Hope of Survival

The Wu beast leader was adept at lurking. He Lingchuan had no idea when it had arrived, but it had stayed concealed on the sidelines observing their fight, never once intervening. Clearly, it intended to play the fisherman and reap the spoils—waiting until one was dead and the other wounded before stepping out to pick up an easy meal. Thinking back to how such a behemoth had been watching hungrily from the shadows while they fought for their lives sent chills down both their spines. Hu Bin in particular was shaken. During his fierce duel with He Lingchuan, he had spread out his spiritual sense to stay alert in all directions and avoid falling into another trap. Who would have thought a giant beast had been lurking nearby without him noticing in the slightest? Exposed by the accident, the Wu beast leader dropped all pretense. It lowered its head to sniff the corpse of the Wu beast on the ground, amber eyes blazing with fury. Its two subordinates had been killed by these two foreign creatures, and the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth egg was gone as well. It would slaughter them both! He Lingchuan warily watched its every move. Popping a cleansing bead into his mouth, he spared a glance toward Hu Bin. "Still want to settle our score?" Hu Bin merely grunted. He gave no direct answer, but He Lingchuan knew the man was wavering. Anyone facing a boss-level monster like the Wu beast leader would feel the dread of an abyss closing in. This was not a beast either of them could handle alone. Humans felt even less confident when their supply of cleansing beads was running desperately low. Drained to this point, He Lingchuan had only nine cleansing beads left—enough for two hours and fifteen minutes. If the fighting grew intense, that time would shrink even further. After enduring an exceptionally long sandstorm, Hu Bin was likely running short as well. His original plan had probably been to kill He Lingchuan and seize whatever cleansing beads he had left, buying himself enough time to walk out of the mountains. The arrival of the Wu beast leader had completely upended that plan. Neither of them wanted to take on an enraged beast nearing the lord rank; their only option now was flight. The Wu beast leader gave several screeching calls, and answering cries promptly echoed through the wilderness. Other Wu beasts were closing in rapidly. Both men cursed internally. A leader was trouble enough; now several smaller ones were coming too? He Lingchuan was far more direct. "Goodbye!" Slapping a tailwind talisman onto himself, he bolted down the mountain. In the Fu Realm, going downhill took far less effort than climbing up. As he fled for his life, footsteps sounded right beside him. He Lingchuan glanced sideways. Hu Bin had caught up. "What grudge do I have with you? Why try so hard to kill me?" After the clash just now, He Lingchuan had realized the man fought nothing like a hired mercenary, but rather like someone bearing a bitter, personal vendetta. Hu Bin's face remained cold and silent, yet the glare he shot over looked eager to burn two holes through He Lingchuan. He, too, dropped all pretense, the venom in his eyes burning hotter than that of the pursuing Wu beast leader behind them. Catching a flicker of shadow out of the corner of his left eye, He Lingchuan dove forward onto the ground—a "crouching tiger touching down" if one wanted to put it nicely, or a faceplant into the dirt if one didn't. Either way, he hit the deck on all fours. Good thing his reflexes were sharp; just as he hit the ground, a shadow flashed directly over him from the side. Had he kept running upright, he would have been tackled down. These Wu beasts were masters of pack tactics, understanding flanking and ambushes. This one had flanked around from the side, aiming to catch the two off guard. It moved lightning fast, leaping midair to snap at He Lingchuan's back. Unfortunately, its prey was craftier still, dropping flat without hesitation. The Wu beast's jaws snapped shut with a sharp clack, biting only empty air. Hu Bin braked in time and dodged the pounce as well. Yet the worst mistake while fleeing for one's life was slowing down. That brief pause made him the Wu beast's immediate target. He Lingchuan, on the other hand, slapped his palms against the ground, using the momentum to flip forward in a midair cartwheel. He landed firmly on both feet and kept sprinting without a pause! It was extraordinarily nimble and stylish, and more importantly, practical—he hardly lost any speed at all. The two charged ahead, He Lingchuan in front and Hu Bin trailing about five zhang behind. When fleeing any beast—be it a bear demon, tiger demon, or Wu beast—the universal rule was that you didn't need to outrun the monsters; you only had to outrun your companion. Trailing by several zhang, Hu Bin was now the Wu beast's primary quarry. In pure running speed, these creatures were every bit their equal. Worse, they could spit frost and green flames. A variety of ranged attacks combined with agile bodies made this escape far from pleasant. Hu Bin glared venomously at He Lingchuan's back. Employing some unknown trick, a loud bang sounded behind He Lingchuan, and Hu Bin vaulted forward seven or eight zhang, suddenly landing ahead of him. Plenty of tricks up his sleeve after all. Had he used this during their battle, Hu Bin might have broken free at any moment. He Lingchuan grew inwardly wary. Cresting the ridge, a cliff opened up to the left. Heavy footsteps thundered from behind. He Lingchuan looked back. The Wu beast leader had caught up. Going downhill was easier than climbing, and the Wu beast leader seemed to defy the Fu Realm's gravity, closing in with an agility completely belying its massive bulk. It ran faster than He Lingchuan even with his talisman, and it could even suspend itself in the air for brief moments! He watched as the massive head of the Wu beast leader grew closer and larger in his field of vision. So close that he could see it was missing a left front tooth. Then, it unleashed a blast of frost at him. With his spiritual sense pushed to its limits, He Lingchuan barely dodged by a hair's breadth. But that slight delay brought the Wu beast leader even closer! Hu Bin also glanced back. The chill and relish in his eyes made it clear to He Lingchuan that, while the man had no time to strike himself, he would thoroughly enjoy watching the Wu beast leader avenge him. The man was unpretentious in that regard—as long as He Lingchuan died, he didn't care whether the kill was his own. After cresting the ridge, the path downhill opened up, no longer confined to a single track. He Lingchuan veered left with a leaping turn, tearing off his leather armor and tossing it aside as he went. That motion cost him, letting the Wu beast leader close another two zhang. Only seven zhang separated them now—just a single leap for the Wu beast leader. Yet the first to leap was not the beast, but He Lingchuan. He charged straight to the edge of the cliff and threw himself over without the slightest hesitation, arms spread wide! He even did an accelerating sprint before jumping. Though not an abyss of ten thousand zhang, the sheer drop was still over two hundred zhang. The Fu Realm lacked water, so there was no river below. Anyone who fell would be dashed to pieces. The Wu beast leader braked hard, skidding to a halt right at the cliff's edge, an almost human expression crossing its face—it was surprised. Countless creatures had been driven to dead ends and fallen off cliffs by its kind, but not one of those little bipeds had ever soared through the air like this! Indeed, adjusting his angle, He Lingchuan spread the flaps beneath his arms. The two flexible membranes opened like wings, catching the wind to glide. With the right angle, he could even ride the updrafts to ascend. Fu Shan had used this gliding suit when ambushing the escort of the Treasure Tree spirit seed on Wind Demon Mountain. He Lingchuan had specifically borrowed the outfit from him before setting out. The Fu Realm was full of tall mountains and strong winds; he had figured the contraption might just come in handy. Now, that "might just" had arrived. Before leaping, he had also slapped a specially crafted light-body talisman onto himself to combat the Fu Realm's heavy gravity. Produced by Songyang Mansion, this talisman was remarkably potent, capable of lasting about fifty breaths. For He Lingchuan's current predicament, fifty breaths was plenty. Lacking wings of its own, the Wu beast leader couldn't pursue him into the sky and could only blast two plumes of frost after him. Alerted by the mirror, He Lingchuan adjusted his gliding wings to narrowly dodge both blasts, soon slipping out of its range. Gliding over the mountain hollow, he even waved down at Hu Bin with a radiant smile—while the latter scrambled frantically to evade the pursuing Wu beasts. Seeing He Lingchuan soaring so freely, Hu Bin looked as though fire would burst from his eyes. As He Lingchuan banked toward another direction, he heard Hu Bin's enraged roar echo from behind: "He Lingchuan—!" He Lingchuan drew a long, deep breath. With no way to give chase off the cliff, the Wu beast leader turned back in frustration. Wasn't there another target fleeing down below? It would vent all its fury on him! A short while later. Hu Bin sprinted through the mountain wilds, the plains now in sight, yet his breathing grew increasingly ragged. The cleansing beads were burning up too fast! At this rate, even if he wasn't torn apart and eaten by the Wu beasts, he would suffocate to death. He had used several evasion tricks along the way—tactics that had always worked against monsters and other Donao beasts in the past—yet this time he couldn't shake the Wu beasts off. What was going on? In his mounting anxiety, a memory suddenly flashed in his mind: Before ambushing He Lingchuan, that brat had washed his hands and blade to remove the scent of blood. Yes, the blood scent! Back in the Thunder-Wielding beast's nest, when he had severed the head of that Wu beast, his blade had been stained with its blood! The Wu beast leader must have smelled its kin's blood on him, pegging him as the killer—and the egg thief! Details, the bloody details! Pursuing He Lingchuan had merely been incidental for the beasts; he had been their primary target all along! No wonder they refused to let him go—he had become He Lingchuan's scapegoat! ... Towering peaks, deep valleys, and rock strata sliced like layered cake... Devoid of vegetation, the ground, perpetually plowed by scouring winds and biting frost, resembled the raw skin of this world. Looking down from above offered an even keener appreciation of this realm's bleak, bizarre beauty. Gliding over a dozen li on his wings, He Lingchuan scanned the terrain below with undivided focus. He was by no means out of danger. The threat to his life was no longer those terrifying Wu beasts, but rather the harsh laws of nature here: His remaining cleansing beads and time would definitely not be enough for him to escape these mountains. Yet he still had hope. The hope of survival likely lay hidden within these weather-beaten mountains. The mirror suddenly yelled, "A fissure! There's a fissure ahead, don't miss it!" "I see it." Running through the rugged peaks was a very long fissure, or rather a subterranean chasm. With a quick glance, He Lingchuan estimated it was over twenty zhang deep, yet barely five chi across at its widest point. This was truly fantastic. Circling a few times to bleed off speed, he finally touched down smoothly beside the fissure.