Chapter 255 — A Desperate Escape
With his back pressed against the cold stone wall, Su Yang's breathing was heavy, his chest rising and falling as his eyes swept across the five figures surrounding him.
The assassins had already sealed every possible route of escape.
Five True Essence martial artists.
Even one of them would have been troublesome for Su Yang in his current condition, let alone five.
His hand slowly moved toward his waist.
The movement immediately caught the attention of the assassins.
The leading man narrowed his eyes.
"What's he doing?"
Another assassin's hand tightened around his sword.
Su Yang's fingers entered his storage pouch.
For a moment, the atmosphere became tense.
Then he pulled something out.
Five small, round objects rested in his palm.
They were dark in color, roughly the size of a walnut, with faint patterns engraved across their surfaces.
The assassins stared.
Then silence.
One of them laughed.
"Hahaha!"
"That's his trump card?"
Another assassin sneered.
"Metal balls?"
The leader's expression relaxed.
He had been prepared for another powerful attack, yet the objects in Su Yang's hand looked completely ordinary.
"How could a weakling like him possess anything capable of threatening us?"
The assassin holding the sword slowly raised it.
"His last struggle against death."
Su Yang didn't answer.
His fingers tightened around the five explosive orbs.
Lin Sheng had given them to him.
Five Rank One explosive orbs.
Originally, Su Yang had considered keeping them as a final means of survival, but after facing the Xuan Gang expert in the forest and now being surrounded by five True Essence martial artists, he understood something very clearly.
If he didn't use them now...
He might never have another opportunity.
The leading assassin stepped forward.
"Kill him."
Su Yang's thumb pressed against one of the orbs.
"Too late."
A blinding flash erupted.
The entire street disappeared beneath white light.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion swallowed everything.
The shockwave tore through the surrounding buildings, sending broken stones and wooden beams flying through the air.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The first explosion had barely subsided before another detonated.
Then another.
Then another.
The five Rank One explosive orbs erupted one after another, their combined power far exceeding what a single True Essence martial artist could withstand.
The street trembled violently.
Windows shattered throughout the surrounding buildings.
Roofs collapsed.
Walls cracked.
The earth itself seemed to buckle beneath the force.
The final explosion was the most violent.
BOOM!
A tremendous wave of fire and dust surged through the street, swallowing everything within dozens of meters.
The sound continued echoing through Anping County.
Once.
Twice.
Again and again.
The explosions became indistinguishable from one another.
By the time the dust finally began to settle...
Thirty minutes had passed.
The street had been reduced to ruins.
Half of it had practically been destroyed.
Broken stones and fragments of wood littered the ground.
As for the five assassins...
There was no corpse left.
They had been reduced to ash.
Su Yang had used five Rank One explosive orbs.
Five.
It was undoubtedly overkill.
But Su Yang had no intention of dying simply because he wanted to conserve resources.
Against five True Essence martial artists while carrying an unconscious person, there was no such thing as excessive caution.
Every single orb had been necessary.
Perhaps five was overkill.
But overkill was better than death.
And Su Yang was already far away.
He had escaped.
---
Several hours earlier, while the explosions were still echoing through the county, Tu Bing had finally awakened.
Her consciousness returned slowly.
At first, she only felt darkness.
Then came the sound of hurried footsteps.
Her body swayed with every movement.
Someone was carrying her.
Tu Bing's eyelids trembled.
She slowly opened them.
The first thing she saw was Su Yang's back.
His clothes were torn.
Blood had dried across several parts of his body.
His breathing was rough, and his steps were no longer as steady as before.
Yet he was still running.
Still carrying her.
Tu Bing's gaze became complicated.
She remembered what had happened.
The assassins.
Li Wei.
The blade that had cut through his neck.
The explosion.
And Su Yang carrying her away without hesitation.
She had been too weak.
If she had awakened earlier, she could have helped.
At the very least...
She could have used her trump card.
Her fingers slowly moved.
A talisman was concealed within her clothing.
Her fingers touched it.
She hesitated.
The talisman contained a powerful force.
But she wasn't confident she could activate it in her current condition.
She was just about to pinch the talisman when—
BOOM!
The first explosion erupted in the distance.
Tu Bing's expression changed.
Then came another.
BOOM!
Another.
BOOM!
The explosions shook the earth.
Tu Bing's eyes widened.
She immediately understood.
Su Yang had used something.
The power of the explosions was astonishing.
Even she possessed talismans capable of producing similar destructive force, yet she had never imagined that a young martial artist from a county-level region would possess five such treasures.
She slowly released the talisman.
There was no longer any need.
The explosions had created their opportunity.
Su Yang carried her through the chaos.
And he never looked back.
---
By the time night began descending, the two had already traveled deep into the forest.
The sounds of Anping County had long disappeared behind them.
Only the rustling of leaves and the occasional cry of a distant beast could be heard.
Su Yang finally stopped.
His breathing was extremely heavy.
His legs felt like they were made of lead.
He looked ahead.
There was a relatively open area beneath several large trees.
"We'll rest here."
He found a suitable place and lowered Tu Bing carefully.
Then he took several steps.
His body suddenly swayed.
Thud!
Su Yang collapsed onto the ground.
Tu Bing's expression changed.
"Are you alright?"
Su Yang raised one hand weakly.
"I'm fine."
He wasn't fine.
He was exhausted.
The battle, the escape, the continuous use of his movement technique, and carrying Tu Bing for several hours had pushed his body to its limit.
But his injuries weren't life-threatening.
That was what mattered.
Tu Bing quickly began preparing a temporary camp.
She gathered dry branches, arranged the surroundings, and prepared a small fire.
Su Yang sat beside the fire.
He took out his remaining meat rations and slowly began eating.
Tu Bing watched him.
Then her expression became strange.
Su Yang's eyes were closed.
His breathing had gradually become rhythmic.
His Qi circulated through his meridians.
The surrounding spiritual energy slowly gathered around him.
He was cultivating.
Tu Bing stared.
Even after everything that had happened...
He was still cultivating.
Her lips twitched slightly.
"Quite diligent."
She hadn't expected him to be this persistent.
Most martial artists would have immediately collapsed after escaping such a dangerous situation.
But Su Yang was different.
For him, every moment mattered.
Every moment spent recovering was an opportunity to become stronger.
Tu Bing quietly watched him for several breaths before looking toward the dark forest.
Neither of them knew what awaited them tomorrow.
But tonight...
At least they were alive.
---
Meanwhile, back in Anping County.
Slap!
A loud sound echoed through a dark room.
The county lieutenant's body staggered.
His face was turned to the side.
A red handprint slowly appeared across his cheek.
He didn't dare raise his head.
A tremendous pressure filled the entire room.
The source of that pressure was a familiar figure.
The same Xuan Gang expert who had previously attacked Su Yang's escort convoy.
His expression was frighteningly dark.
"Five True Essence martial artists."
"An entire operation."
"And you still allowed the target to escape?"
The county lieutenant's body trembled.
"My lord..."
"Silence!"
Another wave of pressure descended.
The lieutenant's knees nearly buckled.
The Xuan Gang expert's voice became colder.
"The package was within our grasp."
"The boy was already surrounded."
"How did he escape?"
The lieutenant swallowed.
"That..."
He hesitated.
The Xuan Gang expert's eyes became colder.
"Speak."
"He used an unexpected trump card."
"What trump card?"
"Explosive orbs."
The Xuan Gang expert frowned.
"Explosive orbs?"
"Yes."
"Five of them."
The lieutenant's voice became increasingly quiet.
"Their power was extraordinary. The five True Essence experts were caught within the explosions..."
The Xuan Gang expert's face darkened further.
"Five Rank One explosive orbs..."
He had seen such things before.
They were valuable.
But what truly irritated him wasn't the explosive power.
It was the fact that he hadn't accounted for them.
The lieutenant carefully continued.
"We couldn't have predicted that he would possess such a trump card."
"Even if we had sent more people, the explosion happened too suddenly."
"They couldn't have reacted in time."
The Xuan Gang expert remained silent.
The pressure in the room gradually became heavier.
After several breaths, he finally spoke.
"They couldn't have gone far."
The lieutenant nodded quickly.
"That's what I believe."
"Even with True Essence experts pursuing them, the boy is injured and carrying another injured person."
"They should still be within the surrounding region."
The Xuan Gang expert's eyes flashed.
"Then I'll find them myself."
The lieutenant's expression changed.
"My lord..."
But the Xuan Gang expert had already disappeared.
His body transformed into a streak of darkness and vanished through the window.
The lieutenant remained kneeling.
He slowly lowered his head.
A bitter expression appeared on his face.
This incident had already become much larger than he had expected.
The package had disappeared.
The target had escaped.
Five True Essence experts had died.
And the people behind the operation would certainly demand an explanation.
He could already imagine what would happen once the report reached the higher-ups of Marquis Sword Manor.
His position as county lieutenant...
Was probably finished.