Chapter 2904: Chasing and Killing

"Lord Moduo!" Hongtu called out in a rush.

Moduo, however, paid him no mind. He turned and walked towards the Central Grand Hall.

Although he valued the Cosmos-grade Dao Integration Orb, he had no deep feelings for Hundred Battles City. He had occupied this place previously for his own strength. Given the current situation, there was no point in him staying here forcefully, so he didn't bother.

Seeing this, Xuejiu outside the city couldn't help but burst into laughter, taunting him again: "Leaving already? Moduo, it's rumored that the Demon Race is the most cowardly, and it seems to be true. Do you not even have the courage to fight?"

Moduo's steps faltered, and he abruptly turned his head, glaring fiercely at Xuejiu. His crimson eyes blazed with boundless fury, but in the end, he suppressed his anger and continued forward.

Once Moduo left, Hongtu naturally dared not stay. He stamped his foot in exasperation and followed Moduo.

"Xuejiu!" Lu Ye, who was striving to break the formation, suddenly called out in a low voice.

Xuejiu turned to look: "What is it?"

"Blood Sea Art!" Lu Ye said concisely.

Xuejiu frowned. What was the point of using the Blood Sea Art now? Moduo was gone, and Hongtu seemed to have followed him. The morale within the city was bound to be unstable, and they wouldn't even need to do much; the defensive formation's strength would rapidly decline, allowing them to easily breach the city then.

Although he was puzzled, he still activated the Blood Sea Art. As a point of blood-red light bloomed, a vast blood sea swept out, covering a large area.

The next instant, he seemed to gain insight, raising an eyebrow and muttering, "Truly ruthless!"

In the Combined Realm, within the Innate Grand Hall, Moduo's figure appeared, his face clouded with gloom.

Today's events were an immense humiliation for him. Even in the Source Realm, though he might be outmatched by other Half-Saints, he would not flee before even engaging in battle. But this was the Star Abyss, an environment different from the Source Realm.

Ultimately, in the Source Realm, he had the Demon Race as his backing, but here, he had nothing.

Humiliation and resentment filled his heart, and he secretly vowed that he would repay today's disgrace a hundredfold in the future.

Being in the Combined Realm, he couldn't leave for now. Fortunately, he had previously discussed with Mingfeng, and both of them had placed a few subordinate cultivators here for message transmission or rendezvous.

So, as long as he found the cultivators Mingfeng had placed here, he could have them escort him to Thousand Flow City.

His gaze swept around as he searched.

The Innate Hall was as bustling as ever, with people coming and going. The clamor around Moduo made him feel incredibly irritable.

Then, in an instant, his gaze, which had just turned away, suddenly looked back in one direction. In that spot, a person in a trench coat, with a hood obscuring their face and no discernible aura, was walking towards him with their head bowed.

For some reason, although Moduo didn't detect anything unusual, he felt a faint sense of threat from this individual.

This was why he had suddenly looked back.

With one glance, a realization struck him, and he roared, "Lu Ye!"

He finally knew where that sense of threat came from: this person's build was strikingly similar to Lu Ye's, and one hand was pressed beneath the trench coat, clearly gripping a saber hilt.

As Moduo's shout rang out, the figure who had just appeared beside him instantly looked bewildered.

It was none other than Hongtu, who had followed Moduo, escaping from Hundred Battles City into this place.

Even though the former Lord of Hundred Battles City harbored deep reluctance, with three Half-Saint level powerhouses attacking the city and Moduo fleeing, how dared he remain in Hundred Battles City? So, after giving some instructions to the cultivators guarding the Central Grand Hall, he also rushed here.

Unexpectedly, just as he stabilized himself, he heard Moduo shouting "Lu Ye."

Before he could react, an intense warning sensation arose in his heart, making him feel a chill throughout his body.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time, only experiencing such sensations a few times when he was weak and faced formidable enemies at the brink of life and death.

In his peripheral vision, he caught a glimpse of saber light sweeping towards him. Even before the blade reached him, his skin prickled with pain. In that instant, he understood everything.

Lu Ye... had chased them all the way here!

"Lord Moduo, save me!" Hongtu roared fiercely, simultaneously channeling his Dao power to protect himself.

Moduo secretly channeled his Dao power, ready to act.

However, in this lightning-fast moment, he suddenly recalled the information he had previously gathered: there was an inexplicable restriction within the Combined Realm. Any cultivator who dared to fight here would be banished into the Nameless Land, never to escape.

Although he hadn't been in the Star Abyss for too long, only a few months at most, he naturally understood these basic pieces of information thoroughly.

Moreover, he had entered and exited the Combined Realm multiple times, and even with his Half-Saint's perspective, he found this realm extraordinarily mysterious.

Therefore, even he dared not easily trigger that restriction. Furthermore, when Lu Ye's saber strike swept over, who knew if it was aimed at Hongtu or at himself?

If it was the latter, should he retaliate or not? Not retaliating would likely lead to a bad end, but retaliating would definitely trigger the restriction.

With that thought, Moduo instinctively retreated backward.

Immediately after, he realized something: Lu Ye's saber strike was indeed aimed at him, but as he instinctively retreated, Lu Ye's saber momentum suddenly shifted, striking Hongtu, who remained in place.

As the saber light flashed and vanished, the many cultivators in the Innate Hall erupted in startled chaos.

Three breaths later, everything settled.

Everyone's gaze turned with surprise and uncertainty towards where the conflict had erupted, but they saw nothing, only some blood remaining on the ground.

"Lu Ye, it's that human, Lu Ye!" someone exclaimed, realizing belatedly.

"How did this guy come here to kill again?"

"Lawless, simply lawless! How can the Nameless Land not trap him?"

"The one killed... why does he look a bit like Hongtu?"

"Is it really Hongtu?"

"No mistake, that was definitely Hongtu. I've met him a few times!"

"Tsk tsk, first Zong Shenliang, now Hongtu. It's said he also killed Xuan Wuzong not long ago... Is he trying to kill all ten city lords and unify the Star Abyss?"

"This kid has probably already advanced to the legendary Half-Saint realm. Such talent is truly terrifying!"

Amidst the cacophony of voices, Moduo's face was dark and uncertain. He hadn't been in the Star Abyss long, so not many people recognized him. Thus, most cultivators didn't pay much attention to his presence, assuming he was merely affected by the recent conflict.

Moduo, however, knew that if he hadn't reacted quickly just now, Lu Ye would definitely have attacked him, and his current situation would be unknown.

This Combined Realm... is not a safe place either. He needed to leave quickly.

As for Hongtu... Moduo had seen clearly just now: when Lu Ye's saber struck, Hongtu was cut in half, and even though he tried his best to activate his protective Dao power, he couldn't withstand the sharp blade.

The former Lord of Hundred Battles City died much more silently than Zong Shenliang had. Zong Shenliang, at least, had managed to shout a few taunts at Lu Ye before he died.

Meanwhile, as Lu Ye was killing Hongtu, outside Hundred Battles City, Xuejiu, following Lu Ye's instructions before he left, loudly proclaimed: "Those who flee will not be killed! But any who dare to destroy the Dao Integration Orb, even if you hide in the Combined Realm, you will not escape death!"

Inside the Central Grand Hall, several Dao Integration cultivators exchanged glances upon hearing this.

Before leaving, Hongtu had indeed instructed them to find an opportunity to destroy the Dao Integration Orb. This was clearly a "rather be jade broken than tile whole" mentality; after all, the Dao Integration Orb was no longer his anyway, so he couldn't let that fellow Lu Ye benefit from it.

If it had been earlier, they would have carried out Hongtu's instructions even at the cost of their lives.

But now, Hongtu had already fled for his life, leaving them to face this mess. Especially since Lu Ye also had the ability to kill people within the Combined Realm, how could they dare to act recklessly?

Not to mention Xuejiu's warning at this moment, even without it, they likely wouldn't have dared to do so.

After all, if they truly destroyed the Dao Integration Orb, they would have no choice but to stay there and wait for death. Under a Half-Saint's pursuit, even escaping would be a luxury.

Therefore, after Xuejiu finished shouting, the many cultivators in the Central Grand Hall quickly made their decision and fled, making use of the Dao Integration Orb.

Within the city, chaos reigned. The departure of numerous cultivators caused the power of the defensive formation to continuously weaken. At this point, even without Lu Ye, Xuejiu and Si Shengya alone could cause ripples across the formation's light barrier, and it likely wouldn't be long before the formation was broken.

In the Nameless Land, Lu Ye looked at Hongtu's corpse and swept it with his divine sense.

Just as he had killed Zong Shenliang in the Innate Hall back then, Lu Ye immediately took Hongtu's corpse with him after killing him this time.

He secretly rejoiced that he hadn't fixated on dealing with Moduo just now.

Although his current strength was considerable, it was definitely not enough to kill a Half-Saint in a single blow. In that environment, if his attack missed, he would trigger the Combined Realm's restriction and be banished here.

Unless he could provoke Moduo's retaliation, only then could he drag Moduo into this Nameless Land as well.

But in that situation, Moduo clearly had no intention of retaliating.

So Lu Ye could only settle for the next best thing: killing Hongtu.

This guy had the potential to advance to Half-Saint. If left unchecked, he would certainly become a Half-Saint in the future. Eliminating him now would undoubtedly remove a future problem.

Furthermore, this guy possessed a supreme treasure. By killing him, Lu Ye could also obtain a supreme treasure, which was undoubtedly a good gain for him.

After a search, he quickly found Hongtu's supreme treasure: a pair of gauntlets. Hongtu was a body cultivator, so this type of supreme treasure perfectly complemented him.

However, for Lu Ye, it was not of much use. In fact, if he let the Talent Tree devour and refine it, he wouldn't even need to retain its power on the Talent Tree.

Besides that, Hongtu's storage ring would certainly contain many cultivation resources, all of which Lu Ye needed at the moment.

The Dao Fish in his possession had dwindled significantly after being distributed to the many powerful Dragon Clan members. This time's spoils of war could make up for some of the loss.

After a brief consideration, Lu Ye did not directly activate the Talent Tree's power to devour the supreme treasure gauntlets. Instead, he temporarily put them away for later use.

He was not in a hurry to leave the Nameless Land.

Currently, with Moduo and Hongtu having fled Hundred Battles City, the city's fall was a foregone conclusion. It didn't matter whether he returned or not. He decided to use this time to resolve the issue of the Heaven-Weaving Needle.