"Are you sure he escaped in this direction?" a young man in fine clothes asked angrily.
"I am sure, Young Master," one of the men assembled before him said in a shaking tone.
Young Master Han's face distorted hearing that. Never in his entire life had he been fooled like this. Just thinking about it made Han Shindong's face become a bit gloomy.
"Are all of you trash? Can't you stop a single cultivator at the Spirit Sea realm?" Han Shindong berated angrily.
"If it was killing him, we are confident Young Master. But, Young Master's instructions are to catch him alive. And that person's movement technique is very good," another subordinate explained in a fearful tone.
Although they all had higher cultivation realms than Young Master Han, no one dared to refute him strongly. The Han family was a colossal cultivation clan from the Wei Empire. And they were all subordinates of the clan who were dispatched to protect the Young Master this time.
"Kill him?" Han Shindong sneered. "Why would I do such a stupid thing? If I kill him who would lead us to the rest of his caches? He is like a hen that lays golden eggs. Do you think I am stupid enough to kill him?"
"But, that young man's movement technique is quite fast, Young Master. If we attack with the intention to kill, we might be able to overwhelm him with our cultivation bases. However, since we are trying to capture him, his chances of escaping are quite high," the first subordinate grumbled a bit.
"I don't care," Han Shindong raged.
He had been feeling really suffocated of late. When he entered the Star Empire to tour, he had expected to be treated with high respect by everyone who met him. Initially, that had been the case.
But, ever since they entered the Grotto Heaven, he had not been having a good time. Inside the Grotto Heaven, no one cared about his clan's prestige. Even if they feared his clan, they didn't fear him or his subordinates at all.
He knew this was because of his impulsiveness. If he hadn't willfully entered the Grotto Heaven along with his subordinates when he heard about the news, he would have never suffered such disrespect.
In the outside world, if anything happened to him, his clan's experts would be able to come and seek redress within a few days. But, in this Grotto Heaven, where they had been cut off from the outside world for six months, no one took the power of his clan seriously.
His subordinates had warned him of such a situation arising when they had tried to persuade him to not enter the Grotto Heaven. But, he had been adamant and didn't want to listen to them. Moreover, he didn't think the situation would be this serious after entering the Grotto Heaven.
For a young man who had been praised wherever he went, admitting that it was his mistake was an anathema. He didn't want to face his mistakes. The more he tried to use his clan name, the more he had been disabused of that notion.
Especially, by those stupid, idiotic cultivators from the demonic path.
Some of them had even laughed at him openly and proceeded to attack him afterward. Only his use of precious lifesaving talismans and the sacrifice of several of his subordinates had kept him alive until now.
He grew further dejected when the Heavenly Demon Sect initiated a blockade around the region near the main hall. He had never been barred entry in his entire lifetime. Everything he had experienced was really different from what he had thought earlier.
So, when he found a mere Spirit Sea realm cultivator roaming the forest, all his pent-up frustration boiled over. Initially, he had wanted to ambush that person with his subordinates. But, just as they were going to ambush, he found that the Spirit Sea realm cultivator was excavating a hidden cache.
Intrigued, he had stopped others from attacking the cultivator immediately. What they saw him extracting from the cache was really eye-opening. Initially, they had been flabbergasted by the situation.
How can a mere Spirit Sea realm cultivator obtain so many valuable spirit herbs? Even with his subordinates, he hadn't been able to obtain so many benefits from the Grotto Heaven.
While he was confused, one of his subordinates provided a possible explanation. This cultivator was probably one of those few who never ventured outside of a particular region. It was also likely that he had entered this forest region earlier than others.
In that case, it would make sense that he had been able to collect a lot of herbs while everyone was rushing toward the central region. And it made sense considering his strength as well.
Now, that this region had become chaotic, this person was hurriedly excavating his caches. They didn't know how he came into possession of a spatial ring. After all, if the person had it in the first place, they wouldn't have used the caches. But, they didn't care about those insignificant details.
In their eyes, this person was a treasure trove. If they can kill him and get his spatial ring, then their harvest this time would be substantial. So, they decided to capture him first and interrogate him about the other hidden caches later.
But, who knew that this person would be so slippery? His movement technique was really fast. When they were unprepared, this person escaped their encirclement and ran off.
"Young Master, I have a suggestion," another subordinate spoke.
"What?"
"If we can't capture him, then we track him from a distance. Let us wait until he empties all his caches, then we can kill him and obtain his spatial ring," the subordinate answered.
"Hmmm, this sounds good as well. It will also eliminate the need to make him confess. I approve," Han Shindong nodded.
The subordinate beamed hearing that the Young Master had approved of their plan.
"Then, what are you waiting for? Go, track him down and follow him from a distance," Han Shindong ordered impatiently. "If you guys lose him, don't blame me for being ruthless."
""Yes Young Master""
The subordinates replied in unison as they shivered. They knew that this Young Master of theirs was not someone whom you wanted to run afoul of. They disbursed in a hurry, leaving only two guards with Han Shindong, who followed him everywhere.
*****
Duncan felt a sharp pain at his side as he executed <Wind Chasing Steps> and hurried away. He could feel that the injury he suffered was really troublesome this time.
He never expected that he would be caught while excavating one of his caches. At that time, he had been in a hurry and hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings.
It had been a mistake.
A mistake that was currently biting him in the ass. Escaping from the encirclement of those cultivators had been tricky. If he hadn't been decisive enough, he would have been caught by them.
Even then, he couldn't escape without injury. One of the attacks from that group of cultivators had injured him quite badly. All he could do was grit his teeth and escape as soon as possible.
Duncan could see that the cultivators who surrounded him all were stronger than him. For a moment, he thought he would really die at their hands. But, luckily, he had been decisive enough to escape the moment he sensed danger.
If not, things would have been really bad. What he didn't expect was that these men, despite their higher cultivation base, weren't able to catch up to him when he solely concentrated on escaping. It was a welcome surprise to Duncan.
Duncan figured that it was probably because their cultivation arts or movement techniques weren't as good as his. Duncan understood that as the preeminent demonic sect on the continent, the Heavenly Demon Sect's cultivation arts and martial arts could never be shabby when compared to others.
He was glad that the movement technique he chose was of a higher tier than his opponents'. If not, he couldn't have escaped this time. Even still, he knew that he hadn't completely shaken off their pursuit.
It was highly likely that they were chasing after him at this moment. That was the reason, he didn't stop to even assess the level of damage he had sustained. It was better to escape first and then think of healing himself.
Among the numerous spirit herbs he had stashed all around the forest, he knew there were a few herbs that were highly medical in nature. If he could collect them and find a quiet place, he could recuperate without any worries.
However, he was currently in a dilemma. It was clear that he had been targeted by someone. Those people's actions were not something that was done on a whim. Duncan was clear that they were trying to capture him instead of killing him outright. That was the only reason he was able to escape.
Since that was the case, should he retrieve his other stashes or escape first? Just thinking about abandoning all those spirit herbs he had collected, made Duncan's heart ache in pain.
Duncan knew that there wouldn't be another opportunity to get these many spirit herbs. He was a poor cultivator. He didn't have much to his name. These spirit herbs would probably be his first windfall.
But, should he lose his life for that? Was the windfall worth it? If he delayed his escape to collect these caches he had stored, wouldn't that be like committing suicide?
But, if he escaped, what of the herbs he had collected so far? Can he collect them all and still escape from this group?
Duncan didn't know what to choose…
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