Chapter 133: If I Can’t Beat You, I’ll Surrender

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“This is a matter of personal destiny. It cannot be envied by others,” Luo Jinhua said, feeling a bit of jealousy herself. It was unclear if she was speaking to Xu Yu or just trying to console herself.

After Xu Yu obtained the magical artifact, Qin Haoxuan, while happy for her, grew worried about her and Luo Jinhua being alone in the Aqueous Manor. He said to Ye Yiming, “Senior Brother, how about we try to pinpoint her location and meet up with them?”

Ye Yiming gave a noncommittal nod. “You work on that. I’m going to study this ward.”

With that, he squatted down and began to carefully examine the ward that had been broken by Wu Yi, stroking his chin in thought as he looked it over.

Qin Haoxuan was greatly perplexed. “Senior Brother, what’s the use in studying this ward? Can you actually figure out how to make it from this broken array?”

Ye Yiming replied, “To deduce its construction method would require great skill and knowledge. The way wards are set up is extremely complex and intricate; a single subtle change can lead to a completely different function. So, it’s very difficult to reverse-engineer it. However, I have read many similar books and have studied the composition of wards. Based on that, it should be possible for me to restore it and bring it under my own control.”

“What’s the use in restoring it?”

Ye Yiming smiled. “This year’s Aqueous Manor is very strange. If we run into any danger that we can’t handle, we can retreat back here and hide inside this ward. As long as it isn’t broken in a single blow, any attack will cause it to teleport automatically. That way, we can turn a perilous situation into a safe one.”

Hearing this, Qin Haoxuan agreed that it made sense. “The older, the wiser,” he praised. “Senior Brother Ye is truly resourceful!”

Ye Yiming continued to study and repair the ward, while Qin Haoxuan went back to fiddling with the Thousand-Mile Mirror, trying to map a path to Xu Yu’s location and scout for any dangers along the way.

While scanning the paths, he unexpectedly saw the Nether-Creature he had let go: Xing.

Curious, Qin Haoxuan observed him for a while and saw a number of interesting things.

He discovered that when Xing encountered cultivators, he was not only attacked by them, but also by his own kind from the Netherworld, who would even prioritize attacking him.

Xing was currently hiding behind a rockery, green saliva dripping from his mouth as he stared greedily at several cultivators approaching in the distance. It was clear he was starving and wanted to eat human flesh.

The group consisted of seven cultivators; the strongest was at the Twentieth-Leaf and the weakest at the Fifteenth-Leaf. Seeing them, Xing’s face showed a hint of hesitation, but he immediately muttered to himself, “I am a noble of the higher demon race of the Netherworld, gifted with extraordinary talent! Am I to be afraid of a few mere humans?” After this bit of self-reassurance, he waited for the cultivators to draw near and then suddenly leaped out.

Through the Thousand-Mile Mirror, Qin Haoxuan could clearly hear his stomach rumbling. The guy was truly starving. He had been close to catching a meal several times before, but every time, either other cultivators would show up to help, or a spatial rift would suddenly open and the Nether-Creatures that emerged would ignore the humans and chase after Xing instead. Under the rare joint efforts of cultivators and his own kind, Xing had been forced to flee time and time again.

Just as Xing lunged out, intending to pounce on the weakest cultivator, he was surprised by the man’s quick reflexes. The cultivator dropped to the ground and rolled nimbly to the side. After scheming for half a day, all Xing managed to do was tear off a corner of the man’s robe, not tasting a single mouthful of fresh blood or flesh.

He pursued him unwillingly, but the other cultivators had already reacted, leaping back and hitting him with low-level spiritual arts. Though the attacks couldn’t seriously injure his tough body, they were still painful and slowed his advance, allowing the ambushed cultivator to escape to safety.

At that moment, the Twentieth-Leaf cultivator began to form hand seals, and the surrounding spiritual energy rapidly gathered around him. At the same time, he activated a talisman held in his other hand, preparing a two-pronged attack.

Xing’s own strength was only equivalent to the Twentieth-Leaf. He was already having a hard time dealing with a single, cunning cultivator of the same level who kept his distance, let alone with six Fifteenth-Leaf cultivators helping. He was quickly overwhelmed.

Just when he couldn’t hold on any longer, a sizable spatial rift opened behind the Twentieth-Leaf cultivator. Three more Nether-Creatures, also at the Twentieth-Leaf level, crawled out. The seven cultivators were startled and immediately scattered, preparing for a life-or-death battle.

But then, the new creatures let out a roar at them, turned their heads, and charged straight for Xing. Xing let out a strange cry and, as he ran, began to chant a bizarre spell. A moment later, a cloud of black smoke enveloped him, and his massive body transformed into a swift leopard with beautiful fur.

After changing into a leopard, Xing’s smaller form made him a much harder target to hit, and his dodges were no longer as clumsy as before.

The human cultivators were completely dumbfounded. They had thought the creatures would join forces to attack them and had all prepared to die fighting. They never expected them to ignore them completely and charge at the first creature, as if they held some deep-seated grudge against each other. What surprised them even more was that the first creature could actually shapeshift.

Although his attack power was greatly reduced as a leopard, Xing managed to escape several fatal crises. Realizing he was outmatched, he fled, with the three other Nether-Creatures in hot pursuit.

“So, Nether-Creatures even fight amongst themselves,” one of the cultivators stammered, his robes soaked in a cold sweat, a feeling of blissful relief washing over him.

After escaping his three pursuers, Xing reverted to his original form, panting heavily. “Those bastards!” he cursed. “Just wait until I’ve recovered from my injuries! I’ll turn you all into meat paste!”

He had barely finished speaking when he faintly heard the roars of his pursuers catching up again. Terrified, he shot off once more. After running for some time, he transformed into a black hound, which was even faster than his original form, though the sight of him fleeing so pathetically was quite comical.

Seeing this, Qin Haoxuan couldn’t help but laugh.

As he fled, Xing would transform into a different animal every so often, but the transformations were always brief. Soon, Qin Haoxuan noticed that only one of the original three pursuers was left, but now Xing had a whole new mob of Nether-Creatures on his tail. Though they were weaker, they were numerous, and all Xing could do was continue to run for his life.

On several occasions, he was trapped with cultivators in front and monsters behind, but he always managed to miraculously escape by using some strange treasure or spiritual art.

Pushed to his wits’ end, Xing shouted as he ran, “Stop chasing me! I have tolerated you time and again! A true dragon does not show its might, so you treat me like an earthworm! If I get angry, don’t blame me for being merciless!”

His threats had no effect whatsoever; in fact, they only seemed to make his pursuers chase him more gleefully.

Watching this, Qin Haoxuan also laughed happily. This Nether-Creature was truly interesting. Just how obnoxious must he be to be hunted down by his own kind like this?

As he was enjoying the show, he suddenly noticed a problem. The scenery along Xing’s escape route looked awfully familiar.

“Holy crap!” Qin Haoxuan exclaimed. The direction that damned creature was fleeing was straight towards his own courtyard! He was already quite close. Qin Haoxuan looked up and could see Xing leading a roaring mob of monsters, charging madly in his direction.

From a distance, Xing saw Qin Haoxuan, and his eyes lit up as if he had just seen his savior. He began to shout, “Hey, hey, Big Brother, we meet again! It’s been too long! I’ve been thinking of you day and night since we parted! Friends as tolerant and generous as you are so rare! Our Nether-race has extreme dignity; once we surrender to someone, we must be their slave for life and can never go back! I’ve been regretting it ever since you let me go! I should have stayed by your side and served you to appease my conscience!”

He quickly ran to Qin Haoxuan’s side and hid behind him, continuing his shameless, righteous rant. “These vile, despicable creatures heard that I wanted to surrender to a human and have been chasing me for so long! I refuse to accept it! I had to find you, Big Brother! I will only follow you for the rest of my life!”

Faced with such a shameless creature, Qin Haoxuan no longer knew how to even begin to describe the thickness of his skin, and the mob of monsters he had brought with him gave him an even bigger headache.

The Twentieth-Leaf Nether-Creature at the head of the mob stepped forward. In a deep voice, it said, “Human, if you don’t want to die, get out of the way!”