Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye in his father's robe. He moved closer and took it out. It was a small token made out of a material that resembled wood but was far stronger. On the front was a plant covered in thorns that had a ferocious dragon coiled around it, while on the back was only one word, "patriarch".
It was the patriarch's token that the two men were looking for. For some reason, it couldn't be stored inside a storage ring. As soon as he saw it, he was hit with another wave of emotions. Only the patriarch could have the token, and it was part of the things that he was supposed to inherit.
Well, he had indeed inherited it now, but rather than feel joyful about it, he was sad and despondent. His father was dead, and now, that was supposed to be his responsibility. But the whole family was gone. He put the token in his pocket and was about to leave when he sensed the aura of two individuals approaching him.
Adrian felt his heart drop to his stomach because these two auras were at the ninth stage of the nascent soul realm, and judging by the fiendish nature of these auras. They didn't seem like friends.
Adrian panicked because if he could sense them from this distance, then they could definitely sense his presence. Since he could not hide anymore, he decided to run for it. He jumped through the window and started running through the courtyard. He had to escape as soon as possible or else he would be in danger.
He ran as fast as he could and soon left the main family's courtyard.
Alas, escaping from them was a pipe dream as he was almost immediately surrounded by the two brutal men.
As the two men approached Adrian, they kept increasing their vigilance. However, as soon as they confirmed that the person in front of them was indeed only at the fifth level of the foundation establishment realm, disdainful smiles replaced their previously serious expressions.
"What do we have here?". A mocking voice rang out from one of the men.
"Looks like a little rat escaped our net."
" It's a pity you almost escaped, a little faster or earlier, and you would have been home free."
"I almost feel bad for the guy".
The two men laughed and chatted leisurely, completely disregarding Adrian.
After all, he was only a brat at the fifth level of the foundation establishment realm. A single strike from them could completely end his existence.
As for Adrian having the power to retaliate, it hadn't even crossed their minds.
Adrian's eyebrows were furrowed at this moment as he was trying to think of a way to escape this predicament. If it were a normal person, they might have already sunk into despair and resigned themselves to their fate.
However, he was the young master of the Thorne family. In order to ensure his safety in the mountains, his parents had given him various life-saving treasures. He didn't have the chance to use most of them in the mountains, but perhaps they could come in handy now.
As his thoughts spun, he took out an orb from his storage ring. He infused his qi into it while simultaneously tossing it at the two men.
This orb was an explosive capable of killing someone at the peak of the golden core formation realm.
This series of actions caught the two men off guard. They didn't expect their prey to suddenly turn around and attack them. This caused them to be slightly delayed in their actions and allowed Adrian to take advantage of the situation to escape from them.
However, even though they were slow, the two men were still able to shield themselves with their Qi in time.
The explosion just caused some superficial injuries to them, and they were more or less fine. Rather, they were annoyed that the little brat in front of them was still putting up such a futile resistance in front of them. They were initially planning on toying with him before ending his life, but now, they decided to end him once and for all.
They began to give chase and were soon on Adrian's tail. As soon as they were getting closer, Adrian threw another bomb at them, which completely infuriated them.
"Damn bastard, don't let me catch you, or else I'll skin you alive."
"How many of the stupid bombs does he even have?
Aren't those things supposed to be expensive?
How can a brat at the foundation establishment realm afford them?"
They both cursed angrily. Even though they were angry, they were unharmed. The first time, they were unprepared and were caught off guard. This time, however, they knew of his tactics and were able to shield themselves in time.
The bomb only slowed them down a little as they continued to give chase. As they were about to catch up again, Adrian threw out the third and final bomb he had at the two men. However, this bomb was different as it had the power to instantly kill someone at the initial stage of the nascent soul realm.
The two men didn't expect the power of this bomb to be greater than the last and were caught off guard once again. The explosion propelled Adrian forward while simultaneously hindering the two men.
One of them, in his fury, took out his saber and slashed out at Adrian's back.
Adrian felt all the hair on his body stand on end as he felt an intense danger behind him.
He didn't even turn around as he subconsciously took out a talisman and activated a light barrier around his body.
Immediately after doing this, a red saber light struck the barrier as he was running.
The barrier could only hold on for a second as the saber light shattered it, struck Adrian on his back, and sent him flying into a nearby building.
The barrier was only meant to defend against attacks at the initial levels of the nascent soul realm, so it obviously could not defend against an attack at the peak of the nascent soul realm.
Even so, it wasn't completely useless as it helped reduce the strength of the saber light.
Without it, Adrian would have probably been cut into two pieces, killing him instantly.