The sorrowful old man sighed. He wouldn't be serving tea today. He folded his table and vanished into the distance.
Mount Wuwang groaned. Its peak had cracked during the battle between Zhou Qiyun and the underground titan. Now the entire mountain leaned, tons of stone sliding toward the valley below.
Su Yan and Yuan Qi ran until their lungs burned. They stopped to catch their breath.
They'd covered one small hill.
"A-Yan, she's coming!"
Zhou Yupo limped toward them, robes soaked with blood. The shockwave from the titan battle had damaged her Mud Pill. Elder Xiao's attack had made it worse.
"Young Master Su," she rasped. "How did the Yuan family find me? Did you signal them?"
Su Yan straightened. He'd grown from bean-size to three inches tall. "Grandmother Zhou, did you consider that maybe I didn't run from you—I led you here?"
She laughed and reached for him. "Dreaming—"
A Soul-Lashing Whip cracked past her feet. She leaped. Four more whips caught her in midair.
*Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!*
Zhou Yupo screamed and crashed to the ground. Five Bull Demons surrounded her, whips rising and falling.
Yuan Qi cheered. "Hit her again!"
Su Yan smiled. "I knew they'd follow me."
Since escaping the basket, he'd run toward the broken Mount Wuwang because the Bull Demons never stopped tracking him. When Zhou Yupo caught up, the demons caught up too.
The old woman rolled on the ground, screaming. Su Yan plugged his ears.
A youth stood nearby, watching. Black hair, white brows, handsome features that seemed carved from jade. He didn't interfere.
Yuan Qi shuddered. *That presence... like a natural predator.*
Su Yan felt something familiar in the youth's bearing.
The white-browed youth walked over. "I didn't stop them because she broke my command. I told her to invite you with respect. She shamed you instead. She deserves punishment."
He stopped before Su Yan. "I'm Zhou Qiyun. Three hundred years ago, like you, I was a snake catcher."