Chapter 308: The Chasers

As the wealthy man flew out of the domain of the Illusion Demon Sect, Su Che was still thinking, “Grandmaster Zi Xiao is at the mid-stage Yuan Ying level and wields the top-grade spiritual treasure, the Star Emperor Compass, which allows him to fly over a hundred thousand miles in an hour—yet that’s not even his fastest speed…”
“So, if the two sect leaders of the Taiyi Gate and the Illusion Demon Sect, who are at the late-stage Yuan Ying level, each used their own Dao artifacts to fly, what speed would they achieve? Hundreds of thousands of miles in an hour?”
“If that’s the case, it won’t take long before they catch up.”
Su Che’s concerns weren’t unfounded. At that moment, the three sect leaders of the Taiyi Gate, the Illusion Demon Sect, and the Blood God Sect were all using their respective sacred treasures to track him effortlessly, with the distance between them shrinking rapidly.
This was because Ta Wu the Ancestor had deliberately left many very obvious markers along the way. The pursuers wouldn’t take detours and could even use these traces to deduce the wealthy man’s flight path, allowing them to block his route ahead.
Under Ta Wu’s fierce attacks, the wealthy man did his best to adjust his direction, following the route set by True Man Huaguang toward the territory of the Wuji Gate.
“Su Che, are you sure you want to go to the Wuji Gate instead of the Tianxuan Sect?” True Man Huaguang asked again.
“The Tianxuan Sect is too far—at least another hundred thousand miles. It’s likely we won’t be able to make it back in time. The Wild God Valley within the Wuji Gate is less than sixty thousand miles away, so there’s still some hope,” Su Che replied solemnly.
“Alright, I’ll follow your advice,” True Man Huaguang nodded.
In comparison, True Man Huaguang felt much less pressured than Su Che, as he had already found the wealthy man. His lifelong dream had come true, and he had no regrets, so his mood relaxed instantly.
Time passed slowly, and Su Che kept watching through the water mirror to see if anyone was chasing after them, feeling extremely anxious.
After flying another hundred thousand miles or so, suddenly, Ta Wu’s attacks stopped abruptly. He no longer tried to change the wealthy man’s course but simply followed closely behind.
“He stopped?” True Man Huaguang guessed. “Could it be that he’s exhausted and runs out of vital energy?”
“Possible,” Su Che nodded. “Other than that, we’ve already left the territory controlled by the Illusion Demon Sect and the Blood God Sect. Flying further ahead, no matter where we go, it’s the same for Ta Wu. So there’s no need for him to waste effort trying to disrupt our path.”

Flying further ahead, to the east was the Wuji Gate, while to the southeast lay the territory of the demon race—neither of which were allies of the Taiyi Gate. For Taiwu, it made no difference which direction to fly; there was indeed no need to expend a great deal of vital energy to disrupt the giant wealth, as long as it didn’t get lost.

After some time, Su Che continued to watch behind him, silently praying: “Don’t let them catch up, don’t let them catch up…”

Suddenly, Huaguang Zhenren said, “There’s someone ahead!”

“Ahead?”

Su Che was stunned. “How could anyone be ahead? Could it be some Yuan Ying ancestor who happened to pass by?”

Swish!

The image on the water mirror in front of him changed, allowing Su Che to see what was ahead.

“Three?”

Su Che exclaimed in shock. Dozens of miles ahead, three figures floated in the air, quietly blocking the giant wealth’s path.

The water mirror had an image magnification effect, allowing Su Che to clearly see that the person in the middle was a woman wearing a colorful dress, her face covered by a misty veil.

“The Demon Illusion Sect Leader!”

Su Che had seen her portrait and recognized her at a glance.

Although the Demon Illusion Sect Leader had learned of the giant wealth’s birth later than the Taiyi Gate’s Tai Xu Master, she was the closest in location when the giant wealth crossed her sect’s territory, which was why she was the first to chase after it. Not only had she caught up, but she could also predict the giant wealth’s path and block it in advance. She even released two supreme elders from her magical treasure space.

It was unknown whether the three of them combined could stop the mountain-like giant wealth.

“Charge!” Su Che and Huaguang shouted almost simultaneously.

Given the situation, changing direction to avoid them would only weaken the giant wealth’s momentum. It was better to charge straight ahead, showing the courage to perish together with the enemy.

Whoosh!

The giant wealth grew to a height of a hundred zhang, trailing a long golden tail, like a meteor streaking across the sky, moving forward relentlessly.

Ahead, the three seemingly tiny women raised their delicate hands, as if they could stop the giant wealth with just those frail arms.

Judging by their apparent size and the giant wealth’s towering height, it was like the saying: “A mantis trying to stop a chariot!”

But when they got within five miles, whoosh whoosh whoosh… The giant wealth seemed to plunge into thick mud, suddenly encountering immense resistance. With terrifying friction, the front half of the giant wealth began to burn fiercely.

This is a phenomenon that only occurs when an asteroid from outer space enters the atmosphere of Qiyuan Star. But for advanced magical artifacts, overcoming air resistance and planetary gravity are among the most basic functions, so such a phenomenon should not arise.

“They’ve increased the air resistance ahead by over ten thousand times—this is the Illusion Demon Realm they created together!” Su Che suddenly realized.

Just a mere five li distance reduced Jugu Fu’s speed by a third—this was the ‘Buffering Art’ that Su Che and Hua Guang had discussed earlier.

However, despite its reduced speed, the enormous kinetic energy carried by Jugu Fu was still beyond what any cultivator in the realm could confront head-on.

Whoosh!

The three Yuan Ying ancestors of the Illusion Demon Sect vanished, shattered by Jugu Fu’s impact.

Yet Su Che wasn’t happy at all. He knew that the Illusion Demon Sect was masterful in illusions, and most of what was seen on the surface was fake.

Sure enough, as soon as Jugu Fu rushed forward, the graceful figures of the three sect leaders reappeared behind it.

Whoosh!

The sect leader summoned a rainbow-colored Tian Luo Umbrella, the lower-grade Dao artifact of the Illusion Demon Sect—the ‘Illusion Demon Tian Luo Umbrella’.

The umbrella flew into the air, and with a loud bang, it expanded rapidly as it opened, casting a huge shadow that completely covered Jugu Fu’s palace.

Of course, the purpose of this shadow wasn’t to block sunlight but to exert an extremely powerful pulling force.

Huh, huh, huh, huh…

A strange wind sound suddenly arose, further slowing down Jugu Fu’s flight speed, as if it were dragging a towering mountain behind it, making it extremely difficult to move.

Theoretically, the Illusion Demon Tian Luo Umbrella was a lower-grade Dao artifact and shouldn’t have such a strong suppressive effect on Jugu Fu. But the problem was that when wielded by a late-stage Yuan Ying cultivator, it could unleash its full power. As for Jugu Fu, it was merely acting on its own will, capable of exerting at most 40% of its power.

Moreover, the umbrella didn’t confront Jugu Fu head-on but instead dragged behind it, becoming an impossibly heavy burden that made Jugu Fu’s speed slower and slower…

“See? Just a late-stage Yuan Ying cultivator and a lower-grade Dao artifact are enough to stop us,” Su Che sighed softly.

“Don’t worry, there’s still hope. After all, Jugu Fu is an upper-grade Dao artifact—it’s not that simple,” Hua Guang said softly to comfort Su Che while communicating with Jugu Fu’s spirit.

“Blast!”

A few moments later, Hua Guang gave a sharp command.

Boom!

The Golden Light of the Giant Wealth Palace flashed brilliantly as it suddenly expanded to enormous proportions, like a balloon inflating hundreds of times in an instant, violently pushing back the forces pressing on it.
Swish!
Then it instantly shrank back to the size of a palm, as if a small insect found a gap and swiftly escaped its cage.
The speed that had just slowed down increased again.
“Amazing!” Su Che exclaimed in joy.
Though he knew this was only a temporary victory and that the Demon Illusion Sect Leader would employ even stronger tactics next, as long as the Giant Wealth Palace could resist, there was hope of gradually breaking through the obstacles and eventually reaching the Wasteland God Valley.
This place was a bit closer to the Wasteland God Valley—still over forty thousand miles away…
The Demon Illusion Sect Leader wasn’t one for many words; he remained silent, acting without any unnecessary talk.
Huh!
The Sky Net Umbrella rotated slowly above, casting a huge shadow over the Giant Wealth Palace once more, with a heavy pulling force striking again.
This time, before the Giant Wealth Palace could react, the other two Nascent Soul elders of the Demon Illusion Sect chased up from the left and right, attacking from both sides and using their powers to deal severe blows.
Boom! Boom!
While enduring these attacks, the Giant Wealth Palace had to concentrate its defensive strength intensely and couldn’t change size at the same time.
Boom! Boom! Boom…
The two elders of the Demon Illusion Sect took turns striking from left and right, clearly not giving the Giant Wealth Palace any chance to escape the pulling force of the Sky Net Umbrella.
The speed of the Giant Wealth Palace began to slow down again. Once it stopped, it would be trapped in place, suffering endless wear and tear from those Nascent Soul elders.
At this moment, Patriarch Tai Wu was following from a thousand feet away, watching silently.
He was waiting for the arrival of his senior brother, the sect leader. He knew that since the Demon Illusion Sect Leader had arrived, his senior brother wouldn’t be late for long.
“This won’t do!”
Inside the palace, Su Che grew desperate and shouted loudly, “Spirit of Giant Wealth, we can’t just keep taking hits passively! I’m your friend—there’s no need to always be on guard against me. Open a passage for me so I can attack those guys outside. You handle defense, I’ll handle offense—how about that?”
“How about that?”
“How about that…”
Su Che’s shouts echoed throughout the palace.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, everything became bright. Su Che’s vision and consciousness returned to normal. He saw that the interior space of the Giant Wealth Palace was extremely vast—just the square in front of him covered tens of thousands of acres, with layers of palace buildings in the distance, making it difficult to determine its exact size.
“Come, I’ll take you to a place,” said True Man Huaguang, immediately gripping Su Che’s arm.
Swish!

Soon after, the two were transported by the giant rich man’s spatial power to a platform on the outermost layer of the palace, which was also the highest point of the palace’s outer structures.
“Someone’s coming out!”
The two Yuan Ying elders of the Illusion Demon Sect were stunned and instinctively stopped attacking.
The leader of the Illusion Demon Sect also never expected that there would be other cultivators hidden inside the Giant Rich Man’s Palace. Could it be that the Giant Rich Man had already found a master as soon as he was born?
They had such doubts because they hadn’t communicated with Tai Wu after chasing after them and were unaware of the existence of Su Che and Hua Guang.