75 Tracked From All Sides
The Liu clan's group walked beside the bushes where Ye Mo was hiding and went away.
Ye Mo stayed concealed and hoped he could learn something from their conversation but they didn't say a word and were very alert of their surroundings as they left.
When they disappeared behind the woods in the distance, Ye Mo moved out and traveled through the jungle.
He went in many areas between the second and third mountain and found not less than thirteen teams of Liu clan members, similar to the first one scattered in different places.
They were all composed of at least 6 members, each elite of the Liu clan and high level Qi Gathering realm cultivators.
Ye Mo had Wei Leng map and knew the dangers of this zone well, but the Liu clan members could only move blindly and assess the environment progressively.
He saw many groups fighting against beasts or fleeing around, sometimes when the situation was dire, they would send a blazing flare in the sky before quickly being joined by other teams to help them overcome the situation.
Because they didn't know the terrain, they unknowingly invaded beasts territory multiple times which resulted in a few deaths and many injured clan members.
However, the fact that despite the difficulties they encountered, they continued looking around for something convinced Ye Mo even more that they were here for him.
In the meantime, the first rays of light pierced the horizon, as the darkness lowered and another day started.
"They deployed so many members although their clan is in crisis, showing this is a mission of great importance and they are willing to take the risks. There's probably other teams patrolling before the first and second mountain."
"This affair is too huge to be left behind and there's many questions unanswered, how did they find my position or how many forces did they send, am i in danger now every time i leave the institute? I need more information."
Ye Mo canceled Shadow Walk and went in thought.
If the Liu clan had something to track him down, he had to know what.
He was unwilling to move around with an impending threat hanging over his head.
You see, he likes to take the initiative and be in control, why waste your time in constant worry? If there is a solution to the problem then you have to go and find a way now!
Idling around and waiting for things to get better on their own was wishful thinking.
At this moment, he heard multiple steps not far, rapidly approaching his location.
Ye Mo quickly climbed on a tree and used the foliage and his high position as a cover to hide himself.
A band of Liu clan member arrived just a few seconds later, the leaves and grasses hanging over their hair and clothes revealed they came here precipitously.
"Look around well, he might be in the surroundings, keep your guard raised and be careful, we could also be in the territory of another of these damn beasts!"
One of them uttered as they all turned their heads left and right, on edge.
This group was particularly careful.
Behind the foliage of the tree more than twenty meters high up, Ye Mo used the small parts where the leaves didn't connect with each other to have a view on this team.
Around the finger of the man who talked an instant ago was tied a thin thread, almost invisible to the naked eye.
On the other end of the thread was a small creature, the size of a thumb flying in front of the group.
It's short transparent wings made a buzzing sound as it flapped them around and it constantly opened and closed it's mouth in a disturbing way, often giving people a sense of disgust.
In the interior of the mouth was seen a pair of razor like teeths that could easily plunge in skin and tear flesh.
"Blood Tracking Fly!" Ye Mo was surprised to see the bug.
The insect was constantly pushing forward but suddenly, it raised its head and moved in the direction of the tree he was laying on but was held down by the thread tying it's body.
Ye Mo raised his brows.
At this moment he understood how they could pinpoint his location in this vast jungle.
Blood Tracking Fly only needs to swallow a drop of blood to trace it back to it's owner.
"To obtain my blood, it's fairly easy, i fought and was injured several times in the past. They just need to go back to the area where i fought Liu Huan, if they found his remains, and they could freely collect it, im sure they have ways to detect mine from their heir. They also have Liu Sen and Liu Zhi in the institute which could take it from the ground in the pagoda when no one was looking."
"With the blood tracking fly, even if they didn't see me leave or don't know in which direction i went, they can just use it and it will fly towards my position. However, it's effective range is only ten thousand steps, it's not enough to track me all the way to the jungle, they must have used something else in addition to this insect."
Ye Mo frowned, he felt this affair was becoming more complicated.
Still, he was categoric, this bug, he had to get rid of it or he won't be able to go retrieve the pure iridescent iron. Hell, he would only lead them to a treasure cave before being captured if he went there right now.
Yet, he couldn't give up, it was his last chance to find it, if it all ended like that, it would be too disappointing.
Moreover, even if he just left, this fly could still track him wherever he went as long as he was in it's range, how could he allow that.
Blood tracking flies weren't easy to capture and the Liu clan had only a few subdued, dealing with one would be a huge blow, he doubt they would dare waste another on himself for the last months he remains in the city.
While pondering, a figure fell from the sky, passed through the vegetation covering the earth then drifted in the air like a petal before gently landing on the tip of his feet in front of the Liu clan members.
"Elder!" The group immediately bowed down and saluted the man who just arrived.
The middle-aged man didn't respond, but instead lowered his head and seemed to look at the ground absent-mindedly, however his attention wasn't on his sight.
Ye Mo's heart skipped a beat when he saw the person joining the party.
"Shit!" He hurriedly expanded his Qi and took the form of a shadow who merged with those of the branches shielding the tree from the sunlight.
Near the same instant, a spiritual sense passed over his position and covered the immediate surroundings without sparing any places.
After a second without anyone making a sound, the spirit sense was retracted.
"Did you find anything?" After he inspected the vicinity, the elder raised his head and looked at the Liu clan members gathered as he inquired.
"No, the blood tracking fly led us here but we didn't see him yet." The man tied to the flying insect answered respectfully.
"Hmm, let me use a battle skill to make sure." The elder said as he crouched down and placed his palm on the ground.
He stayed in this position for a few seconds as the team looked at him in anticipation before he rose up.
"He's not here, but there's a few beasts not too far away, you should be able to deal with them. We can't let him escape after we wasted the chasing qi smoke to retrace his path back to this jungle."
Saying so, the elder jumped up and moved out of the area as abruptly as he came.
When he saw him leave, Ye Mo breathed a sigh of relief internally then took his distance from the group.
"Shadow Walk's strongest point is concealment, without the right battle skills, he can't perceive me even with his spiritual sense. That wouldn't have been possible with only the first phase of the art, achieving the second phase was one of the main reason i was confident i could reach the fourth mountain safely when i left."
Ye Mo's focal point in his choice of martial arts wasn't just an optimal growth in battle strength but most of all suvivability. Only by being alive can he keep growing stronger and on this side, a battle skill focused on stealth was of utmost importance.
The elder of the Liu clan couldn't find him although he used his spiritual sense, that's because at this moment, he was just a shadow among others in the jungle.
That's all the man could see but he has no way to know it's Ye Mo hiding inside.
The spiritual sense was handy as it could make you perceive your environments in an instant, like everything was right in front of your eyes, however it has it's own restrictions.
The spiritual sense can only see the surface of things but can't pierce through their true nature.
It can't go through the earth, rocks or trees.
If someone was to hide under a pile of leaves to the point not one ink of his body was revealed outside, then when the spirit sense pass by, it would see a pile of leaves but wouldn't know there's actually a person hiding inside.
If that wasn't the case then investigative and concealment battle skills wouldn't exist in this land, everyone would use their spirit sense right after breaking through the Foundation Establishment realm and these arts would lose their purpose.
Ye Mo stayed in movement at all time so his pursuers wouldn't catch up, but with the blood tracking fly, they were constantly led towards his position.
At the same time he discovered two other figures of the Foundation Establishment realm traveling in this part of the jungle and using their spirit sense to scout around.
"They even sent elders this time, they truly went all out to catch me, going as far as lowering the security of their clan. They probably bet everything on this operation to finally end this conflict with me and move on."
Ye Mo was in a plight.
He had to remain in shadow form constantly to move around and stay hidden due to the blood tracking fly and the elders scouting the jungle but at the same time he was also losing Qi every instant he passed in the shadows.
At some point he would have no choice but to cancel the skill or just find himself with empty reserves and assaulted from all sides.
That's why he returned to his human form and decided to hide on a tree previously so he could preserve his Qi and spy on the Liu clan team but with the arrival of the elder, he had no choice but to use shadow walk once again.
"Wether it's the elders or the teams, im not strong enough to defeat them." Ye Mo calmly admitted.
Although the situation was dire, he stood collected.
He was by himself against groups of high level Qi Gathering realm cultivators and even Foundation Establishment realm experts were present.
Once a fight start, without talking about win or defeat, a flare will be sent and his opponents would quickly be reinforced by other teams in the surroundings.
A battle wasn't even an option.
"However, it doesn't mean i can't deal with you lot!" Ye Mo thought cooly.
He had one advantage and it was that he knew the terrain while the Liu clan was advancing randomly.
In his mind, a devious plan quickly took form.
