Back in the present, the forces of Kang Village had suffered catastrophic casualties.
Watching from the shadows, Si's eyes nearly split with fury.
He had never imagined that Han Yi could truly summon celestial fire from the heavens like a god.
Not only had the plan to surround and kill Han Yi failed, but even Zhu Village—where Si had lived since childhood and which he deeply loved—was nearly wiped out in this catastrophe.
Many once-familiar faces had been reduced to mangled, charred corpses.
Rage, jealousy, resentment...
All manner of emotions surged in Si's heart, ultimately coalescing into a single cry:
"Kill him! Kill him!"
Under cover of the boundless night, Han Yi had vanished completely without a trace.
However, Si had served as high priest for decades, and his means of communing with the divine were no sham.
Though the ripples radiating from Han Yi differed from those of the deity he worshipped, Si followed the faint, lingering fluctuations in the air, tracking him all the way until he finally caught up.
"Die! So-called gods have no business walking this earth!"
With a grotesque, contorted expression, Si snarled the words he had suppressed in his heart for so long.
As an incantation spilled unceasingly from his lips, Han Yi was horrified to discover that the surrounding wind was relentlessly converging toward Si's hand.
Once compressed to its absolute limit, it was instantly flicked toward Han Yi.
"So heavenly fortune can be used like this?"
Han Yi was both shocked and delighted.
Even as another slash opened across his flesh, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Dodging continuously, he sensed and studied the way Si manipulated the wind blades.
Only when he was dripping with blood and clinging to his last breath did he finally succeed.
The wind blade he summoned for the first time was deeper in color than the ones Si used.
Its momentum was also far more formidable.
It howled through the air, shattering the wind blade Si hurled, and tore forward without losing momentum.
Under Si's astounded, resentful gaze, it ripped clean through his body, turning the tables in a decisive kill.
Covered in wounds, Han Yi let out a sigh of relief and sank into a deep slumber.
When he awoke, he discovered that his injuries had completely healed over the course of just a single night.
Unable to find the cause, Han Yi did not dwell on it.
He simply continued fleeing toward the desolate, uninhabited reaches of the wilderness.
Before long, however, he realized that search parties were everywhere, hunting for him.
The falling meteor that night had been far too spectacular a sight.
The destruction of one village and the severe crippling of another were impossible to conceal.
Consequently, rumors of a "god descending to the mortal world" quickly spread across the wilderness.
Regardless of whether Han Yi's divine status was real or fake, his ability to summon wind and rain and bring down a meteor from the heavens was as real as could be.
If a tribe could bring him under their control, then whether by right or by sheer force, uniting the wilderness would no longer be a distant dream.
Driven by the ambition of becoming an emperor, nearly every tribe launched hunts for Han Yi.
Furthermore, having the appearance of a pure human made him stand out far too conspicuously in a wilderness crawling with demon beasts.
There was no way to hide it.
To save his own skin, Han Yi had no choice but to flee in disarray.
Fortunately, protected by heavenly fortune, his perception of danger was exceptionally keen.
What was more, following his battle with Si, Han Yi had comprehended wind-riding in addition to wind blades.
Though it could not rival a cultivator's flight techniques for speed, it was still considerably faster than traveling on foot.
As a result, though the pursuit kept him in a sorry state, he was never captured.
-----
"Wind, water, fire, lightning..."
"All are parts of the world. With heavenly fortune, I can control these energies. Using them to kill enemies is no problem at all."
"According to the records of the Heavenly Fortune Scripture, the earliest cultivators seemed to be like this: praying for the authority of heaven to manipulate all things."
"Back then, they seemed to call themselves 'sorcerers.'"
Having grown accustomed to days of hiding and constantly wandering the wilderness, he lost track of how much time had passed.
One day, lying in a freshly dug earthen burrow, Han Yi muttered to himself.
At his fingertip danced a faint flicker of flame, illuminating the dark space around him.
Even though this world lacked spiritual energy, he had achieved something that seemingly only cultivators could do.
"If I completely integrate this world's shattered heavenly fortune, then the power I can display here will probably be on par with the Longevity Heavenly Venerables in the Xuanhuang Realm."
A look of yearning flashed in his eyes. Just as Han Yi was rekindling hope for the future, he suddenly felt the ground tremble slightly.
Thud!
Thud!
Thunderous footsteps echoed from afar, growing louder and louder as they drew near.
Han Yi's expression changed slightly, a sense of crisis washing over his heart like a tidal wave.
Cursing under his breath, Han Yi burst out of the earth, quickly got his bearings, and sprinted away on the wind.
Hot on his heels was a white elephant as massive as a mountain.
Despite its immense bulk, the white elephant was not slow in the least.
Ignoring every obstacle in its path, it galloped toward Han Yi, its four massive legs pounding the ground.
Even pushing his wind-riding technique to its limit, Han Yi could not shake the beast off.
Their chase also drew the attention of nearby demon beasts.
Quickly spotting Han Yi, they joined the pursuit as well.
As more and more demon beasts joined the hunt, the space Han Yi had to maneuver dwindled steadily.
Feeling driven into a corner, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
The heavenly fortune he had absorbed during this period had reached a considerable level.
If he detonated it all, it would be enough to cause an earth-shattering catastrophe and bury all these damned creatures.
Yet if he did that, not only would all his efforts go down the drain, but he would also suffer a severe backlash and sustain heavy injuries.
Just as Han Yi hesitated, he suddenly sensed a faint ripple of spiritual power in the surroundings.
Though it was very weak, Han Yi, who had gone so long without the nourishment of spiritual energy, could not possibly mistake it.
Spiritual energy meant he could cast spells.
Even the weakest Qi Condensation stage spell was something these demon beasts—who relied merely on physical brute strength—could never match!
Overjoyed, Han Yi immediately sped toward the source of the spiritual energy.
He finally came to a halt before a deep ravine.
"This is..."
Feeling the wisps of spiritual energy flowing below—which came to a dead halt right at the boundary of the ravine—Han Yi was thrilled.
"Could this be the passage leading back to the Xuanhuang Realm?"
Ever since arriving in this pocket world, Han Yi had never ceased thinking about returning to the Xuanhuang Realm.
Yet he had searched all around Zhu Village and failed to find the passage through which he had come.
This pocket world was vast, and searching for the way back entirely on his own was no different from fishing for a needle in the ocean.
Never did he imagine that under desperate circumstances today, by a bizarre twist of fate, he would stumble upon the road back.
"Heaven truly has not abandoned me!"
Han Yi looked back at the horde of demon beasts scrambling after him in hot pursuit.
He snorted coldly in his heart. *Once I return, advance in my cultivation, and make thorough preparations, I'll come back and settle scores with you all!*
With that thought, Han Yi plunged headfirst into the deep ravine below.
Chapter 554