Chapter Nine: Escape

The moment Karu landed, his figure shot toward Shi Yan like a streak of lightning, moving at an astonishing speed. As a warrior of the innate realm, his vital energy was deep and powerful, utterly beyond the reach of ordinary postnatal warriors.

Mo Yan Yu’s beautiful eyes glinted with murderous intent as she chased relentlessly after them, ignoring even the Mo family’s team behind her, determined to capture and kill Shi Yan at any cost.

Shi Yan’s face was set and grim. He channeled all the vital energy within him into the meridians of his legs; every step he took pounded the earth, propelling his thin body seven or eight meters forward each time, bringing him ever closer to the six White-blade Jade Spiders.

Click, click, click!

The spiders’ sharp legs stabbed into the marshy ground, all eight limbs working in unison. Soon they vanished into a dense thicket of shrubs.

Shi Yan plunged headlong into the thicket, its bushes five or six meters high. His expression grew even more grave as he fixed his gaze on the foremost spider, paying no heed to their terrifying nature.

As soon as he entered the thicket, the spiders’ speed abruptly slowed. Two of them suddenly turned their heads, their compound eyes gleaming with points of cold light, as if roused to anger by their pursuers.

Of course, the spiders had no inkling of Shi Yan’s intentions. Seeing three humans in hot pursuit, they assumed these people wished to fight to the death. One spider let out a sharp, strange cry, and in an instant, the other four turned as well, all focusing their attention on Shi Yan.

Unfazed, Shi Yan did not slow down—on the contrary, he rushed at the spiders with even greater speed.

His focus was absolute, his mind clear as crystal. Suddenly, he realized he had entered that strange, wondrous state once again; every detail around him became startlingly vivid. He could hear even the low, communicative hums of the spiders, and the whistling wind from Karu’s rapid approach behind him reached his ears without the slightest distortion.

As Shi Yan hurtled forward, his body cut through the air, the sound of the rushing wind growing ever louder.

Just as he was about to charge right into the midst of the spiders, he abruptly twisted in midair and changed direction in a bizarre, almost impossible move. He darted past one spider’s gleaming legs, slipping perilously through the edge of the group, and shot forward without a moment’s pause.

The spiders were enraged.

All six, feeling themselves mocked by this audacious human, let out a piercing shriek and surged forward together, racing after Shi Yan with renewed fury.

Karu and Mo Yan Yu, having dashed into the thicket one after the other, suddenly found themselves without any sign of Shi Yan—only the six spiders could be seen charging ahead.

Karu stopped short, his eyes flashing coldly. “That brat must be hiding somewhere in this thicket.”

“Or could he have passed through the spiders’ group and made it to the front?” Mo Yan Yu frowned delicately, her tone uncertain.

Karu snorted dismissively, “Even if he had the guts, he wouldn’t survive running through a pack of those spiders. Their eight legs are like meat grinders in this brush, and this whole thicket is their territory. If he’s made himself their target, he’s as good as dead.”

“That’s true,” Mo Yan Yu nodded, then split up with Karu to search the surrounding thickets for any trace of Shi Yan.

***

Shi Yan fled headlong through the shadowy forest’s undergrowth, the six White-blade Jade Spiders hot on his heels, rapidly closing the distance between them.

This stretch of thicket held no towering ancient trees, only endless ranks of shrubs. These bushes were not sturdy; under the spiders’ slicing legs, they snapped with a crack and could not withstand the onslaught.

With nowhere high to climb for safety, Shi Yan could only run for his life, hoping to somehow widen the gap between himself and the relentless spiders.

Fortunately, some strange power had earlier seeped from the acupoints in his body and blended into his vital energy, making it more than twice as robust and pure. Without that, he would never have endured this pursuit—the spiders would have dismembered him long before now.

Vital energy surged through the meridians of his legs, making them feel almost inflated. Each stomp propelled him forward, light as a swallow, covering several meters at a time. Silently, he marveled at the wonders of this energy and felt his resolve to become a powerful warrior grow ever stronger.

He had no idea how long he had been running, but gradually, exhaustion began to set in. The vital energy in his legs, drained by the constant exertion, had weakened considerably, and his speed faltered.

While his pace slowed, the spiders showed no sign of fatigue. As beasts of immense physical strength, they needed no other power to move with the wind through the undergrowth. In this domain, their eight legs made them truly lethal.

The gap between them narrowed steadily…

Shi Yan’s nerves were stretched taut, sweat breaking out on his back. If this kept up, it would not be long before the spiders caught him. Once his vital energy ran dry, what could he possibly do to fight them?

Suddenly, a damp, watery scent wafted from his left. Sensitive to such changes, Shi Yan took a deep breath, his spirits lifting. Without hesitation, he veered sharply in that direction and dashed away.

Water!

Focusing his mind, he listened intently for any sound from the left. Sure enough, after a few minutes of frantic running, the pleasing rush of water reached his ears from ahead.

A few minutes later, his vision opened up. A silver waterfall cascaded down into a deep pool below, its spray scattering like pearls as it crashed against massive rocks, filling the air with mist.

With a leap, Shi Yan shot into the icy pool like an arrow, immediately feeling a wave of relief—at last, he was safe.

Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

All six spiders, close behind, also plunged into the pool one after another. Floating on the surface like small boats, their eight razor-sharp legs slashed through the water as they surged toward him.

Shi Yan, who had barely caught his breath, cursed under his breath. Seeing the spiders drawing closer, he hurriedly dove to the bottom.

Holding his breath, Shi Yan sank seven or eight meters deep before daring to look up.

From below, he could clearly see the spiders’ knife-like legs stabbing into the water above. Though they floated easily on the surface, they seemed unwilling to dive, thrashing about and slashing down with their limbs, but never leaving the surface.

Only then did Shi Yan truly relax. Holding his breath, he simply waited below.

Breath-holding underwater was a challenge Shi Yan had often practiced. He was experienced in this; a single breath could last him more than ten minutes.

The spiders did not linger long. After a while, seeing that Shi Yan had not resurfaced, they climbed out of the pool one by one.

Shi Yan floated upward until he could see the spiders on the shore, then promptly stopped, observing them in secret. Soon, the six beasts moved off.

He emerged from the water, inhaled the moist air deeply, then immediately submerged again. Each time his breath ran out, he would surface by a huge rock at the edge, take a breath, and then dive once more, repeating the cycle.

He was wary that the spiders might return, and even more concerned that Karu and Mo Yan Yu would follow the spiders’ tracks and catch up, so he dared not leave the pool rashly.

At the bottom of the pool, holding his breath, Shi Yan began to ponder the strange events with his acupoints. When those two warriors died, he had been right beside them, and somehow their vital energy and essence had been sucked into his acupoints. Clearly, he had benefited from their deaths.

As he fled with the spiders, he had distinctly felt a strange power flow from his acupoints, pure and potent. When it merged with his own vital energy, it more than doubled in strength, leaving him baffled.

Did this mean that the power his acupoints absorbed from those two warriors had been purified and transformed, then gifted back to his own body?

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