Chapter Forty-Six: Escape

“Clang!”

A metallic sound rang out as the broad-bladed saber was sent flying. In the very instant the blade was repelled, Li Liao’s body shuddered, and he lost control over the weapon.

“How can this be?!”

Li Liao was astonished. Though he had already confirmed that Liu Pan possessed spiritual power, he had never imagined that Liu Pan’s mastery over his own elemental force had reached such a level. In truth, he had not anticipated that Liu Pan had already cultivated the Sevenfold Water Elemental Seal technique, and reached the stage of minor accomplishment.

Just moments before, as the broad-bladed saber was unsheathed and slashed toward Liu Pan’s palm, Li Liao’s divine sense, though Liu Pan’s back was to him, clearly perceived three overlapping palm prints manifesting between Liu Pan’s hands.

As an elder of the sect, Li Liao had seen much in his life and immediately recognized that Liu Pan was executing the Sevenfold Elemental Seal martial art. It was precisely because the elemental seal landed directly on the imprint of his divine sense planted within the broad-bladed saber that he lost control over the weapon in an instant.

With the Sevenfold Elemental Seal, the closer the distance, the greater the eruptive force. Even though only three seals at close range were enough to destroy the imprint on the saber, Liu Pan felt no sense of triumph.

For even though he had severed Li Liao’s ability to manipulate his weapon, the gap between them remained vast—a chasm not easily crossed. In fact, apart from spiritual power, which could counteract Li Liao’s divine sense, in every other respect—be it the strength of his body or the abundance of his elemental force—Liu Pan was far inferior.

Though he had cultivated the Profound Ice Art to the third layer, making the force within his dantian more refined and enhancing the power of his martial attacks, the total amount of elemental force he possessed had barely increased. With the force required to cast the palm seals, he could only muster twelve in total for attacks.

This meant that the single strike to break the saber’s imprint had already consumed a quarter of Liu Pan’s elemental force.

At this moment, Liu Pan felt a deep frustration—truly, one’s own actions lead to one’s own doom.

When he first entered the Hundred Suns Sect, Liu Pan’s only plan had been to hand over the Wildblade Saber to Liu Kuang, win a top-three spot in the disciple entry competition, and then choose a cultivation method at the Technique Hall. In the Hundred Suns Sect, as long as one reached the Martial Disciple Realm, one could accept tasks outside the sect. Liu Pan intended to cultivate diligently, break through to Martial Disciple, accept an outside mission, and then never return.

Yet, after cultivating the Profound Ice Art and advancing to the Martial Disciple Realm, he not only succeeded but also awakened spiritual power!

Upon discovering this, Liu Pan began to seek out methods for utilizing spiritual power. At that very time, an elder of the sect wished to accept him as a personal disciple—and coincidentally, that group included an Alchemy Elder.

Becoming the Alchemy Elder’s disciple would not only grant him access to the use of spiritual power but also to precious elixirs. Thus, Liu Pan’s ambitions shifted, his eyes now set on these pills.

He was aware of the sect’s inner workings and understood how important an alchemist was to the sect. Even if Yang Jiangshui indulged Li Liao, he surely would not allow him to extend his reach to the Alchemy Elder. After all, alchemy and formations went hand in hand; the sect could not prosper without either. Thinking that Yang Jiangshui would not allow Li Liao’s interference in the Alchemy Peak, Liu Pan put aside his thoughts of leaving—for the time being.

But as fate would have it, the unexpected always happens. Li Liao did extend his reach, and of the Alchemy Elder’s three personal disciples, two belonged to him.

Truly, what a twist of fate.

When Liu Pan realized that Wang Blade was Li Liao’s man, his first thought was to choose—submit or resist?

Submission was out of the question, and he lacked the strength to resist. In the end, his only option was to leave the Hundred Suns Sect. Yet, fate denied him even that chance; before he could even leave the foot of Moonclear Peak, Li Liao discovered him.

In the end, it all boiled down to greed. Had Liu Pan not coveted the secret art for spiritual power after advancing to Martial Disciple, and not hungered for pills after obtaining the technique, things would never have come to this. At the very least, when he was tailing Wang Blade, Li Liao would never have bothered to come down the mountain to investigate.

It was all an unlikely web of coincidences, leaving Liu Pan annoyed with himself. It did not feel as though the sect’s hidden darkness had sought him out; rather, he had sought it out himself.

He had invited disaster.

Reaching into his storage pouch, he took out a porcelain bottle of Essence Gathering Pills and swallowed the entire contents in one gulp.

Against a Martial Disciple, the difference in elemental force was a formidable barrier. To hasten his recovery and hold out a little longer, Liu Pan could only rely on pills.

As a dozen Essence Gathering Pills entered his stomach, Liu Pan immediately felt his body grow warmer. His perception of the elemental force in the air became clearer, and his body’s absorption of ambient energy quickened severalfold.

Yet, even with the potent effect of so many pills at once, Liu Pan knew it was still not enough to face a Martial Master.

As for Li Liao, when his divine sense caught Liu Pan swallowing over ten pills at once, he could not help but twitch at the corner of his eye. It was not that he feared Liu Pan would become a threat, but that he found such extravagance wasteful.

Essence Gathering Pills were intended for cultivation. In a sect of their rank, outer disciples received only one free pill every two months. Yet Liu Pan had downed more than ten at once. Where had he gotten so many?

More baffling still was that Liu Pan possessed a storage pouch—something only elders and above had in the Hundred Suns Sect. How could Liu Pan possibly own one?

Could it be that someone powerful stood behind Liu Pan? The thought crossed Li Liao’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it, recalling Elder Lin.

The pills and the storage pouch—Elder Lin must have given them to Liu Pan! But why? What had Liu Pan done to merit such favor?

The destruction of his divine mark on the saber and the sudden realization of Liu Pan’s many mysterious possessions left Li Liao momentarily distracted, forgetting to attack. By the time he came to his senses, Liu Pan had already fled more than ten meters.

A dark glint flashed in Li Liao’s eyes. Realizing what had happened, he sprang into action. No matter what, Liu Pan had to die today.

Although the saber could no longer be controlled, a Martial Master’s speed was far beyond that of a first-stage Martial Disciple like Liu Pan. In little more than ten breaths, Li Liao blocked Liu Pan’s path and, with a wave of his hand, sent a fist-shaped force crashing toward him.

As a formation master, Li Liao’s greatest strength lay in setting up arrays, but now was neither the time nor the place for such tactics.

By now, the two had already left Moonclear Peak and neared the mountain where the sect’s outer hall was located. Since it was early morning, many outer disciples had gathered at the outer hall for assignments, and quite a few noticed Liu Pan and Li Liao.

Yet, though many disciples watched, most looked on in bewilderment.

An elder fighting with the personal disciple of another elder? No matter how one looked at it, it made little sense.

As Li Liao blocked his way, Liu Pan’s heart sank. His plan had been to reach the outer hall, where, under the watchful eyes of so many, Li Liao might be hesitant to act. But he had miscalculated—Li Liao cared nothing for witnesses. Even if killing him before all the outer disciples would draw suspicion, it was nothing compared to the weight of Li Liao’s secrets.

Trapped, Liu Pan had nowhere to run. Returning to Moonclear Peak would only be courting death.

In that instant, a trace of madness flared in Liu Pan’s eyes. Only two choices remained—fight or die!

Without wasting a word, Liu Pan’s elemental force surged within his dantian.

In truth, even if Liu Pan revealed Li Liao’s secrets now, it would amount to little more than empty words. Perhaps some outer disciples would view Li Liao differently, but with Yang Jiangshui’s indulgence, those secrets would have no effect on Li Liao at all.

Li Liao had no idea what Liu Pan was thinking. All he wanted was to kill Liu Pan swiftly, leaving no chance for him to speak.

Thus, the moment he blocked Liu Pan’s path, Li Liao struck without mercy. Once Liu Pan was dead, as the Third Elder of the sect, he could concoct any excuse to explain it away. If there was any trouble, it would come from Elder Lin of the Alchemy Peak—but that was of little concern to Li Liao.

Among the crowd of disciples at the foot of the outer hall’s mountain, Liu Kuang, Wolf, and Nightbright stood watching.

“Why is Brother Pan fighting with Elder Li?” Nightbright asked, his brow furrowing, the usual playful look absent from his face. His gaze was fixed intently on Liu Pan and Li Liao, an unreadable glint in his eyes.

No one answered, for all three shared the same confusion. Perhaps Liu Kuang suspected the truth, but he could not say it aloud.

After a moment of silence, Nightbright suddenly spoke again, “I just remembered I have something to take care of. I’ll find you two later.”

Without waiting for a response, he slipped away, leaving Liu Kuang and Wolf staring in surprise as he departed.