Yin watched helplessly as that retreating figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance. All he could do was let out one final roar:
"Yone is already on his way! He'll catch you! He will!!"
At the sound of that all-too-familiar name, the distant figure paused.
But he didn't stop.
"Brothers turning against each other...?"
"I'll never let them turn against each other."
Elsewhere in Ionia, Chen Ce had just finished telling Ahri, who was full of curiosity and loved a good bit of gossip, the story of Yasuo and Yone.
Of course, he'd replaced anything that involved the future with "speculation."
"Oh~ so that's how it is." Ahri pointed at her amber eyes, then hefted the large bundle on her shoulder. "I thought you just wanted to go watch the show."
"Do I look like that kind of person?" Chen Ce said righteously.
"Hmm..." Ahri studied him carefully, then answered without a second thought. "You do."
"Fine. I'm cutting your base pay in half tomorrow."
"Hey~~~ How could you~~~!"
"That's the punishment for disrespecting your boss... By the way, why do you refer to yourself as 'this concubine'?"
"Well... hmm... Honestly, I just forgot to switch back to my usual way of referring to myself."
"But now you've noticed, haven't you?"
"But I think this way of referring to myself sounds nice too... Don't you like it?"
"I don't mind. Suit yourself."
"Then this concubine will keep calling herself this concubine~"
"Suit yourself... Hey, don't keep pressing up against me..."
"What's the matter? Didn't you like my tails~? Do you hate them now?"
"If you'd stop sneaking your hand over to steal my potions, I still wouldn't hate them."
"...Pbbt."
The human and fox gradually fell into cheerful conversation, making the long journey seem less tedious.
In another day and a half, they would reach their destination.
The place where Yasuo and Yone would fight to the death...
Chapter 28: Ahri the Sniffer Dog, Set Out!
Now that they had a clear route, Chen Ce even traveled through the night so they could reach their destination as quickly as possible.
When he was hungry, he made do with some of the dried provisions he'd brought from the Placidium. When he was thirsty, he found a stream and took a few sips. When he was tired, he lay down where he was and caught a brief nap.
As for Ahri... As a Vastaya, she had far more energy than humans. As long as he gave her Corrupting Potion on schedule, she could go for days without sleep and still remain full of energy—and she even carried her own pack.
At last, they reached their destination right on schedule.
The moment he saw the sun rise above the horizon, Chen Ce felt all the fatigue of the past few days melt away.
But he couldn't relax just yet.
He'd only reached the general area where Yasuo and Yone would fight. They still needed to figure out the exact location. Otherwise, it would be ridiculous if he missed the two legendary swordsmen as they passed right by him.
"Plains, desolate land, heavy rain, stone pillars, fissures..."
Holding the map, Chen Ce used his memories of the two legendary swordsmen's battle to rule out nearby locations and narrow down the search area, working out which places were possible.
First, he could be sure there were no villages near where the brothers would fight. Yone had caught up with Yasuo outside the city, and Yasuo had deliberately fled toward an uninhabited area to avoid harming innocent people.
Second, based on the scene he remembered, the place where they fought had many stone pillars—huge ones, dozens of meters tall and over ten meters thick. There weren't many wild plants nearby, only a few clumps of reed-like growth. The terrain was somewhat like a rocky desert.
And lastly...
"It's probably somewhere around here."
Chen Ce looked at the map in his hand, then raised his head to survey the scene before him.
Apart from the fact that it wasn't raining now, everything else fit his memory of the place where the brothers would fight.
Of course, the plain was vast, and there were plenty of similar-looking places. For now, he could only be sure it was somewhere in this area, not exactly which cluster of stone pillars they'd be near.
Based on how things had unfolded in the original timeline, Yasuo had already learned the Way of the Wanderer by this point, but his skill wasn't refined enough for him to slash out a "tornado" with a single swing, like in the cinematic.
So the fight between him and Yone wasn't going to make much of a commotion—not enough for someone several kilometers away to notice, at least. Just like in the other cinematic, they would settle the matter with nothing more than swordplay, like two swordsmen who had yet to master supernatural powers.
If he wanted to lie in wait properly, he'd have to narrow down the "ambush" area even further.
"Sight, touch, smell, and hearing won't be enough to keep track of everything around here... I'll need to try another method."
Chen Ce muttered to himself, then fell silent in thought.
A moment later, he suddenly had an idea. He put away the map and sat down on the ground.
The miraculous energy of the Spirit Realm swirled around him, and glowing green motes formed into shapes like butterflies.
He emptied his mind once more. His eyes were tightly shut, yet he "saw" another wondrous scene—the world of the Spirit Realm.
In this state, physical objects in the material world could no longer block his sight. To some extent, he could see "a thousand miles at a glance."
The only problem was that Meditation consumed a great deal of magic. Even with the support of the Tear of the Goddess and Corrupting Potion, he couldn't meditate for all twenty-four hours of the day.
So he could only meditate from time to time to make sure he didn't miss the battle. That might keep him from stopping the brothers from fighting at the first opportunity, but at least he wouldn't arrive so late that he failed to save Yone.
Well, this would have to do for now...
"What are you doing?" Just as Chen Ce entered the Spirit Realm and began observing the surroundings, Ahri's puzzled voice rang out. "Are you sleeping? But it's the middle of the day!"
"I'm observing..." Chen Ce's consciousness remained in the Spirit Realm as he answered casually. "Observing the surroundings and looking for those two swordsmen..."
"But your eyes aren't even open."
"The Spirit Realm..."
"The Spirit Realm?" Ahri blinked in confusion. She seemed not to understand, yet also to understand a little.
After a moment, she asked, "I think I can feel a little of what that's like... It feels pretty tiring. Why can't we just use sight, smell, and hearing to look for them?"
Chen Ce smiled at that. "It's such a huge area. If I rely on my eyes alone, I'm afraid—"
He suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence.
It was true that his eyesight, sense of smell, and hearing weren't good enough to cover an area this large, but...
Ahri was different.
She was a being "born with a connection to the magic of the Spirit Realm." Even when she wasn't consciously entering the Spirit Realm, she was objectively connected to it—in other words, she was "entering" the Spirit Realm almost all the time.
Under those circumstances, the Spirit Realm would amplify all her senses immensely, much as it let ordinary people observe the material world.
And besides, what kind of animal did foxes belong to? Heh...
Chen Ce immediately ended his Meditation.
"How far can you sense?"
"Far... Hmm..." Ahri thought for a moment before replying, "I guess... around here? As long as it's not too far away, I can manage."
"Can you sense this whole area?" Chen Ce handed her the map and pointed to the circled section.
Ahri took one look and shook her head vigorously. "I definitely can't manage an area that big. I'm not that amazing."
"Then... half of it?"
"I should be able to manage a third."
"A third... That'll do."
Chen Ce took back the map and brought out a Corrupting Potion.
"Time to give you a bonus."
"Really?" Ahri's eyes lit up at the sight of the Corrupting Potion, and even her fox tails looked ready to wag.
But soon, she began to feel uneasy. Chen Ce was so stingy—why would he suddenly give her a bonus? He had to be plotting something... He definitely was, right?
Sure enough, Chen Ce's next words, delivered with a smile, made her feel that something was off:
"From now until Yasuo and Yone arrive, I hereby appoint you General Howling Sky. You'll patrol the surrounding area, and your daily pay will increase by a third of a bottle of potion!"
"What does General Howling Sky mean?" Ahri still felt a little uneasy.
"It's an upgraded version of Dahuang, responsible for patrolling and keeping the peace."
"...And what's Dahuang?"
"A kind of guardian spirit from my hometown."
"Guardian spirit?" At that title, Ahri's unease instantly turned to pride. "You mean... I'm your guardian spirit? Am I really that amazing?"
"You sure are." Chen Ce nodded in approval. "You and Dahuang belong to the same species, so you ought to have the same abilities."
"Oh~!" Ahri proudly puffed out her chest, and her impressive curves bounced a couple of times.
Then she got to work—written as "the village's yellow dog," but pronounced "the guardian spirit of my hometown." Using her extraordinary sense of smell, she patrolled the area and made sure not to miss anyone who entered the plain.
Ahri the sniffer dog was on the job!
Dark clouds began gathering on the horizon again.
Yasuo's pace quickened. His sword, now without its scabbard, swayed lightly at his waist.
He kept running, with his "pursuer" hot on his heels.
He didn't dare stop for even a moment.
Because this pursuer... was no ordinary opponent.
The man's swordsmanship was on par with his own. Yasuo couldn't escape him cleanly without hurting him, the way he had when he drove Yin off earlier.
He might even... die at the man's hands.
If he was caught, one of them was sure to die... and that was the last thing he wanted to see happen, no matter which of them died.
Because the man was his own flesh and blood.
His half-brother.
"Yone..."
Chapter 29: Brothers in Harmony
It had to be said: Ahri the "sniffer dog" was incredibly efficient.
For two days straight, she patrolled back and forth across the plain. Wind or rain, she never slacked off, and she moved fast, too—her fuel consumption was just one small bottle of Corrupting Potion per hundred kilometers.
As a half-canine, with the added boost of the Spirit Realm, her senses were far beyond those of ordinary people—special praise was due to her sense of smell, which was a hundred times more powerful than Dahuang's back in the village.
No wonder she'd been able to smell the Tear of the Goddess from far away and track it right to Chen Ce...
Of course, Ahri was busy these two days, but Chen Ce hadn't been completely idle either.
On the one hand, he occasionally entered the Spirit Realm to help keep watch for anyone entering the area. On the other, he studied the map, working out where to go once this was over.
Finding Yasuo wasn't the only reason he'd made this long journey. He had more tasks ahead of him. To bring the war between Ionia and Noxus to an end as soon as possible, he needed to use his knowledge as a transmigrator to recruit more champions.
There was Master Yi of the Wuju Style from Wuji Village; Lee Sin, who might still be in Ionia or might have gone elsewhere; and the devoted son Sett, who ruled the underground fighting ring... and others like them.
As for the members of the Order of the Kinkou... Well, their power was formidable, especially that of Shen, the Eye of Twilight, and Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest. But their principles meant they wouldn't take part in the war.
The Order of the Kinkou's whole philosophy was to "let things take their course." They didn't concern themselves with anything in the material world. Their only concern was maintaining order in the Spirit Realm and keeping its monsters from running amok.
Apart from Akali, who was about to become the next Fist of Shadow, the other Kinkou members weren't willing to help the Resistance Army fight off the Noxian invaders—even though they had already witnessed the Noxians massacre the people of Ionia with their own eyes.
Their ideals... Honestly, they were far too detached from reality.
Almost... hypocritical.
Before you continue