White-Robed Chief
chapter-23

Chu Li continued following the footprints after the man that had caught Zhao Ying dragged her to the pagoda. Someone took her after that. He followed the prints not knowing where the troupe actually was.

He tracked along for five miles in a breath and had reached the mountain side of Raging Zhao Zhang Feihuahu.

Chu Li was confused. Typically the village of a troupe is built on the mountainside, but he saw and sensed nothing in a three mile radius. They may have built it on the other side.

This guy that brought away Zhao Ying did not have a levitation as clean as the previous man. His footprints were clearer, but it may be a bait in an attempt to lure him into an ambush they had set.

With the Omniscient Mirror, Chu Li was secure with the knowledge that he was aware of any potential ambushes around him, and thus take the necessary detours to avoid them. He was only afraid of the possibility of there not being any alternative than to face the enemy head-on.

He detached himself from his thoughts, he soon noticed a group of people nearby through the Omniscient Mirror.

There were four large, bald men awaiting on a huge rock ten miles away from Chu Li where the footprints had passed through. They were seated on a large boulder with their eyes closed. While it looked calm and serene, but the atmosphere around them felt ferocious.

They were prepared, and they did not have good intentions.

Chu Li could tell from their outfit that they were innate masters from the Raging Zhao Zhang Feihuahu. With four of them, they probably thought that it would be enough.

He slowed down his speed and the turbulent auras flowing in him. As his skill level was now in the boundary of an innate, even the scripture of Life and Death was improved. The aura he could control was now purer, and they could be altered into the innate's mastery Qi.

In this environment, his inner strength was endless, there was nothing for him to be afraid of.

In the distance of a hundred meters, four of the huge men who were quietly sitting on the stone and slowly opened their eyes. They coldly looked at him as if they were looking at an ant.

One of them called out, "You are that young man! The one with the guts of a dog!"

"Femme fatale, eh? Even heroes are weak against the charms of a beautiful woman," A man next to him said.

"Are you guy the Raging Zhao Zhang Feihuahus?" Chu Li menacingly asked.

"You are right."

"My junior sister was kidnapped by you guys, correct?"

"Indeed."

"Give her back to me!"

"Only if you can beat us!"

"Witness my blade!" Chu Li suddenly swung his left arm. A cold light flashed.

"URGH!" The leader of the group held onto his throat. There was a delicate throwing knife on his throat.

He stared at Chu Li, surprised. He slowly took a step back and fell on the floor, his body was still trembling. He did not immediately perish.

"Sixth!" The third man exclaimed. He quickly stood and jumped towards Chu Li. His long knife swung down like several silver waterfalls crashing from the sky.

Chu Li lightly backed off and positioned himself on a tree, as the the got closer to him, he slid away between them casually.

The other three men also landed on the tree, and continued to leap towards Chu Li.

"Haa..!" Chu Li swung his hand again and another cold light flashed. One of the bald man held his throat and fell from above.

"Bam!" He crashed onto the ground. He struggled on the floor for a few moments before going completely limp.

"This young man's flying blade is bizarre! Let's go!" The remaining two men turned and ran away.

Chu Li cracked a smirk, all the energy from the environment around him rushed into his body. He became unusually fast after stacking the inner energy. He shot out another two flying blades, and the both the men were hit and killed without the chance to even attempt a dodge.

Chu Li let out a breath. He leaned onto a tree and the aura from the plant nourished his meridians.

He had struck four times in a row, it caused a huge amount of pressure to his meridians.

The scripture of Life and Death, the boundary of the innate's mastery and the Blade of Eternity. Matching them together indeed held a terribly horrifying result.

If Chu Li was in town, there would have been no plants for him to freely abuse. This environment was near perfect for him.

The Blade of Eternity itself was already powerful, fast and accurate. Once the flying knife entered their range, Chu Li would activate the Scripture of Life and Death; which in turn would drive the knife like a drill into their bodies. This was more than enough to send them straight to their deaths.

Chu Li let out another few sighs, and allowed the aura from the plants to nourish his meridians as he continued to follow the footprints.

He walked around the mountainside and reached the front of another cave after another two hundred meters.

The entrance to the Raging Zhao Zhang Feihuahu was a cave! One man stationed here could have killed thousands in this terrain, not the mention the traps that had been set around here. There must be a ton of hidden weapons as well.

He thought for a moment, and put his lips together, making a long whistling noise. He took a huge rock from the side and threw it into the cave.

The stone was about half the height of an average person, it was about the size of someone attempting to climb in.

"Bam bam bam bam…" In a chain of ringing, Chu Li climbed into the cave too.

There was a floor of traps. There were blue lights flashing from time to time, and there was a nice fragrance flowing about. It was the deadly poison on the weapons that created that fragrance.

He did not step on the floor, levitating the entire way. He saw a light at the end, and that light came from a ravine. He was at the mountain, with a group of people below him.

Chu Li took a look around. It was indeed a good place, warm and hidden. There must be another exist that allowed them to do whatever they wanted.

If there were no footprints to guide him, even with his Omniscient Mirror, it would have taken a long time to find this place.

The mountainside and the ravine was a hundred meters apart and thirty floors tall. The people below them looked at him with malice. Their eyes were so sharp it was as if they were going to slice him into pieces.

Chu Li glared at them. There was a total of a hundred and twenty two people. Six of them were innate masters, and thirty-four of them had their acquired mastery completed. The rest are not of worth to be noted, but they were all holding long knives. Their murderous intent was very clear, it was best to not look down at them.

Chu Li pondered that he still had ten flying blade and if they were enough to kill the innate masters.

He activated his Omniscient Mirror and checked. He had found Zhao Ying and took a long sigh.

"Young man... If you want your little lady back then you'd better surrender to us! Or else, we'd probably end up attacking her!" A bald guy with ring scars on his head said coldly.

Chu Li looked at the huge man, the ringed scars on his head proved that he was once a monk. Six ringed scars, his rank must be a respectable one. It was unclear from which temple he came from.

Chu Li had grown up in the Temple of Autumn. He knew that there were good monks and bad monks, and that he cannot assume. The monk from the Temple of Tempest was strict. Due to their enforcement in laws, private deaths were not allowed. The other temples were not the same, however.

"Touch her, and I'll make this little troupe disappear."

Chu Li muttered.

Chu Li slightly said:"Touch my junior sister and I will make your entire troupe vanish!"

"Haha!" The ring scarred man laughed. As he moved, his huge body made sounds as if he was a chime made out of brass,"Alright. Show us what you got. Get down here!"

"Cowards. You do not dare go against me one on one? The Raging Tigers? You're better off calling yourself the Troupe of Mice! But that wouldn't do, even a mice would be braver than you!" Chu Li provoked the Troupe.

"First Master, allow me." A bald man spoke, "We cannot allow this young man to continue being so arrogant!"

In the eyes of the crowd, Chu Li had insulted them. They were an arrogant and condescending lot. Their ego would not stand for how unbridled he was!

"Third brother, be careful. This man uses crooked methods." The huge ring scarred man furrowed his brows.

"I know!" He replied.

He was thin, but every move he made contained a lot of power, much like a leopard.

A wide bluestone path led to where Chu Li stood. The bald man stepped onto the bluestone steps like an ape and lightly walked towards Chu Li.

It took him only a split second to move a hundred meters.

Chu Li drew his sword, the Omniscient Mirror analyzed the man inside out. The huge man's speed in channeling, the tempo of his movements and even the stretching of his muscle, everything appeared in Chu Li's head.

He got closer, and the bald man screamed as if he was a fierce tiger being unleashed onto Chu Li.

Chu Li struck, there was a flash of light from his sword and he stepped back.

The bald man held onto his throat and glared at Chu Li. He slowly fell down from the bluestone steps, as he stared at the sky.

The ring scarred man flew to his aid and caught the man. He slowly placed his injured ally on the floor. His expression was heavy like a bag of water about to burst. It was too late, the bald man was already dead.

The strike pierced right through his throat. His blood gushed out and he immediately lost his breath. It was obvious that it had gone through his throat and penetrated his brains, an unusually cruel maneuver.

The ring-scarred man lifted his head and stared at Chu Li in the air, his eyes was full of animosity.

Chu Li shook his head.

"That was what he deserved!"

The attack struck fear into the crowd, it was too quick and too cruel. They had realized that even if they were the ones who faced that strike, nothing would have changed. It was a strike that decided life or death. The mighty third master was already rendered into a lifeless corpse!

"Head of the Troupe. Come!"

Chu Li commanded.

"Oh great young man, come down here. Don't blame me for destroying the pretty lady otherwise." The man chuckled.

This young man was too spectacular and bizarre. The ring-scarred man knew he was unable to use brute force, or he would be in too much of a disadvantage. It seemed like the brothers who attempted to cut this young man off had all been killed by him! His will to kill the young man grew stronger every minute as he thought of the situation. He was going to kill this kid, no matter what.

Chu Li smiled, "Will I be able to save my sister, as long as I come down?"

He activated the Omniscient Mirror and looked through the whole ravine. Zhao Ying was sitting with her legs crossed in a hidden cave blocked by ivy.

If it were not for the Omniscient Mirror, it would have been impossible for him to find this cave. There was an innate master sitting at another cave a hundred meters away on the east side.

Zhao Ying was sitting in a dark cave. The cold air kept entering her pores. She was unable to even move, it was really cold in there.

She tried escaping with her wits but her acupoints were sealed. To make matters worse, there was an innate master next to her. There was no chance of escape! She wondered if Brother Chu Li could even find her.

Zhao Ying felt quite conflicted. While she hoped that Chu Li would come to find and save her, she was worried that if Chu Li found her, he would have to fight the Raging Tigers Troupe, which was full of innate masters. The troupe was vicious and dangerous! If he tried finding her, he would most likely be killed!

When the sound of Chu Li's laughter echoed to her cave, she felt happy but worried at the same time. She wanted to get up, but she had no strength to herself, she could not even move an inch.

The bald man next to her opened his eyes and glared at her.

"Just sit here like an honest child!"

Zhao Ying opened her mouth, but she was unable to speak as well. Her sound acupoint had been sealed too.

The man chuckled.

"An infatuated one, he is. He's throwing away his life just for you! Well, since he came here, he probably isn't going to leave. Good men truly have short lives, a shameful reality. Just give up on him already, little lady."

Zhao Ying opened her mouth and stared daggers at him.

The huge bald man closed his eyes and ignored her.

Chu Li stood on the steps and looked down the crowd from above.

He cracked a long laugh.

"Okay then, I'm coming down!"

He tipped his feet and flew outwards, he crossed two hundred meters in a split second. He activated the Infinity Sea of Azure and blasted downwards the cave. The bald man did not even have the time to react before a cold flash pierced his heart. Suddenly, Chu Li had landed in front of Zhao Ying.

Zhao Ying widened her eyes, happy and surprised.

Chu Li held out his hand and carried her on his back, and turned towards the entrance of the ravine. His inner energy rushed into Zhao Ying body and all her acupoints were slowly unsealed.

Zhao Ying quickly asked: "Brother Chu Li! Why are you here?"

Chu Li smiled.

"How could I not be here?"

When the both of them reached the entrance of the cave, suddenly there was a flash from a knife.

*CLANG*

Chu Li parried with his longsword, the knife and sword clashed.

"Ding…" Chu Li pointed with his long sword, the knife and sword intersected.

He followed up with another flash, and more flashes, continuously sending strikes at Chu Li's direction. Everyone on the outside was trying to seal the entrance of the cave, trying to trap them to death.

Zhao Ying quickly drew her sword and struck.

*CLANG*

Her longsword flew out and an inner energy rushed into her arm. She felt a numbing pain from the meridian of her arm as if it was torn, but she immediately felt a nourishing inner energy flow into her heart and neutralized the inner energy from before.

"An innate master!"

Zhao Ying said in surprise.

She suddenly realized that Chu Li was also an innate master!