Morning had finally arrived.
The darkness that had covered the forest throughout the night gradually receded as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the dense canopy, illuminating the countless leaves still covered in dew. A faint mist drifted between the trees, and somewhere in the distance, birds called to one another as the forest slowly awakened.
Su Yang and Tu Bing had already packed their belongings.
Neither of them had any intention of staying here longer than necessary.
The forest might be dangerous, but returning to the official road was even more dangerous.
After what had happened in Anping County, Su Yang had no idea how many people were searching for them or how far the enemy's influence extended. The assassins had been able to mobilize True Essence experts, and there had even been a Xuan Gang expert personally pursuing them.
Who knew whether the official road was already being watched?
Walking directly along it would practically be announcing their whereabouts.
"The forest it is."
Su Yang glanced ahead.
Tu Bing nodded.
"At least we'll have places to hide."
She was no longer unconscious.
The injuries she had suffered from the ambush had recovered considerably after the night of rest, and although her complexion remained somewhat pale, she was now able to walk without assistance.
That was a considerable relief to Su Yang.
Carrying an unconscious person while being pursued by assassins was one thing.
Carrying someone who could walk was another entirely.
The two moved deeper into the forest.
Their pace wasn't particularly fast.
They couldn't afford to move recklessly.
Every few moments, they would stop and listen.
The forest was far from peaceful.
"Roar!"
A deep growl suddenly echoed from somewhere among the trees.
Su Yang immediately stopped.
His hand instinctively moved toward his waist.
Tu Bing also halted.
The two remained silent.
Several breaths passed.
Nothing happened.
Su Yang finally relaxed slightly.
"Let's go."
They continued.
Not even half an hour later—
"Gruu...!"
Another growl came from farther away.
This time it was accompanied by the sound of something heavy moving through the undergrowth.
Branches snapped.
Leaves rustled.
Then everything became quiet again.
Su Yang's brows furrowed.
"This place really has a lot of fierce beasts."
Tu Bing glanced toward the direction of the noise.
"We're probably approaching one of the deeper sections of the forest."
"Unfortunately, we don't have another choice."
Su Yang looked back.
"If we take the official road, we might encounter people looking for us. At least here, even if we encounter a fierce beast, we have a chance of escaping."
Tu Bing nodded.
She didn't argue.
The two continued forward with increased caution.
They didn't know that several miles behind them, someone was following their trail.
But before worrying about that, Su Yang had something else occupying his mind.
The package.
Now that they were temporarily safe, he finally had time to properly inspect the two objects that had been hidden inside it.
He took the package out.
The first thing he retrieved was the letter.
The envelope was sealed.
Su Yang examined the seal carefully.
There was something unusual about it.
It wasn't simply a wax seal meant to prevent someone from opening the letter.
A faint fluctuation of Qi was contained within it.
"Interesting."
He circulated a thread of internal energy towards the seal.
The moment his Qi came into contact with it, the seal faintly trembled before immediately returning to normal.
Su Yang frowned.
"There's a restriction."
Tu Bing looked over.
"Can you open it?"
"No."
Su Yang shook his head.
"Not without knowing the method."
It seemed that whoever had written this letter had deliberately arranged some sort of special restriction. Anyone who attempted to open it through ordinary means would probably fail.
Su Yang didn't force the matter.
He carefully put the letter away.
There was no reason to risk damaging it.
His attention then shifted to the second item.
A fragment of stone.
It was roughly the size of his palm, with an irregular surface as though it had broken away from a larger stone tablet. There were faint patterns engraved across its surface, but they were so ancient and worn that Su Yang couldn't make sense of them.
He turned it over several times.
Nothing.
There wasn't even a particularly strong Qi fluctuation.
It looked almost worthless.
"Why would they put this inside?"
Su Yang muttered.
He examined it again.
Still nothing.
Eventually, while walking, he casually brought the stone toward his head, intending to see whether his Spiritual Sense could detect anything unusual.
The moment the fragment touched his forehead—
Boom!
Su Yang's consciousness shook.
His footsteps abruptly stopped.
His eyes widened.
A strange sensation flooded his mind.
Countless unfamiliar characters appeared within his consciousness.
They weren't being projected by the stone.
Rather, it was as though the information contained within the fragment had directly entered his mind.
Su Yang's expression changed.
"What..."
He immediately closed his eyes.
Tu Bing stopped beside him.
"What's wrong?"
Su Yang didn't answer.
His entire attention was focused inward.
The information continued to emerge.
A cultivation method.
A complete External Art.
Su Yang's expression slowly became one of disbelief.
"This..."
He read through the information carefully.
His breathing gradually became heavier.
It wasn't an ordinary External Art.
It was a profound inheritance capable of leading a martial artist all the way to the peak of Blood Exchange.
The cultivation method focused on strengthening the physical body through an extremely demanding process of refinement.
Flesh.
Muscles.
Tendons.
Bones.
Marrow.
Blood.
Every stage required enormous resources and an equally enormous amount of perseverance.
And the name of the technique was—
Dragon Elephant Prajna Vajra Scripture.
Su Yang stared blankly for several breaths.
"What the hell is this doing inside the package?"
He genuinely couldn't understand.
This escort mission had nearly cost him his life.
Fifteen people had entered the forest.
Only three had survived the first disaster.
Li Wei had eventually died.
He and Tu Bing had been chased by assassins.
Then a Xuan Gang expert had appeared.
And now, after all that, the mysterious package had turned out to contain a peak External Art.
Su Yang couldn't help feeling that the entire situation was absurd.
"What kind of employer sends something like this through an escort agency?"
He shook his head.
But after thinking about it for a moment, his expression gradually became interested.
Since the technique had already fallen into his hands...
There was no reason not to study it.
He continued examining the information inside his mind.
The ultimate goal of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Vajra Scripture was astonishing.
The cultivator would eventually possess the physical strength of one dragon and ten elephants.
Su Yang's eyes lit up.
"One dragon and ten elephants?"
His lips slowly curved upward.
That sounded excessive.
Very excessive.
But somehow...
It suited him.
His current fighting style was already based around overwhelming physical strength.
He preferred to close the distance, suppress his opponent with his body, and use his Qi and Blood to drive his attacks directly through the enemy's defenses.
If he could cultivate an External Art capable of pushing his physical strength to such a terrifying level...
His close-combat ability would become even more frightening.
"Not bad."
Su Yang carefully memorized the cultivation method.
He wasn't going to start cultivating it recklessly here.
They were still being pursued.
And the forest was filled with fierce beasts.
But the technique itself had already caught his attention.
He had a feeling that obtaining this fragment might be one of the few fortunate things that had happened during this disastrous escort mission.
"Let's keep moving."
Su Yang put the fragment away.
Tu Bing glanced at him.
"You found something?"
"An External Art."
"Is it powerful?"
Su Yang smiled faintly.
"Very."
He didn't explain further.
The two continued walking.
The forest gradually became less dense as they traveled.
The ground beneath their feet became slightly damp.
Then Su Yang heard something.
Water.
His eyes immediately brightened.
They pushed through a final cluster of trees.
A wide river appeared before them.
The river was several dozen meters across, its surface flowing rapidly beneath the morning sunlight. Large stones protruded from the water here and there, causing white waves to splash around them.
Su Yang walked toward the bank and examined the surroundings.
The river stretched in both directions.
But farther ahead, it split into two separate branches.
One flowed toward the right.
The other flowed toward the left.
Su Yang took out the rough map they had acquired before entering the forest.
He compared the terrain around them with the markings on the map.
"This should be the river."
Tu Bing approached.
"Can you tell which direction leads to the prefectural city?"
Su Yang studied the map carefully.
"Not completely."
He pointed toward the left branch.
"But this one should eventually lead us toward the route connecting to Dongtai Prefecture City."
Tu Bing nodded.
"Then we'll take the left."
"Yes."
They followed the riverbank.
For the first time since leaving Anping County, Su Yang felt that they were actually making progress toward home.
Unfortunately...
Neither of them knew that they weren't alone.
Several miles behind them, a figure emerged from the forest.
The man stood beside the same river.
He was dressed in dark clothing, and his face was cold and expressionless.
The faint aura surrounding his body was restrained to an astonishing degree.
But even so, the surrounding vegetation seemed to tremble slightly beneath the invisible pressure.
Xuan Gang.
The man crouched beside the riverbank.
His fingers brushed against the damp soil.
A footprint.
Another.
He examined the traces carefully.
Two people.
One heavier.
One lighter.
The tracks were fresh.
His eyes narrowed.
"They came this way."
He stood slowly.
He didn't move immediately.
Instead, he looked at the river where it split into two branches.
His gaze lingered for a moment.
Then he noticed several crushed blades of grass along the left bank.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"The left."
The Xuan Gang expert stepped forward.
His body suddenly blurred.
Whoosh!
He crossed several dozen meters in an instant.
His feet barely touched the ground as he pursued the traces left by Su Yang and Tu Bing.
Whenever the trail disappeared, he stopped and searched.
A broken branch.
A disturbed leaf.
A footprint left in damp soil.
He followed every clue.
He wasn't in a hurry.
There was no need.
The difference between their cultivation realms was simply too large.
As long as he continued following their tracks, catching them was only a matter of time.
The Xuan Gang expert's eyes gradually became colder.
He had already been humiliated once.
The two targets had escaped his grasp using a bizarre explosive weapon, and the entire street had nearly been destroyed.
He would not make the same mistake twice.
This time, he intended to personally capture them.
Alive or dead.
It didn't matter.
What mattered was recovering the package.
Far ahead, Su Yang and Tu Bing continued walking beside the river, completely unaware that the danger behind them was once again drawing closer.
The forest remained quiet.
Only the sound of flowing water accompanied their footsteps.