67: Chapter 67: Do not say that I did not warn you!
67: Chapter 67: Do not say that I did not warn you!
High winds swept through the clouds, and falling leaves fluttered like gold foil.
In the northwestern mountains during autumn, the hills were alive with the bustling activity of the year—the wild beasts exerted all their efforts to gather reserves for the winter, hunters prepared for the grand hunt before the snow, mountain runners collected ripe dicinal herbs, and farrs were busy with the final autumn harvest.
On these normally deserted mountains in the northwest, an additional group had appeared, tense and eagerly searching for clues and traces of soone’s whereabouts.
An Jing held his breath, concealed his aura, and Sword Spirit’s protection enshrouded him.
The youth lay hidden among the branches of a giant tree, coldly observing several martial artists from the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect as they scrutinized the area where he had previously lingered.
The first to catch up with An Jing was not Da Chen, nor the Heavenly Demon, but the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect.
These elite Demon Sect mbers with Inner Breath realm had arrived at An Jing’s forr hiding spot with uncanny accuracy aboard flying shuttles, then spread out in formation, conducting a thodical search for any trace of An Jing.
Had An Jing not been well-prepared, erasing the nurous traces and clues he had left behind, he would indeed have been caught by this group of Demon Sect martial artists.
However, precisely because of this, An Jing didn’t imdiately plan to escape to another world, leaving the group to search for nothing.
Instead, he patiently observed their actions.
He intended to see what would unfold, at least to figure out exactly how they were tracking him.
“Are they using the loathing victory skill with my blood and hair I left behind at Hanging Fate Manor?
Or…
can their tracking divine skill sohow utilize the power of cause and effect to locate out of thin air?”
An Jing guessed it was the latter as he narrowed his eyes, peering through the dense conifer needles from the gaps to observe the flying shuttles hovering in the distance.
There, a White-robed Scholar was activating Fate Pattern, directing the Demon Sect martial artists to continue their search.
After searching a patch of woods for nearly an hour without result, it was reasonable to think that even the most determined would consider changing locations to search elsewhere.
But these Demon Sect martial artists showed no intention of leaving.
They were determined to unearth sothing, digging three feet into the ground if necessary.
Such behavior was obviously not normal.
An Jing believed it was the ‘Fate Pattern divine skill’ of the White-robed Scholar that sensed he was indeed still there, just well hidden and not departed, hence the confident persistence in their search!
“Is the target really still in this area?
We’ve basically searched everywhere we could.”
“Haven’t we yet to search the trees?”
“What are you joking about?
People are not monkeys, and surely we can’t shake every single tree, right?”
“According to the elders’ intentions, we should smash even the eggs in the trees to see if he’s hiding there!”
This was the private conversation between the Demon Sect martial artists that An Jing overheard while he was hiding.
To be honest, even if this group did kick every tree and scatter the bird eggs and halve the earthworms, they wouldn’t find him.
Because he would also keep moving, always staying right behind them, hiding in the ‘just been searched’ areas.
These Demon Sect soldiers were indeed elite, but they were not geniuses.
Their Mysterious Steps were not as proficient as An Jing’s; they couldn’t hear the slightest sound, nor would they ever imagine that An Jing would be bold and skilled enough to such an extent that he never feared being discovered.
Nevertheless, tactical victories do not equate to strategic wins.
“This is a bit problematic.”
Even if he could toy with them, An Jing fell into deep thought: “This ga of hide-and-seek is no solution.”
“Even if I can go to another world now and evade these people for a short while, after three days when I return to Embracing the Void, those with tracking-related divine skills in the Demon Sect will still be able to locate imdiately.”
“Not only that, they might deduce from the place I reappear—which is also where I disappeared from—that I may possess so special invisibility divine skill.
Next ti, they will be more inclined to lie in wait.”
“Furthermore, the next ti they co after , it’s very possible that they will send even more martial artists, or stronger Inner Strength martial artists…
possibly even Martial ridian Grandmasters!”
An Jing knew very well that the Demon Sect only deployed martial artists within the Inner Breath and Inner Strength realms to capture him, not because he wasn’t valuable, but because the forces of Da Chen were also nearby these days.
That renowned figure known as the Six Yang Mystic Mirror among the Divine Repository True Persons was in the vicinity, and the Demon Sect obviously couldn’t spare such a lavish lineup to suppress him while simultaneously searching for An Jing.
And moving a Grandmaster in the Martial ridian realm wasn’t so easy; he still had five or six days, one or two chances to travel to the other world to evade pursuit.
Inner Strength martial artists, An Jing was confident he could deal with using firearms from the other world.
However, based on the observation that the Master of the dicine Manor, despite his old and frail body, could still block more than 80% of the bullets when ambushed, it was clear that ordinary people couldn’t deal with a normal Inner Strength martial artist using firearms.
One had to be like him, with Inner Breath combined with Fate Pattern divine skill, and also firearms, to challenge those above his level.
But if it were a Martial ridian Grandmaster…
An Jing cautiously estimated that to harm his opponent, the firepower would have to be akin to heavy artillery.
And to hit the opponent, the speed of ordinary bullets and shells might not suffice.
Before a Martial ridian Grandmaster actually appeared to capture him, An Jing had to find an opportunity to discover a thod to shield against the “Divine Skill of Tracking”.
Or more directly…
to kill the person who possessed the “Divine Skill of Tracking”!
“But not now.”
As another Martial Artist from the Demon Sect passed by him, An Jing suppressed the urge rising in his heart to capture a living mouth and travel through to an alternate world, to forcefully extract detailed information about this Demon Sect squad from the captive.
Recklessly making a move would only mire him further in trouble, with too high a risk and uncertain gains, not to ntion more accidents could occur; An Jing couldn’t afford to lose.
The Demon Sect could afford many failures, and one could even say, it wouldn’t matter if all their scouts died here; they could sustain the loss, but An Jing couldn’t lose even once.
This was the disadvantage of an individual facing a large organization.
An Jing even suspected that these solitary Demon Sect Martial Artists were baits purposefully ant to lure him into action, daring him to make a move only for seven or eight robust warriors or even a Martial ridian Grandmaster to leap off the flying shuttle and gang up on him!
“I can’t make a move, and running will only lead to continued pursuit…
The originally planned strategy of sneaking into a major city is most likely unfeasible now.”
After analyzing the situation, An Jing sighed softly and materialized the broken sword from his Divine Sea into his hand: “It seems that my only option is to first look for opportunities in an alternate world.”
He swung the broken sword, and a pitch-black passage opened up, its interior filled with silver radiant streams of light, seemingly leading to an infinitely distant place.
However, before heading to the alternate world, An Jing didn’t imdiately move to the other end of space-ti.
Knowing that his adversaries had confird his location and that there was no possibility of concealnt, he took a deep breath and then called out loudly, “Instructor Li!
And the gentleman in white!
I know you’re on the flying shuttle!”
When a Martial Artist with Inner Breath as Vast as River spoke, his voice bood like thunder.
Before leaving, An Jing declared loudly, “I want to make it clear beforehand, I have been stubborn since youth and I cannot suffer others’ commands; I truly am not in the sa league as you.”
“If you return ho today, I will rember the favour of both of you, for the food and dicine given and saving my mother’s life.
If we et in the future, I am willing to stay my hand against you!”
“However, if you continue to pursue after this, do not bla my swords and knives for being ruthless!”
“Let it not be said I didn’t warn you!”
Without hesitation, An Jing stepped forward and his figure vanished into the far end of space-ti.
“Hmm?”
At that mont, aboard the flying shuttle, the White-robed Scholar who was operating the Divine Skill heard An Jing’s words and couldn’t help but pause for a mont: “Is…
is this a threat?”
He couldn’t help but laugh: “Rembering a favour, issuing a warning!
So bookish, this kid must have read too much…
When has our Divine Sect ever cared about such things?”
“Haha, indeed,” Instructor Li also burst into laughter: “If he had the capability to kill us, I would praise him for his exceptional talent, and it would an we hadn’t misjudged him!”
“However, Old Li, he indeed has such capability.”
Raising his eyebrows, the White-robed Scholar looked at the ‘map’ in his hand: “Our Great God General just vanished after making his statent, just like four days ago.”
The one-eyed Martial Artist stroked his chin, leaned forward with curiosity, and looked at the map in the other’s hand: “So, you an to say, Scholar Xu, that your artifact did not show any signals either?”
“Nothing.”
Scholar Xu had obviously a good rapport with Instructor Li, even passing the map artifact to the other: “Look, the na of our Great God General An was originally around here, overlapping with us.”
“But now, his na has vanished suddenly, just like how he disappeared from Hanging Fate Valley four days ago.”
Instructor Li studied the artifact in hand, with the white map having simple lines sketching out the topography.
Multiple tiny red nas and dots floated on the map, representing the nas of the mbers of the Demon Sect who had participated in the tracking operation against An Jing.
An Jing’s na was originally among them, but now it had disappeared without a trace.
Instructor Li’s eyes shifted, morizing all these details.
“As expected, it’s gone.”
Then, he nodded slightly, returning the register and indicating his understanding: “The last ti this happened, when he reappeared, he was already hundreds of miles away.”
“If not for your Fate Pattern ‘keen understanding of people’ and the Artifact ‘mountain and river register’ being able to pinpoint his location, he might have actually managed to escape.”
Scholar Xu let out a long sigh: “After all, we were the ones who discovered him, making us his half ‘benefactors’.
If it weren’t for this, my Divine Skill wouldn’t have been effective.”
“This An Jing truly is an exceptional genius.
From the first glance, I could see he was extraordinary and logged him in the register.”
“Looking at it now, we have greatly underestimated him.”
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