"The everlasting lamps in Zhaixing Tower have burned unquenched for four hundred years, bathed continually in divine grace. In time, they nurtured a lamp spirit." Bai Ziqi brought the lamp spirit on his fingertip closer to the ground. "It is the natural nemesis of vile evil and yin malevolence, hating wicked things with a fierce passion."
White flames instantly ignited across the ground.
The bailiffs standing nearby scrambled backward, yet the flames carried no heat and did not scald.
Immediately after, the lamp spirit drifted outward, bobbing through the air.
Wherever it passed, a small cluster of pale white flame remained on the ground.
"It tracks the scent of evil as it moves," Bai Ziqi said, taking the lead. "Let's go. This aura was likely left by Cheng Yu."
Following the trail of white flames, the group headed outward and indeed toward the rear mountain. Here lay a sheer drop of about twenty zhang—nearly seventy meters. Not exceedingly high, but terribly steep, pitching at nearly a seventy-degree angle.
The bailiffs had all come on horseback; jumping straight down was out of the question.
He Lingchuan immediately told them, "Head down the mountain by the way we came and catch up as fast as you can."
The lamp spirit had already drifted halfway down the cliff, waiting for no one. Fortunately, the white flames marking its path were conspicuous enough that the bailiffs could follow the trail once they reached the bottom.
As for Bai Ziqi and He Lingchuan, descending was no trouble at all.
Their mounts were both capable of handling sheer vertical terrain.
The spirit deer was comparatively cautious, but the bighorn rock sheep bounced all the way down, virtually riding the clouds and mist.
With just three consecutive leaps, it struck bottom, landing even faster than the lamp spirit.
One had to realize that its landing points were all pitch-black crevices in the cliff face, some of which appeared completely incapable of offering a foothold, yet it bounded with boundless glee.
Upon landing, the rock sheep tossed its head proudly and kicked up its hooves.
Look at that! Just look! That's what practical means!
It could understand human speech too, and refused to be outdone by the aloof, noble spirit deer.
Bai Ziqi rode his deer down to the ground, and both riders dashed forward after the lamp spirit.
There were footprints on the ground, and the white flames settled right inside them. With the flames illuminating the tracks, He Lingchuan noticed what was strange about them:
"Those aren't hoofprints. They aren't riding horses." The prints resembled plum blossoms, splayed wide with claw marks at the tips. "Mmm, wolf tracks."
Having spent so much time around rock wolves in the past, he naturally knew wolf tracks intimately.
Bai Ziqi said at once, "Cen Boqing must have brought out wolf puppets to ride. No wonder they could escape down the cliff."
Otherwise, jumping down the cliff in a panic, how could those two have had mounts to travel on?
Judging by the direction of the tracks, they were heading toward Yao Lake. He Lingchuan said immediately, "If they escape into the lake, it'll be trouble."
Water was the best insulator; divine arts and spiritual senses of terrestrial creatures could rarely pierce its barrier.
Furthermore, Yao Lake was vast, covering at least twenty thousand mu. If those two made it into the water, who knew which patch of reeds they might use to crawl ashore?
Clearly Cen Boqing's wolf puppets were very fast as well; even now, Bai Ziqi and He Lingchuan had not caught sight of the fugitives' backs.
The low hills were not far from the lakeshore; they had to pick up their pace.
Bai Ziqi retrieved a gold-and-red jade box that resembled the duck-egg powder compacts often used by young ladies. Pinching out two measures of silver powder, he sprinkled it over both mounts.
With a whoosh, He Lingchuan felt the bighorn rock sheep surge forward, noticeably picking up speed.
It felt like jumping straight from sixty miles an hour to eighty, with a powerful push against his back.
"Good stuff! What is this?"
Bai Ziqi smiled. "The Swift Wind Art. Just a parlor trick."
This spell wrapped a mount or person in swirling breezes that propelled them forward, not only lightening their load but also reducing oncoming wind resistance—a remarkably practical traveling skill.
Best of all, it had no adverse side effects on the recipient.
Unlike the wind-boring beast's innate ramming talent, which could launch a short burst of speed but placed a heavy toll on physical stamina.
"I see them!"
The faint ambient light illuminated two figures speeding ahead.
The two fugitives were indeed riding large wolves.
These so-called puppet wolves were a size smaller than He Lingchuan's rock wolves—bony and emaciated, yet more than sturdy enough to carry a man. Their eyes glinted with an eerie light, and their coats were parched and lusterless.
Strictly speaking, these were wolf corpses driven by dead souls, treated so their bodies would not decay.
The distance between pursuer and quarry was down to just thirty zhang.
Bai Ziqi drew a deep breath and roared, "Cen Boqing, halt! I am the Duyun Emissary of Lingxu City!"
Hearing the shout, Cen Boqing looked back and was instantly stricken with terror at the sight of Bai Ziqi.
The special envoy from Lingxu City had already arrived, and was riding alongside He Xiao!
That was a Duyun Emissary, a divine attendant of the gods! Anyone moving in Lingxu City's circles knew all too well who they were, what methods they commanded, and what their presence signified!
In that instant, sheer dread froze Cen Boqing stiff.
It was an uncontrollable, instinctive reaction; even the puppet wolves beneath them slowed their pace.
Beside him, Cheng Yu cried out in dismay, "Hey! Do you want to die?!"
The lake lay just ahead; freedom was within their grasp, yet their pursuers were drawing closer by the second. How could he not burn with frantic urgency?
Bai Ziqi's voice boomed again, laden with commanding majesty: "Halt at once, or you will be dealt with under the utmost severity!"
Yet rather than intimidating him, that shout sent a shiver through Cen Boqing, abruptly clearing his head.
From the moment Commander Lu had shouted orders and led troops to storm the Cen Manor, Cen Boqing had known Uncle Wu had confessed.
Yet as long as Uncle Wu met an untimely demise, Crown Prince Yue might not truly be able to bring him down on a single written testimony alone. That was why Cen Boqing had schemed his escape.
How could he have anticipated that Lingxu City's special envoy had already arrived and most likely interrogated Uncle Wu?
If so, he was finished. There was no retracting confessions, no escaping guilt.
If dragged back, death was inevitable either way. Cen Boqing yelled, "Mister Cheng, strike!"
In truth, he didn't need to give the order; Cheng Yu had already made his move.
He couldn't care less about any Duyun Emissary; anyone standing between him and his life was an enemy.
The curse master hurled a palm-sized cloth puppet into the air with all his might. Once it rose more than six zhang above the ground, it transformed into a blue-turban construct over a zhang tall, plummeting down at accelerating speed!
Having been hastened by the Swift Wind Art, He Lingchuan and Bai Ziqi closed the thirty-zhang gap in the blink of an eye, putting them right beneath the blue-turban construct's feet.
Seeing the massive foot stomping toward his head, He Lingchuan slapped the rock sheep's horns. "Charge!"
The sheep had been with him for some time now and wasn't stupid enough to think he wanted it to ram the blue-turban construct. At his command, it instantly activated the bell hung around its neck.
Bai Ziqi saw rider and mount blur into an afterimage, covering fifteen zhang in a flash!
This was the wondrous effect of the bell General Ling had given the rock sheep, allowing it to borrow the wind-boring beast's innate ability for a brief moment.
Immediately afterward, the blue-turban construct crashed to earth with a thunderous boom, kicking up billows of dust and shaking the ground so violently that standing firm was impossible.
Evidently, its weight was not a whit lighter than He Lingchuan's golden-armored bronze general.
Yet He Lingchuan was already behind it, continuing his pursuit of the two fugitives.
The spirit deer lacked such a charging talent, but Bai Ziqi tapped its head gently. The great deer's four hooves sprang, seeming barely to touch the ground as it leaped sideways over two zhang in an exceptionally graceful arc.
How could such a bulky, sluggish adversary ever trap the spirit deer?
Without waiting for Bai Ziqi's command, the spirit deer moved to dart past it and give chase.
Unexpectedly, the blue-turban construct suddenly dissolved, collapsing into a massive, swarming mass of dark little things.
"Little" was only relative to the construct's former size. In truth, each creature was the size of a goose egg, resembling a beetle yet imposing in stature. Their carapaces gleamed an oily black, and their upper mandibles resembled stag antlers or sharp shears half an inch long, lined with fine serrations!
He Lingchuan looked back and was startled.
Aren't these just stag beetles?
With a pair of shears on their heads, they swaggered before everyone. Even the naughtiest children in Blackwater City knew better than to mess with them—anyone who had their finger snipped to bleeding twice learned their lesson.
The trouble was that the stag beetles in Blackwater City were only the size of peanuts, whereas these were an enlarged, upgraded variety; a single snip of their mandibles could shear clean through a toe.
A single glance showed at least twenty thousand of them.
Worst of all, their hard shells resisted blades, spears, water, and fire, and they disregarded protective astral qi.
It turned out the blue-turban construct was merely a facade. The cloth doll was actually a nest; under the insect king's command, the beetles disguised themselves as a humanoid capable of running and leaping, only to reveal their true forms at the critical juncture.
Bai Ziqi's predicament was worse than poking a hornet's nest. With a deafening hum, the swarm of stag beetles surged toward its prey, blotting out the sky.
He Lingchuan felt his scalp tingle. He casually tossed out a medicinal pouch before accelerating onward after the fleeing culprits.
That pouch was concocted by Willow to repel insects and vermin, boasting miraculous efficacy. In the real world, He Lingchuan had prepared several bags following her formula so he wouldn't suffer bites while roaming the wilderness.
The pouch hit the ground, precisely bursting into a cloud of yellow mist amidst the swarm.
After that, he paid it no further heed.
A Duyun Emissary with such a formidable reputation would surely have the means to protect himself, right?
There was no need for him to worry.
The lakeshore loomed faintly ahead, but after three consecutive bursts of ramming speed from the rock sheep, the distance between him and his quarry had shrunk to under twenty zhang.
He Lingchuan aimed at the large wolf carrying Cen Boqing, sending Fusheng flying directly from his hand.
The puppet wolf was agile, dodging aside with a quick twist.
Naturally, Fusheng took a sharp turn, sailing far out and seemingly disappearing into the distance.
Gripped by panic, Cen Boqing kept looking back to observe Bai Ziqi's movements. Consequently, Fusheng circled back from the flank, viciously striking from his blind spot.
The mount suddenly went lame, lost its balance, and tumbled headfirst into the dirt.
Fusheng had cleaved off one of its hind legs.
Now, the only one still fleeing for his life was Cheng Yu.
His face was as pale as gilded paper, whether from a recurrence of his wounds or something else. Turning his head to glance at He Lingchuan, he suddenly growled, "Sink!"
The ground beneath the bighorn rock sheep's hooves abruptly collapsed into a mire.
Looking closely at Cheng Yu, the butt of his short staff had stayed in constant contact with the earth, silently transmuting the path his wolf had crossed into mud pits.
A curse master was also an arcanist; in critical moments, as long as the right ability was used, even the simplest spell could save a life.
No matter how well the rock sheep could leap, its hooves required a solid point of leverage; now it was stuck in the quagmire, unable to pull free. Left with no choice, He Lingchuan sprang from its back and deployed his movement technique to give chase on foot.
Yet Cheng Yu was already a mere five zhang from the lakeshore, his hand reaching into his robes—clearly holding another trick up his sleeve.
Then two zhang, one zhang...
Just as he was about to dive into the water, a massive white fireball slammed down right in front of him, measuring at least three zhang across.
The moment it struck the ground, it exploded with a blinding white brilliance.
When an intense flash suddenly erupts in the dead of night, any normal person's first reaction is to avert their eyes, lest they be blinded.
Chapter 529