Shooting stars fell.

The rain of fire destroyed the world.

In an instant, the rainy sky was completely lit up.

Flames burst into the rain and entangled with each other. The sword rain was thundering down!

Under the sword rain, the whole factory turned doomsday-like yellow. Fire mingled with sword intent and rain, and then burst across the sky!

The humid environment suddenly became extremely dry.

The water on the ground evaporated into gas and became a howling wind. The wind blew and turned into twisted air. With Li Tianlan at the center, the crowd around him became completely chaotic.

The wind was twisting and blowing and the ground was lit up by ice.

Just as the ice gleamed, Li Tianlan spoke again, “Stop!”

The fierce wind, the people on the ground, and the rain in the sky.

All stopped suddenly.

Only the initial raindrops mixed with fire and sword intent fell gracefully and swiftly, with an incomparable smell of death.

It all happened in less than a second.

The twisted air turned into sharp blades and spread abruptly. The power of the Stop Formula tore through the ice. The rain of fire in the air fell on the ground and on people’s bodies without any pause.

The blazing heat swept everything.

Raindrops burst open, and flames burst forth with sword intent. Wave after wave of fire rose from the crowd, and the screams of helplessness and despair reverberated through every corner nearby. The crowds struggled wildly, with some being scorched in flames and others being ripped apart by the sword intent. The entire scene was filled with a strong smell of barbecue and burning. Broken limbs and arms wantonly fell in the flames and thick blood was diluted by rain and dried by the fire.

Under the curtain of rain, the blazing fire was burning everything in its vicinity. The air had become extremely dry and black smoke was rising, momentarily blinding everyone.

Li Tianlan’s body shook violently.

After he unleashed his mighty sword intent, few noticed that he had become weaker than ever.

The Eighth Blade, Ninth Blade, and Tenth Blade.

The Stop Formula.

They were the effort he made on the surface.

In fact, he had begun to burn his own potential and directly improved his strength temporarily to the peak of the Fire-flaming Realm or even a half step to the Thunder-shocking Realm.

He displayed four unique skills in a row when he was at the peak of the Fire-flaming Realm. This was arguably his strongest strike in normal conditions nowadays!

When he raised the sword which was transformed from the Human Emperor, the sword intent rushed into the Thunder-shocking Realm instantly. In terms of power alone, this strike was absolutely equal to that of an expert in the Thunder-shocking Realm.

A dark shadow appeared on the ground.

Li Tianlan switched places with the shadow in an instant. The moment his body landed, he stumbled violently and almost fell to the ground.

He took a deep breath. There seemed to be a thousand stars flashing before his eyes. He gritted his teeth, and before he could leave, a bitter scream rang out behind him, “Li Tianlan!!!”

The waves of blazing fire were like two torrents.

Two small and delicate folding fans came flying out of the window. They whirled wildly in the air, tearing the air apart and lighting a fire out of thin air in the rain.

Mai Shiranui’s body followed closely, almost in a desperate manner.

As the initiator of evil, Li Tianlan may not know the impact and consequences of that sword move on Mai Shiranui. Or even if he did, he wouldn’t bother to think about it. But Mai Shiranui completely fell into a state of mad rage after this move.

All this, including all the elites and weapons, was not officially approved to appear here tonight.

Such a high-profile scene tonight was, to put it bluntly, entirely of Mai Shiranui’s own will. Perhaps to some extent, it could also represent the will of Liuhuo Palace.

However, whether it was the Liuhuo Palace, Jifeng Sword-reining School, or Wuji Palace—the largest Martial Arts force, in a sense, they were all civil Martial Arts forces. Strictly speaking, they had no official identity or authorization at all. It was the Divine Wind Force, not Liuhuo Palace, that had such authority.

As the Young Palace Master of Liuhuo Palace, she mobilized such a large amount of power without official authorization. It would be all right if she succeeded. Once she failed, the whole Liuhuo Palace would be stressed. Her reputation as a young genius would certainly be greatly affected and she would lose all her prestige.

Nevertheless, the current situation could not be simply described as a failure.

Several Thunder-shocking Realm masters and more than ten Fire-flaming Realm experts died. Furthermore, numerous elites were killed and wounded. It was a fiasco that could not be ignored.

If Mai Shiranui still couldn’t catch Li Tianlan alive after suffering such a heavy loss…

She could hardly imagine what would happen to her.

With a subtle and seductive aroma, the two folding fans rushed straight at Li Tianlan with great momentum. Given the momentum alone, they were simply two missiles with flaming tails, with the power to destroy everything.

Ninjutsu~Cut!

Li Tianlan glanced at her and his mouth twitched.

His figure suddenly disappeared from Mai Shiranui’s sight. The next moment, he had dodged two folding fans and was coming straight at her.

Mai Shiranui clenched her teeth and made a gesture with her hands.

Ninjutsu~Circle Round!

The two folding fans turned around in an instant and two torrents of fire rushed toward Li Tianlan.

“Swish!”

The two folding fans passed through Li Tianlan’s waist without any blood.

Shadow!

Mai Shiranui’s heart sank and she turned her eyes unconsciously.

On the other side of her line of sight, Li Tianlan again swapped places with his third shadow. When she looked over, he just turned around and punched the invisible air in front of him.

The air around her vibrated. The shadow in front of her raised its hand at the same time and threw a blow at her.

She moved sideways to dodge the blow. As the shadow dissipated, a sickly flush appeared on her charming and delicate face.

She lowered herself slightly.

A large amount of air around her was pressing against her body.

She suddenly sprang at Li Tianlan like an arrow leaving the string.

Ninjutsu~Charge!

All the air seemed to have turned into a great amount of impetus. Mai Shiranui’s body was like a flash of red light, and her sudden speed drew her and Li Tianlan closer. Her face was streaked with blood in the rush by the cold wind, but she ignored it and just breathed deeply.

Her face went from flushing to pale in a moment.

A fatal blow!

Ninjutsu~Blades!

Mai Shiranui’s body immediately vanished. With Mai Shiranui at the center, the ferocious fire was condensed into countless sharp blades, flying in all directions.

Within a radius of hundreds of meters, the fire burst suddenly.

Such a wide range of attack had been completely beyond the distance that Li Tianlan could swap places with his shadow.

His body jerked to a halt as the blades approached.

Then, he turned around.

It was only before he had even managed to inflict a fatal blow on Mai Shiranui, with the threat of aggravating his injury, that a wall of fire sprang up beside him.

The fire was thick and warm, without any hint of blazing heat.

All the blades of fire that were around Mai Shiranui were hitting the wall of fire like a rainstorm. The whole wall of fire grew thick and tall with the constant tremors.

It didn’t move at all!

A figure in an East Island police uniform appeared beside Li Tianlan and grabbed his arm.

“That’s almost over. Let’s go east.”

The Chinese, with articulate pronunciation but without any foreign accent, rang out.

Li Tianlan froze.

A cool, young, confident face appeared in his line of sight.

It was a young man, who looked at most 23 or 24 years old, about 1.8 meters tall, but his body looked very erect. His features were fine and clean, and his lips were tightly pressed, giving him an air of great firmness, even of coldness. When the two looked at each other, the young man’s mouth lifted and he smiled leisurely and calmly.

However, as he smiled, Li Tianlan was keenly aware of the look in his eyes.

There was no smile in those dark, deep eyes at all. His eyes were full of unfathomable gloom and depth as they flickered.

It seemed to be a fatalistic instinct and intuition. The moment they looked at each other, though trapped in a plight, Li Tianlan told himself that the man might not be hostile to him now, it would be difficult for them to be friends.

The feeling was so clear that it took root in him almost instantly.

“Go!”

The young man gently pushed Li Tianlan and suddenly turned back.

His eyebrows rose slightly as Mai Shiranui appeared. He then swung directly at her with his fist without hesitation.

Fully charged with power, she slammed her fist into the young man’s.

In the firelight, the waves of air flew instantly.

Their bodies flew backwards at the same time.

The distance between them was instantly enlarged.

The young man’s body flew backwards past Li Tianlan. Luckily, Li Tianlan grabbed his body.

He swapped positions using the Shadow Formula.

Then, he did that a second time.

A third time.

In the twinkling of an eye, the distance between them and Mai Shiranui was getting farther and farther.

Behind them, Mai Shiranui’s cold voice sounded faint. “Vast Territory? You are…”

“Go east. I noticed that way before I came here. There’s a trail about three kilometers into the mountains. We’ll throw them off there and talk about something else.”

Li Tianlan and the young man rushed into the grove in the factory and sped up.

The young man who had exchanged punches with Mai Shiranui said calmly.

Li Tianlan subconsciously glanced back.

As he looked through the factory’s grove, everything behind him looked dim, as if there was firelight.

The crowd at the back was busy putting out the fire. Mai Shiranui would never dare to catch up with him alone when he had a companion of unknown strength at his side.

The pursuit this time seemed to be over again.

Li Tianlan gave a self-deprecating smile. He had been chased for dozens of hours and was getting used to it.

One by one, they rushed into the woods inside the factory and out again, following the path the young man had pointed out.

Ahead of them were undulant hills.

They hurried along the way.

After passing several hills in a row, there was still silence behind them.

Li Tianlan finally slowed down.

Around the same time, the young man slowed down as well.

“Thanks.”

Li Tianlan’s expression was calm and he said with composure, “How should I address you?”

The sudden appearance of the so-called companion was too weird. Unless Li Tianlan was a fool, otherwise, he would not trust him completely. But even if the young man really harbored evil intent towards him, it would be better to leave with him than to stay in the factory. So, after hesitating for a little while, he followed him.

“You don’t know me.”

The young man turned and smiled at Li Tianlan, his tone gentle and smile bright. However, his eyes were still deep and calm. “But I’ve heard so much about you. Li Tianlan, right?”

He paused, offered his hand, and chuckled. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Jiang Shangyu from the Deep-sea Academy.”

Deep-sea Academy…

Jiang Shangyu!

Jiang Shangyu, the one whose ranking was only lower than that of Wang Shengxiao and Gu Hanshan among the top 10 masters of the young generation!

It was no exaggeration to say that even now, Jiang Shangyu was arguably the most famous young master besides Wang Shengxiao and Gu Hanshan. He was even famous than Li Tianlan, who just appeared in Zhongzhou State.

He was the best expert except for the Heavenly Sons!

For Li Tianlan, it was a real surprise.

After taking a deep breath, Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes and held Jiang Shangyu’s hand, chuckling. “Senior Brother Jiang, I, too, have long heard of your name.”

“After you met me, did you find me worse than I was supposed to be?”

Jiang Shangyu asked smilingly.

“When I met you, I found you were better than I had been told.”

Li Tianlan replied seriously.

He was telling the truth.

“The best except for Heavenly Sons?”

Li Tianlan didn’t know if that was true. But from the moment he saw him, he thought this guy was fearful.

Yes, he was fearful.

Jiang Shangyu smiled and said no more, but looked at the vast mountains in the night. After a moment of silence, he said calmly, “Let’s get out of here first.”

Li Tianlan nodded and asked calmly, “How do you know I’m here, Senior Brother Jiang?”

“Don’t call me senior brother. Maybe I should call you senior brother now. Now you, Wang Shengxiao, and Gu Hanshan are all out of contact, so all our people are looking for you. Mai Shiranui caused an uproar this time. I got the news, so I came to have a look. Given the route you have taken, they are probably hunting you. As for Wang Shengxiao and Gu Hanshan, I have seen them many times, so I’m no longer interested in them. It is funnier to come to you.”

Jiang Shangyu said, smiling casually as he walked on the mountain road.

Li Tianlan nodded and relaxed slightly, but he didn’t change his address for him. “So Senior Brother Jiang has contacted Teacher Tribulation and sent my information back?”

In the dark, Jiang Shangyu suddenly stopped.

It was raining harder and harder. The rain was pattering on the hillside. Jiang Shangyu stood where he was for nearly two minutes in total darkness. Then he said in a deep voice, “Send back…”

He spoke more and more slowly. His eerie, soft voice drifted away in the night wind. “Not yet…”

Li Tianlan stopped abruptly.

His eyes narrowed as he watched Jiang Shangyu quietly.

The atmosphere on the hillside in the night suddenly became extremely subtle and sensitive.