Urban Martial Saint

Old Chen was talking when he suddenly exclaimed and then fell silent.

Ye Qing paid him no mind and continued walking forward. But after a while, he felt there was no sound behind him, which made him a bit puzzled—how could Old Chen just suddenly fall silent? So, filled with curiosity, he turned to glance back, wanting to see what was happening with Old Chen.

However, when he turned his head, he discovered that Old Chen was not following behind him. He glanced around but didn’t see Old Chen anywhere, as if he had vanished into thin air, not by Ye Qing’s side at all.

”Old Chen, Old Chen? Where are you?” Ye Qing called out a few times, yet there was no response or sound from behind, nor did he hear any reply from Old Chen. Ye Qing was puzzled and took a few steps back, carefully observing the surroundings, but he didn’t see Old Chen at all. A wave of disbelief hit him—how could such a big living person just disappear suddenly? Could it be that Old Chen was some sort of ghost or specter?

This thought had just surfaced when Ye Qing immediately dismissed it. Although he had seen many strange occurrences, he was certain there were no ghosts in this world. Hence, he suspected that Old Chen had some method of concealing his form, similar to the invisibility sorcery used by Southeast Asian Sorcerers. Ye Qing had seen such invisibility techniques before—could Old Chen have practiced this invisibility sorcery?

In fact, Ye Qing was always unsure of Old Chen’s background and generally held a suspicion about him. The reason for bringing him along to search within the Gate of Life was also to keep an eye on him, to prevent him from attacking Fu Qingping and others. But Ye Qing never expected Old Chen would suddenly disappear without a trace at this moment, which not only jolted him but also made him more worried about Fu Qingping and others in the Stone Corridor. If Old Chen were to sneak attack Fu Qingping and his group, they’d be in real danger.

So, Ye Qing was only puzzled for a moment before turning and heading towards the Stone Corridor, planning to first go protect Fu Qingping’s group. But as he turned and just ran a few steps, he suddenly heard Old Chen’s voice from behind him: ”Hey, Young Ye, Young Ye!”

Ye Qing quickly turned his head and saw a distant black dot jumping around. The dot was about four or five hundred meters away, a distance so far he couldn’t clearly tell who it was. However, from the voice, this black dot was probably Old Chen.

Truthfully, given the distance, if this cave wasn’t enclosed and silent, combined with Ye Qing’s improved hearing, he wouldn’t have heard the shouting. Seeing Old Chen waving his arms from afar and calling out to him, Ye Qing’s initial puzzlement turned into shock—when did Old Chen get there?

Previously, Old Chen had been following closely behind Ye Qing, and Ye Qing had been searching ahead for the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master. Old Chen, being afraid of the dark, followed closely, almost clutching Ye Qing’s clothes. The distance between them was less than a foot. Yet, in less than ten seconds, Old Chen appeared four or five hundred meters away—such a scenario would shock anyone. How did Old Chen traverse that distance?

Ye Qing had seen the Purple Robe Lama’s Crossing the River with a Reed, Ding Lianshun and Yin Xianzi’s Carefree Movement, and even the Great Lord using the Forbidden Move at incredible speeds. These were some of the fastest individuals Ye Qing had seen. But Ye Qing knew clearly, even with their speed, it was impossible to cover four or five hundred meters in under ten seconds. Moreover, he had been observing the surroundings the whole time; if Old Chen had run there, he would have seen it. In other words, Old Chen certainly didn’t get there by running; he must have used some other method. But what kind of method could traverse such a distance so quickly?

Filled with shock and confusion, Ye Qing hurried a few steps forward, only to hear Old Chen shouting, quite a way off: ”Young Ye, I’m here, I’m here. Can you see? Look at my hands, I’m calling you. If you hear me, answer back. Even if you don’t answer, wave your hands to let me know you heard. Without that, how will I know if you heard me? Only when you give me a signal will I know you’ve heard me…”

Crap, this annoying Tang Seng, even at this time he has the mind to chatter!

Ye Qing cursed inwardly, hearing Old Che’s constant rambling, quickly said, ”Alright, alright, I heard you, I heard you!”

Despite Ye Qing’s response, Old Chen didn’t stop, instead continued, ”Hearing is one thing, but waving your hands is something else. Didn’t I just tell you, you have to wave your hands so I know you’ve heard me. If now you just answer without waving your hands, it shows you didn’t really hear what I said earlier. What I said was…”

Ye Qing adorned with dark lines on his forehead, sighed internally—this Old Chen sure had a knack for it, grabbing a single sentence and making so much out of it.

”How did you get so far?” Ye Qing interrupted Old Chen abruptly, seeing Old Chen about to speak again, quickly added, ”Focus on the main point, or I won’t bring you out!”

Old Chen was startled by Ye Qing’s words, paused as if contemplating something. After some time, he finally looked up at Ye Qing and said, ”What counts as the main point?”

Ye Qing nearly spat blood, helplessly said, ”Just tell me how you got there, in a single sentence!”

”Oh, I took a step and got here!” Old Chen replied, indeed with one crisp and clear sentence. But what kind of nonsense was that? Ye Qing couldn’t decipher what it meant. What’s it mean to take one step to get there? Did he leap four or five hundred meters in one step?

”Can you be a bit more detailed…” Ye Qing said helplessly.

”Crap, why didn’t you say so earlier!” Old Chen rolled his eyes, said, ”This is a long story, starting from when I was following you earlier. Like I said, I was behind you because I was worried about your safety, so I stayed very close…”

Here Ye Qing nearly broke down—the old man started to ramble again. But in order to unravel the truth, Ye Qing had to endure and listen carefully despite his frustration. Otherwise, he would never understand how in an instant, Old Chen moved so far. Old Chen didn’t disappoint—what could have been a simple matter took him ten full minutes to explain. Eventually, Ye Qing understood the situation: essentially, while following Ye Qing, Old Chen inadvertently stepped aside, thinking there was ground below. But as he stepped down, he fell into a hole, and when he climbed out, he was already four or five hundred meters away!

Ye Qing hadn’t expected such an explanation; he glanced back at the path he just walked. The stone paths were smooth with no special features. But what on earth happened? Was there something wrong with this cave itself, or did Old Chen lie to him?

Though Ye Qing maintained suspicion towards Old Chen, in this instance, he didn’t believe Old Chen was lying. If Old Chen intended to deceive him, he’d choose a more plausible story, not something like this which could be easily debunked. So, Ye Qing’s intuition suggested the issue lay with the cave. This sole exit, this final Gate of Life, perhaps isn’t so straightforward. Otherwise, the werewolves inside this cave might have already left.

”Which path did you take just now?” Ye Qing asked loudly.

Old Chen: ”With you asking that way, how am I supposed to answer? We’re so far apart, I can’t point out the path I took to you. If I’m here pointing it out, you wouldn’t see. I’d tell you, and you wouldn’t understand. Your way of asking isn’t right, or else you…”

”Enough, stop talking, run over here and show me!” Ye Qing directly interrupted Old Chen, inwardly regretting giving this old man any chance to speak. Once Old Chen starts talking, even ghost gods couldn’t stop him.

”You want me to run over? Hey, kid, are you kidding me? Such a long distance and you want me to run? I may not be old, but I’m still a few years your senior. As the saying goes, respect for elders and love for the young are traditional virtues of our nation. I’m older than you, technically your elder, asking me to run—is that respect? I…” Old Chen delved into his habitual rambling.

”Hurry and run over here, or else I won’t take you out!” Ye Qing yelled, seeing no reasoning with the old man, threats seemed to work better.

”Okay!” Old Chen was straightforward this time, didn’t dare waste more words, and promptly started running towards Ye Qing.

Ye Qing watched from a distance as Old Chen ran, but after covering a dozen meters, he suddenly stumbled forward, and as he fell to the ground, he seemed to fuse into the surface, disappearing as though he fell into water.

Ye Qing widened his eyes, never witnessing such a spectacle—watching as Old Chen fell and merged with the ground, vanishing completely, witnessing the entire process left him frozen, with a single question resounding in his mind: What on earth just happened?

”Hey, Young Ye, Young Ye!” While Ye Qing stood dumbfounded, Old Chen’s voice came again from another direction. Ye Qing turned and saw Old Chen standing on his left about more than three hundred meters away. The location Old Chen was now standing was approximately four hundred meters from where he fell. Meaning, in an instant, he had moved over four hundred meters!

What is going on?