The speed of Mo Da, Mo Er, Mo Liu, and Mo Jiu was a few points faster than Zi Linling's, but they couldn't close the distance.
Zi Linling was like a slippery loach, just as they were about to catch up, she would suddenly pull away, enraging Mo Da, who gnashed his teeth.
"Boss, this girl is too slippery. Why don't we send a signal for the others to come and surround her?" Mo Er suggested.
"Yes, Boss, send the signal!" Mo Liu and Mo Jiu echoed.
Mo Da looked at Zi Linling, who was getting closer and farther away but showed no signs of fatigue. He grimly commanded, "Send the signal!"
"Yes!"
Mo Er took out an emergency flare and shot it into the sky.
In an instant, Mo Si and Mo Qi in the north, and Mo San, Mo Wu, and Mo Ba in the west saw the signal. Without hesitation, they abandoned the guards and headed east.
Zi Linling also saw the signal flare and felt a pang of bitterness.
She could maintain a stable distance from Mo Da, Mo Er, Mo Liu, and Mo Jiu due to two reasons: firstly, the exquisiteness of the Phantom Dragon Step, and secondly, her ample supply of elixirs. Whenever she felt her spiritual power waning, she would pop one.
However, this couldn't go on forever. While elixirs could quickly replenish her spiritual power, the stamina and soul power consumed during long flights were not so easily replenished.
The replenishment of stamina and soul power could not keep up with the rate of consumption. At this rate, Zi Linling would eventually be caught.
What should she do?
Zi Linling ran, searching for a way to shake off Mo Da and the others.
Heaven's path is not closed to those who seek.
A forest appeared in Zi Linling's sight, and an idea struck her.
She controlled her spiritual power and plunged into the lush forest.
Mo Da and the others followed, but Zi Linling had disappeared.
As it turned out, the moment Zi Linling entered the forest, she summoned the Goddess Palace and transformed it into a piece of rubble.
Then, with a thought, she entered the Goddess Palace.
Looking at the panting Zi Linling, Yue Wumei asked with concern, "Lin'er, are you alright?"
Zi Linling shook her head and said, "Mother, don't worry, I'm fine!"
Yue Wumei said dotingly, "You are too bold! You escaped from Tianmo Valley and then went back to covet the treasures in the Tianmo Valley treasury. How dangerous!"
Zi Linling smiled and said, "Mother, this is what they owe you. They imprisoned you for twenty years, and they must pay a price. Look..."
As she spoke, the herbs, elixirs, weapons, and spirit stones she had collected were piled into small mountains before Yue Wumei.
Yue Wumei was shocked, "Lin'er, you didn't empty the Tianmo Valley treasury, did you?"
Zi Linling chuckled sheepishly, scratched her head, and said, "Not entirely. I left them something to remember us by!"
"Remember us by? What do you mean?" Yue Wumei asked, puzzled.
Zi Linling smiled mysteriously, "Of course, to let them know where these things came from."
"Where they came from?" Yue Wumei asked in surprise.
Zi Linling smiled and said, "Mother, don't ask for now! I ran for tens of thousands of miles with them chasing me, and I'm exhausted. Just stay in the Goddess Palace, and I'll rest for a while."
Yue Wumei looked at the weariness on her face and nodded.
Zi Linling moved with a thought, bringing Yue Wumei to the Bodhi tree. After giving some instructions, she entered a state of cultivation.
Meanwhile, Mo Da was furious that he had lost the person after chasing her for tens of thousands of miles.
He roared, "You wretched girl, I'll skin you alive when I catch you!"
Mo Er carefully surveyed the surroundings and said, "Boss, there are no clues left here. It means the girl hid immediately after entering the forest."
"Hid?"
Mo Da's body pulsed with volatile energy as he furiously said, "Search! Search immediately! Even if you have to dig three feet deep, find that wretched girl for me!"
"Yes! Boss!"
Mo Er, Mo Liu, and Mo Jiu responded, releasing their divine senses to search meticulously.
A moment later, Mo San, Mo Si, Mo Wu, Mo Qi, and Mo Ba also arrived.
The divine senses of the nine people crisscrossed, leaving no blind spots.
However, the Goddess Palace was a spatial artifact. As long as it remained still, it would perfectly blend with the surrounding space, making it difficult to detect.
Therefore, after searching for a long time, the nine elders of the demon clan did not recognize the Goddess Palace.
Mo Da was filled with rage.
To vent his anger, he gathered spiritual power into his fist and unleashed a barrage of attacks within a radius of thirty feet.
Mo Da's frantic bombardment caused the Goddess Palace, which had transformed into a stone, to fly into the air. After spinning continuously, it landed back on the ground.
"Boss, look at this stone!"
Mo Er, with sharp eyes, pointed at the stone the Goddess Palace had transformed into and said.
The others gathered around, not finding anything unusual.
Even Mo Da looked bewildered, not understanding what Mo Er meant.
Mo Er quickly explained, "Look at the other stones; they've all turned to dust. Only this stone has remained unchanged!"
Everyone looked closely.
As Mo Er had said, within a radius of thirty feet, all the stones had turned into dust, while the one transformed by the Goddess Palace had suffered no damage.
Mo Da's eyes lit up. "You mean she's hiding inside this stone?"
Mo Er nodded. "I'm afraid this stone is not simple!"
Mo Da sinisterly shouted, "Attack this stone together!"
"Yes!"
The other eight responded, gathered their strength, and simultaneously attacked the Goddess Palace.
Inside the Goddess Palace, Zi Linling, just as she had recovered, felt a dizzying sensation that almost made her vomit.
After finally stabilizing herself, before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the Goddess Palace began to spin again.
Zi Linling was enraged.
This couldn't go on.
Although the Goddess Palace could not be broken by the nine elders of the demon clan, the dizziness caused by the attacks was unbearable.
"Mother, you stay here. I'll go out and deal with them!"
Zi Linling said, and then walked out of the Goddess Palace.
The moment she stepped out, she retracted the Goddess Palace and, at a peculiar angle, leaped out of the demon clan's nine elders' encirclement, darting deeper into the forest.
Zi Linling's timing was perfect, occurring precisely when the nine elders of the demon clan had exhausted their previous effort and had not yet mustered a new one. Thus, she was unharmed.
This maneuver stunned the nine elders of the demon clan, leaving them frozen in place.
By the time the nine elders recovered, Zi Linling had already fled five li away.