Chapter 77 - Escape
Chapter 77 – Escape
Just when Xuan Ling Sect’s Feng Xu-Dao realized Zhen Ling Sect’s true plan, he heard a loud cracking noise in his ears. Yao Yong activated the talisman treasure and destroyed the sect’s sealing array formation.
Furious and embarrassed, Feng Xu-Dao shouted a command, “Xuan Ling disciples, kill them all!”
As soon as he gave the order, several Mid and Late Blood Condensation disciples flew north towards the sealing array.
But at that moment, a domineering aura suddenly appeared above Xuan Qi Island. The clouds turned gloomy and the sky darkened, the water particles in the air froze into falling snowflakes, and a faintly discernible voice said calmly, “Who did you want to kill?”
Feng Xu-Dao’s face changed drastically as if he’d seen a ghost, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, “Not good! Disciples, retreat at once! Run, quickly!”
Without caring whether the Xuan Ling disciples had heard his order, he quickly turned to flee. The other Core Forging Enlightened Masters also didn’t hesitate and immediately flew south back to the Xuan Ling Sect base.
While the Xuan Ling Enlightened Masters were fleeing, two additional auras appeared on Xuan Qi Island. However, these two auras were only similar in strength as Enlightened Master Qu and the others.
All the Xuan Ling disciples had heard Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao’s order. Some quick-witted ones who realized their situation quickly escaped, while those slower to react were killed by the Zhen Ling disciples that rushed out from Xuan Qi Island.
They then chased after the fleeing Xuan Ling disciples, killing more than half of their forces.
Zhen Ling Sect’s Enlightened Masters didn’t join in the chase. Instead, they watched over their disciples from above.
At this time, Hu Lili and the rest were brought back by Enlightened Master Xuan-Yong and Master Immortal Liu.
Yao Yong was in a state of exhilaration after destroying the sealing array. But when he saw the Enlightened Masters, he put aside his excitement and hurriedly pleaded, “Enlightened Masters, please save Junior Martial Brother Lu!”
Master Immortal Liu quickly scolded, “Watch your manners! Junior Martial Uncle Jiang has already left to pick up Lu Ping.”
Only then did Yao Yong and the rest realize that Enlightened Master Jiang Xuan-Lin, who had battled Xuan Ling Sect’s Feng Xu-Dao, was missing from the group.
Enlightened Master Qu was a straightforward man. He said, “Little Liu, don’t scold them, they’re all good kids. Especially this one, his character is just like mine. Hmm, very alike! Little boy, what’s your name? Which cultivation method did you practice?”
Yao Yong didn’t know why he was asking him these questions, but he knew Enlightened Master Qu wouldn’t harm him. He obediently answered, “This disciple’s name is Yao Yong, and I cultivate one of the sect’s five true heritages, the [Fire Tiger Sky Roaring Art].”
Enlightened Master Qu’s eyes brightened. “The fire element, and one of the five true heritages? Not bad, not bad.”
The other Enlightened Masters and Master Immortal Liu immediately understood he was planning to take Yao Yong as his student. However, they stayed silent and smiled at Yao Yong, leaving him bewildered.
…
On the other hand, Lu Ping was experiencing a matter of life and death!
He was hiding on a small islet fifty miles west of Xuan Qi Island. Because of the island’s great protective array, as well as to prevent the Xuan Ling Enlightened Masters from interfering, he had to activate the message sword at close range.
Lu Ping and the rest had recorded their plan in detail within the message sword and charged it with enough arcane energy. After activating the delivery, he watched it fly east towards Xuan Qi Island. Lu Ping didn’t linger and quickly fled west.
After flying for roughly five miles, he saw from the corner of his eyes a message sword being sent northwest. He knew this was Xuan Ling Sect’s message sword to the dispatched teams giving the order to hunt him down.
However, Lu Ping didn’t know that aside from the initial two teams, Xuan Ling Sect had dispatched another group to join the hunt. There were now a total of three teams; fifteen Blood Condensation cultivators led by three Late Blood Condensation cultivators.
The newly dispatched team pursued him from behind, the northwest team turned south to intercept him from the right side, and the south team turned northwest to intercept him from the left. In a few more moments, Lu Ping would have to face the encirclement of three teams of Xuan Ling cultivators at the west of Xuan Qi Island.
At the sight of the message sword, Lu Ping was still wondering if he should change directions when he suddenly spotted two Xuan Ling cultivators standing in midair two miles ahead of him.
In the middle of the empty ocean and under such clear weather, even an ordinary man could see for miles out to the horizon, let alone a cultivator.
The Xuan Ling cultivators saw Lu Ping and smiled. “We were looking for a Blood Condensation expert, but look what we found instead! A small fish that slipped through our net. It’s a little too much for my senior martial brother and me to deal with one small fish.”
Lu Ping noticed their rippling arcane energy and the faintly discernible essence above them. He immediately knew they were both in the Mid Blood Condensation Realm and he was shocked. It would seem that Xuan Ling Sect had changed their search method, separating into smaller groups instead of teams of five.
Lu Ping’s guess was correct. After narrowing down the search area to the west of Xuan Qi Island, the sect split up their teams. The Late Blood Condensation disciples would search on their own, and the Mid Blood Condensation disciples would search in groups of two.
Xuan Ling Sect felt confident that two of their Mid Blood Condensation cultivators could handle a Zhen Ling Late Blood Condensation disciple; even if they couldn’t defeat him, they could at least stall him long enough until the rest of the team arrived.
These two Xuan Ling disciples were both in the Fifth Layer Blood Condensation Realm. They were clearly luckier than the rest to bump into Lu Ping. However, they didn’t know that he, a mere First Layer Blood Condensation cultivator, was the “Zhen Ling Late Blood Condensation expert” they were looking for.
After all, Xuan Ling Sect had lost a total of ten First and Second Layer Blood Condensation disciples during their mission to eliminate the island disciples. Among them, six were personally killed by Lu Ping. But Xuan Ling Sect remained unaware and assumed it was the work of a Late Blood Condensation disciple.
Without a word, Lu Ping instantly launched an attack on the both of them. He maneuvered the seawater into two water serpents that coiled around the Xuan Ling disciples.
One of them sneered coldly and mocked, “A petty trick!”
With a wave of his hand, a gust of wind fanned out from his sleeves. The wind rushed forward and ripped the water serpents into little droplets.
Just as the disciple was about to retract his hand, Lu Ping’s Flying Swallow Sword swiftly slashed out.
Chi—laa—
The Flying Swallow Sword rolled into the disciple’s sleeve. It felt like the blade had pierced into a ball of cotton, softening the blow. Then, his Flying Swallow Sword was thrown back towards him.
However, Lu Ping didn’t know that the Xuan Ling disciple was even more surprised than him. He was infuriated to see a two-inch wide hole on his sleeves. His sleeves were actually a mid-grade mystic instrument he had spent a lot of effort into forging. It was specifically tailored for him and incredibly compatible with his cultivation method.
Because of that, he was usually undefeatable among his peers. However, they were now damaged by a mere First Layer Blood Condensation cultivator. It would take a huge amount of spirit stones to repair and the incident would definitely make him a laughingstock to his peers. So how could he not be mad?
He looked up in anger and was ready to rain his fury on Lu Ping. But suddenly, he realized the other party had turned and fled north.
As they prepared to chase after him, they suddenly saw Lu Ping slapping a charm on himself. Immediately, Lu Ping was covered in a stream of water that flowed onto the sea surface. He disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.