Alexei checked his mental clock. Twenty minutes, give or take, before the Radiant Peak Sect caught up to him again.
He could try fighting them directly, but that would be stupid.
The problem wasn't a lack of power. It was speed, or rather, how completely he lacked it compared to cultivators. At his current realm, his reaction time and attack speed were still nothing out of the ordinary.
Against cultivators who could throw dozens of punches per second, he might as well have been standing still.
Most of the sect members who had died in earlier encounters had been killed by Thorns damage when they attacked him.
But one had died for a different reason.
He thought Alexei was too slow to be a threat. The fool had reached for the trident in Alexei's hands and was sent flying fifty meters by a single swing. The impact killed him instantly.
Alexei had considered using his boat-suction tactic, but it wouldn't work here. These weren't mindless Minecraft mobs. They were intelligent, coordinated, and growing sharper with every encounter.
On top of that, they had tracking artifacts that could pinpoint his location, along with some kind of group speed-boost technique that let them sprint faster than his sword could fly, at least in short bursts.
Over the past two days, they had caught up to him seven or eight times.
Every single time, the moment they spotted him, someone would cast that acceleration technique and the entire group would surge forward like a pack of wolves.
He couldn't beat them in a direct fight, and he couldn't outrun them either.
If this continued, he would never get the chance to properly explore the mystic realm. Worse, once he left, the sect would likely escalate things further. They might put a bounty on his head or send higher-realm cultivators after him.
The best solution was to make them stop. Permanently would be ideal, but he would settle for convincing them to give up the chase.
Twenty minutes was more than enough time to prepare.
For this trip into the mystic realm, he brought everything he thought he might need. He also carried a large jade chest for storing spiritual herbs, something Yan had insisted on, along with several bundled packs strapped together and a storage pouch with two cubic meters of space that he had managed to MC-ify.
He had once entertained the idea of exploiting a duplication glitch by filling his inventory with storage rings, then filling those rings with more storage rings, creating infinite nested storage.
Reality had crushed that dream immediately.
Any Minecraft item placed inside a storage pouch reverted to its normal size. A one-meter cube became a one-meter cube, not a compressed inventory icon.
According to Yan, the largest spatial artifact available in the Eastern Territories had about ten cubic meters of internal space. Which meant it could hold exactly ten Minecraft blocks' worth of volume.
If he bought a whole inventory full of spatial rings, his carrying capacity would actually decrease.
The other major flaw with spatial storage was the retrieval mechanism. Every time you wanted to take something out, you had to mentally construct an image of the item. If you had two identical swords stored, there was a good chance you would pull out a random one. It heavily tested the user's spatial visualization skills. The more precise your mental image, the more accurate the retrieval.
He finally understood why alchemists always used uniquely designed pill bottles. It made retrieval easier.
He had tried storing the Pale Sky Blade in his spatial pouch once. The mental construction alone took more than ten seconds.
Nowhere near the instant storage and retrieval Qingxue and Yan could manage.
Currently, his storage pouch only held candy.
When he wanted to retrieve some, he just thought "round" and "a few pieces." Since the mental image was simple, retrieval was almost instant. The downside was that the candy type was completely random each time. And because his skill with spatial artifacts was poor, the quantity he retrieved often differed from what he intended.
It was basically a gacha system for candy.
The pieces he had given to the girl earlier had been retrieved this way.
Was he worried about causing trouble?
Not really.
He had only shared candy with one outsider so far.
Besides, he seriously doubted a six or seven-year-old who couldn't identify basic spiritual plants would figure out anything unusual about the candy.
And if someone actually did figure it out... well, he would deal with that problem when it arose.
For now, he had bigger concerns.
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Verdant Vine Mystic Realm...
Yan sneezed suddenly.
"Pill Master Yan, are you unwell?" an elderly man beside her asked nervously.
The young woman, though "young" was a relative term among cultivators, was a true alchemy prodigy. Refining seven or even eight-pattern pills was as effortless for her as breathing. The title Pill Master was one he used with complete sincerity.
"I'm fine," Yan said, accepting the jade box he handed over. "What's the commission?"
"Three hundred mid-grade spirit stones. The client requires a Foundation Establishment Pill of at least seven patterns. If you produce an eight-pattern pill, the payment increases fivefold." Seeing her frown, the old man quickly added, "The client only needs one pill. These are materials for three attempts. Any extra materials are yours to keep as additional compensation."
As for penalty clauses if she failed to refine the pill, he ignored those entirely.
The idea of a Pill Master failing to refine something was laughable.
Only after he finished explaining did her expression relax.
"I'll have it ready in three days."
---
Back in the Verdant Vine Mystic Realm...
Alexei flew several dozen kilometers off the main route toward the core region, reaching a remote area where passing cultivators were unlikely to spot him.
This spot was completely isolated from the usual traffic.
He landed and immediately began carving into the mountainside. In less than three minutes, he had hollowed out a 9×2×2 chamber, reinforced the surrounding stone with MC blocks, and placed a crafting table inside.
He got to work, quickly assembling the components he needed: two hoppers, two comparators, two sticky pistons, and a trapdoor.
With these, he constructed a hopper timer linked to an automatic return mechanism. A redstone block was used to lock one hopper, while a lever outside the chamber controlled another hopper filled with items. By locking both, he disabled the transfer function, effectively creating a timer that could be activated from outside.
After finishing the mechanism, he loaded an ender pearl into the automatic return device, then sealed the chamber entrance with MC blocks.
Hidden room: complete.
The final step was building a Nether portal not far from the lever that controlled the hopper timer.
Out of curiosity, he cautiously stuck his head through the portal's shimmering surface to peek inside.
All he saw was a pale, greyish haze filled with drifting particles.
"Basalt Delta," he muttered.
The floating ash-like particles were unmistakable.
While you couldn't see clearly into a Nether portal from the outside, you could stick your face through the surface without fully entering. This let you observe the interior without alerting any creatures inside, though the view would be distorted and shaky, just like in the game.
He spotted a ghast floating in the distance. In the real world, the creature looked like a giant jellyfish with a vaguely humanoid face grafted onto it.
He much preferred the cute, crying version from the game.
Pulling his face back out of the portal, Alexei nodded to himself. Everything was ready.
He summoned the Pale Sky Blade and shot off in a different direction.
Two minutes later, he flew straight into them.
Thirty or forty cultivators in Radiant Peak Sect robes flew toward him.
"Right on schedule."
He stopped mid-air, standing on his sword, and pulled out his trident. He began charging it.
The middle-aged man in luxurious robes at the front of the group stopped about a hundred meters away and gestured for the others to halt.
"Young friend," he said calmly, "it would be best if you gave up resistance. Hand over your treasures and come with us peacefully. Given your talents, our Sect Master may take a liking to you and spare your life."
Alexei couldn't help it. He laughed.
"Why do you laugh?" The man's voice remained emotionless.
"I just thought of something funny."
The man clearly thought Alexei was an idiot. Which was fair, because Alexei thought the same about him.
Anyone with common sense wouldn't believe a sect that organized group robberies and murder would suddenly develop a conscience. And the excuse was transparent.
Behind the middle-aged cultivator, several younger sect members had their hands behind their backs, fingers moving in rapid patterns as they cast spells.
The middle-aged man followed Alexei's gaze and his expression darkened.
The cultivators responsible for setting up the formation looked embarrassed. They didn't have experience casting spells with their hands behind their backs. When they had finalized the plan, they thought hiding their hands would make the casting unnoticeable.
Clearly, they had underestimated the difficulty.
Seeing their momentary lapse in focus, Alexei seized the opportunity.
He hurled his fully charged trident toward a female cultivator in the group.
He had noticed during previous encounters that many sect members treated her with excessive deference. She was probably some kind of beloved junior or sect princess.
If he could take her out, the resulting chaos would give him time to escape.
Not that he expected the attack to actually hit. These were Foundation Establishment cultivators. Dodging a thrown weapon should be trivial for them.
The middle-aged cultivator hadn't expected Alexei to attack under these circumstances. He quickly reached out to grab the "slow-moving" trident with one hand.
BOOM!
The moment his fingers closed around the shaft, thousands of kilograms of force surged through the weapon.
He felt like his entire arm was being ripped from his body. The overwhelming momentum carried him forward, accelerating him and the trident dozens of times faster than before.
The weapon shot straight toward the female cultivator Alexei had targeted.
It was too fast for her to react.
"Fifth Junior Sister!" someone screamed. "That guy killed Fifth Junior Sister!"
"Avenge her!"
"KILL HIM!"
The formation collapsed into chaos.
---
But Alexei wasn't paying attention to the aftermath.
The moment he threw the trident, he had already turned and fled.
Hearing the commotion behind him, he felt mildly surprised.
That actually hit someone?
He silently mourned for the unfortunate victim for about half a second.
A fully charged trident strike increased his attack power by 150%. Converted into raw force, that added roughly 9,300 kilograms. He had also coated the trident with Earth qi, increasing its weight by another 200 kilograms on top of its base 6,200.
The qi coating would fade after the weapon left his hand, but not immediately.
All things considered, the total impact force reached approximately 16,000 kilograms.
"Don't let him get away!"
Alexei pushed the Pale Sky Blade to maximum speed, the wind tearing past his face as he shot through the air above the Nether portal location.
Behind him, the Radiant Peak Sect cultivators matched his pace.
One cultivator in particular seemed to be having an emotional breakdown. His yellow robes were splattered with blood, probably from the woman who had died earlier, and his face had gone an alarming shade of red.
"You coward!" the man screamed. "Face me like a real cultivator!"
Alexei heard the distinctive sound of spiritual energy gathering. He glanced back just in time to see the yellow-robed cultivator slash his hand through the air, sending a green blade of sword qi hurtling toward him.
The cultivator's eyes went wide the moment the attack left his hand.
"Shit..."
It was too late. The sword qi was already flying.
Alexei saw the attack coming and did some quick mental math. The qi blade was moving at maybe three times the speed of a normal projectile, which meant it would reach him in about two seconds. Fast for an ordinary person, but to him it was more than enough time to dodge.
He brought his sword to a complete stop mid-air and turned to face the incoming attack.
"Oh? Free damage?"
He shifted slightly to the left, positioning his head directly in the path of the sword qi.
Maximum Thorns damage required a direct hit to a vital area. He might as well make it count.
"MOVE!" the yellow-robed cultivator shrieked. "Get out of the way, you idiot!"
The other sect members scattered, clearly remembering what had happened to their colleagues who had attacked Alexei before. Nobody wanted to be standing near the yellow-robed man when the Thorns enchantment activated.
Alexei just smiled and gave the man a cheerful wave.
The sword qi hit him in the forehead.
BOOM
The yellow-robed cultivator's head exploded, spraying the immediate area with gore. His headless body was launched backward, tumbling through the air for about fifty meters before slamming into a tree.
Someone screamed.
"He killed another one!"
"Revenge! We have to—"
"Shut up and keep moving!" the middle-aged leader barked, his functioning arm gesturing for them to maintain formation. "We're almost there! Don't lose him now!"
Two minutes of chase later, Alexei spotted his destination.
The Nether portal stood exactly where he had left it.
He dove toward the ground. As he passed the lever he had installed earlier, he flicked his hand out, activating the hopper timer mechanism.
Five minutes. That was how long he had before the automatic return device triggered.
He shot through the Nether portal without slowing down. He grinned and pulled out his bow. Time to encourage them to make a stupid decision.
---
Outside the portal...
The middle-aged cultivator stared at the portal, his injured arm hanging uselessly at his side. His other hand gripped a tracking compass that had suddenly gone dead.
"The compass can't detect him anymore," the cultivator holding the device reported, shaking it as though that might help. "Either he's blocking the signal somehow, or he's gone somewhere the formation can't reach."
The leader's jaw tightened. This was getting worse by the minute.
They had lost some people so far. And now their target had disappeared into a mysterious portal.
If they returned to the sect empty-handed...
He didn't want to think about what the Sect Master would do.
"You." He pointed at a younger cultivator near the back of the group. "Go in and take a look. Just stick your head through and report what you see."
The cultivator's face went pale. "Me? Why me?"
"Because I said so."
"...Can I refuse?"
"You joined the sect and enjoyed its protection and resources. Now it's time to do your part. Move."
The young man swallowed and stepped forward. He was low-ranking and expendable, with no connections to shield him. Refusing a direct order would likely get him killed anyway.
He might as well take his chances with the portal.
He approached slowly, spiritual energy already gathering around him in a defensive barrier. When he was close enough, he extended his head through the shimmering surface.
The transition was disorienting. His vision warped and twisted for a moment, then cleared.
Without warning, overwhelming heat crashed over him. He immediately reinforced his barrier, channeling more qi to hold it together.
Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around.
The space beyond the portal was vast. Grey-white fog filled the air, with drifting ash that resembled falling snow. The ground, what little he could see of it, was formed from dark stone arranged in strange geometric patterns.
Floating in the distance were... creatures? They looked like massive white jellyfish with distorted humanoid faces, drifting through the haze. They radiated no spiritual energy at all. And about a hundred meters away, standing on some kind of dark pillar, was the target.
He held a drawn bow, aimed directly at the portal.
The scout's blood ran cold.
He remembered what had happened to one of their sect members earlier. The man had seen an arrow coming, thought it looked slow, and caught it with his bare hand. The arrow had detonated on contact, hitting him with what seemed like a dozen different elemental attacks simultaneously. The effects had stacked so quickly that the man had collapsed screaming.
He had survived, but only because someone had force-fed him healing pills immediately.
And that was from catching the arrow.
A direct hit would almost certainly be fatal.
WHOOSH!
The scout yanked his head back through the portal, diving to the side.
A flaming arrow shot through the opening a split second later, embedding itself in the ground.
Every single cultivator present took an involuntary step backward.
The man who had caught an arrow earlier suddenly collapsed, trembling uncontrollably. A dark stain spread across the front of his robes.
No one said a word. PTSD was no joke.
"Well?" the middle-aged leader demanded. "What did you see?"
The scout took a moment to steady his breathing. "It's mostly safe. The space inside is... it's like its own world. I think we've found an ancient battlefield."
That got everyone's attention.
"Ancient battlefield?" one cultivator whispered.
"Are you certain?" the leader pressed.
"Yes. Look at the evidence." The scout gestured toward the portal. "The spiritual energy inside is extremely thin, almost nonexistent. That's consistent with areas where powerful cultivators fought in ages past. The battles would have drained all the ambient qi from the environment."
That was complete nonsense, but he said it with confidence.
"I also saw structures," he continued, warming to his fabrication. "There were regular geometric patterns carved from stone. Those can't be natural formations. They have to be the ruins of some ancient sect's headquarters or training ground."
The middle-aged cultivator's eyes lit up.
Ancient battlefields were treasure troves. Immortal-grade artifacts, saint-tier weapons, forgotten techniques... even if most of the spiritual formations had degraded over millennia, the materials used to forge those treasures would still be valuable.
A spiritless immortal sword could still cut through a Heaven-grade weapon like butter.
"Leave two people here to guard the entrance. Everyone else, with me. We're going in."
One cultivator raised a hand hesitantly. "But what about—"
"What about what?"
"What about catching the one who killed the Holy Son?"
The leader's expression hardened. "We do both. We capture the killer and we claim whatever treasures are inside. When we report this discovery to the Sect Master, it might even outweigh the Holy Son's death. This could be our only chance to avoid severe punishment."
That logic made sense to exactly nobody, but nobody was brave enough to point out the flaws.
Two cultivators volunteered to stay behind, or more accurately, were voluntold to stay behind, and the rest prepared to enter the portal.
The middle-aged leader took a deep breath, reinforced his spiritual energy, and stepped through.
---
Inside the Nether...
Alexei stood on a platform of basalt, bow in hand, and watched the Radiant Peak cultivators pour through the portal.
"Took you long enough," he muttered.
The moment they fully materialized inside the Nether, every ghast within three hundred meters turned toward the new arrivals.
They opened their mouths. Then the fireballs started flying.
Alexei took that as his cue to leave. He mounted the Pale Sky Blade and shot sideways, weaving between basalt pillars as ghast fireballs streaked through the air around him.
The Radiant Peak cultivators weren't so lucky.
Behind him, he heard shouting, the sound of spiritual techniques activating, and at least one very undignified scream.
He kept flying, dodging fireballs. His enchanted armor could probably tank a few hits, but there was no reason to test that theory when he could just avoid them entirely.
The plan was simple: lead the cultivators deeper into the Nether, far enough that they'd have trouble finding their way back to the portal, then use the automatic return device to teleport himself out. They'd be stuck here, probably dead within the hour, and he could get back to exploring the mystic realm in peace.
Unless they decided to give up and retreat immediately, which would be the smart move. But cultivators, in his experience, were not known for their sense of restraint when profit was involved. Greed was a powerful motivator.
He flew for about two minutes, weaving through the ash-filled air, before checking over his shoulder.
The Radiant Peak Sect was still following him.
Of course they were.
One cultivator, the guy holding the tracking compass, suddenly shouted something and pointed directly at him.
"The tracking formation is working again! He's in that direction!"
Alexei hovered about two hundred meters away, plainly visible on his flying sword, making no effort to hide.
There was an awkward pause.
"Do you even need to point that out?" someone finally said. "You know we can see him, right?"
"I was just checking the compass..."
"Nobody cares about the compass right now!"
The Radiant Peak Sect cultivators watched Alexei accelerate away on his flying sword and immediately gave chase, none of them willing to lose their only lead.
The middle-aged leader waved his functioning arm, forming a series of hand seals with impressive speed despite the handicap. His fingers moved so fast they left afterimages.
"Cloud Step Acceleration!"
Spiritual energy burst from his body, enveloping the entire group. Everyone's flight speed suddenly increased by a significant margin, the gap between them and Alexei beginning to close.
The cultivators flew quickly, barely bothering to avoid the terrain. When they encountered the floating white creatures with distorted faces, strange jellyfish-like beings native to this place, they simply blasted them aside with bursts of spiritual energy.
The creatures were surprisingly fragile. A single strike from a Foundation Establishment cultivator was enough to make them pop like soap bubbles, dissolving into wisps of white smoke.
But the fireballs those creatures shot were a different story.
After seeing what Alexei's arrows and trident could do, the cultivators had developed a healthy paranoia about projectiles. Even something as simple as a fireball triggered their dodge reflex.
At this point, if a child threw a pebble at them, they would probably dive out of the way.
Ahead, Alexei heard the commotion and pushed his sword even faster.
The hopper timer outside the portal only allowed five minutes total. They had already wasted about two minutes entering the Nether and getting organized, leaving three minutes on the clock.
To be safe, he needed to lead them far enough that they couldn't make it back to the portal in under a minute. That would give him a comfortable margin even if something went wrong.
He weaved between basalt pillars, occasionally dodging a ghast fireball, scanning the terrain ahead.
"Uh..."
He flew straight into a cave entrance and immediately realized his mistake.
The basalt cave terminated in a solid wall after a single turn. There was no other exit or convenient passage to escape through.
Behind him, the pursuing cultivators had closed to within fifty meters.
"Heaven truly blesses us!" one of them shouted, spiritual energy already gathering in his hands. "Let's see where you run now."
"Just surrender!" another called out, his expression growing increasingly vicious as he formed hand seals. "You're trapped!"
They had been chasing Alexei for two solid days because he kept flying just outside the range of their sealing formations. But now he had cornered himself.
Thirty-seven against one, backed into a dead end with nowhere to go.
How could they possibly lose?
If this strange guy somehow escaped now, they might as well quit cultivation entirely and find new careers.
Several of them had already started forming binding formations.
Alexei floated there on his sword. He even waved at them.
"Well, my time is up. If fate allows, maybe we'll meet agai..."
WHOOSH!
His body dissolved into a cloud of purple particles and vanished.
The Radiant Peak cultivators froze.
"His spiritual presence disappeared," one of them muttered, staring at the empty space where Alexei had been.
Everyone turned to look at the cultivator holding the tracking compass.
The man fumbled with his storage pouch, pulling out the compass and channeling spiritual energy into it. Without Alexei as a fixed target, the metal indicator spun like a windmill.
"How did he do that?" someone asked. "Teleportation? Did he use a spatial talisman?"
"Those cost a fortune, and he's just a Body Tempering brat. Where would he get—"
"Does it matter?" the leader cut in. "We lost him again."
---
Outside the portal...
WHOOSH!
Alexei materialized directly above the hidden chamber, standing on the trapdoor he had installed.
He opened the trapdoor, replenished the bubble column with a fresh ender pearl, then switched to his diamond pickaxe and started mining the passage that led outside.
The two Radiant Peak Sect disciples who had been left to guard the portal were standing nearby, looking bored and resentful about being stuck on watch duty while everyone else got to explore an "ancient battlefield."
Then they noticed the blocks near them splitting apart on their own, breaking with no visible cause.
"What the..."
THUNK.
A head poked out of the newly opened passage.
They locked eyes.
Alexei smiled. "Hi. How are you?"
"H-how..." one of them stammered, his legs going weak. "How are you here? You were inside!"
The other guard was already backing away, eyes fixed on the trident that had suddenly appeared in Alexei's hand.
That weapon had killed one of their people by launching them fifty meters through the air. Neither of them wanted to test whether their defensive artifacts could withstand a direct hit.
"If we run," one whispered urgently, "he'll just chase us down with that sword. We can't outrun him."
"Then we fight!"
"Are you insane? Did you miss what happened to everyone else who fought him?"
There was a brief moment of indecision.
Then they both had the same thought: Safety in numbers.
Without another word, both cultivators turned and dove straight into the Nether portal.
Alexei lowered his trident and watched them go. "Huh. That saves me some trouble."
He walked over to the portal and stepped through. He spotted the two guards in the distance, already reduced to tiny dots on the horizon, fleeing as fast as their swords could carry them.
"Poor guys," he muttered.
They had just made possibly the worst decision of their lives. Out here in the Nether, with ghasts and piglins and who knows what else, two Foundation Establishment cultivators wouldn't last long on their own.
But that wasn't his problem.
He pulled out his diamond pickaxe and mined a block of basalt from the ground. Then he placed it directly into the obsidian frame of the Nether portal.
The purple surface shimmered, flickered, and shattered like glass, dissolving into a shower of purple particles that faded into nothing.
Alexei dusted off his hands. "Now how long they survive depends entirely on their own luck."
He pulled out his bow and started looking for ghasts.
Ghast tears were valuable. Using Ghast Tear, Eye of Ender, and Glass, he could craft End Crystals, which were required materials for End Portal frames in the More Crafting mod.
Each End Portal frame needed 5 Chiseled Sandstone, 1 End Crystal, 2 Ender Pearls, and 1 Nether Star.
A complete End Portal required twelve frames total.
Which meant he needed a lot of ghast tears.
He spotted one floating nearby, drifting through the ash-filled air. It hadn't noticed him yet.
He drew his bow, aimed, and fired.
---
The two Radiant Peak disciples were still running, sweat pouring down their faces despite the spiritual energy protecting them from the heat.
Neither of them looked back.
They had a terrible, gut-level certainty that if they slowed down even for a second, they would die horribly.
Only by following the faint traces of qi left behind by their sect members did they finally catch sight of the group ahead.
The cultivators were still scattered across the basalt landscape, searching for any trace of Alexei.
The two guards slowed down, gasping for breath, and approached the middle-aged leader.
The man saw them coming and his expression darkened immediately. He was already in a foul mood from losing their target. Seeing his guards abandon their posts only made it worse.
"I ordered you to stay outside and guard the entrance," he said coldly. "What is the meaning of this?"
Hearing the rebuke, instead of being afraid, both guards looked relieved. At least they were back with the group.
"The targe was hiding in the mountain near the secret realm entrance!" one of them blurted out. "He broke through the rock and came out not long after you all entered."
"If we hadn't reacted quickly, we would have been killed," the other added. "We had no choice but to retreat inside and find you."
Everyone who heard this froze.
When did he get out?
Then, almost in unison, they all realized what had happened. They had been played.
"Back to the entrance!" the middle-aged leader barked.
The group immediately reversed course, flying as fast as their group acceleration technique would allow. Swords blurred through the ash-filled air as they raced back toward where the portal had been.
Compared to exploring this strange place, capturing the guy who had killed the Holy Son was more important. The portal would still be there. The "ancient battlefield ruins" weren't going anywhere.
But when they reached the entrance, the purple curtain of light was gone.
The group came to an abrupt halt, staring at the empty space where the portal had stood.
The middle-aged leader's expression shifted again and again before he finally spoke, "This is bad."
No one disagreed.