Chapter 173: Vermilion Bird
"Boss, shouldn't you consider treating my Gu poison first?" Fan asked Zhou Fan, hesitating for a moment when the others suddenly went quiet.
"How am I supposed to treat it without my silver needles? Get some rest so we can get back on the road. Forget about going back the way we came. We have to keep moving forward until we find a town, then we'll figure out what to do next."
Zhou Fan shot Fan a look. Suddenly, he caught an unusual sound. He quickly motioned for the others to be quiet, then leaped into a nearby tree. Scrambling up with his hands and feet, he quickly reached the very top and looked back in the direction they had come from.
"I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Zhou Fan asked as he jumped down from the tree, looking at the nervous expressions on Fan and He Yi's faces.
"The bad news. Better to get the bitter part out of the way first," Fan said with a weak chuckle. His smile, however, looked worse than a grimace.
"There's a group of about thirty people two kilometers out, and they're heading this way fast. Judging by their speed and formation, they're a team of highly-trained experts," Zhou Fan said. "And there's a woman with them who's stronger than both of you. Much stronger."
At Zhou Fan's words, Fan and He Yi couldn't stay seated. They scrambled to their feet. 'Damn it,' they thought. 'Thirty-plus trained experts, and a woman stronger than both of us? What chance do we have?'
"So what's the good news?" Fan asked, looking at Zhou Fan uncertainly. 'With the situation this bad, could there possibly be any news good enough to turn things around?'
"The good news is that if we run right now, even dragging you two dead weights along, we have a sliver of a chance of escaping," Zhou Fan said with a faint smile. And that, relatively speaking, was indeed good news.
"Then what are we standing around for? Run!" Fan said, exasperated, before taking off and sprinting ahead.
"That 'sliver of a chance' you mentioned... what are the exact odds?" He Yi asked, turning his head to look back at Zhou Fan just as he was about to bolt.
"Less than five percent," Zhou Fan said, blinking with feigned seriousness.
Suddenly, Fan and He Yi, who were already dozens of meters ahead, stopped in their tracks. They turned back to look at Zhou Fan, who hadn't moved an inch. "Why aren't you running?"
"Aren't you in the mood for something a little more... exciting?" Zhou Fan asked with a slight smile. A glint of madness flashed in his eyes, giving the other two a very bad feeling.
"Did you bring members of Ying Yi with you?" Fan asked, confused.
"For thirty people from your Third Squad? You think I'd need Ying Yi for that?" Zhou Fan shot them a disdainful glance. "The only one in that group who's even a minor threat is the woman." He had already guessed who she was.
He had fought her once before, three years ago. He lost.
'Now, he wanted to see if he would lose to her again.'
"Damn, you're one arrogant bastard!" Fan cursed, though a crazy light began to gleam in his own eyes. "So, what's the plan?"
The others then gathered around Zhou Fan to hear his plan.
A moment later, they dispersed. Zhou Fan leaped back into the tree, the Li Hen Sword once again in his grasp. 'If they were going to do this, they might as well go big.'
Before long, about ten minutes later, a group of people came into view. Leading them was a woman in a fiery red dress. Her sleek hair fell to her waist, and she held a long sword in her hand.
Vermilion Bird!
One of the four Elders personally groomed by Dragon Soul, and the only female Elder in the organization.
Seeing her, Fan and He Yi, who were hiding in the shadows, were nearly scared to tears. They mentally cursed Zhou Fan hundreds of times over.
'Damn it, is *this* what he calls 'much stronger'?'
'There's no comparison at all, is there?'
Within Dragon Soul, there was an unwritten rule: the four internally-groomed Elders were stronger than the externally-recruited ones. Moreover, these internal Elders commanded their own squads and took on exclusive missions, placing them completely above the likes of the Third Squad.
The members of their squads were also far more powerful than the members of the Third Squad.
In other words, the newly arrived Vermilion Bird—in terms of both her personal power and the strength of her subordinates—was a great deal stronger than Lingling Daoist.
Of course, that was assuming you didn't count the lunatic, Dragon Fang.
"Elder, the blood is still warm. The Nether King and his group can't be far!" one of Vermilion Bird's subordinates reported loudly after checking the bodies.
"Oh, they're not just 'not far,'" Vermilion Bird sneered. "They're right here, waiting for us." With a wave of her long sword, a blast of Sword Qi shot out, cleaving directly toward a large tree on the right.
Instantly, a figure tumbled down from the tree. It was Fan.
After tumbling to the ground, Fan cursed inwardly. 'Why the hell is it always me?' He scrambled to his feet and glared at Vermilion Bird. "Elder Vermilion Bird, aren't you afraid of the Commander's punishment for acting this way? Are you aware that you've murdered two Elders, Lingling Daoist and White Tiger?"