Chapter 64: Roaming Dragoers the Sea, Tiger Freed Back to the Mountains

  Its face was cealed by a helmet, yet from the gaps oozed an unfathomable darkness. Oily shadows, resembling a cat’s whiskers or an octopus’s tentacles, emerged from within, as though searg for something.

  But before it could discover anything of value, a shrill whistle rang out in the surrounding air.

  “The target has appeared!”

  “A demonic creature has emerged!”

  tering on Hanging Fate Valley, rge numbers of Red Armuards—on high alert while patrolling the area—immediately verged on the zone where the vassal demon had appeared.

  They shouted battle cries as fiery patterns, posed of tiny script, flowed and burned across their armor. These patterns faintly ected to form a massive military formation that paihe surrounding mountains and forests vivid red.

  Meanwhile, the former Hanging Fate Manor—now the Red Armuards’ encampment—lit up with beams of mystical art radia shone as brightly as midday in the span of several li, banishing all the hidden demons as.

  Faced with this overwhelming force of Red Armuards and demon?spirit radiahe demonic human had no choice but to give up its iigation, once again cloaking itself in shadow.

  As a vassal demon of the Great Heavenly Demon Xiuming, it excelled at blood essend vitality?type mystical arts and could normally dete Jing’s preseraightaway.

  However, An Jing’s sudden disappearance for three days forced it to lurk around Hanging Fate Valley, only to be surrounded by the Great soldiers who arrived to se the Heavenly Demon’s lingering corruption.

  Even using a devoured human body as a shell to ceal its Demonic Qi could not free it from the Demon Monit Formation, which severely strais movements. Thus, just as now, even if it stumbled onto a clue, there was no time to pursue it further.

  And so, the demonic human and the Great soldiers tiheir game of hide?and?seek.

  Meanwhile, the real quarry for everyone—An Jing—had already crossed three mountain ridges and arrived at an uream valley two hundred li away.

  Such is the terrifying mobility of a martial artist.

  In An Jing’s case, he was born on the Bordernds and lived as a refugee. Later, at Hanging Fate Manor, he frequently trained by traversing mountainous terrain, which gave him leg power akin to a thousand-li horse in human form.

  “Let’s rest up, replenish some water and strength, then keep going. If I run for a full day and night, I should just about emerge from these deep mountains.”

  Uhe other world, the Huaixu Realm had no acid rain, and its rivers remained exceedingly pristine.

  An Jing crouched at the stream, gulping the clear water. Theook out a pieoked tusked pig leg, tore a k free, and chewed to recover his strength as quickly as possible.

  He had a remarkable memory. He recalled that, back when the demonic sect’s carriage first ehese mountains, it traveled another five or six days before reag Hanging Fate Manor. A carriage was slow, certainly no match for his all?out sprint—especially if it must rest at night.

  After a day and night of running, he should be able to get he rural towns o ’s northwestern frontier.

  “As they say, a roaming dragoers the sea, and a tiger is freed back to the mountain. Once I find an opportunity to slip into a city, I’ll be pletely clear of the demonic sed regain my freedom!”

  After hydrating and regaining some stamina, An Jing climbed to the tallest peak around to scout the terrain for his step.

  Uhe bright moon y a dense, untamed wilderness—an endless forest of enormous trees, too thick for several people to encircle. T arunks, some dozens or hundreds of meters tall, along with their brang opies, could block out the mooirely, shrouding the forest’s interior for turies without light.

  Yet even without sunlight, the a forest in the northwest was not devoid of illumination. Many fungal vines grew on these sky?pierg trees, their faint, cold glow remi of Spirit Light Vines, nurturing plenty of unusual pnts and all manner of is. Bathed in this dim?blue radiance, tless interg branches and roots twisted like pathways, f a byrinthine ecosystem.

  In a forest so primeval that not evears or moon could reliably show one’s bearings, An Jing had to climb a mountaintop just to figure out which way to go.

  “I’m a bit off course, but it’s no big problem. The general dire is correct.”

  Standing atop the treetops, An Jing had e across an abandoned bird’s on his . The was huge; the broken eggshells were half a person’s height, indig the adult creature must be seven ht meters long—a colossal savage beast.

  “What in the world…? I’d better keep my distance.”

  This made An Jing all the more alert. He resolved to leave the deep mountains at top speed.

  After readjusting his heading, he tinued his rapid sprint forward.

  Along the way, he indeed entered several savage beasts and birds that saw through his Mysterious Steps and Fag the Abyss to Nurture Qi. But these fierce creatures were far from mindless. An Jing’s power was obvious, and he was clearly passing through in a hurry. Stirring up such a dangerous foe ointless.

  Except for a few that followed him briefly wherespassed into their domains, most simply looked on from afar.

  heless, not every savage beast gave him face. One looked like a cross between a gecko and a chameleon, lying in ambush atop a giant tree and attag other creatures that passed below.

  Waiting for the moment when An Jing’s focus was oh ahead, it struck from the side, spitting out its long, sword?like tongue, aiming t An Jing whole into its stomach.

  An ordinary caravan or mountain rht have had people snatched away and been uo fight back or even locate the attacker. At the slightest setback, it would slip off into the byrinth of forest.

  One could only flee its territory or wait for the beast to be satiated.

  But An Jing was different.

  He had a firearm!

  Without needing any reminder from the Sword Spirit, An Jing—his awakened Spiritual Root granting keener perception than an ordinary martial artist—realized something was off before the gecko beast’s tongue shed out. He shifted aside with ease, spun around, and opened fire.

  The gunshots boomed like thuhough the beast’s tongue was nimble, its body was slow; it took seven ht bullets on the spot, letting out a shrill cry and then fleeing into the forest maze at top speed.

  Naturally, An Jing had no time for pursuit and simply tinued forward.

  Perhaps that unfortunate gecko beast’s wail had also warhe other creatures, for ried to block his path after that.

  “Ever since my Spiritual Root awakened, my perception has grown unbelievably sharp.”

  Having avoided a spider savage beast’s web trap thanks to that heightened perception, An Jing, during his third rest break, meditated and pondered aloud, “Even if my Spiritual Root didn’t grant me a Divine Ability, the boost to my perception and my trol over my Internal Energy is nothing to scoff at.”

  “Why is it that in the Huaixu Realm, no one tinues Spiritual Root Qi Refining?”

  All this time, the Sword Spirit had been silently watg An Jing’s movements and now finally spoke: “That’s indeed quite strange. I always wanted you to try Qi Refining in the Huaixu Realm, but things have been too hectic to find the ce.”

  He evidently could not work it out, either. So He made a suggestion: “We’ve already traveled several hundred li. It’ll be hard for ao catch us now… so we’ve got a bit of leeway.”

  “Indeed. Let’s try it.” An Jing gave a slight nod. He chose a hidden spot on a sturdy tree trunk, sat cross?legged, and closed his eyes iation.

  (End of Chapter)