When the crowd saw how light and swift the man's steps were, his body flashing like lightning as he snatched the girl from Wu Laoda's grasp at the very last moment, they realized his martial arts were truly formidable. Fear took hold of them, and none dared draw too close. But the matter was far too important. Now that the girl had been rescued, if they did not kill him to silence him, their scheme would be exposed at once, and unforeseen disaster would follow. Everyone shouted and howled as they gave chase.
The other party was simply too fast. Though the group chased with all their might, they found the distance between them steadily widening. They could only watch helplessly as his figure vanished toward a distant mountain peak. The peak towered into the clouds, its summit covered in gleaming snow. Even a master of qinggong would probably need four or five days to climb to the top.
Daoist Buping shouted, "No need to panic, everyone. Once that bastard has gone up the mountain, he has entered a dead end. He cannot fly into the sky. We only need to guard the paths below the peak and make sure he does not escape."
Hearing this, everyone felt somewhat relieved. Wu Laoda immediately assigned men to guard all the mountain paths surrounding the peak. Fearing that the mysterious man might charge down and overwhelm the guards, they set up three checkpoints on every route. If the first could not hold, there was the second; after the second came the third. More than ten skilled fighters also patrolled back and forth to provide support.
Once the arrangements were made, Wu Laoda, Daoist Buping, An Dongzhu, Sang Tuggong, Huo Dongzhu, Qin Island Master, and several dozen others went up the mountain to