Wei Yuan ran on without stopping. The tunnel twisted and turned for at least a dozen li before he finally reached the exit. Along the way, he had passed countless forks in the path; it was truly like an enormous underground labyrinth. If this was natural terrain, it was veritable supernatural artistry of heaven and earth.
The exit lay within a stream valley, concealed by several natural boulders, making it impossible to spot from any distance away. Wei Yuan swept his divine sense over the surroundings, only able to roughly discern the terrain within ten zhang.
It was still the dead of night, and howling freezing winds made even Wei Yuan feel a chill. He took off his leather coat, wrapped the woman up securely, and summoned a Dao Foundation warrior to carry her on his back.
He then took out two foot-thick boxes that resembled food hampers, placing one on each side and aiming them at the tunnel mouth he had just emerged from. Only then did he turn to follow the Dao Foundation warrior ahead.
The Dao Foundation warrior led the way, leaping several zhang at a time, using boulders poking out of the snow or tree trunks as footholds, moving at a remarkable speed. Following Wei Yuan's orders, he specifically chose rugged, steep mountain terrain to traverse, entirely avoiding gentle valleys.
Liao horses were ferocious, but even they could not travel across such mountainous terrain.
Not long after Wei Yuan departed, several snow wolves suddenly surged out from the exit in the valley! Behind them followed several Liao men, one of whom fired a signal flare into the sky. The snow wolves sniffed the ground, raised their heads to howl, and then bolted in pursuit of the direction Wei Yuan had taken.
Yet just as they leaped forward, boxes suddenly popped up from the ground on both flanks ahead. The lids dropped off, revealing densely packed flying swords within.
In a violent explosion, countless palm-sized flying swords shot out in a fan shape, leaving no dead angles under the crossfire. In an instant, the giant wolves and two Liao men were riddled like sieves! Only the last Liao man retreated into the tunnel in time, thereby escaping death.
A moment later, several Liao men landed at the mouth of the cave. Looking at the wolf corpses littering the ground, their faces were ashen. The Liao Clan possessed not only Liao horses, but snow wolves as well.
These snow wolves were as large as oxen and were already spirit beasts capable of tearing tigers and leopards apart with ease. They had tremendous endurance and excelled at tracking, making them natural hunters in these snow-covered mountains, each worth a thousand taels of immortal silver. Yet three prime snow wolves had fallen into the enemy's trap and been completely wiped out!
The surviving Liao man had also taken a sword strike to the thigh, nearly pierced straight through.
The leading Liao chiliarch listened to his account with a grim expression, then looked out over the scene. But the traps Wei Yuan laid were manifested from his own Dao Foundation; once their Dao power was exhausted, they dissipated on their own, leaving not a trace behind.
The Liao chiliarch said to a gaunt, withered old man beside him, "Can you track them?"
The old man replied, "No problem. But it requires a blood sacrifice."
The Liao chiliarch grabbed the thigh-injured Liao man in one grip and swept his blade, slitting his throat without hesitation!
The old man immediately dipped his fingers in the fresh blood, drew a stroke through the air, and left behind a thick smear of blood. His hands moved like lightning, instantly tracing a complex three-dimensional array formation that resembled a severed eyeball. With a point of his finger, the eyeball dissolved into a streak of bloody light and shot into the sky!
As Wei Yuan ran through the mountains, a wisp of blood qi abruptly appeared above his head, clinging to him and refusing to be shaken off.
"The Liao Clan's blood-tracking seal!" Wei Yuan recognized the blood qi's origin at once.
Wei Yuan promptly cast a Daoist technique. An illusory shadow split from his body, taking part of the blood qi with it. But as soon as the shadow moved more than a zhang away, the blood qi returned to Wei Yuan on its own. A shadow double specifically meant to break tracking seals was actually useless.
Back at the exit, the old man released a two-foot-long blood bee and said, "This old man's blood-tracking seal locks onto the divine soul; ordinary means cannot break it. Ah, I can already sense him. This time, our opponent is merely at the Dao Foundation realm. Not worth mentioning."
The Liao chiliarch nodded and said to a subordinate beside him, "Inform Lord Longying that we have found the person he seeks and are pursuing them. Ask him to come as quickly as possible."
The old man then sent the blood bee into the air, and the Liao party followed close behind.
By now, Wei Yuan had only fled a hundred li away, yet the sensation of being locked onto grew increasingly intense. The enemy was clearly approaching fast. Wei Yuan had already tried several Daoist techniques to shake off the tracking, all to no avail. It seemed this blood-tracking seal locked directly onto his divine soul.
Wei Yuan simply laid his divine soul bare. The blood seal pounced upon his sea of consciousness at once, yet it merely clung to the surface without entering.
Wei Yuan could not help but admire the skill behind this spell. If the blood seal entered Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, he had plenty of ways to destroy it, but since it refused to enter, he had no good options.
Wei Yuan could only resort to a crude method: directly enveloping the blood seal in his Dao power to sever its connection with the outside world. However, the blood qi immediately began corroding Wei Yuan's Dao power, and the rate of consumption between the two was completely unequal. It appeared the blood seal's grade was exceptionally high, far surpassing Wei Yuan's. Wearing it down entirely would require a substantial amount of time.
Taking advantage of the brief window while the blood seal was suppressed, Wei Yuan changed direction and sped up his flight. Roughly an incense stick's time later, an intensely sharp attack suddenly erupted from the blood seal. It pierced Wei Yuan's Dao power in an instant, reestablishing its connection with heaven and earth, leaving behind a directional mark, while drawing replenishment from the unseen depths to fully restore itself.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly astonished. The explosive force of this attack from the blood seal was so intense that not even a dharma idol could withstand it. The only way was to lay an array formation and slowly expunge it. Yet before Wei Yuan could set up any formation, the pursuers from behind would already arrive.
By now, Wei Yuan had figured out that the blood seal's outbursts followed a pattern: it erupted roughly once every ke. This offered a sliver of hope. Once again, Wei Yuan smothered the blood seal with Dao power and ordered the Dao Foundation warrior to stop conserving Dao power and sprint at full speed.
Behind them, the Liao shaman in pursuit suddenly let out a soft exclamation. The blood bee circled aimlessly, having unexpectedly lost its sense of direction.
"It seems he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve, actually able to mask my blood seal. Humph, if this old man's blood seal were so easily broken, what face would I have to occupy this seat of shaman? No rush. After a ke, the blood seal will erupt, pierce the seal, and leave its mark upon heaven and earth once more."
The Liao chiliarch nodded. "Then let us head to the place he last appeared first. A mere Dao Foundation cultivator cannot run very far in a single ke."
The old man sneered darkly, "If the two of us dharma idols cannot even capture a Dao Foundation junior, we might as well kill ourselves before our lord."
The two vaulted into the air and flew toward where the mark had last appeared at top speed, leaving their retinue behind. Moments later, they reached the site where the blood seal had left its previous imprint. Just then, a ke had passed, and the blood bee regained its bearing, buzzing its wings. The old shaman's expression changed, and he said, "He has run even farther! He covered one hundred and fifty li in a single ke?"
In these extreme northern snow mountains, bitter cold was not merely weather; it was a law of heaven and earth. Flying incurred far greater astral wind resistance than elsewhere, consuming significantly more dharmic power. Moreover, one could not fly high into the sky at will, lest one easily draw attacks from apex predators.
To run one hundred and fifty li within a single ke was completely on par with a dharma idol's standard. However, the Liao chiliarch paid it no heed, saying, "He likely used some secret technique to stimulate his potential. It certainly cannot last. Keep chasing!"
The two immediately disregarded the followers behind them and gave chase at full speed. At the target's speed, the Dao Foundation followers would certainly never keep up.
In the blink of an eye, the two Liao dharma idols reached the spot where the mark had last appeared. They waited only for the time it took to drink a few sips of tea before new information from the mark arrived. This time, the target had changed direction again, having also fled one hundred and fifty li.
The shaman was somewhat astonished and said, "It seems he is not only adept at high-speed escape, but his Dao power is profound as well, actually able to sustain this for so long."
The chiliarch's expression was no longer so composed as he replied, "A Dao Foundation cultivator—how much Dao power could he possibly possess at most? Keep chasing!"
Just as the two moved, a faint ripple of spiritual power stirred beside them, like a small bubble popping, and a speck of spiritual light instantly shot into the sky.
The shaman said in surprise, "This fellow truly is crafty—he even left a tracking mark of his own. By now, he must know our identities and cultivations."
"So what? What tricks could he possibly pull off?"
Once again, just as a ke was about to pass, the two arrived at where the blood seal had left its imprint.
The moment they landed this time, the chiliarch immediately searched for the reverse tracking mark Wei Yuan had left behind. Sure enough, beneath a large boulder, he spotted a faint fluctuation of Dao power.
The chiliarch snorted, strode over, and kicked the boulder away with one foot, flicking out a strand of saber qi that shredded the mark to pieces. Yet before the saber qi had fully dispersed, an ordinary-looking rock to the side suddenly flaked away at its surface, revealing densely packed flying sword tips!
With a resounding boom, countless flying swords shot out in a fan shape!
Though the chiliarch possessed profound cultivation and retreated instantly, his reaction was still half a beat slow. With a muffled grunt, he was struck by several flying swords. While these flying swords were lethal to a Dao Foundation cultivator, their power against a dharma idol was limited.
Several cuts opened on the chiliarch's body, but they were all superficial flesh wounds. However, his splendid battle robe was shredded into rags, leaving him looking thoroughly wretched and disheveled.
His face livid, the chiliarch did not even tend to his wounds, lunging straight after the blood bee toward the place where Wei Yuan had last appeared. This time, Wei Yuan had fled slightly farther, covering one hundred and sixty li.
The chiliarch was faster than the shaman; in the blink of an eye, he pulled ahead of the shaman by more than ten li and arrived at the target location first.
Just then, the shaman shouted from behind, but the mountain wind was so biting that the chiliarch could not make out what he was crying at first. The shaman seemed in an utter frenzy of urgency, so the chiliarch cocked his ear to listen. This time, he finally heard clearly.
What the shaman was shouting was: "He is right here!"
Chapter 365