Chapter 153: A Brilliant Scheme to Slip Away

Yi Tian stowed the Earth Fire Pearl into his storage ring in a flash, and then instantly teleported thousands of feet away.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Operating his divine shifting secret technique to the absolute limit, he escaped twenty to thirty miles away within just a few breaths.

However, the Red Fiend was extremely fast as well. Titans were capable of flying freely through the void, moving like streaks of light; compared to human-tier experts who merely treaded the air, a titan was akin to an aircraft.

Transforming into a brilliant beam of light that tore through the void, the Red Fiend closely pursued Yi Tian, trailing far behind while steadily closing the distance.

Meanwhile, that three-eyed fire lion was even more furious, hot on their heels in relentless pursuit.

The third eye of the three-eyed fire lion occasionally erupted with dazzling brilliance, launching lethal attacks at the Red Fiend.

This forced the Red Fiend to divert most of his energy toward defending against the beast's assaults, placing him in constant, perilous jeopardy.

It was precisely because of the three-eyed fire lion's obstruction that the Red Fiend's speed could never fully accelerate, preventing Yi Tian from being overtaken.

Yet, if this continued, Yi Tian would sooner or later be caught by them.

When that time came, a three-way melee would inevitably erupt, and he would undoubtedly be the weakest party among them.

"I need to think of a way!"

Yi Tian repeatedly executed his divine shifting secret technique, feeling the true essence within his dantian space depleting at a rapid pace. At this rate, it wouldn't last even a quarter of an hour before his reserves were entirely exhausted.

Suddenly, a strategy flashed through his mind: substituting the peach tree to save the plum, and crossing the sea under camouflage.

Yi Tian frantically unleashed his divine shifting secret technique, shifting miles or even dozens of miles at a time. Even formidable titans like the Red Fiend or high-level fierce beasts like the three-eyed fire lion were temporarily unable to catch up.

Furthermore, both the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion desperately wanted to slaughter one another, leaving Yi Tian safe for the time being.

Yi Tian, the Red Fiend, and the three-eyed fire lion chased each other across the void thousands of feet high, swiftly spanning tens of thousands of miles.

Just then, a mist-shrouded region appeared ahead, where clusters of volcanoes loomed faintly amidst the vapor.

Without a moment of hesitation, Yi Tian plunged straight into it.

Rushing into this region, Yi Tian immediately descended toward a natural cave located at the foot of a volcano.

Only a moment later, Yi Tian emerged, blocked the cave entrance with a massive boulder, and then soared back into the sky.

During this brief interval, the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion closed in to less than a mile behind him. Obscured by the thick mist, the Red Fiend could only vaguely make out Yi Tian's silhouette.

"Trying to use this mist to shake me off? How naive."

The Red Fiend sneered coldly.

He was currently consumed by a towering rage. Never had he imagined that a mere human-tier puny brat would dare to beard the dragon and snatch away the Earth Fire Pearl he had set his heart on, coupled with the relentless three-eyed fire lion at his back—all of this put him in an atrocious mood.

Within a dozen breaths, Yi Tian burst out of the misty zone.

Behind him, the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion chased relentlessly, hot on his tail.

Continuing their pursuit for another ten thousand miles, nearly exiting the Hundred Thousand Volcanoes, Yi Tian abruptly plunged downward toward an endless expanse of a rock forest, vanishing within it in the blink of an eye.

"Let's see where you can run!"

The Red Fiend instantly arrived above the ten-li-wide rock forest. Scattered across this area were boulders of varying sizes—a peculiar landscape formed after volcanic eruptions left behind solidified magma.

Just at that moment, a terrifying beam of light hurtled through the void from behind.

Cursing bitterly, the Red Fiend whirled around to lock in fierce combat with the three-eyed fire lion.

A chaotic battle erupted right there.

Terrifying shockwaves rained down upon the earth below, shattering and destroying the rock forest piece by piece.

Before long, the rock forest below was reduced to little more than ruins by the ferocity of their clash.

Gradually, the Red Fiend, locked in intense combat with the three-eyed fire lion, finally sensed something was amiss.

"Where did that brat go?"

The Red Fiend was startled abruptly.

Glancing down at the now-ruined rock forest below, he couldn't help but look dumbfounded.

The rock forest below had been flattened into ruins in plain sight, with the aftershocks of their combat subjecting the terrain to devastating destruction. Yet, the target hadn't even deployed any defensive battle techniques, and not a shred of his aura remained.

The three-eyed fire lion clearly noticed this as well.

The primary reason it had pursued them relentlessly was the Earth Fire Pearl, and the Red Fiend was its greatest obstacle, which was why it wanted to slaughter this human first before seizing the treasure.

However, after a prolonged and fierce battle between the two, the rock forest below remained completely devoid of any movement, which was highly unusual.

Thus, both parties tacitly halted their battle.

After conducting a thorough and meticulous search, they failed to turn up even the slightest trace of Yi Tian, leaving them both astonished and furious. They even dug three feet into the ground, yet found absolutely nothing.

The Red Fiend was utterly baffled.

Beneath the rock forest lay a thick, incredibly hard layer of stone; escaping underground was utterly impossible, and no subterranean tunnels or the like had been discovered.

Yi Tian had simply vanished into thin air.

The Earth Fire Pearl had slipped right through his fingers before his very eyes.

Consumed by rage, both the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion erupted into battle once more.

This time, their objective was no longer to fight over the Earth Fire Pearl, but to slaughter each other to vent their fury.

The two tyrannical entities engaged in a fierce brawl high up in the void. Flames soared into the sky, and crimson beams of light slashed the heavens and earth, erupting in cataclysmic collisions.

Their battle gradually shifted away from this region.

An hour later, in a remote corner of the ruins.

Among countless rubble and stones of varying sizes, a stone no larger than a fist suddenly flashed with light, and a figure materialized out of thin air. It was none other than Yi Tian, whom the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion had failed to find.

"This method is truly not bad!"

Yi Tian couldn't help praising inwardly.

"No, I must hurry back. If anything goes wrong with my physical body, I'll have no place to cry."

Yi Tian immediately turned back along his original route.

Within the span of an incense stick, Yi Tian returned to the mist-shrouded region he had passed through earlier.

This misty area spanned only about a thousand miles and housed dozens of volcanoes. Because of its abundant moisture, it was veiled in fog year-round—a place Yi Tian had traversed previously.

Shortly after, Yi Tian arrived at the original cave, pushed aside the massive boulder, and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his physical body sitting cross-legged inside.

As it turned out, Yi Tian had used an Astral Clay avatar to draw the attention of the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion while concealing his true form within this cave.

The Astral Clay avatar could transform into myriad forms, particularly low-life-form creatures like snakes, insects, rats, and ants, or inanimate objects like stones and metals, allowing it to easily evade the searches of the Red Fiend and the three-eyed fire lion.

However, this avatar required his consciousness to dominate it and maintain Yi Tian's appearance so as not to arouse the suspicions of the Red Fiend and his pursuer.

Precisely because of this, his physical body had been left entirely without defense; had this cave been discovered by other fierce beasts or cultivators, it would have posed a severe threat to his flesh.

This also prompted Yi Tian to start considering how to acquire array flags and array discs to safeguard his physical body in the future.

Over the next few days, Yi Tian remained holed up in the cave, focusing on his cultivation.

Fearing discovery by the Red Fiend, he decided to wait until the storm blew over before venturing out.

Furthermore, the fire-type vital energy within the Hundred Thousand Volcanoes was exceptionally abundant, making it an absolute paradise for cultivators practicing fire-attribute techniques. Many experts chose to seclude themselves for cultivation within these volcanoes.

Inside the modest cave, Yi Tian produced the Earth Fire Pearl.

Clasping the Earth Fire Pearl in his hand, he operated the Great Sun Heavenly Scripture at full capacity.

The next moment, a surge of boundless and pure earth fire essence poured into his body, accelerating his cultivation speed by over a dozenfold.

Yi Tian could feel that within his dantian space, the Great Sun true essence was growing increasingly vast, refined, and viscous, as if it could condense true essence into liquid at any moment, which would exponentially expand his true essence capacity.

His dantian space resembled a sea of fire, burning with the raging flames of the great sun. Every time Yi Tian circulated the Great Sun Heavenly Scripture, every inch of his flesh, bones, skin, and hair underwent a noticeable transformation, continuously tempering and purifying themselves.

Simultaneously, the Earth Fire Pearl continually devoured massive amounts of fire-type vital energy from the surrounding void to replenish the consumption.

Boom!

Yi Tian's dantian shook violently.

The next moment, the Great Sun true essence in his dantian converged into a blazing red ocean, condensing gas into liquid, marking a monumental step forward toward the origin elixir realm.