Ambushed

A white forest lay before him.

Zhou Ming sat on a rock.

He held a roasted wild rabbit in his hands, taking bite after bite.

It had no flavor to speak of. Whenever it became too hard to swallow, he took a small sip of wine from his gourd.

In such freezing weather, the bland wine could not even ward off a little of the cold.

Looking at the gradually thawing stream, he recalled what he had promised Wen Ruoxi.

After spring began, they would head to Jinzhou Prefectural City together.

Unfortunately, he would have to break that promise.

Setting aside the matter of fleeing, traveling alone this time felt entirely different from when he had Little Yellow with him.

In just two days, he had begun to feel like a wanderer drifting through the world.

He only knew of the County Guard, not the Sky Patrol.

The County Guard handled matters involving Martial Artists. Usually, they would pursue someone at full force for three days; if they failed within that time, they would issue a wanted notice.

But he knew nothing about how the Sky Patrol operated.

Although this world had no advanced technology.

He still planned to head deep into the mountains and forests to hide for a while.

Just in case they had some strange tracking method.

There was no shortage of criminals in this world, and bandits and robbers even dared to roam the official roads openly.

Logically speaking, Zhou Ming felt that even the Sky Patrol would not waste too much time on this matter.

At that thought, Zhou Ming frowned slightly. He spat out a rabbit bone and cursed, "Damn it, I forgot those bastards are bandits too."

With that, he stood, jumped down from the rock, and kicked up snow with his foot.

Before long, the place where he had roasted the rabbit and the bones he had spat out were buried beneath the snow.

Then he leaped into the trees and continued onward with the aid of the forest.

Zhou Ming considered himself clever, but he was no elite soldier. He knew nothing about tracking or countertracking.

He could only hide his trail as best he could while repeatedly reminding himself that his pursuers might have methods to catch up with him.

So even as he moved through the trees.

He tried not to step on trunks covered in accumulated snow.

Whenever he truly could not avoid it, he tried to land where the snow was thin.

He hoped that before they caught up, the faint traces he left behind would vanish without a trace once the snow melted.

He continued onward.

Compared to open ground, darkness always fell faster in the mountains and forests because the lingering glow on the horizon was blocked out.

Watching the sky gradually darken.

His speed through the woods instead increased by a few degrees.

Traveling at night was no good choice.

He wanted to find a safe place as quickly as possible and get through the night.

About a quarter of an hour later, Zhou Ming leaped down from a thick branch and soon began climbing up a cliff face.

Seeing the natural cave before him, Zhou Ming let out a breath of relief.

The cave was not very deep. After only a few steps, Zhou Ming reached the end.

After standing there for a moment, he returned to the entrance and found a relatively level spot to lean against.

His backside touched the ground, his back against the wall.

At that moment, he finally relaxed completely.

Faced with an unknown enemy.

For the past two days, aside from taking care of his bodily needs, he had not rested for even a moment.

His mind had remained constantly tense.

Even he feared that the taut string in his heart might snap completely if he let his guard down.

No matter how he put it, he was still a little afraid.

Afraid of dying.

Chief Yang had once told him that the County Guard had Sixth Rank Martial Artists.

In that case, Zhou Ming believed the Sky Patrol's Martial Artists had to be at least two ranks higher.

In this world, being killed at someone else's whim was far too normal.

In this world where big fish ate little fish, there were surely people who valued reason.

But he did not dare gamble his life to see whether he would be lucky enough to meet one.

Leaning against the stone wall like that, he slowly closed his eyes.

The cold, clear moon hung high in the sky.

Time passed.

Suddenly, Zhou Ming's eyes snapped open, a trace of killing intent rising from him.

In the deathly quiet surroundings, he heard a rustling sound in the distance, dense and chaotic.

The sounds of feet stepping through snow drew closer and closer.

A moment later, the sounds vanished.

Hearing them disappear, Zhou Ming's tense heart settled.

The trace of killing intent around him also receded.

Just as he closed his eyes again.

A fierce gust swept toward him.

Zhou Ming's ears twitched, sensing something amiss a step ahead.

He flipped out of the cave, stepping off the cliff face as he rapidly dove downward.

Whoosh!

An arrow wrapped in Blood Qi slammed directly into the cave wall where Zhou Ming had just been leaning.

The entire arrow shaft buried itself in the stone, leaving only its fletching exposed.

Hearing that dull impact, Zhou Ming cursed inwardly!

Damn it!

They had pretended to leave just to ambush him?!

Before he could think further.

Two figures shot out from the recessed cliff face behind him. Blades flashed as they struck straight at Zhou Ming's back.

Feeling the chill behind him.

Zhou Ming did not turn around. His Blood Qi erupted, and his entire body shone with a jade-like glow as a Jade Garment covered him.

The instant his feet touched the cliff face, he inhaled and exhaled.

If Zhou Ming had been bare-chested at that moment, one would have seen his entire spine, like white jade, appearing beneath his Jade Skin with perfect clarity.

In the next instant, two Blood Qi-coated long blades landed on his back at the same time.

Clang!

The blades broke through Jade Skin and struck Jade Bone.

Zhou Ming spat out a mouthful of blood as a tremendous force hit him.

His entire body crashed into the snow like a cannonball.

Bang!

As Zhou Ming's body struck the ground, snow exploded into the air.

The three figures that had been lying in wait below instantly pounced.

Seeing this, the two men holding blades above roared at the same time, "Don't go over there! He has Jade Bone!"

Too late!

The three figures had already rushed into the swirling snow.

Metal rang against metal as blades struck bone.

A string of sharp, clanging sounds rang out.

As the snow settled once more, the slaughter was over.

Zhou Ming stood where he was, gripping a long spear with one man impaled upon it.

The two blade-wielding men stared at him with fixed eyes.

Zhou Ming dispelled his Blood Qi Manifestation. The man fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.

From the crossed sword and blade at their waists, he identified their faction.

Zhou Ming's gaze turned sharp as he said coldly, "You know perfectly well who's right and who's wrong. Chase me again, and I'll kill every last one of you."

The two blade-wielding men said nothing. They stared fixedly at Zhou Ming, afraid that he might attack.

None of their three dead companions had been weaker than them.

If they had not seized the initiative through their sneak attack, facing Zhou Ming head-on would have left them no different from the companions on the ground.

Seeing that they did not speak, Zhou Ming turned his head slightly and glanced to the left. Though he could not see clearly under the moonlight.

There was an aura over there that had locked firmly onto him.

That had to be the person who had fired the hidden arrow earlier.

He did not linger. Zhou Ming turned, leaped into the trees, and departed under the moonlight.

He wanted very much to kill them all, but time did not allow it.

The person hiding in the dark had never shown himself. Zhou Ming believed that the moment he dared attack, that person would leave.

After racing onward for half a quarter of an hour.

A dark red light rose into the sky from the direction he had come from.

Crouching in a tree, Zhou Ming looked at the sky and snapped, "A signal flare? You're playing dirty now?"

He could no longer care about hiding his tracks. He sped through the mountains and forests at full speed.

He had to break out in one push.

He had no desire to experience being surrounded from all sides.

If too many people came, then even if they were not Martial Artists, even if he could kill commoners one slap at a time, he would still exhaust himself killing them all.

Besides, these were only Iron Bone fighters who had just entered Eighth Rank.

After this little incident, he became even more certain of one thing.

They had not only identified him as the killer, but also possessed the means to track him down.

They absolutely could not be underestimated.