Chapter 70: Want to Come Back After Running Away?

“Know why that dragon has been able to avoid us all this time?” Seeing Petty’s confusion, Dan Marina let the cracked stone in her hand turn completely into powder. “Anyway, be prepared for a long fight. What a troublesome little dragon he is.”

Petty wanted to speak but hesitated. Dan Marina rarely left her sentences half-finished, but if she stopped halfway, it clearly meant she didn’t want to say more. It seemed Petty shouldn’t know about this too early. Still, Dan Marina had revealed enough information. The reason Zheng Yichen could keep avoiding their pursuit was related to these stones that looked just like ordinary rocks.

“My goodness, are these people single-minded?” Zheng Yichen worriedly looked at the information displayed on his lens. Based on the data transmitted from the Surveillance Stones, he could accurately track the pursuers’ movements. As for the Surveillance Stones themselves, since they were made of ordinary materials with no magic resistance, their internal structure would be eroded by mana and turn to powder within two days at most.

This actually became a good security measure. After all, without a carrier, magic power would quickly dissipate. At the same time, because mana was needed to maintain the operation of the Surveillance Stones, by the time their durability reached its limit, only a tiny amount of dissipated mana remained, further reducing the chance of discovery.

Zheng Yichen originally thought that as long as he ran fast enough and completely shook off those people, nothing would happen. However, their persistence was unexpectedly strong. What started as one team had stubbornly grown into a small squad! They had ample supplies along the way, clearly planning for a long-term battle against him.

Zheng Yichen was quite troubled by this. How should he deal with these people? Keep fighting them head-on?

How long would it take for these guys to give up? What I want most right now is to study, not waste my time here pointlessly, running all over the world being chased.

Well, Zheng Yichen admitted, each of those people looked quite formidable. The paths Zheng Yichen took were carefully chosen; some places were very dangerous, precisely to cause trouble for them. For example, Zheng Yichen once encountered a giant serpent on the road, similar to the one he had met in the Tote Mountain Range…

Loris had instantly killed it with a wave of her hand back then, but that didn’t mean the serpent was weak. The serpent wasn’t just a beast; it was a Magical Beast capable of using some Pseudo-Magic. Yet, this very Magical Beast serpent was taken down by what looked like just a random member from that pursuit squad!

Judging by the standardized armor that person wore, there were at least twelve other people just as capable… In short, although the Pursuit Squad had grown in number, their efficiency hadn’t decreased. Instead, it kept increasing. Zheng Yichen’s recent rest time had been reduced by one-fifth.

This made him somewhat irritable. It wasn’t a good sign. If their efficiency increased further, his rest time would be severely compressed. Without enough rest, Zheng Yichen couldn’t maintain his current energy. Meanwhile, because they were a well-rounded team, even during forced marches, they got sufficient rest. If things continued like this, he might be worn down to death by them!

So far, Zheng Yichen still hadn’t figured out why these people were so relentlessly chasing him. Was it because of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book? Seriously, just a book, and they’re going to such lengths to come after me? If they want Magic Weapon Contracts, they could just say so! Although he couldn’t hand over the book, Zheng Yichen could provide plenty of Magic Weapon Contracts.

The book involved some of Zheng Yichen’s own secrets. If others got hold of the main body of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, even if they couldn’t learn about his identity as an Otherworldly Soul, they could learn about his ‘abilities’. Loris had once seriously told Zheng Yichen that only she and he should know about his abilities. No third person should find out!

No, he had to think of a way to handle being locked onto like this. Staying on a mountain peak, Zheng Yichen let out a soft sigh and shifted his focus to the Magic Weapon Summoning Book he had left at the castle. His mark was on it. By shifting his attention there, he could channel the mana inside and activate the Projection Spell stored in the book.

A miniature dragon crawled out from the cover of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. It looked around sneakily and had just taken a small step when its whole body was grabbed, left dangling in the air.

Turning its head, it saw a Ghostly Little Maid staring coldly at Zheng Yichen. Looking another way, another little maid who looked exactly like her was also staring at him with the same poker face.

“Uh, good evening, little sisters.” Although he was being held like a chick, Zheng Yichen didn’t react much. After all, what he did back then was in the wrong. It was normal for these two little sisters to want some payback. He wondered how long they had been waiting here.

“I’m in a hurry. Could you let me go first?”

The two Ghostly Little Maids looked at each other. The older one, who was holding him, let go of his wing. “Let’s go, to the Library together.”

On the way, Zheng Yichen asked about the recent situation at the castle. Because there was a lot to tell, the two Ghostly Little Maids brought paper and pen. By the time they reached the Library, they had mostly finished explaining. Although the castle’s location hadn’t been truly exposed, it was no longer considered safe. The Ghost Maids were preparing to activate a mechanism within the castle to relocate it.

After all, the Forest of Illusions was vast. By moving to a new spot, even if the Sanctuary Church people came back and conducted another carpet search, they wouldn’t find the castle, especially since Zheng Yichen, the lead, had disappeared.

“Tsk tsk, it even has a relocation function. This place is really high-class.” Zheng Yichen looked at the content on the paper in his hand. It clearly stated that this relocation couldn’t be used arbitrarily. Each move required a huge amount of energy. The castle collected this energy from the surroundings on its own, but because the demand was so high, a single relocation would consume over a decade’s worth of accumulated energy.

And this was limited to relocations within the Forest of Illusions. For farther destinations, the energy requirement would increase even more!

In Zheng Yichen’s view, even this was impressive. This wasn’t an ordinary castle; its internal space had been expanded who knows how many times by Loris, so moving it consumed even more energy.

“But after the relocation, how do I get back?”

The Ghostly Little Maid holding Zheng Yichen showed a deep, indifferent expression. The meaning was probably… Didn’t you force your way out and run away from home? You ran away and still want to come back? It’s not that simple!

Well, anyway, after arriving at the Library and quickly learning about the castle’s recent situation, Zheng Yichen began searching for the materials he needed. He even used Bona Kaine’s Magic Book. It took him a full two hours to find some possibly effective ways to deal with the situation…