Chapter 98: Escape (Part 2)

The last door of the treasure vault opened with a thunderous roar. Standing at its entrance, Xiao Tiannan's mind exploded, almost literally.

What lay before his eyes was emptiness. The nearly ten-thousand-square-meter treasure vault was so bare that every corner was clearly visible. All the medicinal ingredients, precious artifacts, mystic crystals, and valuable jade, even the sect's mystic skills and techniques—their entire thousand years of accumulated wealth—had vanished without a trace. It was as if a hurricane had just swept through, leaving not even a single strand of hair behind.

Xiao Tiannan's body swayed violently. Even though he was the sect master and possessed an exceptionally resilient mind, he nearly went insane on the spot.

"What happened... what happened?! What on earth happened?! Where are the contents of this place? Where have they all gone? Where did they go?!" Xiao Tiannan grabbed Xiao Baicao, roaring like a furious lion.

"I... I don't know... I don't know!" Xiao Baicao frantically shook his head, his face contorted in extreme terror. When he arrived here moments ago and opened the vault door, he was so shocked that he simply collapsed onto the ground. Even now, his body was still trembling violently, and his mind was a chaotic mess of fear. The contents of this vault represented the very foundation of this branch sect, the lifeblood of the entire sect!

"I... I just asked the guards. Today, only Huangfu He came here, and he stayed inside for two whole hours!"

"Huangfu... He?" Xiao Tiannan was stunned for a moment. Then he shook his head, his face pale: "Impossible... it couldn't be him. He is the Saint Hand of Evil Hearts, how could it possibly be him...?"

In recent days, Yun Che's renowned name "Saint Hand of Evil Hearts" and the extraordinary medical skills he displayed had convinced them to the point where they almost revered him as a deity. His acting was simply too good, making Xiao Tiannan subconsciously unwilling to suspect him even in this situation, because someone hailed as the world's greatest divine physician wouldn't possibly be interested in the possessions of their small sect, and there was absolutely no reason for him to do such a thing.

Moreover, his mystic power was only at the Nascent Profound Realm, and he didn't even possess a spatial ring. Even the highest-grade purple spatial ring could only hold a few hundred cubic meters of space; how could it possibly move the contents of this entire treasure vault?

"Sect Master, over there... it looks like there's some writing on the wall?" Xiao Baicao's eyes widened as he pointed to the wall directly in front of them.

Xiao Tiannan's gaze swept across. Three lines of neatly written large characters appeared in his eyes.

"Old man Xiao Tiannan, I've unceremoniously accepted the things you and my grandson Xiao Luocheng presented to me. Since you chose to provoke me, you will certainly pay a sufficient price. However, since your service these past two days was somewhat comfortable, I'll tell you two secrets. First: My poor grandson Xiao Luocheng is truly crippled this time; even if the real Huangfu He came, he wouldn't be able to save him. And second, that King Profound Dragon Pill is fake, hahahahahaha..."

Below the three lines of text was a large signature.

Your Lord Yun Che!!

That's right, Yun Che directly signed his name. In fact, if he hadn't left his name, Xiao Tiannan would never have connected it to him. But he did leave it... This was a display of arrogance, confidence, and conceit, and even more so, a humiliation. "I want you to know who caused your downfall! I want you to know who you offended! I'm not afraid of your retaliation! Want revenge? Come at me!"

Xiao Tiannan's body swayed violently. His face instantly turned deathly pale. Overcome by rage and anxiety, a surge of blood rushed up, erupting from his mouth. He then fell straight backward.

The sect's thousand-year foundation was wiped out overnight. Who could possibly endure such a blow?

"Sect Master!"

Xiao Baicao cried out in grief and quickly supported the fallen Xiao Tiannan. Xiao Tiannan hadn't fainted on the spot, but his face was completely drained of color, and his eyes had lost all focus. He was mumbling hoarsely, "Impossible... impossible... impossible..."

He hadn't seen Yun Che's true appearance, but he knew that the "divine physician" was merely a sixteen-year-old boy. He simply couldn't connect a sixteen-year-old boy with the divine physician who had stayed in the sect for three or four days. The extraordinary medical skills and insights, the ethereal, almost immortal aura, and the seemingly world-weary gaze—how could a sixteen-year-old boy possess such qualities?

If it was a disguise, particularly one by a weak Nascent Profound practitioner, how could he, a dignified Earth Profound Realm expert, not have seen through it?

He also couldn't comprehend how he had managed to remove all the contents from such a vast treasure vault.

The family's thousand-year foundation had been emptied in an instant. This blow completely shattered his psychological defenses. It left him feeling as if he were in a nightmare, unable to believe any of it was real. His mind was constantly occupied by three words: "Impossible... impossible... impossible..."

"Yun Che... the one who injured the Young Sect Master?" Xiao Baicao helped Xiao Tiannan up, gritting his teeth as he spoke: "Sect Master, calm down! What we need most right now is to be calm! It seems highly likely that Huangfu He was Yun Che in disguise. He orchestrated this for days, all for revenge against us. However, he shouldn't have gone too far yet. At this moment, he should have only just left the sect and probably wouldn't expect us to enter the treasure vault so quickly. Zaihe is with him! Immediately use a sound transmission talisman to notify Zaihe and tell him to capture Yun Che at once! Then all the items from the treasure vault can be recovered."

Xiao Baicao's words jolted Xiao Tiannan as if from a dream. He quickly pulled out a sound transmission talisman and locked onto Xiao Zaihe's transmission imprint...

As Xiao Baicao had predicted, Yun Che and Xiao Zaihe hadn't gone far from the sect. However, upon reaching this spot, Yun Che stopped, and with a composed expression, told Xiao Zaihe: "Alright, you don't need to escort me further. Just wait here. I'll go to the Black Moon Merchant Guild by myself."

Xiao Zaihe was startled, asking in confusion: "But there's still a long way to the Black Moon Merchant Guild, and the Sect Master repeatedly instructed me to ensure Senior's safety..."

"Hmph!" Yun Che impatiently snorted. "Before I go to the Black Moon Merchant Guild, I have some private matters to attend to. I don't need anyone following me. Just wait here."

Seeing the "divine physician" show displeasure, Xiao Zaihe's heart skipped a beat. How could he dare to insist further? He quickly replied, "Since it's Senior's command, this junior... this junior will wait here."

Just then, he felt a faint ripple of power from his sound transmission jade.

To achieve long-distance sound transmission, a sound transmission talisman was required each time. These talismans concealed a small sound transmission array, making even the lowest-grade ones, capable of transmitting only ten li, extremely expensive. High-grade talismans, capable of transmitting a thousand li, cost astronomical sums. Therefore, unless it was an extremely urgent matter, people generally wouldn't be willing to expend a sound transmission talisman.

Xiao Zaihe quickly took out his sound transmission jade. Instantly, Xiao Tiannan's roar echoed in his mind. This made him instantly turn pale with shock, and he cried out involuntarily: "What!?"

Originally, according to Yun Che's plan, this revenge and plunder operation against the Xiao Sect's branch was supposed to be seamless and foolproof. The early and middle stages had proceeded incredibly smoothly. According to his plan, today was the final step: he would have a relatively unimportant Xiao Sect member escort him out, then find an excuse to leave alone, and subsequently vanish without a trace, making it impossible for the Xiao Sect to find him. Afterward, he would widely spread the news that the Xiao Sect had obtained a King Profound Dragon Pill. This would alert countless covetous individuals from ten thousand li around, who would then come seeking the pill. The entire sect would thus be plunged into turmoil, finding no peace day or night, and would have no remaining energy to seek revenge on him.

However, even the cleverest person cannot perfectly predict what others will do next. For example, Yun Che had not anticipated that Xiao Tiannan would send Xiao Baicao to the treasure vault so soon after his departure, simply because of a trivial matter that suddenly came to mind...

When Xiao Zaihe took out his sound transmission jade, Yun Che's brow furrowed; he vaguely sensed something was amiss. When he saw Xiao Zaihe's sudden change in expression and gaze, he knew that the treasure vault incident had been exposed too early. As his brow furrowed deeper, he cursed inwardly: "Damn it! This isn't logical! How could it be so fast?! It should have been discovered tomorrow, for crying out loud!"

Yun Che didn't immediately run; instead, his expression remained unchanged, and he continued walking steadily forward, praying that he was just overthinking things and that Xiao Zaihe's reaction was due to something else. However, his hope was in vain; a bone-chilling killing intent suddenly erupted from behind him.

"Yun Che... so it was you, you little bastard! Prepare to die!!"

Yun Che's steps faltered for a moment. Then, without thinking, he dashed forward at his fastest speed.

Although Xiao Zaihe had already shouted, he was still very apprehensive and couldn't truly connect the "divine physician" in front of him with Yun Che. But Yun Che's desperate sprint instantly dispelled all of Xiao Zaihe's doubts. Carrying a chilling killing intent, he pursued like a whirlwind.

"Jasmine, what's this person's cultivation level?"

"Spirit Profound Realm, Level One."

"Holy... What do you think are my chances of escaping from him?"

"There are two major realms between you and him. If this princess doesn't act, your chance of escaping is zero! If this princess acts, he will die, but even if you expend all your blood, this princess will ninety percent certainly die!" Jasmine's voice was low.

Yun Che mentally cursed Xiao Tiannan's ancestors eighteen generations back... "You just got the 'King Profound Dragon Pill', and instead of fiddling with it and studying it with Xiao Baicao, you rushed to your damn treasure vault?!"

"You little bastard, let's see where you can run now!!"

Xiao Zaihe's sinister voice came from behind. With his Spirit Profound Realm cultivation, catching an individual at the Nascent Profound Realm was effortlessly easy. In just a few breaths, the distance between them had closed by more than half, and in a few more breaths, he would be caught. At this moment, however, Yun Che completely calmed down. His right hand moved to his left, and a dark, heavy metal sphere was clutched in his grasp. He carefully shattered its outer shell with mystic energy, then abruptly turned and hurled it backward.

"Heavens... Heaven Shaking Thunder!"

Suddenly, an iron sphere flew towards him at a not-so-fast speed. If it were anyone else, they would likely disdainfully swat it away. But Xiao Zaihe was different; he recognized the Heaven Shaking Thunder and had personally witnessed its power. As his pupils constricted, he quickly ducked, evading it in a rather undignified manner. Then, he clasped his hands over his head and quickly dived to the ground.

Boom!!!!

The Heaven Shaking Thunder landed and exploded with a tremendous roar. It kicked up a cloud of dust that blotted out the sky amidst the earth-shattering rumble. Beneath the dust, a large crater, four to five zhang in diameter, emitted thick black smoke. Yun Che looked back, slightly startled by the astonishing power. Then, without hesitation, he gripped a second Heaven Shaking Thunder.