by Tinalynge
They had straight backs, their bodies were taut, and one could see defined muscles on their bodies that were filled with explosive strength. All of them were clean, despite being dressed in rags, and their hair and beards were well groomed.
“We are not staying in Cloudsoar City any longer,” Xue Wei made a very sudden decision, but he really had no option. It was clear that this was a trap that had been laid out for him.
“Well, we might be forced to stay here forever,” Bai Tianyi said with a grim look on his face. “We are outnumbered, and they are not weak. At least ten Ordinary Knights are here, and there are three I can’t discern the strength of; they are clearly Earth Knights.”
“Let us get moving!” Xue Wei grimaced and ran straight at a human wall that was waiting right in front of him. There were no Earth Knights among them, but there were three Ordinary Knights.
“Blast them away,” Xue Wei said with a chill in his voice. He felt ticked off, which was a feeling he channeled into his attacks.
Forbidden Rush!
Shattering Mountain Palm!
Kick of the Forgotten Kings!
Xue Wei did not hold back. First he leaped forward with the Forbidden Rush movement technique, then he thrust out his arm and attacked one Ordinary Knight with a Shattering Mountain Palm and another with a Kick of the Forgotten Kings.
Although it was not possible to kill these Ordinary Knights with these attacks, it was enough to knock them a fair distance away—and as soon as they were pushed back, an unnatural opening appeared in the human wall.
Now only Heavenly Warriors stood in their way, and they were quickly executed by Hei Gou with a few swipes of his claw weapons.
“Capture the young man!” someone yelled out. “He goes by the name of Ye Xiao, and he is a Sovereign Beast! Do not let him escape! Kill his companions on sight, but do not kill him!”
The one who called out was clearly the leader of their operation. He was calm and collected. Xue Wei realized at this point that the ones behind this mission had planned way ahead.
“How can they know we would be here?” Hei Gou asked with shock. Xue Wei sent him a glance. “Li Chen must have told them,” he said honestly. “She is the only one who could have guessed my situation, but I never thought she’d actually do that.”
“Less talk, more running!” Bai Tianyi said through gritted teeth. He waved his hand and a beam of spiritual energy descended from the heavens and killed a whole group of experts that had gathered by their side.
Xue Wei had made a sword out of Qi with Inner Might, and he was using Mind Infestation to cause confusion within the ranks of their enemies.
He also had inscriptions in one hand, ready to launch them whenever there was a need.
The trio was slowly breaking out through a circle of humans that kept converging on them. Clearly, they were at a disadvantage.
“Stop fighting back and let us capture you! We will not kill you, we will just tame you—there is no reason for you to fight to the death!” The voice of the leader sounded once again, but all it managed to do was annoy Xue Wei.
“They know I am a Sovereign Beast, right?” he suddenly asked, his eyes shining with madness. Bai Tianyi, who had guessed his thoughts, laughed and said, “Yes, they know. Why don’t we take to the skies?”
“You want me to transform?” Hei Gou asked, but Xue Wei shook his head. “You are not the only one who can fly,” he said with laughter.
Immediately after, Xue Wei’s entire body started changing. In an instant, he had turned into a massive azure dragon whose draconic claws landed on the ground with a deafening boom; his head had a row of razor short fangs, which he used to chomp down on a cultivator that was standing petrified in front of him.
Spitting out the bisected corpse, Xue Wei thrashed his snake-like body about, pushing back all who were around him and even killing quite a number of experts.
“Time to mount up!” Xue Wei growled. Neither Bai Tianyi nor Hei Gou needed to hear it twice. They instantly jumped on top of Xue Wei’s back, before he soared to the sky.
“Get the flight corps to follow them!” the enemy leader called out without panicking, and a group of birds with riders rose into the air.
These birds were of various kinds; there was a Lightning Sparrow, there was a Golden-Eyed Eagle, a Violet-Feathered Hawk, a Flame-Eating Eagle. Amongst these, the Lightning Sparrow was by far the fastest, and it was the first to try and follow Xue Wei.
It has to be said that after the awakening of Xue Wei’s bloodline, his transformation was many times more shocking than it had been before. His body alone was now a hundred meters long from head to tail, and his scales were even more resplendent than before. They had a shine to them that had not been there before either.
Xue Wei had ascended into the airspace above Cloudsoar City and got an easy sight of the entire operation from above. He saw where the people were hiding, and he also saw the birds that were ascending into the skies to chase him. This made him feel rather annoyed.
Who would have thought that Li Chen would cause such a ruckus? Xue Wei flew out from the city, heading for the border en route to the center of the continent. He knew that he could no longer use his identity as Ye Xiao, nor could he use his inscriptions to earn money. Inscription masters were simply too rare; if someone appeared, it would be the same as admitting to be Ye Xiao.
“This is getting complicated,” Xue Wei complained. “Let us just meet Prophet Lan and then leave the continent. I am tired of being chased.”
“We don’t know what the other continents are like,” Bai Tianyi reminded him. “If they hate beasts, we are likely to be hated as well.”
“Well, then we find another continent. Aren’t there quite a few?” Xue Wei was not pessimistic—rather, he was incredibly optimistic. Anything would be better than how he had been treated here.
“It is a shame we could not stall Lan when he came to visit you,” Bai Tianyi complained. “If you could have spoken with him then and there, then you would not have to go all the way to the center of the continent for answers.”
“It is fine,” Xue Wei was not too bothered, “but let us find an opportunity to get rid of that Lightning Sparrow that is following us. When we have gotten rid of it, we should be able to proceed more smoothly. Also, we might as well use our real faces now. The masks we have used so far have all been exposed.”
There was reason in Xue Wei’s words so both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou removed their masks and returned to their original appearances. The previously mature Bai Tianyi now looked like a small child again.
“There should be a forest up ahead. Let us enter there and stay for a bit. Even if they can guess that we have taken up shelter in there, they can’t really do anything about it.” Bai Tianyi had used his energy to scout ahead and had found a forest that was by no means small.
As soon as they reached it, Xue Wei descended at the outskirts and cancelled his transformation, quickly put on some of his spare clothes, and rushed into the thicket of the forest together with the other two.
By the time the Lightning Sparrow arrived, they had already vanished into the dense forest. As to how far into the forest they had gotten, no one knew.
The rider on the Lightning Sparrow clicked his tongue in displeasure and was rather annoyed. He picked up a communication bracelet and contacted the leader of the operation for further instruction.
It did not take long before the other experts and their flying mounts arrived next to the rider and the Lightning Sparrow. All of them were very displeased with how things had escalated.
“We are not enough to surround the forest, and we do not know which way they will exit. They might even return the way they entered, so we cannot really do anything about them right now.”
“I guess they might be going for Heavenward City. That’s not so far away from here,” the rider on top one of the eagles continued. “So why don’t we go there and wait? Every group of three that arrives will be subject to our thorough insp
ection, especially if they have a child in their midst.”
Chapter 26 - Destroyed his Pride
In the forest, Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were hiding under the thicket just inside the forest. They were observing the experts in the sky, their eyes showing hesitation.
“We could skip meeting up with Prophet Lan and just leave the continent right away,” Xue Wei said a bit hesitatingly. Although he wanted to know what Lan had to tell him, he did not want to walk into a trap with his friends and risk getting them injured and possibly killed.
Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were both aware that Xue Wei said that for their sake, and they felt warmth in their hearts, but their faces were stern.
“We need to get information before we know what we can do,” Bai Tianyi said seriously. “And that information can only be gotten from that phony prophet, Lan, so no matter what we have to make our way to the center of the continent.”
The three were conversing with one another, each deep in thought, when suddenly Xue Wei jumped back on high alert. His entire body crawled with discomfort, and his eyes were bulging wide open.
“Who are you?!” he exclaimed. However, he did not raise his voice and made sure to check the air above them. Their pursuers had left long ago, but the current problem was a young man that was squatting next to them.
The young man seemed to be around twenty. His hair was short and his eyes had a playful expression in them. He had wooden sandals on and, instead of the robes that most wore, he wore black pants and a shirt.
His body was sturdy and strong, and his muscles were clearly visible under the clothes. The fact that he had managed to sneak up on them without anyone noticing his presence, not even Bai Tianyi, meant that his power was no laughing matter.
“Woah, woah, woah, calm down!” The burly man laughed when he saw them. “I just saw three handsome men-” he said before pausing and glancing at Tianyi, “-sitting together in the middle of a forest and was curious as to what was happening. I have no ulterior motives.”
“It is quite hard to believe you just like that,” Bai Tianyi snorted. But instead of getting mad, the burly man just laughed and reached out his hand before he wreaked havoc in Bai Tianyi’s hair.
“What a cute kid, speaking like an adult! You should enjoy your childhood more!”
Hearing this, the corners of Xue Wei’s lips twitched. This fellow was rather amusing, but he did not lower his guard.
“Well, I am in a bit of a pickle you see.” The man awkwardly scratched his head and a slight blush appeared on his face. “Someone is following me and traveling alone will without a doubt give me out, so I was wondering if you were interested in a travel partner? It seems that your group also needs someone to blend in to make you less suspicious.”
“Why would we travel with you?” Hei Gou narrowed his eyes. “We are already being chased by god and every man. Why would we add even more trouble to our entourage?”
“You said it yourself: god and every man is chasing you. So it does not matter to have a few Diviners added to the fray.”
“Wait.” Xue Wei supported his head in his hands. “Are you that genius that ran away from the Diviners?” he asked seriously. He had come across Diviners in Cloudsoar City who had clearly been chasing someone. To think that this someone would voluntarily seek them out.
“Oh, you know about me?” The Diviner was stunned and looked at Xue Wei curiously. “Then it makes it easier,” he said, grinning.
“Where are you going?”
“The center of the continent, Tiansong Empire.”
“Oh, the Tiansong Empire is it. I know the way, and I can even get us there without anyone noticing. Why don’t you just accept me and let us get going.”
“Well, I can’t really trust just any Diviner I come across, now can I?” Xue Wei felt appalled. This Diviner was so hyper and filled with energy, smiling constantly and joking around.
He did not seem to take the situation seriously at all. “Tell us first, why are they chasing you?” Xue Wei began. The Diviner genius pondered for a moment before he accepted that his request was a bit over the top for a stranger.
“I was doing military service before I went back home to the temple. Honestly, I am tired of the whole war thing.” He sighed. “I understand that humans and beasts might not have the best compatibility with one another, but to kill at sight is just too much.”
“Not to mention, why do we need to enslave one another? When I said that, they grounded me. I decided to live for myself so I robbed the treasury and left that night. Since then, they have not found me. I am doing pretty well if I may say so myself.” The Diviner was gloating slightly. Xue Wei was shocked. Were they looking for him because he had stolen their treasures?
“Oh, don’t worry, I was the candidate to become the next head of the Temple, so they are quite friendly towards me.” He grinned. “They almost caught me a few times, but I escaped by threatening to kill myself. In the end, they have no option other than to do what I tell them to.”
“We don’t really like Diviners,” Hei Gou muttered, but even he had been moved by what the ostentatiously happy Diviner had said. Still, none of them let their guards down.
Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi, who in turn was looking at him. He was pondering for some time before he nodded his head.
“What level of strength do you have?” Xue Wei finally asked a question all three of them were curious about.
“I am an Earth Knight, sixth layer,” the Diviner answered proudly. “Not bad,” Xue Wei said and nodded his head. Bai Tianyi had given his consent to travel with them, but Xue Wei was still on the fence considering that Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast. If this Diviner changed his mind, he could cause some serious damage to their group.
The Diviner seemed to understand that there was something wrong, so he pondered for some time.
“Let me take a heavenly oath!” he said with a grin, “Everyone knows that it is impossible to escape the Void unless the soul has transcended the laws of this world.”
Xue Wei was surprised. “The Void?” he asked curiously. “Is a heavenly oath not something that is made to the heavens, where the heavens will strike you down should you break it?”
The Diviner and Bai Tianyi both looked at him as if he was an idiot, but then the latter remembered that he was very young and not from the center of the continent.
“No,” Bai Tianyi decided to explain. “A Heavenly Oath appears to be made to the heavens, but above the heavens, between the worlds, is the void. The Void is a place where everything will be ripped to shreds. No one, apart from those who have managed to break out of the laws of this world, can escape if they end up in the Void.”
“When one makes a heavenly oath, it goes one step above the heavens and the Void will know of it. If you break a Heavenly oath, the Void will enter your body and shred you to pieces.”
“The Void,” Xue Wei was shocked by what he heard, but he also knew it was not a joke. “So that is the reason why no one has left the world?” he asked curiously. Bai Tianyi nodded his head. “Only the Four Divine Beasts managed to break free from the laws of the world and leave. The rest of us has never had that ability.”
Bai Tianyi suddenly thought about something and then looked at Xue Wei with an odd look in his eyes. “You might be able to escape the Void,” he said hesitatingly but then shut his mouth when he saw how the Diviner looked at him with curious eyes.
Xue Wei did not need Bai Tianyi to tell him what he meant. Since his existence itself defied the rules of this world, as a mixed breed, he might have already broken free from the law of the world, but he was not willing to bet on it.
“Okay, if you make a heavenly oath, we’ll travel with you,” Xue Wei said with a sigh. He did not really trust this man, but it was indeed true that they would have an easier time fooling their pursuers as a four-man group.
The Diviner swore that he would never betray them—that as long they were faithful to him, he would be their friend and do them
justice.
Once the oath was made, he looked at them and introduced himself. “I am Lin Xiao. I am sorry for the late introduction,” he said with a grin and looked at the other three, waiting with far too much enthusiasm.
“I am Hei Gou.”
“Bai Tianyi.”
“Xue Wei.”
“Oh! We are now traveling partners! Let’s be good friends and rely on one another in the future! Well then, since we are heading for Tiansong Empire, the fastest way is to go through Heavenward City.”
“Heavenward City? There are a lot of cities like those,” Xue Wei muttered. “We passed through Skyward City earlier, and even Cloudsoar City. What is up with these boastful names?”