"The tracks indicate they headed east," Azure observed as I examined the disturbed earth where Rocky once was. "Two sets of footprints, probably male given the size and depth. They were struggling with sothing heavy."
Wei Lin and Lin i spread out to search the surrounding area while I concentrated on the main path.
"Look at these marks," Lin i called out, crouching to examine so crushed vegetation. "Soone definitely dragged sothing heavy through here."
"And recently too," Wei Lin added, picking up a fragnt of rope. "This fiber's barely started to fray."
I nodded, following the trail with my eyes. Whoever had taken Rocky had left clear signs of their passage – broken twigs, scuffed earth, even so frayed rope fibers caught on a bush. Either they weren't trying to hide their trail, or they were too focused on moving their heavy "prize" to care.
Liu Chen had been unusually quiet since we'd discovered Rocky's disappearance, which worried more than his crying had.
"The spiritual residue is still fresh," Azure continued. "They can't have gotten far."
I was about to reply when I felt it – a surge of spiritual energy that made my skin prickle. My body instantly dropped into a defensive stance, expecting an ambush.
I spun around, ready for an attack, only to find... nothing but a cloud of dust where Liu Chen had been standing monts before.
"That aura..." I started, but Wei Lin cut off.
"It's Liu Chen!" He pointed down the road. "He just took off in that direction!"
I blinked in surprise. That pressure I'd felt... it had been around the level of a pseudo sixth-stage Qi Condensation cultivator. But Liu Chen was just a kid. Unless...
"The soul bond," I realized. "Rocky must be sharing his power sohow."
There wasn't ti to analyze it further. I could see Wei Lin and Lin i were already winded from our initial sprint – they were only at the third stage of Qi Condensation, after all.
"Go on ahead," Wei Lin wheezed, waving forward. "We'll catch up."
I imdiately took off but even at the fifth stage of Qi Condensation, keeping up with Liu Chen proved challenging. The boy moved with desperate speed, his small form barely visible ahead of as he darted between trees and over rocks.
I could have used the suns' energy to close the gap, but the risks outweighed the benefits. The red sun's power might make appear as a demonic cultivator, while the blue sun's unique energy could attract unwanted attention from whoever was performing those soul experints.
"Master, the boy's qi fluctuations are becoming increasingly erratic. If he maintains this level of power output..."
I pushed myself harder but the distance between us only grew.
Liu Chen might have access to surprising power, but his young body wasn't conditioned to handle it, especially considering the power wasn't his own. If he kept this up, he could seriously hurt himself.
The sound of voices carried on the wind, growing louder as I ran. One was raised in anger, another pleading, and underneath it all, a familiar grinding sound that could only be Rocky.
I burst through a final stand of trees just in ti to see a flash of golden light. A cultivator – well-built, with brown hair and a confident stance – disappeared from where he'd been standing, reappearing instantly in front of Liu Chen with his hand raised in what looked like a slap.
Ti seed to slow. The boy couldn't dodge in ti. Rocky was still partially in his breakthrough form, not fully materialized. And the attacker's aura... seventh stage Qi Condensation. Far beyond what I could handle normally.
But "normally" wasn't an option.
My body moved before my mind could second-guess itself. Red sun energy surged through my fundantal rune, the familiar warmth spreading across my chest. The Blink Step rune on my thigh flared to life as the Titan's Crest blazed on my hand. In that fraction of a second, I felt my physical essence spike and the world blur around .
I reappeared between Liu Chen and his attacker just as the strike was about to land. I caught the man's wrist with one hand while driving my other fist forward in a perfect Phantom Strike directly into his chest. The impact sent him sliding backward several ters, his boots leaving twin furrows in the dirt.
Imdiately, I cut off the red sun's energy flow, but the damage was done. Liu Chen stared at with wide, uncertain eyes.
"Big brother Ke Yin?" His voice trembled slightly.
A rumbling sound drew my attention as Rocky shifted his massive form, one stone hand reaching down to pat Liu Chen gently. The gesture seed to calm the boy sowhat, though his eyes still looked up and down as though trying to figure out if it was really .
"That aura..." The cultivator I'd struck narrowed his eyes, his voice trailing off as he studied . "For a mont, I felt... but now it's gone." He shook his head. "No, I'm certain. There was sothing demonic about that energy."
"Brother," a second voice called out nervously. I noticed another cultivator – shorter, rounder, with the sa brown hair – trying to fade into the background. "Maybe we should just leave? That stone elental clearly has friends, and..." His voice dropped to a whisper as he pointed to my robes: "They're from the Azure Peak Sect..."
"Shut up!" The first cultivator snapped. "The Mountain Tiger Gang will be here any mont. We can handle a few—"
"What? Where?" The second cultivator's head whipped around in panic. "I don't see anyone coming!"
"Didn't I tell you to shut up, you fool? Let your big brother handle this!"
"Master, their reactions to their supposed allies are... interesting."
"They're trying to use their old gang's na to intimidate us," I replied ntally. "But they're clearly deserters themselves."
The arrival of Wei Lin and Lin i drew the first cultivator's attention. He looked them over dismissively, then laughed. "Third stage cultivators? They won't make any difference."
Liu Chen tugged at my sleeve. "Big brother, these bad n tried to steal Rocky! They were going to sell him!"
I patted his head gently. "I understand. I'll take care of this." Turning to face the two forr bandits, I let a small smile play across my lips. "You must be either very brave or very foolish to steal an elental guardian belonging to a Core Disciple."
The first cultivator's eyes narrowed at my words, while his brother seed to lose what little color remained in his face.
"Liu Chen," I continued casually, "what do you think your master will do when he learns so bandits tried to steal the elental guardian he gifted to his favorite disciple?"
Stolen novel; please report.
The boy caught on imdiately. "Master will be really angry," he said, his voice quavering perfectly. "Even I get scared when he's mad."
"Yes," I agreed with a frown. "Life Realm cultivators can be quite temperantal."
The shorter brother edged closer to his sibling. "Brother, I think we really ssed up. Just look at the aura rolling off that kid – he must be so old monster's personal disciple. Which elder wouldn't want a talent like that? And it would explain the stone elental..."
"Let think!" The first brother snapped, his eyes darting between , Liu Chen, and Rocky. I could almost see him calculating odds, wondering if he could take us all.
Ti to push things a little further.
"Liu Chen," I whispered, knowing that the forr bandits could still hear , "maybe you should activate that life-saving treasure your master gave you. It's a waste to use sothing that can kill Stellar Realm cultivators on re Qi Condensation practitioners, but I'm sure he'll give you another."
Liu Chen, proving himself quite the actor, nodded and pulled out a necklace I hadn't even known he possessed.
It was an old piece, the tal tarnished with age, but the craftsmanship was evident even under the wear. Small formations were etched into its surface, too worn to make out clearly.
I found myself genuinely curious about the necklace's origin. Was it a powerful artifact from whatever mysterious background Liu Chen ca from or just a family heirloom?
The first cultivator studied the necklace intently. Though it gave off no obvious aura, sothing about it clearly unnerved him. I watched his golden qi aura flicker and fade as he reached a decision.
With a formal bow that wouldn't have looked out of place in a noble's court, he said, "There seems to be so misunderstanding. My brother and I recognized imdiately that this wasn't a re boulder, but rather property of the Azure Peak—"
"A mber of the Azure Peak Sect," I corrected smoothly.
"Yes, yes, of course," he continued without missing a beat. "A mber of the sect. We were simply trying to return it, worried it might have gotten lost."
His brother's exasperated sigh spoke volus about what he thought of this excuse.
I had to admire the cultivator's shalessness – his face showed such earnest sincerity that if soone had walked up right now, they might actually believe his story. This was the kind of quick thinking that kept confident liars alive in the cultivation world.
"Ah, so it was all a misunderstanding," I said, matching his tone. "In that case, we should thank you for your help."
Liu Chen started to protest, but I quieted him with another pat on the head. "Trust ," I murmured, and he subsided, though his doubtful expression suggested he questioned my judgnt.
"Since that's cleared up," the first cultivator said brightly, "we should really be going—"
"Oh, but surely you'll help us a bit longer?" I smiled, gesturing towards Rocky. "Our friend seems quite tired from his breakthrough. You wouldn't mind helping carry him back to the sect, would you?"
Right on cue, Rocky let out a grinding sound that sohow perfectly mimicked an exhausted yawn.
I watched as the forr bandit's face went through a rapid series of micro-expressions – frustration, calculation, resignation – before settling back into his practiced smile. "Of course! My brother and I would be happy to help."
"For once," his brother spoke up, "I actually agree. It's the least we can do after this... misunderstanding."
"How thoughtful of you both," Wei Lin smiled. "It's so rare to et such... helpful strangers on the road these days."
"Yes," Lin i added with sweet venom in her voice, "especially ones who are so good at recognizing valuable things that don't belong to them."
I studied the shorter fat one. Despite his earlier cowardice, or perhaps because of it, he seed to have a decent grasp of when to cut his losses. That kind of common sense was surprisingly rare in the cultivation world, where pride and face often led people to their deaths. In my experience, being able to recognize when you were outmatched was an underrated survival skill.
We watched as Rocky's massive form slowly collapsed in on itself, returning to the boulder shape we'd left him in. The two brothers approached cautiously, probably half-expecting another transformation, but Rocky remained still. They positioned themselves on either side, their faces straining slightly as they lifted him up.
I noticed Liu Chen's expression, it seed like the boy hoped for so kind of revenge, but killing them would have been foolish for several reasons.
First, I wasn't confident of being able to take a seventh stage Qi Condensation cultivator even if I used the combined power of both suns and had Rocky's help, it would be a risky battle with no guarantee of success.
More importantly, we'd just discovered soone was bringing the dead back to life and 'helping' them get revenge. The last thing I needed was to beco the target of soone's resurrection-powered revenge plot.
In this world, avoiding enemies was often smarter than making them. Let others play protagonist and antagonist – I was perfectly happy staying alive in the background, growing stronger.
"Master," Azure's voice broke into my thoughts as we began the journey back to the sect, our unwilling porters struggling with Rocky's weight ahead of us. "You handled that well. Though I'm curious about the boy's necklace."
"Add it to the growing list of mysteries," I thought back. "Along with his sudden burst of sixth-stage level power and whatever background he's running from."
But those were questions for another ti.
Right now, I was content watching Wei Lin and Lin i flank our new "friends" while Liu Chen practically bounced along beside his stone guardian, keeping up a running comntary about how Rocky liked to be carried "just so" and how they should really be more careful with his friend.
I had just started to relax when I felt it - that sa subtle energy from the way station sweeping through the area like silk sliding across skin. Within my inner world, the suns reacted instantly, diving beneath the Genesis Seed's branches once again.
The pressure passed over us like a gentle breeze and for a mont, my heart stopped.
Had I been caught?
Then it was gone, leaving to release a shaky breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
"Master," Azure's voice was barely a whisper in my mind, "if you had used the blue sun's energy..."
I knew exactly what he ant. I wouldn't have made it back to the sect.
User Comments
0 comments from readers