Nanzhi, who had been standing on the mountain top looking all around, made another move. He quickly pulled together vines and branches from the summit, piled them high, then set them alight. He himself swiftly slipped down the mountain, hiding and fleeing rapidly.
When he raced all the way to the river, Mu Aotie by the water’s edge waved his arm at the sight.
Nanzhi swept his gaze around and quickly dived into the water.
The two martial brothers plunged to the riverbed in one breath, quickly escaping through the water.
Before long, two personnel from the tripartite forces, who had been reluctant to expose their movements, finally appeared. They groped their way to the riverbank before remembering there was a river here.
“Did they go into the river?”
“They disappeared here, probably yes. What are they doing, playing in the water?”
“Play my arse. This water contains evil energy. Staying too long harms the body.”
The two hid by the bank muttering.
At this moment, on the mountain across the river, a person emerged from the Peach Garden basin, standing on the summit looking all around.
The two hiding by the bank noticed and immediately gestured to the person on the mountain, signalling them to hide.
Who would have thought the person on the mountain would rush straight towards them, fly across the river, and land beside the two.
One person said in a deep voice, “What are you doing? We are tailing them in secret, not showing off like you. If they discover we are following them later, how do we explain?”
The newcomer had to explain, “The big bloke I was following has disappeared. It seems he entered the Peach Garden. I ran into the Peach Garden but saw no sign of him. I do not know where he went.”
Until this moment, the three still had not thought of the targets as escaping.
While the three were suspicious and uncertain, one person looking around suddenly saw smoke rising from the mountain top along their approach route. He suddenly realised something, leaped up sharply, landed by the river, and stared at the surging water, his eyes full of shock and doubt.
“What is it?”
The other two followed to ask. In fact, they all vaguely harboured the same suspicion.
The three followed the winding water flowing through the mountains with their eyes. How could they still see a single figure?
“You two keep watch here. I will go back and report.”
One person dropped these words and swiftly flashed away. The situation was no longer something they could decide.
At the forested mountain peak, several people hidden among the trees stared intently at the mountain top at the exit of Little Cloud Space.
Long Xingyun’s trio was also among them, but they were not the ones in charge of the operation. The Sinan Office, the Daye Bureau, and Thousand Flow Mountain each sent ten people to participate in this matter.
After observing for quite a while, Long Xingyun grew somewhat impatient. “What do these fellows mean? Do they really intend to settle down and live long-term at the exit?”
Qin Jue’s brows had been furrowed for a long time. “They originally came to seek treasure. Now that they have been given the opportunity, they instead guard the exit. The situation is somewhat abnormal.”
This was not the situation he wanted. He had already planned a way to lead away the people tailing with him, then quickly make his move. Who would have thought these three fellows of A Shiheng would run here again? If they mixed with the group of guards at the cave entrance, he could not achieve his purpose.
He now even vaguely suspected that these three fellows of A Shiheng might have already detected the tripartite forces’ intentions. Could someone have tipped them off?
After brief thought, he offered another plan. “They have no food or drink left. They probably want to cling to the guards and freeload. This is actually easy to handle. Send someone over to speak with the guards on the mountain top and ask them to temporarily withdraw and cooperate. The entrance and exit will not open for another year anyway, so a temporary withdrawal will not cause any problems.”
First he wanted to achieve his own purpose, and second he also wanted to test his suspicion.
Earlier, when Yu Qing’s trio followed the main group in pursuit, he had been somewhat puzzled. They had gained freedom and had sufficient food and drink prepared. Instead of seeking treasure, they followed the main group. What did that mean?
If this time the exit guards were moved away and those three fellows immediately shifted position, then he would really have reason to suspect they knew.
The leader of the Daye Bureau thought it reasonable and turned back to say, “Send someone over to greet them.”
“Do not.” Long Xingyun suddenly spoke up to stop them. Seeing everyone look at him, he immediately explained with a smile, “Since it is like this, then wait a bit. Since they like busying themselves blindly, then wait until they have moved all the bone houses up there. It will not be too late to pull the rug from under them after they have finished.”
This malicious amusement left everyone speechless.
Qin Jue also wanted to speak but stopped. Seeing Long Xingyun’s eager look for a spectacle, he ultimately swallowed the words that had reached his lips.
Although he was the sworn eldest brother, he had always maintained an attitude of trying not to let this third brother feel displeased.
At this moment, someone hurriedly rushed over to report to this side, “He went down the mountain. A Shiheng suddenly slipped down the side of the opposite mountain top. He slipped away very fast.”
Qin Jue said urgently, “What happened?”
The reporter, “Do not know, but three of the people distributed at the mountain foot have already followed him.”
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, not understanding what it meant.
Shortly after, another Sinan Office person ran over. They were precisely the ones sent to watch Nanzhi and Mu Aotie. They came and urgently reported, “Not good. That fatty and that big bloke have run off.”
The Sinan Office squad leader immediately said in a deep voice, “Nonsense. With your cultivation levels, how could you fail to keep watch and let them escape?”
“We truly did not react in time…” The reporter explained the general situation.
Qin Jue suddenly clenched his fist and stamped his foot, saying, “Not good! They must have detected the tailing. It is a premeditated escape!”
Nothing more to say. They could not hide any longer. The group immediately left the mountain, gathered scattered personnel, and urgently pursued the escape direction.
After everyone pursued to the river outside the Peach Garden, they met and briefly exchanged with the two people guarding here, then sent people into the water.
One part searched downstream, one part searched upstream, to prevent escape upstream.
One part searched in the water, one part searched both banks.
With only thirty people in total, they were suddenly somewhat stretched.
In the water, Yu Qing, fleeing rapidly like a swimming fish, finally caught up with Nanzhi and Mu Aotie.
Having successfully caught up, there was no need to continue the water escape. Previously telling the two martial brothers to travel underwater for one hour before going ashore was to guard against him not being able to break free in time and unable to catch up promptly.
Having caught up, they immediately surfaced. Yu Qing pushed the water with his palm, sending water spray shooting onto the bank.
Going downstream with the current, doing this from time to time, they created the false impression that someone had come ashore from the water.
“Turn back!” Yu Qing suddenly called out again from the water.
Not fleeing far away quickly, but swimming back? Nanzhi and Mu Aotie were simultaneously stunned, not knowing what it meant. But in this urgent situation there was no need for more words. The two actually believed following Yu Qing’s call would not be wrong. They immediately turned back, circulated their power, and broke through the water upstream.
The three returned to a place where they had previously splashed water onto the bank. Yu Qing beckoned, they quickly went ashore, circulated their power to shake off water droplets from their bodies, and with his two martial brothers fled into the mountains, truly escaping without a trace.
Mu Aotie, carrying peaches, was still fleeing with his two bare thighs. Yu Qing reached out to help, carrying one bag.
Long Xingyun and the others heading downstream met with the three people tracking Yu Qing. Upon meeting they asked, “Where are the people?”
One person pointed at the river, “They probably jumped into the river and escaped through the water.”
The Daye Bureau leader said angrily, “Why did you not pursue?”
The three were speechless. They came to secretly tail and watch, not to pursue and capture. How could they openly go after them?
They could only explain the situation at that time.
The situation they encountered was actually the same as the three people previously watching Nanzhi. The targets suddenly pulled this move on them, leaving them in a dilemma, not knowing what to do. They could only wait for the decision-makers to arrive.
After hearing the account, Qin Jue struck his palm with his fist, saying hatefully, “What a fine false deployment! What a fine feint to the east and strike to the west! What a fine golden cicada shedding its shell! Their coming to the exit and clinging to the guards stationed there was a false appearance, put on for us to see, used to confuse us. We fell for the trick. We were all played by them!”
Someone said, “That is to say, he clearly knew we were watching them. How did they know?”
Long Xingyun suddenly scoffed, “Look at that fight you put on earlier. Just like your usual conduct, it was too arrogant. Even a fool could see you had issues. It would be strange if they did not suspect. Thirty people could not keep watch on three people, and three people whose cultivation is far inferior to yours at that. I see how you will account for this later!”
The group swept him with cold eyes. Everyone felt resentment towards this hindsight genius’s remarks.
But Qin Jue said urgently, “Stop delaying. First send two people to rush at full speed along the river to get ahead of them, wait in the water. The others continue searching. Cui You, go upstream and notify them the same way.”
“Yes.” Cui You accepted the order and rapidly rushed upstream.
Faced with this acting on his own authority, the others did not express opposition, because it was indeed reasonable. For now, this was the only way.
The search had not advanced far when someone suddenly shouted, “Quick, look. Here are water traces left from coming ashore.”
Nothing more to say. Three people immediately went, searching in the direction the water traces led.
Not long after, someone shouted from the other side of the riverbank, “There are also water traces from coming ashore here.”
The remaining few people immediately gathered over.
Someone expressed doubt, “Could those three fellows have split up to act?”
Qin Jue gritted his teeth and said, “You are overthinking. In this unfamiliar place, unless they have a map, it would be difficult to meet up after running far. If they split up they definitely cannot run far. In this environment the possibility of splitting up is not great. These water traces should again be a false deployment. The other side probably guessed we do not have many people watching them. They are dispersing our manpower, wasting our time, to facilitate their own distant escape.
Ahead, there should still be water traces on both banks. Send two people to quickly search forward along both banks. Ignore water traces along the way. The position where the last water traces remain on the bank is most likely the place they came ashore. Find it quickly, track quickly. Given time, with their cunning, they will definitely change direction mid-escape. They cannot flee straight ahead.”
Long Xingyun said in a deep voice, “Correct. Same as what I thought. We must be quick.”
Qin Jue, “Did Thousand Flow Mountain bring ‘Sky Patrolling Birds’ and ‘Mountain Traversing Beasts’ in? If so, we might as well send someone to ask the Third Cave Master for assistance.”
The Thousand Flow Mountain leader shook his head. “We did bring a few in. Evil energy floats high in the sky. The ones that flew in the sky fell down. The ones that ran on the ground also ate something unknown by mistake. They are all gone.”
Hearing this, there was no other way. They could only rely on manpower to search. The group continued with gritted teeth.