Chapter 275: Encounter

“... I hope you can show yourself!”

Even though the elder of the Changbai Holy Land sounded polite, his divine sense terrorized the region around him. A terrifying storm swept through the forest around him.

There was no doubt about it. Liang Shuangren detected Shang Xia’s divine sense. However, he couldn’t tell who or where the person was, and he could only force Shang Xia to show himself with such a method.

Luckily, Shang Xia made his decision to leave quickly. He ran away the moment he felt the divine sense of a Martial Extermination Realm expert.

Due to the fact that he had to maintain his stealth, Shang Xia kept his state of fusion between his divine sense and the world around him. His speed was greatly affected. Of course, hiding his presence and aura didn’t mean that no one would be able to discover him if they caught sight of him. As such, he had to run under the cover of the dense trees in case anyone saw him.

When Liang Shuangren rampaged around earlier, Shang Xia barely got out of his attack radius.

A strong gust of wind came from behind him, and despite the distance between them, Shang Xia felt his inner organs shaking and his inner qi flowing irregularly.

That didn’t affect his decision to escape though. He knew that he had to continue his escape even if his internal injuries would get worse. He circulated his inner qi and pushed his Irregular Steps to the limit. His figure turned into a blur and he disappeared into the forest.

“Elder Liang…” Liang Shuangren wanted to look for the little rat himself, but he was stopped by a yell from behind.

The energy storm he created earlier not only destroyed the area around him, but it almost affected the formation laid down by Chen Sanyang. The youngster couldn’t help but yell in fright to stop Liang Shuangren from causing more damage.

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, he looked towards the forest before grunting slightly. A trace of reluctance could be seen on his face.

He chose not to give chase?in the end. Instead, he waved his hand and a huge barrier appeared around them to prevent anyone else from spying on them.

The orange door on the spatial barrier stabilized, and three other experts from the Azure Spiritual World emerged.

“Brother Liang, what’s with the huge disturbance?” Someone else asked, but they also stared in the direction where Shang Xia escaped.

That was clearly another Martial Extermination Realm expert!

Even though Shang Xia had already left their radius of detection, the two experts could still tell many things from the faint traces he left behind.

“Strange… A Martial Intent Realm cultivator had the ability to avoid my divine sense. I wouldn’t have detected him if not for his low cultivation level…” Liang Shuangren snorted softly.

The middle aged Martial Extermination Realm expert who just emerged frowned. “Do you mean that the person’s divine sense possesses some strange properties?”

“Too bad he escaped.” A trace of disappointment could be seen in Liang Shuangren’s eyes as he sighed.

“Brother Liang, we cannot stay here for long. We definitely alerted the members of the Azure Origin World since we weakened the barrier. Not to mention the fact that someone noticed our entry. In order to avoid trouble, we have to leave this place.” The middle aged man who just emerged muttered.

Glaring at Chen Sanyang who was half dead from the energy expenditure, Liang Shuangren growled, “Brother Youshang is right. Even though the threat of Kou Chongxue has been dealt with and the risk of crossing the spatial barrier has been reduced. However, the number of Martial Extermination Realm experts here is no joke.”

Youshang chuckled in amusement, “Haha, if Kou Chongxue was still around, we wouldn't risk crossing the spatial barrier.”

As the two of them conversed, the last two Martial Intent Realm cultivators emerged from the orange door. Liang Shuangren pressed his hand downwards, destroyed all signs that they laid down a formation there and sank the entire area around them by three inches.

Getting Chen Sanyang to lead the way, Liang Shuangren continued, “Then again, the situation isn’t as bad as it seems. Kou Chongxue is nowhere to be found, and the Tongyou Institution is busy moving the mysterious world. The spatial barrier is basically unprotected right now.”

Youshang shook his head and muttered, “Brother Liang, we cannot be careless. This is the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range. The You Continent isn’t the only one that borders it. The experts of the Ji and Qing Continents might be paying attention to this place.”

Liang Shuangren roared with laughter. “Looks like Brother You is pretty familiar with the Azure Origin World too. However, you might not know that the true powerhouses of our worlds have already reached an agreement. The one working with our Changbai Holy Land is the White Deer Paradise of the Ji Continent.”

A look of realization appeared on Youshang’s face and he burst out laughing, “So that’s it! Looks like I haven’t been keeping myself updated these few years!”

“Brother You, there’s no need to say something like that. Even in our Changbai Holy Land, not many people know about this matter. If not for the fact that I have an important matter to deal with personally in the Azure Origin World, they might not have told me anything too.” Liang Shuangren explained.

Youshang chuckled in response, “I have to thank Brother Liang regardless for bringing me along to widen my horizons!”

“Naturally. After all, I need your help.”

“Anytime! Hahaha…”

“Hahaha…”

…

After running tens of miles through the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range, Shang Xia finally heaved a sigh of relief after ensuring that no one was after him.

At the same time, he celebrated silently. If not for the fact that the Martial Extermination Realm expert on the other side was held back by something, Shang Xia would have died a thousand times over if he decided to give chase. After all, the Martial Extermination Realm expert traveled a lot faster than him.

He felt that he was too careless. He should have done something the moment he discovered Chen Sanyang was setting up the formation. It didn’t matter if it involved killing Chen Sanyang or destroying the formation, he could have done either easily!

Even though he managed to keep his life, he already alerted the enemies to his presence. It would be basically impossible for him to track them down again or to learn of their plans.

Helpless, Shang Xia could only leave.

Noticing the time, he felt that he would be able to return to the city before dusk fell even if he took it a little slow.

Hiding his aura, Shang Xia merged his divine sense with the world around him. He needed to pretend like he was an ordinary hunter in case the Martial Extermination Realm experts of the Azure Spiritual World went crazy and swept through the region looking for him. In his current state, they wouldn’t be able to discover his true strength unless they got up close and personal.

Weaving through the mountain range with his bow in hand, he managed to practice his archery by sniping two prey.

As the sun started to set, he caught sight of the Changfeng City in the distance. When he prepared to make the journey back, he heard a familiar cry in the skies.

Widening his eyes in shock, a look of unbridled joy appeared on his face as he looked into the skies.

He failed to see anything other than an endless sea of blue, and the cry he heard earlier seemed to be a mistake. With confusion flashing in his eyes, he whistled loudly.

He didn’t know if it was what he thought it was, but he waited patiently as his whistle echoed through the mountain range.

The familiar chirp came from a distance after some time, and it became much clearer than before. A little black dot appeared in his sight, but it enlarged rapidly as it flew towards Shang Xia.

In the blink of an eye, Shang Xia could make out the shape of a bird. He could basically confirm that the little bird flying towards him was Yan Ni’er, and he quickly caught sight of four smaller birds flying behind her.

Yan Ni’er discovered Shang Xia’s presence too, and she started circling overhead. Releasing loud cries from time to time, she seemed to be asking him why the hell he was so far away from home.

Like their mother, the four little birds did the same.

However, their cries were a lot more chaotic and they seemed to be peppering him with other random questions.

Waving his hand towards the air, Yan Ni’er rushed down towards him and perched obediently on his shoulders. Yan Lei followed closely behind and rushed into his palm.

Shang Xia knew what that meant, and a ball of reddish-gold lightning quickly appeared in his hand. “Hehe, you crafty little bird…”

Diving into the ball of lightning, Yan Lei bathed in it happily. The three other younglings absorbed the remnant lightning in the air as they didn’t have the same tyrannical Lightning Bird bloodline as Yan Lei, but their gains weren’t small either.

Shang Xia chuckled in amusement and looked at Yan Ni’er while maintaining the ball of lightning in his hand. “Did they send you out to look for me?”

“Chirp, chirp!”

“Did the clan receive any news about the situation in the Tongyou City?” Shang Xia asked, but he discovered that he went a little overboard. After all, what was the bird supposed to say?

Who would have thought that the little bird would clap her wings once before extending one of her legs forward.

Shang Xia finally noticed that there was a tiny letter on it.

Retrieving it carefully, Shang Xia unfurled the tiny letter that was barely an inch in length. He saw countless words scribbled on it…

…

As night fell, Shang Xia lugged a fat deer towards the city gates. There were also three grouses strapped to his belt as he arrived before the gates closed for the night.

Even though the deer was close to a hundred pounds, its value was far from the bear skin he brought the first time. He only managed to sell it for two pieces of silver essence.

He sold two of the grouses for fifty copper boards and brought the last one back to his courtyard.

As he approached the courtyard, he saw Hai Min sending off two people.

The three of them exchanged several words before Hai Min caught sight of Shang Xia.

The two she was talking to followed her gaze and stared at him too. Their gazes were sharp and they examined him from head to toe. They thought that they had managed to see through the man, but it went without saying they couldn’t.

Shang Xia maintained his neutral expression as he approached the courtyard, as though he didn’t notice their probings in the slightest. When he arrived, he smiled at Hai Min. “These must be your relatives. Why don’t you introduce us to each other?”