CH 263

Tossing out the various talismans, Shang Xia bought himself some time to deal with the only way to break out of his sticky situation.

Instead of taking the risk of trying to run, he chose to rush towards the hidden archer!

Shang Xia knew it clearly. As long as the hidden archer lived, his chances of running away were slim to none.

The only way he could live was to deal with the hidden archer.

“Yin Lian, be careful!” The blade wielding cultivator roared the moment Shang Xia moved.

That only served to confirm Shang Xia’s guess that he was moving in the right direction.

It didn’t take long for him to hear the whistling of another arrow as it tore through the air. A burst of lightning emerged from the top of Shang Xia’s sword as it greeted the arrow. No match for the explosive lightning, the black iron arrow shattered to bits.

Before the lightning could dissipate, another black iron arrow ripped through the air and closed in rapidly towards Shang Xia. 

Realizing it was too late to deflect the arrow with his sword, Shang Xia extended his left hand and a layer of formless inner qi gave it a nice coating. With the extra protection, Shang Xia grabbed the arrow directly.

Despite the layer of protection from his inner qi, his flesh was clearly weaker than metal. A thick gash appeared on his palm as the arrow was stained a deep red. By the time it lost all its momentum, the arrow was barely three inches away from Shang Xia’s eye.

Despite his injury, his movements didn’t slow down. Due to the two arrows he shot, the hidden archer’s location was revealed to Shang Xia.

“I found you!” With a shake of his body, Shang Xia changed direction in mid air yet again. With the assistance of the heaven and earth qi in the surroundings, he leaped twenty feet in the air and saw a figure running desperately through the forest. He held a long bow in his hand.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Shang Xia’s sword had disappeared at an unknown time, and the Waning Spear Moon replaced it. Even though it was nearly destroyed, it was barely usable.

After all, it still maintained its spear-like appearance.

Only with a spear would Shang Xia be able to unleash his full strength!

“Void Evasion!” He stabbed towards the fleeing cultivator who was nearly eight feet away with the fourth move he comprehended. During the second transformation of his divine sense earlier, he was struck with a flash of inspiration and he created his fourth move from his comprehension of the Providence Spear.

He visualized the technique several times, but that was his first time actually using it in battle.

Before his inner qi could travel fully through the spear to complete the move, the Waning Moon Spear was finally unable to withstand his Origin True Qi any longer. It shattered like glass and it was completely scrapped. 

“Hah, brat, you’re dead now!” The axe wielding cultivator behind roared with laughter.

At the same time, the archer who was running away paused to draw his bow.

Only then did Shang Xia discover that he had mistaken the archer for a male. It was actually a lady who was clad in men’s clothes! 

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t able to fully draw her bow when a giant spear made entirely of heaven and earth qi appeared in mid air. In the blink of an eye, the spear stabbed deep into her left chest. Shang Xia’s spear struck before she could react.

“I… I…” Before she could say anymore, she spat out several mouthfuls of blood in a row and she collapsed.

Her body hadn’t even hit the floor when Shang Xia’s figure arrived. He plundered the corpse easily and grabbed the bow firmly in his hands. His actions were so swift that he broke two of her fingers with the bowstring.

“AHHHH!!! Yin Lian! Shang Xia, you deserve death!” The blade wielding cultivator roared with rage and he seemed to unleash some sort of forbidden art. He accelerated once again and he closed the distance between himself and Shang Xia in several breaths of time.

“Hmph. They’re probably a couple.” Shang Xia didn’t forget to sneer at the two of them despite the dangerous situation he was facing. Although he just killed his lover, Shang Xia’s emotions weren’t affected in the slightest. He remained extremely calm and looked over the situation once again. 

Without the hidden archer hindering his movements, Shang Xia felt that even if he couldn’t kill the two of them easily, they wouldn’t be able to take him down either. Much less when one of them had already lost his cool and was charging towards him like a madman.

As he continued to run, the Jade River Sword appeared in his hand once again and he twisted his body to unleash his attack. Even though he was holding a sword, he used the third move he created after comprehending the Providence Spear Art, Flashing Meteor.

The blade wielding cultivator released his full powered strike at the same time.

A loud blast rang through the air and the two of them tumbled into the surroundings. The eruption of heaven and earth qi that resulted from their exchange caused the ground below to sink three feet lower.

The two of them released a grunt as they flew. Borrowing the strength of the recoil, Shang Xia opened up the distance between them by close to thirty feet. The moment he landed, he felt his legs going soft and he nearly fell to the ground. A sickly sweet sensation rose up his throat and he quickly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Taking a deep breath, he circulated his Origin True Qi and continued to escape in the other direction.

His Irregular Steps was extremely useful when it came to avoiding attacks and moving in close quarters. Now that he had fallen into the heart of a dense jungle, he was like a fish in the water as he started to run. In a flash, his figure disappeared.

Several free away from the blade wielding cultivator, the axe wielding man frowned. Surprisingly, he didn’t chase after Shang Xia. “Brother Shan Dao, what do you think we should do?” 

Shan Dao wiped the blood that was trickling down the side of his lips before looking in the direction where Shang Xia disappeared. “Forget it. We can’t catch up to him anyway. We’ll just have to take the L this time. Let’s go.” 

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Yuan Gang, the axe wielding cultivator, glanced at Shan Dao in shock. “We failed the mission and got Yin Lian killed… How are we supposed to report when we return?” 

Shang Dao kept his sword and hung his head in shame and pain. “I’ll bear the responsibility.” 

“Brother Shan, you know that’s not what I meant. Crossing the spatial barrier isn’t easy. Was our sole mission after coming over here to capture that punk? He’s just a Martial Intent Realm brat and his identity isn’t exactly impressive anyway. His clan isn’t exactly the strongest in the Azure Origin World. Why should we capture him?” 

As the words left his lips, the two of them arrived beside Yin Lian’s corpse. Shan Dao lightly pressed his hand against the ground that had sunken in and sighed, “There’s no way we can bring her corpse back. Let’s bury her here.” 

Tapping the ground, a deep grave was created and he placed her corpse into it carefully. Sealing up the hole, he piled soil on top and turned it into a simple grave.

“Let’s go.” When he was done, he glanced at her grave once more before running in the direction Shang Xia had escaped. 

“Brother Shan, you haven’t answered my question!” Yuan Gang ran after him while yelling.

Without slowing down, Shan Dao mentioned casually, “It’s better for you not to know. It won’t benefit you in any way either. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.” 

Yuan Gang paused for a second but when he saw Shan Dao rushing onwards without any intention to wait for him, he could only follow obediently.

Hastening his steps, Yuan Gan pressed, ‘I really hope Brother Shan can tell me the reason.” 

Chuckling softly, Shan Dao eventually gave in. “Since you wish to know… Do you remember what happened in the Changbai Holy Land half a year ago?” 

“Are you talking about Yu Cangze?” Yuan Gang gasped.

“That’s right. It’s said that he went into hiding after stealing an item from the Changbai Holy Land. From what we know, the mission we were assigned came from the Changbai Holy Land itself.” Shan Dao muttered.

“Changbai Holy Land?!” Yuan Gang frowned. “What has catching the kid have anything to do with Yu Cangze?” 

“I have no idea. The Changbai Holy Land was reluctant to reveal any information about what Yu Cangze stole from them, or anything to do with him for that matter. From the connection we made, Yu Cangze might have been bribed by the Azure Origin World to steal the Changbai Holy Land’s holy treasure.” 

Sucking in a cold breath, Yuan Gang nearly cried out in shock. “Did someone related to the brat obtain the item?! Is that why we have to capture him alive?!” 

“That is very likely the case.” 

…

Weaving through the thick forest, Shang Xia ran more than ten miles before stopping. He crossed three large hills and traveled through several ravines. Only when he couldn’t detect any movement behind him did he slow down to rest.

“Looks like I’m really in the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range now. The Tongyou Institution should be located extremely far from me, but I have no idea which direction to travel in anyway!” Circulating his Origin True Qi to recover his tired legs. Even though his exhaustion slowly faded, he failed to calm his heart.

“Cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World entered our world, and they managed to sneak attack me on my way back to the institution. They plan on capturing me alive, but what’s the point? They even dared to attack me under the noses of Kou Chongxue and Shang Lubing… It doesn’t make sense for them to leave Kou Chongxue alone if they managed to find me there…” 

“They definitely need someone to liaise with them when they come over. Who can the spy actually be? Could it be the members of the Rose Party, or are there even more hidden spies we don’t know about?”

“By now, the Tongyou Institution probably received news of the intrusion. With the experts of the five institutions gathered together, a storm is about to sweep through the continent…”