Chapter 28 - 28: Thieves & Chase

"Kill her!" A commanding voice bellowed in anger and with power. It caused the nearby loose rocks to tremble and the generated air currents to push them away. Even Wei Wuyin's ears slightly rang in response.

Then, Wei Wuyin finally saw the figure clearly. It was a hooded woman, her breasts and slim physique were clues to such, and she was speeding away with wind qi beneath her feet. She seemed to be gliding across the earth, like a speeding bird soaring close to the ground.

He turned towards the voice and his eyes lit up. He saw from the destroyed entrance dozens of elite soldiers outfitted in qi armor and wielding weapons of death. They were rushing forward without mounts, executing a variety of movement based qi arts that propelled them.

The leader of this group had a set of dark crimson wings constructed from qi on his back that carried him forward. He was dressed in black and red armor with a scaled-helmet that covered most of his face. However, his eyes were revealed and they radiated fierce killing intent and ferocious determination.

They soon passed him, ignoring his existence. He dispersed his qi and watched them silently. That commander with wings had reached the Fourth Stage of Qi Condensation, Yin Form Phase, and had birthed Magma Qi. Those viscous-looking dark crimson wings that emitted heat was proof of that.

"Is she a criminal? Did she steal or murder someone? Regardless, I can't just let something so interesting go, no?" He coldly chuckled in his heart.

He hadn't felt like this in a while. Before, he had always been cunning, cold, and inherently did as he wished when he could. He was the type to slaughter an entire force, enslave a portion, and make one of them his servant.

He had maintained his state of a cautious mind and always kept his arrogance in check due to the sect, but in the outside world, he could allow his desires to flow free!

After meeting Godlords and those who exceeded that, he had felt that his life was no longer directed by his own choices, but having to follow the flow. While the Heavenly Daos had brought him here, why would he just patiently listen or allow that manipulation! After all, wasn't he abusing and using the heavens? Wasn't he fooling it?!

His blood boiled as he felt a shift. The Bloodline of Sin seemed to resonate with his thoughts, influencing them as well. He grinned.

He rubbed the crane and transmitted his thoughts. It made a soft sound in acceptance. He jumped off and it flew into the sky to find a resting location nearby, one that was safe. Luckily, the crane itself was as powerful as a First Stage of Qi Condensation expert, at least its basic physical attributes.

In the outside world, apart from sects, it was an elite expert.

He concealed his aura, lifeforce, and smell with an earthen scent and shot forward. He was like a shadow as he remained at an appropriate distance to tail. He traced their route and actions, his spiritual sense kept keen watch over all things.

He realized that the woman was at the Third Stage of Qi Condensation, Elemental Birth Phase. She seemed to have transformed her Heart of Qi into a Heart of Wind Qi. With that, her wind-based qi arts were at least three-fold in strength.

This was the reason she could outrun an expert at the Yin Form Phase. However, that commander still maintained a certain distance and never lost sight of this woman. As for his soldiers, most of them were at the First Stage of Qi Condensation with a three at the second stage and one at the third stage.

The weaker ones immediately fell behind. Only two, one at the second stage and the one at the third stage kept up. They followed their commander closely with their utmost ability. Wei Wuyin could see the second stage soldier falter, the exhaustion of qi taking its toll on his body.

After a full thirty minutes, the two had long since been left behind. Only the commander remained, fiercely chasing the woman with daunting determination.

"This commander has an exceptional spiritual spell!" He marveled at how this commander had kept the woman's aura on lock, never losing her for a second. She had even employed several stealth and disorienting spiritual spells in an attempt to lose his tail. Unfortunately, none of them worked as the commander was like a poor dog after a golden bone.

Looking at their cultivation difference, it's unlikely the thief will be able to escape. With every cultivation base increase, one's physical body would jump in quality, thus as a result their movement-type qi arts used less qi.

He could faintly hear heavy breathing from the thief at this point. Her fuel was running low.

Wei Wuyin couldn't figure out her goal. She seemed to be wholly intent on going in one direction. If she was looking to escape, she should've known outrunning the commander wasn't possible. Her best option was to fight at this moment, yet she kept running.

"Hm. If I was a thief, I would leave a contingency plan to resort to incase I was being chased. There are generally three ways I would do it, a pre-established trap, backup ambush, or a location suitable to lose my enemy. The last would require a lot of intel gathering beforehand, and is the least likely given the terrain in the Gaia State." Wei Wuyin pondered her options. At her current qi levels, it'll be difficult to do anything but stall her enemy for a short period, but who knew what trump cards he had?

The last option he would take would be…

As he was thinking this, he sent his spiritual sense further outward in the direction she was running towards. He grinned. There were two figures lying in wait. He could feel a yin and yang energy with strong lifeforce. They were youths, one male, one female, but their cultivation was only at the Second Stage of Qi Condensation, External Flow Phase.

Beneath their feet was a spiritual formation. He could feel the faint traces of spirituality within. This had to be a bewildering or offensive formation set to attack the spirit. If someone's spirit was attacked, controlling their qi would become rather difficult.

Wei Wuyin now knew her plan now. He decided to see how this played out. If this commander truly had a powerful spiritual spell, it's likely he also has a strong defensive spell. If he could defend against their planned ambush, things would get rather interesting.

Before long, the two arrived at the location of the formation. The woman thief shot right through it like there was nothing there.

The commander following eyes lit up as he frowned, but he quickly concealed his expression. He tightly gripped his spear in his hand and continued chasing. He landed on the spiritual formation.

"Now! Jade Spirit Crushing Formation!" A young man shouted, holding a cyan arrowhead in his hand. A young woman also rose up holding a cyan arrowhead as well. These two arrowheads were the formation flags, or control tools, for the formation. They both injected their qi within and their spiritual energies.

Beneath the feet of the commander, a scintillating cyan light erupted outwards in multiple rays. His eyes turned dark crimson as he hurriedly executed a defensive spiritual spell.

"Knew it!" Wei Wuyin wanted to slap his thigh at his prediction. This was quite fun.

The cyan rays of light entered his body with a swiftness.

"Ha!" A steel blade with a faint wind qi shot out towards the commander's heart. It was a deadly strike. The thief had been decisive. The moment the formation activated, she urged all her remaining qi into this strike, condensing it into a single blow.

The commander reacted swiftly, with his spirit protected, he used his spear to meet the sword aimed at his life. A fierce clash of wind and heat erupted and a minor explosion was produced.

The thief let out a panicked yelp, retreating after the failed killing blow. She barely had any qi left, if any, so she couldn't do anymore.

That being said, the commander couldn't follow up as the clash had sent him backwards, smashing against a nearby boulder. The wind was knocked out of him as he gasped upon impact.

"I got him!" The young woman shouted with gusto. She wielded a thin shortsword and sent a wave of non-attributed qi towards the commander. This attack was the full strength of a Second Stage of Qi Condensation Realm expert!

"Hmph!" The commander coldly sneered, recovering from the impact rather quickly. He grasped his spear's spine and with a heft, he threw it fiercely towards the retreating female thief. He seemingly decided to rely on his qi armor to protect him from the wave of qi. Crossing his arms into an 'X', he intended to use only his qi armor in defense. With his spirit protecting against the cyan spiritual light" he had no choice.

The spear was like a missile. The thief hadn't expected it as the spear pierced through her right shoulder and nailed her to a rock. She screamed in pain as the sound of crushed bones echoed in the air. The sheer force had destroyed the left arm, shoulder and ribs, rending her flesh and even a faint burnt smell lingered in the air.

The surrounding skin was burning, destroying her nerves. It was unlikely that her left side will ever be the same at this rate, unless high-level treatment was performed.

"Elder Jiao!" The young man shrieked in panic. He seemed to have seen red as he rushed to her aid without care. He tried to grasp the spear, but his hands burned and he winced away. His expression was full of concern and the deflated left side of the thief didn't offer any relief.

Wei Wuyin watched this with a calm expression, his mental state was quite neutral.

At this rate, the three were going to die. Perhaps their fate may be a little worse.

Pow!

Just as he said that, the commander had already withstood the young woman's blow with his armor and struck her fiercely. She was incapacitated instantly. With the difference in cultivation, and sharp difference in physique, the commander, even in his tired and weakened state, dealt with the girl in a single dash and strike.

It was laughable really. There was a reason why cultivation level was important. The difference between each was massive, accompanied by a wide-variety of benefits.

For example, those at the Elemental Birth Phase establish four elements throughout, each element tempers the body. When one reaches completion, they are tempered by all four energies in unison, being far stronger than individual enhancement.

The Yin Form Phase not only had all four elements, but yin energy that benefits one's mental capabilities, clarity of spiritual sense, and strengthened qi.

The young woman had yet to have her body tempered by a single element, so against someone with the four basic elements and magma qi, she was not even close to being his match.

"Qiuyue!" The young man cried as he witnessed this horrific scene. His expression was incredibly ugly as he realized his situation. Retrieving his sword, he was ready to kill the man before him or die trying!

Wei Wuyin felt a little hungry, he rubbed his stomach lightly. He had just realized that he hadn't eaten since the meeting at the Scarlet Dao Temple. While he had abundant energy and didn't require mortal sustenance, he still felt hunger and cravings from time to time.

"I should find some meat later, or maybe the city will open after." As he considered these things, the commander had already struck. Despite not having a weapon, he clashed with the boy with just his armored fist.

The last stand of hope in putting his life on the line, or achieving some form of breakthrough and becoming a hero to those two women, was all just an impossible dream. He didn't even last a single exchange before being struck on the stomach.

A geyser of blood spurt out of his mouth as his organs were definitely injured. He kneeled with his face flat on the ground. His posture was incredibly awkward, with his ass in the air.

"Haha! You fools! You think you can steal our City Lord's treasures from his vault and leave alive? Hahaha!" The commander gave an exhausted laugh as he roared in jubilation at his victory. He had already swept his spiritual sense and felt no other presence around.

He went towards the thief, her hood covering her face and hid her identity. His curiosity got the better of him as he violently ripped it off.

"You?!" The commander was shocked. Then, he laughed coldly. "You seduced that profligate son of the city lord just to set up this scheme? I knew you were a slut, but who knew you were also an idiot! Hahaha!" He stepped on her right leg, on her femur, and pressed down. Horrific cracking sounds echoed along with the thief's pained screams.

She clenched her teeth after a bout of screams. Her eyes spat flames of murder and death.

Wei Wuyin got a good look at this woman. Outside of the blood stains on her lips and dirt on her face, she was quite beautiful and young-looking. Her short cut light brown hair, black eyes, and full lips were definitely the marks of a beauty.

The commander saw her eyes and his own turned ruthless and filled with ridicule. Abruptly, his eyes lit up. "I have a little while before my men show up. I should have some fun!" He coldly laughed as he walked towards the young girl who remained unable to move from that earlier strike.

"No!" The hoarse voice of the young man spat with a trace of dirt. The despair was clear in his eyes as well as hatred, regret, and unwillingness.

"Stop!" The thief shouted. "You can do anything to me, but leave her alone!" She begged, the fire in her eyes dimmed.

"Fools," he coldly mocked. He arrived near the young man and kicked his face, a wad of his adult teeth and blood flew towards the other side. It was deliberately done so the teeth and blood landed on the thief's face. The splatter caused horror to flash in the thief's eyes.

Arriving next to the young woman, he licked his lips. He rubbed his crotch quite heavily and fire blazed in his eyes. "Quite a pretty one, aren't you?"

He could see the fierce hatred in the young woman's eyes. If looks could kill, the commander's soul wouldn't even escape. It excited him further.

This was a common scene and occurrence in the cultivation world. It was so common that Wei Wuyin didn't feel an ounce of pity. Not to mention, he had done similar things in the past. While he hadn't forced himself on enemies before, the Three-Point Yin Body had to trade her purity for her life.

Otherwise, reaching the Yin Form Phase at his age was nearly impossible.

He preferred mutual consent, but on a realistic level, no cultivator at the complete stage of the Elemental Birth Phase would ever let a Three-Point Yin Body escape. It would be foolish as fuck. Whether she agreed or not didn't matter, the end result would've been the same. The only difference was her state afterwards.

It was the misfortune of having a treasure others wanted or needed. Didn't Jiu Lang try to kill him using various schemes for some imaginary treasure despite being a core disciple of the same sect? There was barely any difference.

That being said…

Woosh!

A sharp silver qi shot out at an unprecedented speed. It formed a saber image and traveled like lightning. Before another step could be taken, the commander's head was already separated from his body.

It took a few seconds before death caught up to him. A red line of liquid flowed ceaselessly from the commander's neck, nearly popping off his head. He grasped his neck as if it were the last command his mind had given his separated body. With a look of horrified confusion, the commander's head tilted back and fell.

Thud.

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