Hiding in the forest
Hiding in the forest
The man quickly turned around and leaped. A blue light flashed and the man disappeared without a trace, rather than staying back to confront them. He didn't even look back as he bolted away from the duo.
Jun Wuyi finally loosened up, and started sizing up Jun Moxie very carefully: "Moxie, you've reached the Heaven Mystic? How is this even possible?"
Jun Moxie revealed a sly smile and but didn't speak. He indicated that they needed to leave, and the two of them quickly left the scene. They kept running for a long while, and kept changing their attire on regular intervals, until they reached a small forest.
Jun Moxie suddenly stopped before approaching the woods, looked back and said: "I think that we are still being followed by a few people, so we shouldn't be reckless…. Let's make our way home through this forest!"
Jun Wuyi was astonished: [More trackers?] He had been keeping an eye on their backs as well, but hadn't discovered anything. He couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration clouding his heart.
They waited for a while, but didn't hear any sounds this time. Jun Moxie smiled and said: "Well, I suppose we will have to take the forest route after all, but let's not leave any traces…"
Jun Wuyi suddenly realized: "Moxie, you managed to trick that man?"
Jun Moxie rolled his eyes: "Uncle, you thought that I had reached the peak of the Heaven Mystic while even you are only at the base of the Heaven Mystic? That man didn't know anything about me, and I used that to fool him with an old trick. He simply believed it since I was able to figure out that he was following us, that's all."
"You made it look very realistic!" Jun Wuyi smiled and shook his head: "If I was in his shoes, then I'm afraid that even I wouldn't have been able to figure it out! And then coupled with Blue Light that you flashed… I too would have definitely scuttled the other way."
"I didn't have a choice. This event could possibly turn into a major incident in the future, and if we're not careful, then this incident might end up hurting the entire Jun Family! That man was a Heaven Mystic expert and I reckon that his strength was only marginally weaker to grandfather. Even though we could have beaten him, I'd say that it would have been very unwise to make enemies with such a powerful man!"
Jun Moxie quickly entered the forest and said: "I estimate that the Huang Hua hall must be headed by a major power, and we must be very cautious. We mustn't disclose our identities unless we've already exterminated the enemy."
Jun Wuyi heard a slight sound, as if a few bodies had entered the forest, and turned around to take a look. Jun Moxie also paused for a second, but then stated: "Uncle, pay attention to my movements, and try to keep up."
Jun Wuyi heard his words and wondered: [Does he have more secret methods?] But by this time Jun Wuyi had gotten accustomed to being surprised by Jun Moxie, and started following his movements closely, while paying special attention to the route which they were taking. He didn't figure it out immediately, but soon started to realize Jun Moxie's genius:
Although Jun Moxie was walking at a very high speed, his body wasn't disturbing any of the forest's elements. His left hand was always in front of his body, while his right was stationed behind. Whenever he'd have to pass through branches of shrubs or trees, his left hand would gently brush aside the leaves and branches while his body would quickly advance through, and his tailing right hand would return the objects to its initial position. Not even a single dried leaf would fall as he would move through the forest, and since he was practically tip toeing his way through the thickets of the forest, he was practically leaving no traces at all!
Jun Moxie was so cautious that he hadn't even trampled on the bugs in the forest!
He'd place his steps very cautiously, and was even managing to conceal his figure behind the trees as he moved forward. One of his hands was always at a higher position, while the other was stationed at a lower altitude in order to maintain his balance, and it seemed that he was always ready attack or defend, if needed….
All these movements seemed very natural and seamless, but his pace was so fast that it was obvious that these movements were happening instinctively.
Simultaneously, he had even reduced his breathing to a minimum in order to minimize and eliminate his body's odor!
These set of actions were so advanced and well calculated… that practically no expert would ever be able to track him down in this forest!
Even when Jun Moxie stepped on a dried branch, his foot still wouldn't make a sound. Once Jun Moxie passed by a bird, which was in the middle of a song, and normally these birds are so sensitive to human presence that they stand interrupted and fly away, but Jun Moxie moved so stealthily that the bird didn't even notice him as he moved past it…
Jun Wuyi was completely astonished!
As a Heaven Mystic expert, and a military general, he had previously campaigned perennially, which is why he knew it very clearly that Jun Moxie's expertise was unparalleled! And Jun Moxie wasn't even at Silver Mystic yet! Jun Moxie's expertise seemed have been molded into his blood and instincts by some strange form of unknown training, so much so, that even if a Spirit Mystic peak expert undertook a rigorous training, then even the said-person might not be able to achieve his expertise!
Such expertise and skill was practically impossible to attain…
Even though Jun Wuyi was studying his movements very carefully, and was trying to mimic them to the best of his ability, he was still failing to achieve the same result. Jun Wuyi would look back from time to time and would find that he had trampled on a twig, or had left some trace which could be used to track him, and felt a little shamed by his incompetence!
"Even the uprooting of a single leaf can lead them straight to us. Although these traces may not be very conducive, and are generally found everywhere in such forests, we must still be very careful since we are faced a very strong opposition here…."
Jun Moxie said in a profound manner. Even though Jun Moxie and Jun Wuyi might be poles apart in their ideologies, neither of the two men took anything for granted….
But otherwise, Jun Wuyi was very different from Jun Moxie since he was very orthodox, had a very strong sense of justice; he was chivalrous, warmhearted, courageous, and righteous. All these traits had earned him a lot of love and respect in the world.
Jun Moxie, on the other hand, was of course a trained assassin, but was still a man on principles. Take this case for example; although he had decided to undertake the task of sorting out the Huang Hua Hall, he only did so because the copper coin fell out of the girl's body. If that copper coin hadn't found its way to Jun Moxie's feet, then wouldn't have gone on a killing spree. But still, the basic moral values of these two men were still very different from each other's!
Even though the characters of this uncle and nephew duo were diametrically opposite, Jun Moxie still appreciated and admired people like his uncle, even then, he wouldn't ever agree with the ideas of such people!
Because, according to him, even though such people deserved to be respected and admired, their strong sense of justice can sometimes limit their thought process, which can often lead to failures, and maybe even death! And death was too big a price to pay for righteousness!
This predominant sense of justice was Jun Wuyi's biggest fundamental flaw; his Achilles' heel. According to Jun Moxie, these things could be used by others to set up traps, and men like Jun Wuyi were likely to fall into these traps!
Jun Moxie had been constantly trying to instill some new ideologies into Jun Wuyi's head, but knew that he would never be able to completely change his uncle's mindset! However, he hoped that it would help his uncle in making the more logical decisions in some cases….
Jun Wuyi had been studying Jun Moxie's actions very closely ever since he had started to heal, and had found that even though Jun Moxie's expertise was peerless, his methods were very strange, and appeared as if he had been taught these skills by an external source. He was constantly trying to learn new skills from Jun Moxie, and wasn't feeling ashamed in any way to submit to his nephew's superiority, but still, it was difficult for him to come to terms with it!
But either way, Jun Wuyi's mind was at peace.
Jun Moxie had brought his uncle outside the Jun Family's house in the hope of relieving him of his boredom, and had even thought of taking him to the Spirit Fog Lake for a casual trip; but then the incident with the girl happened, and it turned out that his uncle had an inherent hatred towards such establishments. In fact, Jun Moxie could tell that if the Jun Family had known about this earlier, then they would have taken a stance to eliminate such places. So at the moment, it didn't seem like a very good idea to take his uncle to …a brothel for a visit!
Although Jun Wuyi was very quiet at present, if Jun Moxie suggested visiting a brothel, then the man would probably make a meal out of him.
As a result, Jun Moxie had already given up his initial idea. But anyway, he had still managed to accomplish the desired result since his uncle had gotten some good exercise, and had also been involved in his some exciting action after being restricted to a wheelchair for a decade….
"Uncle, I got you into trouble during your first outing after such a long time…" Jun Moxie stated as he walked, but he had deliberately slowed down his pace now, so Jun Wuyi could get a better look at his movements; these skills might come in handy later on in life. "I had purchased a huge piece of metal some time ago…. Could you help me in cutting it to shape?"
Earlier, Jun Moxie had procured a mysterious metal, but he hadn't been able to figure it out yet. The metal was extremely solid and hard, but physically it was still very light weighed, and on top of that, couldn't be melted either. Given his current ability, Jun Moxie knew that it was hopeless to try and cut the metal himself, but knew that his uncle might be able to do it since he was Heaven Mystic expert, and had a lot of aura still left inside his body which would be able to provide him temporary assistance.
"Sure, I will." Jun Wuyi promised in reply. His body had almost recovered completely at this time, and his body had a huge amount of surplus energy since the residual of the herbs were still burning inside his body, which was increasing his self-confidence. "What shape do you want? I'll cut it to any shape you desire… ha ha…."
Jun Wuyi seemed awfully cheerful at the moment. Little did the Heaven Mystic expert knew that he'd have to put-in two days of hard labor, expend a huge amount of energy, while also mustering his entire Heaven Mystic power to fulfill his promise and delivering the shape which Jun Moxie desired. This task would leave him half-dead and miserably exhausted before it was over…