Chapter 103 - 77 : Am Now The Villian? (2)

Chapter 103: Chapter 77 : Am Now The Villian? (2)

Their movements were practiced, each man moving with the others instead of getting in their way. One rushed Ethan from the front, his weapon carrying a layer of Qi as he struck toward Ethan’s chest. Another came in from the side, while the third remained farther back, his hands already forming a strange series of movements.

Ethan moved.

His body blurred past the first strike, and his short dao swept toward the second cultivator. The man barely managed to raise his weapon in time, the impact forcing him several steps backward.

Ethan was about to follow when the cultivator at the rear suddenly released his technique.

The air around Ethan seemed to distort.

For a brief moment, the hollow appeared to shift around him. The trees seemed to multiply, the ground beneath his feet seemed to stretch, and several figures appeared at the edge of his vision.

An illusion technique.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

His Blood Perception spread through the confusion.

The false images had no vitality.

The three real presences were still exactly where they had been.

Ethan ignored the illusion and turned toward the nearest one.

His dao flashed.

The cultivator barely avoided the blade, but the other two immediately moved to cover him. One attacked from behind while the other tried to cut Ethan off from the side.

Ethan twisted away from the first strike, then suddenly glanced toward the hills.

The fleeing cultivator was already beyond the rise.

His eyes hardened.

The cultivator ahead was already disappearing beyond the rise. Ethan was running out of time. There was no reason to keep trading blows with these three when every moment gave their companion more distance.

He stepped into the next attack instead of avoiding it.

The blade cut across his side.

Pain flashed through him, but Ethan didn’t retreat. Instead, he caught the cultivator’s momentary surprise and drove forward, his dao cutting through the man’s defense.

Blood sprayed across the grass.

The cultivator stumbled backward, clutching at the wound, and Ethan finished him before the other two could intervene.

One of them froze.

Their formation had broken.

Ethan was already moving.

The remaining two tried to recover, but the coordination that had made them troublesome moments ago was gone. One attacked in haste while the other attempted to use his illusion technique again, but Ethan’s Blood Perception immediately found the real body.

He stepped through the false image and struck. The second cultivator barely had time to react before Ethan’s dao found him, and he collapsed into the grass.

The last man turned sharply, only to find Ethan already in front of him. His eyes widened as the short dao swept across his body, and he staggered backward before collapsing into the grass.

Ethan stood still for a moment, breathing steadily as he looked toward the hill where their companion had disappeared. He could still sense him through his Blood Perception, faintly now, somewhere farther beyond the hills.

Then he moved after him.

He moved through the trees, crossing the uneven ground as he followed the faint presence ahead. He passed over a narrow ridge, and the distance between them continued to shrink with every step. Then his Blood Perception picked up several other presences farther ahead. Ethan slowed, his attention shifting toward them as he realized they were travelers moving along a busier stretch of road. The fleeing cultivator was heading straight toward them.

Ethan’s expression darkened. He could continue the chase, but doing so would bring the fight into the path of people who had nothing to do with it. He had no intention of dragging innocent travelers into the conflict simply because that cultivator was trying to escape.

Ethan slowed to a stop among the trees, his gaze fixed in the direction the man had gone.

Ethan changed direction, cutting across the slope instead of following the road. Trees rushed past him as he moved, his steps carrying him over the uneven ground with little effort. Through his Blood Perception, the fleeing cultivator remained a faint presence ahead, still moving, still trying to escape. For a while, Ethan couldn’t tell whether he was gaining on him or not. The distance seemed to hold, the man’s vitality flickering somewhere beyond the trees.

Then it began to shrink.

Ethan pushed harder, moving between the trees and over another rise. Ahead, the forest began to thin, and through the gaps between the branches came the distant sounds of travelers. The faint rumble of wheels and scattered voices carried through the morning air. Beyond the trees, Ethan could just make out a stretch of road.

The fleeing cultivator was almost there.

He slowed slightly as the sounds reached him, his exhausted mind already imagining the safety those travelers might provide. But then something made him hesitate.

The presence behind him was too close.

He turned.

Ethan stepped out from between the trees, his short dao hanging at his side.

The cultivator stared at him, then glanced back toward the hills he had crossed. His companions should have caught up by now if they had managed to escape. But Ethan was the one standing behind him. No one else had appeared. The realization came slowly, his eyes widening as the pieces fell into place. If Ethan had reached him alone, then his companions hadn’t escaped.

They were dead.

He looked toward the distant road again. The travelers were still too far away, but he could hear their voices clearly now. If he could reach them, the sudden appearance of two cultivators rushing out of the forest would surely draw their attention. Perhaps, with other people around, Ethan would be forced to stop or at least hesitate long enough for him to escape.

He looked toward the distant road again, the sound of travelers carrying faintly through the trees. If he had reached them, perhaps their presence would have given him a chance. But Ethan was already standing in his path, having crossed the distance far faster than he should have been able to.

The realization settled heavily in his mind. His companions were gone, and the man who had killed them was already here. The faint hope in his eyes slowly crumbled, replaced by a growing terror as he stared at Ethan. His breathing caught, his body stiffening as his instincts screamed at him to run, yet he already knew there was nowhere left to go.

The cultivator stumbled backward.

The short dao flashed.

The distant sounds of travelers continued beyond the trees, but the space between the forest and the road fell silent.

Ethan stood there for a moment, listening to the distant sounds of the road fading beneath the rustle of the trees. The fight had ended, and he had stopped the cultivator before the chase could spill into a crowd. Still, Ethan couldn’t ignore how close it had come to becoming a problem. The man had never been strong enough to defeat him; the real danger had been the chase itself, pushing him toward a situation where killing his opponent would no longer have been a simple solution.

Ethan looked down at the fallen cultivator before crouching and lifting him with one hand, settling the body over his shoulder. He turned and disappeared back into the trees, retracing his path toward the hollow where the others had fallen.

When he returned, he gathered the remaining bodies and collected whatever useful items they carried.

The blood was refined, the useful resources were stored, and the bodies were dealt with before Ethan moved on. After several more encounters, however, the situation was becoming harder to dismiss as a series of isolated incidents. Cultivators kept finding him, each group arriving with its own approach, but the reason behind it never changed. One hundred and fifty spirit stones. The reward was drawing them in, and Ethan was beginning to realize that the bounty itself was the real problem.

One evening, he stood beside a shallow depression and watched the last of the blood disappear into the storage pouch in his hand. Another group had come, and another group had fallen. His Living Blood was full again, a few more coins had been added to his savings, and the cultivation resources they carried could be useful later. There was no denying that he benefited from every encounter. Yet as Ethan sealed the pouch and looked toward the road, he found himself thinking beyond what he had gained. He could keep avoiding people whenever his Blood Perception warned him of danger. He could take different roads, change his appearance, and deal with anyone who refused to back down. He had already shown that he could survive such encounters. But how long could that last?

The question lingered as he looked at the road disappearing into the distance. A week? A month? Longer? As long as the bounty remained, there would always be someone willing to follow it, especially with tracking talismans already circulating among cultivators. He could stay ahead of one group, perhaps even several, but there was no guarantee that every person who came after him would be within his ability to handle. Sooner or later, he would meet someone stronger, someone better prepared, or someone willing to bring enough people to make escape impossible.

Ethan looked down at his hand. A faint trace of blood remained on his fingers, and he wiped it against the grass before straightening. Running had kept him alive. Fighting had allowed him to remove those who refused to leave him alone, and the resources they carried had strengthened his position. But none of it changed the source of the problem. The bounty was still out there, and as long as it remained, the road ahead would keep bringing people willing to risk their lives for it.

Ethan looked toward the distant road, his thoughts settling on the problem again. He needed something more than simply surviving each encounter. If people kept coming because they believed the reward was worth the risk, then he needed to make that risk feel much greater.

He needed them to hesitate before coming after him, not merely because they might lose, but because the thought of facing him would be frightening enough to make them reconsider.

His brows drew together as he considered the possibilities.

How could he make that happen?