The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 130 Tracking

Xue Minghua and Zhang Yunling flew in one direction for several days without stopping, but apart from a few forests and grasslands, they did not see anything else. Finally, they decided to stop and rest.

Upon landing, Zhang Yunling had exhausted a significant amount of spiritual energy, and her breathing became somewhat rapid.

Xue Minghua, on the other hand, was much more composed. He took out several pill-like objects from the bracelet on his left wrist and handed them to Zhang Yunling, explaining:

"Eat a few of these to restore your strength."

Zhang Yunling took it and swallowed one. Sure enough, his dantian was replenished with some spiritual energy. This was a common healing pill in the Dao Tian Continent, a second-grade Qi Condensation Pill.

However, what puzzled him even more was that they had traveled such a long distance without seeing any buildings along the way. Although he had never traveled such a long distance before, he still wanted to ask why.

"When I was traveling between the three major Daoist sects, I didn't realize how far it was. But after leaving the Quanzhen Sect, I've come to realize just how vast this world is..."

Xue Minghua smiled slightly and explained, "When I lived in the Western Regions, I discovered that this world is extremely vast, even much larger than my home planet Earth. An area larger than a planet spread out on a single continent might only be the size of that continent in the Western Regions."

"The five regions should be roughly the same size, so it seems that our search for Morika across the entire Dao Tian Continent is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunling complained, "Why didn't you say so earlier? Are we now lost?"

Xue Minghua scratched his head and said helplessly, "There's nothing I can do, otherwise I wouldn't have been searching for so many years on the Dao Tian Continent."

"Alright, whatever the case, let's..." Zhang Yunling's expression suddenly turned serious halfway through her sentence. Xue Minghua also realized something, and the two of them looked in the same direction at the same time.

It was a small grove of trees, several hundred meters away from them, and Zhang and Xue both sensed an unusual aura from there. This aura didn't belong to any wild demonic beast, but rather seemed to belong to a human, or rather, a cultivator.

"Yun Ling, besides Morika, do you have any other enemies?" Xue Minghua asked in a deep voice.

Zhang Yunling slowly drew the Immortal Sword and replied, "Yes, and she is also chasing me."

The two exchanged glances and slowly approached the grove of trees together. At the same time, their spiritual senses locked onto the area. But in that instant, Zhang Yunling realized that there was more than one person there.

The air seemed to freeze, and the two sides were locked in a stalemate until the distance was reduced to only one hundred meters. Then, the group of people in the woods finally appeared. They were a group of cultivators dressed in yellow robes.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Zhang Yunling gripped his longsword tightly and asked warily.

One of the leading yellow-robed cultivators spoke calmly: "It's only been a few days, but I didn't expect you to have improved so much. This operation ended so hastily that we had no choice but to take action as well."

Xue Minghua was also ready for battle at any moment. He asked Zhang Yunling in a low voice, "Are these... also your enemies?"

Zhang Yunling shook her head: "I don't know them at all."

Seeing this, the leader in the yellow robe began to introduce himself: "We are disciples of the Taiping Dao inner sect, sent by the imperial court to capture you. You may not recognize us, but we do recognize you. I am Zhang Yunling, a disciple of the Quanzhen Dao inner sect."

"Taiping Dao? You...you are also members of one of the three major Daoist sects?" Zhang Yunling's gaze sharpened, and he suddenly raised the Immortal-Slaying Sword in his hand, questioning, "What do you mean by 'being ordered by the imperial court to capture me'? I have never had any connection with the imperial court!"

Xue Minghua, standing to the side, was quite astonished. He asked, "The imperial court? What dynasty is it now?"

The yellow-robed monk said, "The twenty-sixth year of the Jiajing reign."

"That's right. Your current emperor on the Dao Tian Continent is Zhu Houzhen. If the imperial court is colluding with the sects, then Zhu Houzhen is refining genuine elixirs..."

In that instant, countless thoughts rushed through Xue Minghua's mind. After roughly understanding the cause and effect, he used his divine sense to transmit his voice to Zhang Yunling: "Yunling, let's retreat quickly. We are no match for them."

Zhang Yunling nodded slightly, preparing to use magic to cover his escape, but the other party saw through their thoughts and attacked first!

"Summoning Thunder Technique!" The yellow-robed cultivator raised his hand and pointed a finger. A yellow light suddenly emanated from the fingertip, and in an instant, a bolt of lightning struck down towards Zhang Yunling's head!

The attack was so fast that even though Zhang Yunling reacted immediately and tried his best to dodge, he was still struck on the shoulder by the lightning bolt, which sent him flying!

"Holy crap! Yun Ling!" Xue Minghua's hands burst forth with blue light, forming a light blue semi-circular shield in front of him, and he quickly moved towards Zhang Yun Ling.

The other yellow-robed cultivators were not idle either. They took to the air and pressed their advantage. The yellow-robed leader shouted, "Don't kill them by mistake! Capture them alive and bring them back to the imperial court for a great reward!"

With just this one strike, Zhang Yunling felt the difference in strength between himself and the group of yellow-robed cultivators. Seeing that they were about to surround him and Xue Minghua, Zhang Yunling took out something from his sleeve, which was the spatial scroll that Lin Wan'er had given him.

"Trying to run?" The yellow-robed leader had seen the scroll before and witnessed its power firsthand.

Seeing that Zhang Yunling had also taken out the same scroll, the yellow-robed leader suddenly accelerated, as if he had turned into a bolt of lightning, and rushed towards Zhang Yunling!

"Minghua! Come here quickly!" Seeing the yellow-robed leader chasing after him, Zhang Yunling rushed forward and grabbed Xue Minghua's wrist. Then, he recited the incantation for the spatial scroll at the fastest speed he could ever speak.

"Where do you think you're going!" The yellow-robed cultivators in mid-air unleashed their lightning spells, countless bolts of lightning pouring down on Zhang Yunling.

At this critical moment, the spatial scroll in Zhang Yunling's hand activated the instant he finished reciting the incantation, taking him and Xue Minghua away from there.

Two of the lightning bolts struck Zhang Yunling, while the rest landed in empty space, blasting a deep crater into the ground.

The yellow-robed leader abruptly stopped, nearly falling into the large crater. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, and muttered, "Damn it... if he escapes this time, it'll be hard to find him again..."

Seeing this, one of the yellow-robed cultivators turned on his companion: "It's all Fourth Brother's fault! He had to get into a fight with those thugs in Brocade City. As a result, his concealment spell didn't work well, and that blond kid found out!"

The yellow-robed cultivator, known as the fourth brother, retorted, "How can you blame me? Who told you to flirt with that woman in the tavern? I told you long ago that all those flashy women are no good!"

Seeing that infighting was about to break out within the group, the leader in the yellow robes quickly interrupted, "Alright, alright! Calm down, so what if they ran away? We still have the locating compass, we can just look for them again, let's go!"

After saying that, the leader took out a positioning compass from his storage bag. Sure enough, the pointer on it emitted a faint light and pointed in a direction.

"Let's go. We've been following Zhang Yunling for months. If we find him again, we must capture him, otherwise Lord Xia Yan will lose patience."