As the silhouettes grew nearer, Ming Li's expression sank more; also, the river was almost right in front of him. He knew that jumping towards the river would instantly kill him, and the space above it would probably tear him to pieces. If luck is in his side, it could send him again to somewhere unknown.

Sweats filled his forehead as fear enveloped his whole thoughts. This was one of the most hopeless situation he have been.

The three seekers who were trailing behind were now closing in at a rapid phase, even the one who was pursuing him the longest had advanced closer and was only 300 meters from him, and the seekers from the island were also now more visible and ripples of energy was now becoming apparent as they came nearer.

As time passed by, the rumbling sounds from the incoming seekers grew more intense which made Ming Li more anxious. Because he knew that once those seekers were near enough, he would be subjected to extreme danger.

This time, the man was already fifty meters away from Ming Li, and Ming Li was right in front of the gigantic river. He had nowhere to run, and even if he wanted to, he would surely be caught.

The man tapped his cube where a lance appeared which radiated a blue shade.

With the spear at hand, the man roared and rushed towards Ming Li. 

Ear splitting sound echoed from his advance as his image transformed into a giant water lance directly headed towards Ming Li. Also, the two seeker trailing behind was now also a kilometer away from them.

There was no time for Ming Li to think of a crafty plan, so this time he also roared and decided to risk it all.

He activated Sun's wave and covered his entire body with it. His appearance quickly turned molten red.

When the lance of the man was a meter away from him, he placed his hand in front of the incoming seeker and said. "Distort."

With that single word, the man suddenly felt his body being torn apart which caused him to be stunned for a second. 

The damage it did was significant, but it could not stop the advance of the man as he tried to ignore the effect of distort and thrust his lance with all his might.

Ming Li on the other hand quickly punched forward creating a heat force which blocked the water lance and made the man completely stop in place.

At the instant when the man stopped, he grabbed the man's neck and immediately used "Despair"

However, them man was too strong to be fully suppressed, and the two seeker were now only 500 meters away.

With no other option, Ming Li glanced at the direction of the river then gritted his teeth.

He gathered all his resolve, then dragging the man, he jumped towards the distorting space above the river. 

When they touched the distortion, it quickly swallowed them. Unfortunately, the arms of the man was decapitated by the distortion and was wildly thrown away.

Instantly, both Ming Li and the man was gone without trace. The only thing that remained was the decapitated hand of the man that was thrown several meters away form the river.

The two incoming seekers quickly stopped their tracks and stared at the distortion.

They could do nothing to save their comrade. When it comes to the space distortion above the river, even their whole tribe is powerless against it.

With the distortion swallowing Ming Li, their pursuit was over. Both of them quickly flew away towards the hundreds of incoming seekers back at their island.

....

Inside the space, the man was screaming in horror. His body was rapidly being bent, pulled and compressed uncontrollably.

Quickly his body was torn apart as he miserably shrieked with face filled with disbelief while shouting "NO!!!'

On the other hand, Ming Li was extremely focused with his hands raised in front of him. It was at this moment that he controlled the space around him. 

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His breathing started to become rugged as the distortion became more intense. He knew that his understanding towards space wasn't sufficient to totally escape this situation unscathed.

However, he was determined to survive no matter the cost. Every time he got an opportunity, he would glance around trying to observe the surroundings looking for a slight weakening in the distortion and use it to escape. But, the distortion was too fast that he could not find a single opening from it.

Only after thirty breaths, a quick distortion appeared beside him. This distortion suddenly consumed his left leg leaving only half of his knee behind.

"Argg.." Ming Li's face twisted from pain. With his leg eaten by the distortion in space, his concentration wavered slightly which caused him to be overwhelmed by the space around him.

Slowly, more distortion was able to enter Ming Li's range which ate small portions of his skin and left him with injuries.

Small pieces of his body were torn away, his consciousness became slightly fuzzy. When this happened, the next thing that was consumed was his left arm!

Another groan of pain could be heard from Ming Li as his arms were ripped away from his body completely devoured by the distortions in space.

With a leg and arm gone, he was completely exhausted. His concentration was at its limits while the distortion became more violent.

Also, using his understanding to control the space around him requires too much concentration and energy, which he was now losing.

Every bit of time became extremely important for Ming Li. In his estimate, he could only last a few more breaths before the entire space completely consumes him.

Without much regard to his stamina, he gritted his teeth and roared wildly as natural energy swirled around him. He used all of his strength to fight against the distortion in space and create a one time opportunity to escape.

Everything around him started to calm down as his eyes shone with determination to quell the distortions surrounding him. 

When he noticed that what he was doing was having an effect on the space, he quickly decided to proceed with his last resort. And that was to open a rift in the space so that he could escape!

He quickly raised his hands attempting to replicate his action inside the space where he was previously trapped in. Using all of the energy he cold muster, he swiftly slashed his hands downward slicing the space in half!

A bright glow appeared from the slice revealing a bright rift right in front of him. Ming Li smiled gleefully when he saw that he managed to create a rift out of desperation.

"I knew it! With the space here being unstable I am able to produce the same rift to travel space!"

Disregarding everything, he took his step towards the rift. The rift was actually only two steps away from him, so he was sure that he could now survive this calamity.

Without much hesitation, he made his body float towards the rift. Completing the first step was not much trouble, He only needed to focus carefully and avoid the space from going on rampage near him.

However, when he was only half a step away from the rift, a sudden wild distortion happened. He did not know if it happened only because he was unlucky or the space actually did not want him to escape. But what he was sure of was that, his distortion could kill him!

small portion of shoulders... feet.... legs, then other small pieces of his body was torn away by the distortion. Only groans of pain could be heard from Ming Li, but his eyes still gleamed with resolve as he pushed his body to its limits to cross that remaining half a step.

He could not simply rush towards the rift, it was as if while fighting with the distortion, he was being pushed away.

Several breaths passed, but he still remained at the same position unable to move forward. Also, more portion of his body was being eaten away.

Soon, a large distortion swallowed his remaining arm! Then only after two breaths his remaining leg was also consumed!

Even if he just lose a bit of focus the whole space would act up and devour him. After losing all of his arms and legs, his focus wavered slightly which caused the space to again consume him.

This time, the space was unstoppable, it started to consume him little by little. Even though he was used to extreme pain because of his understanding of it. He could not avoid to lose focus every time a portion of his body was eaten away.

He was barely hanging on and using his energy to preserve his life. He knew that even he could escape the space, he would still die outside because he had no limbs left to even move.

With this thought running through his head, he could not help but lose his resolve.

"Is this the end for me?" Ming Li thought.

"I think I did enough." 

"I guess I'll die now."

While saying these words, the space distortion came nearer to him. It then starting eating his skin away and clothes. Without his resolve, in a few breaths, his whole body will be completely consumed. 

This time, he did not groan while being consumed. It was as if he already accepted that it was the end of the line for him, and he could do nothing more to survive.

He started to close his eyes and calm himself, but when he was about to totally give up, he heard a maniacal laugh from his cube. The sound of the laugh was familiar, it was coupled with a wooden clanking sound.

He then stared at his cube and suddenly thought of the puppet. "Is there a specific reason you are happy to see me die here?" He thought to himself.

When he thought of the puppet, he recalled his desire to know more about it. Then suddenly this single thought opened up a flood of unanswered questions which came to him.

His eyes gleamed with inspiration as roared loudly and shouted "No I will not die here! I still have a lot of unanswered questions! A lot of things I need to experience and learn!"

He glanced at the previous location of his already amputated arms, then shifted his gaze quickly at his long gone legs. With just a glance, he realized that even though his arms and legs were gone he can still feel that they somewhat exist.

When he felt this, his eyes shone with enlightenment as he said.

"Even though I have lost my arms and legs I am sure my soul is still complete!"

"I now remember what old Ji Chanming said. Soul Realm is shedding the mortal flesh!"