Chapter 973: Analysis (1/2)
Qianye traversed the forest cautiously, stopping to observe his surroundings from time to time.
The person who had just fallen down from the sky was still lying immobile amidst the rocks and sand. He was hidden behind a rock at this point, so there was no telling whether he was unconscious or if he had already recovered.
Just as he was about to walk out of the forest, Qianye sensed someone peeking at him. This gaze came out of nowhere and there was no way to confirm its existence. The presence couldn’t be considered malicious, but there was an inexplicable vulgarity in it that gave Qianye the goosebumps. Fortunately, the sensation disappeared immediately after it had appeared, relieving Qianye of the distress.
After some thought, Qianye decided that it had to be someone trying to scry his movements. He was a bit curious, though. Which reckless bloke was actually trying to divine his movements? Qianye had a fair number of karmic ties with powerful characters like Lin Xitang, Zhao Ruoxi, Zhao Jundu, and Nighteye. He even had indirect relationships with Princess Gaoyi, the Pointer Monarch, and the Black-Winged Monarch. The backlash would be exceedingly strong if these connections were accidentally drawn upon.
Only unfathomable people like Lin Xitang and those who understood Qianye as deeply as Song Zining might be able to trace him. Even a massive entity like the imperial military didn’t dare to scry Qianye after his murder of Li Fengshui, thus allowing him to escape to the neutral lands.
The gaze in the darkness vanished almost immediately, clearly having suffered some pain. Qianye proceeded to ignore it but naturally became more vigilant as well.
The forest was entirely calm and there was nothing out of the ordinary on the rocky beach. Qianye retracted his aura, went around the pile of rocks, and finally reached the fallen man.
The person lay motionless on the ground. His clothes were tattered, revealing a fair bit of his fair skin. His short hair was also in disarray, almost as though a storm had cut through it.
The man’s aura was weak and fluctuant—apparently, he was still in a state of coma.
Qianye didn’t dare act carelessly. True expert assassins could easily feign a state of death or heavy injury in order to make the opponent careless. As someone who had used such tactics before, he knew just how to counter them. He immediately drew East Peak and placed it against the man’s neck before reaching out to turn him over.
Qianye was shocked upon flipping the person over because it was actually Li Kuanglan!
Li Kuanglan’s graceful hair had been clipped into a short mess. The usually well-dressed young miss was now as bedraggled as a pauper, and Cold Moon’s Embrace was also nowhere to be found. That was why Qianye couldn’t recognize her on the spot.
Qianye scanned his surroundings before picking up Li Kuanglan and returning to the forest edge in due haste. For some reason, that rocky beach was giving off a sense of danger and Qianye did not wish to linger more than was required.
At this moment, the originally calm forest started to become restless. Shocked, Qianye sped up and fled along the border of the forest. He chose to travel away from the lake because his many years of exploration experience told him that the most dangerous entities lay not in the skies but usually in large bodies of water.
Qianye kept increasing his speed, running along the forest like a galloping stallion. Fortunately, his muscles, skeleton, and innards had all received initial strengthening. Otherwise, such intense movements might easily injure him under the increased gravity.
This kind of adverse environment was more suited for people with strong constitutions. Daybreak origin power wasn’t really that useful at this point.
In the blink of an eye, Qinaye had circled around a corner of the forest. A giant rocky mountain soon appeared in front of him, well over a hundred meters tall and with a natural cave at its base.
Qianye made straight for the cave and, as though he were stepping on water, circled the interior. The place looked like an old beast lair—there were scattered rocks everywhere, the air was suffused with a fishy odor, and the walls were decorated with claw marks.
Qianye seemed fairly satisfied with the place. The key point was that he couldn’t feel any danger here. As for the environment, that was a trivial matter. Qianye placed Li Kuanglan down and swept the interior of the cave with sanguine flames. All traces and scents left behind by the wild beasts were incinerated as they came into contact with the blaze. Even the extremely sturdy rock walls changed color after being scorched.
The cave became suffused with a somewhat sweet, scorched smell. It was a fragrance that served to lift one’s spirit, the smell of Qianye’s auric flame blood and a symbol of his vitality. The sweet scent surprised Qianye himself because that was a phenomenon only duke stage experts would produce.
After cleaning the cave, Qianye began inspecting Li Kuanlan’s injuries. He wasn’t afraid of being disturbed because wild beasts would usually run away after catching the scent of an ancient vampire.