Chapter 715: Hunter and Prey—Who Lives, Who Dies

The Chu Capital Huai’an City was indeed vast, with the Golden Summit Dharma Tower located in the southern impoverished district, quite far from the Royal Palace.

Even if Chen Ping ran several times faster than a leopard, it would still take him quite some time.

When he first designed this plan, Chen Ping only thought of provoking the opponent, preventing the experts summoned by King Chu Qing from gathering in one place, allowing him to defeat them individually…

The primary mission was certainly not the matter of restoring the kingdom.

But rather the heritage controlled by the Chu Royal Family, specifically the core of the Heaven-Reaching Treasure Tower carried by King Chu Qing at all times.

For him, as long as his strength was enhanced, he could outpace everyone else and gather most of the pagoda together…

With the momentum in his hands, no matter how many steps the opposition took first, they would ultimately just be making a wedding gown for him.

Based on this reason, if he could maneuver the enemy into splitting their forces, the farther they ran, the better… at the very least, ensuring that the dispatched experts couldn’t return to assist in a short time, thus granting himself more time to focus on attacking the Royal Palace and achieving his goal.

The plan was implemented very smoothly.

However, Chen Ping did not expect that despite their paper strength seeming much stronger than his side, including King Chu Qing himself, they were surprisingly vulnerable.

This made him involuntarily chuckle softly.

“Too much time was allocated, the general situation is set, and the risks taken by Senior Sister and Xiaoyue are likely much smaller.”

As he ran, he took out two Heaven-Reaching Tower Seals.

Just drawing them slightly closer, like magnets approaching each other, the two layers of the pagoda emitted a faint glow, naturally merging together into a two-story tower as high as two fingers, gaining a hint of solidity.

More than the change in appearance, what delighted Chen Ping more was that after the two-layer tower combined, his body trembled violently, and a mysterious transformation suddenly emerged within the original rules set to transform his soul and refine his bodily particles.

He felt as if his running body was expanding, swelling crazily, with power surging from an unknown source, from his consciousness and soul, to the ends of his physical body.

The vast power, as if inherent, poured into his soul consciousness and physical body.

Thud…

Chen Ping landed lightly.

The ground within a ten-zhang radius sank three inches slightly, and the figure that had been running like an arrow suddenly doubled in speed at this moment.

With a “whoosh,” the wind whirled, and after several hundred zhang, the sound of the rushing wind vanished once again.

Passersby and street vendors suddenly felt a gust of wind, blowing dust and sand, which blurred their vision.

As some shielded their eyes with a hand, they saw that the strange wind had stopped, with no changes in the surroundings.

A scholar looked around, confusion hidden deep in his eyes, muttering, “It seemed like someone just ran past, but that’s impossible. From the start to the end of the street, how could someone disappear in the blink of an eye…”

He rubbed his eyes heavily, mocking himself, “The teacher said there would be an evaluation, but there’s no set time limit, no need to study day and night. In the Hundred Schools of Thought, true insight and innovation are what matter. Rote memorization only harms the body and is of no great use.”

The scholar sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes again, thinking to himself that he should take a good rest.

He was so young, yet he already had vision problems without having married. When he grew old, would his eyes still be of any use?

Many others were in the same situation as this scholar.

In broad daylight, many instinctively felt someone running past them but couldn’t see anything. Even those with the sharpest eyes could only glimpse a thin, ephemeral green shadow, like sunlight glancing off leaves, swaying shadow and light, real yet unreal.

“Empower.”

Chen Ping sensed the rapid internal changes within his body, his heart filled with lingering joy. Without waiting for his physique and soul to fully transform, he willed, and the two layers of the tower seal responded…

Dozens of ripples invisible to the naked eye flashed towards two directions within the Chu Capital City, disappearing promptly, traveling faster than his running speed by an unknown manyfold.

These ripples existed only within his perception, all because he controlled the two-layer tower seal. To anyone else, there would be no sense of anomaly.

Just like a thought taking form, reaching as soon as conceived, with spatial distance becoming irrelevant.

Chen Ping knew that the power augmentation of the two-layer tower had already benefited all his “followers,” though this augmentation did not occupy a heritage slot; rather, it was something quite idealistic. Any force loyal to him would be empowered.

This was also why during the escape of Young Master Dongyuan from Yan Kingdom, that group fled so swiftly.

Even the cavalry pursuing from Yan Kingdom gained some augmentation.

At the time, Chen Ping did not understand, but now he saw it clearly.

Young Master Dongyuan of Yan Kingdom fled with the royal heritage treasure but did not truly gain the tower seal’s recognition. Simply put, due to the lack of soul strength and the limited time of possession, he hadn’t refined the tower seal.

Thus, at the time, the tower seal augmented all Yan Kingdom’s forces, including the fleeing group.

The pursuers, the fugitives, all received augmentation, which was quite amusing.

As for Chen Ping, with his extensive experience in treasure refining, he claimed the tower seal as his own through the sheer strength of his soul essence from the very first moment.

Of course, whether this was due to the previous owner’s death and the dispersal of their imprint, Chen Ping was not too clear.

However, he knew one thing: the tower seal now accompanied him perfectly.