After Leo spent the evening with Etessa, he was weary lady Evelyn would find them being close unacceptable. He was even prepared she would beat him up in anger, but knew that with the support of Jack’s alchemy and his own Core formation stage abilities he would recover in no time. Of course, he hoped the daughter was not that close with her mother and would never divulge their secret, and with more days passing by the life was so peaceful he forgot anything happened.

The furious roar echoing around the sect and which people heard even in the city clearly indicated things were not fine.

“Leo! You bastard! I’ll f*cking kill you!!!”

While the killing intend like a flood washed over the sect and hundreds of disciples fainted, not being able to withstand the pressure of the hate and anger the Nascent stage sect master radiated, Leo, purely on instinct, dashed trough the small window and madly rushed towards the woods in a straight line.

His heart skipped a beat when a deafening explosion destroyed the building his room was once in, probably taking lives of dozens disciples along. But after throwing a quick glance over the shoulder he realized that the destruction was caused by the huge sword the crazy lady threw at the spot he was most likely currently at.

Of course, it was much too soon to heave a sigh of relief, in fact, Leo knew that if he remained in the Aurora mortal realm it was highly unlikely he would ever be safe again. There was a reason for the rules he had set and once again he had become too complacent and forgotten about them.

The rule number one clearly stated – ‘women are dangerous!’. And this one was already evil, devious and aggressive … and apparently – mentally unstable. All he did was her daughter – only a bit and only once! And it was on HER own initiative!

After madly running for half a mile, Leo realized that he was rushing away from the only place he could escape through – the teleportation platform. While it probably would take too long to set the proper coordinates, he didn’t care where to teleport to – the most important thing was to get away from the psycho whose roars along with the sound of trees breaking he already could hear behind.

An idea of going in a large circle to return afterwards to the sect passed through his mind, but then he laughed in self-ridicule and channeled more Qi to his legs in order to increase the speed. He realized that running away from a Nascent soul stage cultivator was nothing, but a fool’s dream. On the other hand there was nothing else he could do – only try. While some people could fight against higher stage cultivators while being at the Foundation establishment or the Qi gathering stages themselves, the gap between the Nascent soul stage and those below was akin to that from heavens to earth.

It didn’t take long until the sect master caught up, but surprisingly Leo managed to avoid her destructive attacks for a while like a cockroach. Of course, in the heat of the moment neither side realized lady Evelyn was mostly venting thus the threat wasn’t as great as it looked, but the killing intent was real nonetheless and Leo felt his Qi reserves depleting at increasing rate.

“Evelyn? What’s going on? What are you doing?” Suddenly Laura Cloud appeared at her friend’s side and asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?! I’m going to kill that bastard like a dog!” Lady Evelyn said while heavily panting, but from anger and not from exhaustion, of course.

“Why?” Laura Cloud asked, but only got an angry stare for an answer.

The sect master’s friend catching up and distracting her crazed friend gave Leo a short moment to recover. Hearing the attacks had stopped, he didn’t pause for a moment and continued to charge away, only throwing a quick glance behind. He noticed the other person above the treetops next to lady Evelyn and recognized her, and at the same time a simple plan formed in his brain.

Thanks to Laura Cloud there was the teleportation tablet in his amulet and it was unlikely there will be a better time to ever use it. From his experience he guessed it most likely would bring him directly to the teleportation platform, but the question was – which one?

He knew there were only two in the Aurora mortal realm and if he was brought to the one in the desert it was fine, he would be safe. On the other hand – if he found himself in the middle of the Sacred Order, he would be screwed because the sect master would instantly arrive at his side.

Leo wrecked his brains for a moment and the plan was born. He continued the mad escape, ignoring the fact that earlier the sect master stopped. Unsurprisingly it didn’t take too long for her to catch up again. The game of cat and mouse continued for a while and, under the curious eyes of Laura Cloud, her best friend kept abusing the youth whose appearance was so haggard he was hard to recognize.

When they were already over twenty miles away from the sect, after another evasive roll Leo pulled the tabled from the amulet and unceremoniously broke it. An instant later he was at a teleportation platform and without trying to guess which one was it, kicked the guarding elder in the face, knocking him out, and began to set the immortal spirit stones in sockets, preparing to leave the place for good.

“Motherf*cker!” Lady Evelyn could only curse seeing the hateful pray escaped, but after taking a few deep breaths her mind cleared up and she turned to her friend.

“Which one?” She asked.

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“What?” Laura Cloud asked, apparently confused.

“Laura, don’t play games with me! Not now!” Lady Evelyn angrily barked, “To which teleportation platform does the tablet take?”

“What happened? What did the kid do?” Laura asked in return, but only got another bark in return.

“Laura!”

“Sigh … the one in the Sacred Order …” Laura Cloud said and followed her friend who in a form of a fireball stormed back to the sect.

Leo knew he probably didn’t have much time no matter where he arrived. After setting the dozen immortal soul stones in their sockets in a heartbeat, he glanced around and to his great horror realized he had been in this teleportation hall over dozen times. And it meant the sect master was about to arrive any moment – twenty miles for a Nascent soul stage expert was basically nothing.

While praying to Heavens for his memory to not fail him, Leo began to set the coordinates, but before he was done, he felt a stinging pain assaulting the back of his head. Lady Evelyn didn’t even need to do anything – she was currently standing in the doorway and the close proximity was enough for her killing intent to put any lower stage cultivator to their knees or maybe even in a coma.

Leo, despite his many experiences, felt like a fish on a chopping board and while a fish would at least struggle, he was completely paralyzed. Like in a slow motion he watched the sect master unsheathe her greatsword and with a wide motion throw it at the teleportation platform he was standing at, but at the last moment Laura Cloud arrived and slightly diverted the killing blow.

The sword handle hid Leo’s right shoulder though and the sound of the wall breaking behind him along with the piercing pain woke him up from the stupor. It didn’t matter what coordinates he had set – the crazy b*tch was about to kill him, thus using the left hand he initiated the teleportation and vanished from the spot.

“Laura!” Lady Evelyn angrily shouted at her friend, but this time Laura Cloud was not going to back down.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She punched Evelyn’s shoulder, “Do you realize what would happen if you destroyed the platform? I know you’re hot headed, but no matter what that kid did – you can’t destroy the prospects of the sect! Having our own teleportation platform is what gives us an edge in the realm! And we have not payed back to the Golden Hand society for building it! It’s not ours yet!”

“Arghhh!” Lady Evelyn shouted at the ceiling, but then took a couple deep breaths and slightly deflated.

Mumbling ‘I’ll find you even if I have to dig up the whole universe!’ she went over to the teleportation platform and began to inspect the runes used for setting coordinates. Then she took out writing utensils from her bracelet and quickly noted down the pattern.

“Are you going to ask Christopher to find him?” Laura Cloud asked, observing her friend’s actions.

“Mhm … that is if he actually managed to teleport anywhere.” Lady Evelyn sarcastically said, “I hope he didn’t have time to set proper coordinates and currently is suffocating somewhere in the space … or maybe – landed inside of a sun or something … ye, that would be even better!”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too much?” Laura asked with a sigh. It has been a long time since she saw her friend so furious and it was never a pleasant experience.

“Too much? You’re asking if it’s not too much?” Lady Evelyn was getting worked up again, “Not after for what he did!”

“And what exactly did he do?” Laura Cloud patiently asked.

“He … he … that bastard got my baby pregnant!” Lady Evelyn hissed, clenching her fists, but Laura’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yours too?” She gasped and her friend froze in shock, trying to process the implication.

It took few moments for lady Evelyn to find the right words, but even then they came out forced.

“You mean your daughter also is pregnant?” She weakly asked and strangely enough the earlier fumes seemed to be dowsed.

“Ye, Elsa told me last night.” Laura said with a nod.

“Then how can you be so calm? Putting aside the fact that he disgraced your child, he completely ruined her future prospects!” Lady Evelyn said, “And he clearly did it on purpose!”

“First of all, he saved my life thus there was no way I’d try to kill him.” Laura shrugged. Clearly she had put much more thought to this matter in comparison to her friend, “Second, why would both Elsa’s and Etessa’s prospects be ruined? Both, me and you, have raised a child on our own and it was fine, but regarding the cultivation, it’s even a boon!”

“What do you mean?” Lady Evelyn furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Hahaha! You’re too mad to realize it!” Laura Cloud’s mood suddenly improved, “It’s the oldest trick in the book – for a woman to step into the Nascent soul stage while being pregnant – there is no Heavenly tribulation! Heavens are just and won’t punish the unborn child! Of course, to experience a tribulation is beneficial to cultivation, but just because you didn’t have one it doesn’t mean your future prospects are limited … although the immortal tribulation might be slightly more dangerous in the years to come. Although, who knows – maybe our daughters will be expecting at that time as well!”

“It won’t be from this damned bastard though!” Lady Evelyn hissed in return, “If he’s not melting in the sun or not suffocating in the space, I’ll find him and strangle with my bare hands!”

“Sigh … don’t you find it troubling you wish for the father of your grandchild to die?” Laura Cloud shook her head and weakly smiled.

“Not at all!” Lady Evelyn nonchalantly replied and sat down on the floor to write a letter to Christopher Delian.

Meanwhile Leo didn’t land on a sun or find himself floating in space. He was falling though.

He knew that teleportation to random coordinates could likely turn out fatal, but he was about to die anyway and made the only reasonable choice, or rather – took the gamble. Of course, if he was at the Nascent soul stage, he could simply start to fly, but now all he could do was to observe the surrounding cold mist while experiencing the fall. Obviously he didn’t look forward to landing since there was no telling if his heart would still beat after he reached the ground … or water. If it did and he was conscious, with the regenerative abilities of the Core formation stage cultivator it was likely for him to survive.

While he was pondering, the scenery suddenly changed – apparently he had fallen through thick cover of clouds and could finally see the ground. There was something that looked like a body of water below and it gave Leo hope he would not break all his bones by falling in it, but just in case he began to straighten up. He got this ‘bright’ idea that if he quickly ran at the exact moment he made the contact with the ground, it would somewhat divert the force of him falling and, while he might break a leg or even both, he might survive the fall.

The downside was that the ground was closing too fast and Leo had no clue if him running at full speed while freely falling would do anything. Before loosing consciousness, for a split moment he sensed he stepped on something soft, but that was it.