Chapter 171: The Fleeing Future Thief-Saint!
Chapter 171: The Fleeing Future Thief-Saint!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Tang Jinbiao’s fists rained down like a storm upon the golden shield. Aside from slightly denting it, they were utterly incapable of harming Wei Wuya within.
“Haha, haha! Tang Jinbiao, it seems today is your day to die! Struggle no more! This Diamond Shield is formed using the top-grade Spirit Talisman, the Diamond Talisman! Even an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator couldn’t shatter it in one blow, let alone a puny Third-tier Body Refiner like you!”
Seeing Tang Jinbiao helpless against him, a look of wild triumph spread across Wei Wuya’s face. He laughed heartily and, ignoring Tang Jinbiao completely, focused all his energy on circulating his Qi energy within his body, preparing the most powerful strike of his Cloud-Parting Palm.
“Grrrah, damn it!”
Unwilling to concede, Tang Jinbiao swung his thick arms like spinning wheels, pounding frantically against the shield.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
But beyond causing minor dents, the Diamond Shield remained intact. Clearly, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t shatter it. Of course, the very fact that he could dent a shield formed by a top-grade Spirit Talisman proved his current strength was extraordinary; against anyone other than Wei Wuya, he might have been victorious long ago.
“Old Dog Wei! Screw your grandma! Screw your mother! Screw your sister! Screw your little sister! Screw all your ancestors!”
Failing to break through and driven by panic, Tang Jinbiao lost his wits. He became single-mindedly stubborn, continuing his furious bombardment and punctuating each blow with curses.
“Haha, Tang Jinbiao, curse away! Just ten more breaths, and I’ll have the strongest strike of the Cloud-Parting Palm ready! Where will you run then?”
Wei Wuya sneered with open mockery; he’d seen this desperate rogue tactic too many times.
“Hm? Run away?”
Wei Wuya’s words seemed to strike a chord, jolting Tang Jinbiao into a moment of stunned realization.
“Haha! Old Dog Wei! Screw your grandfather! If I can’t beat you, I’ll run!”
In the blink of an eye, Tang Jinbiao seemed to remember something and burst out laughing. Regardless of Wei Wuya, he chose a direction away from Jia Longwu and Young Master Ma, transformed into a dark streak, and zipped away as fast as a shadow.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Tang Jinbiao made full use of the speed advantages of a Body Refiner. After mere flashes through the underbrush, he vanished into the Dense Forest.
“I…”
Seeing Tang Jinbiao actually flee upon declaring so, Wei Wuya was momentarily stunned.
“You %@$@!!”
He recovered almost instantly, cursing violently, and gave chase without even bothering to unleash the fully charged strike of his Cloud-Parting Palm.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wei Wuya seized the moment while Tang Jinbiao was still within effective range, tracking the residual Qi energy lingering in the air, and pursued him. After a few more streaks of movement, his figure too vanished into the depths of the Dense Forest.
“This…?”
On the other side, Jia Longwu, who had been watching the fight unfold with keen interest and half expecting Tang Jinbiao’s doom, was also dumbfounded by his abrupt escape.
“Pfft!”
But a moment later, comprehension dawned on her. She couldn’t suppress a light laugh, her beautiful eyes narrowing into playful crescent moons. Shaking her head resignedly at the direction of their disappearance, she glanced towards Young Master Ma nearby, then quickly followed.
“Hmm… that kid is rather amusing!”
Meanwhile, Young Master Ma, having witnessed Tang Jinbiao’s ‘flee first, talk later’ move, was equally stunned for a few seconds. Then, a wry smile spread across his face as he chuckled.
His figure then began to drift as he pursued.
…
In others’ eyes, their life-and-death struggle was nothing but a farce—how bitterly ironic?
…
Half a quarter-hour later within a dense forest, Wei Wuya abruptly halted.
“Tang Jinbiao, show yourself!”
Having suddenly lost sight of Tang Jinbiao, Wei Wuya slowed his steps. Holding his breath, he remained vigilant on all sides, forcing calm into his shout.
Rustle!
Just then, a thicket beside him stirred with a sudden sound.
“Die!”
Startled by the movement, Wei Wuya dodged sideways. Simultaneously, a burst of Qi Energy shot from his palm, hurtling toward the thicket.
Boom!
Squeak!
The thicket exploded into splinters. A mouse dissolved into a misty crimson cloud without even a cry.
“Whew!”
Relief washed over Wei Wuya seeing it wasn’t Tang Jinbiao.
“Blast it!”
Yet anger surged as Tang Jinbiao’s trail vanished. He never imagined his long-laid schemes would still let the man escape.
He bitterly regretted not eliminating Tang Jinbiao before he joined the Divine Wind Academy. Now, the mess was unavoidable.
Though the Wei Clan had his back, the Academy’s rules were absolute: no killing fellow disciples within three thousand miles.
Truly peculiar regulations, he mused. Forbidding infighting inside was sensible, but adding that vast buffer zone?
The founders knew their woods drew all birds. While combat arenas existed—where deaths were forbidden—grievances festering beyond the arena inevitably led fighters far away. “Out of sight, out of mind,” the rule whispered. Yet ultimately, it shielded the vulnerable.
“Tang Jinbiao! Stop hiding—I see you!”
After the false alarm, Wei Wuya scanned the surroundings again. He cast his Divine Sense outward, probing for any trace. But inexplicably, Tang Jinbiao remained undetectable within his hundred-zhang sensory range. He knew Tang was near; intuition screamed it.
Young Master Ma and Jia Longwu lagged behind, unable to match their sprint. Though potentially powerful, Young Master Ma’s current cultivation level was merely Early-stage Golden Core. His earlier teleportation taxed him—sustaining such speed now was impossible.
“Tang Jinbiao! Where’s your courage? A true fighter faces his foe! Hiding makes you no hero!”
Wei Wuya shouted while advancing.
Boom!
A thicket loomed nearby. Wei Wuya unleashed another Qi Energy projection, obliterating it on principle.
“Tang Jinbiao!”
Frustration gnawed at Wei Wuya. Certain but blind, his calls unanswered, he finally stalked deeper into the forest.
Before long, he vanished deep into the dense forest, only his intermittent laughter drifting out afterward.
“Hehe!”
After Wei Wuya left, a nearly transparent figure slowly descended from a large tree, a cruel smile curling its lips. It then followed the direction Wei Wuya had taken.
…
“Tang Jinbiao, I see you! Come out now, or I will drag you out myself!”
A short while later, Wei Wuya stood in a relatively open grove of trees, shouting loudly. His eyes narrowed to slits, giving the unsettling impression that he could see you no matter where you were hiding.
“Hehe!”
Unbeknownst to Wei Wuya, however, a partially transparent figure was steadily creeping closer behind him.
This figure was Tang Jinbiao. He had activated his Stealth Talisman. For a Body Refiner like Wei Wuya, detection using Divine Sense was impossible. Visually spotting him might still be an option, but Wei Wuya placed absolute confidence in his own Divine Sense. Among fellow Body Refiners of his level, his Divine Sense was exceptionally strong, capable of scanning a radius of over a hundred zhang.
Although Tang Jinbiao practiced superior cultivation techniques, his Divine Sense could barely cover a ten-zhang radius. This stark contrast highlighted the gap between their spiritual powers. It also, in a way, showed Tang Jinbiao wasn’t as cunning as Wei Wuya. However, even the slyest fox couldn’t always evade the hunter’s snare.
Moving with extreme caution, Tang Jinbiao inched toward Wei Wuya. As flight was impossible for him now, he had to crawl forward.
Swoosh!
Sure enough, right at that moment, Wei Wuya suddenly turned back, his gaze snapping toward the area behind him.
“Hmph! Damn it, I never expected this kid to be this cunning!” Due to the angle, Wei Wuya failed to spot Tang Jinbiao. He snorted contemptuously and pursued forward again, relying solely on his instincts.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The moment Wei Wuya moved, Tang Jinbiao followed suit.
“Something’s wrong!”
But the instant Wei Wuya made a move, a sudden sense of unease hit him. He immediately whirled around, his eyes darting to the ground below.
“Hehe!”
Realizing he’d been spotted, Tang Jinbiao saw no point in continuing his concealment. He grinned, baring a set of white teeth.
“So you are here!” Wei Wuya cried out, startled.
However, just as Wei Wuya finished speaking and began to react, Tang Jinbiao moved. Wei Wuya only felt a light tap on his waist. Then, Tang Jinbiao’s figure vanished deep into the dense forest.
“Huh?”
Seeing that Tang Jinbiao hadn’t actually launched an attack but had simply run away, Wei Wuya was momentarily puzzled.
“Tang Jinbiao, I will kill you!”
But suddenly, Wei Wuya’s hand flew to his waist. Finding his Storage Pouch gone, blind fury erupted within him. A powerful aura burst forth from his body as he transformed into a streak of black light, hurtling after Tang Jinbiao at incredible speed.
…
“Haha! Turns out your old man has real potential as a Thief Saint!”
Tang Jinbiao clutched Wei Wuya’s Storage Pouch, his face exuding excitement as he sprinted wildly toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
He genuinely desired to eliminate Wei Wuya. However, Wei Wuya possessed considerable strength and was exceptionally cunning. Tang Jinbiao lacked confidence in succeeding. Furthermore, Young Master Ma and Jia Longwu were still watching closely from behind; confronting all three was uncertain, especially against Young Master Ma—Tang Jinbiao felt completely out of his depth. While he was confident that summoning the Frost Silver Spear would guarantee Wei Wuya’s instant demise, the chance wasn’t absolute. Unwilling to take that risk, he opted to vent his fury by stealing Wei Wuya’s Storage Pouch instead.
Of course, he also held a sliver of hope. He was gambling that the pouch contained the manual for the God of War’s Stride technique. Having witnessed its power twice now, claiming Tang Jinbiao wasn’t intensely interested would be pure fantasy.
“Hmph! If my guess is right, running another thirty li forward should bring us to the edge of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. If you stubbornly persist in chasing me… well, I wouldn’t mind finishing you off then!”
Tang Jinbiao dashed on, periodically sensing Wei Wuya falling further and further behind. A flicker of dark malevolence passed through his eyes.
Whoosh!
After stashing the Storage Pouch away, Tang Jinbiao accelerated even more.
Only after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea did Wei Wuya catch up to that spot.
“Damn it, Tang Jinbiao! I still underestimated you!”
Staring in the direction Tang Jinbiao had fled, Wei Wuya’s eyes burned with profound resentment. He hadn’t anticipated that Tang Jinbiao, despite a lower cultivation level, could match his speed stride for stride. Worse, as time passed, the gap was widening, threatening to leave Wei Wuya behind.
“Outrageous! The Message Talisman was in the Storage Pouch too. There’s no way to contact anyone now. Otherwise, if they stepped in, this would be resolved instantly!”
He had originally planned to ask Young Master Ma for help. But the thought of Tang Jinbiao having stolen his pouch sent Wei Wuya into a rage so intense he could barely restrain himself from charging forward to kill Tang Jinbiao on the spot.
…
A quarter of an hour later, Tang Jinbiao arrived before a vast expanse of towering stone pillars.
“Wow!”
The sight of the Stone Forest ahead elicited a gasp of wonder from Tang Jinbiao…