The moment Utiko saw Talu bolt, he shifted sideways in pursuit. Though his start was a fraction of a second slower, within a single breath he drew nearly level with her.
His sharp eyes fixed on her. He had no idea where she was running, but he was determined to stop her.
The rest of his squad moved in flawless coordination. Without needing any command, they broke into a sprint, maintaining their encirclement around her.
Suddenly, Talu cut sharply mid-stride.
The moment she saw Utiko's speed, she knew shaking him off was impossible. A few more paces and he would cut in front of her, cutting off any chance of escape. She decisively chose to break through in another direction.
That man's presence felt the weakest among the six. He was undoubtedly the easiest point to breach.
Yet facing Talu's charge, the man showed no panic at all, dropping directly into a defensive stance.
He was indeed the weakest of the squad, but even if Talu could knock him down in an instant, striking him would inevitably slow her momentum. As long as he held her for that fleeting moment, the teammates behind him could close the gap and box her in. Once surrounded, they would take her alive in just a few moves.
As Talu charged at him, she suddenly leveled the staff in her hands and thrust it straight forward.
The move was swift and fierce. Refusing to yield, the squad member bellowed, seizing the staff with both hands to brace against it. Yet the force surging from the weapon defied his expectations—it did not push forward, but leveraged upward.
With an upward pry of the staff's tip, Talu hoisted him clear off his feet, snapping her arms to fling him skyward.
In that momentary pause, several members of the Turbulence Squad surged forward, nearly closing the ring around her. But right after, an unexpected sight unfolded.
As the member she had levered into the air was flung outward, his momentum pulled Talu's body upward along with him. Or rather, she had planned this all along; channeling a secondary burst of jin, she leaped into the air as well.
The instant her body took flight, a projectile tore through the air toward her. Utiko had reacted with startling speed, responding the moment she sprang upward.
Talu ignored it entirely, letting the steel ball strike her body. The impact tore open flesh and skin, yet her expression never wavered.
As a third limit fighter, she cared nothing for such minor trauma, and Danliu was inherently a style known for its formidable endurance.
Meanwhile, reaching the apex of her leap, she reached out and caught an overhanging branch. Exerting her jin, she swung forward and bounded laterally through the air.
Below, the Turbulence members immediately shifted to track her. Even the squad member she had flung into the sky scrambled after them after landing and catching his breath with two ragged gasps.
However, the direction Talu had taken led into a dense stretch of woods tangled with thick foliage, vines, and roots. Unfamiliar with the terrain, the squad found their speed checked by the obstacles.
Talu, by contrast, moved like a fish in water. After swinging through the canopy, she reached out, caught another hold, and used two rapid bounds to burst free of the trees into open air. Leaping once more, her hands clamped together overhead—a zipline stretched straight toward a cliff terrace below. Clamping onto it, she slid down in a blur.
Covering a stretch of distance, she released her grip, spread her arms, and plunged toward the ocean waters below, snapping the zipline in the process as she let go.
The sequence unfolded in a flash without the slightest pause, showing this was an escape route she had prepared long in advance and rehearsed beforehand.
Seeing her dive from the cliff terrace, Utiko did not stop to think. With a powerful leap, he cleared the terrace, his eyes locked onto Talu's falling figure. She was the key to everything; capturing her was imperative.
The squad members behind him hesitated briefly before leaping down across footholds along the cliff to follow.
Wary of hidden reefs below, they jumped one after another, entering the water only at the proven safe drop point rather than scattering.
Talu plunged into the sea with a dull splash, her body undulating like a fish as she dove straight into the deep.
The surface erupted behind her as Utiko crashed into the water right on her heels. With rhythmic sways of his body, he cleaved through the currents, rapidly closing the distance.
Behind him, his squad members dropped in succession, following the wake he left behind.
Their squad was named Turbulence, and they operated across the Outer Ocean; every single one was a master of the water.
Yet it was night, light was virtually nonexistent, and submerged underwater, one could easily lose track of a target. Utiko projected his spiritual senses, locking onto the faint trace ahead with relentless focus.
Talu paid no heed to what lay behind, accelerating toward the fissure. Her objective was clear: she was going to seek Chen Chuan's help.
There was no shame in turning to a comrade of the Purist Faction. Even before Chen Chuan's arrival, she had sent a message back to the faction requesting reinforcements.
Uncle Gan had told her that Mr. Zhuan sending Chen Chuan here to cultivate likely meant he intended for Chen Chuan to lend them a hand. That was why she had headed straight here without a second thought.
After diving down several hundred meters, Talu's figure abruptly vanished from Utiko's spiritual perception. Taken aback, his instinct was to halt, but giving up now was out of the question, so he pushed forward without hesitation.
Moments later, he felt the water peel away from his body. His feet touched solid ground, and he emerged into a space utterly unlike the seabed.
His expression tightened at first, sharp gaze sweeping the surroundings, but an expression of profound delight quickly broke across his face.
This is... a fissure?
He had never imagined that the very thing they had spent so much effort searching for would be revealed so easily—the target had led them right into it before they even had to capture and interrogate her!
Yet a heartbeat later, deep vigilance surged within him.
She would never bring them here without reason, unless there was someone or something here capable of dealing with them.
Rather than rushing forward, he held his ground, waiting as his teammates emerged one after another behind him. In a low voice, he warned, "Stay sharp. There might be something strange here."
The squad members looked around, quickly realizing what kind of place this was, their faces similarly lighting up with excitement. Even so, their combat discipline held. They instinctively fanned out into their standard battle formation, drawing their weapons and gripping them tight.
Ahead, they saw Talu standing near the front of the chamber. Not far beside her, a figure sat facing away from them. Light radiating from the front of the fissure shone upon him, and a long saber rested at his side.
Who is that?
Could the Danliu School be hiding another fighter?
As long as it wasn't a martial artist, they had nothing to fear. When it came to dealing with fighters of the same limit, they had plenty of experience.
Utiko gave a wave of his hand. The six men immediately formed two ranks—three in front and three behind—advancing slowly.
Talu stepped behind Chen Chuan and spoke softly to the seated youth. "My apologies, Mr. Chen. I've disturbed your cultivation."
"It's fine. You did the right thing."
Chen Chuan opened his eyes, stood up slowly, and remarked in an easy tone, "It won't take much time anyway."
With that, he turned around.
The light behind him continued to bathe his form, casting the silhouette of his tall, straight frame, while his face remained shrouded in shadow.
Utiko narrowed his eyes. A man of experience, his very first glance told him Chen Chuan would not be easy to handle. He signaled with his hand.
His teammates understood his signal instantly, drawing their personal weapons. One of them seized a throwing knife and whipped it straight toward Chen Chuan.
Yet in the very next instant, Chen Chuan vanished from their sight. The knife-thrower suddenly found a figure standing right before him, a pair of profound, still eyes gazing into his own.
Shock seized his heart. Before he could react, his back arched violently upward with the sickening crunch of a fracturing spine—Chen Chuan had driven a fist into his abdomen. As the punch's power continued to pour into him, his entire body was lifted into the air.
A blade flashed as an adjacent squad member slashed horizontally toward him. Yet the edge sliced through nothing more than an afterimage.
Before he could track where the man had gone, a hand clamped down over his face. Under the sudden, devastating momentum, his facial features collapsed inward, threatening to bulge out the back of his skull, and the force drove him headlong into a punch rushing in from behind.
With a resounding crash, his head burst apart between the colliding fists. One of those fists pushed relentlessly forward, while the opposing fist shattered joint by joint, the destructive force tearing up the forearm and tearing through the body behind it. Before the owner of that fist could even scream, a sweeping kick shattered his skull.
With several heavy thuds, three corpses collapsed to the ground, each mangled beyond recognition, plainly shattered by overwhelming physical force.
Chen Chuan slowly lowered his leg and cast a sideways glance toward the survivors.
Utiko stopped in his tracks, pupils contracting sharply. He knew he had run into a terrifyingly formidable opponent.
Behind him came the sound of rapid, ragged breathing. He could tell his remaining men were intimidated by the opponent's sheer aura, their hearts gripped by terror and their fighting will crumbling.
He immediately pitched his voice low and firm. "Don't even think about running. They will never let knowledge of this place leak out. Now that we're here, our only choice is to fight to the death. Stick with me, and we still have a chance."
At his words, fierce, savage expressions surfaced on their faces. They understood Utiko was right—facing an enemy like this, fighting desperately offered a sliver of hope; running meant certain death!
Chapter 627