Chapter 4 – MiracleZi Chen dashed forward in one direction, leaving deep footprints in the snow. From the beginning of the pursuit till now, he had run for at least five kilometers and was still running.Before, the shouting of Zhao Can and the others could be heard along with their cursing. But after a while, nothing could be heard anymore. Zi Chen had used just the strength of both his legs alone to leave Zhao Can and the others, with their 4th Zhen Qi layer cultivation, in the distance.
After having his meridians changed and his marrow purified, although he did not have any Zhen Qi, Zi Chen’s strength was still quite powerful. The whole time he dashed forward, he actually did not feel the slightest amount of exhaustion. Zhen Qi can be used up and after it is gone, one must slowly recover the depleted Zhen Qi. But with strength and endurance, there was no need to worry about it being used up and Zi Chen could also quickly recover in a very short time.
On the snowy ground, deep footprints could be seen. Zhao Can and the others could chase after Zi Chen just relying on the footprints!
“What’s the matter with this Zi Chen, that he actually did not die?” Lin Ying could not help sighing.
They were not ordinary people, all of them were cultivators. Being cultivators, they naturally could differentiate between alive and dead and Zi Chen did indeed die before but right now he was actually still alive.
“Humph, he didn’t die then, we can count this as a second chance. But this time he will die for sure.” Zhao Can with a gloomy face coldly said. Even he didn’t know what the situation was with Zi Chen or how Zi Chen was not dead.
“This f.u.c.king Zi Chen doesn’t have Zhen Qi, but his speed is still so fast! d.a.m.n it! If I catch him, I will absolutely personally kill him, and then wait and watch, to see if he will really die or not.”
Suddenly, Lin Ying’s brow wrinkled and he said, “Look at the footprints on the ground, Zi Chen did not even have a tiny bit of Zhen Qi. Although he received a miracle and did not die, his dantian was truly crippled. But why did he want to s.n.a.t.c.h the Snow Ginseng? Could it be that the Snow Ginseng can help him recover his dantian?”
“Idiot!” Zhao Can who had a gloomy face, rolled his eyes and he ridiculed Lin Ying.
“Zhao Can, I will warn you first. When speaking to us two brothers, you better be more polite.” Zhao Can’s ridicule made Lin Hao angry.
“Humph!” Zhao Can snorted, “Snow Ginseng is only a type of spiritual medicine which can help to a.s.sist in breaking through to the next cultivation level. It can absolutely not recover the dantian. Don’t say 500 year old, even if it is a 1000 year old Snow Ginseng, it can also not recover the dantian.”
“Your meaning is?” Lin Ying stared at Zhao Can.
“My meaning is that if we catch Zi Chen, he will die for sure. If he swallowed the Snow Ginseng, he will also die. So no matter what happens, Zi Chen will have to die.” Zhao Can’s eyes flashed with a trace of dense killing intent.
“Die, how will he die when we can’t even catch him.” Lin Hao rolled his eyes.
“We cannot catch him now but he can also not continue running forever. With no Zhen Qi and no food, how long can he run?” Zhao Can sneered.
Zhao Can’s a.n.a.lysis made sense but what he did not understand was Zi Chen’s miracle, and he also did not understand that even though Zi Chen did not have any Zhen Qi, Zi Chen was definitely not a normal person. After having his meridians changed and his marrow purified, Zi Chen’s physique possessed terrifying physical strength.
The distance between Zi Chen and his pursuers had already increased from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers, and the distance between them was still increasing.
Zhao Can took out his rations and coldly said, “Don’t rest, eat while we chase.”
Zi Chen had no food. On the journey, when Zi Chen felt thirsty and hungry, he could only grab a handful of snow and stuff it into his mouth.
Night quickly descended. The dark night’s sky wasn’t marked by the bright moon and stars, but with the white snow acc.u.mulated on the ground it was possible to see a few hundred meters away. Compared to the daytime, the line of sight during the night was not clear or far.
As the night descended, Zi Chen quickly found a cave. But he did not venture in as he suddenly stopped a few meters from the cave then suddenly walked in another direction. After walking a few meters in a different direction, he traced his footsteps and walked back once again.
Due to walking backwards, the footprints on the ground seemed really big but because of the night, it was not obvious at all.
Seeing the big footprints, Zi Chen coldly laughed and then dashed forward in the opposite direction towards the cave. But this time, Zi Chen acted cautiously. After walking a few steps, he would squat down to carefully use the snow to cover up his footprints.
In this way, although Zi Chen’s speed was slow, he could at the least smoothly break away from the pursuit.
Zi Chen slowly walked while covering his footprints until he detoured through two mountains, only then did he start adding speed and did not bother with the footprints anymore.
Grabbing a few handfuls of snow and putting it into his mouth, Zi Chen once again started dashing forward.
This time, Zi Chen used all his energy to dash forward, not sparing any of his seemingly boundless physical strength and after running a distance of five kilometers, he then stopped and started panting heavily.
In the night, Zhao Can and the others did not rest at all. After chasing at Zi Chen’s footprints till nearly midnight, they finally reached the cave.
The footprints on the snowy ground were already very shallow. Only occasionally were they able to see some spots that are uneven.
“The footprints got covered by the snow. We need to add on to our speed and chase faster.”
Seeing that the front of the road did not have any footprints, Lin Hao wrinkled his brows and spoke before adding speed and rushing forward.
“Idiot!”
Zhao Can’s corner of the mouth held a trace of ridicule but he could only curse in his heart as Lin Hao had already warned him and he did not dare to be absolutely unrestrained and ridicule them.
Cursing quietly in his heart, Zhao Can stood on the same spot and indifferently said, “The footprints are indeed no more but it may not be covered by the snow.”
Lin Ying and Lin Hao both stopped and looked at Zhao Can with puzzled expressions.
“Zi Chen is very smart. He knows how to use this big snow. The footprints suddenly end here and we, who have been chasing the whole time, would of course subconsciously believe that the footprints were covered by the snow and continue forward. If we a.s.sumed that way, maybe we would have really not found him anymore.”
“Why? The footprints obviously vanished from this direction. Could it be that Zi Chen is not at the front?” Two of them asked in confusion.
“The time that I’ve known Zi Chen is very long. This little trick of his when used in front of others might work, but in front of me its mere child’s play.” Zhao Can sneered, “A day of journey with nothing to eat and to have run for a few kilometers, he has long had no energy left in his body. That’s why he purposely made this facade. If I did not guess wrong, Zi Chen is surely still around here.”
Zhao Can turned his body and pointed towards a cave a few meters away that had already been covered by the snow and only half of the dark entrance could be seen.
“Right here?”
Two of them stared blankly, appearing bewildered as they turned their body and walked towards the cave.
Zhao Can slowly walked towards the cave. Based on his conclusions, he had a confident look upon his face.
“He really is in the cave?” Both of them were still not able to believe.
“Humph, whether if he is in the cave or not, both of you can go and confirm it yourselves. With my understanding towards Zi Chen, there’s a 90% chance he’s in the cave right now.” Zhao Can confidently snorted and dashed towards the cave shouting: “Zi Chen, come out! You have no place to run anymore!”
—
Five kilometers away from the cave, Zi Chen panted hard as he leaned on the wall of a mountain to rest.
“Zhao Can’s personality is paranoid. He will surely think that I was in that cave. But this bluff won’t fool him for long. At most half of a day and they will catch up. I must quickly refine this Snow Ginseng.”
Zi Chen breathed deeply as he grabbed a few handfuls of snow and stuffed it into his mouth.
Zi Chen right now could be said to be famished. After having died and being reborn, his stomach was only full of snow water at the moment.
When dawn came, Zi Chen had already properly adjusted his mind and took out the Snow Ginseng.
A 500 year old Snow Ginseng, if used to concoct medicines, could be used to concoct a few Zhen Qi Pills for sure. Even if one were to just exchange a 500 year old Snow Ginseng, five Zhen Qi Pills could be gotten in exchange!
But right now, other than swallowing the Snow Ginseng, Zi Chen had no choices remaining.
“No matter if it can recover my dantian or not, I must try it! Even if my dantian can’t be recovered, increasing my strength is also not bad. I can’t just keep getting chased to death by them.”
Zi Chen made up his determination and staked all on one roll of the dice.
The Snow Ginseng, which had the size of an infant’s arm, got directly placed into Zi Chen’s mouth. With the sounds of chewing, the Snow Ginseng got bitten open by Zi Chen and a cold refreshing sweet liquid started moving down his throat towards his stomach.
The outside of the Snow Ginseng was old skin, while the inside contained sweet juices.
As the liquid of the Snow Ginseng entered into the stomach, an extremely pure energy started appearing from the stomach and moving towards every part of the body.
“The skin of the Snow Ginseng is good stuff too, at least it can help to control hunger.”
After he drank the juices of the Snow Ginseng, Zi Chen placed the dried up Snow Ginseng into his mouth and start chewing with his strength. Along with the sounds of chewing, the remains of the Snow Ginseng got swallowed down to the stomach.
The energy within the stomach started to rummage around. Zi Chen closed his eyes and sat cross-legged as he adjusted his breathing while he started revolving the Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering technique.
This was a martial technique which prioritized refining the body. All of the energy, when going through a full cycle, must go through the heart.
This was also a vessel which Zi Chen never had open access to before, but, with the revolving of the Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering technique, when the energy reached the heart, it actually smoothly pa.s.sed through.
In addition, Zi Chen also found out that it was not that the energy pa.s.sed through the heart, but that the heart itself was absorbing the energy on its own.
“What is going on?”
Zi Chen opened his eyes and his expression became extremely odd. The energy acc.u.mulated in a 500 year old Snow Ginseng was very frightening. If it were not for being on the brink of crisis where he had no other options, Zi Chen would definitely not swallow this Snow Ginseng.
But right now, the energy of the Snow Ginseng, after reaching the heart, it disappeared without a trace. Not even a bit of surging happened at all.
Just as if the strong energy of the Snow Ginseng dropped into a bottomless pit.
Don’t even say a full cycle, not even half a cycle revolved and the energy of the Snow Ginseng disappeared.
“Where did the energy of the Snow Ginseng go?”
Zi Chen expression became odd and puzzled. But at the next moment, Zi Chen’s heart suddenly throbbed. Afterwards, a strand of pure, silver colored energy suddenly appeared from the heart and rushed towards every part of his body.
At the same moment, an even purer energy pa.s.sed through Zi Chen’s meridians and entered his dantian.
This energy was extremely pure. It emitted a silver light and it seemed as if it was the pure energy of thunder. But the energy was really too vast, it surpa.s.sed the energy of the Snow Ginseng by a huge amount.
After the energy rushed towards the dantian, it started flowing around the dantian. At the same time, under the embrace of the silver colored energy, Zi Chen’s dantian which was currently crippled actually began to recover.
His dantian was currently being repaired!
A miracle was currently happening inside the dumbstruck Zi Chen.