227 Betrayal (2/2)
Xue Wei had made a sword out of Qi with Inner Might, and he was using Mind Infestation to cause confusion within the ranks of their enemies.
He also had inscriptions in one hand, ready to launch them whenever there was a need.
The trio was slowly breaking out through a circle of humans that kept converging on them. Clearly, they were at a disadvantage.
”Stop fighting back and let us capture you! We will not kill you, we will just tame you—there is no reason for you to fight to the death!” The voice of the leader sounded once again, but all it managed to do was annoy Xue Wei.
”They know I am a Sovereign Beast, right?” he suddenly asked, his eyes shining with madness. Bai Tianyi, who had guessed his thoughts, laughed and said, ”Yes, they know. Why don't we take to the skies?”
”You want me to transform?” Hei Gou asked, but Xue Wei shook his head. ”You are not the only one who can fly,” he said with laughter.
Immediately after, Xue Wei's entire body started changing. In an instant, he had turned into a massive azure dragon whose draconic claws landed on the ground with a deafening boom; his head had a row of razor short fangs, which he used to chomp down on a cultivator that was standing petrified in front of him.
Spitting out the bisected corpse, Xue Wei thrashed his snake-like body about, pushing back all who were around him and even killing quite a number of experts.
”Time to mount up!” Xue Wei growled. Neither Bai Tianyi nor Hei Gou needed to hear it twice. They instantly jumped on top of Xue Wei's back, before he soared to the sky.
”Get the flight corps to follow them!” the enemy leader called out without panicking, and a group of birds with riders rose into the air.
These birds were of various kinds; there was a Lightning Sparrow, there was a Golden-Eyed Eagle, a Violet-Feathered Hawk, a Flame-Eating Eagle. Amongst these, the Lightning Sparrow was by far the fastest, and it was the first to try and follow Xue Wei.
It has to be said that after the awakening of Xue Wei's bloodline, his transformation was many times more shocking than it had been before. His body alone was now a hundred meters long from head to tail, and his scales were even more resplendent than before. They had a shine to them that had not been there before either.
Xue Wei had ascended into the airspace above Cloudsoar City and got an easy sight of the entire operation from above. He saw where the people were hiding, and he also saw the birds that were ascending into the skies to chase him. This made him feel rather annoyed.
Who would have thought that Li Chen would cause such a ruckus? Xue Wei flew out from the city, heading for the border en route to the center of the continent. He knew that he could no longer use his identity as Ye Xiao, nor could he use his inscriptions to earn money. Inscription masters were simply too rare; if someone appeared, it would be the same as admitting to be Ye Xiao.
”This is getting complicated,” Xue Wei complained. ”Let us just meet Prophet Lan and then leave the continent. I am tired of being chased.”
”We don't know what the other continents are like,” Bai Tianyi reminded him. ”If they hate beasts, we are likely to be hated as well.”
”Well, then we find another continent. Aren't there quite a few?” Xue Wei was not pessimistic—rather, he was incredibly optimistic. Anything would be better than how he had been treated here.
”It is a shame we could not stall Lan when he came to visit you,” Bai Tianyi complained. ”If you could have spoken with him then and there, then you would not have to go all the way to the center of the continent for answers.”
”It is fine,” Xue Wei was not too bothered, ”but let us find an opportunity to get rid of that Lightning Sparrow that is following us. When we have gotten rid of it, we should be able to proceed more smoothly. Also, we might as well use our real faces now. The masks we have used so far have all been exposed.”
There was reason in Xue Wei's words so both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou removed their masks and returned to their original appearances. The previously mature Bai Tianyi now looked like a small child again.
”There should be a forest up ahead. Let us enter there and stay for a bit. Even if they can guess that we have taken up shelter in there, they can't really do anything about it.” Bai Tianyi had used his energy to scout ahead and had found a forest that was by no means small.
As soon as they reached it, Xue Wei descended at the outskirts and cancelled his transformation, quickly put on some of his spare clothes, and rushed into the thicket of the forest together with the other two.
By the time the Lightning Sparrow arrived, they had already vanished into the dense forest. As to how far into the forest they had gotten, no one knew.
The rider on the Lightning Sparrow clicked his tongue in displeasure and was rather annoyed. He picked up a communication bracelet and contacted the leader of the operation for further instruction.
It did not take long before the other experts and their flying mounts arrived next to the rider and the Lightning Sparrow. All of them were very displeased with how things had escalated.
”We are not enough to surround the forest, and we do not know which way they will exit. They might even return the way they entered, so we cannot really do anything about them right now.”
”I guess they might be going for Heavenward City. That's not so far away from here,” the rider on top one of the eagles continued. ”So why don't we go there and wait? Every group of three that arrives will be subject to our thorough inspection, especially if they have a child in their midst.”