Hearing Yu Ci’s taunts, the monk almost vomited blood, but he dared not stop. It wasn’t until he was ten zhang away, feeling that Yu Ci had not pursued, that he finally halted. His eyes alternated between opening and closing, unable to handle the stimulation, and tears streamed down his face. He hurriedly covered them with his sleeve, but his face had already turned a dark shade of iron.
Yu Ci was momentarily stunned by the sight but was unwilling to spare any face for the thieving monk. He burst into loud, mocking laughter, with each laugh like a knife stabbing into the monk’s heart.
The monk’s face alternated between green and red, his teeth grinding audibly. When he first launched the ambush, he had never anticipated such an outcome. His chest was churning with blood, and he forced himself to swallow a mouthful of fresh blood that had risen to his throat. After crying, his eyes felt slightly better. He squinted and made an effort to look at the detestable young man on the opposite side.
The sight before him only made his heart feel more blocked.
Yu Ci held the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, which emitted a continuous low hum. A ring of fire spread out from under his feet, reaching ten feet in radius. The surrounding plants were ignited; though the actual killing power was minimal, the spectacle was quite impressive.
“Nine Yang Talisman Sword?” The monk’s voice was filled with extreme shock and anger.
Yu Ci looked up in response but said nothing, only grinning widely. This was more cutting than any words. The monk seemed to understand something, his face turning from green to red and finally to a purplish hue. He could no longer endure it and gritted his teeth, vowing harshly:
“You little brat from the Sun Light Sect, I will make you suffer a fate worse than death!”
His voice was like a hissing snake, but he had evidently misunderstood. Of course, it would be foolish to argue at this point!
As soon as he finished speaking, a long howl emerged from the distant mountains. The sound waves crossed the forest barriers, clearly reaching the ears of both men. Though it was called “distant,” it was actually only about ten miles away. Hearing this, the monk was overjoyed. He was about to whistle in response when he saw the young man from the Sun Light Sect already charging into the forest.
Yu Ci had detected the monk’s change in expression as soon as the howl began. Realizing the situation, he made a swift decision and immediately retreated in the northern direction. Having the upper hand, he withdrew at will, while the monk, still struggling to recover his vision, could only stomp his feet and curse:
“You brat from the Sun Light Sect, you killed Hu Ke, let the demon beasts escape, and stole the Shooting Star Disk. The Thousand Spirit Gate will not let you off!”
Yu Ci spat at the monk’s accusations: “You’ll need to find me in the Sun Light Sect first!”
In the time it took to say that, the howling figure had already closed in to within three miles. By then, the howling had not ceased. Yu Ci took a few more steps, and the howling intensified in the forest. Within a range of several dozen miles, at least seven or eight people responded one after another, their voices like thunder, causing pine needles to fall and even shaking the ground.
However, the howling from the front suddenly ceased, and the monk’s cursing also abruptly stopped.
The situation seemed divided into factions… Was the monk’s group making a fool of themselves?
Yu Ci quickly assessed the situation and couldn’t help but chuckle. However, he also realized the atmosphere of the Eight Directions Storm gathering in the central region. He sensed that among those who howled, any one of them would be above his cultivation level, which aroused his strong curiosity: what exactly was going on?
Based on the monk’s final curses, he tried to piece together several factors: The dead body from before was undoubtedly Hu Ke; the monsters and fierce beasts mentioned by the herbalists were the demon beasts referred to by the monk; the so-called “Shooting Star Disk” was stored in the Storage Ring; and as for the Thousand Spirit Gate… that name sounded familiar!
Setting aside the external factors, based on Yu Ci’s speculation, the demon beasts being driven out of Sky Rift Valley was likely intentional by the deceased Hu Ke, who had planned to set up an ambush here. They intended to use the “Shooting Star Disk” to deploy powerful talismanic spells to either kill or capture the demon beasts. However, the demon beasts’ power far exceeded expectations, and the traps did not work as intended. In their panic, they attempted to escape but were killed by the beasts.
The monk and his companions were likely Hu Ke’s group, or perhaps they had received news and came to take advantage but arrived too late, with Yu Ci already having taken the lead.
At this moment, the pine forest was in chaos. After running ten miles, Yu Ci felt an ominous aura carried by the wind from behind. He was unsure which faction was pursuing him.
Yu Ci was very interested in the demon beasts but had no intention of lingering there. He quickly activated a divine movement talisman. This talisman, renowned even among ordinary folks, was known as the legendary “Armored Horse”!
Once the talisman was applied, his feet seemed to lift off the ground. He felt as light as a swallow, the sensation extremely exhilarating.
With his speed increasing dramatically, the pine needles and branches, resembling the arms of demons, rushed at him but were quickly left behind. Yu Ci seemed to transform into a wisp of smoke, darting through the gaps in the leaves. Furthermore, as the talisman’s effect enveloped him, his internal true Qi seemed to resonate with it, amplifying the energy and making him run faster and more comfortably. He even felt reluctant to stop.
Yu Ci ran at top speed, and those pursuing him initially kept up, but with Yu Ci’s excellent condition and the constant application of divine movement talismans—dozens or even hundreds of them—the pursuers disappeared from sight after half an hour.
He felt incredibly good, incredibly wonderful.
Although he was rapidly distancing himself from the troublesome area and the concentration of cultivators, Yu Ci felt as though a gigantic door in the heavens had opened a crack, revealing the true splendor of the vibrant world beyond.
That was the cultivation world, the place he yearned for immensely.
Encountering that venomous monk, along with a series of previous events, could be considered accidents. Yet, this was how he had touched that world and was now racing toward it with great strides.
Yu Ci’s excitement led him to run for another couple of hours at high speed.
While supported by the talismans, he felt fine, but once he stopped, he almost thought he had run out of breath. Though exhausted, the results were evident: he had traveled at least five hundred miles, far exceeding his previous record. At this rate, with necessary rest, traveling a thousand miles by day and eight hundred by night was not impossible.
However, by this time, Yu Ci’s stamina was truly at its limit. His excitement quickly faded, replaced by overwhelming fatigue. He recognized the signs of exhaustion and found a relatively secluded spot, preparing to sleep deeply under the call of sleep to regain his strength. In his half-asleep state, he suddenly remembered that he was in a wild, untamed area and needed some form of protection.
In his drowsy state, he took out the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror from his sleeve. Sensing his faint aura, the mirror’s surface shimmered with a faint blue mist. His fingers fumbled as he began to draw symbols, creating the Five Directions Spirit Talisman. Only this talisman could alert him if wild beasts approached—whether it would wake him from sleep, only time would tell.
Yu Ci was so exhausted that he was in a semi-conscious state while drawing the symbols, relying purely on habit accumulated over the years. After struggling to finish the last stroke, he didn’t care whether the talisman was successful or not. With a yawn, he fell asleep.
Under the moonlight, Yu Ci’s completely drained body breathed in and out, guided not by his consciousness but by the habits of the past twelve years, drawing in the lunar energy. Beside him, the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror seemed to resonate, its blue mist gently expanding and contracting like breathing.
****
This time, Yu Ci was jolted from a deep sleep by a sudden nightmare.
The nightmare came out of nowhere, as if he had dreamed of a great eagle swooping down from a thousand-meter height. His mind split into two halves, one in the sky and the other on the ground. On one side, clouds and mist flowed like rivers; on the other, a fierce malevolence seeped through him. He broke into a cold sweat, instinctively tumbling out of bed and standing up.
Yu Ci squinted as sunlight filtered through the forest, casting a direct beam down. His mind was still a bit hazy, but now that he was awake, the previous nightmare no longer held him in its grip. He was about to laugh it off, but something stirred within him. This time, the feeling was tangible and familiar.
It was the reaction of the Five Directions Spirit Talisman.
This talisman was one of Yu Ci’s most complex creations, capable of detecting intense reactions from all nearby living beings and relaying this information to the user as a warning. He recalled that he had drawn it forcefully before falling asleep, and it had surprisingly succeeded.
The talisman’s duration was about two to three hours. Since it was still active, it meant that his sleep hadn’t lasted as long as he had imagined. Wait, that didn’t make sense.
Yu Ci looked at the sun and confirmed that it had risen to its zenith. He clearly remembered that it was just nightfall before he fell asleep. With the sun and moon moving through their cycle, at least seven or eight hours had passed. The Five Directions Spirit Talisman should not have lasted that long.
Yet the response in his mind was undeniably from this talisman.
As he pondered, he felt something strange to his left. On the ground there, a faint blue light flickered—it was the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror used for drawing symbols. Perhaps sensing his attention, the blue light from the mirror grew more vivid.
Yu Ci confirmed that he hadn’t activated the mirror’s function with his true Qi. His gaze fixed on the mirror’s surface, his face filled with astonishment, leaving no room for anything else.
In the blue light, the mirror clearly showed a great eagle flying. Yu Ci rubbed his eyes and looked again; there was no mistake. With its sharp beak, striped feathers, dark yellow eyes, and long tail feathers, it was undoubtedly a great eagle. The fierce bird was circling low in the forest, and the green mountain peaks were visible below the mirror’s surface.
He quickly grabbed the mirror and held it up to his face.
Why was a great eagle appearing in his mirror? No, what he meant was, why was the mirror reflecting the image of a great eagle? It was as if this mirror, which had accompanied him for years, had suddenly transformed into the eye of a demon, filled with an unsettling power.
As this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly turned around. His gaze just happened to pass over the mountain wall behind him, as if an invisible pointer was directing his sight straight toward the southeast sky.
There, a black dot was circling in the air.
A great eagle! The same great eagle as in the mirror!
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