Bing’s feet landed on solid ground and he silently thanked his luck for not sending him and Lei to an even worse situation than before. His body was in one piece and Lei was fine too. Now it was time for them to figure out where they were and continue on their way to the tower. He’ll also need to let Qing know what happened to them.
“Bing.” Lei Zhi spoke with a firm tone.
“Huh?” It was slightly startling to the round cultivator. He’s never heard that tone of voice with Lei before.
“When I say run, run as fast as you can.”
“What are you... talking... about...?” Bing’s eyes slowly met with the terrifying beast staring at them from behind.
Sweat oozed out of his pores like a leaking barrel. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he recognized that beast behind him. He could only produce unintelligible stammering from his mouth as fear took hold of his mind. A 9th stage Qi Gathering Sparking Rhino stared them down. Its powerful qi presence bearing down on both of them made it almost impossible for them to move.
“Can you still move your legs?” Lei asked him.
“Maybe?” He could barely feel his legs! Everything felt numb!
“On the count of 3, I'm going to give us a chance to get out of here. And when I do, run like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t even think about looking back and just run.” Lei said calmly.
“How are you so calm about all of this?” Bing asked while trying to calm his palpitating heart.
“I look calm to you right now?” Lei asked.
Looking at the aged fisherman made Bing think that maybe he was hasty in his judgement of calling Lei calm. His legs were shaking just as bad as his were, Lei’s sect robes were soaked from sweat, and the grip on his fishing rod was unsteady. He was just as terrified as he was! That made Bing feel slightly better about the situation as he could still relate to Lei as a common person.
“You aren’t going to try and face this thing alone, are you?” Bing asked, wondering how he was going to give them a chance to escape.
”Have you gone crazy? I’m going to be running right with you! I believe it's better to run than to fight.”
“You don’t know how glad I am hearing you say that. If I was here with anyone but you, I would definitely be fighting in a life or death struggle with this Sparking Rhino right now.” Bing was overjoyed to have a normal companion like Lei.
“Can’t say you’re wrong, knowing our allies.” He chuckled. The Sparking Rhino seemed fed up now and slowly moved closer towards them.
“1...”
Bing’s fat began turning into muscle. Preparing himself to run to his best ability. Using Swift Devil wouldn’t help him in this situation as it would drain his stamina quickly. Running out of stamina while running from this beast will only lead to his eventual death. He would save his movement martial art for emergencies.
“2...”
The Sparking Rhino stomped its foot on the ground, shaking the earth beneath them in an attempt of intimidation. Both Bing and Lei Zhi would agree that it wasn’t necessary to try and intimidate them. Especially when they were so weak in comparison to the spirit beast. If anything, it was overkill.
“3!” Quon shot ink into the eyes of the beast, making it growl in anger and rupture the ground with a stomp from its two front legs.
The two moved faster than they ever moved before. The uneven ground did little to hinder their panic-filled sprint as the fear for their lives was a far greater stimulant in aiding their retreat. The crashing of the trees behind them along with the fierce shaking of the ground under them lit their legs on fire! They held nothing back and unleashed their full strength into running away as quickly as they could!
This was the second time in his life that he found himself running for dear life away from a wild beast. The first time was when he was in the recruitment test for the sect. That was also when he became the Empress’s slave. Thinking back to that time and this one made him realize that maybe this situation wasn’t as scary as he thought it was...
“Thunk!” A tree branch just went sailing past his ears that stabbed deeply into the thick tree he just ran past.
Okay, nope. Still scary! Still terrifying! He was still scared out of his mind! This was nothing like the wild boar from before! Was he stupid? Trying to compare the strength of a boar vs the strength of this 9th stage spirit beast? Of course, this situation was far more dangerous! The worse that boar could’ve done was stab him with its tusks, he could’ve lived through that. He wouldn’t be able to live no matter what he does if he tried to fight against this Sparking Rhino.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Hahaha...” A self-depressing laugh escaped him. “If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve just fought with that Huan clan psycho!” He yelled, lamenting his misfortune.
“Let’s look on the bright side! At least we’re getting good training for our legs!” Lei Zhi said while running like the wind.
Bing had trouble seeing how exactly Lei Zhi was moving so fast. When he tried to focus his attention on Lei’s legs, his vision would be taken elsewhere. He couldn’t read his movements! He himself was a body cultivator thanks to his Devil Arts, so physical-straining activities weren’t uncommon for him. But Lei Zhi was a pure qi cultivator, the only way he could be catching up to him this way would be if he was spending most, if not all, of his qi towards his legs.
Bing knew that wasn’t the case though. As far as he knew, Lei had three main martial arts and one he doesn’t use often. His main ones were his fishing art, movement art, and auxiliary art. The one he used rarely was just a common body martial art. Unless Lei was using some technique that he hasn’t shared with him or Ying, that meant that Lei Zhi’s movement art was just this naturally quick! Was it possible that he was holding back against him and Ying in their spars? The level of his movement martial art was by far the best out of anyone in their group. Even Hu Tao can’t compare to Lei’s!
“Training isn’t supposed to be this life-threatening!” Bing barely dodged the spark sent from the rhino’s horn, losing a few pieces of hair in the process.
“Some people would disagree! Do you know how many body cultivators face death just by training?!” He asked.
“What does that have to do with anything?!” Bing yelled in confusion. Why was he talking about this sort of stuff now?
“I was just saying that the type of training one goes through differs from one person to the next!” Lei Zhi avoided a spark of his own that destroyed a large portion of the ground in front of him, forcing him to jump over a large crater. “So, it wouldn’t be too much to say that some people think that training is supposed to be life-threatening normally. I mean it's not common sense for most but what is common sense, you know?” He chatted.
“Is now the time to be talking about this sort of stuff?!” Bing interrupted.
“Just trying to make conversation! It helps take one’s mind off impending death when talking about things like this!”
Just as the two were ‘peacefully’ talking away, they saw two figures up ahead. One was standing and the other was on their knees. Bing planned to ignore them and let them get caught up in the problem behind them in the off chance that they’ll take care of it for them but Lei had a different idea from him it seems.
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Tang Wuying held his giant boomerang under Liuxian’s jaw, keeping his head held up. After their battle, he was the victor. Liuxian’s life was in his hands and his to do with as he pleased. To think that someone this weak had thoughts about courting his woman, it’s laughable! Now here he was about to die because he had the misfortune of meeting him inside the Plains.
Just as Tang raised his great weapon to finish off the fool, the ground began to rumble and shake. He looked at the immobile Liuxian and could tell that it wasn’t him. The stubborn idiot still dared to look at him with such a glare in his eye? Did he not know the difference between them was like that of the heaven and earth? He should make his death more painful because of that look.
“What is that sound?” Tang Wuying turned around to see a sight he honestly didn’t expect in the least.
Two disciples were running straight towards him with a 9th stage beast chasing them from.
“Please run away fellow disciples! This little fella is fast for his size!” The old man warned as he and his ally ran straight towards him. Only earning a glare from Tang.
He heard the sound of something from behind him and saw Xun Liuxian shooting off into the sky despite all his limbs being broken. The weak bastard dared to smirk at him as if this would be enough to handle him. He’ll rip this beast apart and then find Liuxian again to teach him never to cross him or Xiao Hong again! These two fools that interrupted him will also be punished for distracting him. To think that all of this happened just because he heard that Xiao Hong was headed towards the Great Tower...
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The disciple they just passed by ignored Lei’s warning and stood his ground against the Sparking Rhino. Bing wasn’t too worried for him as he managed to sense his cultivation when they passed by him. He was a 9th stage Qi Gatherer so, even if he wasn’t able to defeat the animal then he could surely escape it. He wasn’t able to see his face clearly but both of them recognized that strange weapon he held in his hands.
“He’s definitely going to be fine.” Bing said.
“If he could defeat the talented Gong Jun, then a beast on the level of the Sparking Rhino won’t be much.”
“It's a good thing we ran into him. Who knows how much longer we would’ve had to run if he wasn’t there?”
“The Great Tower isn’t that far away is it?” Lei asked.
Bing suddenly looked up at the imposing tower in the distance and gulped.
“We just left a fellow disciple to handle our problem for no reason, didn’t we?”
“That’s what it’s looking like to me... If we ran a bit longer then we would’ve reached the tower in no time.” Bing answered.
“You don’t think he’ll accept a heartfelt apology, do you?” Lei wondered.
“Seeing the way he dealt with his senior apprentice brother in that duel a couple months ago, no. I do not think he’ll take a simple apology.”
“Maybe he’s more forgiving than he looks.”
“Maybe Lei. Maybe.” Bing 100% doubted that Tang Wuying ever forgave anything in his life. He didn’t share the same positive look on like as Lei Zhi did. If anything, his views of people were far more negative in comparison. It looks like he’ll have to think of a plan to deal with Tang Wuying along with the Huan clan for the future.