8. The Only Way Out

The attack from that man pierced Ji Long's waist and he let out a groaning sound.

"Ugh!"

Ji Long's figure emerged. They could see the figure of a 12-year-old boy holding the wound on his waist while enduring the pain even though blood was flowing out of the wound. The figure of a little kid made the two men dumbfounded. And Ji Yuling widened her eyes in astonishment when she saw that figure.

"No way. How did Long'er follow me all the way here?" Ji Yuling secretly said while looking in Ji Long's direction.

"Little princess, what in the world are you doing? Even a little brat like him followed you all the way undetected." A man with a pair of short red horns frowned as he looked at Ji Yuling.

And then, another man with an expressionless face said, "Yawn, let's get rid of an eyewitness!"

"Wait! Please let him go!" Ji Yuling cried out. She couldn't stand the sight of her injured son, especially if her son was being targeted to be killed. How could she possibly allow that to happen?

"Huh?"

Those two men were dumbfounded. And then, the red-horned man asked coldly.

"Little princess, aren't you too soft after integrating with humans for a few years?"

"What are you daydreaming about, Long'er? Quickly run away!" Ji Yuling shouted at her son, hoping he would get away from the mess.

But, along with Ji Yuling's shout, the expressionless man attacked Ji Long with his spear.

*Bang*

"Nooo!" Ji Yuling couldn't hold her emotions and immediately attacked the expressionless man. "You bastard!! How dare you kill my son!"

Naturally, those two were frozen in their spots. And hearing Ji Yuling's exclamation, the red-horned man glanced at Ji Long's previous spot. Then, he frowned.

He should have been able to see the boy's corpse, but all he could see were traces of blood on the ground caused by his attack on the boy and the small crater from the impact of the expressionless man's attack.

After a short moment, he sensed a faint breath in a certain direction. He didn't understand how a kid his age could avoid such a previous attack. But, it was a good thing that he could avoid such a deadly attack.

"Tsk. How troublesome. He saw us. If I can't take him along, I shall erase his memories, lest I get in a lot of trouble in the future."

Meanwhile, Ji Yuling who was attacking the expressionless man blindly was slightly surprised by the movement of the red-horned man.

"Long'er?"

At that moment, she realized that her son was still alive. But since the red-horned man was chasing her son, Ji Yuling stopped attacking and rushed over to block the red-horned man.

Ji Long stared at the red-horned man while clenching his teeth. He had no idea how powerful they were. But he was sure that his life would be taken after one slap from them landed on him. With the difference in strength, he had no doubts that he should flee immediately. He prepared by forming a hand seal to escape.

The reason why Ji Long had been able to dodge the attack from the expressionless man was none other than using a certain ninja art to exchange his position with a thing around the area.

In the past 6 years, since he knew that his cultivation level couldn't improve after reaching the Life Energy realm, he only practiced using weapons and experimented with many forms of hand seals to perform ninja arts.

Each hand seal has its own function to channel universal energy before the user can perform ninja arts. Some are channeled to the meridians, some are only channeled to the seven chakra points.

Since Ji Long only intended to learn low-level ninja arts that only channeled energy to chakra points, he sorted out a few hand seals which he felt were of no use to him. Though, it was just temporary.

The red-horned man didn't understand what Ji Long was doing by forming a hand seal. When the man reached out his hand to catch Ji Long, his hand actually penetrated Ji Long's body.

"What? An afterimage?" Then, that man raised his head in a certain direction.

The man nimbly chased after Ji Long. Once he was close, suddenly a needle with a length of 20 cm was thrown at his head. The man stopped for a moment and blocked his face from the throwing needle by reflex.

*Tink*

The needle bounced. It couldn't pierce his body at all.

"Kid, stop right now! Or I'll do it the hard way!"

"Who would believe you!" Ji Long answered by turning his body around while throwing several shurikens.

Seeing how stubborn Ji Long was, the horned man waved his hand, creating a gale of wind that swept through the obstacles in front of him. Not just the shurikens, but even Ji Long was thrown as well.

Ji Long rolled to the ground. He knew it would be almost impossible for him to escape the man in front of him. Using his inborn skill was also no use since that man could detect him.

What's more, he's been following his mother for hours without a break. Even though his spiritual energy wasn't exhausted, he must have been very tired.

Ji Long tried to stand up while supporting his knees. He saw the red-horned man walking step by step approaching him. He took out his short katana. But, that man immediately said to him,

"It's futile for you to resist. Just give up already! You are too weak!"

Ji Long wanted to refute. But, that was the reality. He was too weak to face a master like a man before him. Furthermore, due to his wound, he lost a lot of blood. Along with his exhausted condition, he felt like he was about to faint which was evident from how he stood up trembling.

"What do you want from my mother? Who are you?"

"You don't need to know. What you can do is just listen to me and follow me."

"What if I say no?"

"Death is the answer." The red-horned man emitted pressure to intimidate Ji Long. However, instead of being frightened, Ji Long laughed out loud.

"Haha…hahahaha…"

The red-horned man was confused by Ji Long's behavior while looking at the situation, it seemed that Ji Long had gone mad after he released the pressure.

But then, he heard swift movement from behind.

*Wham*

Before he could react, a kick landed on his neck and caused him to be thrown away from Ji Long.

"Long'er, are you alright?" A soft and delicate hand touched Ji Long's head. The touch was so warm that made him forget about the pain and fatigue in his body. She channeled spiritual energy into Ji Long to stop the bleeding from his wound. Then, she hugged him tightly.

"My little dear, you shouldn't have followed me. Please go back home! I'll ensure your safety as long as I'm here."

"Mother, who are they?"

"For now, you don't need to know. You are a smart boy. You should understand that they are members of my family. If I don't return, the Ji clan will be in danger because they won't be able to withstand your grandfather's anger."

Ji Long frowned when he heard that. In the note written on his head, the Ji clan was already a powerful clan. But according to his mother, his grandfather from his mother's family was much stronger than he thought.

"Mother, you…" Ji Long wanted to say something. But she put her finger on his lips.

"Tell your father that I said I'm sorry." Ji Yuling took off the jade pendant necklace and handed it to Ji Long.

"This is a storage space capable of storing inanimate objects within it. It will probably be a keepsake for you since I can't go back anymore. Remember well, inside there is a piece of parchment paper. If you drip your blood, the paper will form a map that leads you somewhere. Go to that place and don't bring anyone else you can't trust." Ji Yuling whispered. From the way she spoke, it could be said that it was one of her secrets.

"Mother, what if I go with you?"

"Don't be silly! Your life would be much worse if you came with me. Now, off you go! From the way you followed me, you must be very skilled at avoiding the spiritual beasts in the Siming forest."

Ji Long gritted his teeth in frustration after hearing his mother's words.

"Auch, auch, auch. Little princess, your attack was so sinister. If I didn't harden my neck, it would snap in an instant."

The sound of footsteps approached Ji Long and Ji Yuling. And those who approached the pair of mother and son were none other than the red-horned man and the expressionless man.

"Long'er, go!"

Ji Long looked at his mother's beautiful face already turned stern. He knew he was too weak, so he decided to run away while shedding tears because of how powerless he was right now.

"Do you think you can run away from us, kid?" The red-horned man sneered. But then, his expression darkened after sensing the burst of strength coming out from Ji Yuling.

"Dare to chase after my son even one step, I will muster all my strength even if I have to burn my vitality!"

"A third level of the Nascent Soul realm?" He didn't think that Ji Yuling had already reached that level in her 30s. Their strength was roughly the same as Ji Yuling, but if she went all out, things would be troublesome since she would be much stronger.

"Little princess, if we let that kid go back, our secret will be revealed. Even your infiltration in the human continent will be known by all!"

"Idiot!" Ji Yuling just sneered at him.