A Chaotic World

Chapter 204: Hiding in the Wilds

"What is the meaning of this? Has the Dragon Cauldron Army already fallen so low that you would resort to sending Origin Core realm martial artists just to handle Essence Condensation realm juniors?" Elder Mingxin's tone was extremely cold as she questioned her opponent.

"What are you talking about? Have any of our Origin Core realm martial artists acted against your juniors?" her opponent scoffed. "All we have done is to send a scout down there to survey the situation. He has not attacked anyone, has he?"

"Survey the situation?" Elder Mingxin sneered. "What a load of bullshit!"

"Why else would there be no blood on his hands yet? If he wanted to, he would have started a massacre by now, and nobody there would be able to stop him," her opponent laughed. "But rather than being distracted by that, how about you start worrying about yourself?"

With that said, her opponent struck at her once again, forcing Elder Mingxin into a defensive position.

Damn it!

Elder Mingxin cursed in her heart.

The enemy Origin Core realm martial artist might not have acted yet, but things would be too late by the time he did!

However, Elder Mingxin truly had her hands tied here. If she disregarded her opponent to go to Nanlu Tianzi, she would almost certainly suffer an attack from the back.

Now, all she could do was to pray that Nanlu Tianzi would perform yet another miracle and escape somehow!

At this point, those on the ground had noticed an Origin Core realm martial artist flying overhead.

When they first noticed, all of them were struck dumb with fear, at a complete loss as to how they should react.

But when they saw that this powerful foe simply flew past without even taking a single look at them, all of them could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

Among them, only Nanlan Qianxue and the rest felt their hearts skip a beat when they witnessed this scene.

They finally understood what Nanlu Tianzi had just said to them.

The enemy's sole target was him.

In that case, was the reason why Nanlu Tianzi left all of a sudden because he did not wish to implicate the rest of them?

Otherwise, as long as Nanlu Tianzi asked them for help, none of them would have rejected him.

Even if the rest of them might not be able to fend off the Origin Core realm opponent, they should at least be able to stall him for a while!

Nanlan Qianxue clenched her fists in determination.

Back then when Nanlu Tianzi was forced to stay behind and risk his life, all so that the rest of them could safely escape, Nanlan Qianxue had really hated herself.

She hated her own weakness.

She hated how she could do nothing but leave Nanlu Tianzi behind, escaping with her life like an absolute coward.

This time round, did she have to watch on from the side once again?

Leave everything to Nanlu Tianzi, and pray that he would be able to come up with yet another miracle?

No, this was not the kind of person that she, Nanlan Qianxue, wanted to be.

She no longer wanted to be a burden to Nanlu Tianzi.

She wanted to prove that as long as she had the will to do so, even someone like her would be able to relieve a part of the responsibilities that lied upon Nanlu Tianzi's shoulders, no matter how little this part was.

Even if not for the sake of Nanlu Tianzi, she needed to do this in order to account to her own martial heart.

To struggle against the odds and overcome adversity, this was what it meant to be a martial artist!

"I am going after him."

Nanlan Qianxue left right after saying those words.

"What? Wait!" Nanqing Haowen called out in shock.

However, Nanlan Qianxue never turned back.

All Nanqing Haowen could do was to stare on in shock as the petite back of Nanlan Qianxue quickly disappeared into the crowds.

At this moment, Nanqing Haowen could not help but admire Nanlan Qianxue's decision.

Even though the opponent was an Origin Core realm martial artist, Nanlan Qianxue had still left without hesitation in order to go help Nanlu Tianzi.

When he asked himself if he would be able to come to such a decision as quickly as her, the answer was an obvious no.

Back then, it was the same as well.

While he was busy feeling relieved about reaching a point of safety, Nanlan Qianxue had always been thinking about how to return to rescue Nanlu Tianzi.

Perhaps this was the difference that separated the true geniuses from those who were only slightly talented like him.

Their mental capacities were on a completely different level

However, Nanqing Haowen did not have much time to sink into his thoughts.

Roar-!

His Black Maned Shadow Lion roared as it struck at an enemy soldier. At the same time, this thunderous roar also served to pull Nanqing Haowen's attention back to what was in front of him.

That's right.

He might not be able to act as impressively as those geniuses, but he still had his part to play.

Right now, what he needed to do was to step up and cover for the absence of both Nanlu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.

His subordinates in the battalion still needed him!

"Push forward!" Nanqing Haowen shouted at the top of his voice in an attempt to bolster the morale of his subordinates.

Stay safe, both of you

Nanqing Haowen shot one last glance in the direction that the duo had left in, before he resolutely shook the thought out of his head and charged forward with the rest of his men.

The terrain of their current battleground was relatively flat, which played a large part as to why the two sides chose to clash here in the first place.

However, that was not the case to the left and right of the battleground.

Not far from where the battleground ended, the density of trees grew rapidly to form into dense forests. If one were to go further, even the elevation of the land would start to vary greatly as mountains, rivers and valleys came into the picture.

After all, the battleground stretched on for quite a distance, and it was difficult for the terrain to remain the same throughout.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi had already made his way to the edge of the battleground.

With that last step, he finally broke free of the final ranks of soldiers, charging out into the open.

Even without looking back, Lu Tianzi knew that Chiren was still following closely behind.

Lu Tianzi could have chosen to take advantage of the chaos of battle in order to hide, but that would only delay the inevitable.

As an Origin Core realm martial artist, if the opponent chose to take drastic action, no amount of soldiers would be able to stop him, and it would only result in unnecessary deaths.

Thus, Lu Tianzi chose the other option run.

For that, the direction he had chosen to escape in was obvious enough. It was in the direction of the main camp of the Second Battlefront.

He understood that even if he failed to shake off the opponent, as long as he managed to maintain the distance until he arrived at the main army camp, the opponent would have no choice but to retreat.

But while he could think of such a simple solution, how could his opponent not have taken it into consideration as well?

Chiren might have been genuinely surprised by Lu Tianzi's movement technique, but he was well prepared for Lu Tianzi's speed.

After all, he had already heard about it from his ally, the old man who had engaged Lu Tianzi back then during the assault operation.

Lu Tianzi immediately went into full alert mode when he sensed the unmistakable surge of energy of an Origin Core realm martial artist coming from behind him.

The enemy had finally decided to make his move!

Chiren's hands burst into flames before he struck forth with his palms.

With the extension of his palm, flames of terrifying intensity were fired from Chiren's hands, aimed at the path in front Lu Tianzi, and not just once either.

Chiren struck forth with his palms repeatedly, sending numerous balls of fire that exploded upon contact with the ground, creating a scene of wildfire and thick black smoke.

Lu Tianzi frowned.

This was a scene of utter devastation.

But more importantly, it had created a wall of fire in front of him, preventing him from advancing any further.

Instead of aiming to take him down directly, the enemy had actually chosen to cut off his path of retreat, not allowing him to return to the army camp.

It seemed like the enemy had learnt well from their past mistake!

Back then, the old man had failed to hit Lu Tianzi despite trying for an extended period of time. By the time he decided to trap Lu Tianzi in one deadly combo, Lu Tianzi had already moved too far out.

By giving the old man a single slip, Lu Tianzi was able to get to safety, no longer trapped within the reach of the old man.

This time, Chiren was not intending to give him that opportunity.

Before anything else, he would first make sure that Lu Tianzi no longer had a safe point to return to!

Having had his path of retreat cut off, Lu Tianzi did not linger for even an additional moment.

He decisively cut to the side, putting the wondrous properties of the Flowing River Silent Strides on full display as he changed directions without losing much speed at all.

"Give it up, kid. It's over!" Chiren spoke with absolute confidence. "How far can you run? In fact, the further you run from the battleground, the better it is for me. After all, that means your seniors would need even more time to come to your rescue later. Of course, that is only if they can get away from the frenzied offence of my comrades to begin with! And if you go far enough, the Scarlet Moon Army would not even be able to prove that I killed you. That means I will not even suffer any consequences despite acting against the rules, personally eliminating an Essence Condensation realm youngster like you!"

Just as he said, now that they were moving further and further away from the battleground, Chiren was truly not in much of a hurry.

He continued to strike forth with his palms, extending the wall of flames that cut off Lu Tianzi's path to the Scarlet Moon Army camp. This path was not wide at all, and the wall of flames quickly hit a cliff that completely sealed off any remaining chances of retreat.

It was a tall mountain with steep walls that provided no cover whatsoever, and Lu Tianzi knew better than to attempt to climb it.

Even if he managed to scale the entire mountain, it would do nothing to help Lu Tianzi escape an opponent who could fly.

This forced Lu Tianzi to change his direction once more, heading towards the dense forests that stretched out to the sides of the battleground.

All this while, Chiren exercised a great level of self control in refraining from directly attacking Lu Tianzi.

Even though they had covered a large distance, they were still within the perception range of the many Origin Core realm martial artists engaged in battle.

Since this Nanlu Tianzi wanted to run, Chiren would let him run all he wanted.

It would be best if he continued running until they left the perception range of the other Origin Core realm martial artists.

At that point, Chiren could no longer be held responsible for anything that happened to him.

Even though the Scarlet Moon Army would never believe his words, even they would be reluctant to start an all out bloodbath without confirming all the facts.

As long as there was that slim chance of Nanlu Tianzi surviving and that he was simply hiding in the wilds, they would likely hold onto that last bastion of rationality and not resort to extreme measures.

That would be none other than the best case scenario that Chiren had been hoping for.

And from the looks of it, things were going just the way he planned!

Then again, of course it would.

After all, as long as there was a faint trace of hope, which martial artist would choose to willingly stay put and sacrifice his own life, all so that his assailant would get punished in the future?

That would not be altruism or loyalty, but pure stupidity.

Thus, it was only natural that Nanlu Tianzi would run for his life!

At this point, the duo had almost left the perception range of the other Origin Core realm martial artists, and Chiren was finally getting ready to act.

In front of them, the dense forest to the side of the battleground started to come into view.

With their speed, it would only be a matter of moments before the chase extended into the dense forest.

And the dense vegetation in the forest would provide the perfect cover for Chiren to act, making sure that Nanlu Tianzi remained 'hiding in the wilds' for the rest of eternity!

As for losing Nanlu Tianzi in the cover of trees, Chiren was not worried at all.

After all, an Origin Core realm martial artist's senses were nothing to be scoffed at. As long as he continued locking onto Nanlu Tianzi with his perception, a mere Advanced Essence Condensation realm martial artist like Nanlu Tianzi would never be able to give him the slip.

Just like that, the two charged straight into the dense forest.

Now's the time!

Chiren drove the Slaughter Essence within his inner world, ready to finally take down his target with a clean and surgical strike from afar.

Even though he did not have line of sight on Nanlu Tianzi due to the dense vegetation, he had already locked onto his target with his perception, and that was more than enough to accomplish this with absolute precision.

But just as he was about to strike, Nanlu Tianzi suddenly vanished from his perception altogether.

Chiren's eyes instantly widened in shock and utter disbelief.

What the fuck just happened?!