Chapter 297: A Trap
It was a team of four Hunters.
Three of them were at the middle Heaven stage, and one was at the early Heaven stage, the same as Nie Tian.
In Nie Tian’s eyes, their team were so weak that they wouldn’t stand a chance against him.
It had been a long time since he had encountered a Hunter team as weak as them.
Nie Tian was somewhat confused that with their puny battle prowess, they actually dared to roam about among the hills.
Therefore, he moved out without any hesitation.
HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!
He began to summon power and form spiritual energy balls in his hand as he secretly approached the team of four, hoping he could finish them off as soon as possible.
He even didn’t intend to practice his battle skills on them, since they were probably too weak to take a single blow.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three spiritual energy balls shot out simultaneously and exploded in midair before reaching the four of them.
Multicolored light spots that contained different types of toxins and impurities sputtered in every direction, enveloping the team like a glorious rain.
“Ah!! It’s Hua Tian!”
“He’s attacking us!”
The entire team screamed as they madly summoned their spiritual power to power their protective light shields, so that they could resist the corrosion of the impurities.
Cracking sounds echoed out from their light shields, as it seemed that the protective shields they had formed with their own spiritual power were too weak facing such strong corrosion. Moments later, fissures began to appear on them.
At that moment, Nie Tian appeared in front of them, enveloped by his chaotic magnetic field. He continued to create more spiritual energy balls and use them to bombard his enemies. “You lot don’t fear death, huh?”
After the series of spiritual energy balls exploded, the countless multicolored light spots completely engulfed the team of four Hunters.
The light shields of the two middle Heaven stage Hunters were the first to fail. The moment they shattered, the two Hunters’ fleshy bodies were exposed to a storm of corrosive toxins.
The two of them dropped to the ground and screamed miserably, their eyes filled with rage and confusion.
However, strangely, from the beginning till the end, they glared at the early Heaven stage man on their team instead of Nie Tian.
The rage in their eyes made it clear that they were waiting for him to save them, but he didn’t do a thing, and watched them die.
“Xiao Lin!” The last standing middle Heaven stage Hunter shouted, his eyes also fixed on the early Heaven stage man on their team. “What the hell are you doing?”
As their enemy, Nie Tian was immediately confused by the abnormal scene.
It obviously didn’t make sense that all three middle Heaven stage hunters were enraged by their own teammate instead of Nie Tian.
At that moment, Nie Tian subconsciously began to measure up the man they referred to as Xiao Lin, who was also at the early Heaven stage.
The man looked rather unimpressive and mediocre. If he was among a crowd of people, he would be easily ignored.
Considering that he had a commoner’s look, an unimpressive cultivation base, and a mediocre physique, what made his three teammates so angry at him?
FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!
The spiritual power shield around Xiao Lin was like giant, upside-down bowl over his head.
It was constantly twisting and flickering due to the strong corrosion of the bright spots, as if it would burst at any moment.
However, Nie Tian observed for a while, and discovered that even though it looked like a candle in the wind, which could go out at any moment, it actually was very resilient.
“Nothing,” The man named Xiao Lin said indifferently with an expressionless face. “You’re nothing but expendable bait. You’ve already lost your value now that Hua Tian has shown himself.”
“You!” The man blurted, fuming with rage.
Xiao Lin shook his head and said no more. He lifted his left arm, which was entwined by a few bands of spiritual power, and shot the bands that resembled snakes of light toward the Hunter next to him.
BANG!!!
The middle Heaven stage Hunter’s shield, which he had been struggling to keep intact, instantly burst, and the multicolored impurities flooded him in the next moment.
Before he died, he let out frenzied roars, “You’ll burn in hell, Xiao Lin! Hua Tian! He’s been brought here by the Fang to kill you. Run, quickly!”
“You talk too much!” Xiao Lin twitched his mouth as three beams of bright light shot out of his fingertips.
PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!
Three bloody holes appeared in the man’s chest, and he couldn’t say another word or make another sound.
However, Nie Tian had already sensed the danger.
Without any thought, he condensed another spiritual energy ball and cast it towards Xiao Lin, before he dashed away at the fastest speed possible.
“The woman from the Fang paid a big price for me to catch you,” Xiao Lin said with a frown. “Truth be told, I’m not that fond of the Fang. However, you’re the Blood Skull’s guest elder, and very close to that little bastard, Cai Yuan. That being the case, I can’t really say no to their offer.”
Nie Tian didn’t listen to any of this and continued to run away at full speed.
By the time Xiao Lin finished talking, Nie Tian was already several hundred meters away from him and still increasing the distance between the two of them.
However, Xiao Lin didn’t seem concerned at all.
With an expressionless face, he took a deep breath, and his body suddenly expanded like an inflated balloon. In the next moment, he shrank back to his original size.
Just like that, his body expanded and shrank. With every repetition, the intensity of the life aura Xiao Lin released to his surroundings grew by a great extent.
Via the Heaven Eye Nie Tian had left in Xiao Lin’s location, he could clearly feel Xiao Lin’s cultivation base rise from the early Heaven stage to the middle Greater Heaven stage after only a few repetitions.
While running, Nie Tian’s face grew grim, as he was struck by the feeling that he had just made a rookie mistake. “Dammit! He’s actually a middle Greater Heaven stage expert!”
He didn’t know what kind of strange incantation Xiao Lin practiced that somehow even clouded his Heaven Eye’s judgment, and made him believe that he was only at the early Heaven stage.
SHEW!
Xiao Lin, who had shown his true colors, let out a cold harrumph and shot out of the mist of multicolored impurities like a bolt of lightning.
In the blink of an eye, the distance between him and Nie Tian was shortened.
Xiao Lin had his eyes fixed on Nie Tian while a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he was a cat and Nie Tian was a mouse. Then, he licked his lips with a brutal look in his eyes.
Xiao Lin’s disdainful voice rang out from behind Nie Tian, “You shouldn’t have gotten so close to the Blood Skull, brat. You have only yourself to blame.” He was still hundreds of meters away from Nie Tian, but it sounded as if he was whispering right into his ears.
Xiao Lin’s piercing, eagle-like gaze seemed to have locked on to Nie Tian. Wherever Nie Tian went, he wouldn’t be able to escape his sight.
As he chased after Nie Tian, he unleashed a strange murderous aura, which tailed Nie Tian like an invisible thread, keeping a close watch on every move he made.
Nie Tian constantly changed his direction as he tried to take advantage of the hilly terrain and lose Xiao Lin.
However, not only did he fail to lose him, but the distance between them was even further shortened.
Seeing that Xiao Lin was now only a couple of hundred meters behind him, Nie Tian had a grim expression on his face as he began to summon the different types of power from his spiritual sea.
As his spiritual power poured madly into his legs, he traveled like a bird attempting to fly. He could sail through the air for a short while before the tip of his foot gently tapped on the ground, propelling him to shoot forward like an arrow leaving a bowstring.
He was already doing everything within his power to run away from Xiao Lin. However, Xiao Lin’s low laughter continued to ring in his ears, along with his taunting, “You can’t get away, brat. I admit that you’re much faster and stronger than other early Heaven stage kids, but so what?
“You haven’t studied the art of movement. You don’t have any profound movement skills. However, even if you knew any, it wouldn’t change the result. Your cultivation base is still far lower than mine.
“In a moment, I’ll catch you and give you to the woman from the Fang.
“She has already spread the word that once she catches you, she’ll let you have a taste of all the cruelest punishments there are.”
Xiao Lin never stopped provoking Nie Tian with his words. As he shortened the distance between him and Nie Tian, he attempted to get under Nie Tian’s skin and break his fighting spirit so that he wouldn’t be able to display his full strength in the real fight.
If he succeeded, he would be able to finish the job more speedily and effortlessly.
“Profound movement skills?” After hearing Xiao Lin’s words, Nie Tian suddenly remembered the Starshift magic he had been studying during the past few days.
He had already learned the method and principles by heart. However, because he had been expanding his lake of stardew, he hadn’t had a chance to practice it yet.
Now, Xiao Lin was gradually gaining on him. If he was caught by this middle Greater Heaven stage expert, his chances of returning to Shatter City alive would become very slim.
Furthermore, he had the feeling that Song Li and her subordinate had already received word of their encounter, and were either traveling towards him or setting up blockade in the vicinity.
“I have to lose this man as soon as possible! I can’t afford to wait any longer. I need to use Starshift even though I haven’t mastered it. It’s my only hope to turn the situation around!”
After Nie Tian secretly made up his mind, he began to summon star power from his vortex of star power as he ran at full speed.