Chapter 190: Chapter 190: Seeking Opportunity
"Escaped?"
Ying Wei, the leader of Yunshui Gang, fell into contemplation.
They had all witnessed the fierce battle on the deck a few days ago, and it was clear to them that the relationship between Shi Xiaole and the girl in black was far from harmonious, so they dismissed the possibility of them being accomplices.
What puzzled Ying Wei and Ying Wu was why Shi Xiaole would secretly escape when Duan Xi treated him as an honored guest?
"Regardless of his reason, anyone who dares to harm an Elder of the Purple Beauty Sect should pay for it."
A vicious look appeared in Ying Wu’s eyes.
Shi Xiaole’s importance was far less than that of the girl in black, so they couldn’t send too many people to avoid diluting their strength. After some thought, Ying Wu gathered three men and said, "I have a task for you. I want you to capture that young man in the green shirt we dealt with a few days ago."
All three men were masters at the eighth level of the Qi Absorption stage. When they received the leader’s order and learned of Shi Xiaole’s escape route, they all smirked, especially the bald man whose arm had been cut by Shi Xiaole, he was even more excited.
"Leader, what’s the boy’s level of skill?"
The excitement subsided, and the bald man regained his composure.
No matter what, Shi Xiaole had managed to outsmart him, which indicated that Shi Xiaole had some special abilities.
"Don’t worry, a few days ago he fought with Hou Tianping, and from what my brother and I estimated, this guy’s skills and mindset is strong. In a one-on-one fight, you might not have the upper hand, but if three of you gang up on him, his skills can only handle one of you. He’s certain to lose."
Ying Wu waved his hand.
Ying Wei on the side said with a smile, "Second Brother, since we’re going to do this, we can’t make any mistakes. Let’s send out two more masters at the eighth level of the Qi Absorption stage from our Yunshui Gang."
Now that there were five Qi Absorption level eight masters chasing after a Qi Absorption stage three martial artist, the bald man felt completely reassured and couldn’t help laughing inwardly.
Damn mutt, when I catch you, I’ll definitely hang you up and whip you a thousand times!
"He certainly knows how to keep a low profile, acting in his own way."
What Shi Xiaole didn’t know was that not only Ying Wu noticed his departure, the girl in black had also observed it. However, she did not stop him.
"I hope we will have the chance to meet again."
She withdrew her gaze and her gentle and beautiful eyes became cold and disdainful, as if nothing deserved her attention.
As far as she was concerned, Shi Xiaole was merely a passerby in her journey of cultivation. The past entanglements were just a game to her. In fact, she was uncertain if there would be a chance for them to meet again.
Of course, if it wasn’t for her injury and the need to use Duan Xi as a temporary shelter, she might have followed Shi Xiaole out of boredom to see what secrets he had.
After crossing the Yunfeng River to the east bank, a distance of several hundred meters, and drying his clothes, Shi Xiaole leaped into the jungle.
Soon after, a group of five people also arrived on the eastern bank.
"A hundred and twenty meters to the left, quick!"
The voice, condensed into a line, reached the ears of the bald man from the ship hundreds of meters away, unmistakably from Ying Wu.
A Xuanqi Realm martial artist generally has a perception range of only a few dozen meters, and this is also the distance for secret communication.
However, Ying Wu was an exception.
His method of seeing and hearing everything came about accidentally in the past and it was surprisingly of the second-rate inferior grade. When fully accomplished, he could survey the situation within a radius of 500 meters.
Although he could not sense details to the level of monitoring small insects and birds, he could definitely track a living person within that range and give directions to others.
But this skill drained a lot of Internal Power, and with Ying Wu’s Xuanqi first-stage cultivation level, he could only just about maintain it for a quarter of an hour. Therefore, he was very urgent and hoped that the five bald men could catch up to Shi Xiaole as soon as possible.
The thick jungle was incredibly quiet at night, with occasional chirping of cicadas and birds.
Shi Xiaole moved through it like a ghost. The Lianhua Peak seemed to be close by but in reality, it was una certain distance away. The sooner he could reach it, the sooner he could find clues.
As for the certain troubles, that he couldn’t solve at the moment, his best course of action was to shake them off.
Looking back at the path behind him, Shi Xiaole activated his Bird Crossing Skill, made a few turns, and disappeared into the night.
"He’s out of my range now."
Inside the ship, Ying Wu opened his eyes.
"Don’t worry, with five men on it, they will eventually catch that kid."
Ying Wei said with a faint smile, seemingly unconcerned.
In the end, a Qi Absorption stage three cultivator, even if he had the talents of the top twenty in the Young Heros Ranking, couldn’t handle five Qi Absorption stage eight masters.
The only question, could these five men catch up to him?
Three days passed in a blink of an eye.
The bald man and others were like headless flies, struggling to even get a glimpse of Shi Xiaole.
"Damn mutt, has no real skill, but sure knows how to run."
The bald man slapped a tree trunk with the thickness of two men hugging each other and broke it, his anger unabated.
They were near the Ten Thousand Layers Mountain Range, and it was impossible to find a person without direction in this area.
"Don’t worry, since the little brat sneaked here, I’m sure he’s up to something. Otherwise, he could have just continued to follow Duan Xi, and we wouldn’t have been able to touch him."
The man with the sly look among the five laughed cynically, waking up everyone else.
"Do you have any suggestions?"
The other four all looked at him, and the bald man even showed a hopeful expression.
He almost forgot, this sly-looking man, known as ’Thief Monkey’, was known for being calculating and cunning. He might be able to provide a useful strategy.
"The kid has managed to escape us so far. At this point, all we can do is take a gamble."
Thief Monkey squinted and said, "Most people who enter the mountain range do so seeking opportunities. I’ve heard that hundreds of miles away, there is a Lotus Peak. This mountain range is peculiarly shaped, shrouded in white mist, resembling a fairyland."
The Martial World is vast, and so are the opportunities within. Many of these opportunities are hidden within mountains and rivers. There are some people in the Martial World who wander around famous mountains and rivers all year round, and they do reap some rewards to varying degrees.
Among mountains and rivers, those hidden in peculiar places are the ones with the most opportunities.
After all, people of the Martial World care about their face. There are not many experts willing to casually bury their life’s martial arts in a poor place. This is disrespectful to themselves and seems to lower their taste.
Spectacular places, naturally, become the first choice.
Of course, not all spectacular places are hiding opportunities. One can only say the probability is high.
In the absence of any clues, Thief Monkey’s thought is undoubtedly the most feasible one.
"That sounds good. However, to prevent the kid from noticing us, I suggest we five move separately, keeping a certain distance from each other."
"That’s an excellent idea."
"We’ve wasted so many days because of that kid. If we catch him, he’s going to pay."
...
The Ten Thousand Layers Mountain Range is vast. After shaking off the bald man and the other four, Shi Xiaole picked a direction at random and headed full speed toward Lotus Peak.
Several days later, he arrived at the foot of Lotus Peak.
The Lotus Peak, thousands of feet high, soared into the clouds. A combination of sloping peaks formed a complicated shape of a thousand gullies and ten thousand ravines. Standing at the foot of the mountain, one felt as small as an ant.
Finding something in such a place was akin to climbing to the sky.
Fortunately, from the beginning, Shi Xiaole’s mindset was to give it a try, so he wasn’t too disappointed.
With a flash, Shi Xiaole used the trees to scale Lotus Peak, finally landing in a spot with an altitude of hundreds of meters. There was a cave there which could serve as his shelter for the next few days.
Starry night.
In the cave, Shi Xiaole took out the blue and green orbs again. Since the two orbs were related to Lotus Peak, would they show something different here?
Following the moonlight, the green and blue rays shot outside the cave, falling on a waterway a hundred meters away.
Something strange happened. This time, what was reflected was not Lotus Peak, but a tiny arrow.
Shi Xiaole hurriedly stood up and dashed in the direction of the arrow. Every once in a while, he used the blue and green orbs to reflect the moonlight again.
After several times, he discovered the peculiarity within.
First, the waterways near Lotus Peak were too numerous and tangled. The direction of the reflected arrow was different for each waterway the light shone on.
Secondly, even on the same waterway, the position of the arrow reflected by the light was completely different at different distances apart.
Even with Shi Xiaole’s willpower, he was almost baffled.
According to the probability calculation in his past life mathematics, there were countless combinations possible among these. Perhaps only one could help him find the hidden ’treasure’.
Shi Xiaole had a strong intuition that the ’treasure’ was not simple. Because just the design of the reflection clues of the blue and green orbs was not something an ordinary person could accomplish.
But similarly, few people could decipher this clue. Unless one steps on dog shit luck, trying one by one would be futile even for a lifetime.
A certain competitive spirit was aroused. In the following days, Shi Xiaole was like a possessed man, analyzing various possible factors at all times, hoping to clear his mind.
The group led by the bald man had also arrived early. However, their fate in trying to find a person on such a massive Lotus Peak was also difficult, always ending in disappointment every day.
Until one day, when Thief Monkey saw the arrow on the waterway.
The blue and green rays were not obvious under the moonlight, but by intentionally looking along the direction of the arrow, they could still spot some traces.
"Perhaps we have found him."
Thief Monkey was exceedingly pleased.
"Great! We immediately act and round up that bastard."
The bald man, too impatient to wait, was the first to take action. The other four dispersed quietly, approaching Shi Xiaole from different directions.
"These relentless bastards."
Sensing the five powerful auras from all around, Shi Xiaole frowned.
His perception was strong, but it was about on par with an expert in the Xuanqi Realm, within a few tens of meters. By the time the bald man and his four companions arrived, it was too late for him to run.
"Bastard, keep running. Let’s see where you can go this time."
The bald man was smiling, but his face was cold.
The other four nonchalantly stared at Shi Xiaole.
Five Qi Absorption Eightfold masters cornering him - if the kid escaped again, it’d be a miracle.
"You can’t catch me."
Before the five of them could react, Shi Xiaole took the initiative and thrust his sword at Thief Monkey, who was to his left. In his perception, this man’s aura was the weakest among the five.
The green sword light, alongside the bright moon above, shone on Thief Monkey, causing confusion in his senses and making him stay rooted to the spot.
"Divine Palm!"
At the critical moment, the bald man swung his fan-like palm over his head, rapidly moving it towards Shi Xiaole. If Shi Xiaole insisted on killing Thief Monkey, he would also suffer serious injuries.
At the same time, the other three Qi Absorption Eightfold masters also applied their unique skills, attacking Shi Xiaole, who was right in the middle, with their surging internal powers.
