"Shit, it's after me!! It didn't even look at others," shouted Elder Shu Ti.
As elder Shu Ti was at the front he thought that if he took a turn, he would be able to avoid it and the bram leopard would go after others. But the moment Elder Shu Ti took a turn, it also turned around and ignored the others.
"Elder Shu is done for!" said Zihao De.
He did not stop and kept running. He passed Elder Shu Ti along with the other elders. It was obvious that the Bram leopard was after Elder Shu.
Even though Elder Shu was the second elder of the clan and everyone had to follow his orders, nobody stopped to look at Shu Ti. It was obvious that Shu Ti was only going to run, so stopping would only put their lives in danger.
"Those bastar*s, they abandoned me!" Shu Ti felt indignant.
His running scheme turned against him.
"No choice left. I will go for it." Shu Ti muttered.
The leopard was approaching him quickly, so he had no choice but to face it, or do something else because otherwise, he was going to get caught.
After a while, he suddenly stopped running and came at the Bram leopard at full speed. When the leopard saw this, he considered it a challenge and tried to go even faster at his opponent.
The leopard opened its mouth and jumped at Shu Ti.
Just as they were about to collide, Elder Shu deftly sidestepped, swiftly passing the leopard. Both Shu Ti and the leopard, moving at full speed, couldn't halt immediately. Shu Ti maintained his pace without slowing down.
The Bram leopard attempted to slow down, but its speed and momentum prevented it from stopping quickly. These critical seconds allowed Elder Shu to widen the gap between them and approach his clan members.
When Zihao De and the others saw Elder Shu approaching them rapidly, they were astonished.
"How did his speed suddenly increase, and how did he manage to shake off that darn leopard?" someone asked in shock.
Everyone had been certain that Elder Shu would at least be injured, if not killed. Yet, he emerged unscathed — despite facing a creature that held the upper hand in the forest.
Everyone was shocked, except for Yang Zhai. He already knew why Elder Shu's speed was so fast: Elder Shu was a rank 5 cultivator but had kept this a secret from the entire clan. Right now, he was using a Ka to hide his aura.
This was the reason that the Bram leopard was also going after Elder Shu. It was because the leopard's instincts were telling it that Shu Ti was the most dangerous among everyone present.
"Elder Shu, what happened to the Bram leopard?" Someone among the group asked.
"I was able to trick it. We should be safe now, but to ensure that, we need to keep running at our current pace." Elder Shu Ti said while running.
He did not even ask why Zihao De and others did not stop to help him. Forget about that—he did not even mention it. How could he do that when he did that himself? In fact, he was the first one to abandon them. They all acted like nothing ever happened and kept on running.
Shu Ti was right, the bram leopard didn't appear again. It seemed like they had left it far behind. They were also about to reach the Bai clan.
After about a quarter of an hour, they reached the surroundings of the Bai village. However, they did not approach it. Many cultivators were waiting outside the village, and if they got close to someone's sensing range, they would surely be chased until they were dead.
"What should we do now, Elder Shu?" someone asked.
"We aren't able to fight this many cultivators right now. If I'm not wrong, there should be around forty or so rank 4 cultivators surrounding the village. Even the front of the village has around 15 cultivators. We are only seven rank 4 cultivators and have six rank 2 and 3 cultivators with us. If we attack them, considering we seven can handle two cultivators each, we will get surrounded by the cultivators around the village in only a few minutes. We need to find another way. What do you suggest, Third Elder?" Elder Shu asked Zihao De after assessing the situation.
"Second Elder, I'm afraid there's no way right now. The Clan Leader might have already entered the village, but even he would have had difficulty. We are only rank 4. I might have been able to think of a way if there were a rank 5 cultivator among us." Zihao De was also unable to think of a way.
"Elders, why don't we do this? Instead of finding a way to enter the village, we should go ahead and lure that bram leopard here. Even though it's nothing to these many rank 4 cultivators, it would at least give them a hard time, giving us enough time to enter the village." Yang Zhai looked at the confused elders and said.
He didn't want to wait here and get discovered by the enemy cultivators. And if that happened, he was sure that these elders would only care about themselves when they were surrounded by this many cultivators. As a result, he would die without a doubt.
When the other elders heard this, they looked at Yang Zhai. They were amazed that a 15-year-old could come up with such a solution in such a short amount of time, especially when even their strategist had given up.
"I am amazed, Yang Zhai. Even though there is danger in your plan, it's the only option I see right now. Although it will bring the Bram leopard close to our clan village, we can deal with that later. But... I don't think that will be necessary. We just need to find a way to divert its attention towards the enemies," Zihao De praised Yang Zhai.
He saw more benefits in Yang Zhai's plan than disadvantages. If they managed to lure the Bram leopard here, they would be able to enter the village successfully once a commotion started. Even though they would be risking it by bringing the Bram leopard close to the Bai village, it didn't matter.
Once it reached the area, the bram leopard would continuously chase the cultivators until it believed everyone was dead. If the enemy wanted to stay, they would have to deal with it, or they would be chased down one by one and killed.
However, if the enemy didn't deal with it and somehow managed to make it stay near the Bai village for the Bai clan to handle, then the Bai clan would have enough time to prepare for their attack.
"Impressive, Yang Zhai, even I am amazed that you could come up with such a plan. Anyway, how did you think of this idea?" Shu Ti praised Yang Zhai as well.
"Elders, even though we managed to avoid the leopard, I was still afraid it might find us. So, I was thinking about this the whole time. When you mentioned the enemies, it occurred to me that if even the second and the third elders were afraid of the leopard, we might be able to use it against our enemies as well," said Yang Zhai after thinking.
Shu Ti: "..."
Zihao De: "..."
Every elder here knew that the reason they ran was because there was a high possibility someone might die, or they would get injured at least. On top of that, it was a bram leopard, meaning that it had the upper hand in the forest. Thus, they decided it was better to preserve their strength than to waste it as they also had to deal with the enemies outside the Bai village.
But, Yang Zhai made it seem like Elder Shu and others ran because they were afraid. And why was it only these two? Didn't all of the elders here run? So, why were they the only ones mentioned particularly?
He is still a kid after all. The reason he could come up with this plan was just a fluke, I am sure of it. Even though he is smart and a genius, he isn't very experienced to think that deeply.
All the elders thought that Yang Zhai's plan was solely to create a commotion to enter the village using the leopard and was a fluke. They believed that Yang Zhai didn't realize his plan's benefits extended beyond just gaining entry to the village.
But it was exactly the opposite. Yang Zhai knew the consequences his plan could have.
"Elder Zihao, let's proceed like this. If everyone goes after the leopard, it could work against us. How about this: I will stay here to keep watch on the enemies, while you and two other elders lure it here."
"As for why I'm not going myself and sending you instead: everyone here saw that, for some reason, it was specifically targeting me. If I were to chase it, it would continue targeting me even after we lure it here among the enemies. There wouldn't be much advantage in that. We need it to pursue the enemy cultivators," explained Elder Shu.
Even Zihao De agreed with Elder Shu and nodded. He knew that Elder Shu was not doing it to keep himself safe, but it was the best decision right now.
"As the third elder was the strongest here after Elder Shu, it was better for him to go personally. Shu Ti was sending two other elders with Zihao De to find the leopard and assist each other in unexpected situations."
"Fine, I will leave then. Let's go." Elder Zihao De motioned for the others to follow and walked away with two other elders.
…..
About two hours prior
Stood a man of eight feet in height. He was looking down at someone. The man he was looking down at was Tai Qi.
"Chiu Lan, does your brother know about this?" Elder Shan Tey asked. He was one of the elders who had left with Tai Qi for the Bai clan.
Both he and Tai Qi had been fighting each other. As for the two elders who were with Tai Qi, they would from time to time attack Chiu Lan.
Chiu Lan was known as a reckless beast in the surrounding areas. His brother's name was Chiu Len, known as a prudent beast.
Chiu Lan was called this because he would go ahead and do whatever he wanted to without any worries. Just like right now, he dared to attack Tai Qi alone. Not to mention that Tai Qi was not alone.
The reason they still had not reached the Bai clan was that Tai Qi had just defeated a rank 5 cultivator about an hour ago and was running from two other rank 5 cultivators. It turned out that the Ma clan had sent three rank 5 cultivators to kill him. He managed to kill one but was now being chased by the other two. However, Chiu Lan managed to find them.
/!*****!*****!/