A middle-aged man fled across the sea, but because his Dao body had not fully recovered, he dared not dive beneath the waves to evade my pursuit. When I drew near, he seemed to have made a decision and planned to form hand seals for Liberation by Violence, fleeing in his ethereal form. Clearly, he was as skittish as a startled bird. It was baffling to me why he had been driven to such a state.
"Fellow Daoist, wait! I am absolutely not your enemy. I have only just arrived and merely wish to ask you a few things!" I hurriedly called out.
The man's fingers, which had been forming the seal, froze for a moment. But he continued with great decisiveness. I had long known that immortals who resorted to Liberation by Violence at times like this had usually made up their minds to die, so I had already activated my spell in silence while speaking. The instant he hesitated, I used spatial contraction to appear before him and swept my hand out, scattering his spell!
"Fellow Daoist, don't harm yourself. If I were your enemy, I would have killed you with a single sword strike. Why would I go to all this trouble?" I spoke again. Seeing that I could kill him but had not, the middle-aged man finally believed me, though confusion still showed on his face. After a while, he asked, "What do you wish to know?"
"I have three questions. First, where is this place? Second, how far is the Western Sect from here? Third, have you seen several great monks carrying a child and heading west?" Toward an immortal who dared to use Liberation by Violence, I naturally had no intention of making things too difficult for him. I wanted to avoid provoking him