Chapter 97: Escape (Part 2)
The final door of the treasure vault rumbled open. Standing at the entrance, Xiao Tiannan's mind exploded with a deafening "bang."
What lay before him was emptiness. The nearly ten-thousand-square-foot treasure vault was so vacant that every corner could be seen clearly. All the medicinal herbs, treasures, spirit crystals, spirit jades, and even the sect's profound techniques and arts—the entire thousand-year accumulation of their sect—had vanished without a trace. It was as clean as if a hurricane had swept through, leaving not even a single hair behind.
Xiao Tiannan's body staggered violently. Even though he was a sect master with an exceptionally resilient mind, he nearly went mad on the spot.
"How... how is this possible!! What happened?! Where are the things? Where did they go?! Where did they go?!" Xiao Tiannan grabbed Xiao Baicao by the collar, roaring like an enraged lion.
"I... I don't know... I don't know!" Xiao Baicao shook his head frantically, his face filled with terror. When he had arrived and opened the vault doors, he had been so shocked that his legs gave way and he collapsed. Even now, his body convulsed violently, and his mind was a chaotic mess of fear. This treasure vault held the very foundation of the entire branch sect—the lifeline of the whole sect!
"I... I just asked the guards. Today, only Huangfu He came here, and he stayed inside for a full two hours!"
"Huangfu... He?" Xiao Tiannan was stunned, then shook his head with a pale face. "Impossible... It can't be him. He's the Evil Heart Saintly Hand. How could it be him..."
Over these past days, Yun Che's reputation as the "Evil Heart Saintly Hand" and his astonishing medical skills had so thoroughly impressed them that they almost revered him as a god. His acting was so perfect that even facing this scene, Xiao Tiannan instinctively refused to suspect him... After all, how could a figure like the world's greatest divine physician be interested in the belongings of a small sect like theirs? There was simply no reason for him to do such a thing.
Moreover, his profound strength was merely at the Xuan Entry Realm, and he didn't wear a space ring... And even the highest-grade purple space ring could only hold a few hundred square feet of space. How could he possibly have moved everything from this entire vault?
"Sect Master, over there... it looks like there's something written?" Xiao Baicao's eyes widened as he pointed at the wall directly ahead.
Xiao Tiannan's gaze swept over. Three lines of neatly written characters reflected in his eyes.
"Old fogey Xiao Tiannan, I'll graciously accept the offerings you and my grandson Xiao Luocheng have given me. Since you chose to provoke me, you'll have to pay a sufficient price. But considering you've served me quite comfortably these past two days, I'll tell you two secrets. First: my poor grandson Xiao Luocheng is truly ruined this time. Not even the real Huangfu He could save him. Second: that King Xuan Dragon Pill is fake, hahahahaha..."
Below the three lines was a large signature.
"Yun Che, the Great Lord!!"
That's right, Yun Che had directly signed his own name. In truth, if he hadn't left this name, Xiao Tiannan would never have connected it to him. But he left it anyway—this was arrogance, confidence, and even self-conceit. It was also an insult. "I want you to know who brought you to this state! I want you to know who you've offended! I'm not afraid of your revenge! Want revenge? Come at me!"
Xiao Tiannan's body shook violently. His face turned deathly pale in an instant. Under the assault of rage and grief, a surge of blood rushed up and sprayed from his mouth, and he fell straight backward like a log.
A thousand years of the sect's foundation wiped out in a single day. Who could bear such a blow?
"Sect Master!"
Xiao Baicao let out a sorrowful cry and quickly caught the falling Xiao Tiannan. Xiao Tiannan didn't faint outright, but his face was bloodless, his eyes unfocused, and he muttered hoarsely, "Impossible... impossible... impossible..."
He had never seen Yun Che's appearance, but he knew he was just a sixteen-year-old youth. No matter how he tried, he couldn't connect a sixteen-year-old boy with the divine physician who had stayed at the sect for three or four days. Those superb medical skills and insights, that immortal-like bearing, those eyes that seemed to see through the world—how could a sixteen-year-old possess them?
If it were a disguise, how could he, an Earth Xuan Realm expert, fail to see through the disguise of a mere Xuan Entry Realm weakling?
He simply couldn't understand how Yun Che had managed to empty an entire treasure vault.
The thousand-year accumulation of the clan wiped out in an instant—this blow completely shattered his mental defenses. He felt as if trapped in a nightmare, unable to believe any of it was real. Only one word echoed in his mind: impossible... impossible... impossible...
"Yun Che... is that the one who injured the young sect master?" Xiao Baicao helped Xiao Tiannan sit up and said through gritted teeth, "Sect Master, calm down! What we need most now is calm! That 'Huangfu He' is likely Yun Che in disguise. He planned all this for days just to take revenge on us. But he probably hasn't gone far yet. He just left the sect not long ago and probably didn't expect us to check the vault so soon. Xiao Zaihe is with him. Use the sound transmitting talisman to contact Xiao Zaihe immediately and tell him to capture Yun Che! Then we can recover everything from the vault!"
Xiao Baicao's words snapped Xiao Tiannan out of his daze. He quickly took out a sound transmitting talisman and locked onto Xiao Zaihe's imprint...
As Xiao Baicao expected, Yun Che and Xiao Zaihe had only just left the sect grounds. But at this point, Yun Che stopped and said calmly to Xiao Zaihe, "Alright, no need to see me off further. Wait here from now on. I'll go to the Black Moon Merchant Guild on my own."
Xiao Zaihe was taken aback and said in confusion, "But the road to the Black Moon Merchant Guild is still quite long. The sect master repeatedly instructed me to ensure your safety, Senior..."
"Hmph!" Yun Che snorted impatiently. "Before I go to the Black Moon Merchant Guild, I have some personal matters to attend to. I don't need anyone following me. Just wait here."
Seeing the "divine physician" frown with displeasure, Xiao Zaihe's heart skipped a beat. He didn't dare insist and quickly said, "Since it's your command, Junior... Junior will wait here."
Just then, he felt a faint fluctuation of force from his sound transmission stone.
To achieve long-distance sound transmission, each use consumed a sound transmitting talisman. Each talisman contained a small sound transmission formation, so even the lowest-grade ones, with a range of just a few miles, were extremely expensive. High-grade talismans that could transmit over a thousand miles cost astronomical amounts. Thus, unless it was a matter of great urgency, people generally didn't waste sound transmitting talismans.
Xiao Zaihe quickly took out his sound transmission jade. Instantly, Xiao Tiannan's roar echoed in his mind, startling him so much that he cried out involuntarily, "What!?"
According to Yun Che's plan, this act of revenge and plundering against the Xiao Sect branch should have been flawless and foolproof. The early and middle stages had gone perfectly. His plan was to have a relatively unimportant member of the Xiao Sect see him out today, then find an excuse to slip away alone, vanish without a trace, and leave the Xiao Sect with no way to find him. After that, he would spread the news that the Xiao Sect had obtained a King Xuan Dragon Pill, alarming the entire region for thousands of miles. Countless people coveting the pill would come knocking, plunging the sect into chaos and misery, leaving them no energy to hunt him down.
But no matter how clever a person is, they can't predict exactly what someone else will do next. For instance, Yun Che never expected that so soon after he left, Xiao Tiannan would suddenly think of some trivial matter and send Xiao Baicao to the treasure vault...
When Xiao Zaihe pulled out his sound transmission stone, Yun Che frowned, sensing something was wrong. When he saw Xiao Zaihe's face and eyes change dramatically, he knew the vault's secret had been exposed far too early. Furrowing his brows, he cursed inwardly: Damn! This isn't right! How could it be this fast? Logically, they shouldn't have discovered it until tomorrow at least! Aaaaah!
Yun Che didn't bolt immediately. Instead, he kept his expression unchanged and walked forward steadily, hoping he was just overthinking and that Xiao Zaihe's reaction was due to something else. But luck wasn't on his side. A piercing murderous intent erupted behind him.
"Yun Che... so it's you, you little bastard! Give me your life!"
Yun Che's footsteps faltered, then without a second thought, he burst forward at full speed.
Even as he shouted, Xiao Zaihe was still uncertain—it was hard to connect the "divine physician" with Yun Che. But Yun Che's sudden sprint erased all doubt. With murderous intent blazing like a gale, Xiao Zaihe gave chase.
"Mo Li, what cultivation level is this person?"
"Spirit Xuan Realm, Level One."
"~！#￥%... What do you think are my chances of escaping from him?"
"You're two major realms apart. If this princess doesn't intervene, your chance of escaping is zero. If I do intervene, he'll die, but even if you drain all your blood, I'll have a ninety percent chance of dying too!" Mo Li said in a low voice.
"..."
Yun Che mentally cursed Xiao Tiannan's ancestors for eighteen generations... You just got a "King Xuan Dragon Pill," and instead of playing with it and studying it with Xiao Baicao, you had to rush to the damned treasure vault?!
"You little bastard, where do you think you're running?!"
Xiao Zaihe's sinister voice came from behind. A Spirit Xuan Realm cultivator could easily catch up to someone at the Xuan Entry Realm. Within just a few breaths, the distance between them had halved. In a few more breaths, he would be overtaken. At that moment, Yun Che became perfectly calm. His right hand touched his left, and a heavy black metal ball appeared in his grasp. Carefully shattering its outer shell with his profound energy, he spun around and hurled it behind him.
"Heaven-Shaking Thunder!!"
A metal ball flew toward Xiao Zaihe at a moderate speed. Anyone else might have contemptuously slapped it aside. But Xiao Zaihe was different—he recognized a Heaven-Shaking Thunder and had seen its power firsthand. His pupils shrank, and he ducked awkwardly to avoid it, then covered his head and threw himself flat on the ground.
Boom!!!!
The Heaven-Shaking Thunder hit the ground and exploded with a deafening roar, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. Beneath the dust, a crater over four or five zhang in diameter smoked with thick black fumes. Yun Che glanced back, startled by the terrifying power, then unhesitatingly grabbed a second Heaven-Shaking Thunder.
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