Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 110: Hun
He was very clear that these Bloodline Nobility Clan individuals wouldn’t let him get into the city easily, and even if he could get in it wouldn’t do him much good – An Siyuan wasn’t in the city, and Lu Qingguang might not be willing to help him (or at the very least wouldn’t put much effort into it).
If he went into the city, he would be like a bird trapped in a cage.
Since this was the case, then why not play around with this group of people for a bit? Even though the situation had occurred quite suddenly, Su Chen had been waiting for this moment for a number of years and was well-prepared.
Su Chen dove right into the forest, his figure as quick as the wind.
He hadn’t run far when he heard the sound of pursuers on his tail. Most frustratingly, the sounds of dogs barking could be heard mixed in to the crowd.
Darkness Concealment didn’t actually cause an object to disappear, and there were many ways to neutralize it. The easiest way was just to use dogs.
Shorttailed Foxhounds were mid-tier Vicious Beasts with extremely sharp noses and powerful pursuing abilities.
During the course of their standoff these past few years, Su Chen’s Shadow Servants were no longer really a secret, so the Bloodline Nobility Clans had prepared a group of foxhounds to counter them. However, everyone had treated this as a reserve method; no one had expected that Su Chen would actually be able to escape from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator’s attack.
Su Chen knew that it was impossible to continue relying on Shadow Concealment, so he dispelled it to conserve Shadow Substance and continued to sprint through the forest.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless figures whizzed through the forests. The Origin Qi Scholars were sprinting at top speed.
The reward of a hundred thousand Origin Stones was enough to arouse the flames of desire in many of their hearts. This fortune was going to be theirs!
The Light Shaking Realm cultivator floating in the air descended at this moment. “Peiyuan!”
“Father.” A male with a black beard appeared. It was the Wang Clan’s Elder, Wang Peiyuan.
The Light Shaking Realm cultivator in front of him was Wang Peiyuan’s Father, Clan Leader Wang Zhanyu.
Wang Zhanyu said, “Tell everyone to surround the Southern Mountains and block every exit, and send some more groups of people into the mountain to hunt for him.”
“Yes!”
Wang Zhanyu turned around to leave.
“Father, are you not going to participate?” Wang Peiyuan asked with some surprise.
Wang Zhanyu harrumphed, “I’ve already put out a reward. Why should I participate? To compete with them for the reward? Or to help put the reward into their hands?”
Wang Peiyuan was surprised for a moment, but it made sense when he thought about it.
Since the reward was already announced, if Wang Zhanyu continued to participate and took it for himself, it would leave behind the impression that he reneged on debts.
The Bloodline Nobility Clans weren’t afraid of being mocked, but being mocked for reneging on a debt was too low and humiliating, and they could not tolerate it.
“But Su Chen is extremely cunning; if he escapes again......” Wang Peiyuan said carefully.
“That’s why you’ll need to hem him in tightly. He’s all alone – can you really not deal with him with so many people? Or do I always need to resolve things for you?” Wang Zhanyu’s tone had become extremely unhappy at this point.
As the ancestor of the Wang Clan, he should have been respected by those underneath him, and any matters that arose should have been taken care of by his disciples. His being asked to personally make a move to resolve a problem for the clan was already making him quite unhappy. In addition, his opponent was only a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, and he had a staggeringly great advantage.
As such, this clan patriarch had no desire to make another move now that he couldn’t find Su Chen after making this attack.
In fact, the real reason was that he had unleashed nearly ten palm strikes aimed at the surroundings of the Soaring Pavilion, flattening an area nearly a thousand feet wide. It was quite pleasurable and it fully demonstrated his strength, but he had also expended a significant amount of Origin Energy. The old man didn’t want to flip his boat with his own fishing hook, so he could only put on these airs. When his energy had recovered, it wouldn’t be too late for him to make a move if those useless subordinates of his hadn’t finished Su Chen off yet.
When he heard this, Wang Peiyuan didn’t dare push the issue. He lowered his head and agreed.
As he watched Wang Zhanyu leave, Wang Peiyuan said, “Tell everyone to bring out their full strength here. Su Chen has already been forced into the mountain and must be exterminated. If we miss this opportunity, we might not ever get another one.”
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Su Chen also heard what Wang Zhanyu had yelled.
This yell didn’t make him anxious, however; in fact, his heart relaxed a bit, because this implied that Wang Zhanyu wouldn’t participate himself.
Su Chen popped his head out of the foilage to take a look and discovered that the Light Shaking Realm cultivator had indeed disappeared.
The lion was gone, but the wolves were still prowling in search of him.
Su Chen glanced behind him and chuckled coldly, slowing down intentionally. Without the Light Shaking Realm cultivator here, he was not afraid of those people.
“Catch him! Don’t let him get away!”
“Keep chasing!”
Amidst the loud yells, a few of the faster Origin Qi Scholars had already caught up.
One of the Origin Qi Scholars, upon seeing that Su Chen was close, raised his hand and unleashed a streak of black light.
The light shot straight at Su Chen’s back. Just as it was about to hit him, Su Chen suddenly leapt into the air, slashing behind him with his blade and creating a streak of light of his own.
Two more Origin Qi Scholars behind him also charged forward together, creating a brilliant display of light with their blade strikes.
A massive wave of flames rose and rushed forward to intercept them.
The two of them thought that it was just a regular fire-type Origin Skill and didn’t pay it much thought, only raising a magic barrier in response. However, they soon noticed that the flames had a faint dark tinge to them. In the blink of an eye, the flames had morphed into a massive humanoid figure that stretched its arms out, threatening to envelop them.
The two Origin Qi Scholars were simultaneously grabbed by the Shadow Flame Giant and burned alive. No matter how they struggled, they were unable to escape.
Their Origin Energy barriers groaned under the furious onslaught of the shadowy flames, flickering and deforming before finally shattering with a “bang”.
The two Origin Qi Scholars were incinerated, as if they had been dropped into molten lava. The two of them were only Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and didn’t place much focus on tempering their bodies. Their bodies had never reached the point of being as hard as metal, so their skin only resisted for a brief moment before they began to disintegrate at a frightening pace. They shrieked and howled as they struggled, but they couldn’t escape no matter what they did and were burned to ashes.
These two had died in an extremely tragic manner, but it wasn’t enough to scare the other Origin Qi Scholars into retreating.
Most of them continued to yell loudly as they advanced.
“Men really do die for wealth!” Su Chen laughed coldly as he turned around and continued to run.
Even though Su Chen’s Snaking Mist Steps were fast, there were quite a few people who were adept in speed. Very quickly, two new individuals caught up.
“Where are you trying to run?” the two of them yelled as they attacked simultaneously.
This time, they had learned their lesson. They weren’t in a hurry to try and kill Su Chen; instead, they launched attacks at him from far away as bait, waiting for the people behind them to catch up so they could take him on all together.
However, they had just unleashed their attacks when they saw Su Chen’s figure suddenly disappear.
Where did he go?
The two of them glanced around in all directions.
“Behind you!”
A few Origin Qi Scholars catching up called out in warning.
They turned around in shock, only to be met with Su Chen’s calm, calculating expression.
“Armor-Piercing Awl!”
Su Chen’s fists blew right through their throats, causing flesh and blood to spray everywhere.
Su Chen continued to charge forward, leaving behind the two corpses. He covered a few hundred meters in the span of a few seconds, then disappeared from view.
The ones who were at the front were the fastest. When these guys were finished off, it would be much harder for the Origin Qi Scholars behind to catch up to him.
One of the Origin Qi Scholars who was chasing from behind reached their corpses, took a look, and stomped angrily as he said, “Put the Yang Opening Realm cultivators at the front. Every Yang Opening Realm cultivator shall take two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, for Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, and ten martial artists. Each team will advance separately to hem him in and make sure that no person gets picked off individually. As long as he isn’t able to escape from the Southern Mountains, this place will become his grave sooner or later!”