Chapter 98: Escape (Part 2)
"You little bastard! How dare you steal my sect's supreme treasure!"
Xiao Zaihe scrambled up from the ground somewhat disheveled, roaring in fury as he resumed chasing Yun Che, closing the distance between them in no time. Yun Che turned his head, applied a bit of force to his hand, and threw the second Thunderclap Bomb behind him, but this time, instead of throwing it at Xiao Zaihe's face, he tossed it onto the ground in front of him.
Watching the Thunderclap Bomb land before him, Xiao Zaihe was indeed greatly alarmed, hastily stopping in his tracks and leaping backward to the ground.
Boom!!!!
A wave of scorching heat surged from behind, staggering Yun Che and nearly causing him to fall. The distance between them was temporarily widened, but only temporarily—a single Thunderclap Bomb could only buy him a few seconds at best.
He gripped the third Thunderclap Bomb in his hand, knowing he had to dash into the city district as fast as possible. Only by entering the city would he have a chance to escape.
"You bastard! There are only six Thunderclap Bombs in total. Once you've used them all, let's see where else you can run!" Xiao Zaihe pursued relentlessly from behind, gnashing his teeth in fury. Thunderclap Bombs were thermal weapons crafted by the Artifact Sect of the Xiao Sect's main branch, extremely powerful in force. Even with his Spirit Xuan Realm cultivation, a direct hit would either kill or severely injure him. These Thunderclap Bombs were life-saving artifacts that only branch sect elders were entitled to possess. Now not only had they fallen into Yun Che's hands, but he was also using them so wantonly against him. Fortunately, Yun Che's profound strength was very low, so the bombs he threw could still be relatively easily dodged—otherwise, he might have ended up dead here today.
What Xiao Zaihe shouted was exactly what Yun Che worried about. There were indeed only six Thunderclap Bombs, and the sum of these six could barely buy him less than two minutes. That amount of time wasn't enough to let him dash into the city district.
He had to think of other ways.
Yun Che clutched the Thunderclap Bomb, his mind racing, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter. He had endured far too many pursuits in his life—countless times more dangerous than this by a hundredfold. Most of them he had escaped using the poison power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl, but now the poison power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl had vanished, the Star Concealing Herb was used up, and a direct fight was utterly impossible. So the only thing he could borrow was...
Yun Che took a light breath and began quickly sorting through the medicinal herbs he had taken from the Xiao Sect's treasure vault, searching for those that could be concocted into fast-acting lethal poisons.
At that moment, a graceful and elegant young girl's figure suddenly appeared in his line of sight. The girl was dressed in a snow-white garment. Though she was far away, one could clearly feel an air of nobility and grace heading straight toward him.
Although she was too far away to make out the girl's features clearly, Yun Che's heart instantly produced her name... because in this New Moon City, there was only one girl who had given him such a feeling.
Was it Lan Xueruo!? Why would she be here? This path clearly only led to the Xiao Sect—could it be that...
At this point, Yun Che had no time to overthink. He quickly removed the disguise on his face while throwing a Thunderclap Bomb behind him.
With a deafening boom, Xiao Zaihe's body, which had just barely dodged in time, was forced back dozens of steps by the explosion's aftermath. Yun Che charged forward while shouting at the approaching girl: "Senior Sister Xueruo!"
The reason Lan Xueruo was here was precisely to go to the Xiao Sect and confirm whether Yun Che was there. The earth-shaking explosion made her pause her steps. Lifting her head, she immediately saw Yun Che sprinting toward her at full speed.
"Yun Che?" Lan Xueruo murmured softly, then a flicker of joy flashed in her eyes. No matter what, he was still alive—this was exactly the outcome she had most hoped to see when coming to the Xiao Sect today. But immediately after, she spotted Xiao Zaihe chasing closely behind.
"You little bastard! Where do you think you're going! When I catch you, I'll break both your legs and cripple your limbs!" Although Xiao Zaihe hadn't been injured by the Thunderclap Bombs, the three consecutive ones had left him disheveled, covered in dust, and his roars carried an unmistakable tone of fury and humiliation.
Lan Xueruo instantly understood what was happening. Her brows furrowed, and without time to think, she urgently called out: "Junior Brother Yun, come to me quickly!!"
As she spoke, she extended her right hand, and on the back of her hand, a snow-white mark suddenly flashed: "Little Snow, come out!"
With her low cry, the mark on the back of her hand blazed with brilliant light. Accompanied by a sharp, piercing cry that seemed to come from the edge of the sky, a massive snow-white eagle appeared before her amid the white light.
"A contracted spirit beast!?" Watching the enormous white eagle that suddenly appeared beside Lan Xueruo, Yun Che was both surprised and overjoyed. Gritting his teeth, he quickened his pace even further and reached out his hand toward Lan Xueruo.
Lan Xueruo jumped onto the back of the giant snow eagle. Her delicate snow-white hand caught Yun Che's outstretched palm and pulled him onto the eagle's back. The giant snow eagle spread its wings, let out a long cry, and soared into the sky like lightning, disappearing into a black dot in the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
A life-threatening crisis had been resolved in a way he had never anticipated. The snow eagle's flying speed was extremely fast. Wind whistled past his ears, and the cold air rushing into his chest left him breathless for a long time. Only when the snow eagle flew steadily enough did he finally adjust, letting out a long sigh. Opening his eyes, he saw Lan Xueruo sitting sideways in front of him, looking at him with a hint of a smile.
Yun Che then remembered that he was still wearing that rather ridiculous long robe. But with an unchanged expression, he grinned and said, "Senior Sister, have you suddenly discovered that no matter how coarse and shabby the clothes are, when I wear them, they've got a special flair?"
Lan Xueruo was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, her smile as radiant as a hundred flowers blooming: "Truly Yun Junior Brother. You nearly lost your life just now, and yet you still don't forget to seriously praise yourself."
"Yeah, I really did almost lose my life just now." Yun Che lightly rubbed his forehead, still somewhat shaken. If Lan Xueruo hadn't appeared out of nowhere, his chances of escape would indeed have been very low. Because the area in front of the Xiao Sect was far too open—so open that when he was fleeing earlier, he felt like crying but had no tears.
"By the way, Senior Sister, why did you come to this place? Did you have business at the Xiao Sect?" Yun Che asked.
"Mm." Lan Xueruo nodded gently. Her gem-like eyes examined Yun Che several times, and after confirming that he hadn't suffered any injuries, her expression completely relaxed, and her gaze became even softer: "You suddenly disappeared three days ago, and Yuan Ba and I searched the entire city for you without success. Later, I thought you might have been secretly kidnapped by the Xiao Sect, so I came here."
Yun Che's entire body stiffened. A strange feeling of gratitude surged within his heart, leaving him momentarily speechless. After a long while, he finally managed to speak in as calm a voice as possible: "The Xiao Sect's branch is the largest sect in this New Moon City. You came here alone as a girl—didn't you think about how dangerous it could be? And you and I... we've only known each other for a few days. Why are you so good to me?"
Lan Xueruo smiled gently and said softly: "I've told you before. Because I am your senior sister."
Yun Che: "..."
Earlier, Lan Xueruo had promised to have her family safely send him to the Cang Feng Imperial City within ten days, avoiding the Xiao Sect's calamity. He had been suspicious all along. Having experienced so much, he couldn't believe that someone would be so good to an unfamiliar person for no reason, even risking potentially life-threatening danger. Now, Lan Xueruo had come alone to the Xiao Sect to find him and had saved him from danger... This made the only possibility Yun Che could think of increasingly certain.
The Senior Sister Xueruo before him... had absolutely fallen in love with him at first sight! And upon seeing him again, she was completely smitten!
Other than this reason, he couldn't imagine any other cause for a girl to go to such lengths for a man with no family background, no wealth, no power, no strength, and who was merely a chance acquaintance.
"Junior Brother Yun, were you indeed kidnapped to the Xiao Sect these past few days? And how did you escape?" Glancing at Yun Che's clothes, a smile flickered in Lan Xueruo's beautiful eyes: "Could it be... that you wore a servant's clothes, concealed yourself, and sneaked out?"
"Well... something like that. But I wasn't kidnapped by the Xiao Sect—I went in on my own." Yun Che smiled smugly but didn't elaborate, instead changing the subject: "Senior Sister, you have a contracted profound beast? And it seems to be a very high-level one."
Seeing that Yun Che clearly didn't want to mention what had happened at the Xiao Sect these past few days, Lan Xueruo didn't press further, following his lead: "Its name is Little Snow. It's a True Profound Beast Giant Snow Eagle, raised by my master. After it grew up, it became my contracted profound beast. Although Little Snow looks big and clumsy, its aerial ability is very strong, and it flies very, very fast... By the way, Junior Brother Yun, where do you want to go next?"
Yun Che fell silent, then slowly said: "I gave the Xiao Sect a 'big gift.' They must be searching the entire city for me right now. So I can't go back to New Moon Mystic Palace, or even the entire New Moon City. Next... I don't know where to go. Or rather, anywhere outside New Moon City would be fine..."
Just then, Yun Che suddenly sensed an anomaly in the wind noise beside him. His overly keen instincts made him almost instinctively turn his head, and he saw that behind him, a thousand meters away, a black dot was rapidly approaching.
"What is that!"
From the moment Yun Che noticed it to when he spoke was only a few breaths of time. In that extremely short span, the black dot in his vision had already turned into a blurry black shadow—a testament to its terrifying speed. Lan Xueruo quickly turned around, her gaze sharpening, and then let out a startled cry: "It's a Storm Fury Hawk, the highest-level profound beast raised by the Xiao Sect!"
"What?!" Yun Che's brow furrowed deeply.
"How could they dispatch a Storm Fury Hawk just to chase you... and so quickly!" A hint of panic appeared on Lan Xueruo's snow-white face, for she knew very well that the Storm Fury Hawk's flight speed was no less than her Giant Snow Eagle's, and its endurance far exceeded it.
But if she knew what Yun Che had done at the Xiao Sect, she wouldn't have needed to ask.
"Little Snow, let's go!!"
With her delicate cry, the Giant Snow Eagle beneath her fiercely flapped its wings once, suddenly accelerating, leaving a long white streak as it shot straight toward the north. Meanwhile, the black shadow behind it was by no means slow, tightly clinging to their tail.