Chapter 209: Really Can Run

As the seven ghost children turned to ashes, the sinister, pot-bellied woman, who had glanced back while fleeing, was seized with terror. With a crash, she smashed through the wall at the end of the inn corridor and leapt out into the wind and snow.

The howling wind and swirling snow outside swept into the inn, and the temperature inside plummeted.

As the wind and snow entered, the flames on the floor, which had started to burn from the oil-soaked torches, flickered. Ji Yuan waved his sleeve, and all open flames, except for those in the charcoal braziers and on a few intact lamp covers and candle holders, were immediately extinguished. The inn grew considerably darker.

At the same time, Ji Yuan reached out to catch a few wisps of the ghost children's ashes falling before him. After a quick calculation with his fingers, he turned his head and softly instructed someone behind him.

"Go, keep an eye on her."

The Azure Vine Sword behind him trembled slightly, then a blue blur shot down the inn corridor and vanished into the snowstorm.

This sinister woman exhibited no demonic or fiendish aura and was neither human nor ghost. While she possessed some exceedingly strange abilities, Ji Yuan found them rather clumsy. Yet, she could be "resurrected" after decapitation. Considering her intrinsic nature and her previous mention of "practicing cultivation," it was highly probable that her methods were inherited.

This perverse cultivation method was unorthodox and certainly not something she could have devised herself. Those who passed it down were either inept or harbored ulterior motives. In any case, she could not be allowed to escape.

When he performed a divination to determine the nature of the situation, he indeed received a clear answer.

Du Heng took two steps closer to Ji Yuan, sheathed his saber on his back, and bowed to him.

"Mr. Ji, do you need me to pursue that sorceress?"

Ji Yuan shook his head and looked at the four knights whose faces were pale with a greenish tint. They had only been holding on by sheer willpower moments before. Now that the danger had passed, they could no longer sustain themselves and had collapsed to the ground, most of them barely able to breathe. Their condition was dire.

"I have a contingency. Let's first ensure the lives of these brave men."

Looking around, Ji Yuan pointed to the intact inn rooms.

"Let's help them into the rooms. Also, it would be best to block the hole in the corridor wall with door panels and quilts for now."

"Understood!"

Du Heng acknowledged, motioning for his friends to start moving. Ji Yuan also joined him in helping the knights.

Once most of the group was in the rooms, two martial artists came to move the kicked-off door panels and take quilts and other items from the beds to block the hole in the corridor. However, they lacked long nails.

The inn's waiter, who had been paralyzed with fear, had now regained his composure. Trembling, he stood up and said he would look for nails, though judging by his disheveled clothes, he would probably change first.

The innkeeper and other staff had long been woken by the commotion. However, with the clashing of weapons and the utterly chilling cries and screams, no one dared to leave their rooms. The events unfolded so quickly that before they could even muster the courage to report to the authorities, everything fell silent, making them even more afraid to move.

It wasn't until the surviving waiter came downstairs and, still shaken, explained the situation that things calmed down a bit. As for the staff member whose heart had been removed, they could only mourn him in silence for now.

Upstairs, in an intact room, the four injured and poisoned martial artists were laid side by side in a row on the floor, which was padded with bedding.

The other martial artists stood by, watching nervously. Ji Yuan carefully observed the changes in their vital energy before beginning his treatment.

He swiftly cast a brief spell, gathering spiritual energy and combining it with his magic to invisibly form a spiritual whisk. Then, Ji Yuan swept his sleeve from side to side, and spiritual energy and magic surged forth with his motion.

Most of the malevolent and toxic energy was swept out of their bodies, falling into several newly set up charcoal braziers nearby, where it sizzled and burned.

However, the remaining insidious poison had already corroded their vital essence. It could not be simply swept away. True recovery would either require prolonged nourishment with spiritual energy over a long period or a potent elixir.

Therefore, Ji Yuan took out the dates he had brought with him from his sleeve.

As soon as the fiery dates appeared, Du Heng recognized them. Mr. Ji held a date in his right hand, while with his left, he gently pried open the mouths of the martial artists one by one, dripping in some juice and letting some powdered date pulp fall into their mouths. By the time all four had consumed the fiery date, only a small portion remained in Mr. Ji's hand.

Once the fiery dates entered their mouths, Ji Yuan supplemented the effect by warming their internal organs with spiritual energy, helping the dates assimilate throughout their bodies.

To those watching, their four companions, who had been in a critical condition, suddenly looked much healthier, their faces flushed. A faint warmth seemed to emanate from their bodies.

Ji Yuan nodded and stood up. The four men on the floor also opened their eyes and instinctively sat up, feeling a surge of strength in their bodies, no longer weak and powerless.

Li Tongzhou clenched his fist, then looked at the other three beside him, asking incredulously.

"Are we cured?"

Ji Yuan looked at him, shook his head, and smiled.

"Cured? Haha, not by a long shot. The fiery date's vital essence has merely invigorated you, making you feel energetic. True recovery will take at least a month. Your lost cultivation cannot be recovered; you'll need to train again. Remember, avoid cold baths and sexual intercourse for at least a month!"

It was fortunate that these men possessed considerable martial arts skills and profound internal cultivation, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted this long.

"Yes, sir!" "We understand!" "Thank you for saving us, sir!"

"Thank you so much!"

The men quickly acknowledged and expressed their gratitude. Having narrowly escaped death, they felt incredibly fortunate to be alive.

After a few more instructions, Ji Yuan turned to Du Heng.

"I will go after that sorceress. You just take care of yourselves and deal with the inn's affairs."

With that, Ji Yuan opened the door and left the room. He nodded to the people still patching the corridor gap and then directly descended the stairs.

Only after Ji Yuan had left did the other martial artists in the room relax. Although the esteemed expert didn't seem strict, even Du Heng hesitated to speak carelessly, so the others were even more reticent.

"Brother Du, is that Mr. Ji the 'master' you spoke of?"

A martial artist finally couldn't help but ask about Ji Yuan.

"Exactly. I first met Mr. Ji when he saved my life and the lives of my friends."

Li Tongzhou and the other three were sitting cross-legged, circulating their internal energy to integrate the fiery date's warmth and clear their meridians. Yet, they could still spare attention to speak. Seeing Du Heng's reply, they joined the conversation.

"Just now, did Mr. Ji just breathe, and all those ghostly things turned to ashes?"

"It seems... yes, he did..."

"How incredibly profound must that martial art be!"

"Martial art? It looked more like he exhaled a wisp of smoke... Do you really think it was martial arts? And what about that sorceress and those ghostly creatures?"

"Indeed, it was more like magic!"

"This..."

The group eventually looked at Du Heng, who merely shook his head gently and smiled somewhat mysteriously.

"It cannot be spoken of!"

Outside the inn, in the wind and snow, Ji Yuan did not fly. Instead, he pursued her with the Dragon-Wandering technique, as if traversing vast distances with each step.

The Azure Vine Sword hovered distantly in the sky, trailing the pot-bellied woman who was neither human nor ghost. If she continued to flee in a panic and lead the way, that would be ideal. But if she tried to harm anyone now, the Azure Vine Sword would strike her down. Although that would be a bit more troublesome, it wouldn't necessarily prevent him from finding the mastermind.

Moreover, the Azure Vine Sword could exude a hint of its sharp aura, effectively urging the woman to keep running.

Thus, the situation unfolded as Ji Yuan had anticipated. The woman, who was neither human nor ghost, fled in a panic. She possessed no escape arts; though she moved with ghostly speed, she was essentially running on the ground, not even employing light-footed martial arts, but rather something akin to a ghostly technique.

Although she appeared to be fleeing frantically without a clear path, she was generally heading in one specific direction.

Based on the information Ji Yuan had gathered and his brief encounter tonight, the woman was unremarkable in both ability and temperament. She held a grudge against the martial artists and, after one of her ghost children's bodies was ruined by their strategy, she dared to attempt to harm the lives of an entire small county town. Now, she was fleeing with a clear destination in mind.

This further solidified Ji Yuan's suspicion: with such a mindset and no one guiding her, she certainly wouldn't survive long, at least within the borders of Da Zhen.

Although the night's wind and snow were bitterly cold, they didn't significantly affect the woman who was neither human nor ghost. In fact, she used the cover to create a false sense of security. Despite her mind constantly racing with panic, she believed she had temporarily escaped the terrifying man in white.

'I can't let my guard down,' she thought. 'I must escape under the cover of this snowy night, then return later to settle the score!'

One fleeing and one pursuing, they traveled through the wind and snow, seeing dawn break and dusk fall. For two days and three nights, she ran continuously, reaching Qiuzu Prefecture north of Jinzhou. She crossed Autumn Water Lake, traversed vast forests and wilderness, and finally entered a mountain whose name Ji Yuan did not yet know.

It must be said that this creature, neither human nor ghost, was truly fast. Even Ji Yuan, before he mastered flight, couldn't match her speed.

Once in the mountains, the woman's speed didn't diminish; instead, it increased. After another half-day, she darted into a shaded valley and, upon seeing a wooden hut inside, her face lit up with joy.

"Master! Master, save me! Master!"

The wooden hut door opened automatically, revealing a black-robed old man with an otherworldly demeanor, sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion. He showed no surprise at the woman's arrival.

As the woman fled into the hut, the anxiety that had been gripping her heart finally subsided.

"Master, Master, you must save me! Avenge my children!"

The old man watched the pot-bellied woman rush in. He then looked around but saw no other ghost children, causing him to frown.

"No need to rush, no need to rush. Where are the other ghost children? Were they caught by the City God or some local earth deity or mountain spirit? I told you long ago to be careful to avoid the sight and hearing of spirits. But it's no big deal; ghost children are sluggish and can't reveal anything. Besides, this is no longer the territory of Da Zhen, so there's even less to worry about."

The woman caught her breath. At this moment, apart from her pupils, she looked no different from an ordinary person; no one would have guessed she had once been decapitated.

"Master, it wasn't the spirits you spoke of who caused trouble, but a man in white."

"A human?"

The old man's heart stirred.

"Did he use some sort of jade pendant or magical artifact?"

The woman shook her head.

"No. I ordered my ghost-transformed children to rush at him, but he blew a puff of smoke that burned all my children to ashes. The pain and hatred, the bond between mother and child! Fortunately, he wasn't fast enough to catch me. Master, you must avenge me... Master, what's wrong?"

The woman suddenly noticed that the old man's expression had changed. He was sweating, something she had never seen before, and he was looking at her with a serious face.

"Blew a puff of smoke?"

"Yes... just a strange wisp of gray smoke..."

"Ghost-transformed children? And he didn't use any magical artifact?"

The woman nodded uneasily.

"Are you certain he was slow? And by the way, did you feel anything amiss when you were returning? Like an uncontrollable panic that wouldn't settle down?"

The woman's face changed. Seeing her reaction, the old man's heart sank. He no longer needed her answer to know the truth.