Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
Justice let out an ‘oh’ sound and buried his head back in his noodles. Suddenly, he felt as though he could not swallow his food properly, as his heart started to feel uneasy. Something felt off somewhere, as though he had come close to figuring out the truth, but was covered by one final veil. A perplexed look surfaced on his face.
At that moment, he heard the old man Huo YuanJia speaking hurriedly,
Enjoy your food, friend. This old man is going to bring my wife to see the physician, ah, I thank this younger brother for once again bestowing such a great gift upon me.
Justice suppressed the frustration in his heart as he smiled,
Go ahead, this matter shouldn’t be delayed. I hope that this brother can successfully invite a famed physician and nurse your wife back to great health.
Your kind words are etched in my heart.
The old man smiled in a weird manner and walked outside.
Justice grabbed a piece of beef with his chopsticks and slowly chewed on it. He could not help but let out a sigh as he thought, With so many people stricken with problems in the world, even if one is a saint, he or she cannot save everyone.
Seeing the waiter of the wine shop staring blankly at him, Justice could not help let out a laugh as he thought, How could this country bumpkin understand what I’m talking about? As he thought about this, his enthusiasm waned, and he waved at him, asking,
Friend, how far is it from here to the Immortal Gathering City?
The waiter immediately rolled his eyes at him.
It’s really far, at least twenty to thirty kilometers. Customer, are you planning to go to the Immortal Gathering City? If you are, then you had better bring more food along. For that entire journey, there will not be a single person along the way, let alone a tavern!
Justice smiled at that, about to reply, when suddenly his face contracted.
Nobody at all for the whole journey? Then where’s the nearest village from here?
The waiter sighed as he replied,
Customer, I’ve already told you that there will be no one for the next twenty kilometers or so, so how would there be a village?
As he spoke, he looked at Justice in a different light. No wonder this person was so generous, immediately taking out a large silver ingot. So he was actually a fool.
Justice was stunned on the spot, and he finally asked in a pained voice,
That old man just now… have you seen him before?
The waiter rolled his eyes once again.
This master must be joking with me. Such aged people will never walk along this route, or at least they will not have escaped my eyes! But I’ve never seen this old man before! The number of people around these areas has always been few…
Peng!
A loud noise was heard as the entire table was pulverized into sawdust. The waiter only saw a blur before he realized that the green-robed man had vanished in front of him, just like a ghost and demon from the legends.
Fk me!
The waiter immediately kneeled on the ground as he kowtowed in the direction, his entire body trembling. No wonder the fortune teller told me that my eight character s 1 are weak and susceptible to evil influences. This sort of matter, if it’s not a demonic encounter, then what else could it be?!
Before he could even climb back up on his feet, a whistling sound could be heard, and a huge ingot of silver flew from afar and landed before him. He exclaimed in surprise, and thought again, Could it be that I did not have a demonic encounter, but rather met the fortune deity himself?!
Justice’s face looked like a thunderstorm right now, and his eyes looked as though they could spit out flames at any time! He just realized that that Huo YuanJia was just a character that Ling Tian had made up! Having thought about this, he naturally understood why he had constantly felt uneasy. It was because his target was in front of him all the time! And he had even cheated an ingot of silver from him!
What a good Ling Tian, to actually disguise as an old man to fool me!
He had spent so much effort to chase down his target, but was unable to recognize Ling Tian even though that target was sitting in front of him! He had even allowed that little brat to call him ‘little brother’. Justice now felt like pulling Ling Tian’s tongue out! A small brat of only sixteen or seventeen years old, and Justice had even cheerfully called him ‘old brother’…
A real scoundrel, this brat is asking for death!!! Justice was apoplectic with rage! In his entire life, he had never been so angry, but right now, Justice felt as though he could swallow Ling Tian whole if he caught up to him! The advice he previously told himself, to calm down, had long been thrown out of the window!
With his superior movement techniques, and under the full urging of his internal energy, Justice’s speed was shocking! In a blink of an eye, he had already passed over five kilometers, and turning around another bend, he saw a primitive jungle as far as his eyes could see, which made him even more depressed! Coupled with the thought on how Ling Tian dressed up as an old man to cheat him, he could not hold in his anger anymore!
He caught sight of a tiny black dot far ahead from him, and Justice could see clearly that it was the old man Huo YuanJia… oh no, it should be Ling Tian! That sixty to seventy-year-old looking man was actually literally flying across the plains!
Justice shouted in fury,
Ling Tian! You darned brat, why don’t you change your profession to be an actor instead!
Ling Tian still had on that distressed expression of an old man, and turning back and seeing Justice catching up to him, he could not help but guffaw in laughter, and picking up his speed, he jeered,
Little brother, this old brother is going to visit the physician, are you coming along with me?
The veins in Justice’s temples started jumping as his eyes turned bloodshot. He yelled,
Ling Tian! I’ll skin you alive! Stop running if you dare!
With a loud laugh, Ling Tian appeared in front of the forest, and his voice could be heard from afar,
Little bro, I’ll wait for you in the forest!
Justice let out a loud snarl as he chased close behind, smashing headlong into the forest. Twigs and branches were smashed apart along the way, without any resistance as he barreled towards Ling Tian.
Going 100 feet into the jungle, the traces of Ling Tian disappeared once again. Justice panted heavily as he surveyed his surroundings. Even if he were to use all the water from the three rivers and five lakes 2 , he would still not be able to wash off his shame today. The humiliation he received today surpassed his entire lifetime’s worth, causing him to almost go mad!
The sound of startled birds continuously rang out within the forest for a while, and it was only after a long time that Justice finally managed to calm himself down. In his surroundings, other than the sound of panicked animals fleeing from the aura he exuded, there were no other noises. Suddenly, Justice began to laugh once again. Hadn’t he reminded himself again and again not to fall for Ling Tian’s tricks? The kid seemed to have some power to drive someone crazy. He already witnessed it first hand and continuously warned himself to keep a lookout for any possible ambushes, but how did he know that Ling Tian was also well-versed in disguising himself?! This was the blind spot brought about by his vision and reality, that even if he was in peak form, he might still end up overlooking! Ling Tian could be considered lucky to have escaped his clutches again today!
However, can luck follow a person forever?
The sky was already darkening, and as the last ray of light disappeared, darkness once again embraced the land. In this eerily quiet forest, one could not see their hands stretched out in front of them!
Justice suddenly had a thought: In these sort of circumstances, with Ling Tian not possessing greater strength than him, and with similar night capabilities, he had an advantage against Ling Tian!
With no signs of movement in the surroundings, Ling Tian was definitely still within the forest. And with Justice hot in his trails, there could be no way that Ling Tian would have traveled far! Thus, he had to be around somewhere, and was holding his breath and hiding!
In order to hide from Justice, one not only had to hold their breath but also seal all the pores on their body, to prevent any leakage of their aura! However, to do so would require heaven-defying internal energy to maintain for long periods of time! Even for Justice himself, the longest he could maintain this form was for a whole night, let alone Ling Tian whose endurance was way below his!
Justice let out a smile on his face and sat down cross-legged as he slowly exhaled. He unhurriedly circulated his energy, his spiritual sense pouring out in torrents like mercury around him. With his position as the focal point, he slowly released his sense farther outward, as though he could search the entire world by doing so…
So long as Ling Tian was still within the forest, any movement he made, even if it was his heart slightly beating, he would be able to detect it, and under cover of darkness, one’s internal strength would be the deciding factor here!
Let us see who can endure longer!
Ling Tian was really seated under a tree not far ahead, his back leaning upon the tree without a single movement. He seemed to have melded into the tree, the forest, and even the entire night.
2 hours passed… 4 hours passed…
There was still no movement between the both of them, and the entire forest was silent like a grave. The only sound came from the crickets which were still unaware of the situation.
Ling Tian could not help but groan inwardly. He had actually planned with full confidence that given enough time, Justice would start to become suspicious of his own decisions and continue to chase him. To think that Justice could have such determination in his decision, even being so steadfast after being tricked so many times. In contrast, his method, while allowing him to hide completely, was the most strength-sapping. If he were to continue doing so, he would eventually tire out and reveal his location. By then, if he still wanted to escape from Justice’s hands, that would be nothing but a pipe dream!
But if he were to attempt to run now, in this patch of darkness, it would be a simple matter for Justice to catch up to him! Caught between a rock and a hard place, he could only cry out in anguish, did he underestimate this number one expert after all? Ling Tian’s brain begun to whirl as he tried to come out with ways to escape his predicament.
Before Ling Tian could come out with a plausible plan, Justice had moved on his side. After all, the initiative lay on his side.
As it turned out, Justice had unknowingly stuck his hands into his chest pocket out of boredom, but he came across a small item. This gave him great joy when he realized how he could force Ling Tian out of his position! Furthermore, it was something obtained from Ling Tian! At this point, he almost wanted to burst out in laughter. Ling Tian, Ling Tian, this is called paying for your crimes! To be able to get one up Ling Tian this time, Justice was immeasurably satisfied.
What Justice was holding now was precisely what Ling Tian had left in the earlier forest, the Pistil of Serpent’s Spit!
