Chapter 273: The Fire Chase

Although Joo Joowon had no idea whether these clearly extraordinary flames would be afraid of ordinary water, no matter what, he had to try it first before reaching any conclusions.

In his soul state, Joo Joowon was extremely fast. He did not dare to rush directly into the Sea of Quanta. Many mental attacks would display even greater power in the Sea of Quanta than they did in the material world. If he failed to shake off the flames and instead ended up helping his enemy, that would be troublesome.

After all, although ordinary supernatural creatures could sense the Sea of Quanta, it was not a place they could enter casually. Joo Joowon was different. To him, entering it was practically like entering his own backyard.

After running for quite some time, Joo Joowon finally found a stream. Without hesitation, he immediately plunged into the water. The flames' advance slowed down for a moment, but then they also plunged straight into the water without the slightest hesitation.

Joo Joowon immediately started running again and could not help secretly complaining.

If he had known this would happen, he should have hidden farther away.

However, he felt that even if he had been farther away, he might still have been targeted. After all, he still had not found the fire trees' "eyes." Maybe every tree on the mountain could become their eyes?

As he ran, Joo Joowon continuously communicated with his Main Star without stopping for even a moment.

Astral Combat was a curse-type skill, but curse-type skills all had one characteristic. Either one had to possess something belonging to the target, such as their hair, or one had to possess their aura. Otherwise, one had to know their birth date and birth time.

If the enemy were right in front of him and fighting against him face to face, Joo Joowon could easily activate the skill. But the current situation was different. He had already secretly begun using the skill while the mutated creatures were being burned, so that the creatures would not notice him after they finished dealing with the mutated creatures.

Joo Joowon never held onto lucky chances or believed that the other party would be unable to discover him simply because he was in a spirit state.

However, those flames were far too strange. They were excessively "clean," making it impossible for him to sense any aura from them, let alone determine their location.

This left Joo Joowon with no choice but to attack indirectly.

When a creature encountered danger, its own fortune would fluctuate. Other disaster-related stars and celestial bodies would also subconsciously draw closer. By following these changes, it might not be impossible to find the enemy's true body.

However, this method was far too complicated and cumbersome. It required quite a lot of time, and it was not nearly as easy as when he was facing the enemy directly.

Not to mention that he was currently running for his life. Trying to do two things at once made it even more difficult to find the enemy.

While working hard to search for it, he also kept an eye on the distance between himself and the flames.

Joo Joowon soon discovered that although the flames underwater had not been extinguished, they seemed to have been restricted in some way. They no longer possessed the arrogant, blazing appearance they had shown on the water's surface. It could not exactly be called timid or restrained, but they were indeed less active than before.

He immediately decided that he would stay underwater and never come back out.

This did not mean that the other party had been restricted by the water. It was more like a state of restraint.

It was like a cat that disliked water but had come into contact with it, or a student who did not want to go to school but had no choice except to attend. Even though they knew that it would not truly affect them, their own likes and dislikes still made them feel restricted and unable to act freely.

This situation would not change with the passage of time. Just like a house cat that was bathed frequently would still dislike water, the flames would not suddenly become comfortable underwater.

However, this was a good thing for Joo Joowon. At the very least, the other party's speed had become somewhat slower than before, allowing him to devote more of his attention to calculations.

He could not place his hopes on the flames automatically extinguishing themselves after their "fuel" had been used up.

What if the other party simply refused to go out?

However, judging from the other party's behavior, it did not seem to be a creature driven by instinct alone. Since it knew how to surround its prey, it clearly possessed some intelligence. Under these circumstances, it was not impossible that the other party might turn back after realizing that it could not catch him.

Nevertheless, no matter what happened, Joo Joowon would never simply sit around and wait for death.

Under the flames' relentless pursuit, Joo Joowon had almost searched through the water veins of the entire mountain. It could be said that he was now absolutely no less familiar with this mountain than someone who had lived nearby since childhood.

As he ran all over the mountain, he even found some enjoyment in it.

As a spirit body, he clearly did not have to worry about physical stamina. The flames had no such concern either. Therefore, even though this chase had continued for such a long time, neither side felt tired.

However, considering the current situation, Joo Joowon did not believe that he could hold out longer than the other party.

After all, leaving one's body through soul projection still had a time limit. If he stayed outside for too long, he would be unable to return. This was different from the flames, which could separate several clusters of fire without being affected in the slightest.

These flames did not seem to rely on "fuel" to exist. At the very least, after chasing him for so long, they had not become smaller or shown any need to replenish their fuel.