99: Chapter 99 A Daring Escape

Lin Yi felt the rush of wind behind him. He feigned a dodge, then suddenly crouched, simultaneously thrusting his golden dragon sword backward with a backhand strike!

"I've been waiting for this opening of yours!"

Elder Dou's sword grazed over the top of his head, slicing off a few strands of hair. Meanwhile, Lin Yi's sword thrust toward Elder Dou's lower abdomen, forcing Elder Dou to dodge sideways!

"You little brat!" Elder Dou shouted angrily, retreating rapidly.

With this dodge, the distance between the two opened up again.

Lin Yi sneered, then quickly rushed out the gate of the Pharmacy and stormed into the courtyard!

In the courtyard, four guards were already lying on the ground, their status unknown.

Lin Yi froze for a moment. This... was not his doing.

In the curtain of rain, a black figure descended from the roof and landed beside Lin Yi.

Her gaze was as calm as water, but her movements were vigorous and powerful. Even though her face was covered by a black veil, Lin Yi accurately determined that the person who had come was undoubtedly Liu Ruyan.

"Aun... You, why are you here?" Lin Yi held back the address, remaining vigilant of Elder Dou, who was pursuing from behind.

Liu Ruyan held a short sword in her hand, with blood still dripping from the blade.

"The Seal of the secret passage has been broken. I was worried something might happen to you, so I came to check." Liu Ruyan's voice was very low.

Lin Yi paused, subconsciously wanting to show concern, but suddenly realized that Liu Ruyan had been Cultivating under Abbot Huiming for twenty years. Her Cultivation had long since reached the Nascent Soul Realm; she was naturally strong and could certainly handle the old man behind them. The key was... Lin Yi had to conserve his strength now. He was only here to get the antidote, not to embark on a killing spree.

"You came at the right time. Leave the old man behind to you; I'm leaving first!"

Liu Ruyan glanced at him, asked no further questions, and raised her sword to meet Elder Dou as he rushed out of the Pharmacy.

The two swords clashed, erupting with a crisp sound!

Liu Ruyan stepped back, while Elder Dou remained motionless.

"A woman?" Elder Dou narrowed his eyes. "You are not that vixen! You... who are you?"

Liu Ruyan did not answer. She flicked her short sword, and the Sword Qi rolled toward Elder Dou like a streak of white silk.

The two engaged in a fierce battle in the courtyard. Sword lights crossed, and the raindrops were shredded by the Sword Qi, turning into a sheet of white mist!

Lin Yi did not linger. He vaulted over the east wall and landed in a narrow alley.

The narrow alley was very dark, with high walls on both sides and only a sliver of daylight above.

Raindrops drifted down from that sliver of daylight, feeling cold against his face.

"Aunt, you should be fine, right? Never mind, with both of you at the Nascent Soul Realm level, for me to worry about you while you're just having a small scuffle is truly me losing my mind. If you two were to really get serious, you'd probably destroy the entire courtyard!"

Lin Yi thought, suddenly finding it amusing. He didn't need to worry about people with a higher Realm than himself. But then, on second thought, Liu Ruyan was holding back her full strength to uphold the principle of not killing the innocent and not making a big scene. But... what about Elder Dou? That Grey-robed Elder was one of Liu Yunfei's men and had a very strong objective regarding the nine nether cold marrow...

He also dared not use his full strength, which perhaps indirectly confirmed the speculation of Lin Yi and the others—the Formation laid out around the Liu family was precisely to prevent Cultivators from using spiritual power at will!

Lin Yi sprinted along the narrow alley, his footsteps splashing water on the stone road.

The sounds of Liu Ruyan and Elder Dou fighting came from behind, growing more distant and blurred.

He ran out of the narrow alley, turned into the main street, and passed through two more alleys, finally seeing the silhouette of the Library.

The Library stood in the rainy night like a silent giant beast, with blue bricks and grey tiles, and the bronze bells on the eaves chiming in the wind.

Lin Yi rushed to the back door of the Library and pushed it open to enter.

Behind the door was a dim corridor, and at the end of the corridor was a set of stone steps leading downward. The stone steps were covered in moss and were a bit slippery to step on. Lin Yi slowed his pace, followed the stone steps all the way down, and arrived at the underground level.

The underground space was not large, only twice the size of an ordinary room. The floor was made of smooth bluestone slabs, and in the center of the floor was carved a circular Seal Formation. The Formation patterns were complex and emitted a faint golden light.

Sure enough, the Seal had already been broken.

"It looks like there is quite a profound mystery here!" Lin Yi exclaimed.

At this moment, the Formation patterns dimmed, revealing the stone slab beneath. There was an iron ring on the slab, used for pulling the slab open.

Lin Yi did not rush to pull it.

He crouched down and carefully observed the remaining traces of the Seal. The direction of the Formation patterns and the flow of spiritual power were all consistent with his expectations. Liu Ruyan's method of breaking it was very clean, leaving almost no extra traces of spiritual power.

He reached out to pull the iron ring but found it somewhat heavy; it seemed this place was not something ordinary people could come to... To avoid triggering any unknown Formation, Lin Yi had not dared to use too much spiritual power. After struggling for a while, the iron ring showed no signs of loosening...

"It seems I can only release a little bit..."

Lin Yi frowned slightly and released a little of the spiritual power within him. Immediately, golden light emerged from his whole body, and his Ancient Divine Body stirred restlessly!

"I almost released too much. Besides, why does it feel like this Ancient Divine Body is about to advance again!?"

He was just about to pull the iron ring with force when, suddenly... rapid footsteps came from behind!

"Who!?"

Lin Yi turned his head sharply, his golden dragon sword unsheathed!

Golden light flashed, and the newcomer immediately retreated, raising a hand to instinctively block.

"It's me!"

The person who came was Liu Ruyan.

"Withdraw!" Lin Yi was startled and immediately retracted the golden dragon sword.

He saw a wound on Liu Ruyan's left arm, with blood dripping down her fingers. Her face was paler than usual, and her breathing was somewhat disordered.

"You're injured? Where is that old man?" Lin Yi's tone was calm, but his eyes were fixed with worry on the wound on Liu Ruyan's left arm. The wound looked shallow, but it was coated with faint spiritual power... Clearly, Elder Dou was very skilled at using toxin-like Moves to injure people!

Fortunately, the antidote was in his hand.

"I shook him off. But he will catch up soon. Let's go quickly." Liu Ruyan said urgently.

"Take the antidote first. His Moves are likely poisonous. If something happens to you, Aunt, I'm afraid I won't be able to answer to my father!" Lin Yi poured out a clear heart pill and threw it over. After Liu Ruyan caught it and hesitated for a moment, she took it.

Lin Yi did not ask any more questions and suddenly pulled open the stone slab!

Beneath the stone slab was a deep, dark passage, about one person high, barely enough to walk upright. The walls on both sides were rough stone, covered with moss and unknown vines, and the air was filled with a damp, decaying scent.

Liu Ruyan jumped down first, and Lin Yi followed closely behind.

The passage was very long and winding, with no end in sight.

The two moved forward in the darkness, their footsteps echoing in the narrow passage. Lin Yi took a fluorite from his Storage Pouch, and the faint fluorescent light illuminated the path ahead.

After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a dull, loud noise came from behind!

It seemed the entrance to the secret passage had been sealed.

Naturally, it wasn't they who sealed it; the Seal outside had been re-enabled...

"He cannot get in. The Seal at the entrance of the secret passage will automatically repair itself and will take at least half an hour to be broken again. In half an hour, we will have already left the city." Liu Ruyan explained.

After hearing this, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded gently and subconsciously quickened his pace.