Chapter 19, Fleeing and Escaping

Translator: Raznick

 

“Ya!Ya!”

 

In the wilderness, the young man galloped his horse swiftly, dashing madly along the path.

 

Behind him, several hundred yards away, a middle-aged man in a yellow robe and a green Daoist crown was flying on his artifact. His narrow eyebrows and cold gaze were fixed intently upon the figure he was pursuing.

 

As time passed, the distance between them gradually closed in, and soon it was less than three hundred meters.

 

A typical cultivator in late Qi Refining Stage would have their Divine Sense coverage not exceeding a three hundred meters, making that distance the normal attack range for a cultivator of that stage.

 

Attacks beyond this range couldn’t lock onto enemies with Divine Sense.

 

So, after entering a distance of three hundred meters, the middle-aged man wasted no time and casually struck downward with two fingers holding a talisman.

 

In a flash, a spark of fire burst forth as the talisman instantly burned, transforming into a crimson firebird that dove toward the young man on horseback.

 

It’s an average first-grade talisman, the Firebird Talisman!

 

On his horse, Zhou Chun turned back and saw the gesture of the middle. His face instantly darkened as he immediately recognized the talisman.

 

As a member of a cultivating clan, one didn’t necessarily have to learn every mystical art under the sun. However, recognizing them was what most ordinary cultivators did.

 

Otherwise, one day if someone used a mystical art of unknown origin and function, it could easily lead to their death due to ignorance.

 

Most mystical arts could be made into corresponding talismans.

 

After recognizing the origins of the mystical art, Zhou Chun suddenly kicked the back of the Black Scaled Steed hard, causing his body to leap into the air and soar.

 

Boom!

 

Within two breaths of time after Zhou Chun vaulted off the horse’s back, the firebird soared to the top of the galloping Black Scaled Steed and burst into flames.

 

Then, the intense flames engulfed the steed.

 

The cries of the horse, fierce and loud, shook the wilderness. The Black Scaled Steed, completely engulfed in flames, continued to gallop for three hundred meters before finally collapsing on the ground, exhausted.

 

When the flames on its body were completely extinguished, its entire body, including its bones, had been burned to cinders.

 

At such moments, neither Zhou Chun nor that middle-aged man paid any attention to the animal’s fate.

 

Zhou Chun escaped by jumping over his horse and evaded a disaster.

 

But without his mount, he had no way to keep running.

 

The man in the yellow robe, after unleashing the Firebird Talisman, maneuvered his flying artifact to descend onto the ground. It gave Zhou Chun the time to steadied himself as he landed.

 

He put the flying artifact into the storage bag, then took out two other artifacts and went for Zhou Chun in large strides.

 

He called out to Zhou Chun as he toyed, “Go ahead, run! I’ll even give you a few hundred meters head start!”

 

Zhou Chun ignored this fellow’s arrogance. He knew that today’s showdown was inevitable. After steadying himself, he quickly slapped his demon beast pouch at his waist, releasing the Rock Turtle inside, and then retrieved some talismans from his storage bag.

 

At this point, the Rock Turtle, after being bred and raised by Zhou Chun for over two years, had grown to the size of a tub. Its spiritual power had reached the level of a Fifth Layer Qi Refining cultivator, making it a first-tier average demon beast. The Rock Turtle had also awakened and mastered four innate mystical arts.

 

Upon seeing Zhou Chun release the Rock Turtle, the yellow-robed middle-aged man also showed a slight expression of surprise and looked at him with an air of astonishment, saying: “You still have another Rock Turtle by your side? It seems you, young scion, are also greatly favored in your Mu Clan!”

 

Upon hearing these words, Zhou Chun’s heart stirred, and he couldn’t help but speak up: “You’ve mistaken; I’m  not from the Mu Clan. I am from the Nine Peaks’ Zhou Clan.”

 

“The Zhou Clan of Nine Peaks? The culticating clan that migrated from the Feng Kingdom?”

 

The man wearing a yellow robe was startled for a moment, and in response to Zhou Chun’s words, he countered with a couple of questions. It seems that he had also heard of the Zhou Clan’s reputation.

 

This made Zhou Chun seem to see hope, and he immediately took a deep breath and replied seriously: “Exactly.”

 

The man, upon hearing these words, merely paused for a moment before shrugging dismissively and saying, “So what? They’re just a pack of strays driven out of their den!”

 

Hhe finished speaking with a smirk, staring at him and saying, “You don’t really think that just by announcing your name you can scare me and get off easy, do you?”

 

Zhou Chun was suddenly silent, he indeed had such thoughts.

 

But looking at the appearance of the middle-aged man, it was obvious that he would not give up easily.

 

Therefore, he quickly abandoned those unrealistic fantasies and firmly focused his mind. He called out to the man: “If you are so confident, then let me see what you’re made of!”

 

Before he could finish speaking, a Rock Turtle beside him suddenly attacked first.

 

The turtle stomped the ground and from the spot where the middle-aged man was standing, a sharp stone spike as thick as an arm burst through the ground.

 

But the man seemed to have anticipated this, moving his body as soon as the Earth Spike broke through the ground, leaving his original position.

 

And he took the opportunity to mock Zhou Chun, saying: “Don’t bring out such a petty trick; I’ve been through countless battles and have seen every kind of situation. Do you really think you, a young upstart like yourself, could fool me?”

 

Zhou Chun’s face turned slightly gloomy, but he didn’t respond, merely summoning his own golden dagger artifact.

 

This artifact was called Golden Willow Blade, shaped like willow leaves, extremely sharp, making it a formidable first-grade artifact.

 

The middle-aged man, being a cultivator at the Tenth Layer of Qi Refining, possessed even flight artifacts. How could his other artifacts be inferior?

 

He raised his hand and summoned a pitch-black iron shield, which automatically positioned itself in front of the dagger, effortlessly deflecting it away.

 

Before Zhou Chun attacked again, he flicked his sleeve and said, “Go.”

 

A flash of silver light flew out from his sleeve and headed straight for Zhou Chun.

 

Zhou Chun was startled inside and hurriedly raised his hand to summon his own protective artifacts, a green wood shield.

 

But he severely underestimated the power of that silver gleam.

 

A flash of cold light appeared, causing his inferior artifact to shatter into more than ten pieces and fall to the ground. Then, his defensive Metal Shield violently trembled, pressing him so hard that his legs balked under him and he ended up sitting on the floor.

 

The yellow-robed middle-aged man, upon seeing this, couldn’t help but burst out laughing loudly: “Hahaha! It seems I overestimated you. These garbage pieces of protective artifacts—clearly, you’re not someone with strong backing in your sect. Probably, even if you die, no one would miss you!”

 

He was not wrong, but he was not entirely correct either.

 

Zhou Chun, within the Zhou Clan, didn’t have any powerful seniors to lean on, but his original defensive artifacts were by no means as pathetic as the Green Wood Shield.

 

The Zhou Clan was once one of the three major powers in the Three Absolute Sect. Providing each clan member who had reached mid Qi Refining with two average first-grade artifacts, one offensive and one defensive, was by no means difficult for them.

 

Sadly, Zhou Chun’s average first-grade defensive artifact had already been damaged in the fierce battle with Li Han from the Li clan beforehand.

 

After the Nine Peaks Zhou Clan had to flee the sect, most of their resources were taken by Yu Jinghua, a Golden Core cultivator, to establish the Spirit Beast Manor, leaving them unable to casually provide artifacts for clan members.

 

Originally, that was acceptable. Even if the clan did not provide a complimentary replacement of artifacts, Zhou Chun could purchase them at a discounted price from the clan using spirit coins.

 

The problem was, since Zhou Chun hatched the Rock Turtle, he had been using most of his spirit coins to buy pills for breeding spiritual pets from his clan.

 

If that was not the case, even though demon beasts grow much faster in their early stages than cultivators, a Rock Turtle couldn’t become an average first-stage demon beast just two years after hatching.

 

As they say, plans never seem to keep up with the changes.

 

How could Zhou Chun, who had previously thought he would be safely training within the clan for several more years, foresee today’s incredibly dangerous situation?

 

Fortunately, Rock Turtle had not wasted Zhou Chun’s generous care.

 

Once it sensed its master was in danger, the Rock Turtle immediately glared at the middle-aged man and slammed the ground with a powerful blow. Instantly, five or six stone spikes erupted from the earth, all emanating from its position.

 

After its growth to an average first-grade demon beast, it awakened and mastered the earth mystical art Chained Earth Spikes.

 

It was due to the overconfident middle-aged man either being careless or overly trusting in his own experience and strength, that he didn’t immediately activate a protective barrier like Zhou Chun did.

 

At this moment, when multiple rocky spikes suddenly appeared, even though he was alerted to the impending danger through his divine sense, he couldn’t dodge them in time. One of the thorns pierced his left thigh, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.

 

“Agh! That hurt!”

 

The man slumped to the ground, his face contorted with pain as he emitted a heart-wrenching scream.

 

He clutched his thigh, agony written all over his face. His eyes blazed with fury as he roared at Rock Turtle, “Damn beast, I’ll have you boiled alive!”

 

As he spoke those harsh words, he quickly activated a Metal Shield talisman, which formed a protective barrier around himself.

 

Then quickly took out healing powder and ointment from the storage bag for emergency treatment.

 

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun’s eyes immediately lit up with great joy. He praised Rock Turtle endlessly in his heart and quickly stuffed him into the spirit beast pouch. Then he cast Soaring Art and made a swift exit.

 

[If not now, then when?]

 

Taking advantage of the golden opportunity when the middle-aged man was preoccupied with recovering from his injuries and unable to pursue, as long as he escaped beyond the range of his sight, there would be a way for him to avoid this impending disaster.