Destiny is ashes

Chapter 64: The Dragon Returns to the Sea, the Tiger Returns to the Mountain

Its face was covered by a helmet, but unfathomable darkness overflowed from the gap. Grease-like shadows like cat's whiskers or octopus tentacles protruded from the inside of the helmet, as if searching for something.

But before it could find any valuable information, a shrill whistle sounded in the air around it.

"The target has appeared!"

"The monster appears!"

With Xuanming Valley as the center, a large number of Red Armored Guards who were patrolling the surrounding area with alert expressions immediately gathered towards the area where the demon appeared.

They shouted slogans, and lines of flames made up of tiny words were flowing and burning on their armor, faintly outlining a huge military formation, which cast the surrounding mountains and forests in red.

In the former Xuanming Manor, now the Red Armor Guard camp, a ray of magical light lit up, making the area within a radius of ten miles as bright as day and illuminating all the evil spirits and monsters.

The mighty Red Armor Guards and the Demon-Illuminating Light forced the demon to give up his investigation and hide in the shadows once again.

As a branch of the great demon 'Xiu Ming', it is proficient in the techniques related to blood, energy and vitality, and could have found An Jing's breath in the first place.

But An Jing suddenly disappeared for three days, forcing it to lurk around Xuanming Valley, and was surrounded by the Dachen soldiers who arrived later to clean up the remaining poison of the demon.

Even with the devoured human body as a 'shell' to conceal the demonic energy, the Demon Monitoring Array is enough to restrict its movements. Just like now, even if some clues are found, there is no time to follow up on the clues.

The demon and Sergeant Dachen continued their game of hide-and-seek.

At the same time, everyone's real target, An Jing, had crossed three mountains and arrived at an unnamed valley two hundred miles away.

The mobility of warriors is so terrifying.

Especially since An Jing was born in the frontier and had experience as a disaster victim, he often used mountain walking as an exercise program in Xuanming Manor. His leg strength was so strong that he could be called a human thousand-mile horse.

"Rest for a while, replenish some water and energy, and then continue running. After running for a day and a night, you will be able to get out of the mountains."

Unlike the other world, there is no acid rain in Huaixu Realm and the river water is very fresh.

An Jing leaned over at the side of the valley and drank the clear stream water in big gulps. Then he took out the smoked pork leg meat, bit it hard and chewed it, replenishing his strength as quickly as possible.

He had an excellent memory and roughly remembered that after the Demon Cult's carriage entered the mountains, it took another five or six days to reach Xuanming Manor.

The carriage was not going fast, at least not faster than if he ran at full speed, especially since he needed to rest at night. If he ran at full speed for a day and a night, he would be able to reach the vicinity of the mountain villages and towns on the northwest border of Dachen.

As the saying goes, a dragon returns to the sea and a tiger returns to the mountains. As long as he finds the right opportunity to sneak into the city, he will be able to completely escape from the Demon Cult and regain his freedom!
After replenishing water and energy, An Jing came to the highest hill in the surrounding area, observed the surrounding terrain, and decided on the next route of action.

Under the bright moon, there is a vast, dense and wild forest stretching as far as the eye can see. There are many giant trees that are so huge that several people cannot hug them. The towering ancient trees that are tens or even hundreds of meters high and their branches and leaves can even completely block the moonlight, so that the interior of the forest cannot see the sun for hundreds of years.

However, even without sunlight, there is still light source in this ancient northwestern forest.

On those towering trees, there are many fungal vines that emit a faint cold light, which are similar to the fluorescent vines deep in the caves of the other world. They nurture many strange flowers and plants and various insects.

Under the illumination of the faint blue fluorescence, countless branches and roots are intertwined with each other like roads, forming a strange and complex maze ecology.

In the overly primitive forest, it was impossible to judge the directions of the east, west, south and north by the stars and the moon, so An Jing had to go to the top of the mountain to decide the next direction of action. "It's a little off, but it's not a big problem. The general direction is correct."

Standing on the top of a giant tree, An Jing even saw an abandoned bird's nest halfway through the climb. The nest was extremely large, and the eggshell fragments inside were half as tall as a person. The adult bird must be a giant beast at least seven or eight meters long.

"What a monster, stay away from it."

This made An Jing alert, and he decided to leave the mountains as quickly as possible.

After correcting the direction, An Jing continued to run quickly.

Along the way, he did encounter some ferocious beasts and birds that could see through his Xuan Bu and his Qi cultivation.

But these beasts are not stupid. An Jing is obviously difficult to deal with, and they are obviously in a hurry to travel by galloping all the way. There is no need to provoke such a strong enemy for no reason.

Except when they were settled in their territories and these ferocious beasts followed them for a while, they mostly just watched.

However, there are some ferocious beasts that are not very giving.

For example, there is a ferocious beast that looks like a fusion of a gecko and a chameleon. It usually lurks on a giant tree and attacks passing beasts.

While An Jing was concentrating on his journey, it spit out its long tongue from the side as fast as a flying sword, intending to roll An Jing into its stomach.

If an ordinary caravan or herders encounter this kind of ferocious beast, several people will surely be swept away, and they will not be able to find or fight back. If anything unexpected happens, the opponent will escape into the dense maze of the forest.

The only way is to quickly leave its territory, or wait until the beast is full before it will calm down.

But An Jing is different.

He has a gun!
Without the sword spirit's reminder, An Jing, who had already awakened his spiritual roots and had a keener sense than a normal warrior, realized something was wrong before the gecko beast extended its tongue. He easily dodged the beast's long tongue by leaning sideways, turned around, pulled out his gun and shot.

The gunshots were like thunder. The gecko's tongue was agile, but its body was quite slow. It was hit by seven or eight bullets on the spot. It let out an extremely sharp whine and retreated, then hid in the forest maze at the fastest speed and escaped.

An Jing naturally had no time to chase it, so he continued on his way.

Perhaps it was because the gecko beast suffered a great loss and let out a roar, alerting the other beasts. During the rest of his journey, An Jing never encountered any other beasts that dared to attack him.

"After my spiritual roots awakened, my perception became extremely sharp."

After avoiding a spider web trap woven by a spider beast due to his high perception, An Jing, who had replenished his strength for the third time, fell into deep thought while meditating and regulating his breathing: "Although my spiritual roots do not have magical powers, the sharp perception and control over my internal energy brought by them are also not weak."

"Why is there no one in Huaixu Realm who continues to 'refining spirit roots'?"

The sword spirit who had been silently observing An Jing's actions all the way also spoke up at this time: "It is indeed strange. I have always wanted you to try 'Qi Refining' in Huaixu Realm, but time was too tight and I didn't find the opportunity."

He obviously didn't quite understand this, so he gave a suggestion: "Now, we have already traveled hundreds of miles, and it will be difficult for either side to catch up... We have a little room to spare."

"Indeed, we can try it." An Jing nodded slightly. He found a hidden tree trunk, sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to concentrate.

(End of this chapter)