Volume One, Chapter 86: The Old Taoist and the Young Taoist

“Brother, how could you do that? That was meant for me—why did you suddenly jump in and snatch it?” Li Nanqiu protested angrily.

Li Changsheng grinned. “Little sister, opportunities are for those who seize them. If you can’t grab it in time, you’ve only yourself to blame.”

“I... No, this was given to me!” Li Nanqiu huffed indignantly.

The two of them immediately shifted their focus from Jiang Chen to each other, and before long, the bickering escalated to the brink of a physical fight. Seeing that nothing serious was happening, Jiang Chen quietly slipped away. He decided to go back first and look for a car—certainly not the Wuling Hongguang, though. That vehicle wouldn’t even last long enough to reach its destination before breaking down.

...

Along the mountain roads, Semir decided to take the water route out of the country. After all, Qingcheng was located in the south, closest to the sea, and one of their own, a six-winged angel, could control water at will—greatly increasing their chances of escape.

They had already been on the run for nearly half a day without anyone pursuing them. It seemed that Daxia had given up the chase.

The Lin siblings, who had been captured, were both terrified. They had been asleep when someone smothered them, and when they awoke, they found themselves on the road, abducted.

Lin Ning was the first to regain her composure. She quickly realized that their captors couldn’t be ordinary people—nor anyone they had ever met. These people had foreign faces, and could even fly low over the ground, something she’d never seen in her eighteen years of life. She couldn’t fathom why these three would kidnap her and her brother; they didn’t even have any money on them. And if they were human traffickers, wouldn’t they target younger children? The group didn’t look like traffickers at all, but rather like foreign smugglers.

Soon, they stopped in a vast, wild expanse, a desolate place that seemed untouched for years.

Skal, being a six-winged angel and the brains of the group, spoke up. “Dear Semir, I have a bad feeling about this place. It seems dangerous.”

Kasa, standing nearby, scoffed. “Skal, you’re always excessively cautious. This place practically screams safety.”

On the wide, endless plain, Kasa continued, “If you ask me, that Li Changsheng probably wants to give chase, but he won’t make it in time.”

Semir nodded. “Exactly. At our current pace, we’ll be out of the country in two days. By then, we’ll be national heroes, and our statues will stand beneath the Red Tower.”

The thought of a statue beneath the Red Tower made Kasa’s eyes light up with hope. Having a statue erected there was the highest honor among the angelic families, a symbol of great service to the nation and an immortality of fame.

“If we can have a statue, no matter how big or small, our names will be remembered for generations.”

“Who are you? Why did you take us?” Lin Mo finally found the courage to speak after a long silence. Despite his fear, he insisted on demanding an answer.

“Kid, do you really not know who you are? Your country has protected you so well,” Kasa said, crouching in front of Lin Mo and tilting up his chin.

“My identity? What identity? I’m just an ordinary high school student,” Lin Mo protested.

“Tsk, tsk, you’re far from ordinary. You just haven’t discovered your abilities yet. You’re a Chosen One, the kind that only appears once in centuries—a resource every power in the world is desperate to claim.”

Semir looked at the boy with a certain fondness; after all, he was her ticket to glory.

Lin Mo stared in confusion. “Chosen One? I don’t have any abilities. Please, just let us go. Or take me and let my sister go—she’s innocent.”

They had already figured out on the road that the girl was not a Chosen One. Only the boy was. The girl, in truth, had no value to them; she was only brought along in hopes of extracting some information. But it was clear the siblings knew nothing, so the girl was now entirely expendable.

“Fine, I can let her go—though if I do, she’ll be heading straight to hell,” Semir said coldly.

“No! Please, don’t hurt my sister. If you want someone, take me. Just let her go. She’s done nothing wrong,” Lin Mo pleaded earnestly.

“Do it, Kasa. This burden will only slow us down.”

They decided the optimal solution was to get rid of the girl. That way, they wouldn’t be held back, and their pace would even quicken—a perfect outcome.

Lin Mo watched them quietly. “If you dare hurt my sister, I’ll bite my tongue and kill myself. When you return, your leader will surely blame you for it.”

Kasa laughed. “Child, aren’t you a little too naïve? Our original mission was to kill you anyway. Taking you back alive is just a bonus—if we have to kill you after all, so be it. We just won’t get a reward.”

“If you let my sister go, I’ll go with you, and I’ll obey your orders if you want me to do anything.”

Lin Mo could only stall for time in this way, hoping someone would come to their rescue, though he had no idea if his blind faith would bring help.

After a moment’s thought, Semir said, “Forget it, let’s keep the girl for now. If the boy dies and he loses his mind, we’ll have a harder time explaining ourselves. For the sake of our reward, we’ll take her along.”

“You all seem awfully busy planning your acceptance speeches already. Have you forgotten about the old Daoist?”

From across the vast plain, an old Daoist strode toward them, a cigarette dangling from his lips, exuding a confidence and swagger that suggested he had no regard for the people before him.

“Master, do we really have to make such a scene? You seem completely unrestrained since coming down the mountain,” said the young Daoist, wooden sword on his back.

The old Daoist chuckled. “You don’t understand—this is called being fashionable.”