Chapter 7: Escape (Part 2)

Walking up to that guy, Guo Shieru kicked him in the face, then stamped on his arm, breaking it with a crack. The talisman dagger in the man’s hand slipped out of his sleeve. He looked at Guo Shieru in despair, crying inwardly—his plan to launch a surprise attack had completely failed after that kick.
Guo Shieru picked up the talisman dagger without hesitation and stabbed it into the other intact arm of the guy. He asked coldly, “How many people have you captured?”
The man was stunned. He never expected this child to be so ruthless and cunning. That stab shattered all his hopes. Now with all four limbs disabled, struggling to breathe, he was on the verge of death and unable to resist. He said, “Kill me! My family will come and avenge me!”
Filled with rage, Guo Shieru said indifferently, “Oh, kill you? I won’t! I’ll make you suffer more than death… Do you believe that?”
It was completely dark now. Guo Shieru used his spiritual eye talisman, allowing him to see the man’s twisted face and vicious expression clearly.
Worried that Master Luo Jie might have been captured, Guo Shieru became even more fierce. He knew he didn’t have much time—the fallen hunting vehicle had caught fire, and soon other hunting vehicles would arrive.
Holding the dagger, he pointed its tip at the man’s eyes and said coldly, “One last question. If you don’t answer… I’ll blind you, pull out your tongue, cut off your limbs, including the extra parts below, and then use talisman pills to stop the bleeding. Let’s see how you’ll survive from now on!”
The man trembled in fear—this was far too cruel. Even if he wanted to die, it would be impossible. Finally, he surrendered and said, “Ask whatever you want. As long as I know it… I’ll tell you everything. Just end my suffering!”
Guo Shieru asked, “How many people have you captured?”
The man replied, “We haven’t captured a single person!”
Guo Shieru didn’t believe it. “Not a single one? Then… you must have found someone?”
The man said, “We did find two people—two very skilled experts—but they escaped…”
Guo Shieru grew anxious. “How many days has it been since you found them?” This was crucial. If it had been over three days, Master Luo Jie would surely have escaped.
The man said, “It was about ten-odd days ago.”

Guo Shier felt relieved immediately. He thrust his sword into the man’s chest and said, “Go to your grave!” He had no time to press further, as the bright lights of hunting vehicles cutting through the night sky appeared in the distance. Quickly activating his flight talisman, Guo Shier disappeared into the night sky. In less than twenty minutes, a dozen hunting vehicles rushed in, hovering above the burning vehicle. Three of them descended slowly while the others dispersed to form a protective circle around it. Dozens of people got off the vehicles, including the old man who had previously searched the woods for traces of Guo Shier. He examined everything carefully. The vehicles in the sky emitted beams of light, illuminating the ground completely. The old man frowned as he studied the corpses and shattered vehicles on the ground. After a while, he sighed and said, “We underestimated him. That boy possesses the strength of a high-level grand talisman master… Pass the order: no single vehicle is allowed to approach. If that boy is spotted, report immediately. We must send experts to deal with him. Lower-level disciples… can’t defeat him.” At that moment, dozens more hunting vehicles arrived. Someone reported, “Elder, the reinforcements have arrived.” The old man nodded and said, “Stop chasing at night. That boy is extremely dangerous. Even if we catch up at night, we’ll suffer heavy losses. Wait until dawn, then concentrate our efforts on pursuit while setting up defensive lines to prevent him from turning back… Hmph, that boy made a mistake. He probably didn’t realize how vast this Gobi desert is… We’ve mobilized all the hunting vehicles we could contact and rushed here overnight, but it’s still not enough.” As orders were given, a large number of hunting vehicles flew toward the Gobi desert. … Guo Shier had flown for several hours straight and was exhausted both physically and mentally. From time to time, he looked back and saw that the hunting vehicles hadn’t followed, which eased his worries slightly. He quietly landed on the ground. Suddenly inspired, he released the Dark-Winged Scorpion. Climbing onto its back, he gave it an order to move forward. After receiving the command, the Dark-Winged Scorpion began to crawl forward. Its speed wasn’t as fast as his flight, but it was much quicker than his fastest running. Delighted, Guo Shier took out a leather mat, laid it on the scorpion’s back, and fell asleep instantly, drifting into a deep sleep. This rest restored him completely. Before dawn, he woke up.

Turning over to sit up, he found that the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion was still moving forward at high speed. This ancient scorpion seemed immune to fatigue, continuing to rush ahead. Guo Shier turned back and saw not a trace of light in the dark sky. He knew that the scorpion’s relentless pursuit throughout the night had increased his chances of escape. If he could hold on for three days, he could open the talisman gate and return to the Chenxiao Sect, where he would truly be safe.

Guo Shier was deeply grateful to Lan Tianbao. Without the ancient insect talisman she had given him, he might not have been able to escape pursuit last night. If it weren’t for this ugly-looking yet incredibly powerful Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion, that mutated centipede would have trapped him, allowing the people of the Fuye Family to take advantage.

Sitting on the back of the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion, Guo Shier ate dried food and drank clean water. After eating and drinking his fill, he told the scorpion to stop, climbed down, dug a small pit, took care of himself quickly, buried it, and then climbed back onto the scorpion’s back, urging it to keep moving.

Thanks to using the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion as a means of transportation, Guo Shier was able to leave the people of the Fuye Family far behind. But he knew that if the area ahead remained a desert, the pursuit vehicles would surely catch up. The key was to open the talisman gate before they did, and he absolutely couldn’t let them catch up during that time. He estimated that the scorpion could run about fifty to sixty kilometers per hour, and its speed could be even higher if it went into a sprint.

Guo Shier thought to himself that it would be great if he could make the scorpion faster. Just then, the scorpion’s thick, upright tail gently touched his back, startling him. He quickly crawled forward a bit, only for the scorpion’s tail to touch his back again. Suddenly, Guo Shier realized that the scorpion seemed to want him to climb to its head.

There was a small flat area on the scorpion’s head. Guo Shier climbed there, sat cross-legged, grabbed one of the scorpion’s stingers, and looked back. He saw that the scorpion’s translucent wings were raised and vibrating rapidly. Suddenly, his body was thrown backward, and he quickly grabbed the stinger to steady himself. The Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion had actually taken off into the air.

Guo Shier was both surprised and delighted—he never expected this ancient scorpion to be able to fly.

The scorpion’s flight was rather clumsy. It couldn’t fly continuously; instead, it would crawl rapidly for a dozen meters, then flap its wings to fly for a few hundred meters, before landing and continuing to crawl quickly before flying again. With this alternating pattern of crawling and flying, its speed was indeed a bit faster than before.

After about two hours, dawn finally broke.

Guo Shier looked around speechlessly. Before him was still the lifeless Gobi Desert, covered with broken stones and sand, with a thin mist making it appear even more desolate. The mist disappeared within half an hour after dawn. The Dark-Wing Scorpion continued to crawl for a dozen meters before flying hundreds of meters, moving up and down. Guo Shier knew that the Dark-Wing Scorpion couldn’t keep up this pace for long. So when the desert grew hot, he jumped down, put the scorpion back into the Ancient Insect Talisman, restarted the flight talisman, and continued on his journey.

Guo Shier still didn’t know that the people of the Fuye Family were going crazy. They had mobilized over 600 hunting vehicles, with hundreds more on their way. They set out before dawn and chased after him frantically. In this game of chase and evasion, Guo Shier used the Dark-Wing Scorpion to keep a large distance between them, allowing him to fly forward relatively calmly. The hunting vehicles were fast, and by noon, the distance between them had shrunk significantly. The people of the Fuye Family were puzzled—so far, they hadn’t found any trace of Guo Shier. The old man tracking him sat in one of the hunting vehicles, constantly giving orders.

Frowning, he couldn’t understand why he still hadn’t seen Guo Shier. Given Guo Shier’s speed, he thought he should have been spotted by now, but it was almost noon yet, and there was still no sign of him. He was both confused and impressed—this kid was truly extraordinary; so many people couldn’t handle him.

When he inspected the scene yesterday, the old man had been shocked by Guo Shier’s combat skills. Two hunting vehicles were shot down without any resistance, and all his disciples were killed in one strike, with only one seemingly being interrogated. From the methods of interrogation, this kid was ruthless—perhaps even surpassing adults. That’s why he wanted to capture Guo Shier even more.

Guo Shier knew the hunting vehicles were getting closer. He calculated that at their speeds, they would likely catch up by evening. But by evening, he wasn’t sure if he could activate the talisman gate. Three days was just a rough estimate—it might be a bit later or a bit earlier; it was beyond his control.

By the time he saw the hunting vehicles approaching behind him, it was already evening. Guo Shier’s calculations had been accurate, but he despairingly found that the talisman gate still wouldn’t activate.

On the horizon, the traces left by the chase vehicles were extremely clear. Guo Shier didn’t even know how many were pursuing him; based on a quick glance, he conservatively estimated there were at least several hundred. He couldn’t help but curse, “Is it really necessary? To deal with just a kid like me? Damn it!”