Paving a way to their destiny

"To think you guys would still be pursuing me after all this time." The flame grandmaster sighed as he stared at the new arrivant.

"Huo Yan, I didn't expect you to be hiding in this Cloud region, if you didn't flaunt your abilities in front of these monkeys just now, I might have missed you. After two decades I will be able to bring you back to my Stormridge Sect and retrieve the techniques you and your friend stole." The celestial cultivator looked at the flame grandmaster, his expression calm and indifferent.

The Stormridge Sect was a large sect from the southern lands of the Blazing Sun Continent.

Huo Yan sneered, retorting coldly, "What we stole? Brother Ma and I went through the inheritance trials and risked our lives like any of you, what we gained was earned fairly through blood, sweat and our own capabilites, there wasn't your names inscribed on these martial arts. Yet, you and your sect members pursued and ambushed us to take what was rightfully ours, it wasn't enough that you killed my sworn brother, you even injured my diantian, making my cultivation revert to the Inner Core Realm without any chance to break through again and have been chasing me for nearly twenty years."

"This inheritance was in the territory of my Stormridge Sect and everything that is inside is our possession, you lone cultivators dared secretly infiltrate the inheritance ground and steal from our hands, even when we caught you and asked for the martial arts you acquired you chose to fight us instead, you both deserve death!" The celestial cultivator said icily as he waved his hand, sending several sharp blade of winds at Huo Yan.

Ma Shinfei's master covered himself in a dense cloak of flames, but the blade of winds easily penetrated his defense and cut his flesh open.

His wings of flame were also damaged in this first exchange as Huo Yan fell down at first before he quickly poured his Qi resulting in more flames covering the holes on his wings while he flapped them and rose up in the sky once more.

The celestial cultivator, forced to chase after him for so many years had the time to build up his hatred. If it wasn't to capture Huo Yan and make him hand over the martial arts he obtained in the inheritance, he would have went for the kill from the start.

Huo Yan had many wounds on his body, with blood dripping down to the Jade Forest below.

Before it started, the result was already decided. An Inner Core realm can't face a celestial cultivator, only celestials can beat celestials.

Seeing the state in which was his master, Ma Shinfei ran to the edge of the boat, shouting, "Master, let me help you!" Flames covered his hands as he held his black stick, he was ready to fight.

The celestial cultivator sneered looking at Ma Shinfei, "Is this your disciple? I wonder if you will be more inclined to hand over the martial arts if I take him with me, maybe you even taught them to him."

Huo Yan looked at his disciple with a resigned look as he took a decision.

When he and Ma Shinfei's grandfather were ambushed, the latter sacrificed his life to enable Huo Yan to escape, making him promise to take care of his family.

Huo Yan had to hid from his pursuers and recuperate from his injuries at the same time, even with his sworn brother's informations, he took years before he found the traces of Ma Shinfei and his sister in Azure Water City, taking them under his wing.

If it wasn't for his brother's demand he wouldn't have spared a glance to them. Huo Yan was a celestial cultivator in the past, even rank 5 talents would beg to become his disciple much less a poor orphan like Ma Shinfei. In tales, great masters discovering talented youths in need and taking them as disciple to teach them from scratch are plenty, but in reality, without underlying motives, such cases are rare.

Huo Yan raised his hands and projected a wall of flame at his opponent. At the same time he sent a mental transmission to Ma Shinfei, "Jump off the boat and run."

Ma Shinfei refused, "Master, I can't let you fight him by yourself!"

Huo Yan snorted, displeased, "Do you think your master is weak enough to require the assistance of a punk like you? Run with all your strength, even if your legs give in, your Qi run out, and your breath is cut short, keep going without ever turning back."

"What about big sister?" Ma Shinfei had complete trust in the old man and as he asked, he already lept off the ship, falling staight towards the wood.

Ma Shinfei and her sister lived together with Huo Yan in his residence, he didn't want to separate from her, in addition, if he left while something happened to his master, she could be in danger by herself in the city.

"Don't worry, she grew acquainted with a man and lives with him currently, he won't let anything happen to her."

"A man?! How could she not talk to me about it! Who is he, no man should think of getting close to my sister without my approbation, I have to go back and see her!" Ma Shinfei exhaled sharply, immediately demanding answers.

His master's voice rumbled in his mind, "You idiot, how could she inform you of anything when you have spent this last year cultivating in the institute or fighting in the Jade Forest, if you wanted to know anything you should have visited us more often. I have assured myself of this young man's intentions already, obviously, he has no ulterior motives or I wouldn't have let her go with him."

"I left all my best martial arts in your spatial pouch, if you really want to see her then leave, leave and grow stronger, so strong you won't even need to fear celestial cultivators. At the bare minimum, don't return to Azure Water City before you have mastered all my techniques, if you break this last wish of mine you're not my disciple and I will curse you to be burned alive no matter where I stand."

Huo Yan's voice was overwhelming as he gave his instructions so when it came to an end, Ma Shinfei's mind felt disturbingly quiet.

His master's voice wasn't heard anymore.

It seemed to have been a long mental discussion, but it only took a few thoughts so when they were done, the wall of flame just reached the celestial cultivator.

The whirlwind over his feets quickly enlarged and repelled the wall of flame, but when it was deflected, Huo Yan appeared above the celestial cultivator.

"You wanted the martial arts I obtained in the inheritance? Take this one!"

Huo Yan joined his palms together and placed them over his opponent's head, flames were released from his hands and surrounded the celestial cultivator's body, turning into a large sphere of fire that concealed his figure and anything occuring inside.

Flamebound Ensnarement - High-tier Star Class battle skill

The celestial cultivator was trapped inside, lights flashed and the sphere rumbled, but Huo Yan gritted his teeth and held on, putting all his forces in maintaining the imprisonment.

In the meantime, Ma Shinfei who was plummeting down, took his stick in his hands and rotated it above his head at great speed, considerably lowering the pace at which he fell.

The tip of his stick was covered in flames and as it spinned above, a torrent of heat spread outward. When Ma Shinfei was close to the ground, the heat turned into a column of fire cascading downward, alleviating the fall and allowing him to land without damage.

Ma Shinfei quickly darted forward, leaving a blazing fire engulfing the wood where he landed. It would only amplify and burn countless beings if it was left alone, but Ma Shinfei didn't look back like his master instructed as he distanced himself from the area.

On the flying vessel, Li Zhen recuperated to some degrees, but he didn't have the leisure to rest as he watched the battle above. 

"We attacked this spiritual tool from the Raging Saber Sect and killed some kids, those are actions from the demonic faction. If this celestial cultivator saw everything, he might kill us without hearing a word after he is done with the flame grandmaster." Coming to this conclusion, Li Zhen stepped on his sword and flew away without a notice.

"Wait for me!" Liu Hao quickly rode on his shuttle and went after him. With both leaving, Lan Biao sat on his thunderwing beetle blood beast and left as well, leaving Tie Jinghong by himself on the deck with the students. Without the shuttle he shared with Liu Hao, he didn't have any means of locomotion to return home.

Huo Yan was able to trap his opponent for half a minute, but despite his best efforts, the celestial cultivator finally broke down the sphere.

"Not bad, to keep me this long with an Inner Core cultivation, you will tell me more about this battle skill." 

The celestial cultivator proceeded to chop up Huo Yan's limbs and grabbed his clothes to bring him along. The cultivator looked at the deck with a frown then landed on the boat and asked the students in which direction went Ma Shinfei.

Those youths couldn't even utter a word in fear so they pointed in a direction with a trembling hand. The celestial cultivator immediately darted in this direction, the limbless torso of the flame grandmaster still in hand, grunting in pain intermittently.

Very far from this area, in another part of the Jade Forest, a shadow flitted across the wood, gliding effortlessly over trees and grasses.

After some time, it changed back into a youth with dark eyes, sprinting in a straight line surrounded by wind currents.

"I wonder if the Li or the Liu clan attacked the ship in the end, in any case, it doesn't have anything to do with me anymore." Ye Mo thought casually.

His philosophy towards self-preservation has always been to anticipate problems and avoid them before they knock at his door. Ye Mo has always been aware the Li and Liu clan would never let him live after he killed their heir, obviously he couldn't be allowed to join a sect, he had to be killed before that.

The Li and Liu clan had a certain understanding of Ye Mo, this one also knew his opponents well. Both clans concluded the students journey towards the sect was their last chance to kill him, when putting himself in their shoes and thinking about it, Ye Mo also deduced there was a chance they would attack the Raging Saber Sect spiritual tool.

"As long as I remained behind the walls of the institute and didn't give my enemies an opportunity, they couldn't approach. In this case, their only choice would be to strike when I am forced to leave, but only someone with an endless rage directed at me would dare attack the ship of the sect and put their lives and those of their relatives at risk. Now did they really ambush them, who knows..."

Anticipation came from your own knowledge and understanding, Ye Mo just had a wild thought, but he couldn't predict a whole coalition of his enemies would take the boat under assault.

He couldn't be certain, but as long as there was a possibility, he couldn't take any risk. Because if one of them attacked, it would be after thorough planification and making sure everything would go smoothly, if he was still present once they land on the boat, Ye Mo would be a sheep in the wolf's mouth.

However, there was something that no one in the city could have foreseen.

Ye Mo never had the intention to join the Raging Saber Sect.

For most people, mortals and cultivators alike, it was inconceivable. Most inhabitants of Azure Water City dream simply of joining a martial institution, the most ambitious of them aspire to join a sect in their life and fare well among them, how could anyone believe someone would actually refuse this opportunity. It was akin to being offered the crown of a king but refusing it to return to a life of miser.

Even more absurd, Ye Mo was escaping, leaving both the sect and the Tiger Martial Institute behind. This would no doubt turn into an humiliation and they might send experts after him.

Nonetheless, Ye Mo was clear about it and made his choice long ago.

"The Raging Saber Sect is only a middle-sized sect in the central lands, although its wealth and strength is incomparable to a mere city institute, it is not at the top of the food chain and still need to pay tributes to subsist. Moreover, as its name implies, the sect specialize on saber wielding and many of their members from low to upper-echelons use this weapon. Although as a sect, they possess an uncountable amount of martial arts to suit the taste of anyone and not all their members train in saberplay, the fact is that saber wielders are still those who benefit and thrive the most under their care."

"This environment is not suitable for my growth, although I would still progress much with them, I don't need to waste my time in this sect when I can profit much more and cultivate faster behind the walls of a greater force." 

Wether before or after joining the Tiger Martial Institute, Ye Mo always dismissed the Raging Saber Sect in his plans, from the beginning he planned to escape after accumulating his strength in the institute for a year.

That's why after everything he still chose to assassinate Fang Jishen. The Tiger Martial Institute will undoubtedly find his disappearance at some point. No matter how well Ye Mo hid his culpability, they could still somehow discover the murder and track it down to him, at this point, he might have been a member of the Raging Saber Sect, but it wouldn't have changed anything.

The Tiger Martial Institute and the Raging Saber Sect collaborate and often exchange together.

Once the institute find what happened, they could simply contact the sect and this one would send Ye Mo back to the institute or even punish him themselves, why would they care about a minor outer disciple that just joined them? The only way they would protect him is if he was an outstanding disciple that showed prodigious capabilities, but in only a few weeks or months there was not enough time for him to change anything, at this point, the instructors could easily visit the sect and have Ye Mo handed over to them to deal with him as they wish.

"But none of this matter since I was going to escape and being researched anyway, killing Fang Jishen didn't change any of my plans."

Because he always planned to leave, there was now the question how to escape?

When Ye Mo picked his concealment technique, he had many purpose for it. One of them was to leave the institute unnoticed from the Liu clan encirclement or the instructors to research the pure iridescent cave in peace, another was the principle of such techniques, avoiding to attract the attention of both blood beasts and cultivators. It could be seen when he was in the jungle looking for the cave or during the year-end competition, wether to attack or to avoid confrontations, these battle skills were extremely convenient in the wilderness and as a demonic cultivator who wished to roam the lands, it would keep proving its usefulness.

But one of the main reason he had in mind when he took Shadow Walk was this moment when he would have to escape without alerting the instructors and envoys present.

The first day of travel inside the ship, he used all his time to cultivate without leaving his room and was able to completely fill his dantian with Qi.

When the night obscured the lands and stars glittered in the sky, Ye Mo used Shadow Walk and left his cabin, moving all the way to the bottom of the boat without anyone sensing anything. Then he observed the ground below for a few seconds before he left the shadows and dropped down straight towards the Jade Forest.

The winds howled in his ears as the forest rushed to meet him.

A fall of this height could prove fatal even for cultivators if not prepared, but with his body refining cultivation, Ye Mo was serene. The first impact came with cracks— branches snapped beneath his weight, leaves exploded into the air and twigs clawed at his clothes as he went through the green expanse that separated heavens from earth.

It significantly lowered the speed of his fall although his flesh was cut several times until he finally crashed into a small mound of leaves and grasses packed together the size of a grown man which softened the effect of the last impact and helped him endure the fall with minimal damage.

Throughout the outer edge of the forest, multiple similar soft landing piles have been set up beforehand by Ye Mo during the year-end competition. He was aware there was one in this place when he watched the terrain below from the ship and saw a place where the ground wasn't covered by vegetation, many fallen trees instead laid down, their trunk cut open.

He could recognize the area where he fought Li Qiang and from it, he tracked down several locations where he made these makeshift cushions and dropped towards the closest one.

When he stood up, his clothes were ripped at several areas and his skin was lacerated by the branches, but beside that, he only had some pain in his back thanks to his powerful body.

With Endless Vitality, these wounds didn't take long to vanish.

From then on he used Shadow Walk and continuously advanced through the woods. When Li Zhen and others attacked the ship, Ye Mo had already been running nonstop for a night and half a day, only pausing to recuperate his Qi and was a thousand miles away from here.

He switched to Wind Flow at this moment only for better Qi management, Shadow Walk, although a mid-tier movement technique, had concealment as its main ability and was rather slow among other battle skills of this level. Wind Flow instead focused solely on speed so although Shadow Walk as mid-tier was still slightly faster, the difference wasn't big, what was big instead was their Qi consumption, Shadow Walk consuming nearly thrice Wind Flow's amount every second.

Now that he was very far from the ship, he used Wind Flow, not only he would expend less Qi, he would be able to run much longer ultimately traveling greater distances.

"My target has always been one of the three hegemons of the central lands, the Ascending Dawn Sect. It stands among the most powerful sects of the continent and is also the closest to the Mountain Breeze Province, they govern over all the provinces and regions of the east and even the Raging Saber Sect subsist in their territory only because they allow it. They also don't specialize on any field, but focus on every aspect of Qi cultivation, training there will have ten times the result than in any middle-sized sect."

Ye Mo always sought the best environment to meet his needs and progress faster, since he was confident in joining this sect he wouldn't bother with another smaller one.

"It will be a long travel from here to the Ascending Dawn Sect and I won't reach it anytime soon, but that's not a bad thing as I have many things to sort out in the meantime." Ye Mo laughed coldly.

In his grand plan, Azure Water City is just a starting point, to reach his goal, he wished to roam the world and use everything it has to offer.

For cultivators, a few seconds is enough to exchange many blows and travel big distances, in half a minute Ma Shinfei was already nowhere to be seen and Ye Mo who pushed his body ceaselessly and ran for a night and half a day wouldn't be found in this vast forest even if several celestial cultivators were after him.

Unbeknownst to everyone, there was another youth who vanished without a trace from the ship as Shen Xue's cabin was left completely empty.