I Will Never Show Mercy...

But the fight they had imagined never happened. None of them could catch the slight, slender figure ahead!

At first, they thought their rivals were holding back, wary of revealing their strength. But when they all sped up and still could not catch Ye Chuqi, they realized the problem lay with the person ahead. It was not that they were not trying hard enough. The gap was simply too great.

In a dense forest, it was hard enough to track someone's movements. Following her was harder still, though it should not have been easy to lose her trail entirely. Yet they had the uneasy feeling that, at this rate, the figure ahead would shake them sooner or later. Finding her again after that would be harder.

The thought had barely flashed through their minds when the figure ahead rounded a massive tree, turned a few more corners, and vanished from sight.

Damn!

She really was gone.

Two of the three thieves charged off in the direction she had taken. Only the third stopped, his mind full of doubts, and searched the area where Ye Chuqi had disappeared. He did not believe a person could vanish without warning. No matter how fast she was, she could not have suddenly escaped his range of perception. He was not the fastest of the three, but his senses had always been keen. He had kept them locked on Ye Chuqi throughout the pursuit, never letting up for an instant. He was certain that, in that moment, the person he had been tracking had vanished from his senses.

She had been within his range of perception, yet she was gone.

He did not think she had crossed that range in an instant. Even a teleportation scroll would have left traces of spatial magic in the air. It seemed more likely that she had concealed herself somehow and fooled his senses. She had not gone far. She was somewhere nearby, almost within reach.

Ye Chuqi hid inside the space and held her breath.

She knew that, at their level of cultivation, they could not possibly discover the space or find her. That was why she had sent the Leaf Pearl into the space the instant she got it: to guard against any unusual tracking methods they might have.

She had run a long way, then slipped into the space at the moment she passed through a blind spot in their line of sight.

Who would have thought that everyone else would run on, while one clever thief stayed behind to search the area, unwilling to overlook the slightest clue?

She had not had time to hide her footprints, and they did stop abruptly. But San San had chosen her entry point well: the last print lay at the foot of a large tree, as though she had climbed it to escape.

There were no signs of climbing on the tree, though.

The thief had circled it several times and searched the branches carefully. He found nothing.

Ye Chuqi crouched inside the space, watching him refuse to give up. His teammates eventually caught up, and they were puzzled to find him there alone. In a few words, he explained his thinking and told the other two teams where their thieves had gone.

An eerie silence settled over them.

They knew their own teammate's abilities. In particular, they knew how frighteningly keen his senses were and that he had never once lost someone he had locked onto. If he said this was what had happened, he had good reason.

The leaders of the three adventuring teams gathered to discuss the situation. The other two thieves returned while they were talking, dusty and empty-handed.

"What happened?"

The two shook their heads and glanced at the only thief who had been sensible enough not to chase after her. "We went a long way, but found no trail. We even split up to search farther. If she escaped from here, she couldn't have done it without leaving a single trace."

They had lost her and did not even know how.

"She just vanished?"

"How fast would she have to be?"

"She disappeared with three thieves chasing her?"

"She couldn't have left no trace at all!"

"Then how do you explain it?"

"..."

They argued and speculated, but the fact remained: she was gone, and the Leaf Pearl was gone with her.

They wanted to accept it, but could not bring themselves to let it go.

Still, spending more time searching for one person's faint trail in the vast Lost Forest would be like fishing for a needle in the sea. They would be better off looking for other opportunities than losing more than they stood to gain.

From inside the space, Ye Chuqi watched them huddle and mutter for a long time. She did not know what agreement they reached, but they decided to join forces for the time being.

They even chose that very spot to set up camp.

Ye Chuqi could not make out what they were saying, but San San caught every word.

"Qiqi, they said the Nine-Leaf Green Flower in the Lost Forest is about to ripen."

Chapter 21: Lost Forest 05—I Will Never Show Mercy...

Ye Chuqi did not know how far she had run. With San San handling such things, she could throw herself into it without a care. That habit of relying on San San was precisely what had made things difficult when she first arrived in this world.

By San San's calculations, Xiaojiu could cover the distance to Ye Chuqi in less than half a day if he ran at full speed. Ye Chuqi had asked him to help the injured Tree Fern Eagle, which would delay him as well. Once these people left tomorrow morning, Xiaojiu would probably not run into them even if he caught up.

That boy was clever. As long as he did not go looking for a fight he could not survive, he would be fine.

"San San, I'm going to rest."

"Okay."

Ye Chuqi sat cross-legged in the Spirit Spring and resumed healing, drawing on the spring's restorative effects and the Spiritual Power within the space.

The big black fish had claimed the little pool she had first dug here. She had since made another beside it and lined it with Black Ghost Stone, though most of the stone was ordinary bluestone she had gathered later. It had no special properties, but it was easier to shape.

While Ye Chuqi sat in the Spirit Spring, the big black fish quietly poked its head out of the neighboring pool. Its tiny pitch-black eyes darted about; who knew what mischief it was plotting? It did not look particularly strong, and its species would be doomed if stranded on land. Yet its unusual gifts gave it powerful defenses against physical attacks and strong resistance to magic. This particular fish was stranger still: a piece of Spatial Bluestone lay hidden beside its Beast Core. That was what allowed it to travel freely and appear deep within the Ashen Wasteland.