Chapter 262 - 32: Celestial Sword Kill Order
"Zhanbai!!"
The newcomer was none other than Xiao Hongye, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
When she saw the cold, decapitated corpse on the ground, she felt as if she’d been struck by lightning. Her vision went black, and she nearly plummeted from the sky.
"No—!" A heart-wrenching cry of grief echoed through the night sky.
The incident quickly caused an uproar throughout all of Qingzhou City.
𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
It had been a very long time since anyone had dared to lay a hand on someone from Celestial Sword Manor. What’s more, the killer had slain an elite disciple so close to Qingzhou Prefecture City, right under the nose of the arriving Young Manor Master.
In an instant, Chen Ye’s name spread through every street and alley of Qingzhou City.
Some were terrified, others scornful, but many secretly clapped their hands in glee.
After all, the disciples of Celestial Sword Manor had grown increasingly arrogant over the years, earning the dissatisfaction of many.
Inside the Worry-Free Tavern, the Mad Swordsman, Xue Shan, slammed his palm on the table upon hearing the news, making the wine bowls jump.
"That kid’s got real guts! I respect anyone who dares to pull something like that!"
However, most people were not optimistic about Chen Ye’s chances.
After all, Celestial Sword Manor had even issued a Kill Order, a clear sign of their immense fury.
Sure enough, from the moment the Kill Order was issued, the skies above Qingzhou Prefecture City were constantly filled with Sword Light.
Countless disciples from Celestial Sword Manor rode their Flying Swords, forming a Celestial Net of Heaven and Earth as they searched every inch of the land within a hundred-li radius of Qingzhou Prefecture City, over and over again.
Yet a full day passed, and they had found nothing.
It was as if Chen Ye had vanished from the face of the earth.
This was a further blow to Celestial Sword Manor’s pride, and they intensified their search efforts.
And just as all of Qingzhou Prefecture City was in an uproar over the Celestial Sword Kill Order, with countless disciples from Celestial Sword Manor searching frantically through the mountains like headless flies...
...Chen Ye had already appeared on a rugged mountain path two hundred li away from Qingzhou Prefecture City.
He was no longer the young Cultivator with the piercing gaze and the long saber on his back.
He wore a faded set of coarse-cloth short clothes, his pant legs splattered with mud. His face was grimy, as if he hadn’t washed it in days.
He carried a heavy peddler’s pole across his shoulders.
On one end of the pole were two stacked wooden crates, while the other was hung with all sorts of trinkets: rattle-drums, small pinwheels, needles and thread, sugar figurines, and dough sculptures.
As he walked, the ends of the pole creaked—CREAK, CREAK—and the hanging trinkets swayed back and forth, making a JINGLING, CLINKING sound.
Anyone who saw him would assume he was nothing more than an ordinary peddler who spent his years trekking through the wilderness, making a living by selling small goods.
No one would ever guess that this simple, even dull-witted-looking peddler was the very same murderous fugitive, Chen Ye, who had utterly humiliated Celestial Sword Manor and now had a bounty on his head.
Chen Ye had "borrowed" this getup from a dilapidated temple the previous night.
After killing Xiao Zhanbai, he had fled frantically for over a hundred li.
But Chen Ye knew his current appearance made him too obvious a target. Sooner or later, he would be cornered by the pursuers from Celestial Sword Manor.
Therefore, he had to change his appearance as quickly as possible.
As luck would have it, while passing a Mountain God Temple, Chen Ye found a peddler inside, fast asleep and snoring.
Chen Ye didn’t hesitate. He simply helped himself, "borrowing" the man’s clothes, carrying pole, and even the sweat-stained, yellowed bamboo hat.
Before leaving, Chen Ye took out a piece of silver and placed it under the peddler, considering the equipment purchased.
After changing into the outfit, Chen Ye wrapped his Jingzhe Saber in layers of rags and hid it at the very bottom of the crates. Then, using the Power of the Divine Soul, he completely concealed his aura and even made his skin appear coarse and swarthy.
When he was done, Chen Ye looked at his reflection in a puddle and almost didn’t recognize himself.
Now, forget about the people from Celestial Sword Manor; even if Su Yuan were standing right in front of him, she would never recognize him as Chen Ye.
And so, carrying the pole, Chen Ye avoided the main roads, deliberately choosing remote and difficult paths that led deeper into the mountains.
The mountain paths were exceptionally difficult to traverse.
Some parts couldn’t even be called roads, merely narrow trails trodden by those who came before, winding precariously between cliffs.
Despite carrying a load of several dozen pounds, Chen Ye walked with exceptional stability, his breathing perfectly even.
His Tempered physical body was more than enough to handle a trek of this difficulty.
From time to time, he could see streaks of astonishingly fast Sword Light whistling through the sky above.
Those were the disciples from Celestial Sword Manor, out on the hunt.
They were using Sword Flight, their Divine Senses combing through the mountain forests below like a fine-toothed comb, over and over again.
Every time a Sword Light flew overhead, Chen Ye would stop, set down his pole, lean against a rock by the path, and take out his water flask, perfectly feigning the exhaustion of a peddler who was panting for breath and stopping to rest and drink.
And when the Divine Senses of those high-and-mighty Celestial Sword Manor disciples swept past him, they wouldn’t linger for even a moment.
In their eyes, a mere mortal like him was no different from an ant on the roadside, completely unworthy of a second glance.
Walking and stopping like this, a day and a night passed, and Chen Ye had already ventured nearly a hundred li into the Southern Wilderness Mountain Range.
Here, the mountains grew more perilous and the forests more dense, blocking out the sky and sun so that even sunlight struggled to penetrate.
The air was filled with a damp, decaying smell, mingled with a thick, sinister Ghost Qi.
But Chen Ye wasn’t panicked.
The peddler’s pole he carried looked ordinary, but it was actually inscribed with a few simple Exorcism Runes.
Peddlers who traveled the wilds year-round had them specially carved to protect themselves. While they couldn’t handle powerful Demon Beasts, they could ward off common wild animals and Low Tier Demon Ghosts, avoiding unnecessary trouble.
Besides, Chen Ye himself was an existence more ferocious than any Demon Beast.
If some witless creature dared to approach, he wouldn’t mind having an extra meal.
After walking for the better part of another day, as dusk began to fall, a wisp of cooking smoke finally appeared at the end of the rugged mountain path ahead.
A small village, built against the side of a mountain, came into Chen Ye’s view.