Death… and me

The accident was… coincidental. It was supposed to be a foolproof plan. However, it ended up becoming a matter of life and death owing to a little negligence.

Chu Yang spat a mouthful of blood as he listened to chaotic sounds of the manhunt. They were coming from all directions. It seemed as if the entire Continent Center had been mobilized to find him. He felt helpless and said, "Where can I go in such a situation?"

The Sword Spirit also sighed.

There was no place to hide. Moreover, this was the Capital City of the Great Zhao. He couldn’t ‘casually’ find a place to hide since there would be a risk of being sold out to Diwu Qing Rou. As far as his own people were concerned — he couldn’t risk their lives along with his own; they wouldn’t get a second chance like he had…

However, was the Nine Tribulations Sword’s Master going to die like this… with such serious injuries?

The dark night had provided a good cover. However, the sun would rise in about half-an-hour. He would have nowhere to hide after the break of dawn. Moreover, the voices of the people on the manhunt were getting closer and closer.

Chu Yang felt his own speed slowing down. He felt as if his legs weighed 500kgs. He somehow jumped across a short wall. His body limped over as it leant against a pile of wood lying in the corner; not the slightest bit of strength was left in his body.

His gaze fell upon the pile of firewood as he opened his eyes. He couldn’t help but curse-out-loud in his mind, [I never thought that sneaking into someone’s residence would bring me to this alley… where I would be lying in such a conspicuous position — next to a pile of firewood…]

"The proverb holds true… when bad luck strikes… even a fart can dislocate your hip joints!" Chu Yang whispered in his heart. He didn’t even have the strength to move his fingers. He had no option but to resign to fate.

It was getting noisier in the vicinity. People were clamoring unceasingly, and were moving about in a hurry. Some people even walked past the edge of the alley that led to that pile of firewood.

The rumbling sound of hoof-beats suddenly got louder; it then slowly faded away as they passed by.

More than a dozen people had gone past that spot in a short period of time. In fact, some people even stopped near the edge of the pile of firewood for a conversation; most had expressed their personal views on the matter of hunting down the King of Hell Chu…

Chu Yang shouted in his mind, [Well… whatever! The situation has gone out of hand anyways. It can’t get any worse; and the worst case scenario would be to get caught. That would end it all.]

[I’ve already experienced death once. You think that I’ll be scared of death? I’ve got this life because I cheated!]

Suddenly, he calmed down. He no longer paid attention to the nearby commotion. He submerged into his own consciousness to start the healing process.

"Sword Spirit, what’s the condition of my injuries?" Chu Yang asked in a calm manner.

"Extremely serious!" the Sword Spirit replied with a sigh.

"En?"

"The arteries and veins of your heart have received grave injuries; they were ruptured by being jolted. Your liver has been split open. Your kidneys are shattered. Your lungs have been broken into five lumps; the smallest lump had spouted-out of your mouth with some blood a while ago. Your heart is on the verge of stopping…" The Sword Spirit said in a heavy tone, "If I hadn’t used the sword energy to protect your internal organs… you’d be dead!"

He paused for a second, and then said, "If I let loose the sword intention… you’ll die!"

"It’s that serious…" Chu Yang smiled bitterly in his heart. He then said, "Can we heal the injuries?”

"We can’t!" the Sword Spirit replied plainly. He further said, "It’s possible only if we have a ‘completed’ version of the Nine Tribulations Pill. In your current situation… we won’t be able to heal your injuries even if we use all the medicinal efficacies in our possession…"

"Oh…" Chu Yang smiled. He didn’t speak further.

The Sword Spirit was rather surprised, "How come you haven’t asked for the next step?"

"I hate the way you look while you keep me in suspense." Chu Yang snorted and said, "I, Chu Yang, am on the verge of dying. And the last thing I want to see is someone joking around. If you know something… then why don’t you just come out with it? Whether I ask or not… will it make any difference?"

Sword Spirit smiled in an embarrassing manner. He had no choice but to continue, "There is only one way — it’s to continue the usage of the sword intention to wrap your internal organs; then slowly heal your injuries with the medicinal efficacies. But you’ll first be required to consume the incomplete Nine Tribulations Pill… so that you can move ‘barely enough’. But, give-up on the idea of a ‘complete’ recovery.”

"What do you mean by move ‘barely enough’?" Chu Yang frowned and asked, "I have to escape from the Continent Center Citadel as soon as possible."

Sword Spirit calculated for a moment. He then said, "‘Barely enough’ movement is a must for ordinary people in such a condition. But, it’s impossible to go all-out… At most… you can use half of your strength; that too at the cost of damaging your body each time you push yourself."

"That’s fine!" Chu Yang didn’t pursue this topic any further and readily agreed.

[This situation can’t get any worse. As long as I can make some recovery and resume my ability to move around… it would be better than sitting and waiting for death.]

[Only a quarter of an hour has passed since I came out. I shouldn’t be too far from the Prime Minister’s Palace.]

"Oh… by the way… I forgot to give you a bad news." Sword Spirit said helplessly, "You must brace yourself."

"What can be worse than the present situation?" Chu Yang frowned.

"You must escape from the Continent Center within half-an-hour." Sword Spirit smiled wryly and said, "That palm attack was very strange. If you don’t die within two hours from the time you were struck… your internal organs will start exuding the fragrance of orchid. Even I can’t prevent this fragrance from spreading."

Chu Yang was startled. "Are you trying to tell me… that no matter how much I try to escape… it would be pointless? Doesn’t that mean that they can easily track me down as long as they have a dog…?"

Chu Yang had planned that he would disguise himself and move out of the city gate as soon as he had recovered enough. Then, he would’ve travelled thousands of kilometers with the help of his peerless technique to change appearances, and would’ve return to Iron Cloud.

However, he gave up hope when he heard this news.

[I can only use less than half of my strength. But I’ll have to cover a distance of 6,500km… and that too while fighting along the way?]

Chu Yang smiled wryly as he thought; [isn’t this like thinking ‘way too’ highly of myself?]

"This is the fact." Sword Spirit said, "You’re time is running out."

"What sort of a palm attack was that? Even the Nine Tribulations Sword can’t do anything about it…?" Chu Yang muttered. Then, he took the Nine Tribulations Pill nine heavy Dan. He paid attention to each second once the healing process started.

Just as the Sword Spirit had said — his time was running out. The so-called Master of Nine Tribulations Sword a.k.a King of Hell Chu would lose his life in the Continent Center Citadel if he didn’t get out within half an hour…

Diwu Qing Rou was clad in black attire; his attire was adorned with a black armband. He was wearing a mask, and had rushed out of the Prime Minister’s Palace like a whirlwind. He was headed in the direction of Chu Yang’s escape. He had been following Chu Yang’s trail.

Chu Yang’s eyeballs would’ve popped-out if he were witnessing this…

Diwu Qing Rou’s tracking trajectory was perfectly in-line with Chu Yang’s escape route; there was no error. One mustn’t lose their cool in a chaotic situation. And they shouldn’t choose any ‘available’ escape route without thinking it through. One must always prepare an escape route in advance.

How else could one possibly get rid of so many pursuers?

Taking 7 or 8 turns along the way wasn’t enough. One must aim to change the direction of escape at-least a hundred times…

"Hm…" Diwu Qing Rou suddenly stopped and landed in a corner. His gaze fell upon a dark-brown patch of bloodstain. He frowned and muttered to himself, "This should be the result of my palm attack… but how can a Revered Martial Artist come this far? Even a Ninth Grade King Level Expert shouldn’t have been able to withstand my attack… so how did he escape this far? Did my attack not have much effect on him…? Perhaps he had some precious heavenly treasure to aid him?"

His eyes swept across and spotted something peculiar in the bloodstain. He used his hand and carefully flipped-it-over. He realized that it was a small piece of an internal organ.

He gently turned it with the help of his fingers as he took a good look at it, "This is a lung fragment. It seems like my palm attack worked. King of Hell Chu has been badly injured. Since he had vomited-it-out here… that mean he mustn’t have been able to suppress it any longer… so he shouldn’t have gone far from here."

He stood up as his hawk-like eyes looked around. He carefully looked around for a while. His figure moved and searched the radial area within 400-500 feet of that bloodstain.

"No… wonder!" Diwu Qing Rou had been ‘going with the flow’ in his pursuit. However, he had felt something mysterious after he had stopped here. He raised his head and gazed in the direction of the Prime Minister’s Palace. Then, his feet took him in the opposite direction.

The direction had been correct.

However, he moved at a slower pace for some reason. Diwu Qing Rou had assumed that Chu Yang must’ve gradually been rendered incapable of suppressing the effects of his injuries. This could be the only reason why he had found a fragment of Chu Yang’s internal organs at that spot. Therefore, Diwu Qing Rou had decided to move at a very slow speed; he was trying to imitate the movement-pattern of a fatally wounded person…

He was unaware that Chu Yang’s speed hadn’t yet slowed down at that stage during his escape… despite the fact that he hadn’t been able to suppress his injuries.

The blood and fragments of Chu Yang’s internal organ had been spouted-out of his mouth when he had jumped-over the perimeter wall. However, they had been wrapped-up in the sword light. They had then been brought here at a stretch before they had finally fell-off…

Diwu Qing Rou was using the most rational method to track Chu Yang. However, he had made a small error…

Time wasn’t a luxury for Chu Yang. He woke up from rest, and felt that strength had returned to his body. However, he couldn’t feel his chest, belly and internal organs. He felt as if they were made of wood.

But he didn’t care since he knew that the Sword Spirit was using the sword intention to protect his internal organs from falling apart. He hid behind the pile of firewood, and looked towards the opening of the alley.

He could hear people come-and-go at an interval of every two breaths. Suddenly, he saw a troop of men pass through on horses.

Chu Yang held his breath and watched those people as they turned round-the-corner. He formulated a plan in his mind; as soon as these people would leave — he would go-out and attach himself to their rear flank…

"Attention; you’re butt-naked," the Sword Spirit reminded him.

"En…" Chu Yang suddenly came to realize; [concealing myself among them would’ve been utter bullcr*p if I had gone out stark-naked… but where should I go to put on clothes? I can’t possibly do that on the main road… out in the open…]

[There are many clothes in the Nine Tribulations Space, but I’ll still need to put them on ah…]

Chu Yang suddenly had a ‘great’ idea, "Sword Spirit, can I go inside the Nine Tribulations Space?" He thought; [Who could possibly find me if I can enter that space…?]

"Why don’t you answer it… can you enter your own body? Why don’t you try to dig a hole in your arm and see if you can go inside it?" Sword Spirit replied in a despising tone. "How can you ask such a foolish question?"

Chu Yang turned around and rolled his eyes.