Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 209: She Can Really Run

The evil woman who appeared to be pregnant glanced back right as the seven ghost children were turned to ashes. She was so frightened that her mind trembled. With a “Bang!” she smashed through the wall at the end of the inn corridor and leapt into the wind and snow outside.

The whistling whooshes from outside swept into the inn along with the wind and snow, and the temperature abruptly dropped.

As soon as the blizzard entered the building, the ground, which had caught alight in some places from the kerosene torches, seemed to flicker with flames. Ji Yuan waved an arm, and all the flames extinguished at once, aside from those in the charcoal brazier and some of the lampshades and candlesticks that were still intact. The lighting inside the inn also dimmed.

At the same time, Ji Yuan also stretched out a hand to catch the wisps of the ghost child falling to ashes in front of him. After calculating a divination with his fingers, he turned his head and whispered to something behind him.

“Go tail her.”

The Green Vine Sword trembled lightly behind him. Then, in a flash, it flew out of the inn corridor and blurred into the wind and snow.

This evil woman had no demonic energy, and was neither human nor ghost. Although she used some very evil techniques, they were quite shabby in Ji Yuan’s eyes. However, she could still be “resurrected” even after being beheaded. From what he could tell from her own background, and combining it with what he had heard about her “rebuilding her cultivation,” it was very likely that she inherited her skills.

Although this evil technique was nondescript, it was of course impossible for her to have figured it out on her own. The person she inherited it from was either incompetent, or had ulterior motives. Either way, he couldn’t let this go.

He used a hexagram to confirm his suspicions, and found that he was indeed correct.

Du Heng took two steps towards to Ji Yuan, placed the sword back behind his back, and bowed to Ji Yuan.

“Mr. Ji, do you need me to chase down that witch?”

Ji Yuan shook his head and looked at the four pale-faced chivalrous warriors. Just moments ago, the four of them had been holding on valiantly, but now that the crisis had passed, they could no longer sustain their strength, and fell to the ground. Most of them were left with nothing but the strength to breathe. Their state was very bad.

“I have my own arrangements. Let me save the lives of these warriors first.”

Ji Yuan glanced around, and pointed to the inn rooms that were still intact.

“Help them into the room. It would be best to block the door and the open wall to the corridor with the door panels and quilts.”

“Yes!”

Du Heng responded, and called on his companions to take action. Ji Yuan also went with him to support the warriors.

After most of the group had entered the room, two warriors walked over and moved the door panel that had been kicked away. They took quilts and other bedsheets to block the hole in the corridor. However, there were no nails to use at the moment.

The servant, who had just been paralyzed with fright, had finally come back to his senses. He stood up, trembling, and said that he would go look for nails. However, looking at the embarrassment that was the state of his clothes at the moment, it was likely that he would first go and change.

The innkeeper and the other servants had already been awakened by the noise, but because they could hear the clang of weapons and the horrific screams, no one dared to come out of their rooms. Since the whole thing happened too quickly, it all fell silent before they could even muster up the courage to go out and report to the police. In the end, they didn’t dare to move.

It wasn’t until the surviving servant went downstairs to explain it to them that the situation calmed down a bit. As for the guy whose heart had been dug out, all they could do for the time being was mourn in silence.

In an intact room upstairs, the four injured and poisoned warriors were placed on the floor, bedding underneath them, lying next to each other in a row.

The other warriors stood by to the side and watched nervously, Ji Yuan carefully observed the changes in their auras one by one before taking action.

A short and quick incantation gathered spiritual energy, which combined with his Qi to form an invisible horsetail whisk.¹ Then Ji Yuan waved his arms left and right, and the spiritual spiritual energy and Qi surged out along with his movement.

Most of the evil and poisonous energies were swept out of the bodies of the individuals on the floor, and fell into the couple of newly arranged charcoal braziers nearby, making a sizzling noise.

However, the residual sinister poison had already eroded the essence of their bodies; it was impossible to eliminate it so easily. They could either slowly nourish the body with spiritual energy and recover over a long period of time, or they could use some kind of panacea.

Thus, Ji Yuan took out the jujubes that he had brought with him from his sleeve.

Du Heng recognized the fire jujubes as soon as they appeared. He watched as Mr. Ji held a jujube in his right hand, slightly opened the mouths of the warriors with his left, and dripped some juice into each of their tongues. When all four of them had eaten a fire jujube, only half of the jujubes were left in Mr. Ji’s hands.

As soon as the juice of the fire jujubes entered their mouths, Ji Yuan used his spiritual energy to warm the people’s internal organs to help the jujubes be absorbed into their bodies.

From the others’ perspective, their four companions who had originally been in an extremely bad condition suddenly turned flushed, and a faint warmth rose from their bodies.

Ji Yuan nodded and stood up. The four people laying on the ground also opened their eyes and sat up subconsciously. They intuitively felt a surge of strength in their bodies, and knew that they were no longer as weak and feeble as before.

Li Tongzhou clenched his fist, looked at the other three people beside him, and asked in disbelief.

“Are we alright?”

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

“Alright? Haha, it’s too early to say. Currently, it’s just that you have absorbed the energy of the fire jujube, making you feel invigorated. If you want to truly recover, it will take at least a month. You will not be able to make up for lost skills, either. You will need to practice again. Remember to avoid cold showers, and no sex for at least a month!”

It was also thanks to these people’s excellent martial arts skills, and the level of internal strength that they had achieved, that they could be standing here. Otherwise, they would not have been able to hold on until now.

“Yes!”

“Of course!”

“Thank you, Sir, for saving me.”

“Thank you very much!”

Several people hurriedly agreed and thanked him. They concluded that they were quite lucky to be alive after having a near-death experience.

After giving a few words of advice, Ji Yuan turned to Du Heng.

“I’m going to go chase after that witch. You just take care of yourselves, and deal with the inn’s affairs.”

After he had finished speaking, Ji Yuan opened the door and left the room. He nodded to the few people who were still fixing the gap in the corridor, and directly left down the stairs.

After Ji Yuan left, the other warriors in the room relaxed. Although this expert didn’t appear harsh, Du Heng didn’t dare to speak carelessly, and neither did the others.

“Brother Du, is that Mr. Ji the ‘master’ you mentioned?”

One warrior finally couldn’t help but ask about Ji Yuan.

“That’s right. I met Mr. Ji because he saved my life, and the lives of some of my other friends.”

Li Tongzhou and the other three sat cross-legged, using their internal energy to use the heat from the jujubes to clear their meridians, but they could still be distracted and speak at the same time. When they heard Du Heng’s answer, they also joined in the conversation.

“Did Mr. Ji just blow a single breath and turn all those ghost things into ashes?”

“Seems like it… yes…”

“He must be really skilled in martial arts!”

“Martial arts? It looked like a wisp of smoke came out of his mouth… Do you really think that’s martial arts? Look at that witch and those ghosts…”

“Indeed, it would be better to call it magic!”

“This…”

Finally, the group turned to look at Du Heng, who just shook his head slightly and smiled mysteriously.

“I couldn’t say!”

. . .

In the blizzard outside the inn, Ji Yuan did not fly in pursuit, but rather chased after the woman using the Flying Dragon Technique, as if shrinking the ground beneath his feet.

The Green Vine Sword hung in the sky, looking down on the inhuman pregnant woman. The best case scenario would be for the woman to panic and guide them all the way back. However, if she still intended to harm others at this time, the Green Vine Sword would kill her. Although it would be a little troublesome afterwards, it might still be possible for them to find the true culprit.

Moreover, the Green Vine Sword could be seen revealing a sharp aura, which seemed to be forcing the woman to flee.

Thus, the current situation was about what Ji Yuan had expected. This woman, neither human nor ghost, fled in a panic, but she didn’t have any escape skills. Although she looked like a ghost and was extremely fast, she was still running on solid ground. It couldn’t even be classified as a dexterity footwork technique; it could only be considered closer in essence to ghost techniques.

Although she seemed to be in a panic and confused, she was basically heading straight in one direction.

From the information Ji Yuan had learned and the brief contact he had made tonight. It seemed the other party was not outstanding either ability nor character. She was vindictive towards the group of warriors, and even after the warriors had schemed to destroy the body of one of the ghost children, she dared to attempt to harm the life of a person from a small county town. At this moment, she was fleeing with a clear direction and purpose.

This also made Ji Yuan more convinced of his guess. With this kind of mentality, she definitely would not have survived long without someone to guide her — at least, not on the border of Dazhen.

Although the snowstorm at night was severe, it did not have much impact on the half-human, half-ghost woman. On the contrary, it fact gave her an illusory sense of security. Although she was so panicked that she could hardly calm down, she believed that she had shaken off that terrifying man in white for the time being.

‘I can’t relax. I have to take advantage of the snowy night and escape, then come back and settle the score later! ’

In just this fashion, the one escaped, and the other followed. They ran through the snow and wind, watching the dawn rise and the sun set for two days and three nights, before finally reaching Qiuze Prefecture to the north of Jin Province, crossed Qiu Shui Lake. They passed through large tracts of forest and wilderness, before finally arriving at a mountain whose name Ji Yuan did not yet know.

He really had to give it to her, this half-human, half-ghost thing could really run quite fast. Even Ji Yuan couldn’t compare, and she didn’t even know how to fly yet.

After entering this mountain, the woman’s speed did not decrease, but rather grew faster. After another half day, she finally ran into a shadowed valley. When she spied a wooden house, her face showed an expression of jow.

“Master! Master save me! Master!”

The door of the wooden house opened automatically. Inside, an old man in a black robe, who looked like an immortal, sat cross-legged on a cushion. He didn’t seem surprised at all to see the woman running all thsi way.

The woman fled into the wooden house, and the anxiety that had been hanging in her heart finally fell.

“Master, Master, please save me! Avenge my child!”

The old man watched the pregnant woman run inside. He looked around but didn’t see any of the other ghost children, and frowned.

“Don’t worry, don’t be in a rush. What about the other spirits? Were they captured by teh City God or some other land or mountain god? I told you before to be careful to avoid the eyes and ears of ghosts and gods. But it’s not a big deal. Those spirits are dull, and can’t be questioned. Besides, this is no longer on the border of Dazhen, so there’s no need to worry.”

The woman breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, aside from her pupils, she looked no different from any ordinary person. No one could tell that she had been beheaded.

“Master, it wasn’t one of the ghosts or gods that you mentioned that gave me trouble, but a man in white.”

“A man?”

The old man’s heart lurched.

“What kind of jade pendant spiritual weapon was the other party using?”

The woman shook her head.

“None, I ordered my ghost children to pounce on the man, and he blew out a puff of smoke that burned all my children to ashes. A mother and her child are deeply connected, it was so painful! So hateful! Fortunately, he was not fast enough to catch up with me. Master, you must do this for me… Master, what’s wrong?”

The woman suddenly found that the old man’s complexion had changed. He was sweating like never before. He looked at her with a solemn expression.

“He blew out a puff of smoke?”

“Ah… it was just a wisp of strange gray smoke…”

“It turned the ghosts to ashes? He didn’t use any spiritual weapon?”

The woman nodded nervously.

“Are you sure his speed is so slow? By the way, did you feel that anything was wrong on your way back? For example, feeling so panicked that you can’t calm down!”

The woman’s expression changed. Seeing her reaction, the old man’s heart skipped a beat. He knew the answer without her needing to speak.

1. A fly whisk, used for swatting flies, but also symbols of power/respect/authority. Can represent the Buddhist symbolic “sweeping” of ignorance, and is also commonly held by deities.