"Alright." Jian Feixian only said one word.

Immediately afterward, he swung his sword, cleaving open the space-time storm. The rift vanished in an instant, and, surrounded by the Sword Qi of the Shattered Void, he charged into it before it disappeared, sprinting towards the direction where Fa Zheng and Yama were battling.

Although the Power of Return greatly weakened the intensity of the space-time storm, most of Ming Zhuo's power was focused on the battlefield of Fa Zheng and Yama beforehand, so only Jian Feixian could enter there for the time being. I couldn't break through numerous obstacles to reach the target location as Jian Feixian could, even if I were to follow behind him, it probably wouldn't be possible.

However, even if I could do it, I must first deal with Ming Zhuo. If Ming Zhuo was allowed to move freely, he could continue to manipulate the space-time storm to intervene in other battlefields, or once again execute annoying schemes. Moreover, personally, I very much want to kill him first, if he escapes while we're focused on other places, it might be impossible to catch him again later.

In the distance, under the Power of Salvation and Return wielded by Mazao, Du Shuo Mountain Yellow Springs was falling apart, alongside the Great Demon God Tu and the Nine-headed Great Demon suppressed by five "Catastrophe Demons," and Fa Zheng and Yama caught in a stalemate once Jian Feixian joined the battle... Ming Zhuo must have realized that the situation was completely slipping out of his control.

The great momentum had passed.

At this moment, Ming Zhuo showed no hesitation, turned and fled without a second thought, escaping at the maximum speed Impermanence could muster.

I immediately pursued from behind, unleashing a series of fiery bombardments.

The power of the space-time storm appeared around Ming Zhuo, preventing most of the Flame Magic Power from passing through, while a small portion was blocked by Ming Zhuo himself. Black-red mana intertwined to guard his rear, cleverly deflecting and bouncing the Fireball like inclined armor. I swiftly outpaced and intercepted him up front, attempting to break through the space-time storm by crashing with my Crown Form body. He suddenly flickered and used Space Transfer to teleport himself afar.

This method of movement seemed to incorporate the power of the space-time storm, evading my capture. Truly worthy of being the foremost at survival in Luo Mountain, his escape abilities were extraordinary. But it's still not enough to escape my relentless pursuit. Ming Zhuo fled nearly maniacally, while I clung tenaciously to his rear.

Before long, we were far away from the previous battlefield. The scenery around us kept changing, no longer the kind of warped image resembling a torn-up painting. Mountains, plains, streets, ports... we moved continuously. If we were on Earth, we'd probably already have run from Asia to South America by now.

Through the Fire Sea distributed over the original battlefield, I could still constantly grasp the situation over there. Most of the space-time storm's power remained shrouded over the battlefield of Fa Zheng and Yama; I originally thought Ming Zhuo might transfer that power over to himself, using it all to defend against my pursuit attacks, but he didn't do so.

Is it because he thinks Yama's battle is more important than his own life? That is, of course, impossible. Even if the heavens were to collapse, I wouldn't believe Ming Zhuo would value someone else's matter more than his own life. In fact, I now observe that he is becoming increasingly strained in his utilization of space-time storm power.

Just like Mazao's Power of Salvation and Return and Huang Quan's super-speed regeneration ability, the space-time storm is a power Ming Zhuo borrowed from Naraku Gospel. And as an agent of Naraku Gospel, conflicting with Mazao, whose priority is higher, is equivalent to being negated from the source. The justification for Ming Zhuo to borrow power from Naraku Gospel was likely damaged during the conflict.

This may be the downside of using "power that doesn't belong to oneself."

He very likely doesn't want to transfer most of the space-time storm's power to himself, but is already unable to control that much of it.

Meanwhile, I was continuously using my Flame Magic Power to touch and analyze the flaws appearing in his manipulation of space-time storm power. Previously completely unanalysable and insurmountable obstacles have now reduced in strength to the degree I could resolve with Little Bowl's blessing; or rather, it's not a direct resolution, I just need to analyze where and how those flaws appear.

It's like the enemy is in a suit of metal armor with several holes, and I hold a thrusting sword. Instead of thinking about how to pierce the metal plates with the blade, it's better to think about how best to thrust the sword point into those holes. As the number of attacks increased, I gradually mastered how to accurately target the opponent's weaknesses amid the ever-changing combat.

Ming Zhuo's time of death was drawing near.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

He appeared to finally reach the end of his endurance, letting out an uncontrollable shout, defending my offensive with all his might.

We arrived above an empty, abandoned town, and within the second of our visitation, the heat and shockwaves generated by the clash of powers razed the scene below to the ground. Wherever we traversed, it ultimately transformed into an arid land filled with scorching clouds of dust in this manner.

Ming Zhuo still hasn't given up hope of survival. He behaves like a dying beast, repeating futile struggles.

But at this point, I can't help but feel suspicious. Has he truly run out of tricks? To pin all his hopes on this Space-Time Storm, it doesn't seem like something the successor of the Huang Quan would do. Could it be that despite appearing helpless, he's secretly gathering a decisive counterattack? Or is it that this seemingly meaningless struggle has a deeper significance?

For example... is he stalling for time?

Does he think that if he keeps delaying... some kind of turning point will emerge?

Several suspicions floated in my mind, yet they all lacked concrete evidence. My actions, however, did not pause, my relentless offensive bombarding Ming Zhuo's Space-Time Storm and the black-red mana defense around him. The penetration rate of Flame Magic power through the Space-Time Storm increased until it finally broke through at a certain moment.

With a thunderous sound, who knows what number of flame attacks shattered through Ming Zhuo's black-red mana defense, severely injuring him once again. He spat out a large mouthful of blood, no longer able to maintain his normal defenses. Seizing the opportunity, I mixed the True Spirit Power output by the Divine Seal Fragment into my flames and unleashed the next strike in an instant.

Faced with this fatal attack, Ming Zhuo used Space Transfer through the Space-Time Storm to disappear from the spot. However, this method of evasion was something I'd seen him use too many times. With the intuitive premonition boosted by Little Bowl's blessing, and a destiny-locking causal strength even stronger than Ming Zhuo's, the Flame Magic power steered like a twisting dragon, breaking through the constraint of spatial distance, and surged forward as Ming Zhuo reappeared at a distant place.

This time, Ming Zhuo was unable to defend or evade. If he got hit, he would undoubtedly die; it seemed inevitable that he would perish under this strike.

But unexpectedly, he made a surprising move.

In the moment before the flame hit him, he suddenly shattered his own head.

He'd committed such acts of suicide before, attempting to use the Naraku Undying Body's resurrection to reset his severely injured state back to full condition. However, this time, his suicide had another purpose — though the True Spirit Power could bestow a 'True Death' to the living, what if the opponent had already turned into a corpse in advance?

The flames blasted the corpse Ming Zhuo left behind, and then, right there, he resurrected once more.

"You really can surprise me again and again..." I couldn't help but say, "Even the 'True Death' didn't get you. When it comes to escaping death, you truly are a once-in-a-lifetime genius."

"Even Huang Quan fell under your True Spirit Power. I heard about this from Yama... Since I knew you had the power to truly kill me, how could I not come up with a countermeasure?" Ming Zhuo said darkly.

The importance of intelligence stands out here. If Ming Zhuo didn't know I could use True Spirit Power, he couldn't have thought to use that previous method to evade 'True Death'. If I could have caught him before he turned to the Evangelical Institute, perhaps it wouldn't have been such trouble.

A swirling vortex of black-red mana appeared in Ming Zhuo's right hand, seemingly prepared to escape True Spirit Power's lethality through suicide at any moment. Even though my raw strength is a level above his, it is normally very difficult to hit him before he can commit suicide.

At the level of Impermanence, powerhouses usually have extremely strong survival abilities. Even for suicide, it might not happen immediately, especially for someone like Ming Zhuo, whose forte is not attack power. But it seems like he, like Huang Quan, has researched how to commit suicide faster. Among those at the level of Impermanence, the only one clearly faster at suicide might just be me.

—However, it's not much of an issue now.

I extended my palm towards Ming Zhuo. This was a gesture with attacking intent, and in truth, I genuinely intended to attack. He immediately sought to commit suicide, yet he was a step too slow. The flames erupted directly from within his chest cavity.

It is exceedingly difficult to hit his body faster than he can do it himself, but if my power was rooted inside his body from the beginning, then it was a different matter entirely.

In the past, Xuanming was able to leave his flames within Ming Zhuo's body after wounding him, rendering resurrection helpless no matter how often it occurred. Now I can do the same thing.

Ming Zhuo could only make a brief but shocked sound as the flames spread across his entire body.