Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 392 379: Trial of Heart Tribulation 13 - Her Man Was Snatched Away! Shang Miaoyan's Fury

The black clouds receded like a tide as a torrent of golden light, like sharp swords, split open the sky, dyeing the remaining clouds with brilliant gold trim.

Shang Miaoyan descended gracefully upon flowing clouds. Her dress, scarlet as the petals of a Honglian, fluttered in the wind, making her look like a Divine Maiden descending from the heavens.

The disciples present gazed at this holy yet bewitching Saintess, all holding their breath, completely captivated by her powerful and noble aura.

"Holy Daughter, congratulations on your Cultivation advancing a step further. In the entire several-thousand-year history of our Sacred Land, among all the generations of Saintesses, your cultivation speed is unmatched."

An Elder approached on a cloud to offer congratulations.

But Shang Miaoyan ignored her. Instead, her eyes lowered, and her gaze swept coldly over the countless disciples and Sect Elders on the ground who had come to welcome her.

Then, her incomparably bewitching face visibly turned as cold as ice.

One person was missing.

'That man... He actually didn't come to welcome me.'

'With his intelligence, he should know what punishment awaits him for not coming to welcome me...'

'Did something happen to him?'

Shang Miaoyan recalled the fleeting, ominous premonition she'd had while in seclusion.

In an instant, her pupils constricted. Ignoring the crowd that had come to celebrate her successful Breakthrough Realm, she transformed into a streak of light and vanished.

WHOOSH—

Shang Miaoyan slowly landed in front of Pei Yuhang's small cabin. Her Divine Sense enveloped a three-li radius, even probing three feet into the earth, but she still couldn't detect a trace of him.

"Impossible... Impossible! How dare he... How dare he!"

Shang Miaoyan, so arrogant and imperious just moments ago, now stood with pale, trembling lips.

She slowly walked inside, searching the tiny room again and again, but found no trace of him.

"Fan Xuan..."

Shang Miaoyan's eyes narrowed. Clinging to a final shred of hope, she burst straight through the roof of Pei Yuhang's cabin and descended upon the Fan Mansion in an instant.

There, she saw signs of hasty packing in a bedroom.

Upon seeing them, Shang Miaoyan's mind first went blank, then her eyes slowly began to glow scarlet.

"PEI YUHANG—!!"

"You really dared to run away with her?!!"

BOOM—!!

A scarlet lotus erupted from the ground, enveloping the entire Fan Mansion and crushing it to dust.

The sudden explosion in the Saintess Hall district attracted countless gazes. Just as the disciples of the Yin Yang Sacred Land thought an enemy was attacking and rushed over, they heard a furious roar from the source of the blast.

"WANTED—the traitorous disciples, sisters Fan Xuan and Fan Ya."

"And the Cauldron Slave, Pei Yuhang!! Whoever captures him and brings him back, I, Shang Miaoyan, promise them a reward of one hundred million Spirit Stones!!"

One... one hundred million?!

Every Female Cultivator who heard this number stared wide-eyed, unable to believe her ears.

They had no doubt that Shang Miaoyan could pay such an absurd sum of Spirit Stones.

They only wondered who in the world this Pei Yuhang was.

A mere, lowly Cauldron Slave, and yet Shang Miaoyan had offered a bounty of a hundred million for him!

With Shang Miaoyan's astronomical bounty, a great wave of madness and greed began to spread from the Saintess Hall throughout the entire Yin Yang Sacred Land.

Countless Female Cultivators were stirred into action, among them a number of prodigies whose talent rivaled even Shang Miaoyan's.

It wasn't the hundred million Spirit Stones that piqued their interest.

It was Pei Yuhang himself.

...

...

"Did you hear? The Holy Daughter's personal Maid eloped with her Cauldron Slave!"

"Is that Maid insane?! To do something so absurd for a mere Cauldron Slave."

The Female Cultivator found it simply unbelievable. To her, men were nothing more than "blood bags" for supplying cultivation resources; you just drained one dry and moved on to the next.

'Can someone really develop feelings for a Cauldron Slave?'

As the gossiping passersby slowly walked away, Fan Xuan, who was drinking tea nearby, let out a quiet sigh of relief, sending fine ripples across the surface of her tea.

In her hand, she held a silver chain. The other end was attached to a leather collar worn by none other than Pei Yuhang, who was disguised using the Transformation Technique.

After leaving the Yang Heaven Sect, Pei Yuhang and his companions quickly made their way to a bustling city to gather information.

What they learned terrified Fan Xuan.

To get them back, the Holy Daughter had gone so far as to announce to the entire Sect that her own Maid had eloped with her man, even posting an astronomical bounty of a hundred million.

And they still needed to travel for more than a day to pass through the Yin Heaven Sect and leave the Yin Yang Sacred Land.

'Can we... really escape?'

"Xiaoxuan, don't be afraid."

"No matter what happens, I'll face it together with you."

Pei Yuhang said softly, gently clasping the girl's cold hand.

"Mm..."

Fan Xuan felt the warmth of Pei Yuhang's hand enveloping hers, and her confidence began to return.

They cautiously rose and left the teahouse, returning to their Spiritual Ship only after confirming they weren't being followed.

Inside the room, which was protected by a Sound Insulation Array, Fan Ya had woken up. She looked at the grim expressions on Pei Yuhang and her sister's faces, and seemed to understand something.

"The Holy Daughter knows all about you two, doesn't she?"

A smirk played on Fan Ya's lips, and she spoke in a sultry voice, "Xiaoxuan, I told you before. Your plan is a fool's dream. It's impossible to escape the Holy Daughter's grasp."

"Sister, you're a wanted fugitive now, just like us."

Fan Xuan reminded her, hoping Fan Ya would throw in her lot with them.

"Fugitive? Don't make me laugh. I was forced to come with you—"

"That's enough, Xiaoxuan. Don't try to persuade your sister. Let's just let her get some more rest."

As Pei Yuhang moved to chop her neck again, Fan Ya's neck throbbed reflexively, and she yelped, "Wait, I'll just take a Sleeping Pill myself..."

THWACK—

Before she could finish, a sharp blow landed, and her eyes rolled back as she fainted once more.

"Pei Yuhang, what do we do now? The Holy Daughter has a Sect-wide warrant out for us. They're bound to be inspecting Spiritual Ships along the way."

Fan Xuan's face fell again after her sister's sarcastic tirade.

"We can travel by water."

Pei Yuhang took out a map covered in detailed notes. Pointing to a water route, he said softly, "The Yin Yang Sacred Land has numerous lakes and rivers, and they all flow into the Lanjiang River outside the Sect."

"I know a very hidden and safe waterway that can even bypass the Yin Heaven Sect and lead directly outside the Sect's territory. The journey might just take ten days longer than planned."

"That's fine. I'll do whatever you say."

Fan Xuan wasn't very familiar with the map of the Yin Yang Sacred Land and didn't recognize the obscure place names Pei Yuhang mentioned, but she had unconditional faith in the man before her.

...

...

In the Saintess Hall, the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive.

Shang Miaoyan sat ramrod straight on the Gilded Phoenix Throne, her long fingers digging into the armrests so hard her knuckles turned white.

Her entire figure was shrouded in shadows; only her phoenix eyes glinted with a cold light that no one dared to meet.

In the hall, a Maid knelt trembling, her forehead pressed against the cold floor tiles, hardly daring to breathe.

"Where are they?"

Shang Miaoyan's voice was terrifyingly hoarse, like sandpaper scraping her throat.

She slowly lifted her face. In the candlelight, her exquisite features were overcast with gloom, the corners of her eyes twitching with rage that had been suppressed for days.

"M-My apologies, Holy Daughter..."

"We... We still haven't found them."

A cold chuckle came from the Gilded Phoenix Throne. Shang Miaoyan laughed, a crazed look in her eyes as the blood vessels within them grew ever more prominent.

"Seven days!"

She suddenly shot to her feet, slamming her hand down. The gilded armrest shattered on impact, and a violent gale began to howl through the hall.

Battered by the gale, the little Maid felt increasingly insignificant. Under Shang Miaoyan's Suppression, she was on the verge of crying from fear.

"An entire seven days!"

"I mobilized so many people from the Sect, and you can't even find three people?!"

"Are you all idiots? Fan Xuan and Fan Ya grew up in the Saintess Hall. They've never even left the Sect! Where could they possibly hide?!"

"And don't even get me started on Xiaohan! He was abducted and brought to the Sect; he's been in the Yin Yang Sacred Land for less than a year! Do you think he could possibly know his way around?!"

"Why?! Why can't you catch three people with no sense of direction?!"

Shang Miaoyan was about to faint from rage. She was consumed by regret. 'Why didn't I execute Fan Xuan when I knew she and Xiaohan had feelings for each other?'

'Why didn't I lock Xiaohan up before I went into seclusion?'

'I, the great Saintess of the Yin Yang Sacred Land, actually let my favorite Cauldron Slave elope with my own Maid.'

'This is an absolute, utter humiliation!'

"There is only one option left..."

Shang Miaoyan let out a long breath. Without a glance at the little Maid paralyzed with fear on the floor, she strode out of the hall.

She was going to plead with the Sect Leader.

Even though she was completely unwilling to see that woman, and even though it would come at a heavy price.

She had to ask the Sect Leader to activate the ultimate treasure of the Sect's Grand Array.

This treasure was the Yin Yang Mirror, and it was connected to the Yin Yang Sacred Land's Sect Protection Array.

As long as Pei Yuhang hadn't left the Yin Yang Sacred Land, the Yin Yang Mirror could find him, even if he had been turned to ash.

To get her Xiaohan back, Shang Miaoyan was ready to cast all else aside.

...

...

「Two days later, by a quiet tributary of a river.」

A youth in white sat at the end of a bridge, holding a fishing rod. After a long time, the rod finally twitched.

He lifted the rod, immediately pulling up a large black fish.

"That's the fifth one."

The white-robed youth said with a smile to the girl beside him before placing the fish in a bucket.

"I'm done, I'm done! Pei Yuhang, you must be using Magic! How else are all the fish swimming right to you?!"

Fan Xuan threw her fishing rod on the ground in a huff.

"Xiaoxuan, you have to admit when you're outmatched. You're right beside me; if I were really using Spiritual Qi, you'd have sensed it."

"Nonsense! Your Cultivation is higher than mine, so how would I be able to tell if you were cheating? You just love to bully me."

"So, are you going to honor the bet?"

Pei Yuhang smiled, patting his cheek before closing his eyes.

Fan Xuan gazed at his flawless, handsome profile. After a moment of reluctant hesitation, she pursed her lips and leaned in to kiss him.

Inside the cabin, Fan Ya, who had been trussed up for days, watched her lovesick little sister and the scumbag who had run off with her.

Her brow twitched uncontrollably.

"You two, have you forgotten we're on the run?! Show a little awareness!"

"Sister, are you finally admitting we're all in the same boat now?" Fan Xuan asked, pleasantly surprised.

"What good would it do if I didn't? We've been running for so many days. The Holy Daughter must have lost her patience by now. If we go back voluntarily, we'll still be killed..."

"We have no choice left."

Fan Ya let out a long, low sigh.

"Don't worry, Sister. Don't you trust Pei Yuhang by now? According to the map, we'll be out of the Sacred Land in just a few more hours!"

"Aren't you even a little excited about the outside world, Sister? We've never left the Sect in our entire lives!"

Fan Xuan began to daydream excitedly.

She imagined that after she and Pei Yuhang left the Sect, they would retreat to a small, hidden village and live a simple, peaceful life together.

When they had children, her sister could even come and help take care of them! And when their children were a little older, they would travel the world on horseback and see all the sights the mortal realm had to offer...

"Xiaoxuan."

Pei Yuhang's grave voice shattered the girl's beautiful daydream.

"What is it?"

Fan Xuan looked at the handsome youth beside her with gentle eyes.

But Pei Yuhang didn't return her gentle expression. He pointed hesitantly into the distance.

"Look at the sky. What is that giant yin-yang symbol in the heavens..."

"Wait, it's an eye. Oh no... it's looking at us!"