At this sight, suspicion arose in Qin Sang's heart.
Everyone else was locked in a fierce scramble.
The Rainbow Rat made no attempt to vie for the ice chests. Instead, at this critical juncture, it secretly slipped away from the deserted island. Not only had it deceived the human cultivators, but the Demon Kings also appeared completely oblivious to its movements.
When something defied reason, something was amiss!
Moreover, the Rainbow Rat had transformed into an ice rat and concealed itself amidst the ice blast, its aura masked to perfection, completely seamless.
It was as though the ice blast triggered by the figure in white had been prepared specifically for it.
Qin Sang's interest was piqued.
His gaze swept between the figure in white and the Rainbow Rat.
He was certain that the figure in white he had locked onto was indeed the true body!
That made this all the more bizarre.
Yet the situation was on the brink of erupting, shifting unpredictably. Having too little information and no time to sort through every detail, Qin Sang acted on instinct.
Showing no outward reaction, his true body continued to pursue the figure in white. Harboring his own private designs, he offered no warning about the Rainbow Rat's suspicious actions.
At the same time, a faint ripple disturbed the void around Qin Sang.
With the other Nascent Soul cultivators and Demon Kings focused entirely on the figure in white and the ice chests, none of them noticed an invisible butterfly depart from Qin Sang. Gently flapping her wings, she flew away from the deserted island, following the direction of the Rainbow Rat's departure!
The Heavenly Eye Butterfly fluttered gracefully, her form light as air.
Her innate invisibility technique was her most fundamental survival method.
However, compared to cultivators and demon beasts of the same realm, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly's physical body was far too frail. Fearing accidents, Qin Sang rarely allowed her out of his sight.
Yet the Rainbow Rat was clearly in a weakened state.
The Heavenly Eye Butterfly possessed high intelligence, and with the Nascent Soul talisman puppet waiting outside the deserted island to back her up, dealing with a single Rainbow Rat should be foolproof, leaving no cause for concern over her safety.
Indeed!
Qin Sang suspected that the Rainbow Rat had secretly carried something away, intending to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and cross the sea unnoticed. He meant to intercept and kill it in secret.
Even if he guessed wrong, he had nothing to lose.
Beyond the deserted island.
Having successfully slipped away, the Rainbow Rat glanced back.
Its eyes were an eerie, pale white, like two snow-white pearls set into its head. Its gaze seemed vacant, yet a faint struggle soon surfaced within.
The Rainbow Rat suddenly jerked its head around and sped off skimming the sea's surface, heading straight for the Storm Belt!
Once the Rainbow Rat had put some distance behind it,
A dark silhouette surfaced silently beneath the waves.
Soon, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly flew over and settled lightly upon the silhouette's shoulder. Puppet and butterfly set off in pursuit along the path the Rainbow Rat had fled.
Back on the deserted island,
The battle grew ever more intense.
The true body of the figure in white was finally exposed.
In an instant, every gaze snapped toward him.
Seeming to understand that he was in a dead end, the figure in white charged forward without looking back, putting up his final struggle.
Though Qin Sang was not the closest to the figure in white, with the aid of the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, he had locked onto the true body early on.
His figure flashed repeatedly. In the blink of an eye, he skimmed past several mountain ridges, simultaneously summoning the Jinchen Sword to aim at the figure in white. Without the slightest hesitation, he slashed a sword strike toward the man's back.
*Bang!*
A dull thump rang out.
Qin Sang let out a soft gasp of surprise as he discovered that a translucent circular shield had materialized out of thin air behind the figure in white.
The round shield was not large, entirely forged from profound ice. It appeared extremely thin and fragile, and indeed it shattered upon impact, yet it managed to deflect Qin Sang's strike.
Staggered by the immense force, the figure in white pitched forward, but he immediately bounded up and continued his desperate flight.
"Something is wrong!"
Qin Sang's eyes narrowed slightly.
Brief though the clash had been, Qin Sang keenly sensed something unnatural about the figure in white.
However, Bi Fang and the other demons were only half a beat behind Qin Sang, because after the figure in white activated the grand formation, they had received a voice transmission from the Rainbow Rat.
The Rainbow Rat had left a mark inside the figure in white, one that illusions could not erase.
In contrast, Master Feng and the other humans had initially darted around like headless flies. Qin Sang had offered them no hint, causing them to identify the true body last of all and lag behind in their strikes.
For Nascent Soul cultivators, every split second counted.
In an instant,
Behind the figure in white, streak after streak of light pursued relentlessly in a staggered chase.
Qin Sang flew almost neck and neck with Bi Fang.
The frog-fish had been closest to the figure in white from the start and caught up in time, while the other Demon Kings were left behind, some turning instead to scramble for the ice chests.
It seemed Qin Sang was about to face a two-on-one situation.
Fortunately, Master Feng did not disappoint him. Transforming into a gust of clear wind, he surged ahead of the crowd, closely following on their heels.
"I must ask Fellow Daoist to hold them off for a moment! Once Feng succeeds, a share of the treasure will be yours!"
Secretly anxious, Master Feng sent a voice transmission to Qin Sang.
Qin Sang's eyes flickered, and he gave a cold snort. "Just who is this person? It seems you knew the inside story all along, Fellow Daoist, while this poor Daoist was kept completely in the dark!"
Master Feng showed not the slightest hint of shame, getting straight to the point: "This man hails from Xuantian Palace and carries a paramount treasure of Xuantian Palace! That is why the demon race covets him!"
A strange glint flashed in Qin Sang's eyes.
Ever since he had arrived in the North Sea, the illustrious name of Xuantian Palace had resonated like thunder in his ears.
A behemoth that dominated an entire realm, its palace master a great cultivator.
Now that Senior Sister and Old Demon Ye had ascended, the Beichen Realm still had no great cultivator overseeing it. The experts of Xuantian Palace alone were enough to overwhelm the entire Beichen Realm.
Even in the North Sea, Xuantian Palace was universally acknowledged as the foremost power of the human race!
To think the figure in white had actually come from Xuantian Palace, crossing vast oceans to appear near the Crescent Realm, and carried a paramount treasure of Xuantian Palace.
No wonder these Demon Kings and Nascent Soul cultivators were acting so madly.
Once word of this spread, the top experts of the Crescent Realm would likely be unable to sit still.
Thoughts flashing rapidly through his mind, Qin Sang abruptly slashed a fierce strike toward the frog-fish. With a flick of his sleeve, he unleashed his demonic fire without reservation, turning half the sky into a sea of flames that scorched the mountain peaks, targeting none other than Bi Fang.
Bi Fang was furious, wishing he could curse Qin Sang to high heaven.
Yet upon sensing the might of the demonic fire, Bi Fang's heart tightened in sheer alarm.
During the clash above the sea earlier, this man had actually held back and had not used his full strength!
Had he unleashed the full power of his demonic fire to stop him back then, even with his blood-flame transformation technique, escaping would not have been so simple!
The demonic fire swept forward with crushing pressure.
Enveloped in shadow, Bi Fang threw his head back and let out a long screech.
The cry boomed like thunder, deafening to the ears.
Bi Fang had maintained the form of a blood-flame divine bird all along. Under the pressure of the demonic fire, his power erupted completely into another transformation of the divine technique. The blood flames began contracting inward, condensing into crystalline crimson feathers.
Covered from head to toe in feathers of blood flame, Bi Fang shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring. With a momentum that seemed capable of piercing the void, he boldly plunged into the demonic fire!
On the other side,
The frog-fish took Qin Sang's sword strike head-on. A large patch of its fish scales shattered, but it was merely a surface wound. Paying no heed to other battlefields, its eyes were fixed solely on the figure in white.
Seeing that Qin Sang had been persuaded, Master Feng rejoiced. Moving like the wind, he surged to the forefront.
Now, the ones closest to the figure in white were Master Feng and the frog-fish.
Amidst their frantic rush, human and demon exchanged a swift glance.
Master Feng snorted coldly. Ignoring the frog-fish, he prepared to bring down the figure in white first, lest the man have further tricks up his sleeve, inviting unforeseen disasters.
Chapter 1388