A Chaotic World

Chapter 193: Retreat and Pursuit

Up in the air, the old man peered down upon Lu Tianzi with a look of disdain.

So what if Lu Tianzi was a monstrous genius who could jump ranks to fight?

As a true Origin Core realm martial artist, there was simply no need for him to face Lu Tianzi in a straightforward battle.

All he needed to do was to stay beyond reach while blasting Lu Tianzi with projectiles. This way, he refused to believe that Lu Tianzi would be able to dodge his attacks forever!

Down on the ground, Lu Tianzi frowned as he watched the countless white arrows materialise in the sky, making a quick mental estimation of the total number.

Tens

Hundreds

No, there were at least thousands of arrows hovering menacingly in the air, just like vipers that were poised to strike at any moment!

He spread his perception behind him, and noticed that all of his companions had already escaped the imprisonment of the white walls.

Good!

In that case, there was no longer any reason for him to stick around!

Lu Tianzi's feet slammed into the ground as he erupted with his top speed, heading straight for the gap in the white wall.

"As if I will let you!" the old man scoffed.

With a wave of his hand, the countless arrows shot forward in waves, heading straight for the escaping Lu Tianzi.

The gap in the white wall also began to rapidly repair itself.

At this rate, Lu Tianzi would never make it in time before it closed up completely!

However, Lu Tianzi refused to slow down as he continued charging towards the gap, driving the Slaughter Essence within his inner world and pouring Essence energy into his Torrential Sabre.

World Origin Energy gathered, and sabre light flashed.

The inscription symbol on the Torrential Sabre glowed with a brilliant azure light.

Inscription skill of the Astral Way Inscription!

Bang-!

The hole that had almost mended itself was blown open once more, forming an opening that was just big enough for Lu Tianzi to leap through, escaping the imprisonment of the white wall.

Behind him, countless explosions sounded out as the white arrows smashed into what remained of the white wall. After he had passed through, the white wall had actually acted as a natural barricade that protected him from the old man's attack!

But of course, such a thing could not even be relied on as a temporary measure.

The old man waved his hand once more, and the entire white wall dissipated into white smoke.

He was the one who had summoned forth the white wall, and he naturally had the means to disperse it if he wished to do so.

Without the protection of the white wall, Lu Tianzi was now completely exposed to the barrage of white arrows once again.

In such a situation, there was no time for Lu Tianzi to rest. He gritted his teeth and took off, gliding around to follow a rather irratic looking path, all in a bid to avoid getting hit by the incoming white arrows.

After all, these were no ordinary arrows.

Even if they missed their targets, they would explode upon hitting the ground. As long as Lu Tianzi was near enough to their landing spots, he would still receive a certain degree of injury.

This meant that instead of treating them as mere arrows, Lu Tianzi had to evade them while thinking of them as huge cannon balls, making his evasive manoeuvers all the more difficult!

Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!

Explosions continued to occur in rapid succession as clouds of dust were lifted from the ground, mixed into the white smoke.

No ordinary Essence Condensation realm martial artist would have survived such a merciless attack.

Thankfully, Lu Tianzi just happened to be no ordinary martial artist.

His Flowing River Silent Strides was on a whole other level even when compared to the movement techniques of some Origin Core realm martial artists, allowing him to glide through the barrage while remaining relatively unharmed.

Whatever he could not evade, he was capable of nullifying with his sword and sabre.

After all, the old man might be able to attack from a distance, but the power behind each of those arrows was naturally far lower than what the old man could have summoned forth in close combat.

While Lu Tianzi was not interested in being a standing target for the other party, he was still more than capable of parrying some of these white arrows when he had no other choice.

"Tch!" the old man clicked his tongue in irritation.

However, he was not about to give up just like this.

Pursue!

Maintaining such an airtight defence would definitely be demanding on Essence energy.

He wanted to see for himself just how long a mere Essence Condensation realm martial artist could keep it up for!

As long as Lu Tianzi made just a single mistake, he might just be able to find the opening to pin him down with a barrage of white arrows, ending him once and for all!

***

A good distance away, the Black Maned Shadow Lion roared in fury as it swiped down at a pursuing guard, sending him flying through the air.

"Hurry up!" Nanqing Haowen shouted at the rest as he blocked the attack of another guard, quickly following up by kicking him away.

By now, the group had already escaped the boundaries of the enemy camp, and were heading towards the rendezvous point with the extraction team.

Unfortunately, on their way out, the defence team of the enemy camp had caught onto their trail, and were currently in pursuit.

Nanqing Haowen and Nanlan Qianxue, as the two squad leaders remaining, were bringing up the rear as they tried to buy time for the rest of the group to move on ahead.

Still, the anxious look on their faces could not be more obvious.

This anxiousness was not for their current situation, but for their friend who was still nowhere to be seen.

"What should we do? Do we really leave without Brother Nanlu?" Nanqing Haowen conveyed his voice to Nanlan Qianxue while fending off the attacks of the pursuers.

"There's nothing else we can do! Do you think you can break through all these people to save him? What's more, we need to get our squad members to safety as well." Nanlan Qianxue steeled her resolve. "All we can do is to hope for the best! First, we have to meet up with the extraction team!"

"Damn it! How did things come to this?" Nanqing Haowen cursed inwardly.

He had thought that after he contracted the Black Maned Shadow Lion, he would have closed the gap between himself and his Brother Nanlu, albeit just by a slight margin.

But now, it was clearer than ever just how huge the disparity between them truly was. He was completely helpless in this situation, and had no choice but to rely on his Brother Nanlu risking his life to protect theirs.

"Focus!" Nanlan Qianxue's stern voice brought him right back to reality. "If you still have the time and energy to worry about him, how about using it to think about your comrades who are relying on you to buy them time to escape?!"

"Tch!" Nanqing Haowen tightened his fists.

Nanlan Qianxue was right.

Just like how his Brother Nanlu was doing his part to buy time for them, he had to do the same to help the rest of the group.

Only then would he be able to face his Brother Nanlu when they met up again later.

Yes, they would certainly be able to meet up again later!

What Nanqing Haowen did not realise was that despite her words, Nanlan Qianxue was just as worried, if not even more so than him.

That was the reason why she had been able to tell with a single glance exactly what Nanqing Haowen was thinking about, all because she felt the same.

Thankfully, cultivation techniques had a certain degree of influence over the temperaments of martial artists, and practitioners of the Law of Ice had a natural advantage in curbing their feelings and staying calm.

Otherwise, Nanlan Qianxue might just end up being the one who required a wake up call instead.

In this manner, with Nanlan Qianxue, Nanqing Haowen, and his Black Maned Shadow Lion pulling up the rear to fight off their pursuers, the assault party steadily retreated while trying to minimise their losses.

"There it is! We have almost arrived!" Juncheng shouted out excitedly.

Heeding his words, everyone looked up in front, and a glint of hope flashed within their eyes.

Right before them, a familiar small hill had finally come into view. This was the designated rendezvous point with the extraction team.

Once they met up with the extraction team, they would finally be out of danger!

Up on the small hill, two young men took care to remain hidden as they watched the conflict below with great interest.

"Sir Beiqian, the assault party is about to reach the rendezvous point," one of them reminded the other. "Please give us our instructions."

The other young man did not speak, instead narrowing his eyes to continue scrutinising the scene below.

He was none other than Beiqian You, the leader of the extraction team.

Despite his silence, the frown on his face spoke a thousand words about his current emotions.

"Is it just me, or is Nanlu Tianzi not with them?" Beiqian You finally spoke, a hint of doubt in his voice.

"He is not the only one missing either. From the looks of it, the assault party has lost around two dozen men," the other young man remarked. "Perhaps, they have already fallen in battle?"

"Fallen in battle?" Beiqian You rubbed his chin in contemplation for a while before he turned around and walked off. "Gather the men. We are moving out to receive the assault party!"

The extraction team moved quickly upon receiving their orders, descending the small hill to bail out their retreating allies.

"Look, the extraction team is here!" someone called out in relief.

His words drew the attention of the rest of the group, and morale skyrocketed in an instant.

"It really is the extraction team! We are safe!"

"Damn it, they sure took their own sweet time!"

"It is finally time for payback!"

On the other hand, the pursuing forces froze in their tracks.

The retreating assault party could see their reinforcements approaching, but the pursuing forces were not blind either.

They had been relying on their numbers advantage to suppress the retreating assault party, but if they were to consider the addition of the extraction team, their numbers advantage would crumble in an instant!

"Retreat!" the leader of the pursuing forces ordered decisively.

They were supposed to be guarding the camp after all. There was simply no reason for them to partake in a bloody battle here when their victory was not even assured!

Seeing that the pursuing forces had finally given up, cheers erupted from the assault party, all of them relieved that they had finally been assured of their safety.

Some of them even directly collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the running and fighting.

But despite their current pitiful condition, they were still people who had successfully infiltrated the enemy camp and returned alive!

That was a feat that they could brag about for ages!

Just like the rest of them, Nanqing Haowen felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders at this moment.

As a squad leader, as well as being one of the only two Essence Condensation realm martial artists in the group, he had pushed himself to the limit along with Nanlan Qianxue, all in order to make sure as few enemy soldiers got to their comrades as possible.

The psychological and physical pressure that the two of them had to face was on a completely different level as compared to the rest.

And now, he was finally given a brief respite thanks to the appearance of the extraction team!

But this precious moment was almost instantly ruined by an anxious shout from the young lady beside him.

"Give chase! Don't let them return to the camp!" Nanlan Qianxue shouted.

Everyone present was shocked.

They had finally gotten a time to rest, so why was the usually calm and composed Nanlan Qianxue suddenly acting all worked up like that?

Give chase?

Why would they ever do that when they had only just gotten off the hook themselves?