Huo Chen landed with the momentum from his Earth Thrust still carrying him forward and his right hand stretched ahead immediately.
CRACK.
A sharp earthen spike drill erupted from the ground in front of him and shot toward Mu Tian with deadly speed.
Mu Tian leaped backward and escaped the attack cleanly. His lips curved into a sneer as his eyes locked on Huo Chen.
"How do you think you can escape?"
Huo Chen ignored him completely and turned to Elder Huo Shun. "Senior, you have to leave now."
Elder Huo Shun gave a solemn nod and his gaze swept the environment briefly, taking in the cultivators closing in from multiple directions.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a small glowing token, tossing it into Huo Chen's hand.
"When you escape, use this to find our base."
Huo Shun's figure blurred.
WHOOSH.
He crossed the distance in an instant like a fired arrow and his palm drove toward Mu Xiang in the distance.
BANG.
Mu Xiang's saber came up and met the strike. The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward but the younger Mu Family member held his ground without injury.
Huo Shun didn't press the attack. His movement technique flared again and both Huo Lan and Huo Ming moved with him in short bursts of speed that carried them away from the spring.
Nobody moved to stop them. All eyes were on Huo Chen.
Huo Chen slid to the side in a smooth gliding motion and the earth beneath his feet surged with force, propelling him forward.
The spot where he'd been standing a moment before erupted with attacks as multiple cultivators unleashed their techniques simultaneously.
Spiritual energy carved through the air and shattered the ground where he'd stood. His eyes tracked the battlefield rapidly while moving.
Mu Xiang was intercepting from the front with his saber already drawn. From the sides, cultivators closed in with speed and Mu Tian led the group with killing intent blazing in his eyes.
Sweat beaded on Huo Chen's forehead. He'd poked a hornet's nest.
His focus sharpened and everything else faded away.
BANG.
The earth exploded beneath his feet and launched him forward in one forceful push that covered distance in a heartbeat.
Ahead, Mu Xiang approached rapidly with his saber raised high above his head.
WHOOSH.
The saber descended in a spinning attack that released a crescent of blade energy.
The earth beneath Huo Chen's feet surged upward like a trampoline and launched him sideways out of the attack's path.
His body shifted through the air and before he'd fully cleared the technique, another platform materialized beneath him.
BANG.
The Earth Thrust launched him forward like a shooting bullet and the air around him rushed past with a sharp WHOOSH.
Time seemed to slow as he approached Mu Xiang horizontally with his body parallel to the ground. His hand moved to his storage ring and pulled out several talisman bombs in one smooth motion.
He tossed them toward Mu Xiang's position and time resumed its normal flow immediately.
Huo Chen shot past Mu Xiang with the force from his Earth Thrust still carrying him forward.
Behind him came three massive explosions. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The detonations ripped through the air and sent shockwaves spreading outward in violent waves.
"Arrgh! Brat, you must die! You must die!" Mu Xiang's scream of pain and fury echoed from within the smoke and flames.
Huo Chen shook his head slightly. Even that didn't kill him.
Before he could process anything further, two figures appeared at his sides like ghosts. Mu Tian was slightly ahead while an independent cultivator closed in immediately behind, and both bent low from the speed of their movement.
Their attacks came on the same trajectory and converged toward him with devastating coordination.
Bang.bang.bang. Crazy fast palm strikes and fist techniques filled the air around him.
Shock flashed through Huo Chen's mind but there was no time for hesitation. He shifted forward hastily to escape the converging attacks but several techniques caught his waist area before he could fully clear the danger.
The impact sent him flying forward and though his earth Qi protected the area, the force still rattled his internal organs. Blood spilled from his mouth in a thin stream.
The two cultivators followed immediately and boxed him from both sides as he flew through the air.
Huo Chen broke his forward momentum with a sharp application of spiritual energy and his body slowed mid-flight.
With a fast shift backward and to the right toward Mu Tian, he launched himself forward with his claws spread wide.
BANG.
They collided and Huo Chen's body executed a smooth spinning turn, moving in a tight circle with his form almost touching Mu Tian's as he rotated leftward to bypass the older cultivator.
In that exact moment, the independent cultivator's fist shot through the space where Huo Chen's head had been a heartbeat before.
Huo Chen's hand moved to his storage ring in that split second and pulled out every remaining attack talisman he'd collected from Zhou Kang, Guo Lin, and Liu Feng.
He threw them all at once toward both Mu Tian and the independent cultivator.
BOOM.
The explosion was deafening and the blast radius consumed all three of them in flames and spiritual energy.
Huo Chen flashed out from the smoke with a shimmering defensive barrier surrounding his body and ran with everything he had.
Behind him, Mu Tian and the independent cultivator burst from opposite sides of the explosion, one dashing left and the other right to escape the center of the detonation.
Both coughed blood miserably and their bodies showed serious injuries from the concentrated talisman assault.
BAM.
An earthen platform erupted beneath Huo Chen's feet and launched him skyward. Before his feet touched the ground again, another platform materialized in mid-air.
BAM.
The second thrust propelled him forward with even greater speed and a third platform appeared while he was still airborne.
BAM.
The final Earth Thrust sent him shooting away from the Cleansing Springs area like an arrow released from a drawn bow.
He didn't dare waste even a second to check on the other marrow holders or look back at his pursuers. Any delay would be disastrous.
WHOOSH.
He cleared the spring's boundary and his feet hit solid ground at full sprint. Cultivators who'd been waiting outside the area turned to look as he shot past them but Huo Chen only registered their presence briefly before leaving them behind with pure speed. The forest swallowed him and he kept running without slowing.