Malice

Wu Youren took the lead and sprinted ahead, with the eight behind him hot on his heels, not caring in the least whether they stirred up the Guizu. In places where they would normally have had to take a detour, he charged straight through, even if a cluster of Guizu aura lay right ahead. This was only because he was unfamiliar with the complete map of Mount Xuanling and had to take moderate shortcuts; otherwise, he would have barreled through in a straight line. The clusters of Guizu aura, subjected to his brutal charge, instinctively tried to swarm him—a martial artist's vital blood was simply too tempting. Yet immediately after, the aura clusters shrank back: *What in the world is following behind him?!* A warrior's vital blood smelled wonderful, but the fluctuations trailing right after were downright lethal. The aura clusters that had survived the earlier shockwaves possessed a sharp instinct for danger. Fine, they would let this choice piece of meat pass. If a few stray lesser Guizu wanted to give chase, so be it—it was just a mouthful of food. Daiqisi, following closely behind, could not help but be stunned by the sight. This youth... His naturally handsome face already made it impossible to dislike him, even if the blood running from his nose and mouth gave him a somewhat battered look. Yet this reckless, domineering charge of his now... She felt a sudden stir. Why did he suddenly seem so manly? Wu Youren ran on, the others pursuing in his wake. Along the way, they seemed to spot people calling for help, but nobody paid any mind. Until at one point, the ground violently quaked twice, and he didn't forget to shout, "Battle qi to your feet! Stomp the ground!" "The entrance isn't far ahead! Hang in there, and we've won!" In the next moment, a tree as thick as a man's embrace came hurtling horizontally through the air, astonishingly fast! Wu Youren... dodged, but not particularly fast, because he didn't feel any great threat from it. Getting out as fast as possible was what mattered. Yet he hadn't expected that the massive tree still had a thick branch that swung rapidly toward him. It was no big deal; if he had wanted to, he could have easily withstood the entire tree head-on. But this thick branch jutted out all of a sudden at an extremely tricky angle... It was completely out of nowhere! Wu Youren dodged it, but he was still carrying a bulky pack on his back, and the pack was clipped. Moving at high speed, the momentum of the pack pulled him into an involuntary spin. He stumbled for several dozen paces and tumbled down the steep slope beside him. The slope wasn't long, only fifty or sixty meters, and could hardly be called precipitous; it was just covered in loose gravel, making it hard to get traction. How could Daiqisi have imagined that after braving the fiercest storms, he would capsize in a puddle like this? She had already overshot him. Realizing something was wrong, she called out immediately, "Need help?" This was no mere polite gesture; to a knight, a tumble like this was hardly an issue at all! "Keep going!" Wu Youren waved a hand before he had even steadied himself. "Charge straight ahead! Half a kilometer!" It was less than a kilometer; one burst of speed would carry them right out. Daiqisi was moving too fast to easily brake, so she simply accelerated. "Then I'll wait for you outside!" To the people of Liang, there was nothing wrong with this. The slope wasn't steep, the exit was right ahead, the person had cultivation, and he had explicitly stated he didn't need rescue! If someone actually stopped to rescue him, it would look like putting on a show. The people of Liang never engaged in hypocritical posturing. That was how she saw it, and the ones behind her felt the same, whizzing right past. With Little Wu's strength, he could handle it himself, so why make a fake pretense? As Hong Da passed by, she made a casual beckoning gesture, intending to sweep the youth up out of the gully. Yet the ground gave a slight tremor, throwing off her aim. To make matters worse, several more trees came hurtling horizontally through the air. Her figure flashed past in an instant, leaving behind only her signature raspy voice: "I have to keep an eye on them. Watch yourself." "We'll wait for you outside!" *You have to keep an eye on them?* Wu Youren didn't even know what to say. *Please, I'm the only apprentice knight here!* As he was trudging unevenly back up the slope, Namuzha, who was bringing up the rear, arrived and called from a distance, "Want a pull up?" Suddenly, Wu Youren sensed a faint prickle of malice washing over him! *What did I do to offend you?* He was thoroughly baffled. *Weren't the three of us just cooperating and taking risks together to drive away Tianjing Martial Academy?* At this moment, he didn't have time to dwell on it. He simply shook his head and pointed forward, his meaning obvious: *Run!* Namuzha visibly slowed his pace, but only for a few strides, before accelerating away again. In the blink of an eye, his figure vanished into the wind and sand. *Wait!* Wu Youren instinctively slowed down. *Could that guy be setting an ambush up ahead?* He didn't know where the malice came from, but that didn't matter. Merely being a hostage from an enemy state with terrifying potential was enough to arouse murderous intent. Did he need any more reason than that? Namuzha's malice hadn't been blatant—it was subtle, ethereal, perhaps even an illusion. Yet Wu Youren didn't want to gamble. They were right on the verge of breaking out, and as the saying went, ninety miles was only half of a hundred-mile journey. This was precisely when people were most prone to carelessness. To survive turbulent seas only to capsize in a gutter at the final moment—if that happened, he would never forgive himself. Right now, the Guizu domain was in utter chaos, and everyone's perception was severely compromised. The other man knew that full well. As long as Namuzha concealed his aura and ambushed him along his necessary path, it would be all too easy to succeed. Caught off guard, even a tree branch had swept him down the slope—how much worse would an ambush by a knight be? *I can't rush out!* Wu Youren made up his mind. And... he needed to take a slight detour. He found a large boulder shielded from the wind and decided to rest for a short while. The bulky pack was sturdy and hadn't been torn open by the impact. First, he took out the biguijue from his waist and held it in his hand, then retrieved a waterskin and drank greedily. Dripping with sweat from all that running, he needed to rehydrate. He drank so urgently and quickly that water trickled down his chin and onto his clothes. He didn't care. On the battlefield, one had to not only scarf down combat rations quickly, but also drink like an ox—opening the throat and pouring water directly down the esophagus without swallowing. With such a wild way of hydrating, spilling a little was only natural. Next, he poured water directly over his head to cool down physically. Right after, however, he sensed something amiss. Looking down, he saw at his feet... a featherless little bird? In the midst of such violent turbulence, this was a common sight; countless nests had been destroyed. Fortunately, the little creature wasn't dead yet. Tucked behind the boulder, it was safe for the moment. *Without your parents, all alone, you won't survive anyway.* Wu Youren raised his foot. *Wait, all alone?* His foot hovered in midair. Ever since Hostage Manor, his attitude toward small animals had fallen into only two categories: edible or inedible. His predecessor's diet had even included insects and the like. There had been no other choice; meat was too scarce. Wu Youren glanced at the ironwood biguijue in his hand, then looked down at the little bird at his feet. Hesitating a moment, he lowered the biguijue and gave it a slight wave. The little bird's head was wet. It had its beak wide open, trying to catch the water dripping from the boulder. Unfortunately, its eyes had opened only a tiny slit, leaving its vision practically nonexistent. Almost all the animals on Mount Xuanling had been corrupted by Guizu aura, but there were indeed exceptions. Like this little bird: it showed no reaction whatsoever to the biguijue. Its only action was to stumble around with its beak wide open, trying to catch water. *Whatever. At least die with a full belly,* Wu Youren thought as he crouched down and tilted the waterskin slightly. A thin stream of water poured into the wide-open beak. He had to rest anyway. The little creature was all alone and hadn't even opened its eyes to see the world; he would just let nature take its course... By now, Instructor Hong had already charged out of the Guizu domain. At a single glance, she spotted the six knights from her academy. At least two to three hundred people had gathered outside the Guizu domain, most of them battered, bloody, and in pitiful shape. Not a few were missing arms or legs, and many lay collapsed on the ground, unable to rise. Even those with intact bodies were invariably clad in tatters, most looking utterly dispirited. In comparison, the six knights of Red Pine were quite conspicuous. Though some bore minor injuries and torn clothes, all six were in one piece, and their condition wasn't bad at all. They had even managed to haul out four large bundles, which was exceptionally impressive. The looks others directed at them were decidedly strange. Recognizing the instructor from Red Pine, someone stepped forward to greet her and anxiously beg for wound medicine and ghost-dispelling powder. Having endured hardships to escape, these people were desperately short of supplies, and it was rare to see anyone emerge carrying large packs. Money was no object; saving lives was the urgent priority. "Fall back first! Step back!" Instructor Hong ordered her knights with a taut face. "The Guizu domain might expand further." The six complied. Even after escaping, they maintained an alert posture, merely resting the packs at their feet for the moment. Someone unfastened a pack and handed various medicines to familiar acquaintances pleading for help. At the military checkpoint in the distance, several dozen soldiers watched them with predatory gazes. "Those two..." Instructor Hong turned toward the Guizu domain, her brows furrowing slightly. "Why haven't they come out yet?" A moment later, more people rushed out, but they were other martial artists. Seven or eight minutes later, Namuzha broke through. With a slight frown, he explained that he had been delayed by a few Guizu harassing him. This was hardly surprising. Most Guizu were affected by the shockwaves, but a few obstinate ones still attacked human martial artists. During their breakout from the Guizu domain, they had encountered this more than once, fighting on the move most of the time. With teammates in front and behind, it was easy to cover one another. And though those Guizu attacked, they were still affected by the upheaval, so few pressed the assault relentlessly. Namuzha, bringing up the rear, had barely encountered anything like that. Yet once Wu Youren went down the slope, it was not unusual that Namuzha ran into Guizu clinging to his trail. Instructor Hong vaguely felt something was amiss, but for the moment, she had no time to overthink it. "How is Little Wu? Didn't you see him?" "I offered to help him, but he turned me down," Namuzha said, spreading his hands helplessly. Then he added indignantly, "Afterward, I wanted to wait for him to catch up, and that's when I got held up by the Guizu." His explanation was entirely reasonable, and the others had experienced similar things. "Then let's wait," Instructor Hong decided. "We'll leave once he gets here." Just then, the military's loudspeakers blared: "Quiet down, everyone! We have an important announcement to make..."