2875 Forced to Retreat

"Lou Xiyue, aren't you going to hurry up and help me?" Meng Dong yelled. His situation was far too miserable at this moment. Not only had he lost an arm, but there was even a gaping hole in his chest. In fact, this hole was almost in the position of his heart.

However, there was nothing he could do about this. Right now, Ling Han's battle prowess was truly at the epitome of the Fourth Tier. Without a battle prowess at the Fifth Tier, it would simply be impossible to suppress him.

Only at this moment did Lou Xiyue's expression become serious. She didn't say another word, instead charging over in a free and elegant manner as if she were walking on clouds.

Boom!

She unleashed a palm strike that carried with it a devastating might, causing everyone to suddenly realize that she was also terrifyingly powerful.

She was also at the early stage of the Third Tier, yet her battle prowess had already soared to the peak stage of the Fourth Tier. She was no weaker than Meng Dong.

Meng Dong naturally wouldn't leave Lou Xiyue to battle Ling Han alone, so he immediately charged forward to help her.

With the two elites combining their power, the might of their attacks went up by another notch.

"Scram!" Ling Han roared. He unleashed a furious punch, backed by his explosive power that had increased over 200-fold. He displayed his invincible might.

Peng! Peng!

Lou Xiyue and Meng Dong were both sent flying.

"Meng Dong, this little brother is far too ferocious, no?" Lou Xiyue said as she spat blood.

"Can't you see? Can't you see that he's mastered over 100 combination seals?" Meng Dong humphed in reply.

"I thought he was trying to scare people with all these seals," Lou Xiyue said.

These two people were truly able to maintain their calm and composure. They were clearly at a disadvantage, yet they still continued to chat and poke fun at each other. It was as if they didn't know the meaning of fear.

Ling Han roared as he continued to press his advantage.

Lou Xiyue and Meng Dong exerted all their strength, yet they were still unable to rival Ling Han. They were sent flying left and right. However, they knew that as long as they could withstand this period of attacks from Ling Han, his battle prowess would definitely start to decline.

The problem was, if they insisted on continuing to struggle like this, there was genuinely a possibility that they might be killed by Ling Han.

Right now, the gulf in battle prowess between them was far too great.

"Let's retreat," Meng Dong said with an exasperated shake of his head.

"I've been waiting for you to say this," Lou Xiyue said. She was extremely resolute as she immediately turned around to flee.

Meanwhile, Meng Dong fled in the opposite direction. That way, Ling Han could only pursue one of them.

Ling Han didn't hesitate for a single second as he shot off after Meng Dong. However, just as he moved, he heard Lou Xiyue's voice travel over, "Little brother, have you forgotten about your two beloved wives?"

Ling Han immediately stopped in his tracks when he heard this.

If Lou Xiyue came charging back while he pursued Meng Dong, would the Empress and Hu Niu be able to defend against her?

That was clearly impossible.

Perhaps the Empress could rival her after advancing to the Third Tier. Now, however, it was simply impossible for her to do so. Meanwhile, Hu Niu's ability to challenge those above her cultivation level was a big fat zero. Thus, there was naturally no way he could rely on her.

Meng Dong's voice also traveled over. "Hahaha, little brother, I hope you're awakened the next time we meet! If you're not, we'll bring even more friends to help you!"

Ling Han humphed in reply. He had only failed to capture Meng Dong because his battle prowess was still too weak to comprehensively suppress him. However, once he advanced to the Third Tier, it would be a completely different story. At that time, he would suppress whoever dared to challenge him, however many of them there were.

The Empress and Hu Niu walked over, both of them extremely astonished.

Prodigies like Meng Dong should have been extremely rare. He was only slightly weaker than Lin Youlian and the others, or perhaps even at the same level as them. However, not only had someone like Lou Xiyue appeared, judging by his words, there were even more prodigies like him.

Moreover, Ling Han was most likely one of them as well. It was just that he hadn't "awakened" yet.

Just where had these two people come from?

"Don't worry about them. As long as we improve our own cultivation, we won't need to be afraid of anyone," Ling Han said, strengthening his resolve. Nothing would obstruct him from climbing to the peak of the cultivation world.

The Empress and Hu Niu both nodded in agreement. They also possessed fearless determination and belief.

The three of them continued to search for veins of ore. If they didn't hurry, the others wouldn't leave anything valuable for them.

If they obtained Heavenly Venerable Seals, they would naturally refine them straight away. Meanwhile, if they obtained Great Herbs, they would divide and use them evenly among themselves. However, Great Herbs were relatively easy to find, while Heavenly Venerable Seals were extremely difficult to unearth. After hundreds of millions of years, they only managed to obtain a meager 36.

Ling Han received 21 of them, and this allowed him to master a total of 139 Heavenly Venerable Seals. Compared to the target of almost 1000, this could only be considered the very beginning. Comparing the other Heavenly Venerates to him, though, most of them had only mastered the seven generic seals.

Anyhow, they managed to obtain quite some Great Herbs, and this allowed the Empress and Hu Niu to advance to the peak stage of the Second Tier and the Third Tier, respectively. However, because it was far too difficult to break through the barrier and ascend to the next major tier, neither of them took another step forward.

Ling Han started to catch up to them, reaching the peak stage of the Second Tier at an extremely slow speed.

The Empress and Hu Niu were unable to ascend because their cultivation talent wasn't genuinely top-notch. It was because the Empress had fused together with the power of 100 dimensions while advancing to the First Tier that she had gained the momentum to reach the Second Tier without much resistance. However, with this momentum exhausted, it would be extremely difficult for her to ascend to the Third Tier.

As for Hu Niu, she didn't have many desires or wishes. However, this allowed her mind to become empty and pure, thereby making it easier for her to interact with the fundamental particles. It was because of this that her cultivation was ahead of the Empress'. However, the more fundamental particles inside one's body, the more they would repel other particles. Thus, attempting to ascend wouldn't be an easy matter.

This dimension was already cleaned up fairly well. Ling Han asked around a bit and found Zhou Heng and the others--right now, those from the outside dimensions had mostly arrived here already. Thus, Zhou Heng and the others had naturally set up a base here as well.

"Ling Han, Yue Borong has exited seclusion, and is currently looking for you. Be careful," Lin Xiaoyang immediately warned when he saw Ling Han.

Yue Borong was Yue Chengwang's father, and he was a Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerate. Ling Han had killed Yue Chengwang, so it wasn't surprising that Yue Borong wanted to hunt him down and kill him. It was merely unexpected that he had left it till so late.

"He was cultivating in seclusion before, so his strength has most likely gone up another notch," Zhou Heng said.

"How strong?" Ling Han asked in curiosity.

Chu Hao chuckled, and replied, "Probably no weaker than Senior Brother Zhou."

Zhou Heng rolled his eyes in reply, saying, "Your strength is similar to mine, so him being no weaker than me also means that he's no weaker than you. That being the case, why reply in such a roundabout manner?"

Lin Xiaoyang shook his head, and said, "Both of you started later yet have pulled ahead. Meanwhile, only my strength is stagnant and not improving a single bit. I've already been left behind by you two."

Chu Hao and Zhou Heng both consoled their senior brother. In fact, being able to reach the Sixth Tier already proved that he was a prodigy for the ages. After all, the number of Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates could be counted on two hands.

Ling Han asked the three Sixth Tier elites about why the two realms had overlapped.

"I don't know," Zhou Heng immediately replied with a shake of his head. "The three of us have discussed all kinds of possibilities. However, reality has proved that none of our speculations are correct."

"What about that ancient corpse?" Ling Han asked. This was also a big mystery. A Seventh Tier elite had actually died. This was far too unfathomable.

"That person was indeed a Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerate," Lin Xiaoyang said. "My father and the other Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates found some time to investigate the corpse, and they think that this Heavenly Venerate died due to an extremely powerful impact."

Ling Han was astonished. "Shouldn't Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates be indestructible and undying? Who can kill Seventh Tier elites? Was he killed by several other Seventh Tier elites?"

Zhou Heng shook his head. "This impact was far more powerful than what Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates can unleash. To say nothing of a few Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates, even a team of 100 Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates will be unable to unleash such a powerful strike."

Ling Han found this even more mysterious. Even 100 Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates would be unable to do this, so perhaps a group of several hundred Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerates had attacked in unison? However, if there had truly been so many Seventh Tier Heavenly at that time, then why had they all disappeared now?