The First Summoner - Chapter 3

Shen Yan frowned and looked back at him.

Their gazes met.

She barely hesitated. “Fine. I’ll save you.”

Something shifted in Feng Xingyao’s eyes. His emotions were unexpectedly complicated.

No one had ever said such words to him with such certainty—much less a frail girl without a trace of spiritual power.

Then she seized his wrist.

Her touch was cool and soft.

Feng Xingyao’s brows snapped together. He clearly disliked being touched, but for once, he showed a little more patience than usual.

He wanted to see exactly how this girl intended to save him.

The mysterious masked men charged again. Shen Yan tightened her grip on his wrist, and a faint crackle sounded in the air.

Feng Xingyao’s gaze changed.

Spatial power.

Yet this spatial power did not seem to require spiritual power at all.

“Take the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda!” the masked leader roared.

Their swords were about to fall on Shen Yan and Feng Xingyao when the two of them vanished completely.

The Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda disappeared with them.

The masked men’s expressions changed drastically.

“Where are they?”

“Did Feng Xingyao tear through space and escape?”

“Impossible. In his current condition, he cannot possibly have enough power left to break through the void. He must still be nearby! That man is full of tricks—we cannot trust whatever illusion he has cast. Even if we cannot kill him, we must bring back the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. Otherwise, our master will never spare us!”

“Search the area first,” the leader ordered grimly.

“Yes!”

The masked men scattered through Lingyan Forest in pursuit of Feng Xingyao and the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. As for Shen Yan, none of them considered her worth their attention.

They had no idea that she was the one responsible for Feng Xingyao’s disappearance.

While the others spread out, their leader remained where he was. Something told him Feng Xingyao had never left.

His sharp gaze swept across the surroundings. Again and again, he probed the area with his spiritual sense, yet he found nothing unusual.

Suddenly, one of his men rushed back to report.

“Leader! We discovered a mysterious spatial vortex at the bottom of a cliff to the south!”

The leader’s eyes darkened. “Go.”

The instant they disappeared, a slender figure reappeared in the same place.

Shen Yan’s face had turned even paler. Her spine bowed, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She looked close to collapse.

Her spatial ability allowed living people to enter her domain. But if she entered it herself and remained inside too long, her body could not endure the strain. In severe cases, every bodily function could fail.

Her eyes snapped up. She darted away in a chosen direction.

She moved with almost no sound at all—a skill she had honed while fighting zombies in her previous life.

The darkness blurred her vision, but sharpened her hearing. Every whisper of wind through the grass pulled her nerves taut.

Suddenly, she sensed an aura hurtling toward her from nearby.

Her heartbeat surged. Cold sweat broke across her back.

Her mind only grew calmer.

Shen Yan held her breath and did not move. The instant one of the masked men swept his senses in her direction, she used her spatial ability to slip back into her domain.

Fortunately, he gave the area only a cursory inspection before continuing onward.

When she emerged again, her expression was grave.

She needed to move faster and get out of this enormous forest. If those mysterious, powerful men found her, she would never escape.

After all, the Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda they wanted was inside her spatial domain.

So was the man they were hunting.

She was already hopelessly involved.

Saving Feng Xingyao had been an act of self-preservation as much as anything else.

As Shen Yan fled Lingyan Forest, her body grew weaker by the moment. The wounds that had begun to close tore open again.

She had lost too much blood.

Whenever the masked men came close to finding her, she hid inside her spatial domain until they passed. Each repetition worsened the backlash from her ability.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, she slipped through layer after layer of their search and finally reached the edge of Lingyan Forest.

She did not rush out.

Beyond the trees lay a wide stretch of open ground. Without the dense foliage to hide her, she would be exposed at once.

Her face was white as paper. Her dry lips had split, and blood covered her body. The marks of torture made her look terribly fragile.

Only her black eyes remained startlingly bright.

She was about to gamble on leaving the forest when a pale, long-fingered hand gently closed around her thin wrist.

Iron chains rattled.

Shen Yan stiffened and looked back.

Feng Xingyao’s devilishly handsome face entered her sight. Seen this close, his features were every bit as flawless. His face might have been deathly pale, but even that lent him a striking air.

He was tall enough that she had to tilt her head to meet his eyes.

Feng Xingyao raised one hand and formed a barrier around her. Then he bent closer and said softly, “I have recovered a little strength. I can place a concealment formation around you. That pack of trash will not be able to find you, so rest for a while.”

He was standing a little too close. The faint scent of sandalwood drifted from him, surprisingly pleasant.

“Mm.” Shen Yan stepped back without betraying any emotion, putting some distance between them.

Feng Xingyao arched a brow.

Just then, he seemed to sense the masked men approaching. His eyes dimmed.

A restriction had been planted inside his body, allowing them to track his location. That was why their pursuit had never ended.

Yet for some reason, the moment he entered this girl’s spatial domain, they became like headless flies, unable to find their way.

He studied her, a thread of curiosity stirring in his heart.

As the masked men’s auras drew closer, Feng Xingyao gave her a troubled smile.

“I can come out on my own,” he said, “but I do not know how to get back in.”

Without a word, Shen Yan grabbed his wrist and sent him into her spatial domain.

She was alone again.

Unable to stay on her feet any longer, Shen Yan sat down on the ground. She pulled out a fresh vial of medicine from her spatial domain and drained it in one swallow. The pain throughout her body gradually began to ease.

Soon, the masked men arrived.

Her nerves drew taut once more. Only when she realized they could not see her did some of the tension leave her chest.

At the same time, a question rose in her mind.

Who exactly were those masked men—and who was that man in red?