"Hah, So I can't get a pass. Whatever. I'm not going to join any kingdom anyway. I've always gone solo. As for my security, if they are suspicious about me? Most of the time, I'll actually be the one committing killings. When it comes to that, there's no benefit of the pass since I'm not letting anyone arrest me. I'm not here to live a peaceful life working for a king or to get arrested," Long Chen muttered as he shrugged. He didn't care about the pass. If he could get one, it was nice. but if he couldn't get one, he didn't care either.
"Do you have a map of this place or something?" he asked the man.
"There is a map in the storage ring and the money as well. You already have everything. Can you please let me go now? I swear to the Heaven that I won't tell anyone about you. Just let me leave," the cultivator looked at Long Chen as he pleaded once again.
"As I said, once I reach the next city, I'll free you. Till then, stay with me," Long Chen told the man as he nodded his head.
The man couldn't help but sigh as he left it on his fate, believing his words. Even though he was suspicious, he couldn't do anything but have faith. He still had hoped that Long Chen would free him even though the chances were low.
While Long Chen was flying on his Spirit Sword towards the city of Screen, the guards were still waiting back at the base.
Guqin was sitting at a chair, looking outside the window. He was incharge of getting the intruder to Master Wuya, but he was surprised that the guards were taking this long to capture a weak intruder even after having the compass that leads to their location.
"Could something have gone wrong? How come twenty of our guards are taking so long to bring back the intruder," The man muttered after standing up.
He left the place and stepped out of his Courtyard as he looked outside.
"Could it be that the person was strong and managed to defeat them? It should take this long at any cost. But how? The only way that person could escape from the guards is if he was a Heaven Realm Cultivator, which doesn't make sense."
"The Heaven Realm Cultivators don't have any need to sneak inside since they get a free entry. Why would a Heaven Realm Cultivator even try to sneak inside? The intruder can definitely not be a Heaven Realm Cultivator. Why would they take this long, though? I need to check myself," the silver-haired man muttered as he looked at the compass in his hand. He started flying in the direction that the compass was pointing in.
****
The silver-haired man was flying on his Sword as he kept looking at the compass in his hand.
After a few more minutes, he noticed something which made his expressions change.
He saw the deserted land conveyed with blood. Bodies and their pieces were lying here and there. The clothes on the bodies made the man realize that these are the people he has sent to chase after the man.
"The compass is pointing at her. Did that intruder die here as well?" The man muttered as he looked at the bodies on the ground. He thought that the compass was pointing here, which meant that the intruder's body was still here, but he soon realized how wrong he was as he saw a pair of shoes lying on the ground.
"Clever intruder. He must've found out about the tracking mark and decided to leave his shoes behind. It's impossible to track him without the mark," The man muttered as he looked in the distant horizon.
"Did we really lose him now? He can be anywhere," the man muttered as he looked around.
"The chances are that he would be going to the Screen City since it's the closest city, but if that person is as clever as I think he is, he would not go to the Screen City. Instead, he would go to the other city, which will save him from the pursuit that he already knows about. Did I really lose him?" Guqin muttered as he frowned.
"This will be troublesome if I can't find him. Senior Wuya is already waiting for me to bring the intruder to him. He would be really angry at my negligence," Guqin let out with a frustrated look on his face.
He looked towards the sky and screamed in frustration.
After roaring in anger for a long time, he calmed down. He was still frustrated, but he wasn't screaming anymore.
"I should've come with them! I should've sent more powerful Cultivators! It was exactly my negligence that caused all of it. I need to find him at whatever cost, but first, I need to inform Senior Wuya. Only he has the authority to alert the nearby cities about the intruder and to initiate the search," The man let out as he again stepped on his Flying Sword and flew back.
*****
Long Chen flew on his sword for quite some time before he managed to see a glimpse of the walls at the distant horizon.
"That is the city we talked about! I already told you everything I could! Can you please let me go now?" The man asked Long Chen.
"Yeah. I won't look good taking a man like you in the city. I'll fulfill one promise and free you," Long Chen said in full seriousness as he nodded his head.
"I free you. I related to you of all your restrictions," Long Chen said as he smiled innocently.
The man finally smiled as he saw the hope for the future. He finally had some hope of living through this as Long Chen said that he would free him, but his expressions changed as Long Chen literally released him.
"Now you can go to hell in peace. I free you of this life," Long Chen muttered as he removed his hand and let the man fall down to the ground.
The man couldn't help but scream and curse Long Chen for lying as he fell down.
Long Chen didn't leave, though. He started there and watched the man stomp on the ground before he made a spear from his Qi and threw it down. The spear cut the neck of the man separating his head from his body.
"That's better," he let out before he continued along his way. Long Chen wore his Mask of Mischief and changed his face to look more like a mature and innocent boy.
He was already wearing a nice set of clothes. He had the rings he had collected from the Cultivators he had killed, which had plenty of money for him to spend in this place. He even had enough to pay the entrance fee, but as he was being chased by the guards, he didn't feel safe going through the main entrance.
He wanted to sneak inside again in case the Border Guards contacted the authority of the city about any stranger entering the city today. He also wasn't sure how fast the information of him killing the guards would reach here.
As Long Chen got near the place, he saw a carriage.
The carriage was just standing there while a few people were standing around, surrounding it.
They were pointing their weapons towards the carriage.
"Is this a robbery? They seem like bandits," Long Chen muttered as he looked at the carriage, but he decided to ignore them. He was new here, and he didn't need to get involved since he didn't know anyone here.
Long Chen flew past the carriage and continued on his way towards the boundaries of the city, but that's when the bandits saw him.
" Boss! It looks like someone saw us! That guy is not coming here but going to the city! He must be there to alert the guards! It will take some more time before we're able to break the defenses of this carriage. If that person manages to alert the guards of what's happening here, we'd be forced to leave without accomplishing our mission! What should we do?" The man asked another bandit that seemed to be the strongest here.
"What else! We need to kill that person before he gets close to the city!" The bandit king replied in an annoyed tone.
"But he's so far away! We can't catch up to him even if we fly after him!" A bandit raised a concern.
"I know that. It looks like I have no choice but to use that treasure! It was this guy's bad luck that he decided to get involved in our matters. He can only blame his stupidity when he dies," The bandit king told his man as he smiled.
"I wanted to save this treasure for later since it only has on rise remaining, but I guess that's not possible anymore. Catching him is more important," The man uttered.
He brought something out from his storage ring.