Volume 2 Running to Another Clan
Chapter 5 Pursued with Killing Intent
The Shennong mountain range.
In the forbidden area of the Yao clan, Demonic Beasts and devils would appear. Clansmen were not normally allowed to approach except for set times when they took care of the beasts.
As long as a beast was approaching the level of spiritual wisdom, they could either be seized and tamed back in the clan or exchanged with the Demon clan. Or course such an exchange had to have an equal pay, and it was actually this trade that was used to obtain most of the rare and strange medicinal ingredients that only the Demon clan could harvest.
Currently there was a squadron of around ten people resting deep within the mountains. Normally such a group's mission would be to clear out the Demonic Beasts.
However this particular squadron's mission was clearly different, as just one hundred or so meters away from them was a beast about to obtain spiritual wisdom but they simply ignored it and continued to eat and drink their rations.
"We're already near the boundary, that kid really is sly. We actually came across three of his traps, and even old Ren was tricked by him." One of people present finally opened their mouth.
"Hmph, it's just that I was temporarily careless is all. Originally we thought this kid had never stepped foot outside the Yao clan and was just a helpless chick. I didn't expect him to actually have such a high understanding of the deep mountains." The person who had been called old Ren was a middle-aged man with messy long hair. Beside his foot a vicious dog half the size of a man was following.
"That's enough! If we can't finish our mission this time then we might as well just not return." The ten people stopped talking.
Originally this was a simple chase and attack mission. The order had been passed down by Punishment Chief Yao Wangui's trusted aide, and although it was not specifically said that it was instructed by Yao Wangui, everyone knew that this mission was appointed by him. If it wasn't completed then… no one dared to continue imagining just what would happen to them if they failed.
"We've rested enough. This time we can definitely manage to catch up and capture this kid."
"I'll definitely peel off all his skin and pull out all his muscles."
"Let's go." The group quickly moved out, following tiny little hints as small as a spider's thread.
Time slowly passed. Under the trees where the small squadron had rested were particles of food they had left behind. Groups of ants and insects came and piece by piece brought it back to their nests.
Within the deep mountains night came extremely early. Even just as the sun just went past the mountain line, the forest immediately became a completely pitch black in which you wouldn't even be able to see your own hand's fingers. The dense and tall forest of trees seemed voraciously beautiful as they sucked in the last rays of the sun.
At this moment, not very far away, a certain tall tree trunk suddenly burst open and a youngster jumped down. Landing on the ground he gasped for air as his trembling hands grabbed his water canteen and greedily drank a mouthful before forcibly suppressing his body's desire to continue drinking.
Although his body was dehydrated, what was needed even more than water were medicinal pills. From his storage ring he quickly took out a gray porcelain bottle. Opening and tilting it two greenish-gray colored pills rolled out into his hand. Without any hesitation he immediately swallowed them down. Gugugu… the medicinal essence started to dissolve in his stomach, bringing with it a rumbling noise from his stomach. Only after he completed this did he dare to continue drinking from his water canteen, taking in one huge gulp after another till he was completely satisfied.
This youngster was precisely the fleeing Yao Chen.
Several dangerous moments had occurred to him, but what he relied on to escape them wasn't some understanding of the mountain. He was only fifteen, and other than refining pills he didn't have any other strong points.
The thing that let him repeatedly avoid his chasers were five Suspended Animation Pills his father had left behind. The Suspended Animation Pill shut down all his bodily organs' functions. Concealing himself in a tall tree and applying a tasteless, odorless juice that would hide his smell along with the Suspended Animation Pill, he became just another "lifeless object" amongst the forest.
This method had been taught to him by his father. He had told him a story about how even a Dou Zun Demonic Beast was tricked this way.
Gradually Yao Chen calmed down and started to walk within the deep mountains.
This was already the 21st sunset since he had left the Yao clan. Every day he would only dare to travel during the night. He clearly understood that the people chasing him would only move during the day, so the night could be used as a cover.
Although the night also hid its own terrors, but when compared to the people chasing him, these terrors could no longer make him afraid.
After these few days Yao Chen had already learned how to hide any traces of his movement, and he also figured out how he could mislead his enemies. Under life and death dangers people learned the fastest, even when just relying on themselves without a teacher.
He took out some rations from his storage ring, and carefully spinkled a bit in his mouth, as if he just dumped it in he might leave some tiny traces. Also taking a gulp of water, he tidied up and dexterously started moving again, his footsteps bringing him deeper into the mountain forest.
Every step that he took seemed to be exceptionally light and almost floating. These days he had learnt how to use his Dou Qi to let his body become lighter, and as much as possible he made it so that the grass would not leave any imprints.
The imprints his footsteps ended up leaving on his path looked the same as those left behind by a mountain rat. Within the forest these kinds of imprints were everywhere.
Under this kind of travelling, Yao Chen's speed was not considered fast.
Everywhere around him was pitch black, but raising his head he could still a faint glimmer above the treetops. Outside the deep forest, the sun had yet to actually set.
Determining the direction he needed to go, Yao Chen continued his journey.
There were still two Suspended Animation Pills left, however in order to recover himself he needed the Rebirth Pill, and he had already consumed them all. Therefore he had to be even more careful from now on.
Yao Chen didn't understand why his enemies would want to completely exterminate him, but he was very clear that if he did get caught his ending would definitely be more miserable than just death.
Although Yao Chen wasn't afraid of death, but he still needed to live on, he still had to carve his father's name onto the Clan Monument….
When that time came his mother would definitely smile… his mother's smile would always cause him joy in his heart.
Reaching this point in his thoughts, Yao Chen's footsteps became even more quick and agile, and his Spiritual Perception would extremely carefully look back at every imprint he left behind in order to make sure that they only looked like a mountain rat's and not a person's.
In this manner, carefully… extremely carefully… he didn't leave behind any tracks for the people chasing him.
The fifteen year old Yao Chen had learnt much that someone of his age shouldn't know.
Nine days later…
"Kid, stand still and don't run! We don't have any bad intentions, we're here to bring you back to the clan. Luo Shan has already returned, we know you didn't steal the medicinal ingredients…" Within the deep mountain forests, a loud shout rang. Following it countless startled birds took off and the sound of their flapping wings broke through the mountain forest's calm.
Yao Chen tightly clenched his teeth, doing his absolute best to continue forward. Following behind were three very fast nine star Da Dou Shi Iron Guards who were pursuing him while shouting loudly.
Just how could Yao Chen believe their clumsy lies? These people had been chasing him for a month already. From the very first day he entered the deep mountains, they had pursued him. He had to quickly consume two Suspended Animation Pills before he figured out ways to avoid them.
Originally everything was still fine, but five days before the ten man squadron suddenly split into three groups, each separating out in order to find his traces.
And finally, this three man group had finally caught on to some traces of him.
With his three star Dou Shi strength Yao Chen madly charged forward as fast as he could, and for a brief period he actually was not slower than his opponents. However Yao Chen's heart was still black, and with his opponent's nine star Da Dou Shi strength, now that he was in their range he had no way of escaping. When his Dou Qi finally ran out… just what could he do?
Within his muddle-headed mind he suddenly recalled a memory of his father pointing at the shadow of a lamp as he laughed, while his mother borrowed the light as she weaved some winter clothes.
The darkness behind the light.
The more dangerous a place was the more safe it was as well.
According to what his father had said he shouldn't have run into the deep mountains but instead hidden himself near the Yao clan and then waited for an opportune moment to leave.
However, realizing this now was already too late. But… an incredibly terrifying idea started to emerge in his mind. If danger could also mean safety, then there might actually be a place he could shake off the soldiers chasing him.
Suddenly Yao Chen's condition changed drastically, and a bloody odor emerged from his heart and lungs, indicating that he had exceeded the amount of Dou Qi he could use. One of his legs tripped and Yao Chen narrowly avoided falling onto the ground.
Although this only delayed him for slight pause, three palms of wind whistled with killing intent behind him and Yao Chen could only abruptly roll to the side to avoid it. His unsightly rolling let him avoid the three wind palms, and he reoriented himself and started madly running for his life. His whole body's Dou Qi was poured into his legs and waist, FASTER FASTER! Fortunately the three of them had simultaneously released wind palms which had caused them to pause for a brief moment, letting Yao Chen increase the distance between them by a small amount.
"Run as much as you want. Only then will we get the fun of chasing and killing you." The three Da Dou Shi's expression became much uglier. All three of them had simultaneously taken action to trap a younger generation Dou Shi but ended up failing. If news of this spread they would likely have no more face.
Of course, if they did catch Yao Chen then what awaited Yao Chen was a life with torture that would be worse than death.
In just a minute, Yao Chen ended up feeling completely exhausted. His body's limit had long since been exceeded, and not even the slightest trace of Dou Qi could be found in his body now. He fell down with a crashing noise.
In basically no time at all, the three figures shot out like lightning as they split up, surrounding him from all directions.
"Haha, little brat how come you're not running anymore?"
"Run, run some more."
"Haha, in a moment we'll cut off both your legs and see how you run then."
The three Da Dou Shi were also panting slightly. These three people were inner guards of the punishment hall; they had basically been spoiled as they lived like a prince. Although they had to complete some missions, but just when would they be assigned a mission like this in the middle of a jungle to chase someone? For over six hours they had chased him, and just six hours of running as fast they could was already enough to make them pant, let alone running after someone in an obstacle-filled jungle.
The three people all had their doubts; even the three of them with their Da Dou Shi strength felt tired, so just how did an insignificant Dou Shi support himself? Even taking into consideration that he was risking his life, there was definitely a limit. Looking at Yao Chen's state, he had obviously overextended past that limit by quite a bit.
However the more they thought about the more they confirmed that they couldn't allow Yao Chen to continue living, as this kid's future would pose an immense threat.
"Hahaha..... hehehe…." Suddenly Yao Chen started laughing wildly.
"Kid, what are you laughing at!?"
"I'm laughing at how the grand and magnificent Yao clan's main bloodline would actually decide to completely exterminate a branch family disciple like me. Hahaha, Yao Feng… must die!" Yao Chen ground his teeth, and in his heart he was completely unwilling.
"I'm afraid that the one who must die is you!"
"Everyone tells us that even once they become a ghost they won't let us off. Do you want to say it too? These kinds of words are something we've heard way too many times before." The three men coldly laughed. At this time they no longer wished to stall so they all simultaneously raised their hands, and a Dou Qi with no attribute roared into being as it prepared to strike Yao Chen. Obviously the three of them didn't want to use their signature techniques; when doing this kind of work involving silently killing someone it was best not to leave any signs relating to the Yao clan.
Yao Chen clenched his eyes shut as hard as he could, and in his mind appeared his father's teaching and his mother's hopes… all of it, would it end here?
"NO!" BOOM! Just as the three men were simultaneously releasing their Dou Qi, a blazing Dou Flame exploded out of Yao Chen's body. The Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame Technique had entered into its Major Mastery stage at this moment.
The three sets of Dou Qi met the Dou Flame in an explosive collision, and a strange situation occurred. The three Dou Qi with no attribute under the power of the Dou Flame became sluggish, and unexpectedly began to dissolve and disappear.
"WHAT!?"
"What is this?"
"It seems to be similar to a Heavenly Flame. However it's still much weaker." The three men all became alarmed, but they once again prepared another blow. This time, they used their entire strength in this blow without the slightest intention of holding back.
The stronger Yao Chen's performance was the more they knew that they had to destroy him before he became stronger.
Facing the three of them who were much stronger with their all out blows, he would definitely be destroyed.
Yao Chen bitterly smiled. Although his Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame Technique had reached the Major Mastery stage it was already too late. He had already completely exhausted himself and he could only helplessly collapse.
He was unwilling… but so what? Strength- without real strength that could overturn the world, you would just be a powerless little ant. Even if you had some capability, it was only enough strength to beat other ants.
Yao Chen had never before thirsted for strength as much as he did now.
That's right, if he had had strength… two years no one would have kicked out his mother from their estates while they held precious medicinal ingredients in their hands and his father would not have died… if he had strength then how could Yao Feng dare steal his medicinal ingredients… no wait that had been a trap. His medicinal ingredient had already been switched the night before.
The punishment hall… it was the Yao clan's inner secret spy network. Only these people who lived in the darkness had the ability to perform this kind of secret act in a way that even a ghost wouldn't know about. Yao Feng's older brother… was Yao Wangui, the chief of the punishment hall! It was definitely him, he was the one who banished him from the clan with just a single sentence and had prepared some clan school students to make up a fake story to frame him!
At this moment Yao Chen understood everything. A man who was about to die might get an epiphany as he was dying, and now Yao Chen had understood far too much.
"Even if I have to die I have to bring one down with me." Yao Chen suddenly charged towards one of the three Da Dou Shi, and his whole body's remaining Dou Qi transformed into a blazing cone and he explosively pierced it forward.
The three Da Dou Shi all sneered- this kind of all out last attack from a surrounded beast was something they had seen far too many times already.
The three stamped their feet, and their three sets of Dou Qi exploded out. Merging together, it loudly charged towards the attacking Yao Chen.
With a plopping noise, Yao Chen's body's Dou Flame faded away, and he powerlessly fell down onto the ground with blood continuously spitting out of his mouth.
Would everything end here? Yao Chen's vision blackened, and he completely lost consciousness.
The three Da Dou Shi were all rather startled; the three of them joined hands to use all their strength and they actually didn't manage to kill him and merely seriously injured him.
"This kid's body… there's something unusual."
"Medicinal bath! I remember now, his branch family's ancestors had a person whose name is on the Clan Monument; it seems like it was due to the medicinal bath tempering his body."
"Acting the way he did, he was basically asking for death. Actually with this kid's Violet Flame Pill along with his medicinal bath, his rise to success was only a matter of time. But he actually decided to make things difficult for the young master. Snatching things from the young master is just following his own path to destruction."
"Shut up! You think these are words that can be said here?"
The punishment hall not only handled the strict security and customs within the clan, but secretly behind the eyes' of the clansmen it was already completely controlled by Yao Wangui. With the Second Elder's secret support, the punishment hall had basically become a subsidiary of the Second Elder's estate. Most of them no longer considered themselves as just people from the punishment hall but as members under the Second Elder.
However these were all matters that had to occur in secret, they couldn't come out to the public. Publicly they still had to act within the customs and rules, but matters that occurred in secret were a different matter.
"It was just a slip of the tongue, just a slip of the time… haha, the fact that he hasn't died is perfect. Forcing us run after him for this long, we have to pay him back a bit or I won't be able to release my resentment.
Hearing this the other two also nodded, deciding not to immediately kill Yao Chen. After all for a whole month they had lead by the nose by this little kid all around these deep mountains. In addition to that suffering, having taken this long to complete their mission, the Punishment Chief might even start to doubt their skills and reduce the amount of benefits they could obtain.
If they didn't use Yao Chen to release their resentment then how would that be fair to them? The three men all took action together, and they started to cruelly strike the already heavily injured unconscious Yao Chen.
Translator notes: Major Mastery is a level also known as large success stage in other novels (for sure in True Martial World). There hasn't been many mastery levels, so it's possible I might have to change it if a whole system appears. How does Yao Chen escape certain death? Maybe he doesn't and this is where he dies jkjk.
Here's a quick teaser hehehe:
A bright dazzling light pierced his eyes.
"You're awake? Great, I actually was worried you had already died."
A soft and pleasant voice sounded in his ears and a fragrant aroma assaulted his noise.
"Ughh…."
Yao Chen used his hand to block the light and took a couple deep breaths. Immediately he felt the fragrance enter his lungs, which caused a comfortable feeling to spread through whole body but cause him to feel weak and powerless….
Suddenly Yao Chen jerked and his memory of what just happened rushed into his mind. He had been being by chased people trying to kill him when he was knocked down….
Yao Chen fiercely struggled to stand up, but his body wouldn't listen to him and would only tremble slightly. The fragrance in his lungs brought with it some kind of anesthetic effect.
WARNING HUGE RANT DOWN BELOW DON'T BOTHER READING IF YOU AREN'T SUPER BORED
Also I might have to cut down on my current number of chapters per week to 3. The reason the schedule has been a bit erratic is because I have to find somewhere to live next month for university with my two roommates and my first pick rejected my application for no apparent reason and then I found a second place and he tried to scam us (his ad said 1650 and then when we went to sign he's like oh its 1900 pretty sure I told you, I was like fkkkk uuuu). And they all take like a week just to set up an appointment and see how the application goes through sigh #stressed.
But if I do decide to cut down to three chapters of LOYL then I'll probably be starting another novel that will be long term. Currently it's over 1000 chapters on 17k and still ongoing and it has over 100 million views on 17k. Look out for it a teaser of it when I release first chapter, but I won't start regularly posting it till I get at least a 3-5 chapter stock so I can better make name and capitalization changes (I spend soooo much time with names and capitalization. Like the Musk Essence Foundation Strengthening Pill... I made like 5 names changes before I set it as that, and that was when I had an epiphany and was like wait a second maybe musk is something special in Chinese medicine... cause honestly before that I thought the musk was referring to a man's scent lol... or maybe like trees are tall and strong so that why it was musky... and that's when I googled it with Chinese medicine inside the search and that's why you have a footnote explaining it lol).
More ranting lol: So the reason why it's Azure Flame Pill is interesting/extremely annoying. 青 means green and blue and nature's color and young. And it's often used to describe the color things in these novels. I swear it's the authors' favorite color. That's why in BTTH the Green Lotus Geocentric Flame or Green Lotus Core Flame is blue in the manga but then says green (also I think I prefer the manga translation of the flame's name, because that Heavenly Flame is supposed to have the power to initiate volcanic eruptions which the word "core" doesn't really describe very well). I think most translators go for azure now for stuff that isn't major. Most of the time it should be greenish I guess. Also it actually has a special interaction with the word lotus. 莲 means lotus, but generally it isn't used on its own, it has to be used as 莲花. But when it is used as 青莲, it actually is a specific lotus with that name which is blue, , or purple. Also my friend told me that 青莲 just meant lotus and didn't specify color so who knows. Not important really in terms of reading, but as a translator I rage lol. Also the term Heavenly Flame is really weird in my opinion. I probably would have gone with Aberrant Flame. The word used in the novel for Heavenly Flame has nothing to do with the heavens, it means strange or different. But once again, not a big deal, and using a cooler term than the one used in the novel is not exactly a terrible thing. I probably would have gone with Aberrant Flame though if I was translating it. It'd probably sound worse though lol. I'd go check if this was the word used in Desolate Era for Abberant lifeforms but I'm too lazy and also I'm pretty sure it is. It'd explain why RWX changed it from alien to Aberrant. I dunno if I have anything else to rant about lol. Also I might have to change the name of the Nine Isolation Wind Flame. The term Isolation is definitely wrong, but the other translation I've seen of it is Eerie, which is closer but still doesn't fit right to me. I might go with Sinister/Ominous/Disconcerting/Vexing. Right now I'm leaning towards Ominous or I might go with Eerie. But it doesn't appear again in the near future so this is just a touch up.
Thanks for reading this long rant I had a lot of rage saved up XD Good thing I'm not on the main page or I wouldn't be able to just rage on and on and on and on and on and on and on
Wait I forgot, the word Yuan 元 is so bs as well, and I've seen it translated it as Yuan, primary, basic, and even primal (which was by the old translator of this). It's actually used primarily as the Chinese currency of Yuan. In these kinds of novels though it usually means essence. I rage because I didn't really know it meant essence till like 6-7 chapters in and I was like wait a sec -.-
Also I'm really happy this new novel I'm going to pick up is only 3k words per chapter and not 6k or even 8.5k in this novel -.- it's just too depressing to translate for two hours and realize you still have basically a whole chapter of 3k words to translate. I crave that tiny bit of satisfaction I get when I complete a chapter BTW this novel isn't on novelupdates so you'll only be able to learn about it from me ohohohohoho no spoilers ohohohho
Honestly I was supposed to go to sleep an hour ago but I stayed up to type up this rant lol
Oh and I'm totally appalled by how bad my typing skills are, because while I type I have to backspace so much when I start typing the next word before the current I'm on is even done so it'll be like he sinismiled and I'm be like fkkk and I fix them all and then I proofread before posting and I still find at least ten to twenty more errors and I rage. Most commonly I have to fix up a couple grammar things like , or ; or . or ordering of parts of sentences. And then there's also lots of times where I replace two or three letter words with a different one. And then sometimes I read the translation and there's one or two minor words that have to switched around that deviate it slightly from the exact Chinese but make the reading experience much better.
Ok done ranting new chapter LOYL tomorrow and hopefully a second one but we'll see. If I can continue 5 chapters of LOYL as well as 5 chapters of the new novel in a couple days that'd be ideal ^.^
Oh wait also this book has so many noise sounds and I"m just like wtf this kind of noise sound doesn't exist in English raaaageeee.
When's the last time you saw an English author write gugugugu to signify the running of water -.-