Chapter 67: Don’t Say That You Weren’t Warned!

  A fierce wind swept up the evening clouds, and fallen leaves fluttered about like golden foil.

  In autumn, the northwestern frontier's mountains were at their busiest time of the year.

  Wild beasts exerted themselves to the utmost in search of winter provisions, hunters prepared for the grand hunt before the snow arrived, herb gatherers roamed the mountains gathering fully ripened medial pnts, and farmers carried out their final autumn harvest.

  Meanwhile, in the far northern reaches of the northwest, oskirts of a oneglected mountain rahere noeared a ti seeking clues as they anxiously searched for a certain individual.

  An Jing held his breath and cealed his qi, letting the Sword Spirit’s prote settle upon him.

  He crouched amid the branches of a t tree, his gaze cold as he watched several martial artists of the Heavenly Will Demonic Seb through the area where he had previously stayed.

  The first group to catch up to An Jing was her Great nor the Heavenly Demons; it was the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect.

  These elite demonic sect martial artists, all at the Internal Energy realm, arrived by flying shuttle and accurately nded in the spot where An Jing had been hiding. They then spread out to duct a thh search for his trail.

  Had An Jing not been prepared—erasing his qi traces and other clues—he might truly have been exposed by these demonic sect forces.

  It recisely for this reason that An Jing did not immediately choose to go off to the other world and have them sear vain. Instead, he remained patient, their as.

  He wao uand how exactly they were trag him.

  “Are they using the blood and hair I left behind at Hanging Fate Manor to cast some sort of curse teique? Or…do they have a trag Divine Ability capable of harnessing karmic forces to pinpoi of thin air?”

  Suspeg the tter, An Jing narrowed his eyes and peered through the dense greeoward the flying shuttle floating in the distance.

  There, the white?robed schor was eling his Heaven-Ordained Fate, direg the demonic sect martial artists to keep searg.

  They had been rummaging through this stretch of forest for nearly two hours without results. Ordinarily, no matter how persistent one might be, they would have moved on by now.

  Yet these demonic sect martial artists showed no sign of leaving. They dug three chi deep if needed, swearing to uncover some trace of him.

  Such determination inly out of the ordinary.

  An Jing believed that it recisely the Heaven-Ordained Fate Divine Ability belonging to that white?robed schor that had sensed he was still in this viity—merely hidden too well to be spotted—and thus gave them the fideo keep searg.

  “Is the target really still in this pce? We’ve searched nearly everywhere.”

  “We haven’t checked the treetops, have we?”

  “You must be joking—he isn’t a monkey. Are we going to shake every siree?”

  “The higher-ups said if there are bird eggs, we’re supposed to crack them open just to check!”

  Such was the private versation among the demonic sect martial artists that An Jing overheard from his hiding pce.

  Holy, even if they kicked every tree, broke every egg, or cut up every earthworm, they still would never find him.

  Because he kept moving, always lingering behind them and hiding in spots they had “just searched.”

  Though these demonic sect soldiers were certaie, they were not geniuses.

  Their Mysterious Steps were not up to An Jing’s level, so they heard no sign of him at all. It never crossed their minds that An Jing—so skillful and so audacious—would be following directly behind them, unafraid of being discovered.

  Still, a tactical victory was not necessarily a strategie.

  “This is a bit troublesome,” he thought.

  Even though he could toy with them on a teical level, An Jing grew pensive. “I ’t just keep pying cat and mouse.”

  “Even if I head to the other world right now and they don’t find me for a while, three days from now, when I return to Huaixu, the demonic sect—possessing a trag Divine Ability—will be able to locate me immediately.”

  “Furthermore, they might deduce from the fact that I reappear in the same spot I vahat I have some ability to hide ihen they’ll be sure to stake it out ime.”

  “Not to mentioime they e for me, they might send more martial artists, even stronger Internal Fortification experts…maybe even a Martial Veins Grandmaster!”

  An Jing uood that the demonic sect was currently sending only Internal Energy and Internal Fortifiartial artists to capture him, not because he cked value, but because Great ’s official forces also happeo be in the viity during this period.

  That Divireasury True Person with the title 【Six Yang Xuanjing*】 was also nearby, meaning the demonic sect could not spare the extravagant force they would o hold him at bay while searg for An Jing at the same time.

  Furthermore, it was not so easy to summon a Martial Veins Grandmaster. An Jing had at least five or six days and one or two opportuo visit the other world and y low.

  He was fident he could use firearms from that other world to haernal Fortification foes.

  But from what he had seen with the Medie Manor Lord—elderly and frail as he was—still blog more thay pert of a surprise volley of bullets, it was clear that ordinary people and firearms were no match for a standard Internal Fortification warrior.

  It was only someone like An Jing—wielding Internal Energy, a Heaven-Ordained Fate Divine Ability, and firearms—who could challenge such a realm across power levels.

  But if a Martial Veins Grandmaster appeared…

  An Jiimated that one would need heavy artillery?grade firepower to harm someo that level.

  As for whether he could actually hit such a person, ventional bullets and shells might also be too slow.

  Before any Martial Veins Grandmaster was truly deployed to capture him, An Jing had to find a way to block their trag Divine Ability.

  Or, more directly—kill the one who possessed that trag Divine Ability.

  “But nht now.”

  When another demonic sect martial artist passed close by, An Jing fought down the sudden impulse to strike, abdueone alive to the other world, and forore details about this small demonic sect squad.

  Ag rashly would only sink him into a quagmire. The risks were te, the potential bes too unclear, and there would be endless plications. He could not afford even a single loss.

  The Heavenly Will Demonic Sect could fail repeatedly; even if every scout here died, it would not matter to them. They could bear the losses. But An Jing could not lose once.

  That was the disadvantage of a lone individual fag a vast anization.

  He even suspected that these small, solitary teams from the demonic sect were bait to provoke him into ag. The moment he moved, seven ht Internal Fortifiartial artists—or perhaps a Martial Veins Grandmaster—might leap off the flying shuttle to surround him.

  “I ’t fight them, and if I just flee, I’ll still be tracked… The pn to slip into a major city is basically a bust.”

  When he finished analyzing the situation, An Jing sighed and maed the broken sword from his Sea of sciousness. “It looks like my only choice is to head to the other world in search of new opportunities.”

  He swung the broken sword, opening a pitch?bck passage filled with silver rays, seemingly extending into infinity.

  Yet before stepping into that distant point in space?time, An Jing did not immediately leave.

  Realizing they already knew he was here—and that he had no hope of remaining hiddeook a deep breath, then called out in a loud voice, “Instructor Li! And you, white?robed sir! I know you’re on that flying shuttle!”

  When a martial artist whose Internal Breath was Like Rivers spoke, it rumbled like thunder. Before departing, An Jing shouted, “Let me say this first: I’ve always been stubborn, I won’t devour others, and I am absolutely not on the same path as you.”

  “If you leave right now, I will remember that you once gave me food and medie and saved my mother’s life, and it’ll be easier to meet again iure. I’ll even show mercy to you both!”

  “But if you still insist on pursuihen don’t bme my swords and bdes for being merciless!”

  “Don’t say that you weren’t warned!”

  Having spoken, An Jing did not hesitate. He stepped forward and disappeared into that far?off point in space?time.

  “Huh?”

  At that moment, aboard the flying shuttle, the white?robed schor who was eling a Divine Ability heard An Jing’s words and froze. “That was…a threat?”

  He could not help but ugh. “‘Remembering favors’… ‘Don’t say you weren’t warned!’ So formal. Has that kid read too many books? Our Divi never bothers with suiceties.”

  “Haha, right you are,” said Instructor Li with a ugh. “If he has the skill to kill us, I’d have to praise him for his astounding talent and cede that we judged him well!”

  “All kidding aside, Old Li, he really does have some ability.”

  Raising his brows, the white?robed schor fixed his gaze on the “map” in his hand. “Our ‘Divine General’ vanished right after throwing down that warning, the same as what happened four days ago.”

  A one?eyed martial artist stroked his jaw, leaned in, and studied the map. “So you’re saying, Old Xu, your Fate Artifact shows nothing?”

  “Nothing.”

  Surnamed Xu, the schor seemed to have a good rapport with Instructor Li; he even handed him the Fate Artifact. “Look here. Earlier, our Divine General An’s name was right over this area, overpping with ours.”

  “But now his name has vanished, just like four days ago when he disappeared in Hanging Fate Valley.”

  Instructor Li looked down at the Fate Artifa his hand. The white map bh lines indig the terrain of mountains and rivers.

  A cluster of tiny red names and dots drifted on the map, representing the demonic sect members participating in the hunt for An Jing.

  An Jing’s name had been among them, but it was now gone. Instructor Li’s eyes flickered as he took it all in.

  “Indeed, it’s missing.”

  He gave a slight nod aurhe booklet, showing he uood. “After this occurred st time, by the time he showed up again, he was already hundreds of li away.”

  “If not for your Heaven-Ordained Fate, ‘Keen Insight into Men,’ and your Fate Artifact, ‘Register of Mountains and Rivers,’ which loto his location, he really would have slipped away.”

  Schor Xu let out a long sigh. “After all, it ho first discovered him; you could say we’re half his ‘first teachers.’ Otherwise, my Divine Ability wouldn’t even work on him.”

  “That An Jing really is an exceptional genius. At first gnce, I knew he wasn’t ordinary, so I entered him in my records.”

  “Now I see that we still greatly uimated him.”

  (End of Chapter)

  *Xuanjing means "Mysterious"/"Mystic" Mirror.