Bab 139: Chapter 2473 The World Splits Open
"GET BACK HERE!"
Duke Wei's voice boomed so loud that it caused the leaves of nearby trees to fall.
"Ok good news-bad news," Chen Hong said in between breaths, "Good news is that I got a confirmation from a nearby squadron about 1 hour away from here, which means we don't have to travel for 2 whole days."
Jue Ru beamed with joy at the news, "That's great news, but what's the bad news?"
Chen Hong had a complicated expression on his face, "Bad news is that we're running in the opposite direction from their position, which means there's no way they can catch up to us before Duke Wei."
Jue Ru's face shifted from joy to depression.
"T-then doesn't that mean we'll forever be running away from the help until we reach the fort which is 2 days from here?"
Chen Hong nodded, "It would appear that way, but good news again, I have a plan!"
Jue Ru looked up cautiously, afraid to have her hope ripped out once again, "What's the plan?"
"Simple, we run to the fort."
Jue Ru felt dizzy as if the whole world was playing a cruel joke on her, "D-didn't you say the fort was 2 days away?"
"Mhm."
"And we have to outrun Duke Wei while you carry me for 2 whole days?"
Chen Hong nodded again.
Jue Ru's face turned from healthy pink to ashy white in the span of a few seconds.
"Whoa! Are you okay you look sick, don't be nervous like I said I have a plan!"
Hearing those words and thinking of the plan made her condition worse.
"Hey! I resent your lack of trust, don't worry the thing I was most afraid of was being attacked by multiple people, so I sent the squad that was near us to intercept the reinforcements Duke Wei called for and since its just Duke Wei…well he can't attack me and I can't attack him, so all we have to do is outrun him!" Chen Hong laughed to himself: "It's foolproof!"
Jue Ru showed an expression of disbelief, "Foolproof? Have you forgotten the fact that Duke Wei is an Immortal! His Primeveial Essence is infinite! He can run at the fastest speed that mortal could run for years and not run out of Essence!"
Chen Hong tapped his head with his right finger, "Ah but still, we only need to get near to our end destination, as I have also contacted them for support and they have sent a small squad towards our position, so we should meet each other at the halfway point which would take a day at most!"
Chen Hong's sheer confidence in himself was alarming to Jue Ru, but it was also part of his charm.
"Where does he get all this confidence from?" she wondered.
Chen Hong had a carefree expression on his face, he was still serious but he wasn't paralyzed with fear or an overthinker.
He was headstrong but confident, brave and reckless, less wise than he thought and more foolish than he believed, in short; he was young.
And just like that the two of them trekked through the forest while being pursued by Duke Wei, always one step ahead.
There were a few close calls, with Duke Wei almost successfully grabbing hold of them, but just as he was a few centimetres away, the unexpected happened, as his hands were within grasp suddenly Jue Ru took out a few balls of Ice and threw them at the Duke.
Before he could react they exploded in his face!
Ice Explosion Gu! Duke Wei recognised Gu because he gave it to her!
This Gu allowed the user to detonate any Ice they created, it was just a mortal Gu but it was an extremely useful and versatile Gu but also an incredibly rare Gu because it belonged to Ice Path.
Ice Path had not been turned into an actual mainstream Path, and wouldn't be for at least another 2 million years!
But that didn't mean it didn't exist or that there was no Ice Path Gu, it was just that the world had yet to figure out how to truly and properly manipulate and create Ice Path related Gu and materials. [1]
The sudden explosion caught Duke Wei off guard, giving Chen Hong the chance to take advantage of his lapse in awareness, creating a creator on his next step, which the slightly stunned Duke Wei did not see and fall in.
This caused him to not only lose the pair but to grow incredibly irritated and embarrassed.
"How can I be losing to a mere mortal!" he roared in his heart, convinced that if he didn't have these stupid restrictions he would have been able to kill them both!
Further along their journey the pair, Chen Hong and Jue Ru, managed to outwit and trick Duke Wei time and time again.
They even purposefully led him down a path that contained many Beasts and one Desolate Beast!
It was dangerous, risky, and downright…fun!
Jue Ru had never experienced such joys in her life, the thrill of giving it to her all in the strength of mind, body and spirit made her feel the joys of life.
She had resolved to get stronger after this ordeal so that she can truly experience more of this joy.
"I never knew how exhilarating and thrilling life could be," Jue Ru's eyes sparkled, every time they thought of a plan that sounded like it was destined to fail yet with careful execution and luck, managed to turn the tides in their favour.
Their last stunt of leading Duke Wei through the Desolate Beast's territory had won them quite a lead, they had run for nearly a whole day straight.
The final bit was just in sight, a vast open plain, with minor hills, from a far distance Chen Hong could make out several figures.
"There they are!" he pointed, though Jue Ru needed to squint really hard to see anything, "We made it HAHAHA."
Jue Ru gave a smile of disbelief and pure joy, "I can't believe it we actually managed to make it away from Duke Wei as a bunce of Gu Masters!"
"Hehe, told ya," Chen Hong rubbed his nose, "Let's not get complacent and hur…"
But before he could finish his sentence, a shadow was cast over their heads as a figure landed with a heavy thud in front of them.
The figure was covered in dirt and had a few cuts across his body, his entire visage seemed weary and tired, but his eyes reflected cold, determined, killing intent.
"Caught. You."
It was none other than Duke Wei.
Jue Ru's eyes went from sparkling with hope and joy to instant dismay, "H-how did you catch up? We saw the desolate beast attack you."
Their plan banked on the fact that the Desolate Beast would prioritise the Rank 6 Duke Wei over the Rank 5 and 2 Chen Hong and Jue Ru, which it did.
There was no way that Duke Wei would be able to kill a Desolate Beast that quickly, even if didn't possess any wild Immortal Gu.
But as soon as the Desolate Beast appeared and released its aura the pair knew possessed not 1 but 2 Wild Gu, though they weren't Immortal they were still Rank 5.
And they were actually a Fire and Lightning Path Gu!
Which when mixed produced an explosion that would have threatened even a Rank 6 if they weren't careful.
While Jue Ru was in a state of panic, Chen Hong was sizing up the Duke.
"Oh? With that ragged breath, torn clothes and scotch and burn marks over you…let me guess you took a blast head on to propel yourself towards us didn't you?"
Duke Wei smirked, "Exactly."
!!!
Jue Ru was deeply shocked, "You took a head-on blast from a Desolate Beast just to catch up with us?"
"Anything for my revenge!" Duke Wei shouted back, "I have nothing to live for so why bother about a few old injuries…in fact…" Duke Wei took out the badge of the Human Army and shattered it before the pair, coughing out a mouth of blood in the process.
"*Blegh* I didn't destroy this earlier because I was underestimating the 2 of you, but these past few hours have thought me that I have to be wary around you two so…" Duke Wei's once incredibly weak aura started gaining momentum once again.
"You!" Chen Hong immediately realized what he was doing, "You would sacrifice your life just to kill us!?"
"YES!" Duke Wei roared with furry.
The party that was advancing towards Jue Ru and Chen Hong also managed to spot them from where they were but as soon as they saw Duke Wei appear they stopped marching and bolted as fast as they could, breaking formation and protocols.
Chen Hong noticed this but he calculated that their fastest person would still take about an hour to reach, and he would be exhausted as well.
As he took up a stance to fight he whispered in Jue Ru's ears, "When the fight begins I want you to run towards them and tell them to flee!"
"No!" Jue Ru immediately refused, "I won't leave you behind."
"There's no time for arguments," before Jue Ru could say anything more, Chen Hong threw his strongest Fireball at Duke Wei and then immediately used his Movement Path Gu on Jue Ru and threw her past Duke Wei.
The smoke from the fireball managed to obstruct Duke Wei enough for Jue Ru to get by but once it cleared and he noticed she wasn't in front but behind he instantly turned to attack, but that was then when Chen Hong pulled out his fire sword and swung at Duke Wei!
Who had to look away to protect his head, after all, he was only a Rank 6 with no Immortal Gu, while he, in theory, couldn't lose to a mortal it was only if he gave his attention, after all a decapitated Immortal would still die.
"Tch, I'll deal with her after I deal with you!" Duke Wei instantly activated a Mortal Killer Move, Stone Gauntlet.
Chen Hong lept to battle once more and was instantly pummeled to the ground!
Even though the gap was only 1 Rank, even though Duke Wei was on a time limit and nearing Death, the gap between an Immortal who had access to Killer Moves, even though Mortal ones and a Gu Master who only had the use of Gu was enormous.
Just the ability to use Mortal Gus with unlimited Primeval Essence made the contest impossible from the get-go.
No tricks or tactics could make up for the sheer difference in strength.
Their repeated small victories had made Chen Hong almost forget that fact, but his broken ribs reminded him that he stood no chance.
As Duke Wei leaned over Chen Hong's body to take the final blow.
"End of the road kid, say hi to Wei Ling for me though I suppose you can't since you're going to hell!"
Duke Wei drew his fist back as Chen Hong closed his eyes to brace for death, "Don't worry Jue Ru will join you soon."
But before his fists could slam down, the sky suddenly cracked open, and pink light flooded in.
"What!?" Duke Wei, Chen Hong, Jue Ru and all the inhabitants of the world were stunned, they were all drawn to look up at that crack in the sky, no they were forced to!
"Oh, what do we have here? Giant Sun is that you?"
[1] There isn't a good way for me to bring in Ice Path in the Remote Antiquity Period but I felt it was still viable because the 10 Extreme Physiques all had these Paths Dao Marks, before their respective Paths were 'mainstream'. So even though the Path hasn't been formed there are still Gu and Gu Masters related to that Path.
I feel to tackle Paths and Gu that haven't been 'made' yet, not very sure why the OG had that kind of backstory for the paths maybe it's just a wording issue.
Maybe he meant that the Paths exist but are not widespread or that Humans can only find these Gu but not make them yet and that when he says a Path has been made it means that people can make quite a few Gus of that path, but we'll never know so I've taken some creative liberties.
I think I should mention again that while I try to be as faithful to the source material, I take a lot of creative liberties with it as there is no way to know what exactly the OG was planning, certain plot devices and foreshadowing I've chosen to drop as they don't fit with my ending, which is most unfortunate cos that means they won't ever see an ending but what can you do I'm just a normal person trying to finish and epic work.
I say this because I am reallllllly tempted to drop that idiot Wang Xiao Er, I know he hasn't been mentioned at all in over 100 chapters, because I don't know how, but I can't because he possesses Self Gu! Very frustrating!
But as we draw closer and closer to a conclusion, idk in like another 50-100 chapters I think I'll have just 1 or 2 more arcs before the ending, cos the ending counts as an arc so maybe 100 chapters or more.
I already know how I want the ending to be, but I'm still a little iffy on the details of how to get there.
Sorry for the rant :)
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
zulbucks
zulbucks Damn we really are drawing near the end of I think the longest arc I've ever done, just another 1 or 2 more arcs and that's it.
I might be tooting the horn a bit early but I am really happy with all the support my work has been getting.
I originally started this FF with 0 intentions of going for this long, but as the story kept developing, ideas kept coming, and my writing got better.
The pace and flow become close to an actual story, can you believe that?
So as we hit a milestone of about 140 chapters, I just wanted to thank everyone that has taken the chance on me.
You've given the confidence and hope to one day tell my own story, in my own world.
I will take the lessons of this with me to bigger and better adventures :)
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
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