Wu Youren glanced at Naimu'er. "This senior seems to have some misunderstanding about me. The two of you should head back together."
"What the hell could we—" Cynthia started to say, but trailed off halfway.
The Jin youth had already slipped out from beneath the foliage cloak, and after a blur of movement, he vanished without a trace.
"Huh? What is he doing?" Even Naimu'er was startled. "He's just gone?"
"Can you shut the hell up?" Cynthia glared at him, her eyes wide with fury. "How can the Mirage Sea League still have an idiot like you?"
"You're... cussing at me?" Naimu'er was completely dumbfounded.
"I am cussing at you, so what?" Cynthia sneered coldly. "Do you have any idea how stupid you are?"
"I'd advise you to watch yourself too!" Naimu'er exploded instantly. "If you're so into men, go to the White Camel Mountain Clubhouse!"
"The Guizu aura is approaching." Cynthia had already regained her composure; the oppressive weight of the black mist ahead was overwhelming. "Do we fight or run?"
Naimu'er's mouth twitched, wanting to say something, but in the end, he kept silent.
At this moment, he finally realized something.
Although Wu Youren rarely spoke, most of the three's operational plans had been decided and finalized by the Jin youth.
Not only did his junior fellow countrywoman obey decisively, but even Naimu'er himself had unconsciously fallen in line.
Some people seemed to have little presence, but only when they truly vanished did others feel how important they were.
Like right now, he couldn't even make an immediate decision on whether to fight or run. If Wu Youren were here, why would he even need to wrack his brains over this?
"I suggest we observe the situation first," Cynthia sighed softly. "Look at what you've done..."
"Now is not the time to complain," Naimu'er said, having surprisingly recovered his calm as well. "Quiet down."
That settled their plan. They hoped that after drifting for a while and sensing no human presence, the Guizu aura would stop approaching.
If things didn't go that way, they would use the various traps to stall the Guizu aura and make a swift escape.
Yet at the thought of escaping, Cynthia couldn't help glaring resentfully at her companion once more.
You drove Wu Youren away in anger, and now I have to drag an injured person like you out.
With just the combat strength of the two of us, can we even break through?
Naimu'er naturally guessed what she was blaming him for, but he felt none of this was his fault.
He couldn't resist muttering under his breath, "If we had left a few days earlier, the risk would've been far lower."
Didn't the blame ultimately lie with that Jin person? He was the one who delayed everyone's plans.
Hearing that, Cynthia rolled her eyes internally—did anyone stop you from leaving back then?
Wasn't it because you wanted to rely on Wu Youren's combat strength to make your escape?
If you'd really left early on, none of those unexpected spoils would have been obtained. Did you ever thank anyone for that?
Silently, Cynthia blacklisted Naimu'er in her mind.
Someone who only knew how to complain, lacked any sense of gratitude, and took zero responsibility was better left avoided.
Meanwhile, Wu Youren had already reined in his breath and was silently making his way out of the mountains.
He wasn't so pigheaded as to keep venturing deeper into the mountains; "heading toward Suotu" had merely been an excuse.
His combat strength had improved noticeably, and he now had a saber and a sword for protection, but he hadn't grown so cocky as to lose his head.
Heading out of the mountains allowed him to put distance between himself and the center of the vortex while probing out the direction for his next move.
At this moment, he didn't even have a backpack, but he had already used up most of what he carried.
Most of the supplies had gone into setting traps, and as for the bit of food left, he didn't even bother going back for it.
He hurried along silently while cautiously sensing his surroundings.
He could feel various pockets of Guizu aura all around, some strong and some weak.
Though some were quite distant, they made his hair stand on end—the kind that could obliterate him in an instant.
Whenever he detected such an aura, Wu Youren immediately adjusted his course, staying as far from those areas as possible.
Doing so, however, forced him to make numerous detours, at one point leading him farther and farther away from the edge of the mountains.
During his scouting, his wristwatch vibrated twice. It was messages from Cynthia, urging him to cool down and return.
This showed that the distance between them wasn't very far.
When Wu Youren received the second message, he was in the middle of carefully detouring around a cluster of Guizu aura and had nearly alerted those eerie entities.
"Damn it..." He decisively switched off the watch. He had no desire to throw away his life over such a minor oversight.
It took him a full five hours to emerge from the mountains—a distance of less than a kilometer if taken along the main road.
By then, his clothes were soaked through, and it was raining outside the mountains as well.
Wu Youren was in no hurry to put distance between himself and the mountains. Who knew how many days the rain would last? The urgent priority was to find a shelter.
A natural cave would probably be hard to come by, so he decided to pick a suitable spot and dig out a makeshift burrow to rest in.
Just slightly larger than a cat-ear trench would suffice. With a saber and a sword slung over his back, infusing them with internal breath would make digging relatively effortless.
However, while searching for a site, he unexpectedly discovered an abandoned cave among the shrubs.
It was likely something someone had used for storage; though not large, seven or eight square meters was plenty.
There was no Guizu aura inside, but there was a python over five meters long, which he slew on the spot. That took care of dinner as well.
Still, it surprisingly yielded no experience points... Well, that counted as a minor finding in itself.
With food secured, Wu Youren decided to expand his reconnaissance range to sense the surrounding Guizu activity.
It wouldn't have bothered him had he not scouted, but after a sweep around the perimeter, he couldn't help clicking his tongue in dismay—the Guizu presence all around was far too severe.
Just the clusters of Guizu aura that forced him to keep a wide berth numbered a full four, while smaller clusters were practically everywhere.
He didn't dare venture too far, keeping within a one-kilometer radius, yet even so, the search took over three hours.
The Guizu threat was genuinely severe. Many pockets of Guizu aura merged into continuous swathes, making slipping past unnoticed no easy task.
Yet according to his analysis, as long as one was careful enough, the possibility of passing through unscathed was real.
Strictly speaking, this rainy weather made travel somewhat easier; although his perception was dulled, the Guizu were also affected.
However, he had no wish to return to the Martial Academy just like this. An opportunity like this to hunt Guizu at will was precisely what he dreamed of.
In any case, tonight's dinner was taken care of; all he needed was to find some dry firewood to bring back.
What he hoped for even more was to stumble upon a stray fuel drum. With that, he wouldn't have to worry even if the firewood wasn't entirely dry.
It was already late at night, and he didn't dare light a fire, trudging clumsily through the rain.
At the same time, he resolved to search for another half hour. If nothing came of it, he would just head back; skipping a meal was no big deal.
Yet just as he was about to turn back in disappointment, he suddenly noticed something odd about the sound of rain ahead.
That direction was shrouded in Guizu aura. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to take a risk and investigate.
To his astonishment, he found an off-road vehicle overturned on its side—quite a distance from the highway.
The vehicle had likely run into Guizu trouble on the road and veered into the wilderness in panic.
There was no living aura inside, but the Guizu aura was heavy.
It carried the scent of a knight-level Guizu!
Wu Youren had already proven that taking on a single knight Guizu one-on-one was well within his ability. Unfortunately, the surrounding Guizu auras wouldn't just leave him be.
Yet returning empty-handed felt unsatisfying. The current conditions, while unfavorable to him, were not kind to the Guizu either.
If he waited until dawn to return, scouting would be easier for him, but it would be easier for the Guizu too!
After mulling it over, Wu Youren decided to take a gamble. He retrieved several small metal spheres.
These were the modified music boxes he had used during his first Guizu hunt—minimal lethality, primarily meant to produce noise and disorient the Guizu.
These were combat supplies; only a few had been expended on traps, and he still carried quite a lot on him, a good dozen or so.
He first placed three small spheres around the perimeter and set timers on them.
The timers weren't very precise, mostly due to poor materials—he had been dirt poor before.
Still, close enough was good enough.
When the time came, the first metal sphere burst open, emitting a faint yet piercing screech.
The surrounding Guizu aura fluctuated noticeably, and many tendrils of Guizu aura surged toward the sphere's position.
Then came the second, and the third... The vibration didn't last long, but right now, all three spheres were indeed ringing.
Amid the clamorous racket, the surrounding Guizu aura fell into minor disarray, and Wu Youren hurled out four more spheres.
The sound of rain couldn't completely mask the whoosh of his throws, but paired with that piercing noise, it was more than enough.
As the noise erupted from all around, Wu Youren crept silently up to the off-road vehicle.
He only hoped there would be some useful supplies in the vehicle; otherwise... he would really be taking a massive loss!
The Guizu aura around the vehicle had also diminished considerably, siphoned off by the distractions.
Yet near the vehicle, there really was a knight Guizu. For reasons unknown, it merely wandered in the vicinity and showed no sign of leaving.
Fortunately, Wu Youren was soaked through and tightly concealed his breath, so when he approached, the entity failed to notice him.
In fact, he observed that this knight Guizu was actually a deceased knight who had undergone corruption after death!
Even the downpour couldn't wash away the overpowering stench.
Yet to Wu Youren, this type of Guizu was actually much easier to deal with.
He drifted forward in an instant, silently slashing out with his saber and severing the entity in two.
With two backhand slashes, he carved it into five pieces.
His speed was blinding; the knight Guizu didn't even have time to shriek.
In the next moment, Guizu aura attempted to escape from the butchered remains.
Wu Youren's three slashes had achieved clean, decisive results purely because his blade was coated with Daoist true qi!
This stuff was devastating to Guizu, far superior to battle qi—another fact he had verified before.
It was just that Cynthia's and Naimu'er's cultivation had been too shallow, so back then, neither had realized that what he used was not battle qi.
Right now, to avoid detection, Wu Youren had deliberately restrained his true qi, confining it strictly to the blade without letting a shred leak out.
The three strikes had landed without a sound. Seeing the Guizu aura about to spill forth, he repeatedly slapped the five foul-smelling chunks of flesh with the flat of his blade.
His movements were equally lightning-fast.
Chapter 68