Volume 10 Chapter 77

Whilst soaring out of the building against his will, Baimu whipped the air with a string of blood from his mouth.

"Shucks, I forgot to ask for his contact. I need to learn his discipline," Lai Jingzhen bemoaned.

Baimu scurried to his feet upon body slamming the ground to leg it. Though he could still fight, just reimagining Lai Jingzhen seemingly rewind his own clock deterred Baimu from attempting to continue fighting.

Lai Jingzhen's parents can't be human! He's definitely the head daoist of the Central Plain!

Baimu's assumption that he had escaped the danger zone wasn't exactly misplaced since the monstrous daoist had to stick by Emperor Yuansheng's side. Having said that, his assumption wasn't exactly correct, either.

Behind the young swordswoman blocking Baimu's way were ten-odd people: "You're Baimu's sacred beast?"

"I'm the reaper!"

Baimu needed chaos to cover his flight, and killing a bunch of people would achieve just that.

"Right... Detain him!"

Baimu dropped and rolled upon feeling a wind billow behind him.

"What a pity."

Had Baimu reacted a second slower, Sima Huai's spiked mace would've split his skull already.

Baimu zig-zagged towards Shen Yiren. None of the seven armed individuals in front were his match in a one-on-one setting, but he wasn't strong enough to drop each one with a single strike. Hence, he donned his brown energy as armour to ward them off.

"You're the pretty boss? Thank you for the sacrifice!" Baimu reached for Shen Yiren's head; however, he caught a bald head instead. Baimu squeezed harder, yet he couldn't put a dent in his opponent's head.

"Argh!" Baimu's short paused afforded Shen Yiren the opportunity to graze his face, from eyebrow to the corner of his lips, forcing him to bound backward.

"Fourth, you okay?" Shen Yiren queried.

Tianfeng Xuanyuan took out a mini mirror to check his head: "I'm fine. Just a couple of red marks."

Shen Yiren, with Yujing drawn, strode forward: "Apprehend him."

Qilin Guards burst out from the rooms around, bringing Baimu's shackled adjutant and wraiths out with them.

Shen Yiren scoffed, "I can forgive you for being naïve if you send people to jump us in the shadows, but attacking our master is unforgivable."

"I'll rearrange your face!" Baimu lunged at Shen Yiren.

"Brother Bodhi, please do not show mercy."

"That was the plan."

Baimu stopped in his tracks just before he crashed into a blue screen. From experience, he recognised the blue field functioned in the similarly to his brother's purple qi despite the principles behind them differing.

"Your judgement is quite sharp, huh," commented Abels.

Baimu broke at the knee and sprung up, unleashing a six-hit combo. Abels was strong in his own right, but even he couldn't block Baimu's attacks with a single arm. Each time he deflected a shot, Abels would redirect the attack subtly, reducing a portion of Baimu's output, thereby reducing the effort required to thwart Baimu's strikes.

"If you weren't hurt, you'd be able to hurt me," Abels jovially adulated.

I am a great guya. I am the strongest man in Nanjiang. I am without equal!

Despite Baimu firing his Enlightenment on all cylinders, all he did was put a wry shape on Abels' lips.

Abels skid back a step as his blue domain pushed up against Baimu's brown field. Nevertheless, Baimu went flying back over twenty metres.

"Not bad." Although Abels was ready for another exchange, Baimu leveraged the pushback momentum to abscond. "That direction is... Tsk, guess you trained to escape, huh."

What is the deal with those people? He didn't even strike once yet. There's no way I can beat him, let alone two monsters!

Baimu spotted a big carriage whilst on the run. Most importantly, a big, healthy horse was pulling it. The presence of the two inside became noticeable once he got closer.

A trap? No, they couldn't have predicted I'd escape via this route. Judging from the depth of the marks on the road, the carriage must've been sitting here for days now. Whatever, consider yourselves unlucky.

Due to being tight on time, Baimu chose to use Enlightenment for a fifth time in the same day, manipulating his brown energy into the claw of an eagle. He shaved off the carriage's exterior in one go, revealing two caged individuals in two iron cages.

Upon hearing footsteps encroaching, Baimu reached into a cage to take a hostage, figuring the man with his head down had to be important to the company if they were going to lock him up. When he just dipped his hand between the rails, though, he yanked it right back and bolted. Sweat trickled down his face along with the blood from the cut Shen Yiren inflicted. When he reached into the cage, he felt a warning that told him to back off, lest he be less an arm.

Who the hell was that now? Where the hell did these freaks come from? My brother is supposed to be my only rival. Twenty years of training, yet three men can kill me without breaking a sweat?

The cut on Baimu's face was nothing compared to the anguish in his mind. He wasn't so mentally weak that he'd just accept defeat. He really wanted to kill someone for some therapy, nevertheless.

Down the road, the extraordinary beauty of a woman distracted Baimu without her needing to pose. Had she not advanced with the intent to hurt him, he wouldn't have broken out of his stupor. Still, she caught him twice. Even though they weren't heavy blows, the spots she palmed triggered the internal injuries Lai Jingzhen inflicted once again.

Even a random girl can kill me?!

Baimu regretted not wearing his armour more than ever. Howbeit, it was time to run, not bemoan.

"Pretty fast."

Neither Tang Ye nor Luo Ming spoke a word to anyone - save for the times Su Xiao delivered food to Tang Ye - or exhibited any behaviour resembling the intent to escape all this time. As a matter of fact, they were indifferent to everything that happened around until Tang Ye saw her.

"Wh-why are you here?"

"Take a guess. Long-time no see, Tangy."

Shen Yiren, having caught up, took hold of Ming Suwen's hands. Notwithstanding Ming Suwen having joined Liu Shan Men for a while already, due to business, they had only been communicating via letters; seeing Ming Suwen was worth a celebration to Shen Yiren. "Why didn't you tell me you would be arriving today?"

Ming Suwen embraced Shen Yiren: "There wouldn't be a surprise if I told you beforehand. It was so hard to find this place. Have you been well?"

The others, who searched other places before catching up, finally caught up.

Sima Huai: "Sister-in-law, we did not find anything. How about you?"

Tianfeng Xuanyuan: "Sister-in-law, nothing on my end, either. Why are you standing here?"

Xia'er: "Why do you all run so fast? I'm spent. Sister-in-law, why is your face so red?"

Ming Suwen: "How come I never heard anything about you three brats having a new sister-in-law?"

The three finally noticed Ming Suwen standing with her arms crossed and dreadful smile.

"Grandaunt..."

"Wh-why are you here?"

"S-Sister Suwen."

"Oh, it's bec-"

Before Shen Yiren could expound, the three stood erect as though they were reporting to their superior in the military: "It was all First Brother (Xia'er: Brother). We have nothing to do with it!"

***

Baimu was as lost as his brain was after escaping the devil's den. Even though he already had brushes with death on his way to the top, he had never suffered such one-sided beatings.

"Blood! I need blood!" Not even howling leaves off trees could calm Baimu down. Instead, it drew out his inferiority complex again.

Baimu didn't have a clear view of what resembled travelling merchants or hear their supposed cries' contents for bloodlust had pervaded his mind. In his state of madness, he seized a man by the head.

"Blood! I want blood! I w-, argh!"

The man dislocated Baimu's wrist using just one hand through sheer violence.

Despite his impaired hearing, Baimu clearly heard someone ask in a dismissive voice he hated, "You're pretty strong. You know how to get to Baimu?"

Baimu stretched his eyes as wide as he could to see a man taller than himself, facial features that didn't stand out and eyes that he couldn't see the depth of.

Who is he?

"The name is Ming Feizhen." Smiling with his teeth on display, he said, "I need to see Martial Paragon, Ji Xue."

Glossary

Feng Xue and Ji Xue - Feng Xue is translated to "Wind Blood", which is supposed to sound cool. Ji Xue - besides its meaning on paper (chicken blood) - is often used as a derogatory way of saying someone is high in Mandarin. The reason for Ji Xue taking on that meaning comes from a nonsensical belief that injecting chicken blood could cure any disease. Since people are willing to try anything when nothing is working and their life is in peril, you can say that they're even willing to inject chicken blood. Hence, "You must plan to inject chicken blood" is synonymous with "Are you high?" Therefore, referring to Feng Xue as Ji Xue is akin to calling him "trash".