Martial Peak

Chapter 6118, Escape (2)

Author: Silavin

Without needing directions, Hong Jun led the way towards their original room. The guest room where Xing Ting and Yang Ji had stayed before. Xing Ting and Hong Jun would speak to each other in private while Yang Ji just followed along while looking at the other guests walking about.

When they were just outside the room, Xing Ting was about to open the door using a token when Hong Jun raised his arm to stop her. His expression changed from that of solemn to grave.

“To think they’ve already started to act. These traitorous rats are truly unbelievable.” Hong Jun said under his breath and he turned to Xing Ting and warned using his Divine Sense. “Have your guard up. If I’m not wrong, they’ve already laced the room with traps.”

“Then, should I open it or not?” Xing Ting immediately frowned upon receiving that response. If it were her, she would never open the doors if she knew it was a trap. However… Hong Jun was different in that sense, and she knew it was best to just ask him before they proceeded.

“Of course open it. They’re now acting in the shadows. I want to draw them all out into the light, every single one of them.” Hong Jun’s eyes narrowed as Xing Ting gave a nod and opened the door with the token. As expected, the moment the token lit up, there was a bright flash that engulfed every gap on the door.

*Boom!*

This was naturally not there the first time Yang Ji and Xing Ting had entered the room. So, Xing Ting quickly retreated back with Yang Ji in her arms as Hong Jun stood at the very front to brave any possible dangers from the room.

And truly as expected, the whole room blew up. It was an explosion so massive that the entire building shook and many of its guests were shocked beyond words. After all, this was Revitalisation Inn, made to mainly house clients that were about to enter the Pool of Revitalisation.

Each one of their clients naturally had backing that would cause the Outer Heaven to tremble. Each one was someone no one dared to cross. Furthermore, this whole inn was structured around the support of numerous powerful Sects and Clans. If one dared to take action here, it would be equivalent to crossing every one of these Forces that supported Revitalisation Inn. Even the powerful Hong Clan would take heed as to not cause any trouble here. Or at the very least, this was what Xing Ting and initially anticipated.

Never in her wildest dreams would she think of someone taking action here, within the inn, within their own room!

Still, with Xing Ting and Hong Jun already on alert, such an explosion would naturally not be able to do anything to them. However, was the explosion even meant to hurt them in the first place?

Immediately after the explosion, an army of footsteps could be heard rushing towards the scene. Before even the dust had settled, both sides of the walkway had been blocked.

A man that Yang Ji had never seen before appeared in front of one side of the group, hindering them. He had a sword at his waist, and long hair that draped down to his waist. In terms of appearance, he could be described as handsome to some and mediocre to others, with a look that seems fierce upon a glance. Still, he was dressed well even compared to the men besides him, clearly a rank higher than the others.

The man stood tall and proud, declaring without wasting any time, “Those that dare to cause havoc within our Defiance City will be jailed without exception! Go!”

Hong Jun, seeing this theatrics play out, sneered and mocked, “Is this the meaning of Defiance City, are they going against my Hong Clan!?”

From the other side, another voice could be heard, though the person seemingly dared not show themself.

“Hong Jun, who are you to declare this affair has anything to do with the Hong Clan! Don’t drag the Clan’s name into the mud!”

The voice was clear and loud, yet from beginning to end, the person hid behind the crowd without the guts to show themselves.

Hearing such talk, Hong Jun scoffed in utter ridicule, “If your words hold true, then why hide like a rat, afraid of being caught by me?” Hong Jun then turned back to the tall and proud man, “I know you people are in on this farce too. Us setting explosives within our own room? What kind of idiot would do that? And, besides Xing Ting here, who else could possibly open the doors to set up such a trap? Aren’t you afraid that I will tear away your skull from your body?”

The man did not seem bothered by all this commotion. In fact, he smiled to himself, started clapping, and looked at Hong Jun like he was looking at a fool. “What a great story you’ve come up with. Either way, Defiance City would need to investigate the matter before anything can be decided upon. I will definitely bring the truth out into the light, no need for Sir to concern yourself over this. For now, kindly follow us so that we can start the investigation.”

Once the man said his piece, he moved his chin, signalling for the others to take action. Meanwhile, he remained standing on the spot, like a general watching his soldiers charge into battle with little regard for their life.

When Hong Jun saw this his eyes immediately narrowed into slits. His brain quickly worked out and he cursed, [What a great scheme!]

Was the explosion that big of a deal in Defiance City, no, within Revitalisation Inn? Technically, this was not a major deal. It could be another Force hostile to the Hong Clan that did it, and they could be cleared of suspicion. Furthermore, no one was actually harmed so the matter could be suppressed or made an non-issue of.

Then, were these people wrong to be carrying out an ‘investigation’?

No, by every measure, they should investigate. However, during the investigation, where would the suspects be held? They would confine the suspects to one place, with their cultivation seal for the safety of others. This was something Xing Ting and Hong Jun could never allow.

Furthermore, it was extremely suspicious that those charging at Hong Jun seem to hold little regard to their own life. These people were not from the Lower Realm, and bore not a trace of its aura. So, they should be people born and raised in the Upper Realm without any issue with Bloodline. Yet, such people were rushing at him recklessly even when Hong Jun could sense that their cultivation realm was much lower than Xing Ting.

Obviously, they too, being this weak, should be able to have a sense of how strong Hong Jun and Xing Ting were from the pressure of their exposed aura, yet they were still charging ahead like this.

What did this mean?

In short, if Hong Jun took action and accidentally killed any of them, this matter would be blown out of proportion. Hong Jun could not tell if the whole Defiance City was against them, but if he killed guards of the city, it was only natural that the city would turn hostile against him. Even those that did not take part in this scheme would most likely have no choice but to stand against him.

Once that happened, even the Hong Clan would no longer be able to protect them. They would be fish on the chopping block.

At that point, it would truly be difficult to save the actual Young Mistress.

Despite being a brute, Hong Jun was actually quite acute in such matters after serving the Hong Clan for so long. So, it only took him a moment to identify the scheme.

Hong Jun turned to Yang Ji and Xing Ting, ordering them, “We’re escaping!”

Without missing a beat, Hong Jun immediately wrote something in the air and punched it with all his might.

*Ciiii*

The following scene was something Yang Ji would never forget. From that Rune came a blinding light that expanded the moment it was formed. Hong Jun punched the Rune, causing it to completely rupture, causing all that pent up energy to be directed in one single direction.

The concentrated energy turned into a beam that blasted into the room, annihilating everything that stood in its way. There was no explosion, only the immediate incineration of all matter in its way. In fact, the building itself could not contain all that energy and it pierced out of the building, into the sky.

While the others were covering their eyes or stepping back due to the sheer overwhelming pressure from this one move, Hong Jun had already grabbed Yang Ji and the leap out of the building from that opening, using that blinding light as cover.

Xing Ting, who had seen this Technique countless times, already protected her eyes before Hong Jun completed the move and had started charging forward the moment the punch landed.

The three had thus escaped from the Revitalisation Inn, leaving the two groups pincering them behind.

When the dust and light cleared, the others present on the site looked at each other in confusion, looking for them. This was when the proud man raised his voice with a smile, as though everything had gone to plan. “No need to chase after them. You’ve all done well enough. Chasing after an Immortal King is beyond us. Just take back what had been left on the ground as compensation for the damages here.”

It was unclear if what he said was only meant for his men. Nevertheless, as he said, within the room were piles of Immortal Crystals, left behind by Hong Jun…

…

As they were running through the street, mixing in between the crowd, Hong Jun began to slow down and started to walk. He said to Xing Ting using his Divine Sense, “No need to continue running. They are not coming after us.”

Xing Ting found this to be odd and she could not help but ask, “Sir, you’ve left them so many Immortal Crystals. Did your bribe work?”

“Bribe? Like that would work on that old fox Liu Sang Hu. That was compensation for the damages, lest they find some kind of rubbish to pin it on us and continue chasing after us.” Hong Jun scoffed, “People of your generation do not remember Liu Sang Hu but he has plenty of connections to our Hong Clan. If I am not wrong, he had acted under orders from someone within our Clan but he cannot go so far as to disregard his post here. So, he can only go this far, anymore and he might cross others in Defiance City. But, regardless of the outcome, he should have already accomplished his goal with this.”

“His goal?” Xing Ting frowned and Hong Jun explained, “To drive us away from Revitalisation Inn and out into the city. The inn is basically under his jurisdiction. Once we are outside, we are someone else’s problem.”

“Huh? He’s that sly?” Xing Ting thought back on how that man looked, and she frowned.

“That’s why I said he’s an old fox.” Hong Jun sneered. “Those traitors will also be able to act more openly once we are outside the inn.”

That was when Yang Ji spoke up, “Are we going to leave the city, or are we going to stay inside?”

Upon hearing his voice, Hong Jun immediately frowned. Instead of talking verbally, he communicated solely using his Divine Sense, “brat, say quiet if you don’t want to die.”

That was when Yang Ji smiled and replied back, “if you are so worried about my voice being heard, then just make a barrier around us. I’ve already helped you all out by staying quiet back inside the inn. Now that we are outside, I should be able to at least talk. You two have been using your Divine Sense to speak to one another, leaving me out of the loop. Since we are helping each other out here, don’t you think we should be able to openly communicate?”

Xing Ting started sweating upon hearing what Yang Ji had said, while Hong Jun had a twitch in his eye. They could not help but wonder if this boy was truly asking for death.

“Hey, if you waste any more time, then others might really hear me.” Yang Ji said and turned to eye his surroundings. Naturally, such an action only served to perturb Hong Jun, but it was enough to make him take action as well.

Hong Jun drew another Rune and placed it on Yang Ji’s forehead, which unlike what Yang Ji had asked for, made him completely silent. Any word that came out of his mouth could not be heard. He could only mouth them out.

“Brat, you think you can take advantage of the situation to threaten me? You are dreaming!” Hong Jun mocked using his Divine Sense.

Yang Ji’s eyes narrowed as though he was saying, ‘oh? You want to play that game, huh?’

As though already reading his mind, Hong Jun moved once more before Yang Ji took out his headwear and made another Rune that froze him in place.

“Sir, is that really wise? If others see the ‘Young Mistress’ in this state, won’t they start suspecting us?” Xing Ting question, which was responded with a rebuke, “Then, you expect me to do as he pleases?”

“But Sir, if he is frozen like that, even people are looking at us with suspicion…” Xing Ting pointed out and indeed as she said, there were many people around them pointing at the three, discussing about something…