Chapter 9: Escape (Part 1)

Guo Shier suddenly felt his body tense slightly. He glanced quietly at Luo Zhan and saw a hint of joy on his face. Instantly understanding, he said, “Elder, what do you want?”
Fuye Chen replied, “Hand over that True Ancient Talisman. If you surrender, I’ll take you as a retainer—no need for you to be my slave. Otherwise… none of you will get out alive!”
Guo Shier said, “Elder, you know that if I decide to destroy this True Ancient Talisman, it’s just a matter of a thought. Though I can’t activate it quickly, destroying it is easy.”
Fuye Chen knew Guo Shier wasn’t bluffing, but he didn’t realize that Guo Shier himself wasn’t sure he could actually destroy the talisman—he was just trying to scare them.
“Alright, what are your conditions?”
Guo Shier felt increasingly constrained, as if tied tightly by something. Calmly, he said, “I want… my companions to be safe. You can’t hurt them! Nor can you turn them into slaves!”
Fuye Chen replied cheerfully, “Good, I agree!”
Guo Shier smirked mockingly and said, “Who will believe your promise? I want you to swear!”
Fuye Chen flew into anger. “Do you want to die?”
Guo Shier suddenly burst into laughter. “Fuye Chen! You and your men are all fools, idiots! Haha! You’re so old that even such a simple trick to buy time escapes you. You can die now… I’ll come back to settle accounts with you when I grow up! You old fool…”
Fuye Chen was stunned, then enraged. He rushed forward and roared, “I’ll kill you, you brat!” He swung a punch but suddenly realized something was wrong—the nine people sitting across from him and Guo Shier standing there were gradually fading away, as if melting into the air. Guo Shier’s laughter still echoed in the cave, filled with words like “old fool,” “idiot,” “egg…” “egg…” “egg…”
The ten people had vanished completely. Their time in the secret realm had run out, and they had been expelled by it.
“Ah… I’ll kill you… you brat… Ah… I’m so angry…”
Fuye Chen struck wildly in a fit of fury. He had never suffered such a loss before, falling for Guo Shier’s schemes at every turn. He felt not only humiliated but also deeply degraded. Especially Guo Shier’s insults before leaving drove him crazy. It was the first time in his life that he had been cursed so harshly.

After struggling to calm down, Fuye took a few deep breaths, turned around, and left. He didn’t want to stay there for another second and quickly stepped outside. Fuye Ada forced a smile and asked, “Elder, shall we send someone in?”
Slap!
Fuye Ada was on the verge of crying—did asking a question also deserve a slap? Was the elder crazy?
Fuye’s face turned pale and blue in turn. He jumped into a hunting cart and shouted, “Gather everyone! Let’s go!” Then he disappeared inside the cart without making a sound again.
Fuye Ada, confused, was slapped several times and dared not ask anymore. He waved for everyone to get into the car and leave.
…
The place where Guo Shier and the others appeared was the shallow marsh where they had entered the secret realm. As soon as they showed up, they heard Luo Jie’s loud laughter. Overjoyed, Guo Shier called out loudly, “Master!”
The ground was covered with corpses—all from the Mu Fu Sect. Luo Jie and Qi Nan Shan stood there. Seeing Guo Shier and the others emerge, Luo Jie laughed heartily and said, “Dashan! I knew Shier would come back!”
Guo Shier ran over without hesitation and threw himself into Luo Jie’s arms. Only then did he realize just how important his master was to him. Luo Jie smiled and said, “Well done, Shier! Hehe, you don’t know—your grandfather Nan Shan and I have killed countless people from the Fuye family!”
Qi Nan Shan laughed, “We’re barbarians, haha! They think we’re barbarians from a lower-tier continent, unfit to be anything but slaves. But still, we crushed them completely!”
Guo Shier turned to look at the corpses on the ground and asked, “Who killed these people from the Mu Fu Sect?”
Qi Nan Shan replied, “Only a few dozen of them survived. Hmph, since we encountered them, we wouldn’t let them go. We also took the chance to avenge the people in the town.”
Out of the 25 people who entered the secret realm, only 16 returned safely; 9 were captured or killed.
The Fu Wu masters like Luo Zhan stepped forward to bow. Luo Jie smiled and said, “It’s good we got you out. Otherwise, it would have been really hard to escape.”
Yan Ge said, “If it weren’t for Shier this time, none of us might have returned… We couldn’t stand up to a top-level Fu Wu master at all.”
Luo Jie set Guo Shier down and asked in surprise, “A top-level Fu Wu master?” He was well aware of the destructive power of such a master. Not to mention those five Fu Wu masters like Luo Zhan—even five more wouldn’t be enough to resist.

Xiao Feng said, “Let me tell it.” He started from the discovery of the hunting vehicle, how everyone fled into the cave, how Guo Shier controlled the battle, how he set traps, and how they retreated to the last cave, all the way to Guo Shier’s victory over Fuyechen. This guy was eloquent and vivid in his narration, exaggerating Guo Shier’s role by at least 20%.

Guo Shier shook his head slightly while listening. Luo Jie, on the other hand, was excited, his eyes shining as he marveled at the prowess of his disciple. When it came to the firebird flying out, Luo Jie showed extreme surprise and asked, “A True Ancient Talisman? Did that man really mean a True Ancient Talisman?”

Xiao Feng nodded and said, “That firebird chased after Fuyechen. Well, at first he was full of bravado, saying that even a slight movement would count as a loss. But not only did he move, he also fled in disarray.”

Luo Jie grew nervous and said, “Trouble… He won’t give up easily!”

Xiao Feng said admiringly, “Yes, that’s what Shier said too!”

Luo Jie nodded. He knew his young disciple was intelligent and understood human nature well. Then he asked, “Has that man come back?”

Qi Nanshan frowned and said, “If he comes back, you won’t be able to escape!”

Xiao Feng replied, “We originally couldn’t escape. Hehe, that man wanted Shier’s talisman, so Shier stalled him. By then, we realized it was time to leave the secret realm. As we started to disappear, Shier cursed that man loudly. Haha, by the time he rushed over, we had completely vanished… We were really lucky.”

Luo Jie was extremely surprised. He said, “Ah? There’s such good luck… Haha, that guy must be furious! Haha, great curses!” He patted Guo Shier’s head and laughed happily nonstop.

Qi Nanshan also had a smile on his face. Although they lost many people entering the secret realm this time, they gained a lot. Just one mutated earth dragon was worth all their efforts.

They entered the secret realm in early summer and stayed there for half a year. By the time they came out, it was already late autumn.

Luo Jie said, “Let’s find a place to restock supplies. We also need to get back our war horses.”

Chen Bing asked, “Shier, which way should we go? It’s all forests here. We seem to be lost!”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “We’re going to the West Talisman Gate, so of course we head west… Don’t worry. Master and the others are experienced. Even if we don’t know the way, it’s okay.”

Sure enough, the group headed west.

Qingguang City was the territory of the Qin family, which was the outermost family of the North Fu Sect and had a population of over a million. The city was strategically located, with the famous Qingchang River beside it and Hengguan to the west. Beyond Hengguan lay vast grasslands, which were the territory of the West Fu Sect.

Hengguan was guarded by disciples of the North Fu Sect, with two thousand professionals from the sect stationed there. There were also large warehouses belonging to various merchant firms, making it the westernmost pass of the North Fu Sect.

Qingguang City was a mixed crowd of people—many from the West Fu Sect, as well as those from the South and East Fu Sects. Of course, the majority were from the North Fu Sect, as this was their territory after all.

Not long after emerging from the forest, Luo Jie and his group saw this border city. They had traveled for twenty-one days straight, with several martial artists taking turns carrying the children as they rushed through the dense forest under great hardship. Their supplies were almost exhausted, and they relied on hunting to avoid starving along the way.

Finally, the group stepped out of the forest and looked at the city in the distance. Guo Shier asked, “Master, what is that place?”

Luo Jie smiled and said, “We’ve actually arrived at Qingguang City! Haha, this route is quite good. We took a shortcut, which saved us several months compared to the normal route. Heh, it’s a pity our original group didn’t take this path.”

Qi Nanshan said thoughtfully, “Interesting. The last time I was here… it was decades ago. I remember the old master had a disciple living here.”

Luo Jie nodded and said, “I haven’t seen him in over thirty years. I wonder if he’s still alive?” His tone carried a hint of sadness.

Guo Shier asked, “Is it a senior brother? What’s his name?”

Luo Jie replied, “His name is Qin Han. If he’s still alive, he must be over 150 years old. Sigh, if he doesn’t advance any further… he won’t last much longer.” Watching his disciples die one after another, the old man felt very distressed.

Guo Shier comforted him, “The senior brother will surely be very happy to see the master. Let’s enter the city.”

At the city gate, there were dozens of professional guards, most of them martial artists, along with one martial master and one sorcerer. As a border city, it had strong defensive capabilities.

More than a dozen people led by Luo Jie arrived at the city gate and were stopped by the guards. When they saw the symbols on these people’s chests, they were all stunned. Luo Jie wore the special symbol of a Grand Spellcaster from the Northern Talisman Gate, Qi Nan Shan wore the symbol of a Grand Spell-Warrior, and most of the others were Spell-Warriors. Even a child wore the symbol of a Spellcaster.

With two masters and a group of Spell-Warriors, this group’s strength was terrifying—even the Qin family did not possess such formidable power. The Spell-Warrior at the gate immediately sent someone to inform the Qin family and politely guided them into the city.

Luo Jie asked, “Who is the current head of the Qin family?”

The Spell-Warrior replied, “It’s the old master, Qin Zhuo.”

Luo Jie nodded and asked, “Are you also from the Qin family?”

The Spell-Warrior answered respectfully, “Yes, my name is Qin Yun. I am a Spell-Warrior trained by our family.”

Luo Jie asked, “Is there someone in your Qin family whom you might know?”

Qin Yun said, “Old master, please tell me. Hehe, there are many people in the Qin family, so I might not know them all.”

Luo Jie said, “His name is Qin Han.”