Chapter Fifty-Seven: Escape

“I’d like to see who dares!” Jiang Yiyi suddenly appeared in front of Zhou Qi, facing the crowd. No wonder he was so unwilling to admit it—it was she who had forced him into this situation. Jiang Yiyi’s heart was heavy with guilt; she blamed herself for not considering everything, for failing to realize just how envious everyone was of the Medicine Immortal Palace.

Zhou Qi looked at Jiang Yiyi’s back and couldn’t help but sigh. The Saintess might be foolish, but she wasn’t wicked; otherwise, she wouldn’t have stepped in front of him like this.

“There’s no need for this, Saintess. I apologize for any offense just now. Please forgive me!” As Zhou Qi spoke, he activated the Grand Bewildering Immortal Array.

A thick fog abruptly appeared, instantly blanketing the entire Huaiwu Plain. Those within the array could not see their hands before their faces, their voices stifled, and their divine sense rendered useless. It was as though they had become lost, and no one dared attack rashly for fear of harming the Saintess. Even flying upward was futile, as the mist could not be breached.

An array? The several Nascent Soul cultivators instantly understood. In unison, they attacked the sky. Before long, the array faltered and the mist gradually faded, leaving only a small array disc behind. Zhou Qi was nowhere to be seen.

To possess such skills—Zhou Qi alone could not achieve this. The only explanation was the Medicine Immortal Palace. This thought made their minds race even faster. Even if they could not obtain it themselves, capturing Zhou Qi and handing him over to the Heavenly Dao Sect would be a great merit.

Han Yuanzheng felt a pang of regret. Who was closest to the Medicine Immortal Palace? Himself, of course. He had prided himself on his shrewdness all his life, yet he had been taken in by such a clumsy lie from Zhou Qi. Ah, it was all the fault of his daughter, Qiaoman—being a doting father had dulled his judgment. Han Yuanzheng sighed at length.

“After him! He must be captured.” Aunt Bing barked out the order. The others, evidently deferential to her, hurried to agree, even the newly appointed Gate Master of the Heavenly Gate, Wen Zhuo. Seeing that no one paid him any mind, Long Chengye quickly joined the pursuit as well.

“Why has it come to this?” Jiang Yiyi murmured. Her unwitting actions had thrown Zhou Qi into grave danger. Had she foreseen such consequences, she would never have acted as she did. Who would have thought that the mere mention of the Medicine Immortal Palace would render even Aunt Bing, usually so obedient, deaf to her commands?

“Saintess, you barely know him. You met only once—don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. If blame must be assigned, it’s his for coveting the Medicine Immortal Palace,” Aunt Bing consoled, making no move to pursue Zhou Qi. Protecting Jiang Yiyi was her first priority.

“So, as long as there’s something precious, we must seize it, whether or not it’s any concern of ours?” Jiang Yiyi asked bitterly.

Aunt Bing had no answer. The Saintess was too kind, too young; she could not bear to shatter her innocence. But really, was there even a question? Of course that was how things worked.

After Zhou Qi activated the array, he fled in panic, not daring to pause for a moment. He alternated between Swiftstride and Thunderstep techniques, desperately stuffing handfuls of spirit herbs into his mouth to keep going.

The Nascent Soul cultivators were far too fast. If he stopped, he would surely be found sooner or later. Only by escaping their divine sense could he hope for survival. He could only wonder how long the Grand Bewildering Immortal Array would delay them.

He had fled for countless miles before exhaustion forced him to hide in a cave, where he frantically refined spirit stones and swallowed pills to restore his strength.

It seemed Jiang Yiyi had acted without malice—he couldn’t really blame her, except perhaps to bemoan her lack of wits. He would never have guessed the Medicine Immortal Palace’s appearance would so thoroughly nullify the Saintess’s authority. He had underestimated the allure of the Medicine Immortal legacy. Fortunately, he had managed to gather all the materials for the array. Without it, escape would have been nearly impossible. What a pity that the demon core of the Heartshadow Phantom Wolf and the blood of a Succubus were so rare. Otherwise, with a few hundred Grand Bewildering Immortal Arrays on hand, there’d be nowhere in the world he couldn’t go.

But how long could he keep running? The Heavenly Dao Sect’s territory was vast—at his meager Foundation Establishment strength, relying on sword flight or spells alone, who knew how many years it would take to truly escape?

His best option was to use a teleportation array to reach another domain or at least another power’s territory. Zhou Qi calmed himself, weighing every possible way to evade his pursuers.

“Run! There’s a Nascent Soul cultivator’s aura approaching,” Lord Tianxuan alerted him.

Zhou Qi had no choice but to use his Illusionary Transformation technique to alter his appearance, masking his cultivation at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, and set off in a seemingly casual manner.

If they kept searching and still found nothing, these clever Nascent Soul cultivators would soon realize he had changed his face. Eventually, someone would notice from his work in the logistics unit that he had a way to conceal his cultivation.

The Nascent Soul’s aura grew nearer. Zhou Qi forced himself to remain calm and pretended to be gathering herbs.

Sure enough, a figure appeared before him—it was one of Jiang Yiyi’s personal guards.

“What are you doing here?” the guard asked.

“Reporting to you, elder. This junior is gathering herbs here to exchange for some spirit stones,” Zhou Qi replied, now disguised as a decrepit old man in ragged clothes, obsequiously holding up a stalk of herb.

The guard was not suspicious. People like this were common—poor aptitude, no sect to rely on, scraping by on wild herbs and minerals for cultivation. Judging by the old man’s fifth-level Foundation Establishment, he’d likely go no further in this life.

“Have you seen this Qi Condensation cultivator?” The guard flicked his hand, projecting Zhou Qi’s image into the air.

Zhou Qi studied his own likeness with some admiration. What a clever trick—three-dimensional, too. Like a walking projector.

At first he looked confused, then seemed to remember, and finally nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes! I saw him half a day ago, running from that direction.”

“Where did he go?” the guard pressed.

“He went that way,” Zhou Qi pointed, eyes fixed on the guard, his intention obvious—he was hoping for a reward.

The guard tossed him a mid-grade spirit stone. Seeing how filthy Zhou Qi was, his hair nearly crawling with lice, the guard suppressed his urge to perform a soul-search. Too dirty.

To search this man’s soul would mean reliving his memories. The experiences of such lowly cultivators would surely be foul—anything for a single spirit stone. The guard had once enjoyed soul-searching for information, but after witnessing enough horrifying things—like a corpulent man selling his body for a stone, and not even for a good price, with someone actually enjoying it—he’d grown thoroughly disgusted.

When the guard finally left, Zhou Qi breathed a great sigh of relief. What he feared most was running into the type who would soul-search at the drop of a hat; no acting could save him then.

He quickly fled in another direction, wishing he could further alter his face. Unfortunately, the Illusionary Transformation technique Lord Tianxuan had taught him had its own glitches—what a headache.

His cultivation was simply too low. After running for a long time, Zhou Qi stopped again. He needed to find a way to use a teleportation array. Wandering the wilderness alone, sooner or later someone would catch him.

He found a wild bear’s cave, killed the beast, set up a few simple defenses, and waited in silence for the cooldown of his transformation technique to pass.