Chapter 311: Were You Looking for Me?
The innkeeper still remembered Yun Che—after all, the huge sword he had carried on his back was hard to forget. Yun Che asked him where he could buy a mount, then unhurriedly walked out and headed straight for the mount-selling location.
"Someone's following you," Mo Li warned.
"I know," Yun Che said in a low voice.
"You're in trouble this time," Mo Li said solemnly. "Eight people in total, all at the Heavenly Xuan Realm! Four of them are among the eight Heavenly Xuan experts from the Fen Tian Gate you met before. The strongest among them... is Fen Moli, the one who wanted to make a move on you at Tian Jian Villa! You're absolutely no match for him alone, let alone with the other seven... it's very dangerous!"
"Mm!" Yun Che nodded, his face calm and composed. "They sent eight Heavenly Xuan experts to kill me, with the Grand Elder personally leading them—they really think highly of me... But they won't make a move just yet."
"Why?" Mo Li asked.
"First, dispatching eight Heavenly Xuan experts with the Grand Elder at the lead just to kill one person—if that gets out, the Fen Tian Gate will be laughed at like dogs. Second... although the Fen Tian Gate now hates me to the bone, they can't ignore the Cang Feng Imperial Clan and Bing Yun Fairy Palace, which are connected to me, nor my current reputation in the Cang Feng Empire. So, since they see me as a fish trapped in a barrel now, they'll naturally choose to make a move when there are no other witnesses."
Among these eight were four of the eight Heavenly Xuan experts who had accompanied Fen Juecheng to the Cangfeng Imperial City for the wedding proposal. Yun Che was certain that the strongest among them, Fen Duancang and Fen Moran, were included. It seemed that as soon as they left the city, they had immediately transmitted a message to their sect. The Fen Tian Gate, in its fury, had sent Fen Moli to lead the team in a full-force kill mission, rendezvousing with Fen Duancang and the others midway before all eight advanced together!
The Fen Tian Gate's informants were spread across the land, and combined with his hasty departure from the city without any attempt to hide, it wasn't surprising that they had tracked his movements and set up an ambush here.
Deploying such a lineup was enough to demonstrate the Fen Tian Gate's bone-deep hatred for Yun Che. At the same time, it was also a sign of their wariness toward his current strength... After all, the ability to kidnap Fen Juecheng right under the protection of eight Heavenly Xuan experts was a feat worthy of such an extravagant response.
Yun Che quickly found the mount-selling location. The mounts sold here were more varied than those in smaller cities. A large portion were low-level Xuan Beasts captured and tamed on the fringes of the Death Wasteland, and the most expensive among them was the low-level True Xuan Beast, the Unicorn. Yun Che spent fifteen Purple Mysterious Coins to buy a Unicorn, then leaped onto it and directed the mount toward the direction of the Death Wasteland.
Behind him, a disdainful voice sounded: "He's planning to use a mount to enter the Death Wasteland? Judging by his appearance, he doesn't even have his own contracted Xuan Beast—truly a low-born little beast."
"Enough talk. Lock onto his aura and don't lose him. Once we reach the Death Wasteland, that's when we strike."
"Could he have noticed us?"
"His profound aura is only at the Earth Xuan Realm. There's no way he can detect our movements. This time, he can't escape even if he grows wings. Let's move!"
The Unicorn galloped at full speed, and before long, it had entered the Death Wasteland. The adventurers nearby looked at him in surprise, seeing someone riding a mount into this place. The Xuan Beasts in the Death Wasteland were densely packed, and mounts here were extremely prone to panic—not only useless for travel but likely to get one into danger.
As he entered the Death Wasteland, a sinister aura enveloped him. The Unicorn beneath him began to show signs of unease and obvious trembling, but Yun Che patted its head and urged it to continue at full speed. Before long, over a dozen True Xuan Beasts rushed toward him, drawn by the commotion. Yun Che waved his arm, and a dozen streams of Phoenix Flame swept across them, instantly killing the approaching True Xuan Beasts, stunning several nearby adventurers into wide-eyed amazement.
At the fringe zone, Yun Che moved unimpeded even with his mount; no True Xuan Beast could get close to him. As he ventured deeper, he gradually entered the territory where Spirit Xuan Beasts roamed. This area was dangerous territory for most people, and looking around, there was hardly a soul in sight. After going a bit further, he couldn't see anyone at all.
The route Yun Che had chosen was the same one he had taken when he first entered the Death Wasteland two years ago. Though two years had passed, he still remembered the distribution of Xuan Beasts and the geography along the way. Soon, a familiar location appeared in his sight. He glanced behind him, took a deep breath, suppressed his profound aura to the utmost, then slapped the Unicorn's rump hard. The beast cried out in pain and charged desperately forward... At that moment, Yun Che suddenly leaped off the Unicorn's back, and a flash of blue light burst from his body.
"Ice Cloud Wall!"
Crack!
With a soft sound, a faint blue semi-transparent barrier instantly formed around Yun Che, greatly isolating his already suppressed aura. At the same time, a yellow Arcane Firmament shot out from his arm, condensing into a blurry human figure that sat astride the Unicorn's back, quickly disappearing into the distance with the galloping beast.
Yun Che, now encased in the ice wall, slipped like a fish into a crevice in the rock wall beside him. With a twist of his body, he vanished. The Ice Cloud Wall was a relatively common technique from the Ice Cloud Art; its purpose wasn't defense but aura concealment. Of course, such concealment couldn't be perfect—if a strong expert like Fen Moli concentrated his perception, he could still detect his presence. However, along the way, Yun Che had deliberately adjusted his profound aura to match the intensity of the Arcane Firmament he had just released. The Arcane Firmament following the Unicorn would be enough to confuse their senses, at most causing them a momentary misalignment in tracking.
And the Fen Tian Gate experts, with their sights locked onto the Arcane Firmament's aura, wouldn't be likely to divert much of their attention to probing for hidden presences. The concealment ability of the Ice Cloud Wall should be sufficient to evade them!
In less than ten breaths, eight figures appeared at the spot where Yun Che had been. A deliberately lowered, icy voice sounded: "I think the timing is about right... Grand Elder, shall we strike now?"
"Hmph!" Fen Moli's voice rang out. "I'd really like to capture him alive and take him back to the sect to suffer all our tortures. Letting him die here like this is far too easy... Strike! Remember, this brat is full of tricks, and his moves are bizarre and unpredictable. No need to waste words—kill him directly!"
With Fen Moli's command, the eight men, who had been in concealment, unleashed their profound force fully, turning into eight scorching gales as they pounced toward the direction the Unicorn had gone.
"Beast, your life ends here!"
A low-level True Xuan Beast—how could its speed compare to Heavenly Xuan experts? In the blink of an eye, the Unicorn appeared in their sight. A thunderous roar exploded, but before the roar had even faded from their ears, all eight were dumbfounded—because on the back of the galloping Unicorn, there was no trace of Yun Che! And at that moment, Yun Che's aura suddenly vanished without a trace.
"Bastard! That brat played us!"
Fen Moli's lips turned purple with rage, his whole body trembling. They had thought Yun Che was a fish in a barrel, that they could kill him in minutes, yet here they were—eight of the highest-ranking figures of the Fen Tian Gate—being outwitted by this junior who should have been an easy capture!
"Had he already noticed us?"
"What a cunning trick! He actually deceived the spiritual senses of all of us!" Fen Moli ground his teeth in hatred. He waved his arm. "He must have fled in another direction, but he can't have gone far... Split up and search! Mo Yu and I will turn back. Duancang, Moran, take two men each and head east and west... Move!"
With Fen Moli's order, the eight quickly separated, speeding off in three directions like lightning.
Whoosh!!
A gust of scorching wind swept past the rock wall where Yun Che was hiding. In his fury, Fen Moli's speed was nearly double what it had been before. In an instant, all eight had disappeared from sight. After waiting a few breaths, Yun Che leaped out from the rock crevice, suppressing his aura, and hurried northward.
These eight would never have imagined that Yun Che had been hiding just two hundred yards behind them, between two low rock walls.
Yun Che knew well that although he had shaken them off temporarily, they would catch up sooner or later. So, relying on his memory, he deliberately chose terrain that was complex, changeable, and easy to obstruct sight.
The sky gradually darkened. Before he knew it, Yun Che had stepped into the territory of Earth Xuan Beasts. This was an extremely terrifying area—the first true "death" zone of the Death Wasteland. A single Earth Xuan Beast was already fearsome, but here, they appeared in packs. Even a Heavenly Xuan expert had to tread carefully in this place.
Upon reaching this area, Yun Che actually breathed a sigh of relief. Earth Xuan Beasts were everywhere, and the air was thick with Earth Xuan-level profound auras. With such interference, the Fen Tian Gate members would find it many times harder to locate him.
"Careful... they're catching up!"
Just as Yun Che relaxed, Mo Li's warning suddenly sounded.
Yun Che's heart tightened. He quickly held his breath and pressed his body behind a dead tree trunk. "How many?"
"Just one... His profound aura is at the fourth level of the Heavenly Xuan Realm. It seems they've fully split up."
At that moment, in the sky above, an old man in a red robe approached from afar, then suddenly stopped midair. His eyes, sharp as a hungry eagle, swept over the ground below, as if he had vaguely detected something.
Yun Che unhurriedly stepped out from behind the dead tree, folded his arms, and said with a grin, "Were you looking for me?"
If the person pursuing him were Fen Moli or Fen Duancang, he would have turned and fled. If any two appeared together, his heart would have skipped a beat. But an old man at the fourth level of the Heavenly Xuan Realm appearing alone... He was practically delivering himself to be slaughtered!
The fourth level of the Heavenly Xuan Realm was indeed an extremely strong existence in the Cang Feng Empire. But as early as five months ago, Yun Che had soundly trounced a Xuan Gang imitation of Yun Canghai, whose strength was limited to the fourth level of the Heavenly Xuan Realm. At this level, he posed no threat to Yun Che whatsoever.
[My William has been infected with the coronavirus these past few days. Taking care of him has exhausted me, and it's even affected the updates!]
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