Chapter 41: Nets Above and Snares Below
Xu Qing sped through the wilderness for two days. An ordinary person who tried to keep going for that long would quickly fall into exhaustion. But with Xu Qing’s powers of recovery, that wasn’t something he had to worry about. In fact, he felt limber and warmed up.
It didn’t take long for him to notice that there were people looking for him. They wore the same robes that the camp owner and other Golden Vajra Warrior Sect cultivators had worn. By exercising care, he was able to avoid them.
About a day out from Antlerville, he reached a fork in the road.
If he went left, he would reach the city he’d lived in for six years. Of course, it was now a forbidden region, covered with darkness that was visible even from a great distance. If he picked the road leading to the right, he would be heading to Antlerville.
Standing there, Xu Qing looked in the direction of the forbidden region for a few breaths of time. Then he turned to head toward Antlerville. However, before he could start moving, his expression flickered, and he ducked into a thicket on the side of the road. Eyes narrowed, he looked up into the sky. Up above, a golden streak of light screamed past.
From this distance, all he could see was the bright, golden light. He wasn’t able to make out the figure within it. But the spirit power fluctuations were more intense than the camp owner. Xu Qing was shocked.
This pressure surpasses the camp owner’s….
Then the beam of light disappeared into the distance, and Xu Qing took a deep breath. However, his eyes flickered with hesitation. During the past two days, he had encountered three groups of cultivators from the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect. He had avoided all of them, and yet, none had seemed particularly threatening to him.
If I keep going this way, I’ll reach Antlerville.
On the one hand, no one knew he had that identity medallion, so no one would be able to use that information to guess that he wanted to get to Antlerville. But he had another advantage; given that he didn’t have to worry about the mutagen in forbidden regions, he could stay in a forbidden region for long periods of time without any problem.
Heading to Antlerville would have its advantages as long as he moved quickly enough that the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect didn’t realize what was going on. If he could reach it in time, he could teleport away before they knew what was happening. But the downside was that if they spotted him on the road, they would realize where he was going, and then he would be in big trouble. The advantage of going to the forbidden region was that he could buy time.
Once the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect got tired, then he would have an additional advantage, and would have a much better chance of reaching Antlerville safely. In the meantime, if he ran into danger he would always be able to retreat further into the forbidden region.
Two options to pick from….
As he weighed the pros and cons, the golden beam of light suddenly appeared again up in the sky, moving at incredible speed.
Seeing that, Xu Qing frowned. Remaining unmoving in his hiding spot, he watched the light as it flew closer and closer.
Eventually, he was able to spot a middle-aged cultivator in the light. He had a paper talisman on his right leg, which emanated spirit power fluctuations that apparently allowed the man to fly. In front of him was another paper talisman, which was the source of the golden light. Within that constantly flickering light, it was possible to make out a shadowy form. As Xu Qing looked, he suddenly realized that it was one of the camp guards he had killed outside the camp owner’s mansion. It seemed they were using his soul as a sort of hunting dog to sniff out prey. The middle-aged cultivator slowed down, looking around the area before shifting directions and continuing his search.
Xu Qing’s heart was pounding.
A talisman treasure!
Although he wasn’t exactly sure what that paper talisman did, he could guess.
They’re using someone I killed to sense me and identify my position? Thankfully, the range doesn’t seem to be very large.
Xu Qing suddenly felt a profound sense of understanding regarding the spectacular things that magical techniques could do. After spending a short time further considering the pros and cons, he made his decision.
I can’t keep going to Antlerville. It’ll take an entire day, and my chances of being discovered during that time are too great. And if they do find me, I won’t have anywhere to hide.
Turning, he sped in the direction of the forbidden region. His current plan was to hide out there for a short time while deciding what to do next. He had only been moving for the time it takes an incense stick to burn when the golden light appeared in the sky again, this time behind him. He quickly found a hiding spot, then looked back. The golden light seemed to be locked onto his position, and was accelerating. Even worse, there was a stream of sword light that sped out in front at even greater speed.
Xu Qing’s expression flickered slightly, and he burst out of hiding and started moving at top speed.
The moment he started moving, rumbling echoed out and the sword light slammed into the spot where he’d been hiding, sending soil exploding out in all directions.
Meanwhile, the golden light continued to approach. Then he heard a cold snort.
“You little whoreson. I finally found you. So this is where you were hiding!”
The golden light got closer and closer, and within it, the middle-aged man became more clearly visible. He had a square jaw and wore a long golden robe. He looked average in both height and facial features, but had prominent eyebrows. Beneath those eyebrows, his eyes glittered with sinister killing intent as he looked in Xu Qing’s direction.
Just as he did, Xu Qing suddenly stamped his right foot down and jumped straight up into the air toward the man.
The cultivator sneered. The first time he’d passed by earlier, the search talisman had reacted strangely, and thus, he’d returned for a closer look. Now, just as he had a lock on his target, Xu Qing jumped up toward him.
Just as Xu Qing reached the maximum height his momentum would allow, and right before he started falling back down, the middle-aged cultivator extended his right hand.
A tempest appeared around him, and he waved his finger. Instantly, the tempest fell, surrounding Xu Qing with whipping winds.
A boom could be heard as he slammed into the ground. Then he started racing toward the forbidden region.
The cultivator made to chase, but then a glittering light shot from Xu Qing, resolving to a dagger. The cultivator’s eyes narrowed as he twisted out of the way to avoid it.
“Useless!” he yelled.
Xu Qing looked up but didn’t say anything in response. He just pushed forward with greater speed. He could already tell that he wasn’t a match for this person. Maybe if the man couldn’t fly, then he could rely on his powers of regeneration to keep him going through serious injury and eventually kill him.
But as long as the enemy could fly, Xu Qing couldn’t do much. When one person was in the air, and the other was stuck on the ground, the latter was at a huge disadvantage.
As Xu Qing pushed forward with all the speed he could muster, the golden-robed cultivator pulled out the transmission slip he had to contact his patriarch. At the same time, he sped after Xu Qing, performing incantation gestures to unleash beams of magical light.
As a grand elder in the ninth level of Qi Condensation, he had abundant spirit power and plenty of magical techniques to use. From a distance, it was possible to see numerous wind blades and fireballs smashing into the ground. Even when Xu Qing managed to dodge the attacks, he would still get hit with shockwaves and debris. Already, blood was oozing out of the corners of his mouth.
Laughing coldly, the cultivator said, “The patriarch is too cautious. I don’t need his help. I can kill you all by myself!”
Despite his bravado, and even though Xu Qing already looked bedraggled, the grand elder didn’t land on the ground. He stayed in the air, performing a double-handed incantation gesture that sent a windstorm down toward the ground.
Killing intent glittered in Xu Qing eyes; being hammered at in such a passive position made his desire to kill even stronger.
However, he also knew that though he was only dealing with one person at the moment, the enemy could surely contact his sect for backup. So Xu Qing kept speeding toward the forbidden region. If more people from the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect showed up, especially the patriarch the man had just mentioned, Xu Qing knew he would be in great danger.
Because the man stayed high in the air, Xu Qing couldn’t counterattack, nor did he have any way to lure the man down.
This guy is too cautious. I can’t keep waiting.
A violet glow flickered in Xu Qing’s eyes as the tempest descended. When the winds hit him, a violet-colored saber suddenly appeared above his head. Xu Qing coughed up blood as the winds injured him, but at the same time, he dropped his arm. The heavenly saber appeared once again, slashing downward.
The cultivator in mid-air suddenly felt an intense sensation of deadly crisis, and his face fell. Backing up, he tapped into all the power of the flight talisman to gain altitude. Just as he did, a shocking rumble echoed out as the image of a saber slashed through the air right below him.
If he had reacted just a bit too slowly, or if he had been flying lower, then he knew he would have been slashed by that attack. He had evaded death, yet didn’t get out unscathed. His left foot was hit, slicing a huge, bloody wound into it.
Intense pain pulsed through him, causing his killing intent to skyrocket. At the same time, his vigilance grew. There was no doubt that, without his flight talisman, that shocking saber would have hit him straight on, and even if it didn’t kill him, it would definitely have seriously injured him.
The patriarch was right! The Kid fights dirty!
Down on the ground, Xu Qing wiped the blood from his mouth and stared up coldly at his enemy and his injured left foot. He wished he had done something slightly different that resulted in the man being dead, but there wasn’t time to think about that now. Turning, he sped toward the forbidden region.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, the grand elder bandaged his wound and looked at Xu Qing, his killing intent raging. Then he hesitated for a brief moment before deciding not to give chase. Instead, he flew higher to gain altitude, then unleashed some magical attacks to try to interfere with Xu Qing’s progress.
He wasn’t going to take action personally at this point. His life was a lot more important to him than accomplishing a task for the sect. And if Xu Qing was dead set on entering the forbidden region, he wasn’t going to stop him.
Once the patriarch shows up, the boy is dead!
Because he wasn’t willing to get too close, his magical techniques didn’t cause much problem for Xu Qing. What was more, Xu Qing was already recovering. As he moved, he picked up speed. Before long, he dashed into the forbidden region.
Outside, the cultivator hovered in midair trying to decide if he should follow inside. Before he could, something like the crackle of thunder reached his ear from behind, and he looked over his shoulder to see two people approaching.
In the front was a man with red on his robe, and white hair whipping around him, making him seem threatening without being angry. In the air behind him was the spectral image of a golden vajra warrior, surrounding the man with whipping winds. This was none other than Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.
Behind him was the other grand elder. Reinforcements had arrived.
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