41. Dao - The First Encounter
It has been an hour since Clay escaped the villa and Clay stopped to tighten the bandage he wrapped around his feet. Since he does not have a pair of shoes, he had to improvise and get away as far as possible.
Earlier, he was passing by the woods but thick bushes and unknown insects made it difficult for him to pass through so he decided to walk close to the river and follow its flow.
Ocassionally, he would encounter low level magic beasts but with the help of his Godly Eyes, he was able to avoid them before any contact. Technically, he can just force his way with his new found power but he did not like surprises.
Recalling the Core Formation Expert who immobilized him with mere aura, he was clearly at a disadvantage but in a blink of an eye, their situation was reversed.
Clay continued walking and after a few more minutes, his Godly Eyes reflected signs of people.
Clay was thrilled to be able to interact with someone so he increased his paced but as he got closer towards the group of people he saw, he made a realization it might not be a good idea so he stopped his tracks.
As he turned around, he noticed that the group of people camping by the side of the river are wearing uniforms similar to the cultivators he killed an hour ago.
Clay panicked and moved towards a nearby boulder hoping nobody sensed him. He is confident he can overpower those four but if they employ long range tactics, then he will be hunted like an exotic boar.
Clay looked the terrain across the river. While he was planning on jumping over, he suddenly heard a familiar woman's voice.
"How did you manage to escape?"
Clay was shocked by fast someone got close to him. He did not even feel how someone gained distance to his location.
He did not need to see the face of the woman but he was certain it is the same woman who forced him to eat the medicinal soup.
Clay got to his feet and pretended to have had not heard anything then ran upstream. He wanted to attack but estimating her distance, his Qi Projection may not reach her.
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Clay is not worried he is showing his back and based on her question, Clay believes they are not yet aware what happened at the villa.
The woman after Clay is called Dego. She is a Alchemist who concocted medicine and help Clay recover in preparation for Soul Search. Earlier, they were taking a break while waiting for a new mission and to find their prisoner on the loose, she is beginning to worry something happened at the villa.
First, she will capture and interrogate Clay.
As a Peak-Late Qi Condensation practitioner, she had the ability to glide through air so she can easily out-ran Clay.
“You think you can escape?” She was about to reach Clay’s head and smashed it on the ground but before she could get any closer, she saw something horrifying aura extended from Clay’s shoulder and in a blink of an eye, a huge hand grabbed her whole body and before she can manifest a barrier, everythign went dark.
CRACK!
QUISHK!!!
“NO!!!!”
Clay stopped his tracks there was another cultivator on his tail.
"I'll kill you!"
Clay ignored the shouting and assessed his situation. There are three in pursuit and one of them, a Foundation Establishment expert is rapidly approaching. Clay forced himself to calm down estimated his opponents’ arrival. He planned on intercepting the first man but as soon as he stepped forward, he felt an aura enveloped his body restricting his movements. But unlike the pressure applied by the Core Formation expert whom he killed, the pressure this time is concentrated to his feet.
Clay was for a perfect timing and unleash his power again but when the man was in rage, Clay saw him drew a sword and at the same, sent an outward slash release a parabolic wave of energy.
Swish!
Clay was about grabbed the man’s body and turn him into a pulp but at that moment when his opponent held the hilt of the sword, Clay felt the same destructive energy on par with his boosted power.
In the nick of time, Clay move his hands together with his Qi Projections and form a barrier.
BOOM!
The explosive impact caused Clay’s body to be thrown towards a huge rock before he fell to the ground.
Clay felt like his back had been whacked a by huge hammer but despite the pain, he managed to get up but when he looked around, the area is covered in smoke.
(Not so strong now, are you?)
Clay struggled to move his feet and when he faced the direction where the voice came from, he felt a flying dagger pierced his leg and penetrated his femur.
Zzzkk!
Arrggghhh!
Clay gritted his teeth and fell to his knees.
(I’ll show you what hell is like.)
As soon as Clay heard another voice, he did not move and used his Qi Projection hands to create a barrier around him.
Zzzkk!
Clay have no idea how the dagger penetrated his boosted power but he could feel the bone on his upper arm skewered like his leg.
Clay felt like he is about to die but it was this moment he recalled his Godly Eyes.
“Die.” As soon has he located the locations of his enemies, he summoned three Qi Projection Hand and squished every one to death.
Clay have time to be impressed by their skills and instead, created a bandage from the clothes from his spatial. After that, he forcefully pull out the daggers from his arm and leg then bandaged the would.