Suddenly, a violent howling sound resounded and instantly filled their ears like raging waves.
Chu Li's expression changed slightly as he shouted, "Let's hurry up and leave!"
He grabbed hold of Sun Yucheng and dashed away.
Elder Su and Elder Ren both knew that the situation was taking a bad turn, so they ignored their injuries and followed closely behind Chu Li and the prince.
Meanwhile, Liang Yinge and the two other elderly men also glided away.
By the time four silhouettes showed up, Chu Li and the others had already vanished from the scene. The only thing left behind were traces of their earlier battle.
Four old men scanned the battle marks on the ground with piercing eyes and exhaled sharply as they bent over and examined the marks carefully. A plump old man placed his palms on the palm prints on the ground, which had been left behind by Liang Yinge.
In the meantime, a thin old man made his way to another spot to examine a mark left behind by Chu Li's flying blade.
Chu Li had the habit of collecting his flying blades whenever he used them regardless of whether or not the blades managed to hit his targets. Therefore, the thin old man noticed only the blade mark when he went over to the spot and could not find any flying blade. He stared at this deep hole in the ground with a thoughtful look.
Then, he went to survey the trees around them one after another and found more blade marks.
A grave expression appeared on his face as the thin old man turned to his three companions and said, "The Light Blade!"
"It was someone from the Holy Church of Light?" The three of them came over to where he was.
The thin old man pointed at the blade mark on the tree trunk and said grimly, "This wasn't a real blade but a blade formed out of inner energy, so this person has to have a remarkably profound cultivation level. More importantly, this person has also reached an extremely high level in their Light Blade cultivation. This must be no ordinary figure."
"This Light Blade seems unbelievably powerful. Could it be that Sun Mingyue has come here personally?"
"Sun Mingyue won't come to the Fu Dynasty so easily."
"Who else could it be?"
"I heard that aside from Sun Mingyue, there's another young fellow from the Holy Church of Light who has achieved an extraordinarily high level in his Light Blade cultivation. No one can compare to his skills," a square-faced old man said with a frown. "I think he's called Zhao Dahe."
"Zhao Dahe… I've heard of him. He's a formidable figure who has recently appeared in the Holy Church of Light and is said to be a genius among geniuses."
"The other guy's cultivation level is pretty high too," the plump old man said. "I suppose this guy is Liang Yinge then. He's becoming bolder now!"
"He has attained a high and profound cultivation level at such a young age, so it's inevitable that he would be bolder in his way of handling matters," another old man muttered. "It seems like Liang Yinge and Zhao Dahe have been fighting here. It must have been a fierce battle."
"Should we continue pursuing them?" one of them asked.
"Of course, we should!" The plump old man sounded surprisingly determined as he replied, "If we don't teach them a lesson, they might see the Fu Dynasty as weak and useless. It would be best if we can kill them all!"
"Judging by their cultivation levels, it won't be easy to kill them," one of the old men said while shaking his head as he lowered his gaze to examine the marks on the ground. "Even if the four of us launched a joint attack on either of them, we might not be able to kill them!"
"Indeed. Young people are usually more filled with vigor. They can be quite hard to deal with if they're forced to put up a desperate fight."
"In that case, should we just let them go instead?"
"Let's forget about Liang Yinge and deal with Zhao Dahe first."
"Why not deal with Liang Yinge first?"
"There'll certainly be a few martial arts masters from Mysterious Pavilion accompanying Liang Yinge," the plump old man replied. "The person who had been shouting earlier should be someone from Zhao Dahe's side. It's probably because they were in a disadvantageous position that they had shouted like that. That's why it's most likely that Zhao Dahe and his people have weaker capabilities. In fact, they might have suffered some losses already, so it'll be much easier for us to defeat them. As for Liang Yinge, we can gather a few more martial arts masters to teach him a lesson after we've taken care of Zhao Dahe."
"Makes sense!"
…
After traveling at a high speed over thirty miles, Elder Su and Elder Ren could not persevere on their journey anymore. Their injuries were worsening, so they needed to sit down and channel to recuperate. If not, they might risk losing their lives.
Both of them stopped in a pine forest, found a clearing, and immediately sat cross-legged to channel without saying a word.
Chu Li frowned and muttered, "This palm energy from Liang Yinge seems rather strange."
Sun Yucheng replied, "That guy has been cultivating the Nine Kills Palm!"
After having experienced how powerful Liang Yinge was, Sun Yucheng finally realized that this pavilion master had a truly well-deserved reputation. One could easily tell just how destructive the Nine Kills Palm was by taking a look at Elder Su and Elder Ren at that moment. No spirit medicine could ever overcome this palm technique's formidable power.
"The Nine Kills Palm…" Chu Li pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
He had not heard of the Nine Kills Palm before. Liang Yinge was indeed a mysterious figure. Perhaps it was because of his status as the pavilion master of Mysterious Pavilion that he was capable of keeping himself so well-hidden. Most people had only heard of Liang Yinge's name, and very few individuals had actually seen him before. After all, he was usually the one devising strategies behind the scenes.
From what Chu Li could tell, this Nine Kills Palm was exceptionally strong and overbearing, so much so that Elder Su and Elder Ren were unable to get rid of the palm energy, which kept attacking them from inside their bodies from time to time. Their lives would be in grave danger if the situation remained the same.
"Elder Su, Elder Ren, I'll lend you a hand," Chu Li said and went to sit behind Elder Su before channeling and placing his palms on the elder's back.
Elder Su did not reply because he was facing a critical moment at that point. The Nine Kills Palm energy was about to break through his heart meridian. He would lose his life if he failed to stop it.
However, this Nine Kills Palm energy was refined and strong; and felt like a needle as it kept advancing further. His inner energy felt like flowing water against it and failed to stop this needle from moving forward, so Elder Su could only sit there helplessly while this palm energy was about to pierce through his heart meridian.
Suddenly, a peculiar force surged over and seemed to swerve the Nine Kills Palm energy in a different direction. This force was like a whirlpool as it stirred and twisted the Nine Kills Palm energy around.
This peculiar force carried the Nine Kills Palm energy away and left his body; Elder Su felt himself relaxing instantly. Then, as he heaved a sigh of relief and slowly opened his eyes, he saw that Elder Ren opened his eyes and released a long sigh at the same time.
Chu Li withdrew his palms and exclaimed, "Liang Yinge is impressive indeed!"
"How are you guys feeling?" Sun Yucheng asked anxiously.
Elder Su and Elder Ren turned to Chu Li and gave him a fist salute.
Chu Li shook his head and said, "Elders, you should hurry up and recover your strength. We have to hurry on with our journey."
Sun Yucheng asked, "Liang Yinge still dares to come after us?"
"Even if Liang Yinge doesn't dare to do so, other people from the Fu Dynasty won't let us leave that easily," Chu Li replied.
"In that case, we should hurry up and leave," Sun Yucheng said worriedly.
Elder Su and Elder Ren stood up. "Well then, let's go!"
"Humph, where do you think you're going!" The four old men from earlier laughed coldly as they glided over effortlessly like a streak of lightning across the night sky before appearing in front of Chu Li and the others.
The plump, round-faced old man asked grimly, "You're Zhao Dahe, aren't you?"
His gaze was cold and piercing while he exuded an imposing and fearsome aura.
A blank look appeared on Chu Li's face. "Who's Zhao Dahe?"
He would be in endless trouble if he admitted his identity, so Chu Li had to play dumb.
"Hah, how interesting!" The plump old man let out a scornful laugh. "You don't even dare to tell us your name. You're really causing shame to the Holy Church of Light."
Chu Li asked coolly, "What do you guys want?"
He did not care whether or not he was causing shame to the Holy Church of Light. Rather, Chu Li knew that he would be the person to be blamed if the Fu Dynasty ended up putting pressure on the Holy Church of Light because he had admitted to his identity as their disciple.
Thus, Chu Li had responded as such out of self-interest, although others might think that he was trying to protect and was being loyal to the Holy Church of Light.
The plump old man muttered, "You've come to the Fu Dynasty and caused so much trouble, so of course, we have to teach you a lesson and make you realize how powerful we are."
Sun Yucheng frowned and glared at the old man and scoffed. "I'm the Li Dynasty's twelfth prince, Sun Yucheng. Initially, we were just passing through the Fu Dynasty, but the Zheng Dynasty's Mysterious Pavilion showed up and tried to kill us, so Liang Yinge was the one that caused trouble, not us!"
His rare treasure had already lost its power, and he did not wish to become enemies with the Fu Dynasty. Therefore, Sun Yucheng had to make himself seem more pitiful.
"Prince Cheng!" Elder Su frowned in disapproval.
"You're the twelfth prince?" The plump, round-faced old man stared at Sun Yucheng with a frown.
Sun Yucheng raised his hand to reveal his white jade ring.
The round-faced old man glanced at it with a piercing gaze and then turned to Chu Li with a thoughtful look. "In that case, it seems like we've accused you wrongly!"
"Originally, I came to the Fu Dynasty to widen my experience and knowledge. I never expected that Liang Yinge would try to assassinate me!" Sun Yucheng huffed. "He must've gone crazy!"
"Hmm, alright then. You may leave now," the round-faced old man replied calmly with a nod. "You guys better not stir up any trouble in the Fu Dynasty. Otherwise, don't blame us for being ruthless!"
"Of course!" Sun Yucheng smiled.
Chu Li began to hold this twelfth prince in higher esteem. Indeed, it was truly hard to come by a young man like Sun Yucheng who could submit or stand tall as the situation required.
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