Old Demon Han Is Hunted

Liu An stared at Li Mu for quite a while.

"So, you're saying that sis got herself quite a bargain then?"

"Well, I guess you could indeed put it that way. I'm just wondering if your sister will be able to keep that crouching tiger on a leash."

"What else do you know?"

"I know nothing else."

Li Mu shook his head.

He refrained from saying anything more.

Liu An then left.

Li Mu fetched some water for wiping the tables and cleaning the hall.

Without these rascals visiting in the past, the palace could stay clean for days on end.

Ever since Liu An had made the palace his playground, however, Li Mu felt as if  he was being worked to death.

He had to clean the palace up every day.

There were even times when he'd had to clean the palace several times a day.

Two days later, Li Mu found several chess pieces underneath a cupboard when he had just finished wiping the tables and chairs in the hall.

Li Mu's expression changed as he dropped those pieces back into their containers.

He then vanished from the hall right away.

...

On the northern side of Mount Yan about 100 miles away...

Five young men dressed in white were pursuing a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man charged around, moving as if he was a gust of wind.

One could tell from the sweat on his brow and his heaving chest that he was running out of internal energy.

While his pursuers lacked his level of proficiency in the lightness skill, their power reserves far exceeded his.

It seemed as if five cats were chasing after a rat.

Pfft~

The middle-aged man spit blood as he ran.

"I just need to hold on for a bit longer. I'll be able to shake them off once I get back to Mount Yan. Then, that man will surely come to my rescue."

The middle-aged man took a deep breath, and he kept running by burning his life force.

"Old Demon Han is slowing."

"Let him run. I want to see just how far he can still run. If he's able to run back into the royal palace of Great Xia, we'll just raze the entire country then," a young man chuckled as he commented.

He'd never seen Old Demon Han to be a threat at all.

He had been pursuing Old Demon Han for three years, and the latter had managed to escape all that time.

Now, he'd finally been able to corner his quarry by calling on his brothers-in-training.

This young man was none other than the man who had come looking for Dugu Feng in Great Xia over a decade ago. He was a personal student in the Xuan Sect by the name of Zhai Tianfang.

Not long after he'd brought Zhao Wu and some others back to the sect, he'd received a secret order from the sect to head to Zhongzhou to look for some lair of a Perfected Person.

He'd run into Old Demon Han several years ago in that lair.

He'd attempted to intercept Old Demon Han when he'd seen him again, so as to have the latter answer the questions he'd had for years.

Old Demon Han naturally wouldn't agree to answer his questions.

Coincidentally, someone from the lair had said that Old Demon Han had acquired some kind of treasure.

Zhai Tianfang then took a chance and asked for the piece of treasure.

That was how the two came to be enemies.

They then fought.

It was then that Zhai Tianfang realized that Old Demon Han, who had only been at the peak of tier one of Saint level when they'd first met, had now reached tier three of Saint level.

Because of this, Zhai Tianfang became sure that Old Demon Han did possess something of value.

Whether it was for the whereabouts of Brother Dugu or for that thing of value, Zhai Tianfang saw that he couldn't afford to let Old Demon Han escape again.

It was unfortunate that while Old Demon Han was inferior in training level, he was very good at running.

Old Demon Han would always run at the first sign of trouble.

His supreme level of lightness skill and years of experience in fleeing meant that he had been able to run away from Zhai Tianfang several times.

What irked Zhai Tianfang, however, was how Old Demon Han always managed to get something when he ran.

As such, Old Demon Han's powers kept seeing exponential growth.

It wouldn't be long before he would come to tier four of Saint level.

Zhai Tianfang asked a lot of his fellow disciples for aid, and now, finally, he'd managed to corner his quarry on that day after pursuing him for two years.

"Old Demon Han, hand over that thing you have!"

"No need to talk to him, brother. We'll just get that thing on him when he finally gives in."

"Just let him run. I'm curious to see what kind of tricks he still has up his sleeves."

Zhai Tianfang wore a sinister grin as he said that.

He saw that Old Demon Han's secret was going to be revealed soon enough.

Old Demon Han, who was running away from them, was feeling very frustrated.

I have nothing on me, all right!

It was thanks to that man's true qi that by chance I managed to break into the  Saint level all those years ago.

It was due to him having internalized that bit of true qi and the bits of whatever else he had acquired that he had managed to see exponential growth in his powers.

He'd initially thought that that mysterious man's true qi was at the late stages of Saint level.

Yet, ten years had passed.

He still had yet to be able to completely internalize that bit of true qi.

"That man must have been some formidable one with surreal powers. He might have even been half of a Perfected Person. If I'm able to live through this, I swear that I'll serve him with all my heart and soul."

Old Demon Han clenched his teeth as he ran even quicker.

Just wait until I hand that treasure from the Perfected Person's lair over to that man.

I'm sure I would get his blessings and protection.

The only way out he had had throughout all the years of roaming everywhere was that mysterious man.

None of his other friends had adequate level of powers.

He didn't think of what he was about to do as setting up Li Mu.

The way he saw it, Li Mu might actually make a breakthrough into the Perfected Person Realm after getting that piece of Perfected Person treasure.

The Xuan Sect wouldn't be able to do anything against us then.

If Li Mu were to actually be able to make a breakthrough into the Perfected Person Realm, then he would get a chance of receiving Li Mu's tutelage.

Even if Li Mu were to refuse to teach him anything, he would nonetheless consider that as returning the favor that he'd owed for years.

"His friend is somewhere in that mountain. I'll chop up that friend of his right in front of him nice and slow, and I'll see if he would still refuse to hand over whatever he has on him," Zhai Tianfang said in a vicious tone.

"Would he be willing to do so?"

"He would risk his neck just to come back here. I don't think someone who values his relationships so much would be unfazed by seeing their loved ones die before him."

...…

At the top of Mount Yan...

Li Mu stared at the young guys chasing Old Demon Han.

"The Xuan Sect, and him again."

That guy had disappeared for more than ten years now. Why is he chasing Old Demon Han all the way back here?

Ten years had passed, and that guy's powers had gotten to tier six of the Saint level.

The Xuan Sect is really something indeed.

He noted that the other disciples from the Xuan Sect were at tier four or five of the Saint level as well.

He speculated that all of them were personal disciples of the sect.

"Old Demon Han has a decent level of training. Seems like he happened to find something that would also grow his powers other than my true qi. No wonder he has been gone for so many years."

Li Mu crossed his arms as he looked on.

He was very displeased with how the Xuan Sect did things.

Five personal disciples chasing after a lone cultivator and actually wanting to rob the lone cultivator.

Li Mu made his move and appeared behind all six of them.

Old Demon Han was at the very front with the five others behind him.

Li Mu, on the other hand, ran leisurely at the sides of the five.

Zhai Tianfang was busy chasing his quarry when he realized that someone wearing emerald robes was right by his side.

Swoop~

Being the first to realize that another man was here, he paused right there and then.

All the others discovered, one after another, that there were fewer and fewer of them.

Swoop~

All of them stopped moving and surrounded Li Mu.

"Who would you be?" Zhai Tianfang glared at Li Mu as he asked.

It was a face that he had never seen before.

Furthermore, he was unable to see the level of power of the other man.

No way someone with no training could be right behind our tails.

His knees would have probably given way right that second, if he had known that Li Mu had actually taken a detour, coming behind them from the front just to chase after them.

"Don't mind me, I'm just here to see the show."

"I'm asking you, who are you?"

"Just a passer-by," Li Mu answered nonchalantly.

As Zhai Tianfang checked out Li Mu, he found him to be somewhat familiar.

It took a while for the young man to figure out where he'd seen his clothes before and he asked, "Your clothes look rather familiar. Are you a eunuch from the royal palace of Great Xia?"

"My cover's blown." Li Mu shrugged.

He hadn't changed when he'd come out.

He had no other clothes to change into after all.

Clothing, meals, and lodging were all taken care of by the palace.

Yet, there was no choice with any of these aspects.

He simply took whatever was given to him.

"So, I guess you were the true protector of the royal palace then. Spill it now, were you the one who killed Dugu Feng?" Zhai Tianfang asked this with a cold look on his face, seemingly having realized something right then.

Dugu Feng had been disappeared for over a decade.

The man would have returned to the Xuan Sect if he were still alive.

The only explanation was that he was already dead.

No wonder Old Demon Han had denied that he had ever seen Brother Dugu.

If the true protector had really been someone else, everything would make sense now.

He realized right away that he had misunderstood Old Demon Han throughout the years.

So that was why Old Demon Han had run all the way to the capital city of Great Xia then?

It all makes sense now.

"You mean all those people who invaded the palace back then? Yeah, all of them are dead," Li Mu answered casually.

He had been rather apprehensive about the sect years ago, yet it hadn't taken him long to find out that the sect was only an organization built by several Perfected Persons.

Wherever there were people, there would be conflicts. Wherever there were sects and clans, there would be conflicting factions in their midst.

The Xuan Sect had isolated themselves from the mortal world, and yet they continued to meddle in the affairs of the mortal world.

"You…you actually dare to belittle the Xuan Sect," another young man said.

"Yeah, I'm actually looking down on the Xuan Sect."

"You must be tired of living!"