...

Ghostfang clenched his fists tightly. He was not someone easily influenced by emotions, but up until now, he was filled with countless incomprehensible feelings.

Shangguan Tianyou was panting heavily. He felt as if his heart had been bitten by a venomous snake, overwhelmed completely by madness and jealousy. "Yan Xiaobao! If it weren't for you, all of this would be mine!"

Everyone was shaken as Song Que retreated at the fastest speed, blood spewing from his mouth. His eyes were a deep red, his hair disheveled. It seemed he wanted to devour Yan Xiaobao alive, letting out a miserable howl.

"Yan Xiaobao!!"

His Ninth Tideflow had failed, leaving only eight Tideflows. As his Dao foundation stabilized, his cultivation base became the foundation for the establishment stage. Even if he retreated, his power far exceeded before.

Yan Xiaobao's eyes flickered, and with a blurred motion, he appeared directly in front of Song Que moments later. Then, his two fingers shot out like lightning.

Throat-shattering grasp!

Just before they landed on Song Que, Song Que performed a hand spell gesture. Then he opened his mouth and spat out a blood sphere the size of a fingernail.

Despite being at the peak of the Earthstring foundation, Yan Xiaobao immediately felt he was in incredible danger.

The spiritual power within the blood sphere was terrifying!

For some reason, this crisis felt somewhat familiar, even though Yan Xiaobao wasn't sure exactly why.

As his two fingers made contact with the blood sphere, a shockwave exploded in all directions, accompanied by an ear-splitting roar.

As the force of the shockwave spread in all directions, Ghostfang and Shangguan Tianyou were forced to retreat, and the ground below was crushed.

Blood seeped from the corner of Yan Xiaobao's mouth, and he stepped back a few paces, struggling in shock. Despite having his immortal golden skin, the blood sphere's explosion actually injured him. Although the injuries were not severe, they were still shocking.

The familiar feeling he had just experienced intensified when he came into contact with the blood sphere. However, he still couldn't figure out why it was so.

"Why does this seem so familiar!?!? What exactly is this blood sphere!?"

Yan Xiaobao looked up to see Song Que flying backward like a kite with its string cut, blood spraying from his mouth, his chest caved in. Clearly, his injuries were far more severe than Yan Xiaobao's.

Due to being interrupted halfway through his Ninth Tideflow, his cultivation base remained stabilized. He was absolutely not as strong as Yan Xiaobao, and due to the blood sphere, he suffered intense rebound injuries.

Even so, he still raised his head with a malicious attitude toward Yan Xiaobao.

As Song Que turned to flee, Yan Xiaobao was about to launch another attack. Even as he accelerated, he crafted an invaluable teleportation jade talisman and shattered it. Moments later, the teleportation capability whisked him away, and he disappeared.

When he reappeared, he was hundreds of kilometers away, escaping at the fastest speed.

"I hope he didn't notice," Song Que gritted his teeth and said. "Damn, he appeared prematurely just for a moment. Just one step away, only one step... oh well, it doesn't matter. Even if I didn't reach the peak of the Earthstring foundation, I can still surpass Bai Xiaochun. Once I do, he's already dead!" With that, he crafted a Fengshui Compass containing nine glowing points. These were energy nodes he had activated throughout the Fallen Sword World! Seeing Song Que's precious teleportative invisible jade talisman, Yan Xiaobao's eyes gleamed. Just as he was about to chase after him, he suddenly stopped and looked down.

The ground below was completely leveled by the explosion of the blood sphere...

"Wait a minute..." Yan Xiaobao said, looking a bit suspicious. "If Song Que had a teleportation jade talisman, it would have made more sense for him to use it when I interrupted his Ninth Tideflow. After the vortex collapsed, he was in the worst position!

"But he didn't use the jade talisman; instead, he used that blood sphere to fight against me. He even got injured in the process. Although he seemed genuinely angry, now that I think about it, it seems more like... he was trying to erase evidence below." After analyzing the issue, his eyes sparkled.

"Two things happened after I interrupted him. The first was his Ninth Tideflow being destroyed, and the Earth's energy dispersed. That's normal. But what's abnormal is how his Earth's energy formed a pillar of light shooting into the sky and dispersing faster than before.

"Although it initially seemed harmless, these two things together... very suspicious!

"He's hiding something!

"He's hiding something related to the sky, as well as the spell he formed on the ground. To figure out what he's hiding, I should compare them with previous situations now. Maybe then I can deduce the answer." Looking up at the sky, he confirmed the Tideflow vortex had indeed dissipated. Due to how Song Que returned directly to the Earth's energy, some smaller residual vortices still existed, but they were completely different from the larger previous vortex.

"Because of the Ninth Tideflow vortex, and the Earth's energy weakening, the sky weakened..." After confirming this by observing several different positions above, he turned back to look at the ground.

Ghostfang and Shangguan Tianyou were still on the side. Ghostfang suspected what Yan Xiaobao was doing, while Shangguan Tianyou coldly sneered and then turned to leave.