Ethan's arms and legs ached, but he did not dare budge from his hiding place. The Gu Master was still close enough that Ethan could hear his swearing as he looked around.
Every second stretched unbearably, but Ethan forced himself to remain still, pressing the little boy closer against his chest.
The child, to his credit, stayed silent. Whether out of fear or instinct, Ethan didn't know, but it saved them both.
The Gu Master let out a frustrated growl. "Damn brat! When I find you, I'll skin you alive!"
Ethan's mind worked rapidly. He couldn't stay hidden forever—his stamina was dangerously low, and the Gu Master was persistent. If he kept searching, he would eventually get lucky.
I need a distraction. A bait-and-switch.
A foolish idea floated into Ethan's mind. But that might be their best shot. He glanced to a pile of loose stones a few feet away. Maybe, if he threw the stones and made noise in another direction…Slowly, carefully, Ethan moved his weight. Every muscle screamed at him, but he clenched his teeth. He reached out, and gathered a small piece of stone.
Then he threw it.
The stone clattered against another boulder several meters to the left.
Jin Tu turned his head at the noise. His body coiled, and his eyes were razor sharp with the focus of a hunter.
"There you are!" he snarled, exploding into action.
Ethan did not hesitate. He headed in the other direction while carefully finding his way between the rocks. His legs felt heavy as lead, and his breath was short, but still, he pressed onward.
Just a little further. Just a little more.
Jin Tu, meanwhile, had reached the pile of rocks where the noise had come from. His eyes darted around in frustration.
""What the—?" He frowned as his search for something, anything, revealed nothing but dirt and stone.
Jin Tu's heart hammered in his ears as he scanned the rocky vicinity, still hunting for his foe. The boy couldn't have gone too far, after all. Jin Tu knew that. But the brat had vanished, like a puff of wind that slipped through his grasp.
He released a low growl of frustration. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms.And then—the air changed.
A heavy weight settled over the battlefield, dense and suffocating. And it wasn't just the cold wind of the Northern Plains—it was far worse than that.
Jin Tu stiffened.
A presence.
No—a pair of them.
As two figures materialized from the snowstorms as if in slow motion, his instincts screamed at him. A man and a woman both wearing fur-lined leathers and faint tribal marking on their faces. Their eyes glinted like predator eyes under the dwindling light.
'Liu Tribe'.
Jin Tu felt his blood run cold.
The man stepped closer with alert, rigid body language—like a predator about to pounce on its prey without a second thought. His voice was low and razor-sharp.
"You were pursuing two children."
Jin Tu felt some air gasp into his throat.
The woman beside him was a different energy—an emotional hurricane of fury and desperation behind her clenched jaw and furrowed brow, her stilled fingers barely able to control the impulse to strike him dead.
Jin Tu's mind raced.
Who the hell were these people!?
--
Ethan hardly had enough time to catch his breath before he heard another sound pierce the night—the sound of distant galloping horses.
At first he thought it was exhaustion messing with him. However, then he saw it.
Two figures cloaked in shagging wolf pelts riding savage warhorses across the frozen plains. They were overwhelming; their golden eyes drank in the darkness.
The Gu Master, still cursing under his breath, turned at the noise. At that point, his face darkened.
"Liu Tribe?..." he muttered. The fingers of his hand clenched, making his knuckles white as they turned into a fist under his woodland cloak.
The riders slowed down as they approached. The man in front - tall, with broad shoulders and an aura of cold, calm danger - pulled his horse to a stop after crossing the plain. His piercing gaze panned the land until it locked on the Gu Master.
"You," he said, his voice like ice cracking in the dead of winter. "You were chasing two children."
The Gu Master stiffened but quickly forced a sneer. "So what if I was?"
The woman beside the man gripped her horse's reins tightly, her expression filled with barely restrained fury. "Where is our son?" she demanded.
Ethan, hidden among the rocks, felt a chill crawl up his spine. These weren't just any Gu Masters. They were parents looking for their lost child—and they had the ruthless blood of the Liu Tribe flowing through their veins.
The man's next words were even colder.
"On the way here, we wiped out everyone from your clan." His gaze bore into the Rank 2 Gu Master. "Tell me. Where is my son?"
The Gu Master's face paled.
A sudden shift in the atmosphere made Jin Tu's entire body freeze.
Then it hit him—a suffocating aura, pressing down like an invisible mountain. His knees almost buckled on instinct, his very soul screaming in protest.
This… this is the aura of a Rank 4 Gu Master!
His eyes widened in pure terror. How?! How had he not realized it before? The man standing before him—this calm, expressionless figure—wasn't just any Gu Master. He was an elite, someone far beyond anything Jin Tu could handle.
Jin Tu's mouth went dry, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. A Rank 4! He had only ever seen one in his life before, and back then, even standing in their presence had been suffocating.
This was worse.
He had made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
The man took another step forward, his eyes locking onto Jin Tu like a predator watching a dying prey.
"Where. Is. My. Son?"
The words were sharp, cutting through the air like blades. There was no need for yelling, no need for threats—the sheer weight behind them was enough.
Jin Tu's breath hitched, his body stiffening involuntarily. He had to think. Fast.
"I… I don't know!" He forced the words out, licking his lips. His mind was spinning, scrambling for anything that could save him. "I was only chasing a brat—maybe he took your son!"
Silence.
The man's cold stare did not waver.
Then—something changed.
A slight ripple in the air. A formless, oppressive force surged outward.
Jin Tu barely had time to react before his soul trembled.
A piercing, unseen power swept through him, an invasive presence piercing into his very being.
His breath caught. This isn't just aura suppression… He's using a soul-searching method!
And just like that—his mind was no longer his own.