Chapter 25: Escaping to Safety? p1
Xie Bailu complained about Ling Song, but her actions were not slow. As soon as they started fighting, she immediately endured the pain and got up, staggering to escape.
Ling Song and the man in black almost simultaneously looked towards Xie Bailu. But when the man in black wanted to chase after her, Ling Song once again blocked his way.
The man in black sneered, “I finally know how she managed to escape from you time and time again!”
What chase? Does a Golden Core cultivator need to chase a Foundation Establishment cultivator? It’s just playing around!
But Ling Song smiled. “This is what makes it interesting.”
He didn’t understand the subtext of the man in black’s words and just thought the other party had guessed that Xie Bailu always used his fights with others to escape. It was a credit to her that she could still protect herself under the evil cultivator’s hands and make them fight each other.
He was very satisfied.
The man in black laughed in anger. “Good, good! I didn’t want to bother with you, but since it’s like this, don’t blame me for bullying the weak!”
He flipped his hand and took out a Zen staff. With a single strike, the sword glow around Ling Song’s life-bound sword shattered. If he hadn’t withdrawn his sword in time, the sword itself might have been cracked.
Shishang let out an angry cry, but immediately quieted down after being tapped by Ling Song’s frown.
The other party’s cultivation was higher than his, and his magical treasure was even stranger. Ling Song decisively self-harmed, and his cultivation slowly rose to the level of early to mid-stage Nascent Soul.
The man in black saw Ling Song self-harm to increase his cultivation and also thought of the rumors he had heard. He thought to himself, No wonder he’s called a madman. He recklessly provokes those with higher cultivation, fights with his life on the line, and forcibly increases his cultivation like this, not afraid of damaging his foundation.
Despite his thoughts, he didn’t think he would lose today. Those people had died at Ling Song’s hands because their skills were inferior. But today, the one who would die would be Ling Song!
Meanwhile, as soon as Xie Bailu ran out of the two’s battlefield, Xiao Xing jumped out.
“That scared me to death! I thought I was going to die today!” Xiao Xing said in a panic. “How are you? You’re not really going to die, are you?”
Xie Bailu wiped away the dripping blood with the back of her hand, her expression pained but her eyes determined. “Don’t worry, I’m not dead yet.”
She had survived such a dangerous situation just now. How could she die now?
She asked, “Xiao Xing, is there still a spiritual sense imprint on me?”
Xiao Xing checked and said, “Why is there another one?!”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…”
Alright, I expected this.
After the evil cultivator had erased Ling Song’s spiritual sense imprint, he must have sensed it. And that evil cultivator probably already considered her a dead person and wouldn’t leave a spiritual sense imprint on her. Only Ling Song, probably when he was checking on her, had placed another one on her.
She had been happy for nothing.
She comforted the somewhat frantic Xiao Xing. “It’s just back to square one. It’s fine. When I was just caught by that evil cultivator, I thought I was going to die. I’m lucky enough to have survived.”
The sound of Ling Song and the evil cultivator’s battle behind her was a bit loud. Xie Bailu quickly quickened her pace.
Xiao Xing’s voice was a little dejected. “If only your luck could be a little better!”
Xie Bailu said, “As long as I can live, don’t think too much about other things.”
She was even a little proud now. She, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, had survived under the hands of a Golden Core cultivator who wanted to kill her and a Nascent Soul cultivator who wanted to harm her. Wasn’t that worth bragging about for a lifetime?
Her situation was not good, but her mentality was excellent.
Xiao Xing said anxiously, “But this time your body is full of the evil cultivator’s sinister spiritual energy! You can’t even use the Divine Movement Art to run!”
That was true. It hurt to move her spiritual energy. If she couldn’t find a way to get rid of it, she was indeed not far from death.
Xie Bailu said, “It’s fine. Let’s run first.”
She had a faint idea in her mind. Ling Song probably wouldn’t let her die easily. From his performance just now, he probably hadn’t found the matter of continuing to hunt her boring yet, so he could also be her life-saving straw this time.
But that evil cultivator’s cultivation felt stronger than his junior brother’s. She didn’t know if Ling Song could defeat him smoothly. She’d better stay away from the battlefield for now. If Ling Song won, he would naturally come to find her. If that evil cultivator won, anyway, she didn’t have the evil cultivator’s spiritual sense imprint on her. If she ran far enough, he wouldn’t be able to find her!
Unable to use spiritual energy, Xie Bailu ran with great difficulty. The sound of Ling Song and the evil cultivator’s battle was very loud. Even though she was far enough away, she could still feel the vibrations under her feet.
Soon, she encountered some training cultivators. From their clothes, they were not from any of the families she had met before.
Seeing her appear, the three of them immediately stood up warily.
Xie Bailu shouted, “Run! Ling Song and a Nascent Soul evil cultivator are fighting!”
The three of them were speechless. “…???”
A Nascent Soul evil cultivator was already scary enough. How could there also be the madman Ling Song? How could two such powerful figures have broken into their small secret realm?
But since just now, the ground had been shaking continuously. They had been worried that some powerful demonic beast had been awakened. Who would have thought it was something even more terrifying!
One of them asked, “Really? How did they come to this secret realm? And who are you?”
Xie Bailu leaned against the wall. “Oh, they’re both chasing me. The evil cultivator seriously injured me and wanted to capture me. Ling Song wouldn’t let him, so they started fighting.”
She was telling the truth, but in the ears of the three, it had another meaning. The way they looked at Xie Bailu immediately changed.
But they hadn’t seen Ling Song and the evil cultivator fight with their own eyes, so they didn’t completely believe Xie Bailu’s words, although she did look like she was seriously injured and about to die.
Just as the three of them were exchanging glances, a loud muffled sound suddenly came from the distance, as if something had collapsed.
Xie Bailu said quickly, “Let’s leave the secret realm first, friends! I met one of your three families when I was being chased by the evil cultivator. I told them there was an evil cultivator, but they didn’t believe me. As a result, when the evil cultivator caught up, none of them could escape, and they all died. Is the trial more important or your life? Can we run first?”
These three seemed to be more cautious than the four she had met earlier. They finally chose to leave the secret realm.
But… they didn’t think of taking her with them. She was seriously injured and lost them after following for a while.
Xiao Xing was indignant on Xie Bailu’s behalf. “How come they don’t know how to repay kindness! You clearly warned them and saved their lives, but they treat you like this!”
Xie Bailu had to comfort it in turn. “It’s fine. We’ll just find someone else.”
Although she said that, Xie Bailu was also much more cautious. It was good that the three of them had just run away on their own. She was afraid of meeting someone who would see her seriously injured and want to kill her.
Therefore, she walked even more cautiously on the following journey. After encountering a few tragic corpses, she simply stripped one of them of their clothes and changed into them, pretending to be a disciple of the three families.
Her luck improved after that. She met a lone female cultivator who was dressed differently from her.
After seeing the person, Xie Bailu immediately said, “Can you help me?”
This female cultivator looked very young, probably just at the Foundation Establishment stage. Seeing Xie Bailu’s unsteady gait, she was stunned for a moment and said warily, “What do you want me to help you with?”
Xie Bailu said, “Take me to the exit of the secret realm. I was just accidentally passing by the battlefield of two great experts and was seriously injured by the aftershock. I finally managed to escape. I want to leave the secret realm first.”
The female cultivator said, “You’re saying this big commotion is from two great experts fighting?”
Xie Bailu said, “That’s right. One is a Nascent Soul evil cultivator, and the other is in red clothes, handsome but a little crazy. It might be Ling Song of the Ling family.”
The female cultivator’s expression changed drastically. “How could two such people…”
Xie Bailu said, “Let’s go quickly. If we’re any later, I’m afraid we’ll all be buried underground! Help me, and when I get out and see my brother, I’ll give you spirit stones as a reward. My brother and I were separated. He dotes on me very much and will definitely reward you heavily!”
She didn’t dare to say she would give them herself, for fear that the other party would know she had a lot of spirit stones and kill her for her wealth.
Seeing that such an accident had happened, the trial might even be canceled. It would be good to earn some spirit stones like this. Therefore, the female cultivator agreed to Xie Bailu, came over to support her, and the two of them walked towards the exit of the secret realm together.
In truth, Xie Bailu could still walk on her own, but with the other party supporting her, she could save some effort.
The female cultivator said, “My name is Jing Ruoyue. What about you?”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…” She didn’t know which family the clothes she was wearing belonged to. It would be troublesome if she made up the wrong surname.
She said vaguely, “You can just call me Xiao Lu. That’s what my brother calls me.”
She deliberately acted young and weak in front of the other party to lower her guard and arouse some sympathy. Therefore, only saying the nickname her brother called her in front of outsiders seemed very consistent.
Jing Ruoyue said, “Xiao Lu, then you can just call me A’Yue. That’s what my family calls me.”
Xie Bailu nodded. “Alright, A’Yue. Thank you for being willing to help me. My brother will definitely be very grateful to you!”
Jing Ruoyue seemed to want to say something but hesitated. After walking for a while, she finally spoke. “Um, can I ask, how many spirit stones will your brother give me?”
She seemed a little embarrassed and quickly added, “My family is short on spirit stones recently. My younger sister accidentally injured someone and has to pay a lot of spirit stones.”
Xie Bailu asked, “Then how many spirit stones does your family lack?”
Jing Ruoyue said shyly, “Fifty. Ah, I’m not asking you for that much. It’s just a small favor. You can give me ten… no, five is fine.”
She didn’t dare to look at Xie Bailu as she spoke. She also felt very ashamed for asking for spirit stones for a small favor, but her younger sister was mischievous and had injured someone, and had to pay a lot of spirit stones. Her family had no other choice, so she had to be thick-skinned.