Chapter 365: Inescapable Net (Three)
Jian Chen sat on the cavern ground with a calm posture. Although it wasn’t suitable to stay here for long, it wasn’t time to leave just yet. He would have to wait until nightfall before he could leave so that the chance of being detected would be extremely low.
Nightfall was already fast approaching on the outside and cast a dark light over the grounds. On the highest peak of the mountain, eight elders stood in a circle as the violent wind blew their hair into a messy state and forced their clothes to look as if they were ready to tear apart.
“Third elder Cai, do you really think Jian Chen is hiding within this mountain range?” A red robed elder looked at one of the four brothers and asked.
The man nodded his head, “Although he is fast enough to leave me behind, I was able to see that he left no marks traveling away from this mountain range.”
“Then would you be able to ascertain his position within this mountain range?” Another person besides the third brother asked, it was the third elder of the Jiede clan.
The third brother shook his head, “I couldn’t. The area here is too complex and is also made of pure rock. Even if he were to leave a trace here, it would be hard to find.”
The other elders went quiet as they all thought about the third brother’s words. They had already searched the entire mountain range for half the day, but there had been no traces at all.
At that moment, the eldest brother of the Cai family spoke, “Third brother, I’ve heard that Jian Chen’s speed was far faster than yours was when you flew through the air, is that true?”
When the third brother thought back to when he was chasing Jian Chen, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh as he spoke, “Correct. Jian Chen’s speed later on was extremely fast. He was somehow able to outpace me, with that speed, I would say even the third elder wouldn’t be able to catch up.” The third brother spoke.
“You speak words of crap, the third elder is a wind attributed Fourth Cycle Heaven Saint Master. Aside from another wind attributed Heaven Saint Master, there is no one alive that could outrace the third elder in speed!” The fourth elder exploded with rage. The words that the third brother had said infuriated him.
“Fourth elder!” The third elder waved his hand as if to abate the fourth elder’s anger. The four Cai brothers and the Shi family were on special relationships with each other. All four of them were Heaven Saint Masters with high rankings. If the fourth elder were to give them no face by swearing, then a potential problem may occur.
Hearing this insult from the fourth elder, the other three brothers grew dark in the face. The four brothers were friends against the same enemy, so when the fourth elder insulted one of them, he had insulted all four of them.
“Fellow brothers, fourth elder has always had a nasty temper, please forgive us for that. Please put the blame on me instead. I hope that fellow brothers will not hold this against us.” The third elder spoke with a kind expression on his face as he cupped his hands together in a sign of apology.
The four brothers’ faces improved a little after this. They weren’t aware of the explosive temper of the fourth elder, and so they didn’t care for it. With this apology from the third elder, they all immediately gave the matter no more attention.
“Let us discuss our next plan then to find Jian Chen within the shortest amount of time possible. He has the family heirlooms of our two families, we cannot afford to lose them.” The elder of the Jiede clan spoke.
“But the area around this place is vast. Jian Chen could be anywhere within this mountain range. With just us looking for him, I feel that we should ask for more help. Let us hire some people to help us and have some other mercenary groups join in as well.” The fourth brother spoke with a vexed face; the time they had spent chasing Jian Chen had been unbearable.
“This plan has merit to me.” The other Jiede clan elder spoke in agreement.
The third brother of the Shi family spoke, “Jian Chen is an extremely smart person. Whatever we can think of, he will be able to as well. Furthermore, we’ve already administered such a method once in the Thousand Poison Valley, so he will definitely be prepared for such an event. I say that he will try to take advantage of the night tonight to escape. Thus, this night is the most important night. We should split into eight directions and watch over the area so that he won’t be able to escape. After the next morning, we should send one person to go hire several mercenaries to comb the mountains and search for him.”
“This method is decent, let’s do it.”
With the proposal planned by the third brother, the rest of the eight made preparations on which area to guard before splitting up.
……
Within the dark cave, Jian Chen continued to sit with a calm expression. Although it was extremely early in the morning, he still made no move to leave the cave.
Two hours quickly went by, making it almost four in the morning. By this time, the tiger cub had already woken up and was crawling around the dark cave while mewling with a joyful expression.
Slowly opening his eyes, Jian Chen stood up and listened for movements around the cave. Then, returning the night pearl, he scooped up the playful tiger and headed out of the cave.
Walking to the cave, Jian Chen slowly moved away the stone covering the cave, afraid that he would make a loud sound and alert any of the hidden Heaven Saint Masters.
It seemed as if even the white tiger had sensed that there were dangers hidden in the night and remained quiet. Poking its head out of Jian Chen’s clothes, the tiger cub stared all around the area with its bright and curious eyes.
Stealthily walking away from the cave without a sound, Jian Chen began to travel as if he was a spectre in the night. With his presence concealed as he crossed the mountain range, not a single sound could be heard.
At the same time ten kilometers away from Jian Chen, an elderly man was sitting on top of a mountain peak as if harmonizing with the world itself. After cultivating so hard and becoming a Heaven Saint Master, not only was he able to control the world energy to fly, he could also detect any changes that happened within it.
At this moment, the sitting elder immediately opened his eyes as two mysterious glows began to shine within them.
“There’s a disturbance in the energy, something’s making a move.” The elder’s eyes grew fierce as he instantly flew into the sky like a spectre in the night.
Within a few breaths, the elder had landed upon another mountain range where the night had completely overtaken it. Even without much visibility, the elder’s eyes could still stare down and see something of interest to him.
“I’ve finally found you.” The elder let out a smile in surprise. Then, without hesitation, he flew toward the dark figure.
At the same time, the dark figure that the elder saw, seemed to have spotted the elder and immediately sped up in speed.
“Jian Chen, where do you think you’re going?!” The flying elder roared before increasing his own speed to try and overtake the escaping figure.
Within the peaceful night, the elder’s explosive words had rang throughout the area so that the other seven Heaven Saint Masters would be able to hear him loud and clear. Immediately, several sharp sounds could be heard as the other seven Heaven Saint Masters came flying into the area.
Like a pigeon startled by the twang of a bow, Jian Chen immediately gave up all pretense of stealth and flew faster toward the mountain exit.
The darkness of the night was nothing too major for any of the Heaven Saint Masters to be affected by so all of the elders increased their speeds once more.
In this chase, Jian Chen was able to escape the area quickly. With the usage of the Illusionary Flash and the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune to increase his speed, he was like an arrow in the night. In an instant, he had been able to transverse a long area of ground with a large dust cloud trailing behind.
With the combined usage of both the Illusionary Flash and the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune, the flying Heaven Saint Master that were chasing after him quickly disappeared in his wake. Afterward, Jian Chen began to slow down a bit and stopped the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune. He knew that if he were to go too quickly, then the dust trail would give his position away and allow for the group of Heaven Saint Masters to quickly discover where he was.
But not too long after Jian Chen had let up his speed, a dazzling cyan light could be seen flying through the dark night with a terrifying amount of speed.
“Blast it all, it’s a wind attributed Heaven Saint Master.” Jian Chen cursed before reactivating the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune. His speed instantly skyrocketed so as to escape the Heaven Saint Master behind him.
The wind attributed Heaven Saint Master chasing behind him was the third elder of the Shi family and was also the very same person who had initially used the poison to threaten Jian Chen.
Seeing Jian Chen’s figure grow farther and farther away, the third elder gasped in shock, “It seems the third brother’s words were not false. This Jian Chen’s speed exceeds the realm of possibility if it is able to beat mine. This is truly hard to believe that an Earth Saint Master could achieve such a speed.”
Jian Chen’s new speed would only be enough for him to travel for two hours. After those two hours, he would be utterly exhausted. He wouldn’t even have enough strength to fight, let alone escape.