TM CH31

Chapter 31 Hasty Escape

Rong Qi held his breath, his eyes fixed on the crack above.

In the next moment, a loud crash erupted overhead, and countless small stones rained down. He had no time to think. He quickly leaped ashore, grabbing his outer robe and running.

“This damn thing is truly persistent!” Rong Qi cursed as he ran. Having spent countless years in the jianghu, he was seldom taken by surprise, but this monster was unreasonable, insisting on appearing just when he was relaxing in the water.

Gu Yunxing had already reacted the moment Rong Qi warned him. He quickly grabbed his outer robe from Rong Qi’s hands. “Move!”

The two of them dashed forward without a word.

Above them, the heavy sound of footsteps followed them relentlessly.

Rong Qi: “This won’t work. We can’t shake him off!”

Above the underground river were occasional cracks. They only had this one path ahead, and that freak could definitely find them by following the cracks.

Gu Yunxing took Rong Qi’s hand and suddenly stopped.

Rong Qi looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Gu Yunxing spoke in a low voice, “Let’s test him.”

Rong Qi quickly understood. If they were to face the freak head-on, they had little chance of winning. But now, with only a narrow crack between them, this actually worked in their favor, providing them with some protection.

When they stopped, the sound of footsteps faded away.

But they both knew the freak hadn’t left.

Rong Qi listened carefully, his gaze sharpening. He kicked a stone at his feet, sending it straight toward the crack.

He sneered. “Got him.”

A roar suddenly echoed from above, followed by a violent tremor. A terrifying surge of inner force poured down through the crack, rushing toward the depths of the cave.

Rong Qi couldn’t believe it. “He’s insane!”

And he was an insane fool easily angered.

Fortunately, the rock was solid and hadn’t been shattered, but faint cracks were beginning to appear.

The two of them had no choice but to continue running.

As they sprinted, Rong Qi said, “Gu Yunxing, even if we somehow manage to escape, wouldn’t we just run right into him outside?”

Gu Yunxing: “Then we’ll have to think of something else.”

Think? The monster had been relentlessly pursuing them, and now it could strike inner force through the cracks. How were they supposed to think of a way out?

The further they went, the wider the river became. A few more steps, and only water remained ahead.

Gu Yunxing: “Now is the moment for the Right Protector to show his master what he’d learned.”

Rong Qi rolled his eyes. “Don’t try to get cheap gains from this venerable one.” Just because he taught him to swim didn’t mean Gu Yunxing could suddenly claim to be his master. He was being overly optimistic.

“If you feel unwell, just hold my hand tightly.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Rong Qi was yanked into the water.

The dark river was deep and unfathomable. Once submerged, the surroundings were replaced by an overwhelming blackness.

Rong Qi tried hard to adapt, swimming forward following the pull of the hand holding his. The swimming techniques Gu Yunxing had told him flashed through his mind one by one. He tried his best to control his breathing so that the feeling of suffocation wouldn’t awaken the fear in his heart.

He wasn’t sure how long they had been swimming, but it felt long enough that he started to wonder if he would drown. Just when he thought he couldn’t hold on any longer, Gu Yunxing pulled him out of the water.

As the air rushed into his lungs, he gasped, almost desperately, taking deep breaths.

Gu Yunxing lowered his voice and whispered, “There are no cracks above us here. I’ll keep going forward. Wait here for a moment, and if nothing unusual happens, swim back the way we came.”

Rong Qi looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”

But Gu Yunxing pressed a finger to his lips. “That monster is muddled and inflexible. I will look for an opportunity to shake him off.”

“What is this? A righteous hero, sacrificing himself for others?” Rong Qi laughed angrily, speaking fast. “With the advantage of this terrain, the two of us together may not lose to him. I can climb higher and launch a sneak attack. If we’re close enough, my bone-piercing needle can strike his acupoints. Then I’ll have ways to make him wish he were dead!”

Gu Yunxing shook his head. “His internal energy is erratic. How can you get close?”

Rong Qi: “Then, how will you shake him off?”

Gu Yunxing fell silent. After a moment, he said helplessly, “Does the Right Protector think I’m some kind of righteous man? Don’t worry, I won’t take risks I’m not sure about.”

Rong Qi’s voice was cold. “I don’t know what kind of person you are, but do you know who I am? Even if you save me, I won’t be grateful in the slightest!”

Gu Yunxing smiled faintly. “…Truly an ungrateful wretch.”

Rong Qi curled his lips, his eyes filled with malice. “Good that you know.”

Gu Yunxing thought for a moment before replying, “Then let’s make it a mix of truth and falsehood, so he can’t distinguish between them.”

The underground river was no longer calm. As they swam deeper, the water grew rough. The currents swirled as though a moment’s carelessness would pull them into the abyss.

Sword energy brushed across the water’s surface, causing almost imperceptible ripples that slowly gathered into streaks of concentric circles, spreading towards the depths of the underground river ahead.

This was Rong Qi’s first time witnessing the Tianji Sect’s sword technique, the Hanhai Art, up close. In their previous encounters, Gu Yunxing had seemed only to respond to his moves, never fully using the principles of the Hanhai Art.

The technique, as it was named, controlled the sword like the sea, with the sword’s flow as fluid as water. Gu Yunxing was able to use his internal energy to manipulate the water’s momentum, creating the illusion of their movements as if they were swimming.

Rong Qi listened closely, faintly hearing the sound of falling stones in addition to the water’s flow. He silently gestured to Gu Yunxing.

Gu Yunxing understood immediately. He raised his hand again, gathering his internal energy, and sent a stronger burst of sword energy. This time, the ripples transformed into waves, surging deeper into the river with greater speed.

In the blink of an eye, the mountain rocks above them rumbled, and countless stones rained down onto the water’s surface.

After a while, the surface above them became still. It seemed the freak had been lured forward by the movement caused by the sword energy.

But neither of them moved. They held their breath, lying still beneath the water.

They waited for what felt like an eternity, long enough for Rong Qi to feel the pressure of suffocation. Gu Yunxing sent a few more bursts of sword energy in the opposite direction.

“Heh heh!” A strange low laugh echoed from above.

Rong Qi’s back chilled. The seemingly senseless freak hadn’t left after all. It had been hiding in the shadows, silently waiting for them to reveal themselves.

With such martial arts prowess and cunning, who exactly was this mysterious being?

Fortunately, the two in the water were more perceptive. They managed to lure the freak back in the direction they had come from. The sword energy was swift, but the freak’s speed was equally fast.

Seizing this opportunity, the two no longer hesitated. They swiftly surfaced for air and then fled with all their strength toward the deeper part of the underground river.

The freak would eventually realize it had been tricked. Based on the strength it had shown that night, it was entirely possible that it would turn back and catch up to them. Their biggest concern was that, in its fury, it might open a path through the crack above and come after them directly, leaving no more cover.

Thus, they had to distance themselves as much as possible, ideally leaving the underground river entirely. Although the island was not large, its terrain was far more complex than the river, offering more places to hide.

At that point, neither Rong Qi nor Gu Yunxing anticipated that this chase would last for a full ten days.

They managed to escape the underground river just before the freak caught up with them. The river connected to a lake, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with desolate forests stretching as far as the eye could see. Just as they thought they had survived the worst, they heard unsettling sounds from beneath the water. Without pausing, they used their lightness skill to dive into the forest, concealing their tracks behind rocks and dead trees.

But the freak seemed to know the island inside and out. Every time they thought they could catch their breath, they found it had tracked them down again, relentlessly pursuing them without pause.

On the ninth day, they reached a cliffside. Rong Qi had only sat down for a brief moment when he turned and came face to face with a terrifying, ferocious face.

He had only caught a fleeting glimpse of it in the flashes of lightning before, but now, up close, he could see that its eyes were filled with an overwhelming thirst for blood.

Lihuo Palace also had its share of brutal killers, but there was always some trace of human emotion in their eyes. Be it calculation or cruelty, it was never a stagnant pool of nothingness. The eyes before him showed no hint of humanity at all.

The battle had been brutal. Gu Yunxing took a palm strike, and Rong Qi’s shoulder was even bitten open. It was only at this price that they managed to barely escape.

Having temporarily shaken off the freak, the two collapsed onto the ground, utterly exhausted.

Gu Yunxing pressed a few acupoints on his body, taking a moment to catch his breath before helping Rong Qi sit up and begin dressing his wound.

Rong Qi allowed him to do so, his face dark with anger.

“If we keep dragging this out, death will be our only outcome!” His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

Gu Yunxing moved Rong Qi’s clothing aside, exposing his blood-soaked shoulder. Frowning, he said, “Do you remember the corner of that fiery-patterned robe?”

Rong Qi’s response was cold. “Of course, I remember.”

“Only the corner of the robe was found, but no body,” Gu Yunxing said in a low voice. “What do you think happened to the body?”

Rong Qi froze, an unbelievable thought flashing through his mind. He was shocked. “You… you mean, he ate it?”

Gu Yunxing lowered his gaze to the wound. The red blood stood out starkly against the pale skin, making it all the more disturbing.

“It’s very likely.”

Rong Qi pictured the scene and nearly gagged. He had thought the freak had simply used its teeth to bite him because it was empty-handed. But now, looking back, he felt disgusted. “Gu Yunxing, we have to leave here.”

Gu Yunxing wiped away the trickling blood, carefully avoiding the wound. Hearing this, he asked, “Has Right Protector Rong thought of a way to deal with it?”

Rong Qi felt a strange sensation on his skin and couldn’t help but flinch, shrinking his shoulder.

Gu Yunxing promptly moved his fingers away. “What’s wrong?”

Rong Qi: “It’s itchy.”

Gu Yunxing placed his hand back, gently wiping away the excess blood. He then tore a strip of cloth from his inner garment and began to carefully wrap the wound.

Rong Qi thought for a moment and said, “I can do it myself.”

“Don’t move.”

Rong Qi remained still. He lowered his head to watch Gu Yunxing’s movements, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. Although he often got injured, it was rare for someone else to tend to his wounds. Watching Gu Yunxing’s earnest expression, he inexplicably felt a little hot in the face.

Rong Qi: “As for that freak, it only appeared on the island recently.”

Gu Yunxing hummed in acknowledgment. “Not just him, but also the two disciples under the Right Protector. They seem to have appeared out of nowhere.”

Rong Qi hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up. “Maybe they came from another island.”

Gu Yunxing paused his bandaging, lifting his eyes to look at him. “Another island?”

Rong Qi avoided his gaze. Once he started talking, it became much easier to continue. In just a few words, he quickly explained the situation with the western island.

Gu Yunxing furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

Rong Qi added, “The situation on the west island is unclear. I didn’t mean to hide it from you.” After all, when he first discovered the west island, their relationship wasn’t exactly amicable, so saying nothing at the time had seemed the most logical course. Now, seeing Gu Yunxing’s silence, it almost felt as though he had done something dishonorable.

“Right Protector Rong can truly…” Gu Yunxing finally spoke, but then trailed off, unable to find the right words. He sighed instead, “let this humble Gu down in surprising ways.”

Rong Qi caught the tone in his words but, unusually, refrained from responding sharply. He sat quietly for a while, his gaze drifting to the partially bandaged wound on his shoulder. After a long moment, he finally tugged at the corner of his mouth, silently taking the cloth from Gu Yunxing’s hands, intending to finish it himself.

But Gu Yunxing didn’t let go. Instead, he gently brushed Rong Qi’s hand aside and continued bandaging.

“In that case, we leave after a brief rest.”