Pei Mianman quickly reached out an arm to support him. “Ah Zu, don’t let yourself be tricked! Not even those guys from the Devil Sect could injure her that badly! Zhuxie Chixin had to have made it in time. That’s the only explanation for her grievous wounds. With the help of those from the capital, how could anything have happened to Chuyan?”

Zu An finally snapped out of his daze. In the dungeon, he had seen Chuyan use her ultimate, forbidden technique to fend off a ninth-ranked Shi Kun despite being at the fifth rank herself. There was no way she could be killed so easily, now that she was at the seventh rank. Even if she decided not to use that technique, it still wouldn’t be easy for Mosquito Daoist to kill her.

He hadn’t sensed her unleashing her ultimate, forbidden technique, which meant that Chuyan had never been forced into such a dire, life-threatening situation.

These thoughts help to calm him down. He glared at Mosquito Daoist and berated her. “Damned mosquito, I never expected that you would love lying so much! You gave daddy such a fright.”

Mosquito Daoist was furious. “What did you say, brat?!”

As a powerful cultivator, she was respected and feared by many, and had run rampant across the world for many years. When was the last time she had been humiliated by a kid like this?

You have successfully trolled Mosquito Daoist for 999 Rage points!

She was just about to teach him a lesson when a strange red bird suddenly appeared in front of her.

It fluttered in front of her for a moment, then it opened its beak and released a strange cry.

Mosquito Daoist screamed. She clutched her ears, but this didn’t help block the torrent of sound at all.

She was a master of sound-based attacks herself, and immediately realized that this wasn’t a regular sound wave, but a spirit-based attack.

She quickly calmed her mind and used her ki to defend herself.

Seeing Mosquito Daoist in such acute pain, Pei Mianman prepared to leap forward, eager to take advantage of this, but Zu An grabbed her and started running instead. “What are you doing? We should be running right now!”

His Hundredwarble was a spirit element technique. It served as a powerful defense against the spirit-based attacks of others, but it wasn’t as great at offense.

The difference in cultivation between Mosquito Daoist and himself was way too big after all.

Even though Mosquito Daoist had been caught off guard, Hundredwarble only managed to stall her for a little. It didn’t do much actual damage.

As for using this as a chance to attack her, that was completely a fanciful delusion. Even though she was distracted spiritually, it wasn’t enough to make her completely lose control of herself. If they attacked her, she would still be in a position to retaliate.

If the gap in their cultivations wasn’t so huge, he might have given it a try. However, the difference was way too large, which made it completely pointless to take the risk. That was why he immediately pulled Pei Mianman away and ran further into the forest.

Mosquito Daoist was furious when she saw where the two of them had run to. “I will kill you!”

She wanted to chase after them, but was currently crippled by a splitting headache. The only thing she could do was to kneel down on the floor and clutch her head tightly.

Despite this, she wasn’t too worried. This skill of his surely had a finite duration. Once the effects wore off, she would quickly catch up to them.

Those two were both injured, and their clothes—and even their bodies—were drenched in blood. Even if they completely recovered from their injuries, took a shower, and changed into new clothes, it would still not be enough to wash away all traces of blood.

From the nature documentaries that he used to enjoy in his past world, he knew that sharks could smell a single drop of blood from a few kilometers away, even if it had been diluted a thousand times. These fiend races had a powerful sense of smell, and it wasn't something that he could fathom given his current knowledge.

“Where are we running to?” Pei Mianman asked, greatly worried.

Zu An thought for a bit and said, “Let’s meet up with that Zhuxie Chixin you mentioned. Mosquito Daoist is riddled with injuries that he gave her. In that case, it’ll be safe once we reach his side.”

“But that’s only temporary safety! You’ll die for sure once you reach the capital!” Pei Mianman gave him a doubtful look. “Are you sure you’re not suggesting this just because you want to meet up with Chuyan?”

Zu An was momentarily speechless. They were already in such a sticky situation, yet this woman’s imagination was still so rich! “Of course not! Didn’t I already explain everything to you guys?”

“Okay then.” Pei Mianman did not sound fully convinced. “But Mosquito Daoist is blocking our path back to the others. We might run straight into her if we go back now.”

“That is why I’m going in this direction. We’ll take a huge detour,” Zu An replied.

In agreement, the two of them continued to move around the forest.

A while later, the air was suddenly filled with an urgent buzzing.

“Mosquito Daoist is almost here.” Pei Mianman frowned anxiously. This was the sound she heard every time Mosquito Daoist was close. She was probably using her mosquitoes to track them.

“She’s like a spirit who won’t stop haunting me!” Zu An ground his teeth in annoyance. He really wished he had a bottle of pesticide or an electric fly swatter right now.

Of course, these were mere idle thoughts. Even if he had those things from his past world, there was no way they would help him get rid of this sentient mosquito monster.

Their surroundings suddenly grew brighter.

Zu An was stunned. “It’s already dawn?”

But this doesn’t make any sense! Did I really lose track of time while we were being chased?

“No, the sky isn’t brightening! It’s that thing!” Pei Mianman pointed towards the sky in shock.

Zu An raised his head. A shooting star seemed to have suddenly appeared! However, compared to those shooting stars that streak through the sky and disappear, this shooting star was growing brighter and larger by the second as it approached the ground.

Pei Mianman subconsciously grabbed Zu An’s arm. Her voice began to shake. “An irregular phenomenon! This is an inauspicious sign! Are we really going to die here today?”

Zu An was quite amused. He didn’t expect her usual bold and passionate self to be hiding such a timid side. He patted her hand to comfort her. “Don’t worry, it’s just a falling meteorite. It’s a normal thing in astronomy.”

He had seen many instances of such falling meteorites, thanks to the phone recordings and other media available in his past world. He still recalled the large Russian meteor, as well as the one in western China.

While they were chatting, the meteor, which was already pretty bright, suddenly erupted with a blinding white light, burning like the sun. It was supposed to be the middle of the night, yet it now seemed as bright as day. The light was strong enough to illuminate even distant objects and make them clearly visible.

This pseudo-daylight persisted for half a minute, then just as suddenly as it had appeared, the dazzling white light dimmed, and the burning meteor seemed to fall apart. It broke into several dozen waves of dark red flames, shooting off in different directions.

The sky became dark again, and the surroundings grew deathly quiet.

Zu An’s eyes lit up. “Irregular phenomena always bring treasures with them. I’m going to take a look.”

Pei Mianman was worried. “We’re being hunted right now, and we don’t even know if we’ll be able to make it out alive. How can you still be in the mood to look for treasure?!”

Zu An chuckled. “This is where you’re wrong. Even if we try to run back as quickly as we could, Mosquito Daoist will most likely catch up to us. We won’t be able to meet up with Zhuxie Chixin in time. But that meteor caused a huge disturbance, and everyone within several dozen li is sure to have seen it. Zhuxie Chixin’s group is no exception.

“There isn’t a living soul who wouldn’t be tempted by powerful treasure! Everyone who’s seen it will be heading over there to check it out, and they will surely get there much faster than we do. It’s safer than running around looking for them ourselves.”

Pei Mianman gave him a startled look. She thought that greed had taken over his mind, but he’d actually reasoned things out in such great detail.

Zu An laughed bashfully. “Don’t stare at me like that… You know, research shows that two people can’t help but fall in love if they stare into each other's eyes for thirty seconds.”

“Fall in love, my ass!” Pei Mianman scoffed. “Why didn’t I see you act like this when Chuyan was with us earlier?”

Zu An’s eyes widened. “Are you implying that I should act more intimately with you in front of Chuyan?”

“Hmph! In your dreams!” Pei Mianman snorted angrily. She ran off, her mind in quite a mess.

Zu An chuckled and followed after her.

The two of them headed in the direction where the largest meteorite chunk had fallen. In a few moments, they found themselves in front of a massive crater. All the earth around it was scorched black, and guttering flames still burned across the surrounding wasteland.