Chương 39: Hide and Seek + Tag

After Ren Qingquan came down from the carriage, Xiao Cai soon followed while breathing heavily. From the look of it, it seemed Xiao Cai was still extremely exhausted. Standing next to the corpse, Xiao Cai came closer to inspect it. Soon after, her expression shifted to surprise.

"It's really a Martial Emperor!" After recovering from the shock, Xiao Cai inquired, "How did you do that?" Before Ren Qingquan answered, Xiao Cai shook her head, "Never mind. You don't need to tell me, it's probably some sort of secret technique." Ren Qingquan happily nodded.

'It's good that Xiao Cai thought of the reason herself.'

"Young Master, how many times can you use that technique? And what is the cost? Such an overbearing technique must come with a high price." I overheard Ren Qingquan's thoughts as he considered how much he needed to reveal to Xiao Cai. After a brief silence, Ren Qingquan responded, "The technique consumes soul energy in order to be activated." Before he could elaborate, Xiao Cai exclaimed, "Soul?! Are you saying you sacrificed part of your soul for that?!"

"It's not my soul," Ren Qingquan clarified.

"It's the souls of creatures I've killed and stored." Xiao Cai finally calmed down after hearing his words.

"Good, good. Young Master, you must avoid using techniques that consume your soul. Recovering a soul is extremely complicated and requires massive resources that might have gone extinct in this world." Ren Qingquan nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, I've already used up all the soul I gathered to cast that technique. Right now, I need to gather more souls for emergencies."

"Then I will assist you to the best of my ability," Xiao Cai replied as they both returned to the carriage. Before leaving, Xiao Cai disposed of the Martial Emperor's body and took care to clean up their traces as much as possible. Once inside, Xiao Cai sighed, "With the opponent's Martial Emperor dead, I don't think returning to Burning Sky City is a good choice at the moment."

"Why not?"

"Those martial artists have definitely caught up with most of our carriages. Although I damaged the Ren Family's crest on those carriages, there will still be traces that can identify them as belonging to the Ren Family. Moreover, all of our carriages are quite similar, so the enemy wouldn't need much time to deduce that the carriages came from the Ren Family."

"Once the enemy realizes that their Martial Emperor has died while chasing after us, they will most likely send more people to block our way. A force capable of assigning a Martial Emperor to guard a gate is definitely not to be underestimated. They can certainly send more Martial Emperors after us."

"Why? Is it for revenge? Then shouldn't they have just let us leave without interference in the first place? It's not like they could hide the news of the chaos for long." Ren Qingquan asked indignantly. Although he had never seen one himself, Ren Qingquan knew that messenger birds existed. Although not everyone has it, the Capital is filled with noble families, so sending a few messenger birds about the attack on the capital should be easy. Xiao Cai shook her head and pointed in the direction of the capital city.

"Do you see what's over there?"

"What?" Ren Qingquan was confused by the sudden change in topic.

"Isn't that the location of the capital?"

"Precisely. But don't you find something strange?" I saw Ren Qingquan squinting his eyes, but he couldn't identify anything wrong. Instead, it was Fatty Zhang, who had been silent until now, who answered, "There's no smoke." Everyone turned to look at Fatty Zhang, who had regained a bit of his composure. Xiao Cai nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. The enemy has even used some kind of spirit tool to block the smoke. They definitely have many means prepared to ensure the news of their attack on the Capital is kept hidden."

"Spirit tool?"

"Young Master, you've been reading all this time, but haven't you read any history books?" Xiao Cai asked. Ren Qingquan rolled his eyes, "I've mostly been reading the same kinds of books you've been reading these past few days." Xiao Cai looked a bit confused before she realized she had been reading novels. Both of them fell into an awkward silence before Xiao Cai lightly coughed and said, "Anyway, spirit tools are items that come from Meteor Island.

Each one has remarkable uses that surpass any weapon crafted by men."

"I suspect the reason there's no smoke even after half of the capital caught fire is that the enemy used a spirit tool to block the smoke. This also means they're trying to keep what happened in the capital a secret from those outside the city. As a result, we who escaped have become prime targets. After all, they don't want us spreading news about the attack on the capital." Ren Qingquan nodded, "Oh, I understand now.

This means that once they learn we come from the Ren Family, they will most likely send people to wait for us on the path we must take to reach Burning Sky City!"

"Precisely. Furthermore, those people will likely send several Martial Emperors, followed by some Martial Lords. After all, we killed their Martial Emperor, so they'll definitely assume there's a Martial Emperor among us. I also suspect they have already taken control of the empire's military, which is why they can easily manipulate the capital's guards." Xiao Cai continued, "So, I suggest we take a different route and wait until this situation calms down, or at least until you can use that technique again."

Looking at the system map that's still open in front of him, Ren Qingquan recalled one of his missions and suggested, "How about we visit Meteor Island?" Xiao Cai thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Meteor Island is a great choice. There are many old ruins with complex paths inside. With that, we'll be able to hide or escape in case of danger." After some consideration, they decided not to use the carriage any longer. Instead, they would travel to Meteor Island on horseback. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Because Ren Qingquan's carriage was pulled by two horses and their team had four people, including the coachman, it required two people to share a horse.

Ren Qingquan sat with Xiao Cai, who held the reins, while Fatty Zhang rode with the coachman. Now that the situation had calmed down, Ren Qingquan opened his system screen. [Name: Ren Qingquan Point: -43 (quickly pay your debt.) Cultivation realm: Peak Qi Refining. Cultivation method: Body Tempering Method. Cultivation Technique: Soul Swallowing Technique, Blood Nurturing Technique, Four Direction Sword (Level 1 / 4), Yang Armor (Level 1 / 4), Feather Step (Level 1 / 4). Profession: Corpse Refiner. System function: Devour, Scan, Calculate, Transfer, Map, Mission, Skill Learning, Selective Devour, One Hit Kill.]'Sigh... There's indeed a negative on my points.' Ren Qingquan ignored the words I added inside the bracket and instead asked, 'Also, System, I never knew you had an emergency fund. Can't you just throw points to me and make me powerful as quickly as possible?' I ignored his pleading. He could take my points over my dead body. If he could find my body, it is.

Realizing I've ignored him, Ren Qingquan planned how to regain his points.

While Ren Qingquan plans how to repay his debt, I have been monitoring the situation in the Capital City. Through the [Scan] I placed on the Martial Spirit Sect's Martial Emperors, I saw that the female Martial Emperor, who suffers from dementia, was summoned together with two other Martial Emperors by the vice sect leader of the Martial Spirit Sect. When they met with the middle-aged vice sect leader, he got straight to the point and handed them a scroll. I was surprised when I saw the contents of the scroll.

It was actually news about Ren Qingquan's escape. The efficiency of the Martial Spirit Sect is simply astonishing. They managed to gather a substantial amount of information in less than an hour. Upon examining the scroll, I found it mentioned that the carriage that successfully escaped, which is Ren QIngquan's, appeared to have been made in Burning Sky City and bore traces of the Ren Family's craftsmanship. Attached to the scroll were the people they suspected of having escaped.

Inside, images depicting Xiao Cai, Ren Qingquan, Fatty Zhang, the coachman, and several others are painted. Some of the faces were familiar to me; they were either among the people I occasionally saw in Fatty Zhang's house or among Ren Qingquan's guards. But most were unfamiliar faces I'd never seen before. It seems they have made some guesses about who may have escaped, but they are still uncertain, which is why a few extra faces appear in the images.

The middle-aged vice sect leader waited silently as the three Martial Emperors in front of him read the information. Finally, he spoke, "You can all take the scroll. As you can see, some rats has escaped our net. I want the three of you to capture them; otherwise, our plan will be in shambles if the Ren Family gets involved ahead of time." The three Martial Emperors nodded while rolling up the scrolls and taking them with them.

"Among the three of you, only Yu Hanlei is proficient in tracking. Therefore, the other two should take your subordinates to search for the target in Earth Bamboo City and Xing River City. If they decide to return to Burning Sky City, they will likely restock in one of those two cities. I have also assigned people to monitor the smaller village, and they will send a messenger bird to the individual overseeing the city if they find any traces of the escapee."

After giving these directions, the vice sect master pointed to someone who is presumably Yu Hanlei.

"If you find any traces of the escapee, do not engage in combat right away. You need to call for assistance from at least one other Martial Emperor." The three Martial Emperors nodded in agreement. Before leaving, the female Martial Emperor asked, "What if they have messenger birds, just like the ones owned by the people we sent to observe the villages? Won't we simply be wasting our time waiting?"

The Vice Sect Master rubbed his face in thought before answering, "It seems the side effect of your technique has flared up again." Noticing the confusion on the female Martial Emperor's face, the Vice Sect Master continued, "Did you forget about this? We have already released the lightning eagles that have been specially trained to hunt down messenger birds from other forces. We will also deploy the Moonless Crows, which can recognize faces and detect the scent left behind in the carriage they abandoned.

This way, those people won't be able to escape even in the wilderness."

"Ohhh..." she nodded, preparing to leave. But before she could even take a step, the Vice Sect Master pulled her sleeve, "The others can go, but you need to stay here. I've called for your subordinate to guide you on your mission. I fear you'll forget all about it the moment you leave this room." I became a bit speechless and decided to place the dementia Martial Arts Method I had stolen by observing the Martial Emperor into my trash folder. This rubbish technique is even worse than I expected.

For the next few days, I constantly observed my surroundings while Ren Qingquan and the others rode their horses with barely any stops. They only took breaks when the horses showed signs of exhaustion to prevent overexertion. Meanwhile, since hearing that the Martial Spirit Sect had sent Martial Emperors and the Moonless Crows to pursue Ren Qingquan, I have remained on high alert and have frequently activated [Scan].

Unfortunately, the Martial Emperor I had located with [Scan] wasn't Yu Hanlei, who was responsible for tracking Ren Qingquan. If it had been him, my burden would have been significantly lighter. Without knowing the enemy's location, I felt tense and focused intently on my surroundings. I considered increasing the [Scan] range to improve the safety factor, but ultimately decided against it in case I needed to deploy several one-hit kills in an emergency. This time, our luck seems to turn for the better.

Even after a day, there's still no trace of suspicious crows or the Martial Emperor. Without any imminent danger, I slightly relaxed my guard and diverted a bit of my attention to check the situation inside the Capital City. I moved between several different [Scan] before focusing on the shady Martial Emperor who has fought against the librarian and Ren Xuan's [Scan]. Through the Martial Emperor's [Scan], I observed that the situation inside has deteriorated significantly since Ren Qingquan's departure.

In the Capital City, many of the buildings have been reduced to ashes, and there are corpses scattered across the streets. With the Martial Emperor I connected to via [Scan], I devoted a considerable amount of computational power to hear the sounds of battles occurring in various areas. As with the eyes I created, I could also listen to sounds that entered within the range of my [Scan] from outside. However, because the [Scan] of that Martial Emperor has a limited range, I couldn't hear very far.

After confirming that there hadn't been any important change in the situation within the Capital, I went to observe Ren Xuan. He is currently inside the Capital City, hiding in a building very close to the palace. I occasionally hear him muttering about waiting for the right time to move, as he gazes intently at the royal palace. However, even after an entire day, I still haven't seen him take any action. Instead, the fighting in the Capital City has intensified.

Meanwhile, Ren Qingquan has been complaining about his aching backside, asking Xiao Cai how far they are from Meteor Island. After he voiced his complaint for the eighth time, I used Ren Qingquan's [Scan] ability as usual and detected three giant birds surrounded by many dark birds. Because I saw them by processing the light beyond the range of my [Scan], the information I gathered was somewhat blurry. It was only when they got closer that I realized there were people perched atop the giant birds.

Unfortunately, I discovered that those individuals appear to be from the Martial Spirit Sect, which means the enemies have caught up to Ren Qingquan's trails