The Silly Alchemist

"Then why are you running?" If he was going to save her, why was he running?

"What else can I do? Fight that whole group? They outnumber me! And I can't use my alchemy or I'd reveal my identity," said Ye Lang.

"You're right…" Coldblood Five muttered.

"Go after him! What are you standing here for? He's going to get help!" roared Li Xiande. He felt like there was no need for him to catch Ye Lang personally for he was not worth his time.

Ye Lang looked like he was merely running, a few men should be enough to get him. However, they were wrong. Yes, all Ye Lang was doing was running, but he wasn't slow. In the blink of an eye, Ye Lang had disappeared among the trees, leaving them confused.

"Was he born in the year of the rabbit or something? Fuck, he's fast!"

"He's a fox, I don't think they're a slow race."

"…"

The people present explained away his abnormal speed with the fact that he had fox blood in him. It was probably one of the fox tribe's special powers?

"Catch him and bring him to me!" roared Li Xiande. He'd forgotten about the golden rule: do not enter the dense forest in the deep of night.

Once the people entered the forest, one by one, he heard shrieks of agony. It was obvious something had happened to them.

First, Ye Lang was firing arrows in the dark. Second, safe among the shadows, Coldblood Five could utilise her assassination skills enough to kill multiple people at once.

"What is going on?" Fear crept unto Li Xiande's face. There was more than one shout and they were obviously not from Ye Lang, for that was only one person.

"Not bad, he knows how to use his surroundings to his advantage. He's smart."

Li Yue's expression changed again. She'd initially thought Ye Lang was escaping but looks like he was just utilising the forest.

Her impression of him went up a few ranks.

"Use Ocean of Fire!" commanded Li Xiande. He was smart now, not sending more men into the forest but instead would force Ye Lang out using magic.

"Yes, sir!" The magician gathered his magical energy, about to attack when…

There was a whistle.

An arrow flying at the speed of lightning shot at them, and before anyone could react, it pierced through the magician's throat.

The spell stopped abruptly.

His archery skills are… terrifying… If that was me, could I have reacted in time?

Before they could gawk at such a terrifying shot, there was a looming threat they had to deal with first. At that moment, a violent spell had been brewing, its magical essence still present in the air…

The magical energy the magician had gathered was about to explode. The sudden death of the magician meant no one was keeping the magical essence under control, and often that meant explosions would follow.

And usually, they were violent explosions.

"Hide!" shouted Li Xiande, escaping on his own. He did not care for Li Yue, who was on the ground, nor did he care for his men.

Boom!

The sound of the explosion shook the skies, the magician's body exploded in pieces. However, there was no blood or messy pieces because the magical energy was enough to disintegrate everything.

"Aaahhh…"

There were shrieks of pain, a few of them could not run in time while the rest were injured.

"Mr Fox, not bad…" cursed Li Xiande through clenched teeth, no longer able to contain his fury any longer. If Ye Lang appeared right now, he'd tear Ye Lang into pieces with his bare hands.

Li Yue, on the other hand, laughed. She was very impressed, surprised at his performance.

Right now, she was no longer worried about his safety. From that one arrow, she understood that not only was he amazing at archery, but he was also very good at timing too.

That one arrow wasn't just to kill the magician, he'd fired it right when the magical energy was at its peak. With such perfect timing, the spell would explode upon the magician's death.

If he'd killed the magician right at the beginning, the magical energy would merely dissipate and nothing would happen. On the other hand, if the spell had already been cast, the spell would also dissolve if the magician died.

What just happened had to be at the perfect moment just before the spell was cast. This was the perfect moment where the spell would explode like a bomb.

At the same time, other than witnessing Ye Lang's intelligence, this moment also exposed Li Xiande's weaknesses.

Li Xiande hadn't brought many men with him. He'd already lost a few to the forest, then to the explosion. Now, there were five or six left who were still strong enough to fight.

However, these were his best fighters too, the most difficult to deal with.

"Of course I'm not bad. Ah, you were baiting me to talk," said Ye Lang, who was still hidden in the forest- though he immediately realised Li Xiande's objective.

He had to know where Ye Lang was to be prepared against arrows and attack more accurately.

"Exactly." Li Xiande released a huge wave of douqi, flattening all the trees where Ye Lang supposedly was. And at this moment, all his men also focused their attention at that point.

They didn't see Ye Lang though. Looks like he escaped.

That was too close, thought Ye Lang, warning himself not to make a sound again. They'd find him if they could hear him.

Wait… I could…

Ye Lang had an idea. He raised an eyebrow.

Whistle-

Ye Lang shot an arrow into the forest. Yep, towards the forest and not towards the people at the campsite. And after firing the arrow, he ran in the opposite direction.

Whistle—

An arrow flew at high speed near Li Xiande and his men. However, it did not hit anyone for he'd blocked it.

Although it hadn't appeared in his field of vision, and it was almost as fast as the previous shot, it was still near enough for them to notice it.

And at this moment, their attention was fully in the arc around where the arrow came from. This was instinct. If the arrow came from this direction, that meant Ye Lang was there when he was shooting the arrow.

The campsite wasn't small but it was normal for them to not think the threat would come from behind. No one could run that fast.

And that was why their defences from behind were weakened.

Whistle—

"Ahh!"

One man flew frontwards. He wasn't running, it was just that the arrow that pierced through his back was so powerful it brought him with it.

How was this possible? He was supposed to be THERE, was there another person involved?