802 City States
Escaping from the small forest that was isolated in the middle of the endless plain, Chun Hua made use of the fact that the concealment talisman would be able to keep her hidden to run out in the open. Not that the small forest would have been much use for her to stay hidden when faced with the powerful divine sense of a Domain Lord Realm Expert.
"I should almost have reached one of the small city states located around the edges of this plain..." Muttering this to herself as she continued using all the energy she could muster; Chun Hua could not help remembering one of the many maps she had gone through before she had left her home following a disaster that had severely weakened the strength of her family.
Back then, she wanted nothing more than to grow stronger and have the ability to help her family...
Shaking her head as some memories of the past appeared, Chun Hua focused her attention back on running in the direction that the closest city state bordering the endless plains should be located. Sincerely praying that she would be able to reach it before the concealment talismans she had activated to hide herself from the Domain Lord Realm Expert pursing her ran out...
"What a large city..."
After traveling for a few hours, a massive city slowly appeared in the distance, causing Chun Hua to open her mouth wide, marvelling at the sheer scale of the city that had appeared in the horizon.
Although city states were normally not viewed as powerful due to most of them being controlled by someone in the Domain Lord Realm, this, by no way meant that they were small and insignificant.
On the other hand, due to the strongest person in a city state being someone who had reached the Domain Lord Realm, these city states would often become a gathering spot for wandering Domain Lord Realm Experts not afflicted with any power.
Giving them a safe place to trade with each other without the fear of accidently having a Soul Ascension Realm Expert take an interest to what they were trading... Or worse, end up offending a Soul Ascension Realm Expert!
The large number of Domain Lord Realm Experts present inside one of these city states, was also the main reason why Chun Hua felt that she would be able to hide herself there.
Not only would the large number of Domain Lord Realm Experts serve as a way to limit her pursuer's ability to search for her, but the large number of people inside the city itself would also make it impossible to find her exact location. After all, at this point in time, all her pursuer had to go with was the small bits of remnant energy she that was left lingering in the air due to her movement technique.
On the endless plain where there were close to no other forms of life around, this might be a good way to track someone... But inside a large city filled with millions of people, there was no way to use this method to track her down. Even if the other party was a Domain Lord Realm Expert!
Of course this was not considering whether or not a member of the Black Lotus Sect had some other unique method to track her down.
If that was truly the case, there would be no way for her to escape from her pursuer...
"Hm? This is... That person is moving again- Ah! My concealment talisman is no longer working!?"
Suddenly noticing that the last concealment talisman on her had run out, Chun Hua could not help panicking as she looked towards the massive city in the distance.
Even if she would be able to escape her pursuer, that was only if she managed to enter the city before that person had time to catch up with her!
Swish-!
Understanding that her chances of survival was close to zero if that person managed to catch up with her, Chun Hua used every way possible to increase her speed as she dashed towards the city in the distance. Even going so far as to take out a special artifact that would allow her to increase her speed beyond her current realm by sacrificing a large part of her lifespan.
Of course, she would only use such a dangerous artifact when her pursuer was about to catch up with her. After all, the last thing she wanted, was to throw away hundreds of years of her lifespan for no reason...
...
At the same time Chun Hua was using all her strength to rush towards the nearest city state where she would have a far better chance to hide from her pursuer, the person in question was floating in the air above the small forest where Chun Hua had activated the concealment talismans with a confused expression on his face.
"How odd... It's already been a long time since the concealment talisman was activated. Normally, a concealment talisman at that level should at most last for around an hour... Maybe that person has more than one...?" Not able to understand why Chun Hua had not shown up, the person from the Shadow Lotus Sect could not help feeling nervous as he constantly scanned his surroundings for any signs of Chun Hua.
No matter what, he understood very well that there was no way a random person would have multiple concealment talismans capable of hiding from someone in the later stages of the Domain Lord Realm like himself.
Even if the other party had been lucky an stumbled upon a hidden realm to get them, as a member of the Black Lotus Sect, he understood just how unlikely something like this was.
The most obvious reason for why someone would carry so many high level concealment talismans, was that the other party had some kind of powerful backing!
"But where is this person from...? In this region, the strongest powers should only be the differ city states. The only problem is, these city states power is at most in the Domain Lord Realm- Hm?" Just as the person from the Black Lotus Sect was trying to figure out what power Chun Hua was from, both his eyes narrowed sharply as he looked towards a specific direction.
"Looks like the concealment talisman finally ran out of power...!"
Knowing that there was not much time for him to waste, as he could feel the remnant energy left behind by Chun Hua approaching a massive city located at the border of the endless plains, the Domain Lord Realm Expert from the Black Lotus Sect directly used his movement technique-
Swish-!
Turning into a shadow that streaked across the empty yet peaceful plains below. Startling the few animals and demon beasts that roamed around the endless plains.
Given the speed of a Domain Lord Realm Expert, it only took him a short time before the city Chun Hua was rushing towards became visible... And along with it, Chun Hua herself!
"Hehe, looks like I managed to catch up in time-"
Boom-!
Just as the person from the Black Lotus Sect was about to use his domain to grab hold of Chun Hua not too far away from him, a loud explosion could be heard before a blood red light engulfed Chun Hua's figure and carried her towards the city at a speed not inferior to someone in the Domain Lord Realm.
Hm? A sacrificial escape artifact? For someone in the Nascent Soul Realm to use something like this... Even a single second should drain 10 years off that person's lifespan... But do you really think this is enough to escape from me?
Narrowing both his eyes as he glanced towards the blood red ball of light escaping towards the city in the distance, a cold smirk appeared on the face of the man from the Shadow Lotus Sect.
Although the current speed of Chun Hua was indeed comparable to someone in the Domain Lord Realm. Even being faster than someone who had just reached the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, it was far from enough to escape from him!
Swish-!
Not wasting a single second, the man from Black Lotus Sect once again turned into a shadow as he dashed towards Chun Hua engulfed by the blood red light from the sacrificial artifact she had just used.
...
Allowing the artifact floating gently in front of her devour her life essence in exchange for carrying her towards the city at a speed far surpassing what she had before, Chun Hua could not help looking back towards the eerie shadow that was approaching her from behind with a look of shock and fear plastered all over her face.
"How... How is he so fast!?"
Different from what she had expected, the shadow seemed to be far faster than what she had expected. Even worse, it was constantly increasing in speed as it got closer and closer to her!
