Chapter Sixty-Seven: Fleeing in the Rain

“So I think this thing must be controlled by the Ghost King, or at least among all these corpses, there’s definitely a little leader,” I said, suddenly enlightened, nodding my head. Li Zijian, however, hadn’t listened to a word we’d said, too absorbed in scrolling through short videos on his phone.

“If we run into them again, don’t hold back. Just go all out and kill them,” I said. Chen Chen nodded in agreement.

Speaking of which, today’s weather was truly eerie—gloomy skies and the threat of terrifying corpses made everything even more frightening. As I was thinking this, rain began to fall from the sky as if conjured out of thin air.

I muttered under my breath, “I really jinxed it…”

We agreed to find shelter from the rain and wait until it stopped before continuing our search for the corpses. The park was enormous, yet not a soul could be seen this morning. Perhaps this, too, was the work of the Ghost King.

We jogged for a bit and easily found a small pavilion. There were a few seats inside, just enough to keep out of the rain.

“This is good enough. Let’s stay here,” I said, plopping down onto one of the wooden benches.

Outside, the rain intensified, escalating from a gentle drizzle to a torrential downpour. We were all rather bored, but in such an open area, no one dared to let their guard down. I kept my Snow Blade gripped tightly in my hand.

Just then, I noticed a suspicious figure lurking near the exercise equipment behind Chen Chen. There was no spiritual aura on him, which meant he wasn’t one of the corpses—possibly someone sent by others.

I feigned calm and whispered to the two of them, “There’s someone behind Chen Chen—not a corpse. Don’t look back. Pretend you haven’t seen anything.”

After I spoke, I noticed that Chen Chen had already placed his hand on his ring, ready for action. Li Zijian, on the other hand, remained calm, never once raising his head.

I pretended to play with my phone, but kept a close eye on the stranger’s movements. After lingering for a moment, he headed off in another direction.

“I’ll go take a look. You two stay put and don’t wander off. Wait here for me,” I said, grabbing the Snow Blade and dashing out into the rain.

Within less than a minute, I was drenched, and the downpour showed no sign of stopping. Channeling spiritual energy to my feet, I sprinted quickly in the direction the stranger had gone.

He wasn’t moving slowly, but I caught up easily. I kept a safe distance, and the heavy rain muffled my footsteps, so he hadn’t noticed me yet. He was cautious, though, checking behind him frequently and only continuing when he was sure no one followed.

I trailed him across half the park until he finally stopped at a small storage shed. If I wasn’t mistaken, this was where old equipment was stored. Amazingly, someone had found it and smashed open the lock.

He knocked on the door. After a few seconds, someone let him in. Narrowing my eyes, I realized it was another enemy of mine—Hua Ling.

His cultivation was high, having reached the third rank of the Spirit Leaf stage.

Because the shed had no windows, I made a bold decision. These kinds of sheds were usually constructed of plain iron sheets—enough to keep out wind and rain, but not soundproof.

I crept quietly to the door and pressed myself against it, eavesdropping on the conversation inside. There weren’t many people—at most, five. Only two were speaking, making it easy to distinguish between them.

“Hua, Lin Yao and his group are at the other pavilion,” said the one who had been watching me.

“Were you tailed?” Hua Ling’s voice was unmistakable.

“No, I circled around several times.”

So that’s why we’d gone so far—he’d been leading me in circles.

“Pack up. We’re going to kill Lin Yao,” Hua Ling said.

A chill ran through me. I quickly looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then sprinted back toward Chen Chen.

If only Hua Ling came, I might be able to fight him, but I had sensed several powerful spiritual energies inside the shed, none of them weak. If we fought head-on, I’d have no advantage.

I had to get back before they did and lead Chen Chen and Li Zijian away.

Fortunately, I remembered the way and raced back to the pavilion. As I burst in, Chen Chen instinctively swung a punch at me.

“It’s me!” I quickly blocked his fist, pushing it aside.

Chen Chen smiled apologetically.

“We have to go. Hua Ling’s scout knows where we are and is bringing Hua Ling here,” I said.

Chen Chen wasn’t one to hesitate. He stuffed his phone—something definitely not waterproof—into his ring and followed me out into the rain, as did Li Zijian.

We hurried through the park, trying to avoid open spaces and sticking to hidden corners. Still, Hua Ling’s men spotted us.

“Hua, over here!”

I was puzzled. How had they found us? We’d run so far already.

With no other option, we ducked into the woods. The trees were dense, but not so close together that the rain didn’t make it through the leaves. Still, the terrain gave us good cover.

At the time, I wondered why I could sense the spiritual energy of others, while they couldn’t sense mine. Only later did I realize I was born unusually sensitive. While most cultivators’ perception grew with their level, mine had always been sharp from the start.

Back to the moment: Hua Ling’s group was clever. Realizing we’d hidden in the woods, they began to encircle us.

After a long sprint, I was still fine, but the other two were exhausted, gasping for breath. With no alternative, we stopped in a low-lying spot to rest.

I took the opportunity to think of a plan. Since a head-on fight was out of the question, I had to use strategy—the best being to pick them off one by one.

There were about five of them, slowly closing in. If we couldn’t break through, death awaited us.

After a few minutes, I told Chen Chen and Li Zijian, “Stick close to me. If we encounter anyone, don’t hesitate—just attack with me.”

Seeing them both nod, I continued to observe our surroundings. The situation was dire, even Li Zijian’s expression had grown serious.

As I sensed the spiritual energies drawing nearer, I crouched and motioned for them to follow. The three of us moved like assassins in the rain, each gripping our weapon, hurrying forward.

Every so often, I’d stop to check for enemies before moving on. With three of us, we couldn’t afford mistakes.

But I was still a bit careless. Not far ahead, someone approached slowly. Luckily, he hadn’t noticed us.

I crouched at the base of a tree, gesturing for the others to hide on either side. This wasn’t Hua Ling; I could sense only the strength of a second-rank Spirit Leaf cultivator from him.