Chapter 99

"Brat! How dare you steal the treasure of my sect!"

Xiao Zaihe, looking rather disheveled, climbed to his feet from the ground, roaring in anger, and then resumed his pursuit of Yun Che, quickly closing the distance between them. Yun Che turned his head, exerted a bit more force, and threw the second Zhen Tian Lei behind him. This time, he did not aim for Xiao Zaihe's face but threw it on the ground in front of him.

Seeing the Zhen Tian Lei land in front of him, Xiao Zaihe was indeed terrified, hastily stopping and falling backward.

Boom!!!!

A scorching wave of heat surged from behind, causing Yun Che to stagger, nearly falling. The distance between the two temporarily widened, but only temporarily. One Zhen Tian Lei could only buy him a few breaths of time.

He held the third Zhen Tian Lei in his hand and had to rush into the city as quickly as possible. Only by entering the city did he have a chance to escape.

"You bastard! There are only six Zhen Tian Lei in total. Once you run out of them, I'll see where you can run!" Xiao Zaihe pursued relentlessly, his teeth grinding in anger. The Zhen Tian Lei was a thermal weapon made by the main branch of the Xiao Sect, with immense power. Even with his Lingxuan Realm cultivation, a direct hit would mean certain death or severe injury. These Zhen Tian Lei were life-saving tools reserved for the elders of the branch sects. Now, not only had they fallen into Yun Che's hands, but he was using them so recklessly against him. Fortunately, the other party's Xuan power was very low, allowing him to avoid the Zhen Tian Lei relatively easily; otherwise, he might have met his end today.

What Xiao Zaihe shouted was also what Yun Che was worried about. There were indeed only six Zhen Tian Lei, and together, they could only buy him less than two minutes, which was far from enough time to reach the city.

He had to think of other ways.

Yun Che, holding the Zhen Tian Lei, his mind racing, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter. He had been pursued too many times, countless times more dangerous than this. Most of them he had escaped using the poison power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl, but now the poison power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl was gone, and the Star Concealment Grass was used up. A direct confrontation was impossible, so the only thing he could use was...

Yun Che took a deep breath and began to quickly sort through the herbs he had obtained from the Xiao Sect's treasure vault, searching for those that could be combined into a highly toxic substance that would take effect quickly.

At this moment, a graceful and elegant figure of a young girl suddenly appeared in his line of sight. The girl was dressed in white, and even from a distance, one could clearly feel a noble and elegant aura emanating from her.

Although the distance was too great to see the girl's face clearly, Yun Che's mind instantly recognized her name... because in this Crescent Moon City, only one girl had given him such a feeling.

It's Lan Xueruo!? Why is she here? This is clearly a place one would pass through on the way to the Xiao Sect. Could it be...

At this moment, Yun Che had no time to think further. He quickly removed the disguise from his face and threw another Zhen Tian Lei behind him.

With a loud "Boom," Xiao Zaihe, who had managed to avoid the explosion, was still forced back several dozen steps by the shockwave. Yun Che, while rushing forward, shouted towards the approaching girl, "Senior Sister Xueruo!"

Lan Xueruo was here to confirm whether Yun Che was at the Xiao Sect. The deafening explosion made her pause, and she looked up to see Yun Che running towards her.

"Yun Che?" Lan Xueruo murmured, her eyes flashing with surprise. No matter what, he was still alive, which was the result she most wanted to see today. But soon, she saw Xiao Zaihe chasing after him.

"Brat! Where do you think you're running? I'll break your legs and cripple you when I catch you!" Although Xiao Zaihe was not injured by the Zhen Tian Lei, the continuous three Zhen Tian Lei had left him disheveled and covered in dust, his roar clearly tinged with anger and humiliation.

Lan Xueruo instantly understood what was happening, her eyebrows knitting together. Without hesitation, she called out, "Junior Brother Yun, come to me quickly!!"

As she spoke, she extended her right hand, and a snow-white mark suddenly appeared on the back of her hand. "Xiao Xue, come out!"

With her soft call, the mark on her hand glowed brightly, and a sharp, long cry echoed from the distance. A giant snow owl appeared in a white light in front of her.

"Contracted spirit beast!?" Seeing the giant white owl suddenly appear beside Lan Xueruo, Yun Che was both surprised and delighted. He gritted his teeth, quickened his pace, and extended his hand towards Lan Xueruo.

Lan Xueruo jumped onto the back of the giant snow owl, her delicate hand grabbing Yun Che's outstretched palm, pulling him onto the owl's back. The giant snow owl spread its wings and took off into the sky with a long cry, darting upwards like a bolt of lightning, quickly becoming a black dot in the distance.

A life-threatening crisis was resolved in a way he had never expected. The snow owl flew extremely fast, the wind roaring in his ears, and the cold wind rushing into his chest made him feel as if he were suffocating for a long time. Only when the snow owl's flight stabilized did he finally adapt, taking a deep breath and opening his eyes to see Lan Xueruo sitting sideways in front of him, looking at him with a smile.

Only then did Yun Che remember that he was still wearing the rather unconventional robe. However, he remained unperturbed, grinning, "Senior Sister, did you suddenly realize that even the most shabby clothes look good on me?"

Lan Xueruo was taken aback, then burst into laughter, her smile as beautiful as a hundred flowers blooming, "You're still praising yourself so seriously, even after almost losing your life just now."

"Yes, I almost lost my life just now," Yun Che gently rubbed his forehead, still feeling a bit of lingering fear. If Lan Xueruo hadn't appeared suddenly, his chances of escape would have been very low. The area in front of the Xiao Sect was too open, so open that it made him feel like crying when he was trying to escape.

"By the way, Senior Sister, why are you here? Do you have something to do at the Xiao Sect?" Yun Che asked.

"Um." Lan Xueruo nodded lightly, her gem-like eyes examining Yun Che several times. Confirming that he was completely unharmed, her expression relaxed, and her gaze became even gentler, "You suddenly disappeared three days ago, and Yuan Ba and I searched the entire city for you but couldn't find you. Later, I thought you might have been secretly taken by the Xiao Sect, so I came here."

Yun Che's whole body stiffened, a strange sense of gratitude welling up in his heart, leaving him momentarily speechless. After a long while, he said as calmly as possible, "The Xiao Sect's branch sect is the largest sect in this Crescent Moon City. Didn't you think it would be very dangerous for a girl to come here alone... We've only known each other for a few days, why are you so good to me?"

Lan Xueruo smiled gently, her voice soft, "I told you, because I'm your senior sister."

Yun Che: "..."

Previously, when Lan Xueruo promised to have her family safely deliver him to the Cangfeng Imperial City within ten days to avoid the disaster of the Xiao Sect, he had always been suspicious. Having experienced so much, he could not believe that someone would be so good to a person they barely knew, let alone risk their life for them. Now, Lan Xueruo had come to the Xiao Sect alone to find him and rescued him from a dangerous situation... This made the only possibility in Yun Che's mind increasingly certain.

The Senior Sister Xueruo in front of him... must be infatuated with him at first sight! And deeply in love!

Apart from this reason, he could not think of any other reason why a girl with no family background, no wealth, no power, and no strength, and who had only met him by chance, would do so much for him.

"Junior Brother Yun, were you indeed taken to the Xiao Sect these past few days? How did you escape?" Looking at Yun Che's clothes, Lan Xueruo's beautiful eyes twinkled with amusement, "Could it be... that you put on a servant's clothes and sneaked out without being noticed?"

"Well... something like that. But I wasn't taken by the Xiao Sect; I went in on my own." Yun Che smiled proudly but did not explain further, instead changing the subject, "Senior Sister, you actually have a contracted spirit beast? And it seems to be a very high-level one."

Seeing that Yun Che clearly did not want to talk about his time at the Xiao Sect, Lan Xueruo did not press further, following his lead, "Its name is Xiao Xue. It's a True Spirit Beast, a giant snow owl, raised by my master. After it grew up, it became my contracted spirit beast. Although Xiao Xue looks large and cumbersome, its ability to fly is very powerful, and it can fly very, very fast... By the way, Junior Brother Yun, where do you want to go next?"

Yun Che fell silent, then slowly said, "I gave the Xiao Sect a 'big gift,' and they are surely searching for me throughout the city. So, I can't return to the Crescent Moon Xuan Mansion, or even the entire Crescent Moon City. I don't know where to go next... Perhaps, anywhere outside Crescent Moon City will do..."

At this moment, Yun Che suddenly felt something unusual in the wind. His overly sensitive intuition made him instinctively turn his head, and he saw a black dot rapidly approaching from a kilometer behind.

"What is that!"

From the moment Yun Che noticed it to the moment he spoke, only a few breaths had passed. In this short time, the black dot had already become a blurry black shadow, indicating its terrifying speed. Lan Xueruo quickly turned around, her eyes narrowing, and she let out a cry of alarm, "It's a Stormy Wind Eagle, the highest-level spirit beast raised by the Xiao Sect!"

"What!?" Yun Che's brows furrowed sharply.

"How could they send out a Stormy Wind Eagle just to chase you... and so quickly!" A hint of panic appeared on Lan Xueruo's snow-white face, as she knew the Stormy Wind Eagle's flying speed was no less than her giant snow owl, and its endurance was far superior.

If she knew what Yun Che had done at the Xiao Sect, she wouldn't have asked this question.

"Xiao Xue, hurry up!!"

With her soft cry, the giant snow owl beneath her flapped its wings forcefully, its speed suddenly increasing, shooting northward in a long white streak. The black shadow behind it was also not slow, closely following.

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(End of the chapter)