Chapter 373 - Ice Jade Fairy

Xiao Chen leapt from one branch to another, moving so quickly that the tree leaves swirled in the air before falling to the ground. The four were hot on his trail. The chase continued for ten more kilometers until a Sword Qi flew toward Xiao Chen. He thrust his palm backward, but all he could feel was a numbing sensation spreading all over his body. It nearly made him fall. He steadied his body and turned to look. The attack was the four’s combined assault.

Xiao Chen landed on the branch of a large tree. He wondered if these four were insane. He immediately braced his throat with True Energy and coldly said, “Why are you people chasing after me?” His voice was icy and carried a hint of anger.

The expressionless Xiaoyue looked at him with an icy stare that resembled two bolts of cold lightning, but couldn’t get a proper look at his face. She said icily, “Who exactly are you? Why did you secretly tail us?”

Su Zimu and Bai Yushu were confused about this as well. Judging from his cultivation method, the man in the woven raincoat didn’t seem to be a part of the Devil’s Practice. Even so, they couldn’t tell his origin. So who was he? No matter his identity, he must be up to no good for tailing them.

Xiao Chen threw his back in laughter before answering emotionlessly, “Huh? Does the road belong to you? If walking behind you is considered tailing, then what does you chasing after me mean?”

“Don’t twist our words, you Devil’s Practice follower!” Zuoqiu Yang yelled, and charged at him with his spear. Xiao Chen scoffed and leaped into the sky. He cried, “Star-shifting Substitution!”

Suddenly, the earth began to quake and the mountain shook. Xiaoyue and the other three, who were standing on the branches, felt the center of their gravity shift. They nearly lost their balance and fell. They found that the towering and large trees around them were being moved around at a rapid pace. However, upon closer look, they realized that it wasn’t the trees moving but the ground underneath. They immediately leaped into the sky.

Zuoqiu Yang, caught halfway in his attack of Xiao Chen, didn’t expect a large tree to slam into his face. He knocked into the trunk and the impact caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood and fly out.

The tree was just an ordinary tree and shouldn’t have been able to injure Zuoqiu Yang. However, it was another story with the celestial power induced by Xiao Chen’s Star-shifting Substitution. Seeing how powerful these fast-moving trees were, Xiaoyue and the other two reinforced the True Energy protecting their bodies while dodging the incoming trees in a panic.

All of them had only one thought: what a strange skill. Xiao Chen was about to withdraw his power after seeing them lose the will to fight. Out of the blue, a powerful aura abruptly came through at a lightning-fast speed. By the time he recovered his senses, an enormous fiery-red palm print had ambushed him.

He hastily blocked the two palms and yet the collision of the two palm forces sent him falling to the ground nonetheless. He felt a metallic taste rising from his throat and then coughed up a mouthful of blood. His blood stained the front of his shirt, little by little.

When he looked up, he saw a white-bearded old man making a slow descent to the ground. The old man was imposing, deeply-wrinkled, and wore a red robe embroidered with golden flames. The four pursuers also returned to the ground. Xiaoyue immediately stepped forward and said, “Thank you for your help, Senior Danyang!”

The old man was Elder Danyang Zi from the Order of the Divine Fire. His cultivation was at the peak of the Nirvana Realm. He had been searching for his thirty or so missing disciples when he heard the sound of their battle and rushed over. When he saw Xiaoyue and the other three were in trouble, he thought that he could use this chance to get them indebted to him and stop them from fighting over the extraordinary treasure with him.

The nearby Xiao Chen composed himself. So this was Danyang Zi, he thought. His cultivation was much higher than Qi Heng’s. This made him want to make a quick exit, but naturally, Danyang Zi wouldn’t let him. The old man said coldly, “My young friend, you have quite the cultivation. Why don’t you tell us your name before going?” He was sure that this young man was no extraordinary cultivator, seeing as he had the ability to corner these four rising rookies.

Xiao Chen had sustained quite a heavy blow earlier. He had barely moved an inch when an unrivaled gust of wind coming from a palm movement engulfed him. It was right then that the sound of reed came drifting out of nowhere. The tune was incredibly faint but grew louder and louder until everyone felt as if it was right next to their ears. The tune carried a might that threatened to tear their souls apart. Xiaoyue cried out in alarm, “This is bad!”

Right at the same time, a layer of purple mist inexplicably enveloped the forest and obscured their vision. In the mist, Xiao Chen detected a hand, as soft as cotton, tugging on his wrist. Then, a faint fragrance hit his nose. Before he could figure out who the mysterious person was, he found that he was already a thousand feet away.

It wasn’t until they came to a standstill that Xiao Chen got a clear look at the person holding onto his wrist. It was a beautiful lady dressed in purple. Underneath her right eye was a vermilion tear-shaped mole. He couldn’t help feeling awkward after learning that a woman was dragging him by the hand. He immediately pulled his hand away and asked in an icy voice, “Who are you?”

The lady in purple looked at him with a faint smile. Her voice carried the slightest trace of annoyance as she replied, “You’re so strange. I saved your life and yet not only did you not thank me, but you’re interrogating me.” She took two steps closer to him.

The faint smell of fragrance hit Xiao Chen immediately. This was surely no ordinary woman, he thought. Then, a thought came to mind, reminding him of her identity. He was instantly wary, but he was also worried that the old mule, Danyang Zi, would catch up to him. He sprang into action and dashed toward the other side of the forest.

“Hey! How can you be so rude?!” Behind him, the lady in purple seemed to have scolded him before following him. She pointed her toes to the ground and gracefully jumped three inches off the ground. The plants and stones automatically moved out of her way throughout her journey.

Xiao Chen squeezed out the clotted blood in his body as he ran. When he saw that he couldn’t shake off the lady even after 30 minutes, he said, “Thank you for your help earlier, but people who walk different paths can’t work together. Please don’t follow me anymore.”

The lady in purple sneered and mimicked his words earlier. “Huh? Does the road belong to you? Why can’t I use this road if you can? Besides, why are you so sure that people who walk different paths can’t work together?”

Xiao Chen stopped and rested for a moment. Before he could respond, however, he heard a strange yelp from the distance. “Meow! I’m not walking anymore! I’m about to drop dead from exhaustion!”

Hearing this familiar sound made Xiao Chen felt as if someone had clutched his heart. The lady in purple noticed his changed expression and peered in the direction of the voice, but couldn’t see anything through the thick foliage. Suddenly, it began to drizzle.

Gusts of cold wind and fine rain hit them on the face. Xiao Chen felt a chill. Then, he heard a familiar voice saying, “Why don’t we find shelter from the rain first?”

“I agree! This Great Immortal is about to die from exhaustion!”

“Wish that d*mned kid is here. Even though it’s pretty unlucky to follow him sometimes…”

The rain seemed to have gotten even heavier. Raindrops fell heavily on the tree leaves in the same way they seemed to pelt Xiao Chen’s heart. Everywhere he could see was mist. He quietly walked toward the source of the voices and saw the five people standing in the distance: Brother Yifeng, Qingyu, Zhou Li, Mu Shaoai, and… Senior Sister Luo.

The wind was also picking up, willfully making a mess of his hair under the conical bamboo hat. The mist around him was gradually turning into a fog. Everything became indistinct. In the haziness, however, he saw Luo Shangyan noticing him. He immediately turned away and disappeared amid the rain and mist.

“Junior Sister Luo! It’s dangerous! Where are you going?”

“Junior Sister Luo! Come back!”

Xiao Chen dashed through the rain, ignoring the sound of the wind and the shouting behind him. Soon, the rain soaked through his woven raincoat and drenched his layers of clothes inside. Raindrops swept past his cheeks. In the end, after his feet had carried 1,000 to 1,500 meters away, he came up to a large tree. He hid behind it.

The rain was picking up and the fog was getting denser. He could hear the sound of a group of people running over, and then Yu Yifeng’s panicked voice, “Junior Sister Luo, what are you doing?!”

“It’s him. It’s him…”

A brief silence later, Yu Yifeng said, “Come on, Junior Sister Luo. Let’s go. Xiao Chen…”

“No! It’s him! Junior Brother Xiao!” “I know it’s you! Come out! Come out!”

Her voice echoed in the empty valley, every word following the one before it. Xiao Chen felt like she had grabbed tight onto his heart, squeezing it again and again. The lady in purple looked confused. She was about to poke her head out for a look when Xiao Chen stopped her and shook his head at her.

“Luo Shangyan, are you insane? Shut up! Not only will you catch the devils’ attention, but you’ll even attract vicious beasts…”

The sudden condemnation made Xiao Chen furious. He was pinching his fingers when his heartstrings tightened. The jade note was crushed. The jade note that he had given Luo Shangyan was crushed. He remembered what he told her then, “Crush this jade note if you find yourself in danger and I’ll come to you immediately…”

Xiao Chen sat under the tree, his head raised to look at the falling rain. He allowed the rain to hit his face, over and over, for a very long time until he heard Luo Shangyan’s voice again. “Why? Why won’t you meet us? Why…?”

It felt as if his heart was cleaved. He recalled the days they spent at the Three Pure Sect but a persistent voice told him that he couldn’t return anymore, never again…

“Lunatic…”

He didn’t know how much time had passed before the group finally walked far away. Xiao Chen stood up and stepped out from behind the tree. He walked up to where Yu Yifeng and the rest previously stood and slowly squatted down to pick up the pieces of the crushed jade note from the muddy water.

“I bet if they meet Seven Killings, they’ll die within 30 minutes.” The lady in purple joined him, oil-paper umbrella in hand. Xiao Chen turned around. “What are you trying to say?”

“A lonesome man in a raincoat walking among the bleak wind and icy rain. I never expected such a sentimental side from you, God of Murder.”

The lady in purple strolled up to him and titled the oil-paper umbrella to cover him with a faint smile. Even before, Xiao Chen was pretty sure that the lady was the Ice Jade Fairy of the Fort Raksasa, Su Lianyue. Of course, he learned this from the information that Qingluan provided.

He turned around and said, “Few know the true use of this reed; from the frigid jade comes autumn breeze. I never imagined that the fearsome Ice Jade Fairy would save a stranger.”

Su Lianyue giggled and the cyan oil-paper umbrella in her hand trembled along with it, shedding raindrops. The droplets didn’t move away this time and fell on her face, lending her an ethereal beauty. She said, “Ice Jade Fairy? In such chaotic times, all I hope for is a refuge.” She continued, “That said, who was that earlier? Your lover?”

Su Lianyue was right in front of him again and smiling faintly at him. She looked him up and down with great interest as if she found Xiao Chen to be quite different from the God of Murder in the rumors.

Xiao Chen once again spun around and walked some ten feet away. With his back against her, he replied indifferently, “Senior Sister.”

“My, you’re so strange. Do you like talking with your back against people that much? But Senior Sister, is it? That’s disappointing. You came from the Orthodox Path and yet it was the Orthodox Path that abandoned you…”

This time, Xiao Chen finally turned around to look at her. However, his gaze was ice-cold. “What exactly are you trying to say…?”

Su Lianyue was all smiles even in the face of a stifling-cold gaze. “I told you. People who walk different paths might not necessarily be unable to work together.” She flicked her sleeves and an object flew toward Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen caught the object between his fingers. It wasn’t a concealed weapon, but a neatly-folded letter. He opened it and gave the contents a quick scan. His expression swiftly turned solemn.