His exit through the town went without any issues. Red was used to sneaking past the guards and crowds, and this time around, he didn’t have any problems either.
Once he was fully outside the town, though, the youth picked up the pace. He couldn’t feel anyone trailing after him with his crimson sense, but its range was just two hundred meters, and his enemies were probably aware of that already.
He only stopped after he ran for almost ten kilometers at a quick pace through the forest. Red then stopped and took a deep breath.
‘Still no one.’
He didn’t feel relaxed even with this discovery, though. The enemies he was dealing with here were resourceful and skilled, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Red couldn’t discover a trace of them. He needed to be sure that no one was on his trail, or else he wouldn’t be able to go through this trip with ease of mind.
Thankfully, Red had another trick up his sleeve his enemies didn’t know about.
‘I should try it.’
Over the years, Red avoided consuming any blood so as to not worsen his demonification. This meant that his crimson sense didn’t increase in power. However, it didn’t mean Red hadn’t been practicing and finding new ways to use this power.
The youth closed his eyes and focused on his crimson sense. The range of his power began to diminish, something that made Red feel naked and blind in some ways. However, this was all intentional.
As the omnidirectional range of his power diminished, Red focused his sense on a specific direction, that being west towards the town, from the area he just came from. His crimson sense stretched towards this limited area, reaching two hundred meters in a matter of seconds, before stretching even beyond that.
This was the new trick Red discovered after a lot of practice. He could retract and shape the area of detection of his crimson sense as he wished, and as long as he gave up on its omnidirectional nature, he could stretch his power far beyond its normal range in a single direction.
By the time he was done, his crimson sense reached around 800 meters of range in a wide line towards the west. And sure enough, Red’s caution paid off.
‘There’s someone.’
A human fluctuation. Male, in his thirties. At least ten veins opened, probably all twelve, considering he could keep up with Red. Very calm and composed in nature.
It wasn’t someone he recognized.
This was all information Red learned at a single ‘glance’ of his crimson sense.
‘How is he following me?’
Red was confident in his own abilities. He was quicker and stronger than the average cultivator with twelve veins open, in part because of his training and special abilities. No ordinary person at this level could keep up with him.
‘An imperial agent?’
It was the only thing that made sense. Imperial agents were indeed stronger than the average cultivator, and Red knew this from experience, not to mention that no one else had reason or the capabilities to stalk him in this region. However, this only answered why this person had the capabilities of keeping up with him, not how he could track Red through the forest.
‘Perhaps they have some kind of treasure that allows them to track me.’
How that might be possible, Red had no idea. If that was the case, though, then he wouldn’t be able to lose them, no matter how far and fast he ran.
‘They leave me no choice.’
The youth wouldn’t suffer himself to be stalked on this trip.
…
Red didn’t act immediately. Instead, he continued to run through the forest, checking behind him with his extended crimson sense now and then.
He did this for another half-an-hour.
The youth wanted to first check to see if there was no one else trailing him, or if perhaps the man had called other people to surround him. None of this happened, though, and for now it seemed as if his pursuer was alone.
Red couldn’t guarantee how long that would be the case, so once he made sure no one else was around, he decided to act.
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‘That hill will do.’
His pursuer was always careful to maintain their distance from him. They wavered between 800 and 600 meters of distance, never more, never less. This was a considerable distance even for Red, and if he turned around and charged at this man, he might just end up escaping.
As such, Red needed to give himself every advantage.
The youth started to run up a rather steep hill, keeping tabs on his stalker’s progress. Like Red had expected, the man didn’t follow him up, as this would have probably exposed him once the youth had the higher ground and there was no cover of trees.
Instead, the man stood at the foot of the hill under the heavy foliage, circling around and presumably being ready to give chase in whatever direction Red decided to go to.
The youth continued to climb up, right to the very top. Then, without hesitation, he crested over the hill and went down the other side, using his downward momentum to push his speed to its limits.
Right at that moment, his pursuer was circling around the hill, standing to the side without moving and ready to continue his pursuit. He wouldn’t get the chance, though.
‘Now!’
Red suddenly changed directions with a single pivot of his feet. The youth shot in the direction of his pursuer like an arrow, his speed increased by his downward momentum as he went downhill, dodging trees and other obstacles in his way with practiced ease.
It took a second for his pursuer to realize what was happening. Red could feel their surprise through his crimson sense, as well as the fact they immediately turned around and ran. The youth had already almost halved the distance between them at that point, though, and now they were just over three hundred meters apart.
Still, Red’s momentum disappeared as he reached even ground, and although he was still gaining on his pursuer, there were still hundreds of meters between them. Who knew what the man could do before the youth reached him?
‘I need to be quicker.’
Red focused on his two leg veins, contracting his muscles ever so slightly. Then he felt a shock run down his spine and through his lower limbs.
All of a sudden, Red’s speed increased substantially as his muscles seemed to explode into overdrive. This was yet another benefit he acquired from opening the special acupoints from the Storm’s Blessing technique - being able to push his muscles beyond their limit with a strange electric energy.
The boost was brief and took a toll on his body, but it would be enough for this situation. The distance between Red and his pursuer, now being pursued himself, diminished in a flash, allowing the youth to gleam a glimpse of their visage through the trees.
Not that there was much to be seen. The man seemed to be wearing black clothes to camouflage in the night, not unlike what Red was using, and he also was equipped with a leather armor beneath his cloak. With his dark vision, the youth was able to spot the glint of a shortsword in his left hand, as well as something else gripped tight in his right hand.
Red couldn’t tell what this other item was, but he had an inkling.
‘It’s best to be careful.’
A few seconds later, Red was already within a hundred meters of the man, and he could feel his fluctuation becoming increasingly panicked. All of a sudden, the man turned around and raised his right hand, revealing a masked face as well as a glowing talisman that he pointed towards Red.
The youth had already acted as soon as he made to turn around, though.
Before the talisman could even go off, though, a swishing sound broke through the air. The man saw a shadow twirling in his direction, but he was too slow to act.
Red’s thrown short sword lopped his arm off around the weapon with almost no resistance. The man looked over in a panic, but before he could even register the pain and react, the youth was already upon him.
Red’s right arm reached around his opponent’s neck, while his left one grabbed at the man’s remaining wrist, preventing him from using his weapon. His opponent tried to put on a struggle, only to find himself at the mercy of the youth’s surprising strength.
Red was quick to put the man in a headlock, grasping his other hand around his body and locking his armed hand between their bodies where it couldn’t move. Then, in a single motion, the youth applied force on his hold and made a twisting motion.
A sickening cracking sound echoed through the forest. The man fell limp in Red’s grasp, and the youth let his body fall down. The individual’s neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and his eyes were still open, even in death.
Suffice it to say, Red had learned to kill with more than just his sword.
He couldn’t afford to admire his work, though.
With no hesitation, Red looked through the man’s body.
There was just a small pouch on his person, on which Red found a handful of talismans and a green, glowing gem. As soon as the youth touched this gem, his mind was flooded with information.
A mental map formed in his head, showing no information other than the direction and distance to a strange glowing light. This light, right now, was right where Red was standing, and it was glowing with a flaring intensity.
‘So they can indeed track me.’
Red frowned. There was also a communication talisman amidst the other items, which meant that this person was probably in contact with someone inside of town.
The youth wanted to take this gem and talismans along with him, but it was too risky. This wasn’t the first time Red stole things from the bodies of imperials, so he imagine they must have learned their lesson and might have even planted some tracking spells on the items.
Red chose to tear the talismans to shred, before cracking the green gem under his foot. Its glow disappeared as the tracking item was ruined.
‘This is all I can do.’
Red was hardly at ease. Now that he knew these imperials could track him, the entire outlook on their situation in town changed. It wasn’t farfetched that they could track his companions too, in which case none of them were safe anymore.
Though, in some ways, they hadn’t been fully safe for a long time.
With such worries in mind, Red picked up his sword before continuing on his way. Even if they could still track him, at the very least, the youth hoped he had afforded himself enough time to get to his destination and achieve what he set out to do.