Splitting the Heave

After Ninth Brother Huang was sneak attacked by the alligator earlier, he suffered heavy internal injuries. Right after that, he had to take on another Chaos Essence Lightning Palm from Shang Xia.  

Even though Shang Xia looked like he was having a nice chat with Ninth Brother Huang after saving him, he had been examining Ninth Brother Huang’s injuries carefully. Only when he was sure the fellow’s foundations weren’t damaged, Shang Xia heaved a sigh of relief. He brought out a tiny flask of rank three Hundred Flower Spiritual Wine and a rank three talisman he crafted casually before handing them to Ninth Brother Huang.

The main use of the Hundred Flower wine was to assist in one’s cultivation, but it wasn’t exactly useless when used as a recovery tool. The flask of wine Shang Xia gave him could allow him to recover a certain portion of his fighting strength. With a rank three talisman in hand, he would be able to escape even if he ran into cultivators at the same level.

Holding the seal talisman in his hand, Shang Xia knew that he wouldn’t have to run around the Cloud Water Gorge like a headless fly any longer. At the very least, he would be able to detect Shang Pei if she was nearby. 

Of course, finding Shang Pei’s seal with the seal talisman was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He would have to explore the massive Cloud Water Gorge while waiting for his seal talisman to respond. It wasn’t going to be easy, but at least he would know when he finally located Shang Pei.

…

After searching around for slightly more than 2 hours, Shang Xia discovered that his luck wasn’t as bad as before. He could feel a faint sense of attraction when he filled the seal talisman with a strand of inner qi. 

With his spirits lifted, he rushed in the direction with renewed vigor. 

Running in that direction, Shang Xia could feel the distance between them increasing slightly, but Shang Xia didn’t hesitate to continue his chase.

Feeling the signs of attraction, Shang Xia continued to make his way into the depths of the Cloud Water Gorge. 

The speed at which it was moving away from him grew slower. It was as though Shang Pei was stopping to rest while running away. However, it couldn’t be denied that she was traveling away from him. 

There was no way she would be moving away from him twice unintentionally. It was extremely likely that she had felt the presence of the seal talisman and she didn’t wish for the user to find her.

Only members of the Youyan Stronghold had the seal talisman, and in order not to drag them into the mess, Shang Pei chose not to meet up with them. She didn’t wish for them to face the wrath of the Martial Extermination Realm experts hunting her down.

Realizing her intentions, Shang Xia stopped running in her direction immediately.

…

Shang Pei, who had felt the presence of the seal talisman, traveled deeper into the Cloud Water Gorge so that they wouldn’t be able to catch up to her. Every time she ran in the opposite direction, she would exert a lot of energy traveling through the dense fog. 

Her brotherhood with her fellow members of the Eighteen Horsemen of the You Continent held indescribable importance in her heart. She didn’t wish to implicate them in whatever shitstorm was going to unfold when the Martial Extermination Realm experts clashed.

She wouldn’t regret her decision no matter what. 

As she was moving away from the seal talisman that was moving in her direction, she ran into a great opportunity…

…

Sucking in a deep breath, a four colored light emerged from Shang Xia’s body and surrounded him. When he was ready, he flew quickly in the direction of Shang Pei’s seal and a massive whirlwind was swept up because of his actions. A massive shockwave tore through his surroundings as he flew across the land. The fog where he traveled was blown away, but it didn’t take long for dense fog to return.

Shang Xia discovered that due to the suppression of the weird clouds in the Cloud Water Gorge, the fastest he could travel while ensuring his personal safety was at a speed comparable to a Martial Intent Realm cultivator unleashing their movement art. That was the speed at which he was traveling earlier, and that was probably the reason Shang Pei had been avoiding him. Now that the distance between them wasn’t increasing anymore, Shang Xia felt that he had to catch up to her no matter what. He might not know what was going on or why she stopped, but it was the best chance he was going to get.

To access the premium content, go to [ pawread dot com ].

What if he could show her he wasn’t one of the members of the Youyan Stronghold? 

Disregarding the consumption of his Four Constellation Qi that seemed stronger than the inner qi of other Martial Extermination Realm experts, Shang Xia could achieve temporary flight! With the speed he was displaying, it was possible Shang Pei might understand that the person coming to help her was another Martial Extermination Realm expert.

…

It didn’t matter if it was Duan Liufeng, Yu Hanglong, or Feng Chenyi. All three of them had been underestimating Shang Pei’s strength all along. 

It was especially so after Feng Chenyi brought out her Hexagonal Lantern and Yu Hanglong shredded her Tranquil Cape. All of them felt that she had lost her greatest advantage against them.

That was precisely the reason they had the guts to split up to look for her. As Feng Chenyi and Duan Liufeng went to hunt her down, Yu Hanglong went off to do something else. Because he destroyed her Tranquil Cape earlier, he managed to capture a trace of her aura. He managed to use it to locate the hideout of the other members of the Youyan Stronghold. His intention was to capture them all in order to force her to submit, but he arrived a little too late. The members of the Youyan Stronghold had already left.

Who would have thought that Duan Liufeng would be able to capture one of the members of the Youyan Stronghold while hunting down Shang Pei? 

The two of them met up with each other, but they soon discovered that Feng Chenyi, the cultivator with a mysterious background, had been sneak attacked by Shang Pei. If not for the fact that they arrived in the nick of time, the Hexagonal Lantern that provided them with the largest advantage against Shang Pei in the Cloud Water Gorge would have been destroyed.

When they arrived to save her, the battle was at its peak and Yu Hanglong launched a ferocious offensive to save Feng Chenyi. If not for the fact that Shang Pei reacted quickly, she would probably suffer under the assault. Her attempt to take one of them out before the others arrived failed!

Seeing as she was about to force them all back and escape, Duan Liufeng roared, “Hai Pei, why don’t you take a look at this?” 

Slamming a figure down in mid air, the seal that was placed on him disappeared. The figure grunted in pain.

Hai Pei’s movements froze and she stared at the figure who rolled to Feng Chenyi and Yu Hanglong’s feet.

Duan Liufeng saw Shang Pei’s figure fading into the fog behind, but she didn’t disappear fully. They locked onto her presence when Duan Liufeng yelled, “Hai Pei, are you going to abandon your comrade? If you dare to leave, I’ll kill him immediately.” 

Duan Liufeng approached Yu Hanglong and nodded at the two of them to give them a signal.

Yu Hanlong maintained his expressionless face while Feng Chenyi’s failed to hide her fury after being sneak attacked. She was clearly still angry at being suppressed by Shang Pei whose cultivation level was lower than herself.

“Fourth Brother Zeng, how are you?” Shang Pei didn’t answer Duan Liufeng and the others immediately. Instead, she addressed the figure on the ground.

Shang Pei’s voice was hoarse, and it seemed to ring in all directions.

Fourth Brother Zeng knew exactly what situation he was in now that he had been captured. Without caring about his injuries, he yelled, “I’m alright! Chief, you don’t have to worry about me! Leave!” 

“Hmph, you’re still so stubborn when you’re looking at the gates of hell…” Duan Liufeng’s expression sank and he kicked Fourth Brother Zeng in the stomach. As Fourth Brother Zeng doubled over in pain, Duan Liufeng stared at the dense fog in front of him and growled, “Hai Pei, we might hate each other, but it hasn’t reached the point where we have to kill you. Why don’t we start talking terms?” 

After a moment, her voice rang through the air. “What do you want?” 

“Alright.” The corners of Duan Liufeng’s lips curled upwards and he looked at the other two. “Firstly, hand over your rank four advancement formula.” Next, Brother Yu is interested in your secret of establishing the Youyan Stronghold in the Cloud Water Gorge. Lastly, we heard that you hold the key to enter a secret region. Hand them all over and we’ll promise not to kill your fellow cultivator. We’ll leave the Cloud Water Gorge as long as you fulfill your promise and we won’t mess with you in the future.” 

Duan Liufeng eagerly awaited Shang Pei’s reply.

After waiting for some time, they realized that they couldn’t feel her presence any longer! They were even suspecting that she had run away.

The more he thought about it, the more Duan Liufeng thought that something was wrong. Feeling a sense of irritation, he sneered, “You really deserve your reputation as the Eighteen Horsemen of the You Continent… Brotherhood means nothing to you…” 

Before Duan Liufeng could finish speaking, he heard several coughs coming from Fourth Brother Zeng.

Feng Chenyi’s expression changed slightly and she cried, “Not good, he wants to kill himself!”

Fourth Brother Zeng spat out a mouthful of blood and he croaked using his last bit of energy, “Don’t… They’re lying…” 

Duan Liufeng tried to save Fourth Brother Zeng by pouring his inner qi into the lower-leveled cultivator. Unfortunately, Fourth Brother Zeng had detonated his dantian. There was no saving him now.

No one thought that he would react so decisively. None of the 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts thought that he would choose to sacrifice himself to not be used to threaten the leader of the Youyan Stronghold…

“Mother f…” Duan Liufeng wanted to destroy Fourth Brother Zeng’s corpse in a fit of rage, but he was interrupted by Yu Hanglong.

“Be careful!” Yu Hanglong released a sword light that clashed with a phantom spear that was coming from the void. A loud blast filled the air.

Duan Liufeng was caught off guard and he stumbled backwards from the impact. Fortunately for him, the shockwave wasn’t strong enough to injure someone at his level. 

Kicking the body on the ground, he lashed his whip out at the dense fog where Shang Pei was hiding.