speed became astonishing, and advancing through realms initially carried almost no bottlenecks. However, it also damaged the body's natural defensive barrier, leaving them equally vulnerable to Baleful Yin and easily eroded by it.

Wu Yi lightly patted the storage pouch at his waist, and a crystal-clear gem appeared in his hand, beautiful like a piece of crystal. It was a Divine Power Crystal. It was a method developed and perfected by Immortal Dao experts after hundreds of years of research to resist the erosion of Baleful Yin and purify it and demon qi. He gently squeezed his palm and was just about to crush the Divine Power Crystal when he suddenly paused.

"Haha. The direction that kid is heading... He is rushing out of the barrier."

Wu Yi was overjoyed. He discovered that the other party was not only rushing out of the barrier, but had also chosen a direction that was not toward the evil sect forces, but toward Wuling City. There was a high possibility that the other party had not been captured by the evil sect. For some unknown reason, he had deliberately entered the demon god barrier, and now that his matter was finished, he was rushing out immediately.

"Judging by his direction, he should break out of the demon god barrier over there. I will go wait for you there first," Wu Yi said with a faint, cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

He was in a good mood. Not having to enter the demon god barrier saved him a Divine Power Crystal. These crystals were extremely valuable. Even he had only a few, accumulated after more than a decade of careful saving in the blessed land.

Whoosh.

Wu Yi's figure flashed, and under the guidance of the Ink Jade Disk, he chased toward Lin Zheyu.

***

"Die. Even if I die, I will drag you all down to hell with me."

A man's desperate roar echoed through the forest. He was already gravely wounded. Many wounds inflicted by demon puppets had turned black and were festering. Baleful Yin force had invaded his body.

Just as he frantically circulated his blood qi and prepared for a final fight to the death, a sharp purple blade light suddenly appeared.

Thud, thud, thud.

The sounds continued without pause. The purple blade light moved like lightning, impossibly fast. In an instant, the demon puppets surrounding the man had their heads blasted into the air. Even their bodies were sliced into more than a dozen pieces.

A gentle breeze blew through, and the man felt the mountain forest fall silent in an instant. The only sound left was the rustling of leaves. He stared blankly at the demon puppet corpses scattered across the ground, as an extremely foul and nauseating stench assaulted his nose.

"I....I... didn't die. I... I was saved. Wuu... I was saved." The man could not help but cry with joy.

Just moments ago, he had already prepared himself to face death. He had never expected a powerful figure to appear suddenly and save his life. After crying twice, he quickly stopped. His trembling arm reached into his robe and took out three bottles of different medicinal pills. He began restoring his true qi and treating his wounds.

Ever since the incident began, he had been fighting without even a moment to catch his breath. Now that the demon puppets nearby had almost all been slaughtered by Lin Zheyu, he finally had a chance to breathe.

Bang.

Lin Zheyu kicked off the ground forcefully, his figure vanishing like a cannonball. Along the way, he had saved quite a few people, though he never revealed himself to them. All he could do was lend a hand when he encountered someone. Whether they survived afterward depended on fate.

The Baleful Yin force in the mountains is becoming more and more concentrated. Will it spread to Wuling City? If it reaches Wuling City, it will probably bring disaster this time, Lin Zheyu thought inwardly.

Although the human body possessed a natural barrier, it only greatly slowed the erosion of the Baleful Yin force rather than completely blocking it. More importantly, when the concentration of Baleful Yin force increased, various plants would also be eroded by it. Creatures that consumed those plants would absorb a considerable amount of Baleful Yin force. In the short term, there would be no immediate threat to life, but it could lead to various illnesses and might even spread into infectious diseases or plagues.

I hope the officials of Great Wei have a way to deal with it.

The people were the source of faith for Great Wei. He believed Great Wei would never watch a large population die without acting.

Roa–!

A demon puppet had not even managed to cry out before a sharp blade sliced across its neck. Another demon puppet died beneath Lin Zheyu's blade. Unfortunately, even though he had killed so many demon puppets, he could not take them back to exchange for contribution points. Otherwise, his gains would have been immense. Advancing to the Force Transformation realm and condensing true origin qi consumed enormous amounts of energy.

The spirit liquid Lin Zheyu had previously accumulated had been completely used up. Of the three spirit stones he had stored, one had already exhausted all its energy and now contained only useless, polluted energy. Of the remaining two, one was intact while the other likely had less than one-fifth of its energy left.

"Strange. Why have I not encountered anyone from the Yao Heavenly Palace? Weren't they very active?" Lin Zheyu muttered softly.

The martial artists of the Yao Heavenly Palace in the Force Transformation realm were quite wealthy. Almost every one of them carried two or more spirit stones. Compared to spirit liquid, Lin Zheyu preferred spirit stones. Not only did spirit stones contain more energy, but they were also more convenient to use.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Lin Zheyu continued moving forward. Whenever he encountered demon puppets, he killed them casually before rushing toward the edge of the forest. The battle in the distance was becoming more terrifying. Even from this far away, the powerful energy fluctuations and frightening pressure of Dao principles made Lin Zheyu's heart tremble. His level was still far from that of the truly peak experts.

"Hm? What is this thing?"

Lin Zheyu stopped before a light curtain emitting a strange aura. From the curtain, he sensed an extremely dense aura of a demon god. He frowned slightly and vanished from the spot. When he appeared again, a ferocious beast that had luckily survived was in his hand. He threw the beast toward the light curtain. The beast passed through without the slightest obstruction and landed outside. It cried out several times, then quickly turned and fled toward the edge of the forest.

"No danger!"

After confirming there was no danger, Lin Zheyu finally relaxed completely. When facing the strange methods possessed by the Immortal Dao and demon gods, he had to remain cautious. He circulated true origin and condensed a true origin shield on the surface of his skin before stepping forward and passing through the light curtain without obstruction.

I'm out... So that energy light curtain was restraining the spread of Baleful Yin force and increasing its concentration within the forest.

His earlier worry that Baleful Yin force might spread to Wuling City had been unnecessary.

"Hehe... You finally came out. I have been waiting for you for a long time." A sinister cold laugh sounded as a familiar figure appeared before Lin Zheyu.

Wu Yi looked at Lin Zheyu coldly, a contemptuous smile appearing on his face.

"I am Lin Zheyu. Greetings, sir. May I ask why you were waiting for me?" Lin Zheyu said with a slight smile as if nothing were wrong. Inside, however, he remained extremely vigilant, secretly circulating true origin and preparing to launch a fatal strike at any moment.