The days went by one after another. Xue Wei was busy concocting pills. Over this period of time, the explosions became less frequent. This did not mean that he did not fail from time to time, but the result was not as extreme any longer.
By the time he had to go pick up the information on the Sovereign Beasts, Xue Wei had managed to create Heavenly Warrior Pills, a feat he was incredibly proud of.
Bai Tianyi was also proud of his results. "You are doing very well," he praised him, slightly surprised by his fast advance.
Xue Wei’s spiritual energy was also rising constantly. Now it was at the sixth layer of the Ordinary Knight rank.
Xue Wei was rather pleased with his rate of improvement, as it had happened very fast with little obstruction. After all, he had managed to enhance his spiritual energy by one layer in only a short time.
Before he knew it, it was time for him to go to the Intelligencer's dilapidated mansion. He set out early that morning with both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou by his side.
When they made it to the lawless area, they found that everything was silent as the grave; the streets were desolate, and even the beggars and shady people who usually occupied the corners and shadows were nowhere to be seen.
"Odd," Xue Wei muttered, now a little more hesitant than he had been before. His senses were on high alert, and his eyes darted from side to side with vigilance. He had his spiritual energy spread around him like a blanket in a radius of fifty meters. He could feel even the movements of small creatures or bugs. If a person of lower rank than him stepped into the blanketed area, he would sense it immediately.
Bai Tianyi, who had previously acted as carefree as the bird gliding through the wind, was also suddenly tense, his spiritual energy also spreading out. Even Hei Gou could sense that something was wrong.
Nothing had happened, but there was something eerie about the sudden lack of people and the disturbing silence that enveloped them. At the same time it felt as if they were being watched by many eyes.
"We should get out of here," Bai Tianyi finally said, his voice compressed so only Xue Wei and Hei Gou could hear it.
"Something is definitely wrong," Xue Wei agreed. They acted natural and took a small stroll around the area before they turned around and started heading back to the outside of the lawless area.
The moment they tried to leave, a whole slew of people started walking out from the alleyways and the houses. These people were all dressed like the beggars and residents of the lawless area, but a single glance at them made it obvious that they did not belong to this part of town.
They had straight backs, their bodies were taut, and one could see defined muscles on their bodies that were filled with explosive strength. All of them were clean, despite being dressed in rags, and their hair and beards were well groomed.
"We are not staying in Cloudsoar City any longer," Xue Wei made a very sudden decision, but he really had no option. It was clear that this was a trap that had been laid out for him.
"Well, we might be forced to stay here forever," Bai Tianyi said with a grim look on his face. "We are outnumbered, and they are not weak. At least ten Ordinary Knights are here, and there are three I can't discern the strength of; they are clearly Earth Knights."
"Let us get moving!" Xue Wei grimaced and ran straight at a human wall that was waiting right in front of him. There were no Earth Knights among them, but there were three Ordinary Knights.
"Blast them away," Xue Wei said with a chill in his voice. He felt ticked off, which was a feeling he channeled into his attacks.
Forbidden Rush!
Shattering Mountain Palm!
Kick of the Forgotten Kings!
Xue Wei did not hold back. First he leaped forward with the Forbidden Rush movement technique, then he thrust out his arm and attacked one Ordinary Knight with a Shattering Mountain Palm and another with a Kick of the Forgotten Kings.
Although it was not possible to kill these Ordinary Knights with these attacks, it was enough to knock them a fair distance away – and as soon as they were pushed back, an unnatural opening appeared in the human wall.
Now only Heavenly Warriors stood in their way,, and they were quickly executed by Hei Gou with a few swipes of his claw weapons.
"Capture the young man!" someone yelled out. "He goes by the name of Ye Xiao, and he is a Sovereign Beast! Do not let him escape! Kill his companions on sight, but do not kill him!"
The one who called out was clearly the leader of their operation. He was calm and collected. Xue Wei realized at this point that the ones behind this mission had planned way ahead.
"How can they know we would be here?" Hei Gou asked with shock. Xue Wei sent him a glance. "Li Chen must have told them," he said honestly. "She is the only one who could have guessed my situation, but I never thought she'd actually do that."
"Less talk, more running!" Bai Tianyi said through gritted teeth. He waved his hand and a beam of spiritual energy descended from the heavens and killed a whole group of experts that had gathered by their side.
Xue Wei had made a sword out of Qi with Inner Might, and he was using Mind Infestation to cause confusion within the ranks of their enemies.
He also had inscriptions in one hand, ready to launch them whenever there was a need.
The trio was slowly breaking out through a circle of humans that kept converging on them. Clearly, they were at a disadvantage.
"Stop fighting back and let us capture you! We will not kill you, we will just tame you – there is no reason for you to fight to the death!" The voice of the leader sounded once again, but all it managed to do was annoy Xue Wei.
"They know I am a Sovereign Beast, right?" he suddenly asked, his eyes shining with madness. Bai Tianyi, who had guessed his thoughts, laughed and said, "Yes, they know. Why don't we take to the skies?"
"You want me to transform?" Hei Gou asked, but Xue Wei shook his head. "You are not the only one who can fly," he said with laughter.
Immediately after, Xue Wei’s entire body started changing. In an instant, he had turned into a massive azure dragon whose draconic claws landed on the ground with a deafening boom; his head had a row of razor short fangs, which he used to chomp down on a cultivator that was standing petrified in front of him.
Spitting out the bisected corpse, Xue Wei thrashed his snake-like body about, pushing back all who were around him and even killing quite a number of experts.
"Time to mount up!" Xue Wei growled. Neither Bai Tianyi nor Hei Gou needed to hear it twice. They instantly jumped on top of Xue Wei's back, before he soared to the sky.
"Get the flight corps to follow them!" the enemy leader called out without panicking, and a group of birds with riders rose into the air.
These birds were of various kinds; there was a Lightning Sparrow, there was a Golden-Eyed Eagle, a Violet-Feathered Hawk, a Flame-Eating Eagle. Amongst these, the Lightning Sparrow was by far the fastest, and it was the first to try and follow Xue Wei.
It has to be said that after the awakening of Xue Wei's bloodline, his transformation was many times more shocking than it had been before. His body alone was now a hundred meters long from head to tail, and his scales were even more resplendent than before. They had a shine to them that had not been there before either.
Xue Wei had ascended into the airspace above Cloudsoar City and got an easy sight of the entire operation from above. He saw where the people were hiding, and he also saw the birds that were ascending into the skies to chase him. This made him feel rather annoyed.
Who would have thought that Li Chen would cause such a ruckus? Xue Wei flew out from the city, heading for the border en route to the center of the continent. He knew that he could no longer use his identity as Ye Xiao, nor could he use his inscriptions to earn money. Inscription masters were simply too rare; if someone appeared, it would be the same as admitting to be Ye Xiao.
"This is getting complicated," Xue Wei complained. "Let us just meet Prophet Lan and then leave the continent. I am tired of being chased."
"We don't know what the other continents are like," Bai Tianyi reminded him. "If they hate beasts, we are likely to be hated as well."
"Well, then we find another continent. Aren't there quite a few?" Xue Wei was not pessimistic – rather, he was incredibly optimistic. Anything would be better than how he had been treated here.
"It is a shame we could not stall Lan when he came to visit you," Bai Tianyi complained. "If you could have spoken with him then and there, then you would not have to go all the way to the center of the continent for answers."
"It is fine," Xue Wei was not too bothered, "but let us find an opportunity to get rid of that Lightning Sparrow that is following us. When we have gotten rid of it, we should be able to proceed more smoothly. Also, we might as well use our real faces now. The masks we have used so far have all been exposed."
There was reason in Xue Wei’s words so both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou removed their masks and returned to their original appearances. The previously mature Bai Tianyi now looked like a small child again.
"There should be a forest up ahead. Let us enter there and stay for a bit. Even if they can guess that we have taken up shelter in there, they can't really do anything about it." Bai Tianyi had used his energy to scout ahead and had found a forest that was by no means small.
As soon as they reached it, Xue Wei descended at the outskirts and cancelled his transformation, quickly put on some of his spare clothes, and rushed into the thicket of the forest together with the other two.
By the time the Lightning Sparrow arrived, they had already vanished into the dense forest. As to how far into the forest they had gotten, no one knew.
The rider on the Lightning Sparrow clicked his tongue in displeasure and was rather annoyed. He picked up a communication bracelet and contacted the leader of the operation for further instruction.
It did not take long before the other experts and their flying mounts arrived next to the rider and the Lightning Sparrow. All of them were very displeased with how things had escalated.
"We are not enough to surround the forest, and we do not know which way they will exit. They might even return the way they entered, so we cannot really do anything about them right now."
"I guess they might be going for Heavenward City. That's not so far away from here," the rider on top one of the eagles continued. "So why don't we go there and wait? Every group of three that arrives will be subject to our thorough inspection, especially if they have a child in their midst."