Volume 1, Chapter 195 – Manhunt

Shi Lan quietly absorbed the abundant spiritual qi in the dragon lair. The thin strand of golden light of fortune had long since been completely devoured.

Through a hazy kind of sensing, Shi Lan could tell that a strange power had altered something in her—something subtle and indescribable.

Her fortune.

As the spiritual qi poured into her body, Shi Lan’s cultivation rose with it, but for the Body Tempering Realm, spiritual qi was far less effective than the essence of flesh and blood.

After an entire hour, she’d only been pushed up to the second stage of the Body Tempering Realm, still a fair distance from the third.

Swoosh!

The wind hissed. Shi Lan felt a blast of gale-pressure slam toward her, an overwhelming aura sweeping in without the slightest attempt to hide itself.

With no time to even open her eyes, Shi Lan forcibly cut off her cultivation, slapped a hand to the ground, leapt up, and darted to the side. The nine spirit crystals at the nodes of the Spirit-Seizing Formation shuddered into the air, and she swept them into the system’s temporary storage.

Thud!

With a dull crash, the spot where Shi Lan had just been standing caved in, leaving a deep pit about four feet across. The formation lines of the Spirit-Seizing Formation shattered in an instant.

Sliding back to the spring at the heart of the dragon lair, Shi Lan swept the sky-blue fruit into her sleeve, backed up several steps to A Qi’s side, then looked up at the newcomer.

Sensing the unrestrained aura radiating from the young Daoist in front of her, Shi Lan narrowed her eyes slightly.

An Innate expert…

And his cultivation was at least above the eighth stage of the Innate Realm.

Shi Lan hadn’t expected that in a world this starved of spiritual qi, someone with such cultivation could exist.

Rеаd οո KαtRеαdіոgCαfe

Judging from his looks, this man hadn’t been in the Innate Realm for long either.

“You are—”

Shi Lan hadn’t finished the sentence when a three-foot longsword appeared in the young Daoist’s hand. With a flicker, he was in front of her, sword thrusting straight for her heart.

On reflex, Shi Lan raised a hand, summoned the short sword, and brought it up to block.

The moment the short sword came up, she realized with a jolt just how vast the gap between her strength and the Daoist’s was. It wasn’t just heaven and earth—it was impossible for her to truly block him.

Clang—

When the blades met, the power surging along the longsword was unexpectedly weak—at most three to four hundred jin of force.

Shi Lan’s body swayed. She took a single step back and steadied herself, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

With this Daoist’s strength, he could have cut her down in a single stroke. He’d clearly held back.

After his first strike was stopped, the young Daoist’s expression remained calm. He swept his sword sideways, slashing at Shi Lan’s shoulder.

Shi Lan pushed the startled A Qi aside with one hand and brought the short sword up again to test-block the blow.

Clang—

A force not much different from before came through the blade once more. Shi Lan retreated a step, steadying her trembling wrist, her puzzlement growing deeper.

“You—”

Swoosh, swoosh!

Rеαԁ on KаtReаⅾiոɡCаfе

Shi Lan had only gotten one word out when the young Daoist unleashed three more thrusts in a row, three streaks of sword-light stabbing straight for her arms.

Her short sword barely deflected one of them. Each of her arms took a fresh sword mark.

After those three strikes, a continuous flow of sword moves poured from the Daoist’s hand like a storm, wind and rain all at once. In just a few breaths, he’d left nearly ten bloody lines on Shi Lan’s body.

The cuts weren’t deep and all avoided her vital points, but the spreading blood soaked her cyan dress, making her look utterly wretched.

…

Following the traces Wuxu had left along the way, Zhao Hanyi entered a cave.

He’d barely reached the bottom when he saw his master locked in combat with a woman.

Locked in combat?!

Zhao Hanyi’s heart lurched in shock. His master’s strength was unmatched under heaven. Back when the sect master of Tianshan Sect, also a Martial Grandmaster, came to the palace to spar, he’d been defeated in under ten moves.

How terrifying was this woman’s strength, if she could hold out so long under his master’s hand?

When he got a clear look at the woman’s face, Zhao Hanyi couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath—he recognized her as the woman whose visage foretold the power to overturn heaven and earth.

Shi Lan’s strength was draining away. The dozens of sword cuts on her body throbbed faintly with pain, and the loss of blood had taken most of her power. But her confusion only grew.

The man before her didn’t seem to want her life, nor was he toying with her. He was simply carving non-lethal wounds into her body one after another, all without saying a single word, calm as if he had no emotions at all.

Shi Lan had no idea what to make of it.

Thud!

Rеаⅾ on KαtRеаdіոɡCαfе

The instant her focus wavered, the Daoist struck her left shoulder with his palm, sending her crashing backward, straight toward the mouth of the cave.

Seeing the woman careening toward him, Zhao Hanyi didn’t dare be careless. He gathered his lightness skill and slipped to the side.

Anyone who could trade blows with his master had to be a Martial Grandmaster beyond doubt. He was no match at all. If he stayed put and got grabbed by accident, it would be nothing but trouble.

“Sister Lan!”

Seeing Shi Lan sent flying, A Qi cried out in panic and ran toward her.

He’d barely covered half the distance when Wuxu slapped him mid-back with a palm, sending him flying sideways to crash into the just-struggling-to-her-feet Shi Lan.

Shi Lan caught the unconscious A Qi in her arms, retreated more than ten steps to bleed off the momentum, then hoisted him onto her back, turned, and took off at a dead run, disappearing down the passage in an instant.

“Master… should we give chase?”

Zhao Hanyi’s expression shifted, and he called out softly.

“No need. Her strength is no less than this poor Daoist’s. Write a letter to His Majesty and have him issue a nationwide wanted decree for her arrest.” Wuxu waved calmly.

Zhao Hanyi’s eyes were wide with shock. That one sentence—“her strength is no less than this poor Daoist’s”—had rattled him badly.

There was actually such a person in this world…

“In the letter to His Majesty, add this as well: our dynasty’s dragon vein has been severed by her. There may be some upheavals in the future.” Wuxu added calmly.

“The dragon vein is severed?!” Zhao Hanyi’s face changed drastically.

…

Rеаԁ оո КatRеаⅾіոgCαfe

Gritting her teeth against the pain from the sword wounds, Shi Lan ran all the way back to where Old Hongtou was waiting, mounted the fast horse, and charged deeper into the mountains.

She didn’t know who Wuxu was, but she’d seen Zhao Hanyi traveling with Shen Mingyi earlier. Clearly, both were tied to the authorities. Going to a city now might be walking straight into a trap.

Old Hongtou couldn’t ride, but in a situation like this, Shi Lan could only tell him to cling to the horse’s neck as best he could while she controlled the reins.

On the horse’s back, A Qi’s breathing grew weaker and weaker. His body had already been damaged to begin with and had only just begun to recover. Now, after such a heavy blow, he simply couldn’t take it.

Controlling the horse with one hand, Shi Lan used the other to take out the fruit from her sleeve, split the skin, squeezed out a drop of juice, and fed it into A Qi’s mouth.

…

A few days later, Xuan’an Commandery, Jin’an Capital.

This was where the imperial capital of the Qianyuan Dynasty lay, and also the land where the dynasty had first risen.

Smack—

In the imperial hall, the middle-aged man in dragon robe seated on the dragon throne crushed the jade inkstone as he clenched the letter he’d just received, his face dark.

The ministers standing below the jade steps were silent as cicadas in winter. You could have heard a pin drop in the hall.

“Pass on Our decree: a bounty of one hundred thousand in gold. A marquisate, freely chosen. Bring Us this woman’s head!”

A scroll three feet square drifted down from the jade desk before the dragon throne and landed in the center of the great hall.