Chapter 54: Flying Far Away

The people of Golden Bell Temple were in a panic for a moment. Su Tang’s figure suddenly turned and bypassed them.

“He cannot escape!” The several guards chasing closely showed cruel smiles. The martial artists of the Cheng Family had already flanked them. They blocked the way from both the front and back, and they were certain they could trap the killer on the bell tower.

Although Su Tang was running with all his might, his speed was quite a bit slower than those guards. If he slowed down by just a second or two, he would be captured on the spot.

The onlookers showed gleeful smiles because Su Tang had run into a dead end.

Su Tang held two flying knives between his fingertips and shot them out with full force. Then, he rolled on the ground and landed exactly under the giant bell.

Clang, clang… The two flying knives made a whistling sound as they pierced the air, hitting the iron chains holding the giant bell one after another. The iron chains, which had already been secretly sawed through for the most part, could not withstand such an impact. They snapped with a bang, and the giant bell fell.

Boom… Countless sand and stones splashed high along with sparks. The giant bell sank deep into the stone slabs, perfectly covering Su Tang inside.

Madam Red’s guards and the martial artists of the Cheng Family finally closed in, but they could only stand there staring at each other.

“Quick, push this golden bell away!” a guard roared.

Everyone hurriedly surrounded the giant bell. In their haste, they made a mistake; they actually pushed from all directions at once. One of the guards heard shouting from the opposite side and felt confused. He quickly jumped onto the top of the bell. Seeing this scene, he was so angry his nose almost twisted. He shouted, “Are you idiots? Get away, all of you get away!”

The martial artists of the Cheng Family retreated timidly to the side. The guard jumped down and pushed the giant bell with all his strength along with his companion. However, the giant bell was too heavy, and its bottom edge was sunk several inches into the ground. They could not move it at all.

“Crowbars, go find crowbars quickly!” another guard shouted.

Inside the giant bell, a stone slab suddenly dropped, revealing a hole. Tong Fei appeared with a torch in his mouth. Su Tang did not speak and went straight into the hole.

Tong Fei signaled for Su Tang to go first, while he carefully buried several bowl-like objects upside down in the soil, covered them with loose dirt, and wiped away the traces.

Su Tang crawled forward along the tunnel. The tunnel was very damp and even had muddy water because Tong Fei had dug it overnight. There was no time to repair it, nor was it necessary.

Besides killing, Wen Xiang, Xiao Buhui, and Tong Fei were each proficient in some niche skills. Xiao Buhui was very good with his hands and often made amazing little gadgets; the mask Su Tang was currently wearing was made by him. Wen Xiang was skilled in making and preparing medicine. She had learned this originally to provide a cover for herself, so that others would not notice she was practicing the Life-Death Art because of her ability to save lives. Who knew that as she learned, she mastered it completely. Tong Fei knew how to forge iron. The tunnels beneath Miaodao Pavilion and beneath the blacksmith shop were all dug by him as a precaution, although those could no longer be used.

As Tong Fei crawled, he smashed the bottles and jars on both sides of the tunnel. His movements were exceptionally careful because they were filled with fire oil, and he still had a torch in his mouth. One mistake would be disastrous.

Su Tang climbed out of the tunnel and took off his dirty clothes as fast as possible, changing into the tight-fitting clothes he had prepared. He then took off the mask from his face. Next, Tong Fei also climbed out, grabbed the dirty clothes on the ground and the mask Su Tang had discarded, and stuffed them all into the furnace, then stuffed his own clothes in as well.

In less than three minutes, Su Tang and Tong Fei were both ready. They walked quickly to the backyard, where four horses were tied in front of the railing.

“Where is Enshrined Expert Xiao?” Su Tang asked.

“He left long ago.” Tong Fei handed the reins of two horses to Su Tang.

“Then I am relieved,” Su Tang said.

“Mr. Su, take care of yourself.” A touch of softness appeared in Tong Fei’s eyes.

“You take care too.” Su Tang smiled.

The two said nothing more, walked out the back door, and went their separate ways.

Because this place was very close to Golden Bell Temple, Su Tang did not rush to mount his horse. He walked forward slowly. When he passed Golden Bell Temple, he saw it was in a commotion. He curiously looked inside a few times and even called over a somewhat familiar martial artist of the Cheng Family to ask what had happened.

That martial artist of the Cheng Family recognized Su Tang and knew that Su Tang was the Pavilion Master of Miaodao Pavilion and would soon become a Great Master. He added a lot of exaggeration while telling Su Tang about the sudden chaos. Su Tang looked shocked, gave the martial artist some reward money, and left in a hurry.

The martial artist of the Cheng Family smiled so much that his eyes squeezed into slits. Mr. Su was truly generous. The assassination attempt on Madam Red was a big event, and big events were usually for the big figures to worry about, so he could understand Su Tang’s loss of composure.

After leaving the city gate, Su Tang spurred his horse and galloped toward the distance. According to his analysis, it would take at least two hours before the Cheng Family finally suspected Miaodao Pavilion and reacted. Whether he was safe depended on how far he could run within those two hours.

Roughly every hour, Su Tang would change horses. He ran from the time the sun was high until the sun set in the west, and from the sunset until the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Finally, he had to stop. His body was fine, but the horses could not take it anymore. These were fine steeds specifically prepared by Mo Xiaobai; ordinary horses would have collapsed long ago.

He ate some dry rations and found a sheltered place to sleep. The next day at dawn, Su Tang began to gallop toward the distance again.

On the fourth day, Su Tang changed his routine. He found a remote place to rest during the day and only traveled at night.

After traveling this way for half a month, Su Tang saw a city in the distance at dawn. Calculating carefully, he had run nearly several thousand miles away. The influence of the Xia Family could not possibly be this great, which meant this place should be safe.

Furthermore, to avoid leaving information, he never stayed at inns. He hid by day and traveled by night, avoiding any lights from a distance. Not only was the physical exhaustion extreme, but he was dirty and messy from head to toe and almost smelled foul.

Su Tang turned his horse and walked toward the city. As he got closer, he saw three large characters on the city gate: Red Leaf City.

Su Tang had never heard of Red Leaf City, which meant he had run far enough.

After entering the city, he looked for an inn that appeared relatively clean and grand. However, upon entering the shop, a notice posted by the roadside caught Su Tang’s attention. Someone was recruiting Wandering Martial Artists. There were no requirements for age, gender, or rank, and the guaranteed minimum monthly pay was ten gold coins.

Su Tang worked in this field and knew many inside secrets. The extremely high pay made him gasp in surprise. He had never seen such a generous offer in Changshan County. He had a vague feeling that the mercenary group that posted the notice must be extremely strong and have deep resources.