Chapter 255 “Thunder Beast and the Mysterious Person in Red”
But aside from the afterglow of the sunset, there seems to be nothing else. It’s all very calm without a trace of human or beast.
“It’s best to avoid this space.” Ling Yue’s spirit force doesn’t allow her to detect what’s up ahead. All she can tell with her limited senses were that whatever danger was in front, it’s not something they want to fall into.
“But to go reach our destination, we must fly over this space.” He Lao Dai also puts his guard up.
Although all six powers have united to open up the path to the Tai Yi School’s secret location, that doesn’t exactly guarantee others wouldn’t want to pull something like placing an ambush along their path.
“Then we can only take a chance and explore. We will fly over that piece of airspace under the condition that we use our Yuan energy to shield ourselves.” Ling Yue then taps at her lightning eagle’s head, ordering it to raise the speed for leading.
Before long, about a mile of flying, something occurred in the clouds. Faint rumbling of thunder could be heard from within as yellowish streaks of electricity flowed around its mass.
Then as if enticed by the newfound intruders, the lightning streaks hammered out like a pouncing predator facing its prey.
Among the many were one that’s about the size of a child’s arm, aiming straight for Ling Yue’s body while the others were going for the He Lao brothers.
Swift and violent, the Red Lightning Eagles were caught completely unprepared here. Unable to dodge, the end result was being shot out of the sky like flaming balls descending down to the earth.
He Lao Dai was the first to react in time after his mount was killed. Activating his Yuan energy, he volleys himself into the air followed by He Lao San and Ling Yue. Thankfully they had covered their bodies with their own powers, otherwise the lightning wouldn’t have just finished off their mounts.
“This… Sir Thirteen!” As reincarnation masters, He Lao Dai and his third brother are both capable of flying in the air for a brief period so there’s no danger of them faling, but that didn’t apply to the young lass with them. If an upper celestial martialist falls from this height, it’s certain death.
Just as both brothers were panicking on what to do because their speed can’t outpace a falling human, their ears suddenly picked up the sharp cutting sound of a dagger sweeping through the wind.
With Little Squeak on her shoulder, Ling Yue dangles brilliantly on her weapon as Little Crown flew next to her.
Taking this all in, the He Lao brothers were both beaming with light in their eyes. “How unexpected. To think Sir Thirteen’s ability has reached the point where you can fly with your weapon.”
They had long heard of the alchemist profession being capable of flight with their artifacts. Now that they are witnessing it in person, both brothers are pleased of how true the rumors were.
Ever since that day outside the alchemist tower where Nangong Qinglin plotted against her, Ling Yue had sworn she will learn how to fly one day. The issue then was that the needle in her possession was simply too small for the task, hence the reason why she postponed the training until she created the new dagger.
Based on her previous sessions, Ling Yue knows she can keep to the air for about fifteen minutes, about the same as eating half of her flight pill.
“This area has been set up with a thunderstorm so flying is out of the question here. Let’s descend and walk through this part,” she recommends.
Earlier Ling Yue assumed someone had placed an ambush here, but after seeing the thunderstorm now, she knew that’s not exactly the case. Rather, it’s the effect of a powerful artifact somewhere, which was attracting all of these thunder clouds to the region.
Whoever passes through here, whether strong or weak, they will be smite into smithereens if they tried to fly through the area. That’s the true trap here.
Of course, there are solutions to the problem. So long as the traveler doesn’t fly and walks instead, they can easily bypass the lightning storm.
It didn’t matter anyway at this point. All three of their mounts have been turned into cindered dust at this point, plus their destination wasn’t that far off either. So long as they avoid any more danger, it will only be another two to three days before they arrive at the mountain range.
Luckily their baggage was still intact, meaning dry rations and water were more than sufficient.
Just like that, Ling Yue and the He Lao brothers took to the road and continued their journey on land.
Unbeknownst to the trio, not long after their departure, a reddish cloud had rapidly arrived at their former location.
“Eh, just now I clearly felt the bead activating. How come there’s not even a hair here?” From inside the floating mass in the sky, a woman in red descends to the ground.
The female looked absolutely enchanting in the flaming dress. Like a foxy portrait, that slender body looked like it could seep water at being squeezed. But more than that, the main defining feature of this woman had to be that red fiery mark on the forehead.
In a wave of her hand, a pearl sized bead shoots out from under her sleeve and lands directly on her palm.
This was what they called a Thunder Bead, an extremely precious artifact that can summon the surrounding lightning elements in the heaven and earth. As to why the mysterious woman would lay dormant here, it’s obviously to take her chances at robbing the other groups of their map pieces. Of those that she slayed thus far, the best catch had to be the disciples from the Sun Sect because she now controls two of the map pieces.
Then came this evening after another six days of waiting. Pity Ling Yue was so vigilant, otherwise the number would’ve gone up to three for her.
After confirming it wasn’t just her illusion the Thunder Bead had activated before, the woman went ahead and stored the thing away to begin her search. Looking around the ground, traces of footsteps soon fell in her view under the grasses.
“There seems to be a few who slipped through my net. Fine, it’s been a while since I played cat and mouse. One, two, three, a total of three little mice.” The corner of her mouth raises into a smile as she breaks out into a twinkling laugh. In the next moment, that enchanting figure disappears from the spot to give chase in a certain direction.
Due to the loss of their mount, plus the difficult mountainous terrain, it took quite a long time for Ling Yue and her peers to find a suitable resting spot for the night.
“This area is the outer perimeter of the mountain range so the only spirit beasts around are some lowly third or fourth rank animals. Third brother, you stay with Sir Thirteen here and rest while I will go forage some food.” After giving the instruction, He Lao Dai then went ahead into the forested terrain to only return a short while later with some pheasants and rabbits in hand.
Not to be outdone, Ling Yue also pretended to go scavenging for food. Unlike a true huntsman though, she simply pulled herself into the Red Mist Sky and brought out some fruits and fishes she had lying around.
“How unexpectedly, to think this deep forest would also have such delicious fruits and fishes around.” As soon as they took their first bite, both of the He Lao brothers were both applauding the flavor and texture without stopping.
Can anyone blame them? Just the aroma of the fish roasting on the sticks were enough to permeate the land for a whole mile.
Of course, none can forget Little Squeak either, the infamous glutton. Indulging himself in two of the bigger fishes roasting there, he immediately bellied up on Ling Yue’s lap, totally unable to move an inch from his oversized belly.
Then suddenly, Ling Yue caught wind of a strange noise. It was like a rumbling and grumbling sound similar to the kind when one’s hungry in the stomach.
Huh? What?