Chapter 22: Tracked

Peng Zhen and the rest were soon out of the green fog and were welcomed by an open patch of grassland with a bunch of hills on the horizon. They didn't stop to take a breath but continued pushing their movement cultivation techniques to the maximum as they tried to draw further distance from the green fog region and their former sect.

Despite running for almost 100 miles nonstop, most of them were still fine despite their age. This was due to the level of their cultivation realm. All the members present were either at the peak stage of the foundation realm or at the late stages of it. Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen, the former vice-head of the disciplinary hall, were at the peak stage. As for the rest, Jia Tingfeng the former trainer of core disciples was at the 11th level, with Dong Yanlin and Hao Ye of the alchemy division being at the 9th level.

However, despite Hao Ye and Dong Yanlin being at the same cultivation level, Hao Ye looked rather haggard as compared to the rest. Spending all his waking time in alchemy led to him neglecting his martial practice. He used pills to raise his cultivation realm instead of diligently cultivating. Although he was at the 9th level of foundation establishment he had a shaky foundation to work with. His qi movement and flow were erratic, and the effects of pill poisoning though not that adverse, had started to show. Someone who had studiously built their foundation to the 7th level could potentially match him or even defeat him. The only reason he was even able to keep up was by swallowing qi rejuvenation pills.

"There's an amber river, less than 10 miles ahead. We will use it to travel to Amber river county. My friend will meet us there," Dong Yanlin swiftly said with the rest nodding in response.

It was at this moment that Peng Zhen showed a change in his look that was calm throughout the journey. A complicated look appeared on his face as he briefly glanced back in the estimated direction of the Green fog swamp sect.

"Cheng Yuan I hope things don't end up too tough for you. There was no other way," he silently thought to himself with a sigh escaping from his mouth before he soon returned to his usually calm expression.

They had run midway through their journey to the amber river before Dong Yanlin's pupil constricted as a surprised look appeared on his face as he turned his head back. The rest were puzzled at his reaction that they too turned their heads toward where Dong Yanlin was looking.

They couldn't spot anything at first but a few minutes later they spotted a small green dot rapidly approaching them.

Dong Yanlin had on a deep frown before it changed back to calmness as he gazed at the talisman attached to his coat.

"What's that rapidly approaching us? Have we been tracked? DONG YANLIN!!! I thought you said we wouldn't be tracked if we had these talismans of yours on."

Hao Ye yelled his lungs out as he swallowed some pills to increase his speed overwhelmed by dread and panic.

"Dong Yanlin I hope you have a good explanation for this," Jia Tingfeng added with killing intent flashing in his eyes. He pulled a few pills from his robe and swallowed them. His qi seemed to have exploded as he rapidly circulated his movement technique.

Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen glanced at Dong Yanlin as if to ask what happened.

"The talismans have no problem, I'm sure of it. You all experienced their effects in the swamp otherwise our travel wouldn't have been that smooth. The creature may not be necessarily targeting us. The amber river has been known to attract spirit beasts. It may be flying there," Dong Yanlin calmly said.

His earlier polite smile and amiable look had disappeared. Right now he had a look of indifference.

Hao Ye was surprised by the sudden change. He even swallowed back the next words he was going to say. 

"Was Dong Yanlin always this scary? Why do I feel the same pressure I get from Peng Zhen or Cheng Yuan?" Jia Tingfeng couldn't help but feel confused and a little afraid.

The longer he stared at Dong Yanlin's changed demeanor, the more his intuition shouted at him Dong Yanlin was dangerous. He turned his gaze towards Peng Zhen to see his reaction, only to find it was still the same unperturbed look he always had on.

Gui Bingwen who was at the side of Dong Yanlin had a look of worry flash in his eyes before it was replaced by solemnness.

A bird cry echoed towards them before soon two similar cries could be heard coming from within the green fog region but from completely different directions. The figure that was just a small green dot grew larger by the second gaining speed on Dong Yanlin and the rest.

Dong Yanlin had hoped that the bird was really going to the amber river but that hope was soon crushed as he felt he had been locked on by the bird. That feeling grew more distinct the closer the bird got to them.

"It seems your guess was wrong," Peng Zhen suddenly said as he quickly noted the brief changes in Dong Yanlin's expression. Even though he was focused on escaping, he had been closely monitoring Dong Yanlin's movements.

Dong Yanlin only scoffed before a bone saber appeared in his hands from out of a grey plain-looking ring he had on his right thumb.

The others did not look too surprised as to why an elder of a rank 4 sect would have a storage ring that even the sect master would be hard-pressed to afford. This was because they were very costly as a low-grade storage ring that had a few cubic meters of space cost almost 50,000 middle-grade spirit stones.

The one Dong Yanlin had was better because half of the herbs from the vault were stored in his ring while the other half was with Peng Zhen who also had a storage ring gifted to him by his master.

Hao Ye couldn't help but show an envious look before he quickly looked away in fear as he quickly grew pale as if he had seen the scariest thing in his life.

The rest almost immediately adopted the same trepid look even Peng Zhen at this moment had a wary look on his face as he turned his face towards Dong Yanlin, more specifically his bone saber. It had turned from bone white into a black color with tiny blood vessels appearing on it. They seemed to be alive as they were squirming and pumping toward the handle of the saber. The saber then produced a murderous aura that enveloped a small 50-meter radius around it which ended up covering Dong Yanlin and the rest.

A hot metallic nauseating smell filled the atmosphere with Peng Zhen and the rest getting paler by the second. The ground beneath them had all the plants decay and turn into black sludge from the effect of the dense aura coming from the blade.

Hao Ye soon stumbled downwards onto the ground in overwhelming fear. At this point, he was foaming from the mouth as his eyes threatened to burst out from their sockets. He tried to get up but it was as if his body wasn't his own and he had forgotten how to operate it.

Jia Tingfeng followed as he was soon on his knees, wheezing, gasping, and vomiting what looked to be a mix of heavy saliva and bile. Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen were the only ones standing but one could tell it took all they had not to buckle at their knees.

"Ooooh!! Peng Zhen, I expected you to be the only one standing, I didn't expect that little trash sect to have someone of the same caliber as you. Elder Gui, you surprised me, maybe I should give you the same offer I did Peng Zhen. As for the remaining two…" Dong Yanlin said with mockery and contempt in his tone.

His look had changed. The elderly appearance he had before had changed to a young face in his early thirties. His hair changed to dark red almost resembling the color of dried-up blood with red evil-looking eyes to match. He had a charming devil appearance as his long hair fluttered with the wind.

"Since it seems we have been spotted, there is no longer a need for me to keep up appearances. It is a shame. I wanted to see the look on your faces when I delivered you to a real abyss. I can just picture it, you all rejoicing at having promising futures before despair and agony swept you up. Truly a beautiful sight," Dong Yanlin said with a savoring gleeful smile appearing on his face.

"You… you ….you….." Jia Tingfeng had used all his willpower just to utter those few words in between his gagging.

"That's it, that's it...YES!! That is the look I wanted, Elder Jia Tingfeng. You were not the trainer for the core disciples of OUR sect for nothing," Dong Yanlin said with jubilant laughter in his tone.

"I guess I should reward you for cheering me up. What should I reward you with? Blue tier cultivation techniques, sky rank treasures, a chance for you to break through to the core formation realm, or juicy information of what awaited you?

This is a tough one to choose from. Mmmmmh, let's go with the last option. With your lousy talent, the first three options will be a waste on you. You're what? 600 years and still only at the Late stages of foundation establishment... Ppfthahahaha no wonder Cheng Yuan demoted you. It's truly a wonder how you held the post for so long. If you were a member of my organization you would have already been harvested as ingredients for an alchemy pill. At least then could you prove your usefulness."

Jia Tingfeng ended up with a flashed purple face as he soon started vomiting blood and then immediately passed out on the floor.

Dong Yanlin's earlier gleeful smile changed into a cold indifference as he stared at the passed-out Jia Tingfeng as though he was nothing other than a worm beneath the ground.

"Here I thought I'd get to have some more fun with you. Just this much and your mental fortitude has already collapsed? What a weakling. I wonder if the organization will even be able to get much use from him. It seems that stupid bird is almost here," said Dong Yanlin as he cast a side glance at the incoming bird.

"Peng Zhen, you better not think of running away during the fight otherwise who knows what will happen to the curse poison inside of you," Dong Yanlin said with a teasing smile on his face as he held down his saber ready to bring it down on the bird that was now almost 400 meters away.

His cultivation realm kept increasing from the 9th level foundation stage, the 10th, 11th, Peak foundation, 1st stage core formation realm, it kept rising before it stopped at the peak of the 3rd level of core formation.

Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen both exchanged solemn worried looks with each other before they nodded toward one another.

Hao Ye on the other hand had gone manic. He was madly pulling his hair, scratching his face as he screamed and yelled on the floor trying to remove something that covered his whole body. As for what it was, only Hao Ye could tell.