Chapter Sixty-Eight: Marquis of Yunshan

“Ha-ha-ha! Little girl, you are quite perceptive. I wonder, are your elders here?”

A hearty laugh suddenly rang out within the cave. Though not loud, it seemed to echo in everyone’s ears, and anyone with a bit of cultivation could tell at once that the speaker possessed profound martial skill.

Along with the laughter, four figures emerged from the shadows deep inside the cave, led by an elderly man.

The elder wore a brocade robe woven in red and violet, with an unknown ferocious beast embroidered at its center. It accentuated his dignity and authority, marking him at a glance as someone long accustomed to standing above others.

His smile was kind as he looked at Cloudheart with the benevolence of a doting senior, his tone carrying the familiarity of polite exchange.

Cloudheart stepped forward at once, a bright smile touching her lovely face as she gave a slight bow.

“So it is Marquis Cloudmount. This humble one, Cloudheart, pays respects on behalf of my mother, Cloudrain.”

Before Cloudmount could reply, Cloudheart remained composed, a trace of admiration gathering on her face as she praised him:

“I had not expected the marquis to be so formidable, able to dispose of that Thousand-Eyed Miasma Demon so effortlessly and secure the safety of the surrounding dozens of li. You are truly a pillar of our Angler-Sun Kingdom.”

At that moment, Chen Qi, who had been observing the people across from him, suddenly heard a rapid inward transmission of inner force in his ear. It came unmistakably from Cloudheart, who was still exchanging pleasantries with Marquis Cloudmount.

“Run at once when the chance comes. Do not hesitate. Use that formation flag!”

Chen Qi barely kept his expression unchanged, while his thoughts roiled like a storm in an instant.

No matter how dull he might have been, he could tell from Cloudheart’s unusual tone that the relationship between the two sides was nothing like the familiarity their words suggested. On the contrary, there was a hatred so deep it could not be concealed.

With this change in perception, Chen Qi immediately felt that Marquis Cloudmount’s smile was not entirely natural either, faintly carrying the look of a smile that never reached the eyes.

Behind Marquis Cloudmount stood three young disciples, two men and one woman. Their auras all resembled those of inner disciples Chen Qi had seen before, clearly experts at the first heavenly realm and above.

Closest to Marquis Cloudmount was a handsome young man of noble bearing. A playful smile lingered on his face as he idly toyed with a folding fan painted with an ink-wash landscape, his manner relaxed and leisurely.

Beside the noble youth stood a sultry woman. Her face held a pitiful, delicate charm, yet she wore blazing red garments that were loose and revealing. Through the wide-open collar, one could faintly glimpse the proud fullness of her chest and the pale softness concealed among the overlapping peaks.

Her gaze was fixed directly on the round-faced girl, carrying a blatant greed and possessiveness. Chen Qi had only ever seen such a look on the faces of unsavory men in certain films, and even then, it was usually directed at women.

At the very back stood a youth in fitted clothes. His features were still childish, and his attire was ordinary, yet his gaze toward the others was the hottest of all, faintly giving one the illusion that he wished to burn everyone to ash.

Turning back to the elder, Chen Qi saw Marquis Cloudmount waving his hands grandly with repeated laughter.

“Not at all, not at all. It took me a great deal of effort to slay that beast, and even then I lost a disciple to it. Unlike you, niece, who dared to lead your people deep into this place. Truly worthy of being the daughter of Sect Master Cloud.”

As he spoke, the elder also turned and addressed his disciples.

“You should all learn from this. This is what a true prodigy looks like, one qualified for the Eastern Barbarian Academy’s assessment, a pride of our Angler-Sun Kingdom.”

Clearly unwilling to defy Marquis Cloudmount’s meaning, the disciples behind him hurriedly lowered their heads and answered yes. Yet their expressions became even more playful, and in the depths of their eyes there was even a hint of cruelty beginning to take shape.

The atmosphere on the field instantly grew heavy, as though even the mist had lost its liveliness.

The entire team fell silent. The air became oppressively tense, as if everyone wanted to say something but, for some reason, no one dared speak.

Even so, each person could not help tightening their grip on their weapons, as though a great battle were about to break out at any moment.

The solemn atmosphere affected Chen Qi as well. His face tightened, and he subtly adjusted his breathing.

He was already holding the smoke-blue formation flag in his hand, each finger pinning the fabric tightly so he could crush it at any moment.

There was no better option. After sensing things briefly, Chen Qi had realized that he could not defeat any one of the four people across from him.

More precisely, any one of them could slaughter him with ease.

The scene thus fell into silence. Chen Qi could even hear the heavy breathing that Sun Ruohai beside him could no longer suppress, proving how hard he was struggling to endure.

At last, Cloudheart broke the silence once more.

“Since Marquis Cloudmount has already hunted this beast, our remaining here serves no purpose. Please excuse us as we take our leave.”

Marquis Cloudmount slowly nodded without trying to keep them, though his voice carried a trace of concern.

“Be careful on your way back to the sect. Do not let anything happen to you, or else your sect master would be worried.”

Cloudheart bowed again and led the others to retreat step by step, moving away with steady and orderly steps.

Chen Qi followed along in lockstep, a thoughtful look on his face, and his tightly held formation flag loosened slightly.

The battle he had anticipated had unexpectedly not broken out. What on earth had gone wrong?

At that moment, from the corner of his eye, Chen Qi clearly saw Cloudheart, while turning away, swallow something she had already prepared in her sleeve.

That item contained explosive power. Chen Qi was all too familiar with it. It was unmistakably the precious heavenly treasure from the underground lake: Phoenix Blood Churned Milk!

Chen Qi’s pupils contracted. His footing slipped, yet his body made a decision in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone could react, he suddenly lunged toward Sun Ruohai beside him, pressing their bodies tightly together.

Buzz!

A strange sound rang out, like a sonic boom produced by sound compressed to the extreme.

Chen Qi felt the energy within his back surge to life, then in an instant condense into a tidal wave of power that was still rapidly swelling.

The transformation came astonishingly fast, completed in the span of a single breath, but it was already enough for Chen Qi to throw himself to Sun Ruohai, who stood barely a zhang away.

Without hesitation and without looking back to check the situation, Chen Qi fiercely activated the smoke-blue formation flag hidden in his palm.

The moment the flag was triggered, Chen Qi felt a sudden dizziness strike his mind, as though he were plunging at great speed. His vision instantly dissolved into chaos.

When his sight finally returned and gradually cleared, Chen Qi steadied himself and looked ahead, only to find that he had already appeared on the mountain path where Cloudheart had set up her formation.

“Ugh—!”

Another strange sound came from near his feet. Looking down, he saw a figure staggering and collapsing to the ground, retching uncontrollably. It was none other than Sun Ruohai, whom Chen Qi had dragged along.

Knowing this was no time to rest, Chen Qi copied the posture he remembered Cloudheart using when she carried him, and seized Sun Ruohai by the back of his collar.

Suppressing the urge to use another teleport and increase the distance again, Chen Qi chose to activate the flag’s acceleration function.

This was what he had calculated in an instant: judging by running distance alone, ten minutes of accelerated running would be faster than teleporting and then running normally.

A cool sensation rose beneath his soles, making him lighter and more agile, as though even wind resistance had been reduced to the point of being negligible. Borrowing the downward slope, Chen Qi shot away like a streak of brilliant light.

The instant he took off, a thunderous crash came from the direction of the cave, sounding like a massive burst of energy exploding within a confined space.

Unable to help himself, he let his attention stray for a moment, and saw that a large section of the cave’s roof had actually been blasted away, allowing the mist on the mountain peak to pour directly inside.

Within the cave, a pillar of blue qi rose sharply into the sky, confronting a pale yellow pillar head-on. Between the two columns, shattered stones flew everywhere, creating a scene like the end of the world.

Forcibly suppressing the worry and the urge to stop and look back, Chen Qi maintained his downward-leaning posture and quickly lost sight of the summit.

He knew that concern was useless now, and staying behind would be useless as well. All he could do was save Sun Ruohai and spread the news.

Besides, he had seen Cloudheart swallow the Phoenix Blood Churned Milk with his own eyes. She might break through her realm, and perhaps the two sides would become evenly matched.

...

Inside the cave, Marquis Cloudmount looked at the pale-faced woman in blue robes before him, sword in hand and poised to defend herself, and could not help showing a look of astonishment.

After a pause of two breaths, his aged voice slowly spoke.

“I had not expected you to take my strike without injury. You truly deserve the name of a young talent. It even makes this old man feel a bit of reluctance to see such a gifted person die.”

Before he had even finished speaking, the elder sprang forward through the air. His aged hand formed into an eagle’s claw and shot straight for the woman’s head.

At his level, he was naturally capable of killing an enemy from afar with spiritual power alone. But no matter what martial technique one used, the force unleashed at close contact was still greater than what could be delivered from a distance.

Only after his five fingers had struck did the rest of Marquis Cloudmount’s words finish leaving his mouth. He looked at the enchanting figure before him, now within arm’s reach, and at last his pupils revealed a cruel, self-satisfied light.

The old ginger is always hotter. By using words to confuse his opponent and striking at the same time, he had refined this into the essence of a lifetime of combat experience.

With such a well-timed move, he could even gain the upper hand against opponents of the same rank. Now that he was using it on someone weaker than himself, Marquis Cloudmount believed it would be all but certain.

As he expected, his palm of pale yellow spiritual power had indeed landed on the woman’s body. Yet Cloudmount’s expression changed, and his figure suddenly lunged forward as well.

The graceful figure left behind in place transformed into a mass of cloud and mist. Cloudheart’s true body was already several zhang away. By relying on exquisitely lifelike cloud-qi decoys, Cloudheart had actually managed to deceive Marquis Cloudmount, whose strength was clearly above her, for a brief instant.

Cloudheart’s figure multiplied across the field. Each time Marquis Cloudmount struck, one of the clones would obediently dissolve into cloud and mist. Mist swirled everywhere, and the woman’s doppelgangers continued to emerge without end.

Marquis Cloudmount widened his aged eyes. His expression did not change, but his heart was greatly shaken. The few decisive blows he had expected to capture his enemy had not materialized. Instead, he himself had failed to pin Cloudheart down in a short time, wasting all those years of cultivation in vain.

No longer wasting time, his old voice turned cold as Marquis Cloudmount issued orders to the disciples behind him.

“Cheng, Yan, the two of you handle those people. As for Xiao Fan, lead the Three-Eyed Wind-Chasing Dog and go kill the two fleeing brats. They cannot have gone far.”

His cold tone sank even further, then abruptly twisted into rage.

“If any of you lets one of them escape, then do not bother coming back!”