Flee for Your Life

This time, Xia Daoming had experience and knew the ropes.

Before long, he circled back.

"Everyone, be careful! This time there are two Ice Rabbits!" A voice rang out, followed by a figure darting into the crowd like a swimming snake.

Close behind, two white shadows shot over like lightning.

They still cast the great net over them.

But this time, it was a pair of adult male and female Ice Rabbits.

The net had barely fallen over them when, within a few breaths, the men pulling it were yanked off their feet and sent sprawling to the ground.

Yet during that time, Xu Zhiji had already led the others in a fierce round of attacks.

Both Ice Rabbits were wounded.

The net was thrown aside.

The injured Ice Rabbits went completely berserk.

They opened their mouths and spewed frigid white mist, which turned into icy arrows that shot forth.

"Ah! Ah!"

In an instant, two Martial Masters were struck and wounded.

A white shadow flashed past like lightning. Its claws descended, and a Martial Master who had been thrown down when pulling the net, not yet recovered his senses, had his head pierced clean through. Blood and brains splattered everywhere.

A brutal battle unfolded between the Martial Masters and the two wounded Ice Rabbits.

A short while later.

The battle ended.

Across a patch of ground no more than a few acres wide, ten Martial Master corpses lay scattered in all directions.

Two of them were Martial Masters from the Xu family.

Of the remaining fourteen, other than Xu Zhiji, every one of them had suffered injuries to varying degrees.

Xia Daoming was no exception, with blood staining several places on his body.

As for how much of it was his own blood, perhaps only he himself knew.

Xu Zhiji swept his cold gaze across the ten Martial Master corpses on the ground. Only when his eyes landed on the two Ice Rabbit corpses did his expression change, becoming delighted and fervent.

Two Xu family disciples stepped forward, removed the Ice Rabbits' hearts, and stored them in tied leather bags.

Some Martial Masters stepped forward to collect the bodies of their own people.

There were also a few particularly unfortunate factions whose entire group had died, leaving not even a single person behind to gather the corpses.

"No matter what, dig a pit and bury them!" Seeing that two corpses had no one to tend to them, Liang Jingtang said this to Xia Daoming, then picked up a large saber from the ground and began digging on the spot.

Seeing this, Xia Daoming silently stepped forward to help.

The other Martial Masters wore mixed expressions at the sight.

Some lowered their heads in shame, while others revealed jealousy and mockery in their eyes.

Five factions had followed Xu Zhiji this time.

Aside from the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School, the other four factions—even the Xu family—had lost people.

"We have hunted enough Ice Rabbits," Xu Zhiyuan said slowly after everyone had finished dealing with the bodies.

The survivors all let out a great sigh of relief.

"Next, everyone will search around the outskirts of the valley for Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma. We will not have you work for nothing this time. If you find Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma, you need only hand over half.

"But remember, do not approach the rabbit warren by the cold pool in the center again. You have one hour. Once that hour is up, we must leave. Otherwise, when night falls, this place will become unbearably cold," Xu Zhiji added.

"Yes!" everyone answered, and anticipation appeared in many eyes.

Before long, everyone scattered in different directions, leaving only Xu Zhiji and his grandson Xu Shisen guarding the leather bags containing the Ice Rabbit hearts.

"Great-Uncle, are we really going to let Liang Jingtang and his disciple off?" Xu Shisen asked unwillingly.

"Do you understand the meaning of combining favor and power? My Xu family has dominated Li City for so many years. Do you truly think we relied only on force? If that were the case, everyone in Li City with any ability would have fled long ago.

"If all the capable people fled, what would the Xu family rely on to develop? On this Ice Rabbit hunt, it would have been only Xu family disciples who died! Your martial talent is decent. At such a young age, you have already become a Sixth-Rank Great Martial Master. In the future, you may become a clan elder. You need to set your sights farther!" Xu Zhiji said earnestly.

"Great-Uncle's teaching is correct, but this nephew still feels that Xia Daoming is somewhat uncanny. He is clearly only at the fifth rank, yet he has repeatedly escaped danger," Xu Shisen said, still unwilling to give up.

"Hmph. No matter how uncanny he is, he is merely a Fifth-Rank Martial Master. He is not young anymore either. Could he possibly stir up any great waves? Enough. I know what you are thinking. If you truly want to destroy them, wait until you become a clan elder and deal with it yourself," Xu Zhiji said, his expression darkening slightly.

"Yes, Great-Uncle!" Xu Shisen hurriedly nodded, no longer daring to provoke him.

--

"Daoming, I never expected us to be targeted so severely on this trip. Fortunately, I had you. Otherwise, this old life of mine surely would not have been preserved," Liang Jingtang said beneath the hazy mist.

"Master, you are being too formal with me! Such a fine opportunity is rare. We should hurry and look for Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma!" Xia Daoming said with a smile.

"You brat. Fine. If we find any, this master's share will all be yours," Liang Jingtang said.

"Heh heh." Xia Daoming merely smiled without committing himself.

Before long, master and disciple began searching along the edge of the valley.

Like ordinary fleeceflower root, Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma was a perennial climbing vine.

However, its vines and leaves were purple, and they gave off a cold aura that gathered mist around them.

Thus, as master and disciple searched, they specifically looked for places around the valley where the mist was especially dense.

Those places often grew Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma.

One hour later.

Everyone gradually returned to the meeting point.

Those with good luck returned laden with gains.

One of them had even dug up a hundred-year-old and a two-hundred-year-old Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma.

Those with poor luck returned empty-handed.

Liang Jingtang's luck was poor, and his hands were empty.

Xia Daoming's luck was ordinary. He had dug up one hundred-year-old Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma.

Other than the Xu family Martial Masters, everyone handed the Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma they had found over to Xu Zhiji.

Xu Zhiji gathered it all together and distributed everyone's shares according to their prior agreement.

But the old fellow Xu Zhiji was exceedingly cunning and miserly.

Xia Daoming handed over a hundred-year-old Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma, yet Xu Zhiji directly assigned him one that was only around fifty or sixty years old.

It looked as though the age had merely been halved, but in truth, their values differed by several times.

Still, Xia Daoming said nothing and merely accepted it silently. This made Xu Zhiji secretly approve of him, considering him a young man who knew when to advance and retreat and could keep his composure. Xu Shisen, on the other hand, was somewhat disappointed.

He had been hoping Xia Daoming would act on impulse, so he could take the opportunity to kill him.

Just as Xu Shisen was putting the Ice-Cold Purple Ganoderma belonging to the Xu family into bags and tying them shut, a heavy fog suddenly rose in the valley.

The fog blanketed heaven and earth, rapidly spreading outward.

Under the dense fog, they raised their heads toward the sky and could see nothing at all.

When they lowered their heads to look at themselves, even their own bodies had become blurry.

Not only that, the thick fog brought bone-piercing cold. Even Fourth- and Fifth-Rank Great Martial Masters shivered uncontrollably from the cold. Even Xia Daoming, circulating his qi, blood, and inner force, could still feel threads of chill constantly seeping into his body.

"Goo! Goo!" A sound that shook their eardrums and made their minds tremble emerged from the thick fog.

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw two points of purple light flickering within the mist.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" As everyone was secretly alarmed, the thick fog suddenly roiled, and icy arrows shot out from within it.

Vaguely, they saw an Ice Rabbit the size of a fierce tiger emerge behind the icy arrows.

"It's the Rabbit King! Quick, get up there and stop it!" Xu Zhiji, who had always appeared exceptionally calm, turned pale and bloodless at once. He shrieked.

Even as he screamed, he grabbed Xu Shisen with one hand and snatched up two bags with the other, then sprinted wildly back the way they had come.

Even Xu Zhiji had been frightened into fleeing with his people. At this life-or-death juncture, how could the others foolishly rush forward to shield him? Seeing this, they too scattered like a flock of birds, racing toward the cliffside.

By now, Xia Daoming had naturally realized that this Ice Rabbit was extraordinarily powerful and far beyond anything he could withstand. He could not afford to hide his abilities any longer. He hurriedly reached for Liang Jingtang, intending to grab him and flee.

Unexpectedly, Liang Jingtang was reaching for him as well.

"Quick, come with your master!"

Xia Daoming froze slightly, then immediately understood Liang Jingtang's intentions. Even as he found it both laughable and touching, warmth rose in his heart.

As that feeling surged within him, Xia Daoming twisted his hand like a snake's body, evading Liang Jingtang's outstretched palm before grabbing his arm.

Liang Jingtang was startled. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, he felt a powerful pulling force travel through his arm.

Then his entire body was involuntarily dragged forward.

Liang Jingtang ran along with that powerful pull without any choice, the frigid wind howling by his ears and lashing his cheeks with stinging pain.

Yet Liang Jingtang was completely unaware of it.

On one hand, he instinctively circulated his qi, blood, and inner force, running wildly with the pull. On the other, he stared at the young man before him with incomparably shocked eyes.

He wanted to ask a question, but mist poured into his mouth, leaving him unable to speak at all.

"Goo! Goo!"

"Ah! Ah!"

Behind them, the Ice Rabbit's savage cries and human screams rose and fell one after another.

Master and disciple unleashed their qi, blood, and inner force with all their might, running faster and faster.

In the blink of an eye, they reached a steep slope. Using protruding rocks along the cliff, they leaped and climbed upward in succession.

The dense fog shrouded everything, and everyone was scattered as they fled for their lives. No one noticed the terrifying speed of Liang Jingtang and his disciple. Otherwise, they would surely have been utterly shocked.

Before long, master and disciple passed through the clouds and mist hanging above the valley, and scattered rays of sunlight fell upon them.

"Phew!"

Looking back down, they saw the valley blanketed in thick fog. Both master and disciple felt the lingering terror and relief of having escaped death.

"I never expected an Ice Rabbit to evolve into a Level Two demonic beast!" Liang Jingtang said, still shaken.

"Yes, I truly never expected it!" Xia Daoming echoed as he looked around in every direction.

Originally, when he had lured over two Ice Rabbits the second time, causing the hunting party to suffer heavy casualties, it had been fairly favorable for his next plan of secretly killing and robbing them.

But the risk of word getting out was still great!

Now, however, things were different.

The Rabbit King's unexpected appearance had sent everyone into a frantic flight for their lives. Some had died, some were wounded, and some had been separated.

If he could find Xu family members who were alone, the risk of word getting out would be reduced to the minimum.

And there was now someone to take the blame as well!

Before long, Xia Daoming saw two figures emerge from the clouds and mist in the distance, quickly climbing upward.

One of them carried two bags in his hand, yet he was even faster than the other.

Xia Daoming's eyes narrowed at once.

PS: I gave it everything today and am bringing you the third update. Three updates are already quite substantial for a novel in its new-book period—nearly ten thousand words altogether. If this continues, I will probably soon exceed the word limit and fall off the rankings. For the sake of all this effort, I hope my fellow readers will support me as much as possible.

Today's updates are complete. Thanks to silence01 and 20211216094838620 for their ten-thousand-point rewards. Thanks as well to RPG Defense, Revolving Lantern_, 20200216193747765, Autumn's Divine Light, Little Nini's Husband, and other readers for their rewards.