He Can't Be Far

The party of assailant quickly attained the same corridor where Tong Jian presented the cabins to the students.

Li Zhen spread his spiritual sense, with his cultivation, it could cover a perimeter more than twice bigger than Liu Hao and Lan Biao's one. He was standing in the cabins corridor, but his spiritual sense traveled throughout the ship encompassing the lounge and cafeteria, even reaching the forbidden area where it was blocked at the entrance by the door.

He sensed a few students together in the lounge and one eating in the cafeteria but none of them was Ye Mo.

"He's not outside, he must have stayed in his room." 

"Let me try." Liu Hao said as he closed his eyes.

Drafts were released from his body and flew out, entering in the rooms through the gap under the doors and gathering around the students inside. Liu Hao could feel their figure and body shape through the current of air that flew around the students, those currents swiftly went inside every room in the ship, moving towards the students when there was one inside, but after a short time he opened his eyes saying with gritted teeth, "I can't find him."

Li Zhen's expression turned grim.

Lan Biao clenched his fists to a pale white.

With his particular haircut and body, Ye Mo's physique stood out from the other students. If he was in the rooms or anywhere inside the ship, Liu Hao should have easily noticed him with his investigative battle skill.

The three of them began to have a bad feeling and immediately moved in separate directions with surreal speed, opening each cabin one by one to look inside and going to every places inside the ship while still using their own investigative battle skills at the search of Ye Mo.

Several student were scared shitless seeing them suddenly appear in the middle of their room then disappearing as fast, the door left open being the only evidence to the reality of what just happened.

In a few breathes of time, Li Zhen, Liu Hao and Lan Biao went through every nook and cranny of the ship, even entering the private area to witness a bag full of essence stones on the floor, with one of them being placed at the core of a mechanism alimenting the whole struture.

Yet, Ye Mo was nowhere to be found.

Tong Jian quickly arrived beside them in an humble demeanor as he pleaded, "Seniors, any of these youths offending great experts like you is an idiot who should be put to death. However, even an idiot wouldn't be dumb enough to go near this area with the formation still in place to report any intruder. I am sure I don't need to remind you these essence stones belong to the Raging Saber Sect and if till now, everything you did could be put aside, taking them would be a serious offense causing their retaliation against you and your clans."

Li Zhen snorted in displeasure.

If usually they would be attracted towards these essence stones, they had no appeal for them at this moment compared to the true purpose of their arrival.

Anger, confusion, anxiety, disbelief, frustration along all kinds of emotions could be read on their faces.

At the same time, hundreds of miles from here, a shadow moved at high speed in the forest, shielded from the light by the trees and the dense vegetation.

On the Raging Saber Sect' spiritual tool, Li Zhen and his allies pulled the students out of the rooms and forcefully gathered them on the deck with the rest who patiented under the thunderwing beetle's gaze.

While these three searched for Ye Mo, the students have been entertained by Tie Jinghong trying to caress the insect before quickly retreating every time as it would turn towards him and make angry noises before he could make contact.

The students were ordered to get on their knees with hands behind their head as they looked down in fear.

Li Zhen watched from the back with a cold demeanor while Liu Hao pulled his sword out of his pouch and advanced threateningly towards them. With bloodshot eyes, he asked, "Tell me, where is Ye Mo, where did you hide him?"

"Ye Mo? Isn't he in his room?" One of the student said thoughtlessly, he clearly saw Ye Mo go inside a cabin and he hasn't been seen since then.

"Are you messing with me right now!" Lan Biao, enraged, quickly moved towards the student and punched him in the guts.

The student opened his eyes wide and spat a mouthful of blood as he slowly fell forward.

Many students trembled, their legs shaking, although Liu Hao asked them again, they didn't dare say another word.

Among the youths, only Tong Jian was standing on the side with unsympathetic eyes. Li Zhen made an arrangement with him, he wouldn't hurt him in any away nor damage or steal from the spiritual tool and will even offer him an essence stone while in exchange, Tong Jian won't say anything about them to the Raging Saber Sect.

On the opposite he will make up something like a flying blood beast attacking the vessel. However, Tong Jian warned them although they could rough the students up a bit, they couldn't kill more than five or he wouldn't be able to cover for them. At the same time, they shouldn't touch the most talented of them like Shen Xue or Yan Mei.

As for what the students would say, it didn't matter. They weren't even members of the sect and even if they joined them, they still needed to go through a time of observation before they were officially accepted so they won't take any action with only the students' words. Moreover, if they wished to live a good life in the sect, they would do better than to offend Tong Jian without mentionning that their relatives remained in Azure Water City where operated the Li and Liu clan. 

"Where is he!" Liu Hao yelled at them, going mad with rage.

He knew from his sources that Ye Mo boarded this ship, he couldn't be anywhere but on board. If he didn't possess a concealment technique then the only possibility was that someone was helping him hide.

Still considering he had a concealment technique, even if he could merge with the walls themselves he would still be discovered by the combination of their investigative battle skills as long as he was breathing.

"If Ye Mo is hiding in the ship, he must be in a secret section that can't be found from the outside. If that's the case then the most suspect here is Tong Jian since he is the only one who knows the spiritual tool well among those present, but we attacked without warning and he was one of the first to come on the deck to look at the scene, he couldn't have had the time to help or warn Ye Mo. There must be someone who knows something on this boat, Ye Mo can't be far, even if there is only 1% chance one of them hide something, I must find it no matter what." Liu Hao hardened his heart as his revenge was all he thought about.

The students were terrified, if they answered they were hit and if they said nothing they would be hit as well, their eyes moved left and right in confusion, but they all withdrew in silence.

They truly didn't know where Ye Mo had gone.

Liu Hao, furious by the lack of response, couldn't contain himself anymore. He took a step forward sword in hand and slashed a student in the chest, a thin line of blood was drawn on his body before it bursted into an overflowing red torrent.

The student shrieked then fell in a pool of his own blood.

The surrounding students screamed and fell back, horrified by the situation. Some started crying while others thought fearfully of a way to avoid this outcome, even telling a lie about Ye Mo's position if it came to their turn.

Jin Hao Tian stared hatefully at Liu Hao while Ma Shinfei's hands inched closer to the stick on his back.

"This is your fault, you brought it on yourself! Now tell me where he is or all of you are going to meet the same fate." Liu Hao said intimidatingly, knowing full well he couldn't kill all of them.

However, another moment of silence ensued, followed by a few sobs in the crowd which infuriated Liu Hao once again. He approached another student, holding his sword firmly when a burst of heat suddenly fell on the Raging Saber Sect's ship.

In the sky, an old man with bright red wings on his back floated in the air above the spiritual tool. His ashen-white beard flowed down to his chest and his eyes flickered with intensity as he gazed at Li Zhen.

Ma Shinfei's eyes illuminated as he shouted, "Master!"

Li Zhen grimaced while Liu Hao and Lan Biao slowly retreated behind him.

"That's enough, you can see they don't know anything. Since the purpose of your visit isn't here, you can return from where you come from." The old man quickly imposed his will without accepting any kind of refusal.

"Why, this affair has nothing to do with you." It could be seen Li Zhen wasn't as assertive as he usually is in front of this man however, he didn't back down.

They went through so much, planned thorougly and deployed many agents while Li Zhen gave up on so many precious resources to keep the envoys at Willowshade town. There was no room for failure, they went too far now and once the Tiger Martial Institute hear about it, they might strike back, but even so, as long as they could get their hands on Ye Mo, he was willing to bear the risks. This operation had to succeed, he won't return without avenging his son.

"Nothing to do with me, you say." The old man pointed at Ma Shinfei in the middle of the crowd, "Don't you see my disciple here you have been brutalizing all this time?"

Li Zhen shrugged his shoulders, "You can take him with you if you wish."

The old man's expression turned cold, "He was supposed to join the sect, why would I want to bring him back? No more chatter, take your friends with you and leave this boat, I won't repeat myself."

Liu Hao, Lan Biao and the others remained silent behind the Li clan patriarch, they knew it wasn't a matter they can butt in on.

Li Zhen bit his lips as he glared at the students, wishing he would see this familiar, hateful face, to no avail. Then he raised his head once more towards the flaming figure with resolution.

He was there when the Gao clan patriarch fought this man and saw the first being defeated. The most shocking for him at this moment was that the flame grandmaster used very controlled movements, he didn't seek to kill the Gao clan patriarch, but only to subdue him throughout the battle. In clear, he didn't use his full strength.

For Li Zhen, what it meant was evident, this old man was a peak Inner Core realm cultivator!

Nonetheless, Li Zhen leapt off the deck and rushed towards him as he hacked in the air with his sword.

An enormous crescent lightblade with an imposing aura, was launched at great speed towards the fiery figure.

The old man didn't move, flapping his flame wings to remain airborne as he pushed forward with his palm.

A vast firehand, larger than a horse carriage, was released. It pressed down and easily swallowed the crescent lightblade without a ripple on its surface before it continued on its way towards Li Zhen.

This one continously ascended, dangerously approaching the firehand.

"SLASH!" Li Zhen shouted in a thunderous volume as he engulfed himself in the fire, splitting the air with his sword from up to down.

The firehand's shape became deformed and unstable before it exploded, leaving Li Zhen's blazing figure slowly falling down, unmoving, until he crashed on the flying ship.

The collision with the rubber wood seemed to awake him as he struggled on his hands to stand up. A thin barrier could be seen surrounding his skin, but it wasn't enough to protect him from the fire as burns appeared and worsened on his body every second.

Without this barrier, Li Zhen would have been turned to cinders the moment he went in contact with the firehand.

Liu Hao waved his sword and sent a strong gust towards him, instantly extinguishing the remaining fire that covered him.

Li Zhen coughed and swallowed an healing pill while circulating his Qi, his skin was black for the most part and he had difficulties breathing, it took everything he had just to block one move of the flame grandmaster, he was in no state to continue fighting.

With Li Zhen out in one strike, Lan biao and Liu Hao had to resign themselves to leave, no one could oppose the old man.

In the forest below the Raging Saber Sect's spiritual tool, the Tiger Martial Institute's instructor opened his eyes.

"I am still alive?"

The instructor looked at himself and couldn't believe it. Although he used a defensive battle skill to protect himself, he expected to suffer heavy injuries falling from such a height, but the forest trees greatly slowed down his fall before he luckily fell into a pile of leaves over a small mound of soft earth leaving him with only a broken arm and a shock at the head.

Seeing his state, he rejoiced, but when he thought of what happened he endured his headache and quickly rose up, climbing to the peak of a tree to have a sight of the boat.

When he raised his head, he saw the spiritual tool was still floating, but there was a bright winged figure flying above.

At this moment, the instructor saw a scene that made his eyes open wide and his mouth fall down.

In the sky above the flaming person, the clouds parted way and from its void descended a tornado. This tornado had nothing natural and when it was near the old man's level, it dispersed revealing a middle-aged man that was concealed inside.

On his head, short black hair parted in the middle while under his feets was a whirlwind capable of grinding stones between its currents. Wearing a light purple silk brocade, his expression was calm and composed yet his presence was imposing.

Everyone witnessing this scene stood in awe.

"A celestial cultivator!" The instructor cried in his mind, astonished.