"It looks like we still have no way to smuggle ourselves into the third layer of the Void Realm for now," Yaxiu sighed.
In truth, this was only normal. If an easy, straightforward way to smuggle oneself across truly existed, the skies of the Time Continent wouldn't frequently echo with the wails of sorcerers attacked by knowledge creatures. Many sorcerers likely knew about the Golden Seven Sorcerers and White Ox hypotheses, but those hypotheses were far too difficult to realize. With no other option, they could only fly straight toward the sky, desperately trying to catch that elusive, ethereal Seven-Colored Tail.
Gold Sorcerers were the demographic least willing to accept their fate.
They were more talented than Silver Sorcerers, and in the secular world they generally belonged to the managerial elite, standing above ordinary mortals. High chances were they had even witnessed the boundless glory of Sanctuary Sorcerers. The secular world considered them geniuses, and they considered themselves geniuses too.
Yet the chasm between realms and factions was more impassable than any ordinary hurdle. If your girlfriend didn't love you, you could hypnotize and charm her into staying; if your head was blown open, a medical sorcerer could recast it with Water Therapy; spilt water could even be recovered by reversing time. But if you couldn't understand higher-tier knowledge, you simply couldn't understand it.
If the cleverest people in the world hadn't found a smuggling route in hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, Yaxiu—an unlearned, uncultured mudblood—naturally held no hope for himself.
"Tsk," Sonia bit her fingernail. "If only we could reach the third layer of the Void Realm, all our troubles would be solved."
"Trouble's here," Yaxiu suddenly said. The sports car banked sharply at a forty-five-degree angle, accelerating obliquely ahead.
Sonia immediately gripped her hilt and drew her sword an inch, while Diya pulled her hands apart to draw out a Water-Born Line. Any trace of playful banter vanished from the two, their combat stances snapping into place in an instant.
On the Void Realm Map before Yaxiu, a pack of velociraptors and several thousand-feather bird-dragons appeared in the eastern sector—evidently a mixed force of the Heroic Spirit Legion.
Tonight, they had already reached the Spider Tower sector.
Along the way, Yaxiu had barely stopped to scavenge any resource points. Aside from running over sorcerer projections when they encountered them and taking short rests, he spent most of his time driving in pursuit of the White Ox.
Their goal tonight was not to scavenge, nor was it to grow stronger; it was survival. According to the contract agreement with the Empress, they only needed to linger in the Spider Tower sector for more than three hours before they could leave the Void Realm directly. Thus, Yaxiu's best strategy was naturally to keep driving and constantly shifting locations, returning to reality the second the three hours were up so the Empress Heroic Spirit wouldn't be able to encircle and annihilate them.
As for any naive notion that the Empress Heroic Spirit might be unable to pin down his coordinates, it hadn't lingered in Yaxiu's mind for a moment. He even suspected that the mark of the contract on him was a built-in homing beacon.
Steel and machinery won out over flesh and blood in the end. With the sports car pushed to the limits of its performance, Yaxiu easily shook off the Heroic Spirit Legion to the east. But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, traces of the Heroic Spirit Legion appeared to the northeast.
Yaxiu pondered for a moment, and as he decided to speed up and punch through, the Heroic Spirit Legion immediately accelerated to block his way. Left with no choice, Yaxiu could only cut another forty-five-degree angle, racing flat out toward the northwest.
Yet just as Yaxiu tried to head due north, another detachment of the Heroic Spirit Legion moved to cut off his advance.
This time, however, Yaxiu finally sensed something wrong.
"It's a hunt!" Yaxiu slammed on the brakes, the sports car spinning a donut across the grass. "They've been herding us to the west... The west must be where their ambush is waiting. We're going to break straight through. Ready?"
"One!"
"One!"
Following the operators' curt replies, the sports car let out a beastly roar. Wicked fangs jutted from the hood—the war monster was primed and ready!
Tearing through the torrential sheets of rain, the steel monster charged. Yaxiu noticed that the minion troops due north had already mobilized their armed units, but there were still gaps on their flanks. Right before the two sides were about to collide in bone-shattering destruction, the sports car carved an elegant right angle. Its rear spewed a thick, sludgy dark-green toxic mist right into the minions' faces before peeling away, barreling toward the fragile line to the northeast!
The wind howled, the rain raced, and monsters on both sides scattered in panic!
Boom!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The slender, menacing thousand-feather bird-dragons transformed into Red Hat riflemen. Tucking their hats low, they leveled their long rifles and fired at the sports car. Though their firing rate was much slower than in their original form, their accuracy was superb, their damage extraordinary!
Ripples surged across the Refraction Curtain Wall as the barrier's energy depleted rapidly, but it was all worth it. Sure enough, legions of ambushing Heroic Spirits immediately surged out from the south and the west. Yaxiu squeezed every drop of performance out of the car, tearing toward the northeast where the enemy had attempted to blockade them. In moments, he left them in the dust, leaving behind only the foul, lingering cloud of toxic mist!
Watching the units of the Heroic Spirit Legion vanish one by one from the Void Realm Map, Yaxiu exhaled a sigh of relief. "Looks like we're safely making it through the night... wait?"
Just then, he saw a special golden area on the Void Realm Map to the northeast, taking up three whole tiles.
And the description of this special area read: "Everyone dies of old age, including you, so you'd better hurry."
"Ahead is the Flowing Gold River..." Yaxiu muttered. "Could it be...?"
From far behind came the earth-shaking thunder of marching armies. Yaxiu glanced down at the Void Realm Map, discovering Heroic Spirit Legions emerging from every direction!
"Many" blast raptors!
"Many" cynocephalic dragons!
"Many" Fishcleaver Dragons!
The outermost string of zones on the Void Realm Map had been dyed a dripping, vivid blood red. The only escape route was the golden zone to the northeast—yet that was the Flowing Gold River, which could reduce them to withered bones within ten-odd seconds!
The roar of the car's engine gradually died down. The sorcerers came to a halt on the grass, quietly awaiting the butcher's arrival. The operators realized what was happening: Diya stood on the seat facing the rear, while Sonia gently rested a hand on Yaxiu's shoulder.
"No apologizing," she said.
The true direction of the ambush was the northeast.
The Heroic Spirit Legion had deliberately driven them westward, baiting them into breaking out in the opposite direction and walking straight into the ambush pocket the Empress Heroic Spirit had prepared for them!
The Flowing Gold River even blocked the path ahead here, allowing the Empress Heroic Spirit to deploy her forces with total composure!
Timing: Yaxiu and company were bound to stay for three hours.
Terrain: the Empress Heroic Spirit knew the surrounding land inside and out.
Forces: the Empress Heroic Spirit had mobilized vast legions from the Spider Tower!
Yaxiu had lost so swiftly, so decisively, that there wasn't even room to shift blame or complain.
Just then, a familiar voice rang out through the golden rain.
"You are smart people." Denzel's words chilled them to the bone. "And it just so happens that I am best at dealing with smart people. All it takes is deliberately letting slip a few inconsequential flaws, putting on a show of remorse as though you had seen through my schemes, and your vigilance falls into a deep slumber like a sated lion.
"This is the second time you've fallen into my trap, and naturally, it's also your last.
"Still, since we are acquaintances, it's not as though I can't grant you some courtesy. There's still a bit of time before the three hours are up. You may squander what's left of your lives to your hearts' content—make love if you wish, seek amusement if you wish. That way, after you die, you might just leave behind a decent sorcerer manual."
Minds wavered, wills shook, and the will to fight collapsed.
Beneath the Empress Heroic Spirit's seemingly compassionate, affectionate words lay murder that overflowed in every syllable. Even having cornered them into a dead end, she hadn't let slip a single opportunity to strike at their morale—perhaps in revenge for the setback in the wooden cabin, or perhaps out of pure, twisted personal amusement. Yaxiu leaned toward the latter.
At this moment of dagger-drawn tension, Sonia suddenly leaned close to Yaxiu, dropping her voice to whisper in his ear: "You still haven't answered me."
"What?"
"What were you really thinking about just now?"
Yaxiu's focus was forcibly yanked out of their desperate dead end. "Why are you so curious?"
Sonia blinked. "Because it's been a long time since you told me about your life in reality."
Chapter 393