Chapter 274: Tricking the Flames

Although Joo Joowon had already delayed the situation for such a long time, the other party still seemed to be hidden within a layer of fog. He had not managed to grasp even the slightest clue that would allow her to use the Astral Combat skill.

Judging from the current situation, continuing to delay things would clearly be unfavorable for Joo Joowon.

Therefore, Joo Joowon immediately stopped hiding his movements and ran directly toward the outside of the mountain.

No matter what form the flames were in, there could not possibly be no distance limit between their clones and their main body. If such a situation truly occurred, the clones would no longer be extensions of the main body. They would be almost equivalent to independent individuals.

It was just like Mental Power. If one day Joo Joowon’s Mental Power no longer needed to be replenished by his main body, could move freely outside, and could even absorb energy from the outside world to strengthen itself, then it could no longer remain an attachment of Joo Joowon. His control over it would inevitably decrease as well.

He would have no way of knowing what his mental body was doing outside and would only be left in a state of complete ignorance.

Even if something was separated from its own main body, once mysterious power became involved, it would inevitably develop certain situations beyond its control.

Therefore, the general consensus in the supernatural world was that anything separated from its main body to fight an enemy usually would not move too far away from it.

Joo Joowon had personally seen the flames being separated from their main body, so he did not believe he would encounter the worst possible situation.

Although, considering his luck, it seemed that anything was possible.

However, everything still had to follow some basic rules. Although he could not sense the other party’s aura, that feeling of being completely connected could not deceive him.

This meant that the many fire trees actually came from the same source. All the flames could be regarded as one whole entity instead of treating each cluster of flames as an independent individual.

After Joo Joowon stopped concealing his intention to leave, the flames immediately began to change. He easily noticed that the other party had started to become somewhat irritable.

These strange flames seemed unable to conceal their emotions. When they disliked being underwater, they burned in a more restrained manner. When they became impatient, the flames burned even more fiercely and wildly.

Sparks from the "top of its head" would occasionally fly away from its body, resembling the long tail of a comet. Yet when they landed on plants, they did not ignite anything, making them seem like illusory existences.

As Joo Joowon drew closer and closer to the exit, the flames began squeezing out every bit of their potential to catch up with her. Their speed became even faster than it had been before, despite already being quite fast, and the air even began to release explosive cracking sounds because of it.

When he finally reached the foot of the mountain, he found that a wall of fire had already surrounded the area below.

As a spirit body, he could actually fly directly outside. However, if he did that, he would not be able to accomplish his original purpose.

Looking at the scene before him, Joo Joowon could not help raising an eyebrow.

Although the way out had been blocked by the reinforcements summoned by the flames, it was also clear that his guess had been correct. These flames really did have a distance limit.

If there had been no distance limit, they would not have gone through the trouble of luring animals over. They also would not have waited until all the animals had arrived before attacking. After all, if they could leave the mountain and hunt whenever they wanted, who would bother setting up traps whose harvest could not be guaranteed?

It was obvious that the flames were unable to leave this mountain for some reason.

Otherwise, with abilities like theirs, how could any other living creatures in the surrounding area possibly have survived?

However, Joo Joowon had not been running for so long simply to escape. He had been collecting information without stopping the entire time.

At this moment, he did not hesitate at all. He dove back underwater and then continued deeper into the damp mud.

Although a soul would not be restricted by obstacles and could pass through anything, unlike the flames, which had to avoid obstacles along the way while chasing him, that did not mean Joo Joowon could freely travel through the sky and earth. In particular, passing through walls and burrowing underground over a large area consumed quite a lot of his own energy.

The flames that had caught up with him seemed extremely angry. Their emotions were even more intense than when they had realized he intended to escape. The color of the entire cluster of flames had consequently become much deeper, and its speed had grown even faster.

Joo Joowon shot out like an arrow that had been released from a bow. In the blink of an eye, he had already rushed away. Then, he slowly floated out from underground and stood face-to-face with the wall of fire opposite him.

The fiercely burning wall of fire across from him paused slightly. It looked somewhat unwilling to accept the situation.

Joo Joowon could not help curling his lips into a smile before burrowing underground again. When he appeared once more, he had returned to the mountain.

From beginning to end, Joo Joowon had never intended to leave through this method. After all, his main body was still on the mountain. Without him here to attract the flames’ attention, his body would probably have already been reduced to a pile of ashes.

His arrogant attitude of leaving and then returning had truly angered the flames, which had already been planning to let him go. As a result, it was no longer just a few clusters of flames chasing him.