CLANG!

Chu Lingguang activated his Divine Image power, revealing his Qi Phase Scale Armor. With a backward thrust of his Long Spear, he enveloped the three incoming arrow silhouettes in his power, blocking them all once again.

’He’s so strong. His Qi Power is greater than mine.’

The web of Chu Lingguang’s thumb went numb. Bamo was a Qi Sea Great Success expert who also wielded the power of a Divine Image and had unlocked the fifth layer of his Dharma Aspect.

Combined with their overwhelming numbers, if he were to get surrounded, his death would be certain.

He knew that the Turkic tribes practiced the Divine Beast Breathing Method and drank Beast Blood daily. Not only was their Qi Power far greater than that of a Great Yuan Warrior, but their bloodlines were also more formidable, giving them a distinct advantage in awakening a Dragon Elephant and unlocking a Dharma Aspect.

However, this method of cultivation was excessively bloody. Although it led to rapid progress, it had many drawbacks, such as easily causing Bloodline Power to stagnate. Once a practitioner hit a bottleneck, it was difficult to break through without a special Skill.

Both Samba and the man before him, Bamo, were this type of Practitioner.

Chu Lingguang could only avoid a direct confrontation for now, using the jungle’s terrain to try and shake them off his trail.

SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Seeing Chu Lingguang enter the jungle, Bamo grew anxious. He ordered all his men to draw their bows, blanketing Chu Lingguang in a rain of arrows.

They were brave and skilled fighters whose Riding Skill and Archery far surpassed those of the Grand Yuan Martial Artists. As Nomadic Tribes, they had a natural advantage in these areas.

Fortunately, while achieving the Hundred-step Piercing Willow technique in Archery was easy, reaching the Continuous Pearls realm still required a certain level of comprehension.

Bamo’s Archery had reached the level of Three-Star Linked Pearls. Among his subordinates, only three or four could manage Double-Star Linked Pearls, while the rest were basically at the Hundred-step Piercing Willow level.

But this was still terrifying.

After all, in the South City Martial Arts Examination, Chu Lingguang had achieved a Grade A+ Upper Grade score with just his Double-Star Linked Pearls Archery. Bamo had only brought twenty men, yet three or four of them could reach the same level. This showed just how dominant the Turkic Kingdom was in the field of Archery.

No wonder the Great Yuan’s Martial Arts Examination listed Archery and Riding Skill as mandatory subjects.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

The arrow-rain howled.

Relying on the advantage of his Spiritual Sense and the cover of the jungle, Chu Lingguang continuously dodged the arrow shafts Bamo and his men shot at him.

ROAR!

But just then, a deafening tiger’s roar echoed from the depths of the jungle. This roar seemed to carry a suppressive Potential Energy.

The Little Red Horse was so frightened it trembled all over, not daring to run any further. The falcon circling overhead also climbed higher into the sky.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just Chu Lingguang’s Little Red Horse that was scared stiff. The horses of Bamo’s party were also trembling uncontrollably, trying to flee out of the jungle.

"Hyah!"

Someone cracked their whip, striking their horse’s flank, but the warhorse beneath them didn’t dare take a single step forward.

The Little Red Horse had previously been terrified by the Black Panther King on Cyan Cloud Mountain. However, it had also witnessed its master slay the beast, so it still had some confidence in Chu Lingguang. At this moment, it wasn’t so frightened that it couldn’t move at all.

Still, it instinctively shied away from the direction of the roar, trying to go around that area.

Chu Lingguang gently stroked the Little Red Horse’s mane, his own face filled with apprehension. He didn’t dare to charge forward recklessly. He glanced behind him; Bamo’s party’s horses were also terrified. This was a perfect chance to increase the distance between them.

However, the roar had come from the direction of Great Yuan. If Chu Lingguang wanted to return to Great Yuan, he either had to fight his way out of the jungle and run for the National Border on the plains...

...or he had to venture deeper into the Hundred Thousand Mountains and take a detour into Great Yuan Territory.

But the Hundred Thousand Mountains formed a natural, perilous barrier between the Turkic Kingdom and Great Yuan. Demon Beasts roamed freely here, and there were no clear border demarcations. At the very least, the area he was currently in was closer to the Turkic side.

Ultimately, the tiger’s roar allowed Chu Lingguang to put some distance between himself and Bamo’s group, and he gradually vanished from their sight.

Bamo was furious.

He could only order the eagle to follow Chu Lingguang while he had his men lead their horses on a detour.

’I have to shake off that eagle overhead first, or find a way to shoot it down.’

Chu Lingguang had also noticed the eagle.

Fortunately, there was a dense forest ahead. He rode the Little Red Horse into it and immediately felt a distinct chill in the air.

It wasn’t the kind of coolness from being perpetually shaded from the sun with poor air circulation, but rather a bone-piercing cold.

NEIGH!

After stepping into the woods, the Little Red Horse became anxious and restless, wanting to turn back and leave.

Chu Lingguang’s Spiritual Sense covered a fifty-meter radius around him, but he didn’t detect any unusual auras. Still, the chill wouldn’t dissipate, and he too began to feel uneasy.

The more incomprehensible something was, the more terrifying it became.

Especially since this was the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

"Let’s go!"

Chu Lingguang didn’t dare to linger, much less venture deeper inside. He saw that the leaves concealed the sky above. Although the eagle was still circling over the forest, it could no longer pinpoint his exact location.

"Quick, he’s in there!"

The voices of his pursuers came from behind.

Just as Chu Lingguang was hesitating about whether to run deeper into the forest, he suddenly spotted a small hill made of house-sized boulders piled together, about two hundred meters to his front-left.

He looked toward the depths of the woods. The chill was growing stronger, and the Little Red Horse was still desperate to leave.

Sometimes, an animal’s instinct was far more potent than a human’s Spiritual Sense, especially for a spiritual creature like the Little Red Horse.

Chu Lingguang didn’t dare risk his life rashly. He decided to hide behind the small, rocky hill for the time being, wait for Bamo and his men to enter, and then use the hill as cover to lose them.