54: Chapter 54 The End of the Escape is a Poisonous Lake

Lin Yun should have received word by now.

Shen Xiao shook this thought from his mind, lifted his foot to step onto a protruding ice rock, and used the momentum to vault over an ice ridge.

The glacier beneath his feet split open here into a bottomless crevice; the blue-grey ice walls extended vertically downward, disappearing into the darkness like a wound carved into the earth by a single blade.

He landed on the edge of the crevice, bent his knees to cushion the impact, and looked back once he had steadied himself.

On the skyline behind him, three trails of Demonic Qi were approaching rapidly, moving a hair faster than he had anticipated.

The vanguard of the Yao Race sent by Lin Yun were at least in the Nascent Soul Late Stage, a cut above his own cultivation; it was only natural that they were in hot pursuit.

Shen Xiao did not stop; instead, he continued running deeper along the edge of the crevice.

His breathing was heavy, and with every inhalation, he could feel something warm surging up in his chest—a sign that the Blood Poison was eroding his internal organs.

He swallowed, forcing down the metallic sweetness, but his pace did not slacken in the slightest.

He could not stop now.

Once he stopped, the Blood Poison would seize the gap in his Qi circulation to erupt completely; by then, he would not even be able to stand, let alone deal with his pursuers.

He had to find a place to rest temporarily, suppress the toxins in his body, and then go find Xia Lengbai.

But when the name "Xia Lengbai" flashed through his mind, he faltered.

Shen Xiao frowned.

He realized a fatal problem: in his current state, even if he found Xia Lengbai, he might not be able to take her and escape safely.

His combat power had been weakened by at least forty percent by the Blood Poison, and although he had placed a Restriction on Xia Lengbai, the distress Jade Slip on her person had already attracted Lin Yun, who had likely locked onto her location.

If he went directly to rendezvous with Xia Lengbai now, he would very likely be tracked down by Lin Yun following her spiritual fluctuation; at that point, he would be a turtle in a jar, with nowhere to run.

He had to find a place to stabilize his condition first.

Shen Xiao scanned the glacier and finally settled on a hidden ice cave entrance.

The entrance was small, only one person wide, half-hidden by a partially collapsed ice rock; it would be easily overlooked if one were not looking for it intentionally.

A layer of dark green moss grew on the ice walls at the edge of the entrance, indicating that the cave had existed for quite some time, and no one had entered or exited it for at least several years.

Shen Xiao did not enter immediately.

He stopped outside the entrance and fished out two Formation Flags from his robes.

The Formation Flags were only the size of a palm, with dark red fabric embroidered with silver-white patterns that faintly glowed in the dim light.

This was one of the escape methods he had scavenged from the memory fragments of Bai Lian—a simplified version of a Space Distortion Formation.

He crouched down and inserted the first Formation Flag into the ice wall on the left side of the entrance, pressing it in half an inch to ensure the shaft was driven deep into the ice layer.

Then he inserted the second Formation Flag on the right side, with the distance between the two flags being exactly three feet, forming a subtle angle.

He bit his right index finger, squeezed out a drop of blood, and smeared it onto the fabric of the left Formation Flag.

The moment the blood seeped into the fabric, the silver-white patterns lit up for a moment, then quickly dimmed, as if they had never shone at all.

The Space Distortion Formation was complete.

The function of this Formation was simple—it would not block vision, nor would it hide Qi, but it would cause anyone observing this entrance visually to see a scene that was delayed by half a second from reality.

Half a second.

For an ordinary person, half a second was nothing, but for a Cultivator of Shen Xiao's level, half a second was enough for him to move from a visible position to another, enough for him to complete a counterattack or relocation in the enemy's blind spot.

He wiped the blood from his hand onto his robe, and just as he straightened up, he sensed that the three trails of Demonic Qi had closed to within a hundred zhang.

Shen Xiao looked back.

On the skyline, three figures were now clearly visible.

The leader was a tall Yao Race member, covered from head to toe in dark green scales that gleamed coldly in the dim light; he held a bronze mirror, its face pointed in his direction—clearly a tracking Magic Treasure.

Behind him followed two other Yao Race members, one wielding a blade and the other a bow; they were moving extremely fast, clearly having locked onto his position.

Shen Xiao did not panic.

He abruptly stuffed an Ice Ganoderma he had scavenged from the Thousand Stone Caves into his mouth.

The Ganoderma was only the size of a thumb, icy blue all over, with a fine layer of frost on its surface; the moment it entered his mouth, an intensely cold energy exploded from the tip of his tongue, rushing down his throat into his stomach, then spreading from his stomach to his limbs and bones.

That chill was like a knife, rampaging through his body, forcibly driving back the spreading Blood Poison and suppressing it into a corner of his Dantian.

But at the same time, he felt his senses beginning to change.

His sense of pain was fading.

One of the medicinal effects of the Ice Ganoderma was that it could cause the user to lose all sense of pain for a short period.

This meant that his upcoming combat would not be affected by injuries, but it also meant he could not feel how severe his injuries were.

He did not know how severely injured he was right now.

He only knew that he had to move now.

Shen Xiao turned and strode brazenly toward the ice cave entrance, his pace calm, like someone going in to rest rather than a fugitive driven to the end of his rope.

The moment his figure appeared at the ice cave entrance, a golden light lit up on the face of the tracking bronze mirror; the image in the mirror clearly showed Shen Xiao sitting cross-legged deep inside the ice cave, as if healing.

Seeing this image, the three Yao Race vanguards charged toward the ice cave without hesitation.

The leader of the Yao Race tucked the bronze mirror into his robes and drew a pitch-black long blade; a layer of black mist coiled around the blade, emitting a foul, rotting stench.

They charged into the entrance at high speed, reaching the edge of the opening in the blink of an eye.

But the moment they stepped into the range of the Distortion Formation, Shen Xiao moved.

He had not entered deep into the ice cave but was instead curled up in a small crevice to the left of the entrance; only after all three had passed through the entrance did he leap out from the crevice, form a hand seal with his right hand, and detonate the Formation Flags inserted on both sides of the entrance.

Both Formation Flags exploded simultaneously.

The power of the explosion was not great, but the force of the space distortion it generated twisted, squeezed, and deformed all the ice walls around the cave entrance, as if an invisible giant hand had kneaded the ice layer around the opening; the entrance, originally one person wide, was instantly sealed shut, becoming a thick, twisted wall of ice.

The three Yao Race vanguards were trapped inside the ice cave.

Shen Xiao could even hear the angry roars and the sounds of them smashing against the wall from inside the ice cave, but he did not look back; instead, he turned and continued running deeper into the rift valley.

The medicinal effect of the Ice Ganoderma could only last for one hour.

He had to find Xia Lengbai within this hour and take her away from this glacier.

His figure moved rapidly across the dim glacier; the ice surface beneath his boots crunched with every step, leaving a shallow footprint with each stride.

But about the time it took for an incense stick to burn after he started running, he sensed that familiar fluctuation of Qi.

Xia Lengbai.

He stopped above a collapsed ice cliff and looked down.

On the ice surface below the cliff, Xia Lengbai was curled up behind a protruding ice rock; her hair was disheveled, her robes were covered in ice chips and dust, and she looked thoroughly disheveled.

A faint golden light was flickering slightly on her forehead—it was the Restriction he had placed, heating up and helping him pinpoint her location.

But he did not see just Xia Lengbai.

He saw the remaining powder on her cuffs.

It was the powder of a healing pill.

Shen Xiao narrowed his eyes.

He did not rush to jump down, but stood where he was, carefully observing the color and texture of the powder.

The powder had a pale golden luster, faintly glowing in the dim light, and emitted a faint medicinal fragrance; the scent was mixed with a trace of light sweetness, like the smell of some medicinal herb after being ground.

nine-turn heart-protecting pill.

Lin Yun's exclusive Pill Formula; one of its ingredients was Red Sun Flower, which could react violently with Blood Poison to produce a lethal toxin.

Shen Xiao understood Xia Lengbai's plan almost instantly.

She had not taken the healing pill but had ground it into powder and applied it to her cuffs.

She wanted him to see the powder, wanted him to think she was injured and needed the healing pill.

And then?

If he went to take the powder, the Red Sun Flower component in the powder would seep through his skin into his Meridians, react with the Blood Poison in his body, and poison him to death directly?

Or did she want to use this healing pill to test his reaction, to see if he would think of her first when he was injured?

Shen Xiao did not continue that line of thought.

He jumped directly from the ice cliff, landing three zhang in front of Xia Lengbai; he bent his knees upon landing to absorb the impact, then straightened up and looked at her.

"Give me the thing in your cuffs."

Although Shen Xiao's tone was flat, he did not give her any chance to explain.

Xia Lengbai was stunned.

Her expression changed only slightly, but Shen Xiao caught it.

Her pupils contracted slightly—an instinctive reaction when a plan is disrupted; although she quickly regained her composure, that momentary flaw was enough for him to confirm his judgment.

"That is Lin Yun's nine-turn heart-protecting pill."

Shen Xiao continued, his tone still flat, as if stating an irrelevant fact,

"Although it can heal injuries, it contains Red Sun Flower, which conflicts with the Blood Poison in my body. You did not take it—were you hoping to see me take it and succumb to the poison?"

Xia Lengbai fell silent.

The way she looked at Shen Xiao became complex, filled with both the embarrassment of being exposed and an indescribable sense of frustration.

She had not expected Shen Xiao to be able to identify the ingredients of the Pill Formula instantly, nor had she expected him to be so direct about bringing the matter to light.

"I did not want to poison you to death."

She finally spoke, her voice somewhat hoarse,

"I just wanted to see if you would think of me first when you were injured."

Shen Xiao did not answer this.

He simply walked forward, reached out to take some of the powder from her cuffs, and tucked it into his robes.

"My life is in your hands now."

Shen Xiao's tone was as calm as if he were saying the weather was nice today.

Xia Lengbai was stunned.

"Continue running, or kill me—you choose."

After saying this, Shen Xiao turned and climbed back up the ice cliff.

His back looked somewhat thin in the dim light, but his pace was steady, without a hint of hesitation.

Xia Lengbai watched his back as he climbed up, silent for a few seconds, then bit her lip and followed.

He had truly placed his life in her hands.

And she, had not yet decided whether or not to take it.