Chapter 96: Escape

Li Jingtian was stunned, her expression somewhat sorrowful. She touched Li Xuanling's head and said softly:

"It's hard for you to do it."

Just as Li Jingtian's words came out, there was a commotion outside the tent, many people shouting, and the low, angry voice of Mu Jiaoman came from the air:

"It's you again? Who exactly are you?! You have provoked us time and time again! Do you really think we are made of mud!"

Li Xuanling and Li Jingtian looked at each other, lifted the tent curtain with a brush, and saw a middle-aged man holding a sword standing in the air on the stockade, with semi-transparent pale blue river true energy constantly flowing on his body, looking down at the Shanyue soldiers gathering rapidly at his feet. It was Li Tongya.

Li Tongya held the cyan blade, scanned the many Shanyue below with a calm expression, opened his mouth lightly, and his voice resounded through the entire stockade through the addition of magic power:

"My Li family and the Shanyue have always kept the water from the well, but you

Below, Li Xuanling suddenly let out a long breath and whispered happily:

"It's Father!"

Mu Jiaoman was furious and stepped into the air, followed by two Qi Refining human shamans of the Shanyue, and said in a deep voice:

"The Shanyue crossing the border into the Four Ridges was a reward promised by your Demonic Sect! Why go back on your word now? Since these spirit rice, spirit fruits, and people have entered our pockets, they are the property of us Shanyue."

Looking warily at the flickering sword light in Li Tongya's hand, Mu Jiaoman gritted his teeth and said:

"If you retreat now, we will not hold this against you."

Li Tongya sneered, raised the gray-white long sword in his hand, and swung out several sword Qi, startling the three of them as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

The three of Mu Jiaoman all used secret techniques within the Shanyue tribe to advance to Qi Refining, and they swallowed impure Qi crudely refined without using orthodox Qi-gathering methods. Not only was their magic power inferior to Li Tongya's, but their ability to control Qi and ride the wind was even worse, so they fell into a disadvantageous position again.

Li Tongya had been painstakingly cultivating the Profound Water Sword Art for nearly thirty years; his sword light was fast and sharp, and for a time, he beat the three of them into retreating repeatedly, leaving the military camp in a chaotic mess like a boiling pot.

"Good opportunity!"

Li Xuanling hurriedly kicked the shackles on his legs until they broke, pulled up Li Jingtian, snapped the necks of the Shanyue guards at the door one by one, ran a few steps in a hurry, and crossed the wooden fence.

Two Shanyue soldiers were still stationed outside this section of the fence, their mouths agape, staring blankly at the sky. Li Xuanling struck the tops of their heads directly with two Golden Light Arts. Without caring whether they lived or died, he cast a God-Speed Art on his legs and hugged Li Jingtian as he dove into the mountain forest.

The set of movements was smooth and flowing, swift as a leopard. Taking advantage of everyone looking up at the sky, he brought Li Jingtian outside the stockade in just over a dozen breaths. The few people by the military tents had only just reacted, but his shadow was already gone.

There were no experts in the vicinity; the few in the Embryonic Breath realm had long since gone to quell the chaos, and the spiritual sense of those in the Qi Refining realm was only a dozen or so feet, while those above knew nothing at all.

"Hateful!"

In the air, Mu Jiaoman roared in anger, his teeth itching with hatred, and shouted loudly:

"If the Great King were here, he would never tolerate your insolence!"

Jia Nixi had a cultivation base at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Having obtained a fortuitous encounter in his early years, he not only cultivated an orthodox method but also swallowed a type of heaven and earth spiritual energy. His saber technique was superb, which was why he could suppress all seven human shamans of Qi Refining among the many large and small forces in the Northern Foothills.

Li Tongya could not be bothered to respond to him; he only silently compared the strength of Jia Nixi and Li Chijing in his heart. With a flick of the green blade in his hand, he thought to himself:

"I am only at the second level of Qi Refining, while these three include one at the fourth level and two at the second level. I am relying entirely on the Profound Water Lin Jianqi to suppress them. If this goes on for long, I might really be exhausted to death here. I must be vigilant."

With a burst of sword Qi, he forced back the three people who had surrounded him. Li Tongya looked down with some worry and saw that the stockade at his feet was slowly returning to stability, thinking:

"I wonder if the two children have escaped. I will fight a dozen more rounds and then withdraw to seek a better opportunity."

After parrying a dozen moves, Li Tongya swung his sword again to force the three back, and without a word, he stepped into the air and headed east. Seeing this, Mu Jiaoman roared:

"How bold! Do you really think you can come and go as you please?"

Mu Jiaoman gritted his teeth and rubbed his hands together. A burst of black Qi sprayed out, and his essence and energy suddenly declined by a few points; this was the secret shamanic technique the Shanyue were best at.

That thick black Qi swirled for a while, multiplied several times over, and carrying a massive skull, it rushed straight toward Li Tongya.

Lu Jiangxian, who was watching the excitement from below, was stunned. This black Qi was very familiar; it vaguely had the flavor of a product from the Dharma Mirror, and he even had the feeling that he could pull this black Qi over and consume it with a flick of his finger.

After pondering for a few breaths and looking at Mu Jiaoman, whose essence and energy were declining, Lu Jiangxian chose the latter over eating a negligible dessert to avoid exposing himself. He continued to play dead in the mirror, only moving his spiritual sense to carefully observe Li Tongya's state.

Although Li Tongya, who was in the air, could not understand what kind of technique this Shanyue leader was using, he knew it certainly wasn't anything good. He dodged and maneuvered in the air for a while, but seeing the black Qi surging faster and faster, it slammed fiercely into Li Tongya's back.

Mu Jiaoman laughed out loud and said loudly:

"The shamanic curse is miraculous; no matter where you fly to the ends of the earth, you cannot escape it."

Li Tongya felt his hands and feet go cold, the circulation of magic power in his body became slightly sluggish, and his flight speed slowed down by a fraction. After carefully experiencing it for a while, however, there was no other abnormality.

"Is that it?"

Li Tongya was even slightly stunned. Looking at the three people who were still chasing behind him and being slowly pulled away even though his speed had slowed down by a fraction, his expression was somewhat strange.

Mu Jiaoman was even more shocked and angry. Feeling the strange gazes of his two subordinates behind him, he felt as if needles were pricking his back and muttered to himself:

"What the hell is going on?"

Only Lu Jiangxian, who was constantly weaving through the mountain forest following Li Xuanling below, laughed silently. Feeling the black Qi that had been attached to Li Tongya's clothing without moving—most of which had had its control seized by his own spiritual sense—he carefully experienced the structure within the black Qi.

"It's a bit like Talisman Qi, but it's far too inferior. It looks more like the object of prayer in the 'Sacrificial Law' has been changed from the Dharma Mirror to the caster himself. It's been demonically modified and weakened significantly; it's more like a desperate move without a Dharma Mirror..."

"The path of shamanism must have many connections to the Dharma Mirror!"

Remembering the Golden Core Yellow Talisman in the direction of the Great Jueting, Lu Jiangxian silently noted the inspiration he had gained from the black Qi in his heart, casually dissipated the black Qi on the spot, and thought to himself:

"When I have time, I can study this thing. It will save me from having nothing to do in the Dharma Mirror all day but sleep."

(End of chapter)