Chapter 1690: Chapter 1690

Now both Yao Lingfu and Jiang Ningxiang are in a coma. As long as one of them wakes up, they can explain to Li Yifei and the others what exactly happened. Unfortunately, the more anxious they are, the less likely they are to wake up, and Li Yifei’s True Qi was almost depleted.

Murong Yuanqing tried, but his True Qi could not elicit any reaction from Jiang Ningxiang, so the task could only be done by Li Yifei.

Another hour passed, and the sky had already darkened. The search personnel returned one by one, and the medical staff arrived later. They brought medical equipment, but the toxins in these people’s bodies could not be resolved by modern medical technology; they had to wait for the toxins to dissipate naturally.

Someone brought some food and handed it to Li Yifei and the others. Li Yifei accepted it and thanked them, but finding it hard to eat while still unable to reach Elder Feng, not knowing how things were on the path he was tracking.

Li Yifei finally couldn’t sit still and decided to follow the path Elder Feng was tracking. He entrusted Jiang Ningxiang to be cared for by the medical staff and, accompanied by two search personnel, headed to the path Elder Feng was tracking. This time, Li Yifei took communication equipment and maintained contact along the way.

"You guys go back." The helicopter hovered, Li Yifei rappelled down and found that the two others also descended, and they said, "We’ll wait for you here."

"Alright." Li Yifei nodded, picked a direction, and charged forward. The night was inconspicuous tonight, but it did not affect Li Yifei’s progress; even in the dense forest, he moved smoothly.

Elder Feng wasn’t rashly pursuing; he left signal markers along the way. At least every once in a while, Li Yifei could find a marker guiding him, but at the same time, he discovered another type of marker. These were spaced far apart, not obvious, generally appearing only after seeing three markers left by Elder Feng, and some were so faint they were hard to notice without careful observation.

Continuing forward, Li Yifei discovered two places showing signs of battle. One place had very obvious battle marks, while the other was small. At the smaller site, Li Yifei found traces of blood, likely left from when those people were fighting.

Li Yifei picked up speed, moving forward as the forest ahead grew denser. The traces left by Elder Feng, from being every few dozen meters, now required traveling a hundred meters to find one, and Li Yifei often needed to verify them closely.

But unconsciously, Li Yifei had already chased more than ten miles, even crossing two mountains. Along the way, his communication equipment maintained contact with Murong Yuanqing, and through satellite positioning, his location was known.

Murong Yuanqing did not expect Elder Feng to chase this far, no wonder it was taking so long.

Li Yifei inquired about the situation at the temple. Yao Lingfu had been re-bandaged and treated, and Jiang Ningxiang and the others were still in a coma. But according to Murong Yuanqing’s analysis, they would wake up at the latest by dawn. Although the drug was colorless and tasteless, making it hard to guard against, its effects wouldn’t last long — about a day.

Li Yifei felt a little relieved and informed Murong Yuanqing that he would continue to pursue.

This pursuit lasted for over an hour, with Li Yifei feeling he might have run dozens of miles. In front was a river, about twenty meters wide. Li Yifei stopped, taking a breath and standing by the riverbank, looking at the opposite shore; the markings left by Elder Feng had disappeared here — along the riverbanks for about two hundred meters, there were no new markers.

What to do? Go across, or downwards, or upwards? Li Yifei stared into the dense forest on the opposite shore, as if hoping to see through it.

Elder Feng had persistently chased, meaning he had discovered something; otherwise, he wouldn’t leave markers while chasing such a distance. Now Li Yifei had to follow through.

After pausing for a bit, Li Yifei decided to venture across the river, quickly swimming to the opposite side—whetherthe clothes got wet was of no concern—as he entered the dense forest.

After chopping off a snake intending to attack him, Li Yifei finally found a marking left by Elder Feng. It was a very faint punch mark directly on a tree trunk, leaving an impression. Finding the mark relieved Li Yifei momentarily, confirming the direction and continuing the pursuit.

As such, Li Yifei traveled for another two hours. Although his stamina was impressive, he was starting to feel fatigue. The crucial aspect was his worry about the child, which kept his nerves tense and made him tire more easily.

Fortunately, they had decided to dispatch a helicopter to assist Li Yifei in aerial positioning and searching, which would arrive in twenty minutes or so.

Just then, Li Yifei found a corpse. Discovering a corpse in the midnight forest could frighten an ordinary person into shock, but Li Yifei, seeing the abrupt appearance, was momentarily startled too. The corpse was half-hung on a tree, a meter off the ground, with a large pool of blood below, and a branch piercing the chest—a fatal wound. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍

Beneath the tree, a peculiarly shaped sword was stuck in the soil. Li Yifei couldn’t deduce the techniques from the traces but could be sure this person was among those who stole the child. The thigh was crushed — a wound evident of Elder Feng’s handiwork, as he favored such direct attacks, pulverizing foes with his fists.

Perhaps that punch had directly hung the opponent on the tree, the branch piercing through the heart, causing death.

Li Yifei relayed the information to Murong Yuanqing and continued pursuing without rest.

This time, Li Yifei quickly reached a large battle scene, as big as a basketball court. The surrounding trees and vegetation were severely damaged, and sword energy crisscrossed, indicating intense fighting. There Li Yifei saw two more corpses but, fortunately, none were Elder Feng. These corpses had long perished, and Li Yifei didn’t inspect further, choosing instead to move forward.

Finally, after ten minutes, Li Yifei made a new discovery: it was already at a location beneath the mountain cliffs, resembling a V shape, surrounded by steep cliffs, unknown how many meters high.

Li Yifei saw Elder Feng lying in a pool of blood, his condition unknown. The scene contained over ten corpses, and Li Yifei hurriedly went over to check, finding Elder Feng not dead but injured in many places. Li Yifei urgently called the helicopter for rescue positioning to attend to Elder Feng.

Meanwhile, Li Yifei quickly searched the surrounding corpses. These people were uniformly dressed, without masks, and all were male, none exception, all dead. But among these, there was no child!