Chapter 45: Chase

 

A few hours later, a group of Bai kingdom cavalry are casing a man.

 

After the long run, Zou Jie's horse is getting tired.

 

Fortunately, the second prince's horse is struggling to run due to his weight, and because of that, he must change horses several times to keep up.

 

The cavalry colonel's eyes narrowed. If this goes on, the criminal might escape, but he can’t abandon the second prince without protection.

 

“Colonel, let me and others block the criminal path."

 

“Go.” After the given order, half of the cavalry split from the main group and chased after the criminal. There are around more than 100 cavalry following the second prince; even martial artists need to be wary.

 

Zou Jie, without turning his head and using panoramic vision, can see what is happening behind him. “It looks like I need to abandon the horses.” He found it ironic that he just killed a soldier because of the horse, and in the end, he needed to leave the horse behind. In the end, if the soldier hadn’t provoked him, the soldier might have been alive and have lived until old age.

 

He jumps down from the horse and channels his qi to his leg when his feet hit the ground. He is propelled through the air and flies into the distance at a fast speed.

 

“Keep chasing; he can’t last long!” Although martial artists are strong individually, most of them will not survive fighting with the cavalry. Unless they are martial masters and above, who could escape the encirclement?

 

After a long chase, the cavalry captain notices something strange. The criminal still hasn’t exhausted his IQ and stamina. “Slow down and wait for the colonel!"

 

“Why do you slow down?” The colonel asked.

 

“I suspected the criminal was a martial master." The colonel expresses his concern.

 

“It’s going to be troublesome.” A martial master is not easy to kill.

 

“What are you afraid of? Kill him!"

 

“Your Highness, the casualties will be high if we fight a martial master."

 

“Don’t worry, I will explain to my royal father; quickly chase!”

 

“Yes, Your Highness. Don’t let the criminal escape!"

 

Zou Jie frowns. It looks like they don’t want to give up. He takes out a small ball made of paper and wood with reluctance, making it difficult. At the same time, he slows down his speed.

 

“He is getting tired!” The second prince's chubby face flushed red with excitement. “This feeling is great; maybe I can become a great general in the future."

 

After a while, Zou Jie turns his body and throws the small ball like a baseball toward the incoming cavalry.

 

“Watch out, protect the prince!"

 

The ball flew above the cavalry, and there was a fume coming from it that exploded.

 

BOOM!

 

A dark smoke falls from the sky and covers the cavalry that can’t evade in time.

 

Zou Jie, after that, quickly fled into the distance. That ball is made from the poison that he got from the poisonous snake that bit the escort. However, the effect is weaker since he doesn’t have enough venom. The poison will damage the blood vessels, cause severe pain, problems breathing, and death if not treated in time.

 

When the second prince comes out of the smoke, both he and the horse collapse to the ground. His face is pale, and it looks like he is going to die.

 

The colonel quickly tries to stop the poison from spreading, while the other soldier, although he looks pale, still stands, but it is only a matter of time before the poison takes effect.

 

“It’s poison; quickly carry the second prince to the town!"

 

“How about the criminal?”

 

“The second prince's life is more important; if anything happens to him, everyone here and our family life will be in danger!” The colonel uses the horse that doesn’t get hit by the poison and rushes to the nearby town with the second prince.

 

Zou Jie keeps running until he doesn’t see the cavalry any longer. Before fleeing, he notices the chubby man; he must be someone important. He is not afraid if he becomes a wanted man since he can change his appearance.

 

While running, he heard a sword classing in the distance. “It looks like my travel fund is nearby.” Zou Jie smiles and sprints toward the noise.

 

A caravan is attacked by bandits, exactly as he predicted. The Bai kingdom, especially near the borders of three empires, is not peaceful. Bandits are rampant, and most civilians don't have the money to hire an escort agency to travel, so they hire vagabond martial artists to protect them instead.

 

Nevertheless, the bandits outnumber the martial artists, despite their superior strength.

 

Last year, the Martial Alliance launched an attack on the bandits in the Bai kingdom, but just a year later, the bandits began to flourish again due to poverty, wealth inequality, and a corrupt government.

 

“Vile scum, how dare you attack innocent people?" Zou Jie comes out and attacks the bandits.

 

How can a weak bandit win against a martial master? Like a scythe mowing grass, Zou Jie cuts every bandit that he sees.

 

“Run!”

 

“Help!"

 

The merchant caravan expresses its gratitude to Zou Jie after killing the bandits. Without him, he will be in debt and will lose everything to the bandit. The merchant invited Zou Jie to ride in his carriage.

 

Aside from repaying kindness, the caravan will be protected by a martial master. The merchant has foresight because they will be attacked by another bandit group along their journey, and thanks to Zou Jie, the problem will be solved.

 

-

 

The Bai kingdom cavalry manages to reach the nearby town, and most of the soldiers survive.

 

The second prince is lying on the bed unconscious; the reason he is still alive is thanks to the local magistrate's physician. Since the area nearby is under his jurisdiction, he will be blamed if anything happens to the second prince.

 

“Sir, we had sent a message to the palace and already spread the wanted picture of the criminal."

 

“We need to catch him if we want to keep our heads."

 

A few days later, the palace and prime minister's house are in uproar after finding out the news that someone attacked the second prince. The Bai kingdom king and prime minister begin to mobilize the army to catch the attacker.

 

The civilians of the Bai kingdom become reckless and think they are going to war, but when they find out the reason, the citizens calm down, and the gambling house begins to place a bet on how long that criminal can survive.

 

-

 

Zou Jie, after leaving the caravan disguised as a chubby merchant, enters a town just like he expected; his wanted picture is everywhere. Fortunately, there are no cameras in this world; the picture is slightly different, and he is not afraid of the royal family.

 

When he left the town, he reverted to his skinny and tall martial artist disguise. He doesn't use his true face right now because he is afraid his former enemy will find out. His objective is to restore his memory.

 

In the Huangshan mountain range, there are continuous mountains and forests.

 

Entering the mountain, he found this place looked familiar and relied on his instincts to traverse the mountain.

 

Time passed, and he arrived at the area with dense mist.

 

When he enters the dense mist, he can’t see anything. Nevertheless, he already knows the mist is an illusion array formation. Using his mortal array formation knowledge, he walks according to a pattern and doesn’t move in a straight line. After a while, he passes through the mist and can see a courtyard house.

 

He walks toward the house and pushes a certain area to open the door. With a creak, the door opens, and he can see a courtyard that has been abandoned with foliage everywhere.

 

“This place looks familiar.” Zou Jie feels nostalgic, but he still doesn’t remember anything. The courtyard house had rooms for studies, blacksmithing, and training, and at the back of the courtyard house, there were small farms that had outgrown.

 

“Let’s clean this place first.” Zou Jie decided to stay here and, at the same time, to hide from the Bai Kingdom army. From what he found out, the second prince is also the grandson of the prime minister.

 

-

 

Inside an inn, the merchant that Zou Jie saves is in a dilemma. The criminal picture and description are similar to those of Sir Zou.

 

"Boss, what are you waiting for?" the merchant servant urges.

 

“But Sir Zou had saved our lives." The merchant hesitates.

 

“If we don’t report this, the martial artists that we hired will report first, and the reward will go to them."

 

After a long silence, the merchant agreed and went to the county magistrate to report.

 

A few hours later, the Bai Kingdom army began to mobilize and head to the Huangshan mountain range.

 

The martial artists that found out about the news also go there. If they can capture or kill the criminal, they will be rewarded by the royal family, and their name will be famous in the Bai kingdom.