Book 1 Chapter 44: Three days of tracking; an approaching mortal danger!
In the evening of the next day, in that hotel,
Zhang Zhenshan was sitting at a table with a frosty expression listening to Zhao Ping, who was quickly giving a report on Bai Yunfei’s situation beside him.
After he finished listening to the report, Zhang Zhenshan felt silent for a while then suddenly stood up and waved at the tracking gray rat, which was gnawing on a small fruit on the table. The little animal stopped its movements and raised its head to look at Zhang Zhenshan. It was obviously somewhat hesitant, but after Zhao Ping verbally urged it a bit, it quickly climbed on Zhang Zhenshan’s shoulder.
“Master, do you want to get into action immediately?” Zhao Ping could not help saying on one side, “To run all the way to this place, you must have used a lot of your soulforce. It would be better for you to rest for a while.”
“I can handle myself!” Zhang Zhenshan frowned slightly and said expressionly then walked out of the hotel without hesitation.
Watching Zhang Zhenshan’s silhouette quickly getting away, Zhao Ping sighed gently and murmured: “As a Soul Sprite, master should have no problem dealing with a soul cultivator of the Soul Warrior stage. But I always feel that that man is still hiding something. When we fought last time, he certainly didn’t use all his power. Hopefully master won’t lose himself due to his desire for vengeance…”
… … … …
Tracking gray rats were level-1 soul beasts, the lowest-ranked soul beasts. They were basically harmless and almost unable to level up, but they were highly valued by some people because they had a special ability, namely tracking!
If a target’s body was stained with their saliva then for the next three days, no matter where the target run to or hide, they could always find the target’s location accurately.
Moreover, unless their saliva was washed off with a special liquid medicine, it would be impossible to get rid of it!
In less than three hours, under the guidance of the tracking gray rat, Zhang Zhenshan had arrived at that place on a bank of that small river where Bai Yunfei had taken a rest last night.
After arriving at this place, the tracking gray rat suddenly let out low squeaks. Zhang Zhenshan halted his steps doubtfully and saw this little animal jump off his shoulder, run to the edge of the river and stop for a while, seemingly unsure about something, then run back and forth in that area. He could even see that its little nose seemed to be twitching again and again.
“That man was unexpectedly so vigilant. He carefully washed off the tracking gray rat’s saliva at this place!” Seeing the little animal’s behavior, Zhang Zhenshan had a somewhat unsightly expression. He gave a cold snort then quietly waited for the gray rat to search, “So what if he did that? Without washing himself with that special liquid medicine, he can only make me spend a bit more time at most. It’s impossible for him to escape!”
Sure enough, several minutes later, the tracking gray rat suddenly rushed up along the small river while squeaking excitedly then trotted on Zhang Zhenshan’s shoulder again. With a happy expression, Zhang Zhenshan dashed in that direction without hesitation.
His speed had already reached its maximum. As he moved at full gallop, he created buzzing sounds that could even be heard from very far away in the quiet night. The tracking gray rat on his shoulder was also clutching his collar tightly with its little front paws while curling up into a ball so that it would not be thrown off.
Chasing nonstop for an entire night, only in the morning of the next day did Zhang Zhenshan stop. After resting for two hours and letting the tracking gray rat confirm the direction a bit, he continued to give chase…
Only when the sun went down behind the mountains and the moon began to rise did Zhang Zhenshan stop again in a grove. He took some food out from his interspatial ring and eat it. At the same time, he recovered his spent soulforce.
However, now there was already a vague trace of anxiety on his face.
“Damn it! Just how far away has that man run? He should have run nonstop for a day at most. Seeing that nobody was chasing him, he should have relaxed his vigilance and slowed down… But even though I’ve been chasing at my top speed, I unexpectedly still haven’t found any trace of him!
“If I miss this opportunity, I don’t know when I’ll be able to find him again. If he runs out of Qingyun Province, it’ll be near impossible for me to avenge Yang’er!
“Two days has already passed. There’s only one day left. I’ve got to catch up with him tomorrow no matter what!”
The next day, which was also the last day of the time limit for the tracking, Zhang Zhenshan even gave up rest to chase at full speed with all his might nonstop.
In the afternoon, when there was only less than half a day left until the deadline of the tracking, Zhang Zhenshan’s expression became more anxious. There was already even a tinge of despair on his face: “Could it be… I really can’t catch up with him?”
Right at this moment, the tracking gray rat on his shoulder suddenly began to cry in a low tone. Noticing its unusual behavior, Zhang Zhenshan hurriedly stopped and looked at it in a slightly nervous manner.
The little animal sniffed its nose cautiously, let out two cries again and waved its claws gently, seeming to be somewhat excited.
“We’re getting close?! I’ve finally come near that man!!” Seeing the little animal’s behavior, Zhang Zhenshan could not help shouting in pleasant surprise.
Putting the little animal back on his shoulder, he galloped forwards again.
An hour later, when he was climbing over a small mountain, the gray rat suddenly raised the pitch of its cries a lot, appearing especially excited. Zhang Zhenshan was delighted inside. He looked down the mountain carefully and saw that on a meadow at the foot of the mountain, a silhouette of a person was running towards a forest up ahead.
That person seemed to be a young man. At the moment, even though he was not running at high speed, he was definitely not running slowly either.
As Zhang Zhenshan looked at this silhouette, his entire body began to trembled slightly, his expression was almost distorted and endless hatred and fury erupted from his eyes.
“It’s him! It’s definitely him! Finally, you’ve let me catch up with you! I won’t let you get away. Now pay for the death of my son with your life!!”
… … … …
That night, after discovering that the enemy might be tracking him, Bai Yunfei ran quickly for two whole days. Except for when he had to stop to take a rest, he did not stop at all!
Moreover, he did not know if this was a psychological effect or not, but when he sniffed at his right hand again after a period of time, he unexpectedly vaguely noticed that strange odor. This discovery made him worried even more in his mind. Almost every time he stopped, he would scrub his hands nonstop for over ten minutes, as if this was the only way that could make him feel a bit more at ease…
Two days later, he finally could no longer endure running at high speed day and night. After having a good rest for half a night, he slowed down while continuing to go forwards.
It must be said that thanks to using the Wave Treading Steps unceasingly for two days and nights, his mastery of this soul technique had improved at an unimaginable rate. If he had practiced this technique as usual, even though he was not lazy at all, it would have taken him at least ten days to reach his current level of proficiency with the Wave Treading Steps.
At noon, right after climbing over a mountain, he ate some food then went forwards in this rather large meadow. There was a forest not far up ahead. Bai Yunfei intended to go through this forest to see if he could find a populated place.
Looking at this seemingly endless area of grass and trees in front of him, Bai Yunfei almost felt like crying and murmured:
“This is really… Where am I actually at now?”