Not to mention there were other dangers which existed when traversing through the boundary walls, including creatures which lived within it, as well as potential backlash from using any of one's killer moves.
Fang Yuan went along the length of the wall until he found an area which seemed to be weaker than the others, as well as thinner. The regional walls tended to ebb and flow due to various kinds of natural phenomena, and so crossing over at one point was not always equivalent to crossing over at another.
Fang Yuan took a deep breath and dove forward into the wall at this point, making his way through the regional wall after striking it with a mortal killer move.
The purple wall parted slightly. For the first eighty steps, he didn't feel anything. But then, abruptly, he could feel his aperture beginning to lightly shake. After two hundred steps, it began shaking even more violently, but no significant damage had happened at this point. Every step took a massive amount of effort, as if he was trying to force himself to walk against a heavy storm trying to keep him at bay.
Fang Yuan grit his teeth. From what he remembered, crossing over was never this difficult. Then again, he had never attempted to do so as an Immortal. By the time he had reached Rank 6 in his previous life, the regional walls had completely disappeared.
Three hundred steps in, and minor cracks began appearing.
Worse yet still, however, was the appearance of a shadow which loomed over Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan glanced up at it. It was a Bronze Talon Eagle, a Desolate Beast of the Metal Path. Its wings were all as sharp as metal and in the low light it glistened almost like a statue made of living, molten gold.
It seemed to have traveled down from its home in White Heaven to below, looking for food. Its food would be other Metal Path creatures or rare ores; however, it had sighted upon Fang Yuan, and either out of a sense of danger or simply wanting to entertain itself, it turned towards Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan cursed his luck once more. Ordinary beasts would be suppressed by the regional walls, but this creature grew up in White Heaven, it would not be affected in the slightest.
What should he do at this point? His offensive methods were not good, especially as he was restricting himself from using the Blood Path. Even then, he would need to use his killer moves over and over again, leading to backlash within the regional wall.
However, thinking quickly, he found inspiration in something he had only recently discovered.
Mortal Killer Move - Feeling Homesick!
He had used this killer move on the Steam Spouting Yak, and now he was using it upon the Bronze Talon Eagle.
Once the move collided with it, the eagle was suddenly reminded of its home. Fang Yuan's movement was restricted, but the eagle did not follow him. It paused in mid-air and though it watched him, emotions of its home and of its nest where it had grown up began overwhelming it. It gave a half-hearted look of wanting to chase after Fang Yuan, but then quickly turned towards White Heaven, returning to where it had come from.
Fang Yuan sighed. He had managed to get out of this predicament without having to resort to overt violence and extreme backlash. Certainly, the Emotion Path was useful, especially when it came to desolate beasts who were not as intelligent as humans.
He had modified this killer move in question after his experimentation with the Jade Eye Stone Monkeys and reading of the Thought Ruler Demon Lord's experiments. It was exactly for situations and reasons like this that Gu Immortals could not remain complacent. Killer moves had to be refined constantly and adjusted.
Although Fang Yuan's journey was unobstructed from this point onward, his aperture continued to take damage.
'Hopefully, Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable's inheritance has a way to get around this,' Fang Yuan thought to himself.
Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable was the Venerable who had traveled around the world the most. Aside from being good at the Theft Path, he was also a Space Path cultivator. He was able to travel great distances without any issue, and without a doubt, Fang Yuan was sure that he would have crossed the regional walls several times even before getting to Rank 9. There must have been ways in order to avoid the intense backlash that he was feeling from the regional walls that Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable had.
…
Within the Fang Yuan Continent, the people were already beginning to feel the backlash that Fang Yuan endured. His aperture had begun to shake. Cracks appeared in the ocean floors and near the coastline. Massive waves began lapping up against the beaches as the oceans were disturbed. Some people were completely submerged in the water and taken out to sea, while others had their homes destroyed.
Deeper inland it was not much better, as the earth began to shake. Cracks appeared in the ground, damaging houses, villages, and other settlements. Many people glanced around, wondering what it was that had just suddenly happened. Was the world coming to an end?
A small volcano erupted, casting toxic gas and noxious fumes into the air as people ran away as quickly as they could.
However, there is a silver lining to every cloud, and even among the greatest misfortune, there are people who benefit. As the old order dies, the new one emerges.
One of them was Wang Tian.
He had been sent out some distance away from his masters in order to fetch water. Ordinarily, he would not have dared try and run away from them even then, because they could easily catch up to him thanks to the horses. That was why he was allowed to travel some distance away in the first place.
However, at that moment, a crack appeared in the ground, separating him from the rest of the camp. The earth shifted slightly, a gulf quickly appearing where there had just been a minor crack before.
Wang Tian's heart began racing as he realized that an opportunity to flee had finally presented itself. Thanks to this gulf, it would be difficult for the horses to follow behind him. He also didn't think that his masters would try to chase him too far on foot.
As it was, he could hear shouting coming from behind the camp. They were probably dealing with some other aspect of the strange natural phenomena and wouldn't be able to tail him for a few hours. For that matter, it might even be nightfall before they even realized he was missing.
Making his decision, Wang Tian cast away the buckets of water he was supposed to be filling, only taking one with him as he swam across the small stream and towards the other side.
The water was cold and wrapped around him. He might end up developing the ague once again. However, that could not stop him now, because beyond this, freedom was calling out to him.
Freedom.
That word felt so nice in his mind.
As if his luck could not get any better, something flew out of another crack that was forming in the ground and nearly hit him in the face. He grabbed at it, finding that it was a gu worm.
Momentarily knocked unconscious after having been revealed by this strange and mysterious earthquake, which had released many gu worms that were hidden underground upward, the gu worm in question had been briefly disoriented and had no way to fight back as Wang Tian immediately refined it.
He had no gu worms for himself at this point, so this immediately became his vital Gu.
He did not have time to inspect it, however, as he kept it within his aperture and tried to put as much distance between him and his enslavers as possible. After all, this earthquake could only be a temporary minor phenomenon. Sooner or later, they would find out that he was missing. He needed to gain as much ground as possible during that time.