Chapter 368: No Way Out
Carefully advancing toward the center hall, Jian Chen began to look around. Jian Chen knew that his identity could be revealed at any moment, but he had to take back the tiger cub at any cost. He had promised Rum Guinness to look after her cub, so he could not allow anything to happen to the cub.
Tonight had been especially quiet in the garden. With it also being very dark and not that many patrolmen, Jian Chen had been able to sneak around to the center hall like a ghost in his pure black clothing. There was an utmost need for stealth if he wanted to take back the tiger.
Just as Jian Chen drew close to the loft in the hall, a familiar sound could be heard in Jian Chen’s ears – it was the growling sound of the tiger cub.
Hearing the cries of the tiger cub, Jian Chen had a slight smile on his face as he immediately began to search for where the sound was coming from. He didn’t think that it would be that easy to find the cub!
Suddenly, the entire area became brightly lit as torches appeared everywhere around Jian Chen and dyed the place a bright red.
“Jian Chen, you really did return. I was thinking you were going to try and escape this time.” An elderly voice could be heard all of a sudden before a person walked out among the crowd.
The person who had spoke wore a white robe and had a benevolent smile to his face. It was the third brother of the Shi family, and right behind him were the high ranking members of the Huangpu clan. In the hands of the patriarch was the tiger cub.
“Wuuuuu… wuuuuu…” Upon seeing Jian Chen, the tiger cub in the patriarch’s hands grew excited and began to flail its paws in an attempt to get to him. With a small but urgent growl, the four paws began to stamp onto the patriarch’s chest, as if unwilling to be hugged by the patriarch any longer.
Seeing that he had been discovered, Jian Chen leaped out from the shadows after realizing they were useless.
The patriarch of the Huangpu clan began to measure up Jian Chen. From what he could see, this Jian Chen was well under the age of thirty, a youth in every sense of the word.
“Is this really the person the city lord and these respected men are after?” The Huangpu patriarch thought.
Jian Chen gave a leveled glare at the Huangpu patriarch, “Return the tiger cub to me.”
Ignoring Jian Chen’s request, the patriarch turned to the third brother of the Shi family. Although he was the patriarch of a clan, he knew that it was utterly compulsory that he listened to this elder in front of him.
The third brother stared back at Jian Chen evenly, “Jian Chen, I have put up with you long enough. Return the Ruler Armaments back to us immediately or else do not blame us for our actions. Although you are extremely fast, we know you cannot keep it up for long. You cannot escape from us.”
Jian Chen turned to the third brother with a laughing smile, “I’m afraid that even after I return the Ruler Armaments to you, you will use them in return against me. I am no idiot, if you wish to take back the Ruler Armaments, you will have to come and get them!”
“Go die then!” The third brother’s face grew exceedingly dark as he lost the kindly expression on his face. With a frightening glint, he flew toward Jian Chen with his Saint Weapon ready to pierce Jian Chen’s chest.
Although Jian Chen was extremely fast, he was still an Earth Saint Master in the end. Someone on that caliber of strength was no match for a Heaven Saint Master like the third brother.
But when the third brother had taken action, so did Jian Chen. Initializing both the Illusionary Flash and the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune, his entire figure flickered away from existence before reappearing behind the patriarch. Taking back the cub, his feet smashed against the ground and disappeared from the area once again.
A ripple of energy appeared behind Jian Chen’s back as he retreated. In that instant, the third brother had slammed against Jian Chen’s back with extreme force.
“Pch!” Jian Chen spat out a mouthful of blood before disappearing into the night.
The third brother looked up to the sky before letting out a whistle that sounded almost like a clap of thunder within the dark sky. Then, he flew into the sky and chased after Jian Chen like a speeding arrow.
The moment the other Heaven Saint Masters heard the whistle from their positions, they grew startled. Soaring into the sky, they began to look down as if preparing to ambush Jian Chen at any given moment.
With a plan like this, no matter where Jian Chen went, he would be followed and blocked by any one of the Heaven Saint Masters.
Half a moment later, the sound of the sound barrier breaking could be heard as one of the floating Cai brother’s eyes squinted. Staring with an amazing amount of focus, he could see a black figure flying at tremendous speeds toward his direction.
The fourth Cai brother let out another whistle, signalling the others to begin the trap. After taking out his own Saint Weapon in preparations, all of the fire elements in the area around him began to gather. With a wave of his hand, a single twenty meter long agglomeration of Sword Qi could be seen before it was sent flying straight for Jian Chen.
As he was escaping, Jian Chen could suddenly felt a large concentration of Sword Qi being sent overhead. With a startled look, he immediately leaped from the streets onto the rooftop of a nearby building without losing a fraction of speed in his attempt to dodge.
“Bang!” A large fire red Sword Qi smashed into the ground with an explosive bang, filling the air with an intense heat that blew across the environment. All of the buildings nearby crumbled underneath its might, leveling the street. As for right where the Sword Qi had struck, there was a ten meter wide, twenty meter deep crater.
Jian Chen’s face maintained a grave expression as he looked at the crater. From this, he could tell the strength of this person was far stronger than the patriarch of the Moyun clan.
The surrounding air around the Cai brother began to ripple with heat as if a meteorite was streaking through the sky before another attack of Sword Qi smashed into the ground where Jian Chen was. Seeing that Jian Chen’s speed was far too much for him to keep up with, the elder quickly turned the entire place into an ocean of fire so as to ignite even the air. The heat was so intense that it could melt steel.
A Heaven Saint Master was already capable of manipulating the energy of the world. The fourth brother was capable of manipulating the fire elements in the world to form a five hundred meter wide and a hundred meter tall ocean of fire.
Jian Chen growled slightly under his breath as a ripple of Saint Force came out from within him to protect his entire body from the ocean of fire. At the same time, he used the Illusionary Flash to blow past the attack with another attempt to escape from the city.
Suddenly, another three streaks of fire came across the sky like shooting stars with a fiery trail. Approaching quickly, the closest Heaven Saint Master had already burst outward with another attack of fire.
By this point, Jian Chen was already surrounded by the ocean of fire. It was a hundred meters tall and covered the sky with its flame. There was nowhere in front that Jian Chen could borrow for shelter, so he could only choose to continue leaping forward.
The temperature within the sea of fire had been so hot that the Saint Force he had around his body instantly shattered and ignited his clothes on fire. It was so hot that even his hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were on the verge of burning up.
Resisting the magma like heat fire all around him, Jian Chen continued to travel toward the exit of the sea of fire.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, a loud explosion could be heard as the sea of fire exploded. Scattering light everywhere, the darkness of the night was illuminated for a brief moment, and those who were sleeping soundly were quickly awakened.
Within the sea of fire still, Jian Chen had suffered a tremendous hit. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he managed to escape the radius of fire toward the city.
The elder floating in the air began to gasp for breath with a pale face as he sighed, “Even after using such an explosive wildfire and using up almost all my energy, you weren’t killed. But even that, you are still heavily damaged, I doubt that even you will get far now.”
At this moment, the other three brothers appeared by his side. One of them hurriedly spoke out, “Brother, where is he?”
“He escaped that way, after him, quick.”
The four brothers immediately gave chase, and not too long after, another azure glow could be seen streaking past the four brothers and toward the direction where Jian Chen had disappeared to.
With his heavy injuries, Jian Chen couldn’t travel along the road fast enough, but it was still at a decent pace. An hour later, Jian Chen arrived at a forest. Back during the ocean of fire, Jian Chen had made sure to protect the tiger cub to the best of his abilities so it had not been injured at all.
With another mouthful of blood, Jian Chen slowly tried to regain his breath. Right about now, he had used up two thirds of his Saint Force, making it impossible for him to escape from the Heaven Saint Masters.
Suddenly, an azure glow could be seen across the sky as the wind attributed Heaven Saint Master chased after Jian Chen.
Sighing to himself inwardly, Jian Chen resigned himself to accepting that calamity will befall him. Petting the tiger wrapped up in his chest, Jian Chen could only feel shame. He had promised Rum Guinness to take care of her child, but now that he was stuck in this situation, he had no more power to do so.
Looking for a tree, Jian Chen used his fists to rip apart a hole in its trunk. Carefully putting down the white tiger in it, he covered the hole back up to prevent anyone from noticing. Then, turning around, he began to leave the area.
He continued to run a little farther, so that they would be far enough away from the tiger cub. Jian Chen stopped to catch his breath and waited for the Heaven Saint Master to come. Right now, he had given up on running away. The Heaven Saint Master was nearly upon him. It was time for him to repay them for the damage he had taken from the sea of fire.