When Long Chen once more opened his eyes, he had no idea how much time had passed. Perhaps it had just been an hour; perhaps it had been a whole day.

He had been roused by the sound of those howling monkeys. Looking over his body, most of the blood on his wounds had already dried.

That was definitely something to feel lucky about. Otherwise, he would definitely have died if he had kept bleeding out. Slowly standing up, he felt the world spinning around him and almost fell to the ground again.

Leaning against a large tree, he had to wait for a while before feeling a little better. Raising his head to look around, he saw that there were dozens of monkeys on the crowns of the trees. Several of them were howling as loud as they could.

Long Chen knew that most likely meant something had invaded this part of the forest. However, was that something beast or human?

But no matter what, either was a threat to Long Chen. With a wave of his hand, he placed the broadsword into his spatial ring.

Looking over his wounds, he ground his teeth and consumed a medicinal pill. Just that slight raise of his hand caused some of his wounds to tear open.

Blood immediately flowed out. Some of these wounds actually had fragments of Marquis Ying’s sword still in them. Being made from cold iron, those fragments were definitely extremely dangerous to the body. They couldn’t be left inside for too long.

Although this wasn’t the best place to handle them, if he let them stay in his body any longer, they would greatly hinder his movements.

Long Chen first consumed a few blood clotting pills and did his best to keep the flow of blood at a minimum. If he lost too much blood, then he wouldn’t even have the energy to walk.

With his skillful effort, Long Chen dug out over a dozen sword fragments from his body. Both he and Marquis Ying had been hit by those pieces when his sword had shattered.

After taking out those sword fragments, Long Chen still felt extremely dizzy, a sign he had lost too much blood. Looking up at the monkeys in the trees and hearing that their howls were becoming increasingly loud, Long Chen knew the targets in their eyes were quickly approaching.

After consuming several medicinal pills, he dragged his exhausted body down the mountain. Now that Marquis Ying had fled, he also needed to quickly find a place to heal his wounds.

In that final exchange with Marquis Ying, he had used Split the Heavens. That had caused all his meridians to crack, and he was unable to use spiritual qi anymore. This was his weakest state.

He went over ten miles down a mountain when a river dozens of meters wide appeared before him. Long Chen looked around and saw a wide fallen tree. He pushed that tree into the water.

That tree had been dead for a long time and floated very well in the water. Long Chen crawled on top, allowing his body to be carried down the river without letting the water touch his wounds. Otherwise, the river water would cause his wounds to become even worse.

Luckily, the river flowed very steadily and Long Chen easily managed to stay atop the tree. He flowed along the river for a full day. In a drowsy state, he was suddenly awakened by a loud, continuous booming sound.

Long Chen hastily paddled to the shore. Looking ahead, he was given a big fright as he saw the waterfall before him.

That waterfall was hundreds of meters high. If he had kept sleeping and fallen down, he would definitely have been done for.

The river had yet to exit the forest. Long Chen knew he had to quickly find a place to heal his wounds. Previously, Long Chen had faked coming ashore along several places on the river, so anyone searching for him would definitely have to waste a great deal of time on those diversions.

That should be enough time for him to recuperate. But before that, he still had to find a safe place.

Going through the forest, he saw a canyon before him. The canyon wasn’t large, and it was bordered by stones on either side. Such a place should have a couple of natural caves that were suitable for shelter.

Just as he was about to go forward, he suddenly felt a sense of danger as well as a burst of wind coming from behind. He hastily rolled forward.

A huge creature came flying from behind him, and he only narrowly dodged.

Long Chen rolled along the ground. When he raised his head to look, he saw that it was a large leopard over three meters tall that was staring at him.

“Cliff Leopard.” Long Chen felt a huge headache. That was a first rank Magical Beast. Its fur was the same color as the cliff rocks. When it was hiding itself amongst the rocks, it was extremely hard to notice.

It wasn’t exceptionally large, but its speed was shocking. Its claws and teeth were not inferior to steel.

Having been injured so greatly, his spiritual perception had sharply fallen. He had actually not been able to sense the danger around him. It appeared he had become too dependant on his senses.

That Cliff Leopard appeared somewhat startled that it hadn’t taken him down with one blow. It charged at Long Chen again with its incredible speed.

A normal leopard wasn’t frightening, but the Cliff Leopard’s body was just like a bull. Adding on its sharp claws and teeth, it was at the top of the first rank Magical Beast food chain.

Long Chen coldly snorted. Rubbing his ring, his broadsword appeared back in his hands and he slashed it at the Cliff Leopard.

The broadsword landed right on the Cliff Leopard’s head, but it was Long Chen who was forced back. His broadsword actually got knocked out of his hands and he was sent flying.

“Damn, I don’t even have a tenth of my normal strength!”

Long Chen was unable to use spiritual qi at the moment. Furthermore, his physical body was gravely injured.

His sword had slashed right onto the Cliff Leopard’s head, yet the sword was knocked away and he was sent flying. Some of his wounds even opened and began to bleed again.

Although Long Chen was in an extremely weak state, his power was still quite great. That Cliff Leopard’s head had been cut by his sword all the way down to the bone. If a regular wild beast received such a heavy injury, they would definitely flee in pain.

But Magical Beasts had an innate, tyrannical nature deep in their bones. Long Chen’s attack had instead provoked its violent nature, and it didn’t even care about the blood flowing down its head as it angrily charged at Long Chen again.

Long Chen rolled on the ground again, dodging its wild charge. At the same time, he also sent out a kick that heavily landed on its abdomen.

That Cliff Leopard was sent tumbling through the air, but its skin and flesh were tough. Long Chen’s kick hadn’t caused any wounds.

As soon as it stabilized itself, it once more charged at Long Chen. Long Chen was extremely anxious inside. If he had a sword, he would definitely be able to kill it.

However, that broadsword had been sent flying thirty meters away. Such a distance was essentially right beside him during ordinary times, but now he was in a tangle with the Cliff Leopard. Adding on the blood loss, his body was extremely weak. That thirty meters distance was simply untraversable for him.

His body was exceptionally weak, and his reactions were not as sharp as normal. He once more dodged the Cliff Leopard, but its sharp claws managed to cut across his stomach lightly, causing more blood to flow.

Long Chen once more kicked it, sending it flying. But after that kick, Long Chen’s eyes darkened, and he was unable to see anything more.

He sighed inside. He had already lost too much blood. He was actually on the verge of losing consciousness. “Who would have thought that I, Long Chen, would die here at the hands of a wild animal...”

In that darkness, he could sense its bloody mouth. He was about to be swallowed into its stomach.

Plop.

He heard something, and then he felt his throat warm up as if some liquid was being poured into his throat.

He then heard some extremely distant sounds. Those sounds seemed human, one sounding like a woman. Then, he sunk into complete and endless darkness.

Within that darkness, Long Chen felt as if his body was floating. It felt like he was both rising and falling at the same time. He was completely trapped within that darkness.

“You must awaken. You have far too many missions that are awaiting for you to finish.

“You must become stronger. You have far too many enemies waiting for you to slaughter.

“Your destiny is to overturn heaven and earth. All gods and devils can only crawl under your foot. Long Chen, quickly awaken.”

Within that endless darkness, Long Chen could hear a voice repeatedly speaking. That was a call that came from the deepest depths of his soul.

Long Chen heard it and wanted to reply. However, he was unable to open his mouth. He wanted to open his eyes, but he was completely powerless.

That voice didn’t seem to be of this world. Could it be that it was part of the past or future? He was unable to touch it.

Once Long Chen memorized those three lines, he completely lost any sense of himself. Sinking into complete unconsciousness, he extremely faintly felt a pair of hands gently rubbing his face, a gentleness that felt like that of a mother.

…

The fourth prince’s expression was exceedingly ugly. Marquis Ying was lying on a bed, his body completely black. He couldn’t believe his own eyes.

A Tendon Transformation expert had gone out to kill a Qi Condensation ant only to end up in such a state. Who would possibly believe such a thing?

When he had heard his subordinates’ report that Marquis Ying had been heavily injured, he had first thought that Marquis Ying had met some sort of powerful Magical Beast.

But looking at Marquis Ying’s current half-dead state, a youthful face appeared in his mind.

He didn’t know why, but when he thought of that face, he immediately became panicked. The most important part of his plan had failed.

Although he had never underestimated Long Chen, he had never expected that he would be able to escape from Marquis Ying and even force Marquis Ying into such a sorry state.

“I was overconfident.” Marquis Ying was ashamed. A grand Tendon Transformation expert had almost lost his life in trying to kill someone at Qi Condensation. That was definitely a disgrace.

The fourth prince shook his head. “I know your character. You wouldn’t carelessly be overconfident against someone and lose like this. It can only be said that we both underestimated Long Chen. I’m also at fault.”

It went without saying that the fourth prince was exceptionally talented at manipulating people. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to win over apex experts like Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu.

Just that one sentence from him completely excused Marquis Ying’s failure and let him feel extremely comfortable inside.

Since the matter had already occurred, getting angry would be completely useless. In fact, it would further anger Marquis Ying.

In any case, looking at Marquis Ying’s wounds, he had definitely not been too careless. He had only called himself overconfident to find an excuse for himself.

Thinking of that, the fourth prince felt a burst of panic overcome him. Thinking of Long Chen’s decisive and swift nature, his expression became increasingly ugly.

But then thinking of the white-robed man who was his support, he relaxed a bit. Although Long Chen had run off, it didn’t change his plans that much.

He rubbed the photographic jade in his hand. Inside it was a complete recording of Long Chen and Wilde killing Xia Changfeng. With this, he would still be able to go forward with his plan.

Long Chen’s escape was definitely worrisome, but he didn’t have any way to handle him at this point. He turned to Marquis Ying. “You can recover at ease. I’ll get grandmaster Wei Cang to personally come to heal your wounds tomorrow. You’ll be able to completely recover very quickly.”

“Many thanks, prince.” Marquis Ying hastily thanked him. That poison might be temporarily suppressed by him, but he was unable to dispel it. Long Chen’s poison pill was just too terrifying.

They had asked for help from the alchemist guild and grandmaster Yun Qi had also come. But after looking at Marquis Ying’s wounds, grandmaster Yun Qi had only coldly stated that he was powerless to heal him.

Marquis Ying had immediately understood that grandmaster Yun Qi had realized some clues from his body and so he had refused to save him.

Hearing that Wei Cang would come relieved Marquis Ying greatly. Wei Cang would definitely be able to save him.

The fourth prince went back to his room and began to pace around. After a while, he raised his brush and wrote a short missive, handing it to a guard.

Looking at the darkness that was descending on the sky, the fourth prince sighed. Although Long Chen had escaped, they still had to continue with the plan.