“Hurry up and leave! This monstrous thing is beyond our ability to resist!”
Huangfu Song shouted in alarm while simultaneously setting up several formations outside the Samantabhadra True Boat.
The speed of the flying vessel instantly multiplied several times.
Yet, the terrifying corpse giant continued its relentless pursuit.
Moreover, its speed seemed to be only slightly slower than the Samantabhadra True Boat!
“Quick, return to the nearest Luoyan Prefecture! A creature like this can only be dealt with by the official forces of the Immortal Alliance!”
Without needing further instructions, Li Fan was already controlling the flying vessel according to the fastest escape route.
However…
Based on the map’s distance and their current speed, they should have long since escaped the range of the white mist.
“This is bad… We must have unknowingly been dragged into a Maze Zone by that corpse giant,” Li Fan said grimly.
“What?!” Huangfu Song was shocked. After checking their surroundings, he realized that Li Fan was right.
“This… We can’t defeat it, and we can’t escape either. Isn’t this a dead end?” Dongfang Yao’s face turned pale.
“Keep running and find a way out,” Li Fan responded decisively.
The Samantabhadra True Boat maintained its high-speed flight, trying to locate the exit of the Maze Zone. Meanwhile, the corpse giant chased closely behind them, determined to capture Li Fan and his companions at all costs.
Several times, the Samantabhadra True Boat was nearly grabbed by the giant’s decayed hand. Fortunately, thanks to Li Fan’s exceptional skills—honed during his time navigating the Great Immortal-Severing Formation—he narrowly avoided disaster.
“Damn it! Why is it fixated on us?! What kind of grudge does it have?!” Huangfu Song roared in frustration.
“Hmm?”
That seemingly thoughtless complaint suddenly sparked an idea in Li Fan’s mind.
This terrifying and eerie corpse giant was clearly connected to the Heaven Doctor. It lacked conscious thought and seemed to act purely on instinct.
So why was it relentlessly pursuing the three of them?
As it chased them, it let out wails filled with hatred and resentment.
“Could it be sensing the aura of the ‘Heaven Doctor’ on me?”
That thought crossed Li Fan’s mind.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
Not just in this lifetime—
Ever since his clone exposed a flaw before the Heaven Doctor, leading to his desperate escape through [Truth] through the rupture in the Tianxuan Space—he had not come into direct contact with the Heaven Doctor for a long time.
Let alone carrying any lingering traces of its aura.
Li Fan then glanced at Huangfu Song and Dongfang Yao.
They couldn’t even hear the corpse giant’s eerie cries of “Tian Yi,” which meant they were even less likely to be connected to this powerful being.
“So… is it something I’m carrying that’s attracting this corpse giant?”
At lightning speed, Li Fan considered the possibility.
He quickly scanned and checked all the items in his possession. Without hesitation, he discarded several suspicious objects, but the corpse giant’s pursuit remained unchanged.
Finally, Li Fan’s gaze locked onto a single white rib bone.
This was the only item that had dropped from Yin Shangren after he was killed.
The first known infected of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
“Could this be the cause?”
Li Fan hesitated for a moment before gripping the bone tightly.
Its touch was chilling yet oddly smooth.
With force, he hurled it in the opposite direction of their flight path.
Moments later—
“Tian…”
“Yi…”
The giant corpse, as expected, shifted its target of pursuit!
Abandoning the Samantabhadra True Boat, it roared and went after that single white rib bone!
“……”
“What does this mean?” Li Fan was momentarily stunned, his brows furrowed as he pondered carefully.
What happened next made him even more bewildered.
When the giant corpse obtained the rib bone, Li Fan initially thought it would go on a rampage and seek revenge.
However, its movements suddenly slowed, and then it stood still in place, dazed.
The agonized howls of the “Tian Yi” gradually subsided.
The giant corpse clumsily cradled the rib bone in its hands, holding it close to its chest.
Then, it sank into the vast white mist and disappeared.
The entire transformation occurred in an instant. Aside from Li Fan, the other two people on the boat failed to grasp what had happened.
All they saw was Li Fan seemingly tossing something away, and that terrifying giant was lured away.
Surviving by sheer luck, they stared blankly at Li Fan.
It took Li Fan a long while to snap out of it. Shrugging, he said, “It was just good luck, that’s all.”
Huangfu and Dongfang remained silent. However, since Li Fan had saved their lives, and he was unwilling to elaborate further, they did not press him.
Over this period of time, they had truly gone through life and death together.
Even if they were not the closest of friends, their bond was far deeper than that of most cultivators in the world.
At the very least, in Huangfu and Dongfang’s eyes, that was the case.
Everyone has their own secrets, and they unanimously chose to avoid discussing this matter further.
With the giant’s threat gone, the three of them spent considerable effort and finally escaped from this maze zone.
For some reason, however, this zone did not grant them any Qingxuan Points as a reward.
Simply surviving was already a great fortune. One could not ask for more.
Still shaken, the three discussed their next steps and initially decided to return and rest for a while.
However, upon seeing that two more Dissociation Discs had disappeared from the Heavenly-Measuring Mirror, their plans changed.
Ignoring the fact that they had just escaped death, they plunged once more into the white mist.
“So, as the saying goes, ‘Men die for wealth, birds die for food.’ This is the law of the heavens and the earth. Even we cultivators are not exempt from it. Unless a Longevity Immortal Heavenly Sovereign appears to overturn this principle, similar incidents will continue to occur within our Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance in the future.”
Nangong Shirong spoke confidently before Xu Bai—not about Huangfu Song and his companions, but rather about the Lord of Tianliang City, Xiang Rongxin.
After a thorough investigation lasting several dozen days, coupled with negotiations among various factions, the scapegoat for the Wang Qiupo Incident had finally been decided.
It was none other than City Lord Xiang.
There was no way around it—after all, most of the cultivators recommended by Wang Qiupo had followed Xiang Rongxin’s path. Moreover, he openly admitted to accepting a large number of treasures from Wang Qiupo in the past.
As a result, he was stripped of his position as City Lord. However, he was fortunate enough to keep his life—and even his cultivation remained intact.
The only punishment was exile to the Cangwu Abyss in the extreme southwest, where he would be tasked with guarding against the increasingly frequent uprisings of abyssal monsters.
Having rendered significant service in this case, Nangong Shirong naturally and effortlessly succeeded Xiang Rongxin’s position.
The internal decision had already been made, and in just a few days, the official decree would be issued.
Now basking in his success, Nangong Shirong had not forgotten Xu Bai, the “key contributor” to the case.
He even extended an olive branch to Xu Bai, inviting him to take up a position in Tianliang Province.
After all, though his rise to power had been swift, he had also offended a great many people.
His foundation was weak, and he was in urgent need of cultivating his own power base.