The two of them no longer considered the slower waterway, instead they found a post station and bought four swift horses.
Before they left, the two of them thoroughly cleaned themselves in the town and changed into brand new clothes.
Shen Luo employed a small trick, secretly stuffing their previous clothes into a cart headed in another direction.
After all this was done, they immediately mounted their horses and began their journey, riding one horse and leading the other, swapping every two hours. They sped along the road, covering more than two hundred miles in a very short time, and Gu Hualing still failed to appear.
“It seems that Gu Hualing might indeed be using her sense of smell to track us down, we’ve probably thrown her off our trail,” Bai Xiaotian said happily.
“Let’s hope so.” Shen Luo spoke noncommittally, a shadow hung heavily over his heart.
Just as he finished his sentence, his body shuddered suddenly. He turned and looked back, his expression immediately turning grave.
A small grey dot had appeared on the horizon behind them and was rapidly growing larger as it approached swiftly. Who could this be if not Gu Hualing?
Bai Xiaotian also noticed the figure behind them and he couldn’t help but laugh wryly.
After traveling a mile or two, Gu Hualing’s purple light on her pair of bone wings rapidly dimmed, finally disappearing completely.
Her body uncontrollably began to descend, landing lightly on the official road. Her bright eyes flickered as she looked at the four scattering horses in the distance. However, her beautiful face betrayed no sign of irritation.
“I wonder how many times you can use that Escape Talisman of yours.” Gu Hualing said lightly, taking a stride and rushing forward.
Over the next few days, Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian employed every trick in the book, changing their modes of travel, hiding within caravans, even hiring a few individuals whose builds resembled theirs, dressing them in their clothes in an attempt to deceive her; but Gu Hualing’s tracking skills were simply too exquisite. Each method was eventually seen through by her. At best, she caught up to them within half a day, and at worst, within a full day.
Every time she caught up, Bai Xiaotian dared not engage further. He directly activated the Escape Talisman, fleeing once again with Shen Luo.
The two complained incessantly as, even exhausted and starving, they could not dare stop for too long in one place. They pinned all their hopes on getting to the Bai Family as soon as possible.
About a thousand miles away from Qinghua Mountain, was a small town called Qingma Town, named after the Qingma Lake located on the outskirts.
The inhabitants of Qingma Town lived by farming and fishing, working from sunrise to sunset, leading serene lives.
Dusk had now fallen, and the farmers and fishermen by the lake had already returned home, leaving the surroundings quiet and deserted.
A bolt of green light appeared on the horizon in the distance, flying rapidly towards them. When it arrived over the lake, the green light suddenly pulsed intensely, gradually becoming dimmer, and after flickering a few times, it finally disappeared completely.
Two figures descended from the sky, one stumbling as he landed at the edge of the lake – it was Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian.
In Bai Xiaotian’s hand was a faintly glowing talisman, the runes on it barely visible anymore.
With a hissing sound, the talisman self-ignited, instantly becoming a handful of ashes which disappeared without a trace when blown away by the lake breeze.
Though Bai Xiaotian had been expecting this, he still found it difficult to hide his discomfort.
“Brother Bai, how far is it from here to Jianye City?” Shen Luo’s face slightly darkened as he scanned his surroundings while posing the question.
“At least three days’ journey without the Escape Talisman. I fear that Gu Hualing will soon catch up with us. It seems we must fight with our lives. As long as we manage to wound her slightly, our chances may improve when we flee again,” Bai Xiaotian pondered aloud, stroking his chin as he looked up at Shen Luo.
“Alright! Since Brother Bai has spoken, I, Shen Luo, am ready to fight alongside you!” Shen Luo promptly responded without hesitation.
“There is no time to lose, let’s go!” Bai Xiaotian patted Shen Luo’s shoulder, ready to take a step forward, but Shen Luo reached out and stopped him.
“Wait! If we continue to rush forward, when Gu Hualing catches up, we’ll be exhausted and passive. It would be better to stay here and rest.”
“Hmm… that sounds good. If we have time, I might be able to set up some preparations.” Bai Xiaotian looked around approvingly, a contemplative expression on his face.
Under Shen Luo’s watchful gaze, Bai Xiaotian drew from his bosom a dark bag. It was incredibly smooth and bore fish-scale-like patterns, obviously not an ordinary item.
He opened the bag and removed some items: over ten silver jade pendants, eight golden flags, two white medicine vials, and about seven or eight Yuan Stones.
“Brother Bai, are these things for arranging a formation?” Shen Luo recalled the Demon Wolf incident in Dreamland involving Yu Yan and others, and asked intuitively.
“Sharp eyes! These are formation flags and discs. There is no time for explanations now; just keep a lookout for me,” Bai Xiaotian appraised Shen Luo approvingly.
As he spoke, Bai Xiaotian didn’t stop his actions. He secured the jade pendants and flags into the ground, forming a ring with a diameter of around five meters.
Bai Xiaotian then picked up six Yuan Stones and placed them on six nodes of the circular array. Standing up, he formed a magical technique with his hands and started muttering incantations.
A golden light instantly rose from within the array and slowly circulated around it, causing a gust of wind to swirl around.
“Junior Brother Shen, the formation is almost ready. Now I’m going to perform a secret technique inside it.” Bai Xiaotian inspected the formation, confirmed everything was fine, and relayed to Shen Luo.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on our surroundings,” Shen Luo replied.
Bai Xiaotian nodded, sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, and closed his eyes.
His hands moved rapidly in front of his body, like wheels spinning. A red light rose up from him, making the golden light within the formation noticeably brighter and circulate faster.
Seeing this, Shen Luo found a broad clearing behind Bai Xiaotian and sat down. Taking out a stone box from his backpack, he opened it and withdrew some talisman papers, a box of cinnabar, and a talisman pen.
Gu Hualing would take at least half a day to arrive. He wanted to use this time to draw some talismans.
As he lacked Black Dog Blood, Shen Luo cut open his finger to retrieve his own blood, mixed it with cinnabar, and prepared to make talisman ink.
The Black Dog Blood drew talismans because of its Yang energy. As a Qi Refining Cultivator who had mastered the Small Transformation Yang Skill, his blood contained Yang energy far exceeding that of dog blood, making it perfect for drawing talismans.
Shen Luo quickly prepared the talisman ink, took a deep breath, calmed his mind, then began to draw.
Half an hour later, all the talisman paper in front of Shen Luo was used up. In its place were three carefully arranged talismans: two Small Thunder Talismans and an exorcism charm.
“Three will have to do,” Shen Luo sighed inwardly, put the three talismans into his sleeve, and looked up.