Chapter 12: Hidden Glade

Chapter 12: Hidden Glade

With a resounding boom, the crowd saw Su Ping's body glowing blue as a translucent ball blossomed into existence around him, knocking those hunters surrounding him aside. As the crowd watched on, Su Ping, his entire body still encased in the sphere generated by the advanced milk slime spirit essence, bounced off into the distance.

Jonathan Chu gaped in amazement: how could Su Ping, well known to be at the bottom of the gene leaderboard, handle such a confrontation so calmly? It looked as though he really was hiding his strength—and the spirit essence that he was using didn't seem too bad, either.

"Interesting. Go on, chase him! Don't kill him too quickly, though; I want to play with him!"

Jonathan Chu's eyes lit up as he stared at Su Ping's fleeing form.

His lackeys immediately raced after Su Ping, circulating their genetic energy for a boost to their speed. However, they had clearly underestimated Su Ping's capabilities.

In mid-air, Su Ping activated his aerowolf spirit essence, bouncing away even more rapidly than before. He was moving so rapidly that even Jonathan Chu's lackeys, each of whom had reached their mutated gene capacity, weren't able to catch up despite using everything they could.

"Not bad, not bad!" Surprisingly, Jonathan Chu seemed to grow even more excited, and he pulled Grace Wang with him as he joined in the chase.

The more exceptional Su Ping's performance, the more secrets he was hiding, and the more treasure Jonathan Chu would be able to paw from his corpse.

Jonathan Chu's lackeys weren't weak, and even though they wouldn't be able to match Su Ping's speed in the short term, he couldn't shake them off either. In the end, they vanished out of sight from the onlookers by the district gates, all of whom were chattering with each other in shock.

"Have I gone blind?! That Su Ping actually managed to escape from Jonathan Chu's team that easily?"

"Haha, who was the one who said that Su Ping was dead meat? I knew he was hiding something!"

"Surely that's an advanced-grade spirit essence, at the very least? And we all thought he was useless!"

"Don't you guys think that that ball looks familiar?"

"...like a milk slime core?!"

"Damn, could it be?"

"Do you think... that was the reason why that guy spent three months hunting milk slimes?"

"Haha, you guys must be crazy! When have you ever heard of advanced-grade milk slimes? No one has ever seen any!"

"No, I'll have to check it out for myself!"

"Heh, you fool! Don't believe everything you hear! What I'd really like to know is whether or not he can escape this time."

"You think he can make it out of Jonathan Chu's clutches, and I'm the fool? Surely he wouldn't be able to escape!"

"Wanna bet?" A heavily bearded man turned to the agitated youth by his side.

The brash youth inclined his neck, refusing to back down. "What stakes?"

The bearded man chuckled. "Say, a small bet of ten thousand points?"

Ten thousand points?! That wasn't a small bet at all! The youth hesitated, causing the bearded man to snicker.

"What, you don't even have ten thousand points?"

Of course, the youth took the bait. "You think I'm afraid of you? You're on!"

Their conversation had been loud enough, and the crowd was bored enough, that the two-person bet had quickly ballooned into something that even the three large corporations of the dimensional world had a stake in.

Of course, most hunters bet that Su Ping would die, especially those in the know from the large corporations. They were intimately familiar with the strongest hunters of the dimensional world.

And even though Jonathan Chu wasn't all that strong, Jonathan Xiao's name was known to all. He was a bossy and domineering fellow, yet one who would protect anyone in his possession. Jonathan Chu had surely gleaned quite a few benefits from him.

Meanwhile, one and a half months ago, Su Ping had clearly been at the bottom of the gene leaderboard. Even if he had had a chance encounter, there was no conceivable way that his strength could exceed Jonathan Chu's.

The dimensional world wasn't like reality; except in districts, the rule of law didn't apply. The strong could do what they wanted. And Jonathan Chu wasn't alone; his entire team was with him. Su Ping had no escape. As a result, the odds quickly tilted in Jonathan Chu's favor, eventually settling on a hundred-to-one odds against Su Ping's survival.

Of course, Su Ping had no clue what was happening back in the district; otherwise, he would have bankrupted himself to join in the bet.

As he bounced through the three-dimensional world, Su Ping's eyes glinted.

The world was so large that, despite having been discovered decades ago, there were still a few mysterious regions that weren't common knowledge. And since his pursuers were still quite a distance away, Su Ping was, for the most part, free of any danger.

Based on his understanding of the dimensional world, there was no way he wouldn't be able to escape Jonathan Chu's pursuit. In fact, what he was thinking of wasn't escape, but retaliation.

Jonathan Chu's intent was clear: to chase him until his stamina gave out, and then to capture him alive. In that case, he certainly wasn't going to take it easy on them.

After traveling hundreds of kilometers, Su Ping's genetic energy was flagging. His pursuers grew ever closer, but Su Ping's face became more and more relaxed. Right in front of him was a particularly dangerous part of the dimensional world—the Night Forest.

"Stop running away, coward!" Jonathan Chu's team shouted upon seeing Su Ping about to escape into the forest.

"Heh." Su Ping ignored their cries as he bounced inside.

The pursuers hesitated by the boundary of the forest. Behind them, Jonathan Chu called out,

"Go on, keep chasing him! He's all but depleted of genetic energy by now, and he won't be able to go much farther."

As a result, the entire team followed him into the forest.

Su Ping turned back and grinned. He knew just where he would lead them.

Once within the forest, Su Ping had morphed his bubble into two soft, flexible whips, which he used to swing through the trees like an agile monkey. He led the hunters following him to a lake within the forest. It was fed by a waterfall, one that the hunters could clearly hear from afar.

"We're at the Moonlit Pond!" Jonathan Chu exclaimed, glancing at Su Ping, who was standing right beneath the mouth of the waterfall.

He had once been to the area with his cousin, Jonathan Xiao. It was a rather famous location within the Night Forest, and it was said that a particularly dangerous dragon-type lifeform lived within the pond.

Apparently, it was an exceedingly rare, advanced-grade moonlight wyrm. There had been quite a few hunters itching to hunt down such valuable prey, but no credible sightings had been reported within the last decade, and the rumors had turned into legends.

It looked as though Su Ping was so desperate that he had no other choice but to run here, believing in a legend.

Just as Jonathan Chu was about to order his team to surround Su Ping, however, he ran through the

 waterfall and vanished from sight.

"Hm?" Even Jonathan Chu was amazed that Su Ping had prepared such a way out for himself.

"Quick, chase after him!"

Of course, no matter what Su Ping did, he was sure that he would catch him today. Because, just like Su Ping, he wanted to kill any threats before they grew into larger problems.

"Captain, it looks like there's an entrance here!" Jonathan Chu's team quickly found a cave opening behind the waterfall.

"Enter, but be careful of any sneak attacks!"

Jonathan Chu's team rushed into the cave. Darkness smothered them. The scout in front held one palm up, a flame by his fingertips, as he forged onward. His other hand was holding a blade.

His name was Fang Qiong, and he was the deputy captain under Jonathan Chu. His genetic framework was high-grade and fire-attuned, and his basic and mutated gene fragments were filled to capacity. He possessed three mutated-grade spirit essences, and the blade in his hand was B-grade.

After three minutes, the pursuers walked out of the cave into what seemed to be a secluded glade. Everything in the glade was tinged with a royal, mysterious purple: the grasses and plants growing from the ground, the vines hanging from trees, even the trees themselves, filled with rich and resplendent fruits.

Jonathan Chu's sharp eyes immediately spotted a few exceedingly rare and precious herbs.

"This place is filled with treasures! Captain, we're rich!"

"Right, Captain, all this is ours!"

Grace Wang, Fang Qiong, and the others had also noticed the rare plants that seemed to grow like common weeds in this hidden glade.

They had almost forgotten that they were here chasing after Su Ping. And they certainly didn't notice Su Ping, covered in some purple powder, watching them from afar up a little hill.

"Go on, laugh while you can. No matter how many herbs you pick now, you're all going to die!" Su Ping stared at his pursuers as though they were already nothing more than corpses. It was only then that Jonathan Chu and the others finally noticed Su Ping in the distance.

In truth, it wasn't that they weren't paying attention, but that Su Ping, covered in purple powder, blended in too well with the surroundings.

Looking at his unconventional appearance as well as his smile, Jonathan Chu suddenly felt a sense of unease. He had deliberately led them inside this hidden glade, so there had to be some danger in here for them.

"Su Ping, your tricks are nothing in the face of absolute power! Since you've brought us here, I'll give you a clean death. Fang Qiong, get him!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Jonathan Chu decided to kill Su Ping on the spot to prevent any complications from arising.

"Jonathan, don't! I still have a few questions for him!" Grace Wang pleaded, clearly intending on ferreting out some information regarding Su Ping's inheritance from his father.

After all, Su Ping's sudden growth in power made it quite clear to her that he had inherited something good. It would certainly agree with her father's hypothesis.

Just then, when Fang Qiong had only taken a half-step toward Su Ping and Jonathan Chu and Grace Wang were locked in dispute, a mysterious susurrus began to emanate from the cave behind them.

Jonathan Chu and the others immediately turned around, their eyes widening in shock.