“Father, Mother, brothers and sisters, this is far enough. We should part here.” It could be seen in Shiao Chen’s eyes that he didn’t want to leave, but right now he was in no position to enjoy the luxury of the ties of kinship. The road to Dao cultivation was rough. One may well say he was treading on thin ice and once he got careless, he’d die without a burial place. Also he knew full well that in order to keep his parents and family safe and sound, he could only blaze his way forward through all the difficulties and become more and more powerful.
Ever since he embarked on this journey of Dao cultivation, there had been no turning back.
“Alright, we’ll say farewell here. When you’re back there, practice hard so that you can live up to the expectations of your Chief Master and Grand Master Alchemy Taoist.” Shiao Wenshan sighed and stopped with everyone else behind him. Seeing that her son was leaving again, his wife’s eyes got red and she turned her head away, trying to stop herself from crying by covering her mouth with her hand.
Seeing that, Shiao Chen felt sad but he didn’t want to get more sentimental, so he saluted to Elder Sun and Elder Ma, “From now on, our Shiao Family will be relying on you. Please accept my gratitude.” As he spoke, he bowed deeply.
Both of the elders hurried to stop him and said that it was what they should do.
Shiao Chen nodded slightly and scanned the crowd. Then he sighed, “We should get going.”
After he said that, he took out a discoid magic weapon. With the input of his spiritual power, the weapon expanded into a huge platform. The light shield on Shiao Chen’s body glimmered as he landed gently on that disk.
Shiao Lin followed closely. Both of them waved towards the people underneath the disk. And they flashed away without ever turning their heads back.
“Mister Shiao, don’t worry. Elder Shiao Chen has got unprecedented gift. Both Chief Master and Grand Master Alchemy Taoist think highly of him. He’s got quite a promising future. You should be happy about it.” Noticing that both Shiao Wenshan and his wife looked quite grave, Elder Sun said smilingly.
Shiao Wenshan raised his head and saw the green light that moved rapidly in the horizon. He murmured, “If it were up to me, I’d rather see that he has a smooth and ordinary life. I know that the cultivation of Dao is tough and hard, so Shiao Chen, you don’t have to bottle up your emotions like that. Nonetheless, in this life, we have a son like you and we could ask for no more!”
…
It was sunny and the sky was clear. Hundreds of meters above, a glowing orb of green light about six meters wide dashed forward.
Above the disk was a layer of shuttle-shaped magic shield. Small waves flowed on the shield and protected Shiao Chen and Shiao Lin from the strong wind caused by fast movement in the sky. This item was a magical flying artifact which Shiao Chen got from some unfortunate cultivator. And with spiritual power poured into it, it sped along.
Shiao Chen sat cross-legged in the center and controlled directions by pouring magic power into it. Sitting behind him, Shiao Lin was meditating with his eyes closed and faint herbal scent could be smelled on his body. After the Goldwater Sect was extinguished, the tension between Shiao Chen’s family and the rest of the Shiao Family was eased greatly. After careful consideration, Shiao Chen decided to listen to his father and got along with the rest of the Shiao Family. Shiao Lin had no spiritual roots inside him, so Shiao Chen gave him lots of pills suitable for Qi Refining. And without doubt, those pills would help him get to the sixth level of Qi Refining.
They were already thousands of hundreds of meters away from Shiao City. At this rate, they would arrive at Luoyun Valley within half a day and before it got dark.
“Sister, the technique of Blood Shield is indeed incredible. Though it does some harm to my body every time I use it, it’s quite useful whenever I need to run for my life.” Shiao Chen’s divine sense was so strong that he could use part of it to control the disk and the rest of it to perceive through meditation the technique of Blood Shield he got from Cheng Sanjin.
Yu Ji’s contemptuous voice came from his soul, “Though the technique of Blood Shield can speed you up, it’s got many drawbacks. It’s just a little bit better than middle-grade. And it’s nowhere near the Demon Wind Shield that I imparted to you. But you haven’t gotten the hang of it. When you manage to master Demon Wind Shield, you’ll be able to bring the formidable Wind Shield into play. By then with that speed, you could almost travel instantaneously.”
While listening, Shiao Chen nodded in agreement and smiled, “I got it. I learnt Blood Shield just in case of emergency. If it weren’t a matter of life and death, I wouldn’t use it.”
“Humph, now you’re talking! When you…” Yu Ji’s coquettish voice suddenly changed into a solemn one, “Watch out. Someone is ambushing you. And that person might be a Gold Core Cultivator!”
Though taken aback, Shiao Chen didn’t let his face show it. Without leaving a trace, he scanned the way ahead out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t find anything unusual. And the fact that he couldn’t see the danger ahead made him feel even graver.
All of a sudden, Shiao Chen withdrew his light shield, and rage was written all over his face. He slapped Shiao Lin who opened his eyes with a start and flew away on impact. Then he said coldheartedly, “Don’t you think that I’ve forgiven you and your father for humiliating my family. Yes, I had to pretend to get along with you but now get the fuck out of here!”
“You… Fine, I’ve overestimated you. Shiao Chen, let’s wait and see. One day I’ll make you regret this!” Glaring at Shiao Chen, Shiao Lin sneered. With a flash of his light shield, he flew away in a moderate speed and disappeared in no time.
Thousands of meters away, Shiao Lin stopped and crushed a jade slip into ashes. His fury was gone in an instant and his face turned grave. He looked back worriedly and sped towards Luoyun Valley as his light shield flashed like crazy.
Seeing that Shiao Lin left, Shiao Chen looked complacent and said, “A loser without spiritual roots. You think you can pose a threat to me? If we weren’t related, I would’ve destroyed you long ago.”
As he spoke, Shiao Chen poured his spiritual power into the disk again. While the green light flashed, the disk sped up instantly and went in the opposite direction like mad.
“You cunning brat, even if you turned into the Monkey King with seventy-two transformations, you wouldn’t be able to escape from me!” A sneer could be heard from behind. In the direction to which Shiao Chen had been headed, the air became turbulent and a grave-looking old man slowly emerged. When he stretched his hand out, a giant, pitch-black web, which was several hundred meters wide, shrunk quickly and fell upon his hand.
Above the web were dark clouds. As the web showed itself, it gave off disgusting smells. Apparently it was an extremely evil treasure. Seeing that, Shiao Chen couldn’t help sweating it out. Had Yu Ji not warned him, he would’ve hit right into that giant web. Both he and Shiao Lin would end up dying a miserable death.
“Damn you, Mingxiao, you old fart, I knew it was you!” Shiao Chen shouted out in panic. The green light glowed above the disk and with the rate of his light shield accelerating, he dashed away.
“You think you could run away from me?” An intense intent to kill could be seen in Mingxiao Master’s eyes. The aggressive spiritual power of the Gold Core Cultivator soared straight into the sky and his Taoist robe fluttered though there was no wind. While he sneered, his light shield flashed and he was right behind Shiao Chen. They were just several hundred meters apart and the old man was approaching Shiao Chen at a rapid speed.