Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 56: Chasing and Escape

Dozens of miles away, Chen Ye was holding Su Chunyi in his arms, his hands tightly wrapped around her slender waist.

Su Chunyi's face flushed red, and she looked as if she could barely stand. She finally caught her breath and said, "Sir, I... am fine now."

Chen Ye quickly let go and helped Su Chun sit down to rest.

The two ran for dozens of miles. Just now, Su Chun's legs went weak and she almost fell to the ground. Chen Ye reacted quickly and caught her.

This wasn't the first time they'd had such physical intimacy; Su Chunyi's face simply flushed slightly, as if she were already used to it.

Having lived two lives, Chen Ye was not embarrassed by this small incident and asked naturally, "Miss Su, did you sense anything just now?"

Su Chun nodded. Although her Qi Sea was damaged and she could not use spiritual energy, she had undergone the Gang Sha Body Refinement and had a body of copper skin and iron bones, so it was impossible for her to fall down easily.

She had just sensed a change in her vital energy, and it felt like she suddenly couldn't breathe, which is why she fell down.

This situation clearly indicates that the straw figure left behind has been cursed.

"Sir, you are indeed a brilliant strategist. The straw figure left under the stone tablet has been broken. I was also affected a little, but I am not seriously hurt."

Chen Ye immediately became happy and said excitedly, "What luck! That old devil can't do divination."

This isn't too surprising. Divination is a mysterious and unpredictable art, and even cultivators at the Dao Integration Realm may not be able to master it. However, when one's cultivation level reaches a certain point, even without studying divination, one will have some kind of intuition, which is why Su Chunyi suffered a backlash.

However, knowing how and not knowing how are two different things.

Perhaps because of this grudge, the other party could vaguely sense where the two were and track them down.

But this kind of perception is ultimately vague and unclear, which is why one can be misled by a straw man.

Since this item is effective, Chen Ye will not stand on ceremony.

Making straw figures is a low-level, unsophisticated spell. The only difficulty in creating one is obtaining something related to blood, such as hair or blood.

As for cultivators who have undergone the tempering of the body with fierce energy, they wouldn't even have dandruff, so there's no way you could pick up any hair from them; you'd have to pluck it out. But if you can pluck someone's hair, you probably wouldn't need to resort to methods like making straw figures.

However, there are always exceptions. Su Chunyi willingly offered her hair and fingertip blood so that Chen Ye could create straw figures.

However, due to time and material constraints, these straw figures could no longer be stuffed with poison.

All those items were found by Chen Ye from the collection of the monk Ku'e. He didn't know if they would pose any threat to the old devil who was chasing the two of them after they were blown up.

Chen Ye was not a saint who could calculate without error; he had already done his best to achieve this.

Faced with an opponent whose cultivation level was completely unknown, the only thing to do was to buy time and get to the territory of the Incense Burning Sect as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it would take at least two months to get there on foot.

Chen Ye's current task is to travel while waiting for Su Chunyi's injuries to heal.

Once she recovered, her flying speed on the sword was much faster than running on the ground.

The two continued their escape, turning a corner and running towards the Incense Burning Gate.

Along the way, whenever Chen Ye encountered wild animals or birds, he would catch them, tie a straw man to them, and then release them.

In this way, the scarecrows will scatter in different directions, slowing down the other's pursuit as much as possible.

After running for a day and a night, Su Chunyi did not experience the curse a second time, but Chen Ye was starting to feel the strain.

The spiritual energy was consumed too much, and Chen Ye was still a mortal with a body that was at most stronger than that of an ordinary person. After running wildly for a day and a night, his strength was exhausted.

For the past day and night, they had been traversing rugged wilderness and uninhabited deep mountains, with almost no roads to follow. Running a hundred miles was already their limit. Seeing that Chen Ye's legs were getting weak, Su Chunyi advised, "Sir, let's find a place to rest tonight and continue tomorrow."

Chen Ye shook his head and said, "We can't rest. Who knows when that demon will catch up, or when the Incense Burning Sect's rescue will arrive? If we're just a hair's breadth short, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives."

Su Chunyi said with remorse, "It is I who have implicated you, sir."

Chen Ye forced a smile and comforted her, "Now that things have come to this, what's the point of talking about being a burden? Do you expect me to abandon you now?"

Su Chun smiled and said, "I know you don't want to do this, so let me carry you on my back."

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment, and before he could agree, Su Chunyi had already carried him on her back.

Immediately afterwards, the slender little girl took off running and continued running forward.

Chen Ye was a little embarrassed. He had never been carried on someone's back since he grew up, let alone by a slender girl.

But Su Chunyi was really strong, and she ran very fast while carrying Chen Ye, this tall and strong man.

The girl's slender waist was like a taut bowstring, and each leap covered a distance of three zhang (approximately 10 meters). The soil on the ground sank into shallow, bowl-shaped pits the moment she landed, and the flying dry leaves were shredded into dust by the strong wind in mid-air.

Chen Ye felt a whistling wind beside his ears, but he couldn't even see the scenery on either side clearly.

So she runs so fast; it turns out I was the one who slowed her down all day.

The difference of two realms in cultivation level made him appear weak and helpless.

Chen Ye secretly resolved that if he survived this ordeal, he must improve his cultivation as soon as possible. He couldn't let Su Chun carry him again; it would be too humiliating.

But for now, let him enjoy this weak and pitiful treatment.

Chen Ye lay on Su Chunyi's back and closed his eyes to rest. He needed to recover his strength as soon as possible and couldn't become a burden to Su Chunyi.

She thought she could keep delaying until a turning point came, but as dawn broke, Su Chunyi groaned again and stopped running.

Su Chun left two deep marks on the ground with her feet, barely managing to stand. Chen Ye quickly jumped down and asked with concern, "Miss Su, what happened to you?"

Su Chunyi said, "Another straw man has been destroyed, which is a good thing. It means that person has been fooled by us again."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye was about to smile happily, but his expression suddenly changed: "No, a normal person would only be fooled once at most."

The first straw man was poisoned. Even if the demon was fooled the first time, he should have learned his lesson the second time. Even if he was misled, he shouldn't destroy the new straw man again after finding it. He should just change direction and chase after it.

After a day and a night, why has another scarecrow been destroyed?

Unless that person is completely enraged and out of control.

That's a good thing, but Chen Ye doesn't think his opponent would be that stupid.

Unless… Chen Ye looked up warily and glanced around, soon spotting a tall figure in the distance.

A disheveled old monk was smiling as he walked toward the two of them, holding a broken straw figure in his hand.

The instant their eyes met, an invisible pressure fell upon Chen Ye, rendering him completely immobile, unable even to shout.

The disheveled monk approached and said politely, "Amitabha, benefactors, I've had a hard time finding you. This straw doll method of finding the wrong path is truly ingenious, but you are really unlucky. I only made two wrong choices before finally finding the direction you are in."

"Amitabha Buddha, this is fate."

(End of this chapter)