Dyon shot into the forest, immediately folding his wings and allowing them to disappear. As much as they boosted his speed, they also made him easier to spot. For the first time, he lamented having golden wings. At this point, he could forget about doing stealth missions at his top speed.
As expected, the celestials completely ignored the horse drawn carriage. Not only were the Angel Clan horses much too fast and had stamina surpassing that of a normal cultivator, they had clearly seen that their target, the Dragon Refining Arts, was still in Dyon's hand.
The truth was that Laura was wrong. Dyon didn't separate from the group to protect Luna and only a self-centered idiot with shallow thinking would reach such a conclusion. That, or they had some sort of bias against him, which was clearly true.
The reason Dyon separated from his clan members was because it didn't matter if they could outrun them. Wasn't the location of the Angel Clan known to the Viserions? It wasn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a secret. If he just headed toward the Angel Clan, he'd be bringing calamity down on his people. It would be a move stupid beyond compare!
For now, Dyon had to buy time until the Angel Clan improved formations were created. The evacuation was also occurring tomorrow. If he delayed those plans, everything would go up in smoke! He had no choice but to draw their attention away. As for Laura's thoughts, Dyon wouldn't be bothered to care for the opinions of such a narrow-minded woman, no matter how slighted she felt.
Dyon's mind was completely blank as he quickly flashed through the forest, hardly stepping on the branches of the thick trees before shooting forward again. His steps were so quick and controlled that he left no footprints.
Although Dyon didn't have movement techniques, the control he had over his body had skyrocketed the moment he absorbed the male half of the body kernel. Even if Dyon wanted to slow or speed up the flow of his very blood, he could do so! This allowed him to use his stamina and strength with a ridiculous amount of efficiency. Dyon was like a long-distance runner who had spent half their life learning the perfect running form and pacing for themselves. He truly knew his body inside and out.
The secondary added benefit was his talent in regards to Martial Arts. These were, of course, the branch of techniques followed by body cultivation purists who believed in relying on their own bodies instead of the energies of the universe. This was why Dyon's Presence and Perception increased so quickly because they both technically fell under the body cultivation umbrella.
"YOU DARE STEAL FROM THE VISERION CLAN?!" One of the elders roared in agitation. They were so angry that none of them thought clearly. What did nine lower celestials mean in front of two dao formation experts? If Dyon wanted them dead, they'd be dead already!
However, Dyon didn't do such a thing. Nor did he try to explain. He was at the point where he was too angry to even open his mouth. Because if he did so… If he allowed his emotions to flow… He really would turn back and kill these elders even if it cost him his life!
What kind of self-control did Dyon have? It could be said that he was nearly unmatched in the world!
For one, he held a burden of being constantly bombarded by his own lust while easily going months without touching the body of a female. However, to Dyon, this was one of the easier things he had ever done in his life!
Dyon was a man that had withstood the humiliation of being beaten down all for the sake of saving someone he deemed worthy. Dyon was a man that didn't bat an eye at the prospect of not seeing his loved ones for decades all for the sake of becoming stronger to protect them. Dyon was a man who had the murderer of his own flesh and blood parents before him, and willed himself not to kill him for the sake of greater good!
But now?! He was thoroughly enraged. He was one false move. One ill placed word. One moment of irrationality from completely snapping and being engulfed by the demon within him.
This was truly the worst trial he had ever undergone in his life. He didn't care about having to fight bloody battles. He didn't care about the pain or horrors of such a thing. But, to be betrayed by someone that was thoroughly engrained in your heart… It was enough to make a man go mad.
It felt the same as though Madeleine had done such a thing to him. As though his first love in this life had stabbed him in the back and twisted until there was nothing whole left in his chest.
This was a pain that he would never forget. One that he could only hope was erased after he left these trial grounds… Because if not… He didn't know how he would handle it…
That was the only thing keeping him sane. The idea that this had to all be an illusion… That his grand teacher was just pulling an elaborate ruse that couldn't continue on to the real world… That after he left… Luna would be erased from his heart completely…
Unfortunately, he was far too naïve.
Dyon lightly stepped on a branch before taking a sharp right. The celestials were following so closely behind him that his action almost ended in him being caught by one of them on the flank. However, this left the celestials stupefied.
'Did he find out?' They all thought at once.
There were only 9 of them here, but how could the Viserion Kingdom not have patrols? These elders had long since alerted the posts up ahead that a top priority criminal was on the way. And yet, just as they were about to complete their encirclement, Dyon drastically changed his direction? Was this a coincidence?
Dyon couldn't be bothered with their thoughts. He had been running for about ten minutes now at a leisurely pace. In fact, it was a pace that the celestials behind him should have caught up to if they were trying their hardest. The fact they didn't only left one obvious answer: A trap. So, he purposefully went straight ahead before abruptly changing direction when his Perception caught a whiff of their anxiousness. He barely needed to think to analyze the situation. The thinking of these people were too shallow.
However, Dyon knew he needed a feasible plan to escape. Because of his past persona's flaws, the information the Angel Clan had on other clans was sorely lacking. As a result, much of the maps they had were dated by decades. With all of the movement in territory and conquering just the Viserion clan had been up to, how could those maps still be accurate?!
Therefore, Dyon knew that he could only use the maps as a rough estimate. Despite that, he went out of his way to memorize them all. The reason why? The one thing that wouldn't change in a mere few decades was landscape!
Intelligently, Dyon treated land such as forest just as loosely as cities and tribes. That being because trees could obviously be cut down. Therefore, he allowed his slowly forming plan to be flexible in aspects needing the cover of these dense trees, while solely relying on things that would hardly change at all. These were things like mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, caves, etc. He graded them all on a scale, never allowing a landscape that rated too low to rate too highly in importance.
For now, Dyon was just buying time. But, as expected, the moment he changed direction, the elders sped up from about 70% of their speed, to 95%+!
"Since you don't want to make things easy, don't blame us for being ruthless!" An elder sneered.
Dyon remained expressionless. It was as though he didn't notice the distance of a few dozen meters suddenly closing rapidly.
However, in the next instant, his foot landed on a particularly thick branch before pressing down with tens of thousands of pounds of force. Before the branch could even snap, Dyon's body had already flown forward, seemingly teleporting hundreds of meters ahead.
He felt a slight pain in his leg, because he had just used his Celestial Wind Movement technique without the necessary wills to support him, but he seemed to not have noticed as the cracks in his bones began to heal rapidly. There was not the slightest shred of pain on his features, and even though he could hardly use the technique to even 10% of its normal heights, it was more than enough to deal with these so-called elders!
"Profound movement technique!" The elders gasped in awe, a cold sweat permeating their backs. When had they ever seen such an exquisite technique?
