Just as Yuan Ming’s Qingyu Sword pierced the one-eyed woman, a yellow halo once again lit up around her, trying to protect her body.

But the light was already dim. Seeing this, Yuan Ming took a step forward and unleashed his power to strike again.

“Chi!”

The yellow halo shattered, and the long sword pierced into the one-eyed woman’s back.

The one-eyed woman looked at the half of the sword blade sticking out from her chest, a look of disbelief flashed in her eyes. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out of her throat.

She couldn’t believe that the person who had been chased by them and ran all over the mountains before could now toy with her while she had no power to fight back.

Yuan Ming twisted the long sword in his hand, instantly crushing the one-eyed woman’s heart.

Before the wooden hairpin, which had lost its power, could turn around, it fell to the ground with a “clatter”.

After searching the one-eyed woman’s body for a while, Yuan Ming only found a spiked whip and a broken yellow porcelain plaque. It should be the item that emitted the yellow light to protect the one-eyed woman.

However, it had been completely destroyed by the previous explosion of the earth fire thunder and Yuan Ming’s heavy blow.

Yuan Ming put away the whip and wooden hairpin without further investigation. He wanted to hurry back and take Tu Ya and her daughter away from here.

Just then, a sharp cry suddenly came from above the mountains.

“Hu Huo!” Yuan Ming gritted his teeth and turned his head, diving into the dense forest again.

In the sky, a green falcon swooped down towards this direction, and Hu Huo landed with two human xiaos.

He glanced at the corpse of the one-eyed woman, frowned, and then controlled the green falcon to chase after Yuan Ming in the direction he had left.

After he left, Wu Lu slowly caught up from behind.

Seeing the corpse of the one-eyed woman on the ground, he smirked and followed at a leisurely pace.

On the other side, Hu Huo controlled the green falcon to fly in the sky, holding a cylindrical magical tool in his hand, scanning the surroundings in the mountains.

Suddenly, he saw a white figure flash through a gap in the woods.

“Found it.” Hu Huo’s eyes lit up.

This time, he didn’t call anyone over. One reason was that he was afraid of alarming Yuan Ming and letting him escape again, and the other reason was that he had two human xiaos, including Ha Gong, with him. He wasn’t worried about not being able to deal with Yuan Ming.

So he controlled the green falcon and immediately chased after the white figure.

However, Yuan Ming’s speed was much faster than before. When he activated his White Ape Transformation, he was even more agile, making it extremely difficult to track him in the mountains.

When Hu Huo finally caught up to a valley where the vegetation on both sides was slightly sparse, Yuan Ming’s figure was completely exposed.

It seemed that he wanted to use the river to cover his tracks and scent, but before he could jump into the river, he was already caught up.

Hu Huo sneered in his heart, pinched the slender flagpole of a triangular flag with two fingers, and lightly waved it towards Yuan Ming.

“Hu!”

The golden toad on the triangular flag immediately came to life, opening its mouth and spitting towards Yuan Ming.

In an instant, a surge of golden-red flames rushed towards Yuan Ming by the river.

Yuan Ming felt the scorching heat approaching his back, turned his head and quickly plunged into the cold river water.

The river was not too deep, unable to completely conceal his transformed tall figure as the White Ape. Just as he raised his head, he saw another surge of golden-red flames rushing towards him.

Yuan Ming quickly dived into the water and drifted downstream along the river.

Seeing this, Hu Huo took out a silver bell from his pocket and shook it lightly.

“Ding dong!”

Ha Gong’s body suddenly trembled, and a hint of ferocity appeared in his lifeless eyes. Threads of black mist emanated from his ears.

Hu Huo controlled the green falcon to land by the river, pointing at the white figure drifting downstream in the river, and shouted:

“Go!”

Ha Gong immediately leaped off the back of the green falcon and chased after Yuan Ming in the river.

His movements were stiff, but his speed was not slow. Even in the water, he continued to run instead of swimming, lacking the instinctual feeling of action that ordinary human xiaos had, and not as agile as the Human Xiao King.

Watching Ha Gong chase after him from a distance, Hu Huo was about to control the green falcon to take off again, but the green falcon suddenly let out an uneasy low chirp, struggling several times but failed to take off.

Hu Huo immediately realized that something was wrong and jumped off the back of the green falcon with the remaining human xiao.

He was in mid-air and turned his head to see that the green falcon’s feet were entangled by thick vines, forming two vine cages that tightly bound its claws.

At the same time, three wooden spikes suddenly protruded from the ground, piercing the vital parts of the green falcon.

Hu Huo’s heart sank, and he quickly waved the triangular flag. A burst of flames erupted, burning the wooden spikes and vine cages.

The green falcon let out a miserable cry as it broke free from the restraints and flew into the sky.

Panic and pain made it instinctively want to get away from this place, but before it could fly far, it was controlled by a stone talisman thrown by Yuan Ming, and flew back.

Hu Huo realized that Yuan Ming was up to something. He didn’t dare to stay too long and immediately shook the bell to summon Ha Gong back.

“I’m already here. Aren’t you constantly talking about avenging Ha Gong? Are you not going to show yourself and settle this grudge?” Hu Huo looked around and taunted Yuan Ming, trying to provoke him to reveal himself.

However, there was silence all around, without any response.”If I were you, I’d use all my tricks now. Once Ha Gong returns, you’ll have to fight him. You wouldn’t want to behead him yourself, would you? Isn’t it easier to deal with me alone?” Hu Huo continued to shout.

Just then, a figure quietly emerged from a branch of an ancient tree behind him, flipped down from above, and with a flash of cold light from the long sword in his hand, aimed directly at Hu Huo’s head.

Without turning his head, Hu Huo waved his hand, and the small triangular flag immediately flew up. A golden toad phantom emerged from the flashing light on the surface, forming a shield of hazy light above his head.

The moment Yuan Ming’s sword struck the light shield, it made a teeth-gritting sound, but the tip of the sword failed to pierce the light barrier.

At this moment, the humanoid specter’s eyes flashed with a murderous light, and it leaped up in a rush, swinging its fist at Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming blocked with his sword, formed a seal with his other hand, and shouted, “Rise!”

As his voice echoed, he was sent flying by a punch.

At the same time, the ground beneath Hu Huo cracked, and black vines broke through the soil, wrapping around him.

Sensing danger, Hu Huo leaped up, grabbed the triangular flag above him, and swung it towards the ground. A burst of golden-red flames spewed out, igniting all the vines.

However, from the rolling flames, a slender black vine suddenly pierced through, aiming straight for Hu Huo’s throat.

Feeling the danger, Hu Huo quickly retreated, creating distance between him and the black vine.

Just as he thought he had escaped the range of the black vine’s attack, a surprising scene unfolded.

From within the flames, a small black toad leaped out, heading straight for his face. The bulge on its back was connected to the slender black vine.

As the distance between them closed, the slender black vine gathered strength for another thrust, aiming straight for his throat again.

Just as the black vine was about to hit Hu Huo, a white figure suddenly leaped in front of him, blocking the attack. It was the humanoid specter.

The black vine pierced through the specter’s upper abdomen, surprisingly penetrating its tough skin.

A stream of poison quickly flowed into its body.

The specter’s abdomen was quickly corroded by the poison, and it soon fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Hu Huo was shocked and a series of questions arose in his mind, “That little black thing… could it be a spirit beast? When did Yuan Ming acquire such a creature?”

As this thought arose, he quickly waved the triangular flag, and the rolling flames immediately surged towards the black toad.

However, the successful black toad had already returned to Yuan Ming’s side at his summon.

At this moment, a white figure swam against the current in the river. It was Ha Gong.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming immediately jumped into the river with the black toad, swam past Ha Gong, and headed downstream.

Earlier, he had used a vine-woven dummy to float downstream with the white ape’s skin, fooling Hu Huo into thinking that the skin-changing technique was still his only reliance.

“This kid is getting harder and harder to deal with.” Watching Yuan Ming’s retreating figure, Hu Huo frowned again.

He shook the bell in his hand, sending Ha Gong after Yuan Ming again, while he planned to meet up with Kun Tu.

…

Yuan Ming quickly found the white ape’s skin on a shallow beach. After he got ashore, he looked back and then looked up at the sky.

“Hu Huo didn’t catch up?” He thought to himself.

At this moment, a black shadow circled back in the night sky. It was the soul crow that had led Kun Tu away by grabbing the corner of his clothes.

The soul crow flew into Yuan Ming’s forehead, returning to his sea of consciousness.

He had basically mastered Hu Huo’s methods and could handle them with ease. Now, what worried him more was Kun Tu.

This man’s cultivation was profound, and he possessed a medium-grade magical weapon. After becoming an inner disciple, his strength must have increased, so he needed to be cautious.

Yuan Ming pondered for a moment, then cast the Wood Concealment Technique.

After his soul transformed, his control over mana became more acute, and the effect of the Wood Concealment Technique improved. The nearby birds, beasts, and insects were completely unaware of his presence.

Yuan Ming was very satisfied with this. He took a detour back to Miao Hua Village to check on Tu Ya and her mother.

The Wood Concealment Technique worked extremely well, and he returned to Miao Hua Village without any mishaps. However, Tu Ya and her mother were nowhere to be found.

There were no signs of a fight in the surroundings, and he could vaguely see two sets of footprints in the grass. It seemed that they had escaped on their own.

(End of Chapter)