And then there were those people he’d seen before.

This girl is just insanely bold!

"Who told him to bully a weak and helpless little maiden like me?"

Zheng Xiaoman said resentfully, "It’s a shame I already used my life-protecting Spirit Talisman on him just now, otherwise..."

"Big brother, do you have any way to hold them off? When you hit me earlier, I already crushed the Communication Jade Talisman. My father will be here soon."

Xu Yang’s facial muscles twitched slightly.

Why does that sound like your father is coming to take care of me? And what do you mean I hit you?

I didn’t even use any force, okay?

Boom!

A terrifying surge fell from the sky.

A giant hand, so large it blocked out the sky, slammed down from behind.

Xu Yang looked back. Two blurry figures were flashing toward them at extreme speed.

"Hold on tight."

Xu Yang scooped up Zheng Xiaoman. With a flash of cyan light, they shot into the Cyan Flame Boat like lightning.

"Go!"

With the injection of supreme Spirit Crystal, the Cyan Flame Boat instantly turned into a streak of lightning and vanished from where they’d been.

Rumble!!

The giant palm slammed down, cracking open the earth for a thousand feet in all directions—only to hit thin air.

A middle-aged man and a youth arrived in a flash.

"Damn it, they actually escaped. What kind of treasure was that?" The young man’s expression was iron as he glared ahead.

"Spiritual Boat!"

The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes, then gave a cold laugh: "There is invisible suppression in the Land of the Fallen, so Spiritual Boat’s speed will drop sharply!"

The youth’s eyes lit up: "Yuan, can we catch them?"

"Let’s go!"

Liang Yuan didn’t answer, just grabbed the youth and erupted with a speed like wind and thunder, chasing after them.

Inside the Cyan Flame Boat.

Zheng Xiaoman’s eyes were full of shock: "What a powerful Spiritual Boat."

"Although the speed of Spiritual Boats will be affected here, fully powered it can still match True Monarch Perfection. We should be able to shake them off."

"By the way, your family is also in the Land of the Fallen?"

"Mm!"

"We’ve never left."

"What?"

Xu Yang looked at Zheng Xiaoman in disbelief.

Zheng Xiaoman pouted and said, "It’s all because of your so-called Emperor Qian ancestor. Of all the places to die, he had to die here and completely trap this place. My family’s been affected for generations, unable to leave."

"That doesn’t make sense." Xu Yang frowned deeply, unable to understand.

The First Emperor Qian fell here, creating the Land of the Fallen, but although this place does suppress Martial Artists severely, it’s not to this level.

Besides, he hadn’t sensed anything special from Zheng Xiaoman just now.

How could they not leave?

"I’m not sure either. According to my father, it seems to be some Celestial Human Prison. When Emperor Qian fell here, our ancestor was here too, happened to get covered in it, and then it passed down through each generation."

Celestial Human Prison?

For a moment, Xu Yang couldn’t imagine it either. Means at the Celestial Human level are just too profound to fathom.

No wonder he couldn’t see through it!

"There’ll be an opportunity." Xu Yang let out a sigh in his heart, gently consoling her.

"I’m used to it anyway."

Zheng Xiaoman grinned broadly.

Xu Yang fell silent. Used to it?

Maybe so, but to be trapped here generation after generation, like a bird in a cage—how could their hearts not yearn to leave?

He suddenly felt that, once he met Zheng Xiaoman’s parents, things probably wouldn’t go so smoothly.

After all, he was a descendant of the First Emperor Qian!

The First Emperor Qian died and imprisoned their family for countless years. Wouldn’t they take it out on his descendant?

Thinking of this, Xu Yang couldn’t help cracking a bitter smile.

He could only play it by ear now.

Boom!

A terrifying gale howled from outside. The Cyan Flame Boat was swept up by the storm, rocking violently.

"This is bad."

Xu Yang’s expression changed and he fixed his gaze outside.

He saw the middle-aged man and youth rapidly closing in.

The middle-aged man swept his sleeve, drawing in the powers of heaven and earth, transforming them into violent waves crashing toward the Cyan Flame Boat. And they were drawing nearer rapidly.

"Damn it, they’re going to catch up."

Xu Yang frantically injected supreme Spirit Crystals.

But in the Land of the Fallen, Celestial Humans once perished here. Even after ten thousand years, the invisible suppression and constraint is astonishing, preventing the Cyan Flame Boat from breaking through to speeds beyond True Monarch Perfection.

"What do we do?"

Zheng Xiaoman immediately panicked.

"We’re barely pulling ahead, but the other side will definitely catch up, especially if they have some Secret Technique..."

Xu Yang looked to Zheng Xiaoman: "How much longer until your father arrives?"

"He should be here soon!" Zheng Xiaoman didn’t sound very confident.

Suddenly, a cluster of spiritual essence appeared in Xu Yang’s hand, and under Zheng Xiaoman’s shocked gaze, he threw it straight into the Cyan Flame Boat’s core.

Swoosh!

The speed of the Cyan Flame Boat rose yet again; the middle-aged man and youth instantly vanished from its reflection.

"Only with spiritual essence can we barely get up to this speed now." Xu Yang’s face was grim. All his and his clone’s cultivation had nearly depleted his spiritual essence—there was almost nothing left.

Now, he could only hope Zheng Xiaoman’s father arrived soon enough.

"Little girl, your Spiritual Boat is impressive!"

"But do you really think someone like me is a pushover?"

"Prohibition!"

Continuous cold shouts crackled like thunder, piercing through from outside the Cyan Flame Boat.

Hearing "Prohibition," Xu Yang and Zheng Xiaoman’s faces changed drastically at the same moment.

"Prohibition Spirit Talisman?"

They shouted in unison, locking eyes, each seeing deep horror in the other’s gaze.

Ssshh!

A bizarre Spirit Talisman soared into the sky from the middle-aged man’s hand, ghostlike as it moved above the Cyan Flame Boat, suddenly distorting and causing a rippling barrier to arise, enveloping an area of several thousand feet around them in an instant.

Buzz!

The Cyan Flame Boat shuddered, sinking as if into a mire!

Its near-True Monarch peak speed instantly dropped by more than half.

The two pursuers appeared above the Cyan Flame Boat in the blink of an eye.

The middle-aged man wore a mocking grin and threw down a punch!

Boom!

The Cyan Flame Boat, like a fish trapped in shallow water, thrashed violently but couldn’t return to the depths, and was knocked sprawling to the ground by this punch, shattering a large expanse of hillside.

Cyan light flickered, yet the Cyan Flame Boat remained undamaged.

But all the spiritual essence injected earlier was completely used up!

The Cyan Flame Boat could reach speeds rivaling those newly into the Shenxiao Realm, so of course its defences weren’t something a True Monarch could break.

But all of that required enough energy.

Xu Yang and Zheng Xiaoman bounced around inside from the tumbling boat, looking battered, but fortunately the force of that blow was completely blocked and neither was injured.

But Zheng Xiaoman’s face was deathly pale and she muttered in despair, "It’s over, we’re really done for this time. Dad, hurry up..."

"Don’t panic!"

"He can’t break the Cyan Flame Boat!"

Xu Yang’s eyes glinted coldly.

The Prohibition Spirit Talisman was extremely valuable; to create this kind of prohibition, most Peak True Monarchs couldn’t even forge one.

Still, a Prohibition Spirit Talisman at best only lasted the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, or half a quarter-hour!

In battle, that could be fatal!

But inside the Cyan Flame Boat, not necessarily.

As Xu Yang finished speaking, he took out a ton of supreme Spirit Crystals!

Zheng Xiaoman’s eyes went wide: "That many supreme Spirit Crystals—did you go rob someone?"

Xu Yang was in no mood for jokes; he just piled Spirit Crystals into the Cyan Flame Boat’s core one after another.

"This boat was refined by a Shenxiao powerhouse. Its top speed can match those newly in the Shenxiao Initial Realm; and its defenses—not something a True Monarch can break!"

"These supreme Spirit Crystals are enough to keep us going for a while."

"Just...for now, we’ll have to play turtle and hide."