What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

This faint signal, at this moment, is my only hope for survival.

Leaning against the cold rock, I gasped for breath, my fingers hovering over the contacts, my brain racing.

Faced with such a life-or-death crisis, my first thought was naturally of Li Qing and Lu Yan.

But soon, I rejected both options in my mind.

Li Qing goes without saying; he's still all alone, staying at Tingyuxuan in Jiangcheng.

Moreover, the meridian injuries he suffered in the southern border region have not yet fully healed, and he has lost only a tenth of his skills.

Asking him to come and save me would be like sending him to his death.

Unless... he can also bring his elusive master over.

But that old immortal travels all over the world, and Li Qing has to go through a lot of trouble to find him.

By the time he actually managed to get the person to come, it would be too late.

As for Lu Yan, although she had the backing of Longhu Mountain and the official Folklore Bureau, she was still just the director of the Jiangcheng branch.

I am currently in Hunan Province. The process of mobilizing high-level combat forces across provinces involves procedures and approvals that cannot be resolved with just a few words.

Moreover, the strength displayed by Shi Cuishan was simply too formidable, and there was no telling how many other masters guarding the cauldron were hidden in this place.

The danger of this matter has far exceeded Lu Yan's current ability to handle it directly.

Rather than waiting for her to report up the chain of command or to seek assistance through connections in Longhushan, it's better to...

I'd rather just take it one step at a time and find someone with sufficient authority and absolute power.

With that in mind, I didn't hesitate at all. I directly opened Lei Zhenshan's number in my contacts and pressed the call button.

Lei Zhenshan, the current captain of the Ninth Division, was my father's former comrade-in-arms.

Whether in terms of personal combat skills or official authority, he is the strongest external ally I can contact right now.

The phone was answered after only two rings.

Lei Zhenshan's steady voice came through the receiver, with some background noise, as if he were on a helicopter or some kind of large vehicle.

"Chen Yang? What's up?"

Upon hearing this, I didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "Uncle Lei, I'm being chased."

The noisy background noise on the other end of the phone seemed to quiet down for a moment.

Lei Zhenshan's reaction was as firm as ever.

His tone remained unchanged and without any doubt; instead, he asked directly and forcefully:

"Who is it? Where are you?"

I quickly glanced at the surrounding terrain and replied:

"The back mountain of Qingshi Town, Hunan Province."

The person chasing me is the guardian of the cauldron, named Shi Cuishan.

He's incredibly strong; I couldn't even withstand a single move from him.

On the other end of the phone, Lei Zhenshan paused clearly for two seconds after hearing the name "Shi Cuishan".

Then, Lei Zhenshan's voice came again, this time with a more serious tone:

"Among the guardians of the cauldron, there aren't many who can force you to this point with a single move..."

Is he wearing boxing gloves and is he extremely skilled in boxing, with powerful and domineering internal energy?

I recalled the overwhelming punch I received during our fight, and the fire-attribute internal energy that nearly melted my meridians, and immediately replied:

"Yes. His punch, though delivered after he was thrown, was incredibly powerful."

"Then it's not surprising."

Lei Zhenshan snorted coldly, his voice filled with a murderous aura.

"That guy's real name isn't Shi Cuishan; that's just a pseudonym he uses to cover his tracks."

His real name is Shi Jing.

"Shi Jing?"

I was slightly taken aback; I had never heard of this name before.

Lei Zhenshan explained in a deep voice.

"He is one of the most troublesome characters among the guardians of the tripod, and his hands were stained with the blood of the Folklore Bureau decades ago."

"That old bastard hid really well; I never expected him to be hiding in Qing Shi Town."

After saying that, Lei Zhenshan changed the subject and instructed me:

"Chen Yang, listen carefully."

Don't lose your phone. Even if you lose the phone, you must keep the SIM card.

I will have the technical department track your GPS location in real time.

He paused here, his voice becoming more steady and powerful.

"The only thing you need to do right now is find a safe place to hide and hold on for me."

"Support will arrive in an hour, at most an hour."

"Understood," I replied softly.

The call was abruptly cut off as soon as he finished speaking, and a busy tone came through the receiver.

I put down my phone and let out a long sigh.

Lei Zhenshan didn't ask any unnecessary questions, nor did he offer any comfort.

But the phrase "at most one hour" was like a reassurance, giving me a glimmer of hope in my desperate situation.

Shi Jing...

I silently repeated the name in my heart.

A peerless master, backed by the guardian of the cauldron, actually stayed in this small place, quietly working as a blacksmith, and even concealing his identity.

It's no wonder that Jin Wan and I both fell into his hands.

After clearing my mind of those chaotic thoughts, I carefully placed my phone close to my body and weighed the black knife in my hand.

An hour is not a long time.

In short, it could be fatal when facing an old monster who had surpassed the Dan realm.

I have to play a life-or-death game of hide-and-seek with this old guy named Shi Jing in this jungle for sixty minutes.

I used the rocks to support myself as I stood up, my gaze sweeping over the dense bushes and towering trees around me.

Now, my killing intent is exhausted, and I am severely injured. To confront me head-on would be suicide.

The only way is to use this complicated terrain to buy time.

With that thought in mind, I endured the excruciating pain in my body, took a deep breath, and once again ventured into the deeper, more secluded woods.

……

Deep within the underground mine, all was deathly silent.

The once raging, roaring river of lava has now been completely buried by hundreds and thousands of tons of boulders that have crashed down.

Huge igneous rocks are stacked together, forming a ruin that looks like the aftermath of the apocalypse.

The dark red flames that peeked through the cracks in the rocks appeared extremely faint amidst the thick dust.

The air was thick with suffocating heat and the pungent smell of sulfur.

This is the core area where the black blade unleashed its attack.

"Boom—"

Suddenly, a muffled tremor came from deep within the ruins.

The tremor did not originate from a secondary collapse of the upper rock layers, but rather from beneath the mountain of boulders.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely violent burst of red light erupted from the cracks between the boulders.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the huge rock that was originally pressing down on top was actually blasted open from the inside by this red light, shattering into countless fist-sized pieces that shot out in all directions.

Amidst the swirling debris and dust, a slightly hunched figure, exuding a terrifying aura, slowly emerged from the depths of the blasted ruins.

This person was Shi Cuishan, or rather, Shi Jing, as Lei Zhenshan had mentioned.