Chapter 728: 471, Your Majesty, your servant is late to save you (5k)_2
Corpses of birds like black clouds fell with a patter, staining the stream red, but no new water spears emerged from underwater.
Zhao Douan held the Mystic Turtle Seal, hiding in the water, and suddenly sensed the fish in the water frantically gathering towards him.
"He’s in the water! Where the fish are gathering!" the White-headed Eagle shouted, while fierce wolves and brown bears surrounded the stream to attack.
These ordinary beasts had red light swirling on their fur, seeming to possess bloodthirsty combat strength greatly exceeding their kind due to magic enhancement.
"What Beast Tamer..." Zhao Douan furrowed his brow. With his cultivation, he did not fear these beasts.
If he fought back fully, he had the confidence to kill these two magicians — without even needing to deploy "Pei Niannu."
But his core purpose was not to engage in bloody battles with this group of people, but to lead them away and buy time for Zhenbao.
Therefore, throughout the journey, he hadn’t killed anyone but instead led them like flying a kite. At this moment, a human-shaped "water figure" was emerging from the stream, revealing Zhao Douan’s form as the stream flowed. He hesitated, preparing to kill one before leaving, but then changed his mind, drawing the Cold Frost Sword, and swung a "Peach Blossom Sword Technique."
Blood splattered, and heads of wolves were separated from their bodies. He took the opportunity to flee again.
Almost simultaneously, arrows flew from the forest like venomous tongues, as Ouyang Ye led a large group of secret agents.
He glanced at the White-headed Eagle, riding a tiger and not good at front-line fighting, and looked at Yao Shiniang, who had fallen on the ground clutching her bleeding abdomen with a fierce look, mocking and ridiculing:
"It seems splitting forces was not a good strategy. If he hadn’t been desperately fleeing with the Fake Emperor and had paused to fight to the death, you two would have been dead by now."
Ouyang Ye wasn’t in a hurry to continue the pursuit because the initiative was in his hands.
As long as Yao Shiniang and the White-headed Eagle were alive, they wouldn’t lose track of the Empress.
And after consecutive pursues, the secret agents also needed a short rest to recover strength.
He wasn’t too anxious, like a skilled hunter with enough patience to slowly chase the prey, alternating tension and relaxation, until the prey were exhausted and then captured.
Conversely, if the chase was too tight, giving Zhao Douan no chance or hope to escape.
If Zhao Douan was truly cornered and fought intensely with abundant strength, even if the group won, there would be heavy casualties.
Ouyang Ye’s strategy was to exhaust Zhao Douan’s Qi Mechanism through pursuing and fleeing.
However, after such a long chase, this guy had yet to show signs of fatigue, full of energy as always, while the secret agents were somewhat breathless.
"Carrying the Fake Emperor, Zhao can still run like this?"
He wasn’t aware that one of the World Venerable Green Lotus’s functions was greatly enhancing Zhao Douan’s strength and energy.
Despite exhaustion, under the Worldly Realm, he feared no one.
"Something is wrong," suddenly, the White-headed Eagle said while riding the tiger: "The Empress he is carrying is fake."
"What?"
Not only the secret agents, even Yao Shiniang, who had made a wish using the "lamp god" to recover from injuries and stood up again, was stunned.
The White-headed Eagle said: "I clearly saw through the eyes of birds and the wolf pack earlier that what he was carrying was merely a dummy dressed in a Dragon Robe, filled with cotton. The Empress is not here."
Tricked?
No, it was a decoy...
Ouyang Ye’s face sank, realizing they had been tricked again. He abruptly turned around and shouted: "Return! The Fake Emperor is still near the border checkpoint! Follow the main road down, she can’t be far!"
A secret agent hesitated and said: "What about the Zhao thief ahead..."
"Ignore him!" Ouyang Ye’s mood was gloomy, yet he laughed, sinisterly saying: "Since his purpose is to lead us away, if we return, he will naturally chase after."
Everybody realized this and brightened their eyes, responding with a retreat to the proper path.
Traveling through the forest was extremely difficult, although they had chased for quite some time, they weren’t far from the checkpoint, and timely turning back meant they might catch up with the Empress.
...
"Have they realized?" In the dense forest, Zhao Douan ran forward for a while and found no pursuers following behind; he stopped.
Turning back, running a few steps like an agile monkey, carrying the "dummy" he had made earlier on the road, climbing a large tree, and standing on a branch overlooking, his heart sank.
In his view, the Royal Mansion’s secret agents are returning, completely abandoning the pursuit of him.
"It has been seen through... Yes, a dummy is bound to be discovered sooner or later..."
Zhao Douan was anxious, estimating that Zhenbao had not long left the Jiancheng border at this moment. Even if she used the "Nine Changes" mask to change her appearance.
But with the caution of the Royal Mansion’s hounds, they wouldn’t let any suspicious person pass.
And given Zhenbao’s current state, barely able to deal with a few mortals, once caught up, she would surely die!
"I must hold them off, shall I use Pei Niannu... but with my current Inner Strength, I can’t sustain Pei Niannu’s arrival for long, and my Qi Sea will be drained... so I must kill all these people in a very short time, failing which will mean my death!"
Zhao Douan hesitated and weighed, unsure if these secret agents carried any trump cards.
He only had one chance to strike.
"Never mind, just have to risk it once..." Just as Zhao Douan’s eyes hardened, resolved to fight one time.
Suddenly, his ear twitched, and he gazed towards another direction of the forest from the treetop.
Suddenly, many birds were startled in the vast wilderness.
"Are there more pursuers?" Zhao Douan gripped the tree trunk aggressively, his nails almost piercing into the wood.