Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Cutting Off the Tail

Now that Shi Chun put it that way, Wu Jinliang glanced back at the perfectly unremarkable path they'd taken and had to admit it seemed a bit odd. But he still tried to rationalize it. "Surely the treasure in the mine is more important to them than we are? It makes sense they'd prioritize securing the treasure first instead of chasing us."Shi Chun looked him dead in the eye. "That shimmering purple nebula is inside me.""What?!" Wu Jinliang jolted in shock, utterly floored by his audacity. To steal such a priceless treasure right under everyone's noses—he was insane! He immediately reached out to yank open Shi Chun's trousers. "Where is it? Show me quick…"Slap! Shi Chun swatted his hand away hard. "I'll explain later."Wu Jinliang withdrew his hand, chuckling awkwardly. He glanced up at the darkening sky and quickly pieced together the reason. "Right, it's getting dark. If that glowing thing lights up, we'll be spotted in no time." His expression then turned grave again. "But still—you stole the treasure they'd spent so much effort digging up, and yet they're not even bothering to chase us? Especially when they have the upper hand in terms of manpower. That's definitely not normal."It wasn't just a little abnormal—it was extremely suspicious. Shi Chun scanned their surroundings with unwavering vigilance, convinced there was something deeply wrong here. The dim, shadowy landscape seemed to teem with hidden terrors; the more he couldn't figure out what was going on, the tighter his chest felt with tension.He never feared straightforward fights and killings, but the unknown always made him uneasy. An open spear thrust could be dodged, but a hidden arrow struck without warning—that was a truth he knew all too well.Just as his nerves were stretched to their breaking point, a sharp pain suddenly shot through him. He gasped, dropping his sword as he clutched his head. The agonizing sensation of his skull splitting apart and countless ants gnawing at his spine was back.This time, however—whether because he'd already endured it once and built up a tolerance, or because the pain was less intense—it didn't leave him teetering on the brink of unconsciousness like before. But it was still excruciating enough to make him break out in a cold sweat.And just like before, strange, incomprehensible visions flashed before his eyes, as if he'd been transported into an illusory world of light and shadow.This world was bizarre—it seemed completely unaffected by any external light. Neither the oil lamps in the mine nor the fading twilight of the sky made any difference to its brightness or darkness.When he closed his right eye, he saw the normal world around him; when he closed his left eye, he was greeted by those bizarre, distorted images. He had no idea why the pain was causing these visual hallucinations.Such an obvious display of distress couldn't escape Wu Jinliang's notice. He jumped in alarm, grabbing Shi Chun to steady him. "Chun! What's wrong?!"But Shi Chun, trembling violently from the pain, shoved him away. He rolled onto the sloping hillside, gasping for breath. Clenching his teeth so hard his jaw muscles bulged and digging his fingernails into his palms, he forced himself to sit up with immense effort. He closed his left eye and turned his head slowly, scanning the area with his right.Wu Jinliang, who'd dropped his own weapon, knelt down to support him, reaching out to check his pulse. "Chun, don't scare me! What's going on with you?!"Shi Chun drove an elbow into his chest, forcing the words out through gritted, trembling teeth. "Shut… up… lie down… don't get in my way."Knocked off balance, Wu Jinliang was about to scramble back to his feet. But at those words, he froze mid-movement, then flopped back down onto the ground. He stared at Shi Chun, his eyes wide with confusion, dying to ask what the hell he was doing staring around with one eye closed.Shi Chun had suddenly recalled the scene from earlier, when he'd fled the mine after absorbing the nebula. At the T-shaped corner, he'd seen the crowd of workers—and through his right eye, they'd appeared as hazy, white, mist-like figures.His overwhelming sense of unease had collided with that memory, prompting him to force himself upright and test his vision by closing his left eye and relying solely on his right.His breathing was still ragged, but as his right eye slowly swept over the bizarre, distorted landscape, his head suddenly froze in place.He'd only been experimenting—but to his shock, he actually saw two faint, white, mist-like shapes floating in the air. They weren't close to each other; one was slowly approaching the other.As his attention focused on the shapes, the pain in his head began to fade away.He closed his right eye and opened his left—the white misty shapes vanished. Glancing at the corresponding positions in the normal world, he saw that they weren't floating in empty space at all. One of them was located on the very mountaintop they'd been planning to head toward.He closed his left eye again and opened his right, comparing the two views. There was no mistake—it was right there on that mountaintop. And now, the second misty shape had merged with the first.Comparing this dynamic change to the group of figures he'd seen in the cave earlier, he realized with a jolt that he really was seeing two people lying in ambush there. But why? He had no clue how this was possible.And indeed, two men were lying in wait on that mountaintop, their faces concealed behind black cloth masks. They had already set their sights on Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang.Fortunately, this area was completely barren and bare of any vegetation—any movement would be easily spotted. If it had been a dense forest, even the enhanced eyesight of cultivators would have struggled to detect them. But the sky was growing dark, and the distance was considerable; unless the two fugitives passed close by, the ambushers wouldn't be able to make out their exact appearance.One of the masked men crawled up to the mountaintop from behind their hiding spot and whispered to the one already stationed there. "What's the situation? Why are those two just sitting there resting?"The man already on the hill replied quietly. "How should I know?"The newcomer pressed further. "So does this count as them leaving the area… or not?"The first man scoffed softly. "Do you really think they came all this way just to sightsee? Do you honestly believe they'll turn around and go back?"The newcomer let out a quiet chuckle, realizing his question had been rather foolish.The first man unfastened a fist-sized woven cage from his waist, opened the lid, and pulled out a small bird. Faintly visible on the bird's body were the characters "Four-Seven." He tossed the bird into the valley behind them.The bird immediately spread its wings and flew off through the valley.Shi Chun saw the bird take flight through his right eye—not as a real bird, but as a small, white, misty shape. But from its form and movement, he could vaguely tell what it was, and he could easily guess the purpose of releasing a bird at this time.His eyes flickered with realization, the pain in his head completely forgotten. He scanned the surrounding area again, searching for more of those human-shaped white misty figures.He thought he spotted a few, but they seemed to be quite far away. He closed his right eye and checked with his left—yes, they were definitely distant, several mountains away. Judging by their positions, they seemed to be part of the same line of sentries. He tried to look farther with his right eye, but he had no idea how far this strange vision of his extended; beyond that, he saw no more misty shapes.And then, the bizarre vision in his right eye began to fade, his eyesight slowly returning to normal.He quickly channeled his cultivation energy to assess his physical condition and breathed a sigh of relief—this bout of pain hadn't caused any serious damage to his body's functions.Wu Jinliang, who'd been waiting silently beside him for a while, finally couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. He whispered, "Chun… what in the world are you doing?"Shi Chun's gaze locked onto the mountaintop where the ambushers were hiding. "There are people lying in wait on that hill.""What?!" Wu Jinliang spun around, staring in the direction he was pointing. Given the dim light and the distance, there was no way anyone could spot hidden sentries! He strained his eyes until they felt like they would pop out of his head, but he couldn't see the slightest trace of anyone."I'm ill…" Shi Chun said, then lay back down on the ground. He grabbed Wu Jinliang by the ear and pulled him close, muttering a plan in his ear.Wu Jinliang nodded repeatedly as he listened. Then he untied the bundle of clothes Shi Chun had been carrying and draped them over his body. Next, he took his own massive sword, laid it flat like a bed, and carefully placed Shi Chun on top of it. Then he lifted both the sword and Shi Chun in his arms and carried him away.As they passed by the foot of the mountaintop where the ambushers were hiding, Shi Chun's hand tightened around the hilt of his own sword beneath the covering clothes, ready to draw it at a moment's notice to fend off any potential sneak attack.He was also feigning illness and weakness, hoping to lure the two men into attacking them.The two of them had fought their way to the top in Dong Jiuyuan; they were never ones to back down from a fair fight—one-on-one or two-on-two.But to their disappointment, as they passed by, the ambushers made no move to attack.However, Shi Chun, lying in Wu Jinliang's arms and keeping a close eye on their rear, noticed that the two hidden men had emerged from their hiding spot and were now tailing them at a distance. He immediately whispered a few more words to Wu Jinliang.Wu Jinliang instantly altered their course slightly. Dong Jiuyuan was their territory, after all, and they had come here with the intention of carrying out a mission—so they were quite familiar with the local terrain.The two men tailing them dared not get too close, for fear of alerting their prey. Every so often, they pressed a glowing fingerprint onto a rock along the path, leaving a trail.Before long, Wu Jinliang disappeared from their sight, turning into a narrow, winding canyon.By the time the two pursuers caught up, Wu Jinliang had already exited the canyon. But instead of continuing his escape, he stopped in his tracks, still carrying Shi Chun in his arms, and began looking around in all directions, as if searching for something.The two tailers didn't dare emerge from the canyon. They hid at the mouth of the pass instead, remaining motionless as they observed the scene from the shadows.Suddenly, there was a sharp swishing sound! The two men spun around in alarm, only to see a figure leap out from a crevice in the canyon wall. The masked man on the opposite side hastily drew his sword.The two figures clashed in an instant. There were only two loud clangs of metal meeting metal—then the ambushed man looked down at his own chest, where a gaping wound had split open, spraying blood everywhere, and crumpled to the ground.The attacker was none other than Shi Chun! He stood over the fallen man, flicking the blood off his sword. Meanwhile, the head of the other masked man—who hadn't even had time to draw his sword—dropped from his neck, his body toppling sideways to the ground.The reputation of the Master of Dong Jiuyuan was no empty boast. Though his body still felt the lingering effects of the earlier pain, cutting down these two men was as easy as mowing grass for him.Outside the canyon, Wu Jinliang heard the sound of fighting and immediately turned around. He tore the clothes off Shi Chun's body and slung them over his own shoulder, then flipped his massive sword over—revealing that the object he'd been carrying on it wasn't Shi Chun at all, but a long, heavy stone slab! He dragged the sword behind him as he charged toward the canyon mouth, ready to join the fray.But by the time he arrived, the fight was already over.Seeing that the two pursuers had been eliminated, Wu Jinliang tilted his head toward the open road and said, "The tail's been cut off. We can run for it without worry now. There's no time to lose—let's go!"But Shi Chun, who'd just picked up his sword sheath and slid his blade back into it, said in a grave voice, "We have to go back to the mine.""What?!" Wu Jinliang's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in disbelief. He stared at Shi Chun, dumbfounded. "Back to the mine? Did I hear that right?!"Shi Chun explained calmly, "These two men weren't just here for us—they're here for anyone who tries to leave the mine area."Wu Jinliang looked completely confused. "What do you mean?"Shi Chun elaborated, "The reason Shen Youkun isn't chasing us is twofold. First, he's already a step behind—he might not be able to catch up. Second, and more importantly, he's got interceptors stationed all around the perimeter. But those interceptors weren't specifically deployed to catch us—because he had no idea we were inside the mine. If he had known, we never would have made it out of the excavation zone alive."He slung his sword over his back as he spoke. "Once I confirmed these two men were really tailing us, I finally realized something we've been overlooking this entire time."Wu Jinliang leaned in, straining to follow his train of thought. "What is it?"Shi Chun turned his gaze to the two dead bodies on the ground. "Shen Youkun is doing something shady—something that can't see the light of day. But there were so many people at the mine who saw what was going on. Does he really think he can trust that ragtag bunch to keep their mouths shut?""Silence them?" Wu Jinliang blurted out the word, then froze, a look of horror spreading across his face. "You mean… he's going to kill all those people? Every last one of them?!"Shi Chun nodded grimly. "Because there are so many people involved, we never even considered the possibility. But now it's clear—we natives are too narrow-minded. We can't compare to those outsiders who've seen the world and know how ruthless people can be."Wu Jinliang quickly scanned their surroundings, finally realizing the true purpose of the interceptors stationed all around the perimeter—they were there to catch any escapees trying to slip away. But he still didn't understand. "They're going to kill their own men—so what? Why do we need to go back? We barely escaped with our lives! Are you really thinking of saving that bunch of unruly miners?!"Shi Chun fixed him with a sharp gaze. "Are we really out of danger? I stole the treasure they were digging for, and our identities have probably been exposed by now. From now on, they'll hunt us to the ends of the earth… But think about it—if Shen Youkun is busy silencing everyone, he'll be left with few men to protect him. Isn't this the perfect chance to erase all traces of us ever being here?"