Chasing In the Night

Shen Yuan didn't talk very loudly but it was loud enough for the City Lord to hear. And after that, Lord Yan's face only grew redder, standing there silently. It wasn't long before his rage was released, pointing his finger at the demonic cultivator.

"Kill this fucking bastard! I don't care what it takes, make sure that he doesn't come out of my city alive!" he screamed out.

And with that command, the guards charged forward, wielding their spears and sabers in the air.

Shen Yuan just looked back with a somewhat bored expression.

"If you're going to do something like this, at least have someone strong enough. This is why I hate these backwater cities, there is no one here worth killing", they muttered.

Dozens of soldiers came upon them, brandishing their weapons and screaming out a battle cry. But that battle cry was cut short as heads began to fly and bodies began to drop. They just charged to the deaths, unable to even react to the cultivator's attack.

And when Lord Yan noticed, the fiery rage within him was immediately washed out with a feeling of realization and a sense of dread.

"A cultivator?! No, a demonic cultivator?! Inform the Four Clans! Hurry!"

He suddenly turned to flee, crying out as he escaped the prison while the guards through themselves at Shen Yuan., who walked nonchalantly, killing them without much worry.

"Hah, damn backwater city", the cultivator muttered, "I should've just ignored that woman, now I have to deal with all of this trouble, ugh."

But then a sword came flashing through, forcing Shen Yuan to defend themselves. Bring their blade up, the two weapons clashed, producing a melodious ring as Guard Xing pressed his sword down on his enemy.

"Oh, someone with a bit of strength, look at that."

Shen Yuan seemed slightly impressed with the guard, who grit his teeth, pressing the sword forward.

"Raagh!"

As the guard shouted out, a translucent aura emerged from his body as he poured more power into the attack, pushing Shen Yuan back a few steps.

"Mmm, I take that back, a decent amount of strength."

The demonic cultivator pushed the guard off before thrusting their sword forward, aiming for the chest. Guard Xing was vigilant, blocking the strike with his weapon but he could not stop the momentum behind it, flying back before skidding on the cold stone ground.

His armor was scratched up and dented but he stood back up, breathing heavily while holding his blade.

"I will not let you leave here alive. Not when you've committed such atrocities within the city."

His voice came out weak but determined. Even if it meant his death, he would not go quietly.

"Mm, such bravery, unfortunately, it is nothing more than foolish courage. You are only at the second stage of the Mortal Realm going against me, someone at the cusp of the fourth stage. Do you really think that some righteous warrior like you could go against a demonic cultivator?"

Shen Yuan sneered at the guard, brandishing the blade coming out of their forearm. They charged forward, aiming to kill as the sword was swung down. Guard Xing raised his sword, blocking the attack once more but buckled, dropping to one knee.

The demonic cultivator merely raised their sword once again before swinging down. But the sword stopped right above the guard's head, just a hair's breadth from splitting his skull apart.

A shiver went down both of their spines as they felt a presence behind them. When they looked, they saw Xue Lan standing there, blood flowing from the wound in her stomach. She walked towards them slowly, nearly dragging her feet over the corpses.

She was quiet but they could hear sniffling and whimpering coming from her.

"My child, my poor child..."

Her voice was weak and full of grief as she approached them.

"Tsk, I've had enough of this."

Clicking their tongue, Shen Yuan grabbed the guard by the collar and threw him at her before escaping.

"Wait, you!"

Guard Xing could barely react before flying towards Xue Lan who grabbed him and tossed him to the side.

"How could you do this to me? How could you do this to me?!"

She suddenly looked up, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes as she stared at Shen Yuan with her face twisted in rage. The crazed woman leaped forward chasing after the demonic cultivator. The pair quickly vanished into the night, leaving Guard Xing there, gasping for breath as he laid himself against the wall in pain.

He watched them go before seeing a dozen figures enter the prison with their weapons drawn.

Among them was Lord Yan, who saw the guard still alive.

"What happened here? Tell me now!"

He walked up, demanding this from the injured man, pointing at him with a reddened face.

"Th-they left..."

Guard Xing spoke weakly, wheezing through his words as he pointed out of the prison.

Those behind Lord Yan looked in that very direction, narrowing their eyes as they focused. A slight pressure emitted from their bodies before releasing as four of them looked back at the City Lord.

"It's too late. They're long gone, we could chase them but... chances are we will not make it. It would be wise to focus on what is in front of us."

Their gaze shifted towards the scene of the prison, there were bodies everywhere, and most if not all of them were left in a horrid state.

Lord Yan looked around and breathed out, calming himself.

"Right, we should clean this up but I hope that the Four Clans will not forget about this incident", he said,

The four individuals nodded their heads.

"Of course not, we have already begun an investigation into whoever broke into the prison."

"That's good to hear. Men! Come in and clean this up! Grab the guard as well and bring him to the infirmary, we have to find out what exactly happened here", as Lord Yan gave out orders one of the four individuals walked forward.

"There is no need to wait."

A young woman wearing a veil that covered her mouth. She seemed very enchanting, dressed in rather revealing clothes that didn't hide much to one's imagination. They were white in color and accented with a shade of crimson.

Walking up to Guard Xing, she knelt down and placed both hands on his head.

"Show me, show me everything."

Whispering those words, Guard Xing gasped for air as his memories were being searched. The woman was focused, reading through everything before letting go of the twitching guard's body.

"Don't worry, he'll recover within a day", she muttered.

"What did you find?!" Lord Yan asked impatiently.

Despite his questioning, the woman seemed to be lost in thought.

"There are two of them, a woman and some androgynous man, I suppose. They aren't working together, in fact, it seems that she hates the other. But the woman is out of control, with or without our intervention, she will die unless she is able to regain control of herself", she said.

"In that case, we can put off chasing after them. This mess needs to be dealt with first."

The group of four gazed around the bloodbath of the prison before giving orders to their men. Moments later, they were quick to work, cleaning up the blood and piling the bodies to one side. Lord Yan oversaw the process before leaving halfway, his face was dark as he walked through the halls.

"It's just one thing after another", he muttered.

As for the two people in question, the chase was still on between them, two shadows running through a dense sea of trees. There was barely any moonlight peeking in through the gaps.

"Grreagh, Raaggh, Come back! Came back!!!"

Xue Lan's voice echoed through the trees, leaping from one branch to the other on all fours. She was less a human and more like a crazed beast.

Her glowing red eyes left trails as she bolted after Shen Yuan, who ran for their life.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! I should never have gone here in the first place! Now I'm being chased by a failed awakener!"

Thinking this, the evil cultivator glanced behind their back only to see two red eyes staring back. What followed was a woman's shrieking as the two red eyes came closer and closer, the gap was shrinking until Shen Yuan was able to see her in her entirety.

The sight of her chilled even them.

Xue Lan's body was a mess, blood stained her clothes and her face was twisted in an expression of anger and exhilaration. It was as if she enjoyed the chase especially when the prey had wronged her.

Shen Yuan revealed a look of desperation as she came ever so closer.

"Fuck!"

Gritting their teeth, they turned around to face her, brandishing the sword born from his wrist. Xue Lan leaped forward, still wearing the claws given to her. She grabbed ahold of Shen Yuan, who stabbed right into her heart. Blood flowed but she hugged tightly using all of her strength to crush the cultivator.

And then, she bit into the neck and tore out a chunk.