Chapter 663: Hope of Survival
The nothing beast leader was skilled at lurking. He Lingchuan did not know when it had arrived, but it had been hiding by the side all along, watching the two of them fight without making a move.
Clearly, it wanted to reap the fisherman’s profit. Once one of them was dead and the other injured, it would come out to pick up the bargain.
The thought that, during their desperate battle just now, a huge creature had been hiding by the side, watching them like prey, made both men feel a chill run down their spines. Hu Bin especially had fully released his spiritual sense while fighting He Lingchuan precisely so he could keep an eye on everything around him and avoid falling into another one of his opponent’s traps. Yet, such a massive beast had been lurking nearby, and he had not sensed it at all!
Now that the accident had exposed it, the nothing beast leader stopped hiding. It lowered its head and sniffed the corpses of the nothing beasts on the ground. Furious light shot from its yellow eyes.
These two outsiders had killed two of its subordinates. The Giant Thunderclap Beast’s egg was gone too. In that case, it would kill both of them!
He Lingchuan watched its movements warily. At the same time, he quickly stuffed a rinsing bead into his mouth and spared some attention to ask Hu Bin, “Still want to settle things between us?”
Hu Bin snorted.
He did not answer directly, but He Lingchuan knew this bastard had already wavered.
No matter who it was, anyone facing a lord-level creature like the nothing beast leader would feel the fear of being swallowed by an abyss.
This was not an aberrant creature either of them could deal with alone.
This was especially the case when they were in such short supply of rinsing beads.
After everything that had transpired, He Lingchuan only had nine rinsing beads left. That left just over two hours of breathing time. If the fighting were intense, the time would shrink even further.
After that long sandstorm, Hu Bin probably did not have many left either. This bastard’s original plan had likely been to kill He Lingchuan and seize the remaining rinsing beads on him, giving himself enough time to walk out of the mountains.
But the arrival of the nothing beast leader completely ruined that plan.
No one wanted to challenge an enraged monster that was nearly lord-level. Their only remaining path was flight.
The nothing beast leader hissed a few times, and the mountain wilderness immediately answered.
The other nothing beasts were quickly approaching this place.
Both men cursed inwardly. The leader was already difficult enough to deal with, and now they had to deal with several smaller ones, too?
He Lingchuan was the more straightforward one of the two and immediately said, “Goodbye!”
He took out a wind-riding talisman and stuck it onto himself, then took off down the mountain.
In the Fu Realm, going downhill was definitely easier than going up.
As he fled for his life, footsteps sounded beside him.
He Lingchuan turned and saw Hu Bin following him.
“What grudge do you even have against me? Why are you so determined to kill me?”
After the battle just now, He Lingchuan had already realized that this man’s fighting style did not feel like that of a mercenary. It felt more like Hu Bin had some deep hatred against him.
Hu Bin’s face was cold, and he said nothing. But the look he threw over seemed as if he wished he could burn two holes through He Lingchuan.
He was not pretending anymore. The hatred in his eyes was even stronger than that of the nothing beast leader chasing relentlessly behind them.
From the corner of his left eye, He Lingchuan saw a shadow move. He immediately threw himself forward on all fours. To put it nicely, it was a tiger dropping to the ground; to put it less nicely, he fell flat on his face like a dog eating dirt. Either way, all four of his limbs hit the ground.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly. The instant he went prone, a shadow swept over him from the side. If he had still been running upright, he would inevitably have been knocked down.
These nothing beasts were good at pack tactics. They understood flanking and ambush. This one had circled in from the side, hoping to catch the two men by surprise.
Its movements were quick. It twisted in midair, trying to bite He Lingchuan’s back.
Unfortunately, its opponent was even more cunning. The instant He Lingchuan decided to drop, he dropped. The nothing beast’s huge jaws snapped shut on nothing but air.
Hu Bin braked in time and also avoided the pounce.
But when fleeing for one’s life, the thing to fear most was slowing down. The moment he paused, the nothing beast locked onto him.
As for He Lingchuan, he slapped both hands against the ground and used the momentum to throw himself into a forward flip. His body spun in midair, and when he landed, both feet touched down first. After that, he continued sprinting wildly.
This move was unusually light and beautiful. More importantly, it was practical, allowing him to avoid losing much speed.
The two continued forward, He Lingchuan in front, with Hu Bin about fifteen meters behind him.
No matter what kind of ferocious beast one was fleeing from, whether it be a bear monster, a tiger monster, or a nothing beast, there was one universal iron law: one did not need to outrun the beasts. One only needed to outrun the rest.
At present, Hu Bin, lagging a few meters behind, was the nothing beasts’ target.
In terms of running speed, these things were not inferior to the two men at all. Even worse, they could spit frost and green flame. Multiple ranged attacks combined with agile bodies made the two men’s escape far from pleasant.
Hu Bin glared resentfully at He Lingchuan’s back. Then, using some unknown method, he caused a bang to ring out behind them. He shot forward seven or eight meters from the rear and landed ahead of He Lingchuan at once.
So he’s still got plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
If he had used that move in the earlier fight, Hu Bin might have been able to escape at any moment.
He Lingchuan secretly became more vigilant.
After they crossed the slope, a cliff opened up to the left.
At that moment, heavy footsteps came from behind.
He Lingchuan turned and saw that the nothing beast leader had caught up.
Going downhill was easier than going uphill, and the nothing beast leader was a native of the Fu Realm and was definitely accustomed to its gravity. It closed in on them with lightness and speed that did not match its tonnage.
It was even faster than He Lingchuan with a talisman stuck to him, and it could even remain briefly suspended in the air!
He Lingchuan saw the nothing beast leader’s huge head growing closer and larger in his field of vision, growing so large that he could clearly see it was missing one of its left front teeth.
At that point, it spat a mouthful of frost at him.
He Lingchuan unleashed his spiritual sense fully and barely dodged at the last possible instant. However, the brief delay allowed the distance between him and the nothing beast leader to shrink yet again!
Hu Bin also glanced back. The cold pleasure in his eyes made He Lingchuan understand that, though he had no time to attack, he would very much enjoy watching the nothing beast leader avenge him.
It seemed that the man was not particular. As long as He Lingchuan died, he did not insist on killing him personally.
After they crossed the slope, the path downhill opened up instead, no longer restricted to a single route.
He Lingchuan made a sharp leaping turn and headed left. At the same time, he tore open the leather armor on his body and casually threw it away.
This action caused the distance between him and the nothing beast leader to close by another six meters.
Only twenty meters separated the two sides now. To the nothing beast leader, that was merely one great leap.
However, the one who jumped first was not the beast, but He Lingchuan.
He rushed to the edge of the cliff without the slightest hesitation, spread both arms, and jumped!
He even made a short accelerating run before leaping.
The bottom was not exaggeratedly deep enough to be called a bottomless abyss, but it still dropped by more than six hundred meters.
The Fu Realm lacked water, and there was no river below at all. Whoever fell would die.
The nothing beast leader braked hard and barely stopped at the edge of the cliff. Its face actually showed a very human expression—
It was a little surprised.
In the past, who knew how many creatures had been chased by them until they had nowhere to go, lost their footing, and fallen off cliffs? But there had never been one like this little human before it, who could actually soar through the air!
Yes. He Lingchuan adjusted his angle, then pulled open the membranes beneath his ribs.
The two soft membranes were like wings when fully spread, allowing him to glide on the wind.
As long as he adjusted the angle properly, he could even borrow the air currents to fly upward.
When Fushan Yue had ambushed the escort team protecting the Baoshu King’s spirit seed at Mount Fengmo, he had used this kind of winged gliding suit. Before setting out, He Lingchuan had specifically borrowed this outfit from him.
He had learned that the Fu Realm was full of high mountains and strong winds, so he had felt this thing might come in handy.
Now, that moment had come.
Before jumping, he had also stuck a specially made lightness talisman onto himself to resist the Fu Realm’s powerful gravity. The special lightness talismans produced by Songyang Mansion were extremely effective, and this one could last for about fifty breaths.
For He Lingchuan’s current situation, fifty breaths were enough.
After all, the nothing beast leader did not have wings and could not chase him any further. It could only launch two frost breaths at him.
With the mirror’s warning, He Lingchuan controlled his glide and dodged them by the narrowest of margins. After that, he left its attack range.
As he glided over the mountain col, he even waved at Hu Bin below and smiled with exceptional brilliance.
Hu Bin, meanwhile, was doing everything he could to evade the nothing beasts pursuing him.
When that man saw He Lingchuan’s free and easy appearance, his eyes seemed almost to spit fire.
As He Lingchuan flew in another direction, he heard Hu Bin’s roar come from behind him, “He Lingchuan—!”[1]
He Lingchuan drew in a long breath.
The nothing beast leader on the cliff had no way to continue the chase and could only turn back resentfully.
Was there not another target still fleeing? It would vent all its rage on him!
About seven minutes later.
Hu Bin ran through the mountain wilderness. The plain was already faintly visible ahead, but his breathing was growing increasingly ragged.
He was currently consuming rinsing beads at an especially quick rate!
With how things were going, even if he was not bitten to death and eaten by the nothing beasts, he would suffocate.
Along the way, he had used several different escape methods. In the past, they had worked well against monsters and other duonao beasts, but this time, he could not shake off the nothing beasts.
What’s going on?
In his anxiety, Hu Bin suddenly remembered a scene.
Before he ambushed He Lingchuan, that brat had seemed to wash his blade and hands clean, removing the smell of blood.
That’s it. The smell of blood!
Earlier, when Hu Bin had cut off the nothing beast’s head at the thunderclap beast nest, his blade had also been stained with beast blood. The nothing beast leader had distinguished the scent of its companion’s blood and treated him as the killer, as well as the egg thief.
Details! It’s always these damned small details!
So these nothing beasts were only chasing He Lingchuan along the way as a side matter. Their real target was me!
No wonder they’re pursuing me so relentlessly. I actually became He Lingchuan’s scapegoat!
* * *
High peaks and deep valleys, here the rock strata were exposed like slices of cake.
There were no plants. The earth’s surface, plowed year-round by wind like knives and frost like swords, looked like the skin of this world itself.
Seen from above, the cold harshness and strange, dazzling nature of this world could be understood all the more deeply.
With the help of the glider, He Lingchuan traveled over five kilometers. His eyes searched the ground below as he focused completely. He had not truly escaped danger. The things threatening his life were no longer those terrifying nothing beasts, but the cruel laws of nature here.
The rinsing beads he had left and the time he had left were definitely not enough for him to escape this mountain region.
However, he still had hope.
The hope of survival was very likely hidden somewhere in this wind-and-frost-scoured mountain region.
The mirror suddenly cried out, “A ground fissure! There’s a ground fissure ahead. Don’t miss it!”
“I see it.”
Among the rugged mountains stretched a long ground fissure, or perhaps it could be called an underground rift valley. With a hurried glance, He Lingchuan estimated that its depth exceeded sixty meters, but the widest part of the ground fissure might not even be two meters across.
This is perfect.
He piloted the glider, circled several times, and slowed himself down. At last, he landed smoothly beside the ground fissure.
1. Yeah, he seems to know He Lingchuan’s actual name. I honestly don’t remember who this guy is. If any of you can leave a comment, then I’d greatly appreciate it and add it to this note. ☜