Chapter Forty-One: Wei Mingyuan’s Outburst

Long before Wei Mingyuan drew near the village, Su Bai had already sensed something amiss. The land bore obvious traces of tilling, suggesting that farmers once lived here. Yet, for reasons unknown, they had now abandoned their homeland.

In an agrarian society, unless struck by some great calamity or disaster, it was rare for peasants to leave their homes.

The second thing that struck him was the presence of only a single plume of cooking smoke rising from the village. It was unlikely that only one family remained while all others had departed.

At this moment, Su Bai and Wei Mingyuan were like prey surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves. The menacing group showed no hint of mercy toward Su Bai, who lay beneath the tree, blood at his lips, nor toward the gaunt, pale Wei Mingyuan. They advanced step by step, the cold, invisible intent to kill emanating from them so strongly that even Wei Mingyuan, the only one among them capable of escape, was left trembling with fear.

Faced with such peril, the already gravely weakened Su Bai slowly opened his eyes, and with great effort, uttered a single word: “Run.”

Jolted awake by Su Bai’s warning, Wei Mingyuan acted almost on instinct, grabbing Su Bai and slinging him over his back before darting desperately into the dense forest.

But their pursuers were not mere bystanders. At a simple wave of the leader’s right hand, dozens immediately gave chase along Wei Mingyuan’s escape route. Their movements were swift and well-coordinated, and within moments, they had closed the gap to just over a dozen meters.

Seeing the pack of wolves nearly upon them, Wei Mingyuan’s anxiety grew. In that instant, he considered several times the possibility of throwing Su Bai off his back and fleeing alone. But the poison in his own body was yet unresolved, and he still relied on Su Bai to figure out a way into Yanxing City.

He only had a vague knowledge of the general route—he could not guarantee he’d survive entry into the city on his own. That was the main reason he’d spared Su Bai’s life thus far.

Su Bai, sensing the waning strength of Wei Mingyuan, knew escape would soon be impossible. But there was nothing he could do. His old wounds had barely begun to heal before fresh ones were added. To descend and run on his own was no different from throwing himself to the wolves.

Yet neither of them noticed the burly man trailing them a dozen meters behind, maintaining a leisurely pace as if watching two mice exhaust themselves for his amusement.

Finally, the man yawned, bored with the spectacle. Shedding his previous nonchalance, his true demeanor emerged. His belly swelled with breath, his eyes flashed with a dazzling light, and he fixed his gaze on Wei Mingyuan. With a thunderous shout, he roared, “Halt!”

The shout struck Wei Mingyuan like a bullet, and his legs instantly felt as though they’d sunk into a swamp.

“Not good! He’s a master at the Focused Mind level.” Sensing the sudden change, Su Bai immediately realized their situation was even worse than he’d imagined.

He looked down at his trembling body, struggling to resist the invisible force exerted by the Focused Mind expert. But it was a futile effort—no matter how Wei Mingyuan fought, nothing changed.

Su Bai furrowed his brow, searching desperately for a way out, but his mind yielded only one phrase: waiting for death.

In that moment, a trace of guilt flickered in Su Bai’s heart for Wei Mingyuan. The boy was talented; had Su Bai not become involved, perhaps things would have turned out differently for him. But he quickly dismissed the thought.

“All of this is fate’s arrangement. Why should I feel guilt?”

Wei Mingyuan, for his part, was far less conflicted—even the thought of what to do with Su Bai barely crossed his mind.

This sudden attack had caught him completely off guard. At first, he’d thought it was some kind of trap, but that notion was dispelled by the evidence before his eyes.

“What kind of sorcery is this?” Wei Mingyuan wondered in alarm.

But then he remembered the Third Elder’s ability to manipulate objects from afar, the ease with which he’d done it, and realized their pursuer was an opponent he could not hope to contend with.

“Still struggling, are you?” came the rough voice of the burly man, now less than ten meters behind. He looked at the two, a wicked grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Fixing his gaze on Wei Mingyuan, he remarked with some surprise, “So young, yet possessed of such willpower. Not bad, not bad at all.”

But Wei Mingyuan did not take these words as praise.

He glared with eyes wide and bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead, face flushed with effort, his eyeballs nearly bursting from their sockets.

“Still resisting!” Wen Shanyuan said, displeased. He’d originally considered adopting the boy, thinking that with some training, he might become a capable subordinate in the future. But to see Wei Mingyuan fighting so stubbornly, trying to escape before his very eyes—it was as if the boy were openly defying him, a slap to his face.

Wei Mingyuan could hear no warning now. Both body and soul screamed at him: this life was bought with his mother’s sacrifice—he must not die here.

“Aaaah!”

In that moment, he was transported back to that blizzard a year ago.

Dozens of corpses appeared before his eyes as he searched desperately among the dead for his mother, but found not a trace. He searched endlessly, but there were only the bodies of others. The boundless snow blinded him, his blood-red eyes unable to make out anything. The eight-year-old child could only grope with his small, trembling hands.

Wei Mingyuan’s struggle grew ever stronger, to the point even Wen Shanyuan, a few steps away, felt the pressure.

The man’s expression shifted from relaxed to cold and dangerous as he fixed his gaze on Wei Mingyuan. “Impossible! So young, yet possessing such terrifying willpower. I cannot let you live.”

With a wave of his hand, his subordinates surged forward to slay Su Bai and Wei Mingyuan on the spot.

But Wei Mingyuan let out another furious roar, startling Wen Shanyuan and managing to break free. Yet, freed, Wei Mingyuan was spent—staggering under Su Bai’s weight, he nearly collapsed.

Wen Shanyuan, clutching his head, was shaken by the force of that outburst, but quickly recovered, more shocked than he’d been in a decade.

Looking at the drenched Wei Mingyuan, he felt as if a great threat now watched him.

With gritted teeth, Wen Shanyuan shouted, “Kill that little brat! Now, what are you waiting for?”

Despair filled Wei Mingyuan’s eyes. He’d used all his strength just to break through the first barrier. Now, dozens surrounded him, blades pointed at his frail form. Su Bai, too, was too weak even to speak.

A single tear welled in Wei Mingyuan’s blood-red eyes—a tear not the color of blood, but as clear and crimson as a ruby, falling precisely onto the unremarkable jade pendant at his chest.

This tear acted as a key, and in an instant, the plain pendant burst forth with blinding light, forcing Wen Shanyuan and his men to clamp their eyes shut.

But as a Focused Mind master, Wen Shanyuan’s senses far surpassed the ordinary. Relying on his keen hearing, he caught the faint rustle of footsteps in the grass.

When the light faded, he immediately scanned the surroundings. He cared little for the mysterious brilliance—capturing Wei Mingyuan was all that mattered.

But his men were not so resilient. The sudden flash had left them all briefly blind.

Crouching down to examine the jumbled footprints, Wen Shanyuan sighed in regret.

It was a good while before his men recovered their senses.

One of Wen Shanyuan’s most loyal lackeys sidled up to him and whispered, “I’m not sure what those two used to escape, but there’s nothing to eat in this wasteland. I bet those kids are headed for Yanxing City to seek relatives. We should station our men near the city—when they arrive, we’ll make a handsome ransom.”

Wen Shanyuan nodded, but then shook his head. His subordinate looked confused, so Wen Shanyuan warned sternly, “Judging by such a protective treasure, these two must be core members of a great clan. Perhaps they were stranded here by some mishap; Yanxing City is likely just a temporary haven. If we try to blackmail their family with them, not even a general could withstand the consequences.

Besides, our own identities can’t withstand scrutiny. If we cross such a powerful family and the authorities catch wind of it, we’ll be doomed. Escaping the last purge was hard enough—I have no wish to tempt fate again. Understood?”

The man paled at Wen Shanyuan’s warning, as if recalling some past horror. But then, with grave sincerity, he suggested, “In that case, I noticed the boy in white seems to be the other’s brother. We could use him as leverage to force the black-haired one to hand over his treasure. What do you think?”

Wen Shanyuan nodded. “Despite everything, he still won’t abandon that burden on his back. And the boy on his back isn’t simple either—he warned his companion the moment I appeared. Otherwise, we’d already have succeeded.”

Misled again and again by his subordinate, Wen Shanyuan became convinced that Su Bai and Wei Mingyuan were closely tied, shifting his focus to Su Bai.

Meanwhile, not far away in the depths of the forest, a dark-skinned boy in plain clothes staggered through the wild, mountainous valley. The ravines twisted and turned, and in the height of summer, the faint fragrance of wildflowers perfumed the air.

On his back, a bloodied youth lay unconscious, his scarred face both striking and grotesque.

The boy hurried onward, raindrops clinging to the flowers and grasses were snapped clean by his passage. His thin chest heaved with strained breaths, audible even from several meters away.

He had already pushed far beyond the limits of his body, yet his steps remained strong, each footprint deep and resolute, as if some perpetual engine kept him moving.

At his chest was the source of that energy—a seemingly ordinary jade pendant, the kind Su Bai once dismissed as a cheap imitation.

But now, it was anything but ordinary. A soft green glow radiated from it, enveloping the boy’s chest. As he ran, impurities were continuously expelled from his body through his pores, leaving a faint, acrid odor.

On his back, the scarred youth slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes with a start, taking in his surroundings and realizing they had likely escaped danger. Su Bai himself had been rendered unconscious by the brilliance of Wei Mingyuan’s jade pendant, faring worse than their pursuers, and had remained out cold until now.

Relief was quickly followed by suspicion.

“Just what is this boy’s background? Ordinary people could never possess such a treasure. His parents must be far more than he claims. And to break free from the mental grip of a Focused Mind master on willpower alone… In this world, the acquired and innate realms are two entirely different things. The Focused Mind stage is the dividing line. Not to mention, Wei Mingyuan is just at the Bronze Skin level—even experts at the Heart Protection stage would struggle.”

Someone like Wei Mingyuan—Su Bai had never heard of such a thing, not even in books filled with tales of miraculous turnarounds.

“With his heritage and abilities, he’d be the protagonist in any novel. Who would have thought I’d end up with such a gifted youth? I wonder if the enmity between us can ever be resolved.”

A desire for reconciliation stirred in Su Bai’s heart, but he quickly smiled wryly and dismissed the thought.

The reason was simple: would someone you’d nearly killed ever want to be friends?

Su Bai’s gaze grew sharper as he watched Wei Mingyuan run on, and at last he made up his mind. “It seems fate has destined us as enemies. Still, you did save me this time. I’ll give you the antidote. If nothing goes wrong in three days, I might even let you live.”

Another long moment passed before Wei Mingyuan suddenly stopped, jostling Su Bai so hard he almost fainted again. Had he the strength to speak, he would have complained.

But before Su Bai could utter a word, Wei Mingyuan collapsed without warning, and Su Bai tumbled from his back, rolling across the grass until he lay face down in an awkward and painful position.

His injuries were so severe that even turning over was impossible, and he lay there, wracked with pain.

As Su Bai struggled to move, a series of light footsteps made his hair stand on end.