Patriarch Qi was also at the initial stage of the Spirit Sea Realm, and his combat effectiveness was acknowledged in the Zhao Family. For more than a decade, he had gone through fire and water for the Zhao Family, and served with distinction in the wars, which enabled him to have high prestige in the family.
In the eyes of a bunch of warriors at the Xuan Wu Realm, even though Patriarch Qi was not among the ten strongest Patriarchs in the Zhao Family in terms of combat ability, but he was absolutely a powerful warrior. The dozens of warriors present here even believed that they couldn"t survive one move from Patriarch Qi.
Now, he was killed by another young man with one stroke of a sword!
The contrast was so striking that Zhao Rui and the warriors were befuddled. They could not figure out what was going on, not until a guy nearby screamed in misery when his hand was bitten off by a Stone Rat. That was when everyone awakened as if from a dream.
But, none of them knew what to do, including Zhao Rui!
Fighting Lu Li? Wouldn"t it be seeking their doom? Patriarch Qi could die at the hands of Lu Li with one stroke of sword. Lu Li didn"t employ any glamorous moves. He killed Patriarch QI directly in battle. It would be of no meaning for the rest to charge at Lu Li except for courting death.
Running away?
Two Patriarchs at the Spirit Sea Realm and several warriors were killed, and many more were wounded. They were not resigned to retreat like this. Also, Zhao Rui hadn"t given out orders for them to withdraw, so they didn"t dare to do it either.
"Swis.h.!.+"
Maybe they stayed still, but not Lu Li. He rushed towards Zhao Rui like a sharp sword, and his eyes were locked on the latter. Lu Li coldly shouted, "Zhao Rui, go to h.e.l.l -"
People were awakened again by the shout. Swiftly, they ran towards Zhao Rui who was also frightened. If he was pursued by Lu Li, could he die at Lu Li"s hand with one move as well?
"Retreat!"
Instantly, Zhao Rui shouted and ran like h.e.l.l with several persons towards the south. The warriors that were at the hillside all steered by Lu Li and escaped towards the south in a panic.
"Hoy!"
Lu Li suddenly changed his course and caught up with two warriors of the Zhao Family. He swung his sword up high and swept through the air. One of the warriors was cut into two at his waist. The other was scared silly. He pointed his long spear towards Lu Li and stabbed at him in a random way.
"Clank~"
Lu Li swept at him with his sword with ease. More than 100,000 pounds of strength landed on the warrior. His long spear was smashed away, and his head was exposed. Lu Li took this chance and finished another man"s life.
By the time Lu Li had killed two men, Zhao Rui had run far. Lu Li stopped pursuing him and shouted towards Zhao Rui, "Zhao Rui, next time, bring more bodyguards with you, or I"ll definitely kill you!"
Zhao Rui offered no reply. He vanished into the distance with warriors by his side. Lu Li stayed where he was and did not continue chasing. After everyone was gone, he ran like crazy to the peak, grabbed the jute bags with the eggs in them and rushed downhill. Quickly, he found a cave and sneaked in.
It was not that he did not want to kill Zhao Rui. It was just that he couldn"t. The Bloodline Skill could only last for about 15 minutes. If Zhao Rui hadn"t retreated, Lu Li would be the one dead.
"Bang!"
Stone Rats were in the cave, but they were put down by Little White"s qi and energy. A bit more than 1000 feet into the cave, Lu Li blacked out and fell onto the ground.
The Bloodline Skill had come back to bite Lu Li. He was so weak that he could barely keep his eyes open. Lu Li spoke in a feeble voice to Little White to protect him. Then, Lu Li pa.s.sed out.
…
After G.o.d knows how long, Lu Li slowly came to his senses. He glanced over and realized that he was still in the cave. Little White was next to him. The Stone Rats were too timid to move a bit. Seeing this, Lu Li felt like he could breathe again.
Lu Li sat up and rubbed his face. He organized his thoughts and looked to Little White. His heart was still fluttering with fear. It was so alarmingly dangerous this time. Three of the Spirit Sea Realm, dozens warriors at the peak of Xuan Wu Realm, yet Lu Li managed to survive. More than that, he had killed two of the Spirit Sea Realm warriors. It was inconceivable even to think about it.
"Little White, thank you!"
Lu Li picked it up and Little White stuck its tongue out to kiss Lu Li"s palm. However, it had just chewed the blood and flesh of Patriarch Piao, so its mouth was filled of the smell of blood…
"Let"s go!"
The place was not an auspicious spot to stay. Lu Li tied the jute bags to his back and ran out bringing Little White with him. When he got out of the cave, he probed for a bit and strode off when he was sure that n.o.body was around.
"Wait a minute—"
Lu Li thought of something and ran towards the corpses of Patriarch Piao and Qi. Their bodies were already eaten by the Red Phosphorus Hawks and Stone Rats, but their armors and weapons were still there.
"Good stuff!"
The armors were not easy to remove and they were stained by blood. Lu Li only picked up Patriarch Piao"s long spear and Patriarch Qi"s long sword before quickly leaving. He did not go directly towards the south but to the southwest side.
The road was even more difficult to walk on with trenches abound, thistles and thorns all over, and poisonous insects running amuck. With the several big jute bags on his back, Lu Li found it even harder to walk. His legs had b.l.o.o.d.y scratches from the thistles and thorns.
Luckily, even though the number of poisonous insects was many, but there was no powerful Xuan Beasts. He only ran into more than a dozen Xuan Beasts of the First Rank which did not need him to deal with. Little White"s qi and energy was enough to put them down.
Lu Li had travelled for a day without anything going wrong. It was getting darker now. Lu Li found a cave as early as possible to spend the night. At night, it was too dark to see. With so many poisonous insects and beasts out and about, he did not have the courage to hurry on with his journey after dark.
After eating some food, Lu Li had Little White to protect him as he went into cultivation. He had opened up part of his last energy channel. It was his aspiration to open it up completely soon so he could move on to condense Spirit Sea.
Lu Li cultivated till midnight when he could stand it no more and fell asleep. At dawn the next morning, Lu Li got up and carried on his journey.
Even though Zhao Rui had run with the rest of the warriors, there were still many powerful warriors of the Zhao Family near the Frigid Cloud Mountain. If the Zhao Family were to send another powerful warrior at the middle stage or even the latter stage of the Spirit Sea Realm, there would be no more escape for him.
The road condition was still bad. Lu Li hurried on with great efforts and managed to get to the edge of the cliff by noon. He had come here by climbing up the cliff. There was only one trail at the Frigid Cloud Mountain. Not knowing what the situation was like over there, Lu Li naturally dared not to take the trail to go down rashly.
"Old vines!"
Lu Li found some old vines and weaved them into a huge rope. He tied one end to himself and the other to a large tree. With the rope, Lu Li quickly climbed down the cliff.
The cliff was not too steep or sleek. There were protruding trees and rocks all around, so Lu Li got down the cliff quite easily.
"Move!"
Getting down the cliff was not the same thing as getting down the Frigid Cloud Mountain. The next part of the journey would be on a wide expanse of flat land which would make it more difficult for the warriors of the Zhao Family to catch up with him. Lu Li"s spirit was lifted. After some exploration, he went on in strides.
Lu Li did not choose to go back to the Wu Ling County directly nor did he take the path he came on. Instead, he went for the option of taking some detour on the southwest side and then going back to the county.
He walked at the top of his speed towards the southwest for five hours and finally made it to a small town.
"Should I go in or not?"
Lu Li was having second thoughts. There was a tavern in the town where he could have some rest, enjoying hot meals and a comfortable bath. But more people meant more chances to be seen. There could be informants of the Zhao Family in there. His track would be easily exposed.
"Go inside!"
After some consideration, he decided to take the risk and go in, but he messed up his hair before he did. Also, he was wearing dirty clothes. In this way, the chance of him getting recognized would be greatly reduced.
Lu Li desired information. He needed to figure out the direction and the way towards the Wu Ling County. He thought he shouldn"t be too far away now, and if he could make it back by travelling several hours tomorrow, Zhao Rui couldn"t kill him even if he wanted to.
He waited outside for an hour and got in with his head lowered when it was pitch dark. It was dinner time. There were many pedestrians on the way. n.o.body paid any attention to him.
He found the only tavern in the small town. Seeing how he looked, the waiter stopped him. Lu Li already had a couple of Golden Leaves ready and handed it over. He said to the waiter in a low voice, "Give me a separate room, a quiet one. Now!"
Seeing the Golden Leaves, the waiter smiled such a big smile that his eyes were nearly closed. He led Lu Li to the backyard and gave him a separate suite.
…