Month 18

Well, the good news is that my life is no longer grueling monotony. The bad news is that I’m no longer able to get any rest even in the wilderness. Before, I could run for a few days, then hunt and rest for a few days to restore my strength. Things have changed. Those pursuing me now are far more powerful than before. The troops of the Jade Horde only threatened me in large numbers. I’m much faster than them and they could only hope to stop with their persistence and the constant wear.

Those after me now are not the Jade Horde. Only the leaders of the Horde are strong enough to face me head on, and I can easily outrun the rest of them. They were constantly following me and trying to surround me to stop me from running. These new foes are much stronger.

After being on the run for a day, I stopped to take a breather. I was eating a boar-like Spirit Animal and figured I was pretty far ahead of my pursuers. Suddenly, I felt a vibration from the ground. It was very subtle, but I had been using the Warp Worm for tunneling so much that I had become quite sensitive to such tremors. I fled at my top speed, just in time to avoid an explosion from below. The boar corpse was turned into a red mist and splashed across a large area, showing just how dangerous that sudden sneak attack was. I was about to start running, but I was stopped in my tracks by a wall of stone rising up from the ground.

I had to quickly alter my course to go around the obstacle, but that was their goal. The wall channeled me into one of two directions, each of which was guarded by what I presumed were my enemies. They each wore a set of black robes that had a golden sunburst symbol across their chests. I didn’t recognize the outfit, but I did recognize that they were both using Earth techniques. Spikes of rock rose up out of the ground from one direction while the other picked up and hurled huge boulders at me. It wasn’t actually that difficult to avoid the attacks, but the constant bombardment forced me into a defensive state.

That was when I noticed motion in the distance. Just like the stone wall beside me, another was rising up further into the distance. That’s when I realized the attacks I was suffering were intended to just tie me down while they sprung their trap. I wasn’t fool enough to stick around to see what the next step of their plan was. I covered myself in a layer of Blue Icesilver armor and then used the Sovereign Stone to clear a path directly through the first wall they used to corral me.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. There were far more than two of those black robed figures and they were spread out over a large area. Thankfully, the Sovereign Stone seemed to completely trump them. From the fluctuations of aura I felt most of the black robes were over level 40. If I didn’t have the Sovereign Stone they might have easily killed me, but I was lucky enough to plow through their many layers of defense. I suffered a few injuries along the way, but nothing as bad as my second escape from Lionheart Town. Worse yet, they were far faster than the Jade Horde so they kept so close on my heels I no longer had time to rest.

That attack was nearly a month ago.

I ran almost endlessly for weeks and it was only the superhuman strength of my beast body and the unending supply of Qi from the Life Nebula that gave me any chance at all. I was driven nearly to the edge before I was able to catch the quick break that I’m taking advantage of right now.

Another set of aggressors joined the fray. They wore purple robes and were flinging purple bolts of energy at the ones wearing black robes. Their conflict gave me enough time to do something drastic. I threw myself off a cliff, leaping into a river. It was a choice made out of desperation and I was lucky to make it through a few groups of swarming river beasts before dragging myself onto a rocky shore many miles away.

Month 21

My life feels like it’s been worn down to the bone.

In the last three months of constant escape, I lost all of the growth that I’d previously built up from hunting. The two new groups on my tail constantly skirmished, reducing the pressure on me just enough to give me more opportunities to keep ahead of them. Even so, the longer the chase went on, the more desperate I got.

Given my location, I could only think of one place to seek help. I used my Heavenly Materials to force the two groups following me into a clash and then broke away from them long enough to use the Human Seal and rush into Plum Lantern City in the Righteous Wind Province. I rushed towards that exceptionally beautiful manor with the word ‘Zhu’ on the nameplate. I banged upon their gates and called for Zhu Xiulan, the Third Elder who had respected the message from my Ancestor.

They ignored me. No, worse than ignoring me, they declared there was no relation between us and that I should flee while I still could. I made more demands, but they were completely ignored. I felt a flash of anger, but even as I thought about striking at them I felt the aura of their guards rising. I didn’t care what sort of spectacle I had become, I was just out of options. I knew it was only a matter of time before I couldn’t run any longer. They only had to get lucky once to capture me, while I was constantly pushing mine to get away from them. I didn’t have any time to deliberate, the short window I’d bought myself was closing so I fled from town.

Then, I saw her again.

The petite and dainty girl that looked shy and demure from a distance. The same one that knocked me down when we collided in a hallway and then proceeded to curse my future wife. I also saw her explosive temper levied against her enemies, using a beast-like level of strength to hurl massive objects to batter down the walls of fortified structures.

I thought she was there to kick me when I was down, to mock my dire situation, but I was wrong. There was actually a soft look in her eyes. It didn’t seem like pity, but actual kindness. She didn’t mention anything about the last time we met, I had changed my appearance and I only left her a clue when I was leaving. Thinking on it now, I had sort of teased her and assumed she’d make the connection later on. I couldn’t help but ask if she knew who I was, not just as a fugitive, but my hidden identity. She nodded, but changed the subject. Then she passed me a map and handed me a talisman.

When I looked at the formation contained within the talisman I could feel the power rolling off it, such dense energy it reminded me of a star. Before I could ask, she told me that it would send me many hundreds of miles away. It wasn’t teleportation, but a high speed escape method. It didn’t have an accurate end point, it was more like the magical equivalent of being shot out of a cannon. The ‘charge’ and ‘firing angle’ were both somewhat loose. Even a fraction of a degree difference at the start would translate to a drastically different position after traveling hundreds of miles. That’s why she also gave me a map. Even though I’d studied many maps long ago back in the Soul Taming Abode, I didn’t recognize this map in the least.

Then she told me that’s because the map is from far to the north. A great uncharted wilderness area. Or that’s what I thought. She shook her head and told me that was only common knowledge. Actually, there was an empty border zone of a few thousand miles and then I would be entering the territory of the Shou Empire. A kingdom run by Demonic Beasts. She told me that if I could reach their territory, the human cultivators wouldn’t dare to follow after me.

I felt a warm feeling in my chest, but before I could say anything more she ran away. I wanted to chase after her, but in the end all I did was yell after her. I blurted out something about this not being our last meeting and then ran off in the opposite direction.