Chapter 37: Escaped?

Chapter 37: Escaped?

Just as Wang Si's martial soul was evolving into bronze, an arrow suddenly struck his shoulder.

Forcing the evolution to end, Wang Si couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

The blood splattered onto Xue Qinghe, who was standing in front of him.

Seeing Xue Qinghe's dazed expression, Wang Si forced himself to stand up.

Putting away his martial soul, which had failed to evolve completely, Wang Si patted Xue Qinghe's shoulder.

Startled by Wang Si's slap, Xue Qinghe snapped out of his trance.

Glancing at the arrow embedded in Wang Si's shoulder, Xue Qinghe opened his mouth to say something, but Wang Si pulled out the arrow before he could speak.

Gushing blood flowed from Wang Si's shoulder, but to Xue Qinghe's surprise, the wound slowly healed before his eyes.

"Are these assassins overly prepared? They actually sent a Title Douluo to deal with us. This doesn't seem to be aimed at me, does it?"

Xue Qinghe, who had been marveling at Wang Si's healing ability, snapped out of his daze at the question and coughed awkwardly twice.

"Perhaps someone exposed my whereabouts during our journey here."

Xue Qinghe evaded the truth, feeling a bit guilty. He didn't dare tell Wang Si the real reason: there seemed to be a problem with the cultivation of a prince in the Star Luo Empire, one who was capable of vying for the throne.

"Roar!!!"

The roar of a soul beast echoed through the air, followed by violent tremors in the ground.

Xue Qinghe immediately realized what was happening: someone was driving soul beasts toward them.

"Quick, run! Someone is herding soul beasts in our direction!"

Before coming with Wang Si, Xue Qinghe had discussed possible scenarios with Ning Fengzhi, who had faced the most assassination attempts. One of the scenarios was how to deal with the enemy herding high-level soul beasts toward them.

As for why Ning Fengzhi had faced the most assassination attempts, one could only guess how many factions the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the richest sect on the continent, had offended in their pursuit of wealth.

Just this time, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had tricked the Star Luo Empire, which was enough reason for the empire to arrange an assassination.

Xue Qinghe pulled Wang Si and ran in a certain direction.

Wang Si turned back to look at the intense battle in the field, then at the direction Xue Qinghe was running toward, where there was no sign of any conflict.

"Xue brother, aren't we running into more danger? If assassins bypass them and come after us, our situation will be perilous."

Xue Qinghe just smiled at Wang Si's concern and didn't bother to explain.

After running for about ten minutes, the two reached a dense forest.

The ground continued to shake, but they were no longer on the path that the soul beasts would take.

During their escape, some assassins tried to pursue them, but a Soul Douluo, who had been secretly protecting Xue Qinghe, blocked their path.

Wang Si didn't ask about the Soul Douluo's identity, and Xue Qinghe had no intention of explaining.

"Huff... puff..."

Xue Qinghe leaned against a large tree, bent over, and panted heavily.

"Wang... Wang brother... over... there... move it..."

Xue Qinghe pointed to a bush not far away, panting so hard he could barely speak.

Wang Si located the bush and searched until he found a stone slab.

Lifting the slab, he discovered a passage underneath.

"Go..."

Xue Qinghe, gasping for breath, ran to the passage and jumped in without hesitation.

Wang Si followed suit and jumped down as well.

Soon after Wang Si and Xue Qinghe jumped down, a sneaky figure approached the stone slab.

This Soul Douluo, who had been driving soul beasts in the depths of the Hunt Soul Forest, smiled coldly at the slab and immediately struck, shattering it with a punch. An attack followed closely behind.

It was the Soul Douluo who had been secretly protecting Xue Qinghe.

Knowing that someone had been covertly guarding Xue Qinghe, he had been prepared for this move.

His goal was to destroy what might be a secret passage with one punch. After the strike, he dodged the incoming attack and even smashed the ground twice in the direction of the possible passage.

The ground caved in, creating a deep pit. In such a short time, Wang Si and Xue Qinghe, who had just jumped down, would seemingly have no chance to escape.

But this was an escape route—how could it be so easily destroyed?

............

After jumping down the passage, Wang Si took out a night-illuminating pearl to light up the dark tunnel. Seeing the path ahead, he instinctively wanted to start running.

But Xue Qinghe held him back.

Facing Wang Si's curious gaze, Xue Qinghe pointed to a small mound of dirt behind them, indicating that Wang Si should crawl over quickly.

As Wang Si crawled over and prepared to pull Xue Qinghe along, the ground began to shake violently.

The passage they thought was an exit collapsed instantly.

It had been a deceptive fake passage.

"That thing... pull it out."

Xue Qinghe, still gasping for breath after being pulled over by Wang Si, weakly pointed to a grass ring.

Xue Qinghe pointed to the hide in Wang Si's hand and took out a raft made from beast hide from his own soul guide.

"Slide down directly."

Xue Qinghe gestured for Wang Si to use the beast hide and slide down the passage.

Without hesitation, Wang Si placed the hide beneath him and slid down the passage.

A rumbling sound echoed.

After sliding for a while, Wang Si heard a loud rumbling noise. He looked back but couldn't see anything. Perhaps Xue Qinghe had activated some sort of mechanism that he wasn't aware of.

The passage began as a steep slope of more than sixty degrees. After sliding for a few dozen seconds, the slope gradually leveled out, but Wang Si continued to slide swiftly.

For over half an hour, he slid down the slope, which grew gentler, while the passage widened.

That half-hour was an exhilarating ride for Wang Si.

He even took the opportunity to examine the "Soul Spirit Capturer."

As the name suggested, the Soul Spirit Capturer was a tool used to capture soul spirits.

It could capture any spirited soul, provided its strength didn't exceed the maximum soul ring age that Wang Si could handle.

Aside from using the capturer, there was another simple way to obtain soul spirits: extracting them directly from soul rings or soul bones.

Thus far, Wang Si's soul spirit template contained one soul spirit, which he had obtained from the two-thousand-eight-hundred-year-old Flaming Lion he had slain.

Soul spirits weren't just a string of data but actual souls that existed in a space akin to the spiritual realm.

As for why he hadn't extracted a soul spirit from his first soul ring, it was likely because too much time had passed since its absorption, and the soul beast's soul within had dissipated.

However, he would have ample time to study soul spirits later. For now, the priority was to escape and contact the Spirit Hall.

As the slope gentled, Wang Si quickly came to a stop and stood up.

Xue Qinghe, who had been right behind him, also halted swiftly.

He put away the raft and stood up, shivering slightly as he sneezed.

"It's a bit too cold down here."

Xue Qinghe rubbed his arms, draped in a fox fur coat, indicating that he wasn't quite accustomed to the temperature.

"Xue, where are we? Is this an underground passage from the Royal Hunt Soul Field to Sky Dou City?"

Xue Qinghe nodded slightly.

"That's right. It's our royal family's territory. Digging a passage like this is only natural."

Xue Qinghe couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

Along the way down, after much thought, he had made a significant decision: to continue fostering Wang Si.

To be honest, he didn't want to scheme against Wang Si, but he had no choice due to the concerns of the other royals about Wang Si's variable presence.

They all feared that once he became the crown prince or inherited the throne, he would grant Wang Si excessive privileges.

Looking back, it seemed laughable. Among those who offered their advice and strategies, how many were genuinely concerned for his well-being?

They were simply afraid that Wang Si would take away a portion of the benefits that originally belonged to them.

Thud thud thud...

Footsteps echoed from up ahead.

Hearing the footsteps, Xue Qinghe couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.

"This is over a thousand meters underground. It's impossible for others to detect my whereabouts here.

Also, I'll let you in on a secret. This passage leads directly to the imperial palace. Before we set off, I arranged for someone to wait for us here.

Now, they must have heard our voices and are coming to meet us. After all, it's not easy to get out from a depth of over a thousand meters."

Xue Qinghe turned to Wang Si, a hint of pride in his voice as he boasted of his cleverness.

But as he turned, he saw Wang Si sighing.

"What's wrong? Didn't we escape?"

Xue Qinghe asked instinctively, but then he froze.

If they were truly his people, why wouldn't they call out to him?

"Xue, to be honest, you've treated me well these past three years."

Wang Si looked at Xue Qinghe, knowing that he had figured it out.

In fact, when he mentioned the "imperial palace," Wang Si had already anticipated what would happen.

"Wang..."

Xue Qinghe stared at Wang Si, his lips quivering involuntarily.

In response, Wang Si raised an eyebrow.

Wang Si had given himself three years to adapt to this brutal world where the strong preyed on the weak and killing was done without batting an eye.

But when it came to taking action, he still felt a bit...

"Xue, you knew my identity from the very beginning, didn't you?"

Wang Si didn't give Xue Qinghe a chance to refute and continued.

"You hoped to nurture me, but you might not know..."

Pfft...

As Xue Qinghe's expression filled with fear and curiosity, a sharp spear pierced his heart.

[Ding! Soul entity detected. Can be transformed into...]

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end