Like a Ray in My Night (Part 4)

698 Hiding or Escaped?

When it came to finding Mu Qing, Liu Bao Ru wasn't quite as lost about what to do as she had been regarding how to get Yun Bei Fen out of the building. For one, unless Lu Wei had already caught up to him and others had coincidentally stumbled upon the scene and gotten involved, there would only be one person around him so she didn't have to be as cautious as back at the main hall.

Apart from that, she also knew which direction Mu Qing had taken. After all, while she might not have seen the actual scene of the explosion, it should have been on the opposite side of the main hall. This meant that she knew from where he had started. As to where he had gone ... there were a few guesses she could make.

While she couldn't be certain about the exact circumstances at that time, it stood to reason that Mu Qing had been fighting those three disciples all alone. He had clearly managed to injure one of them badly and then escaped maybe as a result of that. Still, in a fight of three-against-one, it was unlikely for him not to have been injured as well. In fact, she felt that it would be reasonable to expect him to be more heavily injured than what Wen Xiang might have experienced. In that case, he would try not to go too far and instead try to find a way to hide and heal first or escape directly.

While it might sound easier to hide in a place as big as the underground palace, she doubted that this was indeed the case in this scenario. After all, Lu Wei should have been almost directly behind Mu Qing and both of them were very familiar with this place. Where would he have the time to make it to a hiding spot out of Lu Wei's sight without being caught?

Looking at it that way, escaping might actually be easier. As to how he would have done that ... she could only see two possibilities: The first one would be one of the closest exits. After leaving the building, Mu Qing at least wouldn't have to worry about running into other disciples while fleeing. At most, there was a chance of Song Yu Zheng and Wen Xiang catching up from behind but the prerequisite of that would be knowing where he went which wasn't likely if he had enough of a head-start.

Of course, fleeing to the outside would also leave him more vulnerable to Lu Wei's attacks. After all, they would be out in the open field at that point. There wouldn't be any corners to jump behind and no doors to use as a temporary shield. It would be only him in the front and Lu Wei chasing from behind, making himself the perfect target.

The other possibility was staying inside the building and fleeing from there. She did remember that there were apparently arrays in this place. They had discovered almost right at the beginning after finding the underground palace so this fact was still rather present in her mind. Especially so since it hadn't been the first time arrays played a role while they were in the border region. There had just been too many instances of those being an important part of some event to ignore any new ones appearing.

Using the arrays to escape would likely be the preferable method under the circumstances Mu Qing had had to work with. He could make use of the building while fleeing at first and then — depending on where the array he chose led — he would have a completely different set of circumstances to work with. Maybe at that time, nobody would be around or maybe there would be people he felt he could trust and count on. Maybe the terrain would be more suitable to losing Lu Wei's pursuit or even to mount a sneak attack on him. Everything was possible when outside the underground palace.

Of course, if she was right, then that left her with one problem: Mu Qing likely knew the arrays well ... but she didn't. Before, they had talked about his Master's plan, the Yu She Sect, and some of the disciples currently gathered in the underground palace because all of this was vital information. But the arrays simply hadn't seemed as urgent to speak about. Sure, they could be either dangerous or beneficial but, currently, they had other worries which happened to be a lot bigger. Speaking about the arrays in detail would have seemed like a waste of time so they hadn't even come up. Now, she felt slightly regretful about that decision.

Not knowing where the arrays were and not knowing where each of them would lead even if she found them put herself in a difficult situation. She wasn't willing to simply give up though. No, she still had options.

Mu Qing had to have fled in a hurry and Lu Wei was certainly rushing after him with just as much urgency. In such a state, both of them were likely to leave traces of the path they took. For example, hadn't she thought before that Mu Qing was likely injured? If he fled without any time to take care of those wounds, then there might be blood on the path he had taken. Meanwhile, Lu Wei might be willing to force his way through where Mu Qing tried to hinder him. That might mean that she could find the result of another explosion or maybe a broken down door or something similar. She just had to keep her eyes open.

Of course, she also couldn't just randomly walk around and hope that nobody would find her. Not to mention Song Yu Zheng and Wen Xiang who might join the chase after Mu Qing soon, there were other disciples who might find her behavior suspicious. With her wearing the red robe that had been meant for Luo Lin, she was also much too conspicuous. So before she went to search for clues of Mu Qing's whereabouts, she had to deal with that quickly.