Even Wang Yu had to admit that Qiao Riyan's lightness skill was truly exceptional.
The lightness technique of the Nine Transformations of the Goshawk not only allowed him to soar and veer midair, but its shifting and dodging maneuvers were in no way inferior to Wang Yu's own Swallow Carrying Spring and Star-Chasing Steps, which had been deduced and refined through the tortoise shell.
Of course, this was a contest of pure speed, and Qiao Riyan had the natural advantage of height and long legs.
Still, Wang Yu was in no rush, nor did he rashly press too close. Qiao Riyan was gravely wounded; he could not hold out for long.
As Wang Yu swept past Ardai, he casually drew the longsword hung from her saddle and called out, "Don't linger! Break out and call for reinforcements!"
Qiao Riyan darted ahead frantically. Yet deep as the canyon was, it grew progressively narrower. Wang Yu's lightness skill was far higher than he had anticipated, leaving him no room to maneuver.
*Damn it! Damn it!*
*This Zhao Yu was playing the pig to eat the tiger all along!*
*How could he already be in the Xiantian realm?*
Qiao Riyan felt his internal injuries tearing loose beyond his control. Unable to suppress them, he spat out another mouthful of blood just as they reached the canyon's dead end.
*Curse it all!*
*Am I truly going to die here today?*
Qiao Riyan glanced left and right, refusing to surrender to despair. Springing upward, he caught hold of the sheer cliff and began clambering up the rock face.
Wang Yu arrived right on his heels and called up loudly, "Come down! I won't kill you!"
"Like hell I'd believe you!" Qiao Riyan spat in fury.
He had already fallen for Wang Yu's treacherous trick once, taking a devastating palm strike that left him grievously wounded. Now, after straining every nerve to suppress his injuries while sprinting at full tilt, he would suffer immense vitality damage even if he managed to escape alive, requiring a year or two of convalescence to recover.
If he believed the bastard again and climbed down, his injuries would overwhelm him, leaving him completely at the other's mercy.
"Seriously! I wouldn't dare offend Qiulin Ji. Come on down!" Wang Yu called out earnestly.
Qiao Riyan gave no answer, focusing entirely on scaling the cliff.
Wang Yu shook his head, leaped up onto the rock face, and unleashed Swallow Carrying Spring. Moving with nimble grace, he soared up the wall.
Looking down, Qiao Riyan realized to his horror that Wang Yu's lightness skill was superior even when it came to rock climbing. Before he could reach the cliff top, the man would surely overtake him.
*Where on earth did he learn such terrifying lightness skills and grappling arts?* Qiao Riyan could not fathom it.
Strictly speaking, the martial arts of the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor stemmed from the military. When Zhao Zheng had run rampant across the Northwest, he had been renowned solely for his blade techniques; no one had ever heard of him possessing remarkable lightness skills.
Yet this was no time for idle wonder. His foremost priority was escaping Wang Yu's pursuit.
Just then, Qiao Riyan passed an opening in the rock about half the height of a man. A draft of air was actually blowing from inside.
*A breeze?*
Qiao Riyan's eyes gleamed. He glanced down, then ducked and squeezed into the cave without hesitation.
Though he had no idea what lay within or where it led, it was far better than being run down by Wang Yu on the cliff face. Even if the passage ended up being tight, he could hold the bottleneck to keep his pursuer at bay.
At the thought, Qiao Riyan instinctively patted the saber at his waist. Fortunately, he had not drawn it earlier. Had he lost his weapon, any hope of turning the tables would have vanished entirely.
When Wang Yu reached the cave entrance, he caught only the fleeting glimpse of Qiao Riyan's back.
"This cave runs pretty deep?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Wang Yu felt a faint breeze. "There's wind too. It goes all the way through."
He ducked inside as well. A few strides brought him to where Qiao Riyan had just disappeared. The tunnel remained roughly half the height of a man, forcing one to crouch or crawl to proceed.
*This isn't naturally formed—it was chiseled by hand!*
Wang Yu noticed the tunnel was remarkably uniform in width, with clear marks of blades and chisels along the walls. It looked very much like a ventilation shaft or an emergency escape route.
*Why would a place like this exist out on the grassland?*
*A Langhuan Paradise? A Dugu Sword Tomb? The Underground Palace of the Five Greats? A Bat Cavern?*
*Could it be a secret abode left behind by some master?*
Such a find would hardly be surprising in the Central Plains, where extraordinary talents constantly emerged in the martial world. Yet just as frequently, many grandmasters grew weary of worldly glory and vanished into mountains and forests, never to be seen again.
Consequently, the abodes of ancient masters were scattered throughout deep mountains and vast marshes. Even popular illustrated storybooks often told of impoverished youths bearing blood debts who tumbled off cliffs, stumbled upon manual scrolls left by ancient predecessors, achieved martial mastery, and emerged to avenge their families and win the fair maiden's heart.
Yet that phenomenon was largely confined to the Central Plains.
In the frontier grasslands, the Snowy Regions, and the Miao Frontier, martial lineages certainly existed—and boasted plenty of masters—but the vast territory was sparsely populated. The varieties and depth of martial inheritances were far more limited, and the overall base of martial artists, especially those of intermediate and advanced ranks, was minuscule compared to the Central Plains.
Legends like that were practically unheard of in these three regions.
Yet here Wang Yu was, stumbling right into one.
By now, the passage had curved. What little sunlight could enter from outside dwindled to near nothing, plunging the tunnel into pitch darkness. Wang Yu could no longer hear any sound from Qiao Riyan ahead.
Holding the sword across his chest in the opening stance of Twilight Clouds and Light Mist, on guard against any sudden ambush, Wang Yu crept forward.
"Brother Qiao?"
"Brother Qiao, are you there?"
"I only struck back in self-defense just now. I really didn't mean to kill you," Wang Yu said as he walked. "You have to believe me!"
"Come on out, all right?"
"It's pitch black in here. Who knows if there are bats, scorpions, spiders, or other venomous vermin? Groping blindly through the dark is far too dangerous. Come on out, and let's have a chat, okay?"
"Think about it carefully—I wouldn't dare kill you."
"My father is dead, and I'm all alone with no one to rely on. But you're different! Your master is still alive and well. If I were to bump you off, he'd come looking for vengeance, and I wouldn't stand a chance!"
"So by all reason and logic, I wouldn't dare take your life, right?"
*Right, like hell!*
Creeping ahead in the dark, not daring to make the slightest sound, Qiao Riyan cursed furiously in his heart.
*If you didn't dare kill me, would your first move have been a lethal strike aimed straight for the heart meridian in my chest? If I hadn't stepped back half a pace in the nick of time, your internal energy would have shattered me dead on the spot!*
*Even if you call that self-defense, why didn't you let me go after maiming me? Injured as I am, even with a hundred Xiongnu braves, we could never have stopped you from breaking out.*
*You could have just ridden off! Why did you throw everything into keeping me here? Now that I've found a sliver of hope in this cave, you think you can trick me into revealing myself and walking out to die at your feet?*
*Do you take me for a fool?*
Of course, he kept his venom strictly to his thoughts, not daring to utter a peep. He moved with light, measured steps, without the faintest rustle underfoot.
Qiao Riyan's lightness skill was virtually at the level of treading on snow without a trace. Though severely wounded, his footsteps remained utterly silent, and he navigated the darkness at a respectable pace.
Even so, Wang Yu's voice kept drawing closer behind him. After all, Qiao Riyan had to watch every step, whereas Wang Yu spoke continuously and had no reason to conceal his footfalls, allowing him to move faster.
With Qiao Riyan in the lead and Wang Yu trailing behind, the two went deeper and deeper. The passage slanted steadily downward. Judging by the depth, it had not only reached ground level, but descended deep underground.
*Where on earth is this?*
Wang Yu was not the only one wondering; Qiao Riyan was equally perplexed.
*Rush—*
Soon, the sound of flowing water drifted from ahead.
*An underground river?*
Qiao Riyan's eyes lit up. Quickening his pace, he squeezed out of the cramped tunnel after a few strides and emerged into a relatively flat, open chamber.
Yet those few hurried steps betrayed his position.
Wang Yu heard the rushing water and caught the sound of Qiao Riyan's movement. Accelerating immediately, he closed the gap in a few breaths and popped out of the tunnel as well.
The moment he emerged, he saw Qiao Riyan standing on the bank of an underground river, glaring back at him while keeping an eye on the opposite shore.
From somewhere in the cavern's ceiling, faint rays of light filtered down, illuminating a thin veil of mist. Across the river, both men could vaguely make out man-made structures: stone steps, pillars, and the like.
However, between them and those structures lay a turbulent subterranean river over ten feet wide.
Naturally, a span of ten feet was nothing to either Wang Yu or Qiao Riyan.
So why hadn't Qiao Riyan leapt across?
He wanted to—desperately so. He longed to explore what lay beyond those underground ruins, having read popular storybooks and harbored his own dreams of fortuitous encounters.
Yet he did not dare jump.
This was no longer a narrow bottleneck. His injuries were on the verge of breaking out of control, and he had no way of knowing whether a way out lay across the water—or if he could reach one before Wang Yu ran him down.
Before him was a precarious chance at survival with nine chances in ten of death, but Qiao Riyan could not afford to gamble on the unknown beyond. He could only gamble on what was directly before his eyes.
"Zhao Yu!" Qiao Riyan glared at Wang Yu, his eyes dripping with venom. "If I do not die today, I will have your life in the days to come!"
"Don't be like that." Wang Yu stepped forward, looking entirely earnest as he tried to explain. "Brother Qiao, I really didn't mean to kill you. Why don't we head out together?"
Seeing Wang Yu step closer, Qiao Riyan said nothing more. Pivoting around, he dove straight into the raging underground river behind him.
*Splash!*
The churning torrent swallowed Qiao Riyan in an instant.
Wang Yu rushed forward a few paces. The underground river was pitch-black and violently swift. After flowing across a short stretch of the open chamber, it plunged into a cavernous gap in the wall not far away.
Surging currents battered against the stone bed, sending spray flying everywhere. From downriver, Wang Yu even caught the faint sound of impacts, accompanied by a muffled groan.
"Holy crap!" Wang Yu could not help but click his tongue. "Now that's a ruthless bastard!"
Truth be told, he would never dare jump in.
God only knew what lay downstream, how many bends and jagged rocks waited ahead, whether the river branched off, or whether it even led to an exit at all.
Qiao Riyan had been staring death in the face, so he was willing to gamble his life.
Wang Yu, on the other hand, had a miraculous cheat and a bright future waiting for him; he had no reason to make such a reckless bet.
"Huh?"
Where the underground river vanished into the cavern wall, the air was chill and damp, filled with flying mist.
As Wang Yu gazed down along the water's path through the hazy light and mist, he noticed a massive lingzhi growing on the rock face near the river's outlet.
Hastening over to the fungus, he caught an extraordinary fragrance the moment he drew near.
"Well now! What a magnificent treasure!"
Chapter 116