AMTPA Chapter 20

Being found wasn’t a surprise to Ji Chenxi; in fact, it was something he had expected.

 

What caught him off guard, though, was that someone in that group could actually sense his spiritual energy. Suddenly, things had gotten a lot more complicated.

 

Ji Chenxi released Chi Zhuo, leaning him against the wall, and then moved to the cave entrance. Peering through a crack, he could already make out a shadowy mass approaching.

 

He glanced back at Chi Zhuo, then at the sky, thinking he might as well draw some fire. If he could fight, he’d fight; if not, he’d run. Either way, it wasn’t like he’d be blamed for leaving someone to die.

 

Just as he raised his hand to shift the huge rock aside, a cold wind blew in from outside.

 

So… how was he supposed to fight in this freezing weather?

 

Before he could step out, the oversized snow leopard cub stirred, making noises to show it was still there.

 

Ji Chenxi looked at the unconscious Chi Zhuo and said, “You wanna stay with him?”

 

The snow leopard didn’t move, just stared at him with big blue eyes that made Ji Chenxi feel a little guilty.

 

The cold outside wasn’t exactly his favorite either. Seeing the snow leopard’s concerned gaze, Ji Chenxi simply held out his hand.

 

In an instant, the snow leopard wriggled out of Chi Zhuo’s arms and leaped straight at him.

 

Ji Chenxi retracted the spiritual beast rushing toward him back into his own spiritual realm. It wasn’t that he had a problem with his leopard—it was that he planned to merge with it.

 

A spiritual beast had another trick: it could fuse with its owner. For example, if it belonged to a sea creature, the owner could swim freely in water once merged. In Ji Chenxi’s case, merging with the snow leopard spirit would let him resist the cold to some extent.

 

So why hadn’t he done it before, even in the freezing weather? Simple—he didn’t want to grow leopard ears and a tail.

 

Opening the small hidden chain, he let the fluffy tail slip out. Ji Chenxi felt numb. As a kid, he loved merging with the spirit because the ears and tail were adorable. Now, at eighteen, this kind of cuteness felt painfully embarrassing.

 

Shaking his head to push the discomfort aside, he looked out again, his vision feeling wider and sharper.

 

He opened the rock-blocked entrance, then sealed it back, and slipped completely into the night, hidden.

 

Compared to passively letting these people find the cave, he much preferred taking the initiative.

 

Hidden and alert, Ji Chenxi observed the large group under the cover of darkness. Surprisingly, the group wasn’t as united as it looked. Wrapped in multiple layers of protective suits, the suspicious Poison Scorpion squinted at the particularly cool young man in the team. “Are you sure they’re over here?”

 

The young man’s voice carried a teasing smile. “I’m sure.”

 

“Because of you, we’ve wasted a lot of time. If we fail to capture these two, you know what happens next,” a sinister threat hissed.

 

It seemed to have little effect. The young man remained smiling, “Captain, a bit of rest actually helps us track the snake and the little kitten better. Otherwise, with the cold up ahead, we’d probably freeze half our own men before even finding them.”

 

“Vice-Captain Ge, are you trying to teach me how to do my job?” Scorpion pressed a hidden button.

 

“Not at all,” the young man said, his neck emitting a faint smell of scorched skin. Yet he didn’t even frown. Instead, he calmly said, “Here we go.”

 

“Here we go?”

 

A grin finally tugged at Ji Chenxi’s lips. Indeed, it was here.

 

The prepared spiritual attack struck suddenly. Blood sprayed everywhere.

 

Many who hadn’t reacted in time were killed instantly. Only those with some skill managed to survive the sudden onslaught.

 

Everyone tensed, eyes darting around, cautious and alert.

 

Ji Chenxi moved again, his spiritual threads snaking through the air. Thin as hair, they cut down several heads in an instant. He quickly withdrew. Using spiritual threads to kill was smooth and efficient. Panic among the enemies could lead to even more unexpected gains—but it also risked revealing his location.

 

This ghostlike killing method had shocked the star thieves. They thought some unholy force was at work. But before they could panic and flail, the young man shouted sharply, “Don’t move!”

 

Scorpion’s face darkened. In less than a minute, they had lost nearly half their men.

 

“Spiritual threads,” someone muttered.

 

By the time Scorpion said this, the young man had already launched his attack. A few rounds of special photon strikes followed the blood trails. When he fired, the enemy would have already backed off, so the photon blasts weren’t meant to hit—they masked his next move.

 

Ji Chenxi, drifting and retreating casually, barely noticed the photon blasts—until a massive lion leapt at him.

 

The lion was enormous. Its claws and sharp teeth alone could kill. But Ji Chenxi, now fused with his spiritual body, had fundamentally changed. His body was agile, and with his ankle treated after a previous injury, he wasn’t in top form—but even so, a massive lion couldn’t easily bring him down.

 

Still, the lion’s speed wasn’t a joke. The attack was lightning-fast, powerfully forceful—and utterly ruthless in pursuit of its goal.

 

It seemed to have noticed Ji Chenxi’s injury — its attacks were pointed and deliberate, even trying to bite at his tail. That long, fluffy tail, over a meter of fur, was just asking to be grabbed.

 

Ji Chenxi clicked his tongue; being spotted like this was bad news. He slipped sideways to dodge the lion’s charge while also avoiding the barrage of photon blasts tearing the air. Using his spiritual power to twist the attack, he redirected a few photon shots back at the attackers — they deserved a taste of their own medicine.

 

Light on his feet and half-casual even while dodging, Ji Chenxi finally sensed deadly danger closing in. He twisted aside just in time — a slice of force cut a lock of his silver hair clean off as he leapt.

 

His brows tightened. He backed up fast to avoid the next blow; the pretty dagger in his hand flipped and managed to block a strangely shaped weapon. Ji Chenxi glanced down — that weapon was nasty. If it gouged you, you’d bleed out. He never expected someone with a lion spiritual beast to use such a sneaky, vicious tool.

 

The dagger rang with a boom from the sudden heavy impact; even Ji Chenxi’s palm went a little numb from the shock.

 

The first move failed, and the man with the creepy smile attacked again. Ji Chenxi calmly met the strike with his dagger while still retreating, and the lion next to him seized the moment to leap once more.

 

In front was the young man — grinning like a madman and lightning fast, hard to fight — behind was the charging lion. A trace of pleasure finally showed on the young man’s lips; even if they couldn’t kill Ji Chenxi this round, they could at least badly wound him.

 

But Ji Chenxi was like a cat — even under that tight, no-escape pincer, he slipped away as if he’d melted into water.

 

He pushed off lightly and sprang through the air, staring at the strand of hair the wind had scattered. His face darkened.

 

The young man chuckled, “Long hair looks great — and it’s fun to cut.”

 

Ji Chenxi gave a cold, short “hm.” “Growing it out’s troublesome,” he said.

 

“Third Prince, Your Highness — care to share your tips with me?” The young man, seeing how many times Ji Chenxi had dodged, still wanted to trade words.

 

Ji Chenxi toyed with his dagger with one hand and brushed his smooth, waterfall-like hair with the other. “You keep slicing like that and my hair’s going to look awful.”

 

“So?” the other pushed.

 

“You gotta pay a price, right? My hair isn’t something just anyone can touch.”

 

A faint amusement flickered in the young man’s eyes. Oh — so this was the empire’s little rose.

 

“Third Prince, don’t worry. I’ll make your death a pretty one.”

 

“Big ego.” Ji Chenxi shrugged it off, voice casual, almost haughty, like the man in front of him didn’t even matter.

 

Then, in the next instant, the slight smile at the young man’s lips vanished — Ji Chenxi, the one who had been dodging the whole time suddenly struck first. Fast. Too fast.

 

There was none of the previous stiffness in his movements. Ji Chenxi’s injuries, which the others had assumed would slow him down, were completely undetectable. In his original guess, Ji Chenxi should have been limping, or else he wouldn’t need to cooperate with the Mamba. But now, there was no hint of weakness in his steps.

 

His relentless assault left streaks of blood on his dagger. A flick of his fingers sent a silent message: that’s all you’ve got?

 

Ji Chenxi hadn’t even said a word, yet the young man’s anger flared. It was time to get serious.

 

The battlefield had devolved into chaos — there was no chance for one-on-one fights. Seeing that the young man still hadn’t captured Ji Chenxi, Scorpion muttered about incompetence, while sending a few men to search for Chi Zhuo. At the same time, he ordered the others to increase firepower and deploy heavy weapons.

 

Heavy weapons drained energy and caused massive noise — which is why they hadn’t used them before. But now, time was short. His informants had already reported that the target had been found and was arriving soon.

 

The moment this message came through, all other communications with the outside instantly vanished.

 

Scorpion sneered. They were prepared: even if caught, no one could reveal the other side.

 

“Open fire,” he commanded.

 

The operator, aiming the heavy weapon, blinked sharply. “Captain… Vice-Captain Ge is over there too.”

 

Scorpion’s face darkened. The Red Scorpion Star Thieves had only just arrived, and they were already ignoring his orders.

 

“I said, open fire.”

 

Ji Chenxi, the young man, and his lion had been locked in fierce combat, paying little mind to the photon blasts aimed at them. But in the middle of one brutal exchange, Ji Chenxi suddenly broke off, eyes widening slightly.

 

Crazy — they were using heavy weapons in this environment.

 

They intended to blow both of them to bits.

 

The young man recognized the danger too, his face grim. He quickly pulled back alongside Ji Chenxi.

 

Ji Chenxi chose the route with the best advantage. The young man did the same. Amid the deafening roar of the heavy weapons, the two enemies collided on the narrow path.

 

Ji Chenxi ignored him and melted back into the shadows. Now wasn’t the time to keep tangling with the young man — first, he had to deal with those idiots.

 

At the same time, the young man was thinking along the same lines.

 

But while Ji Chenxi moved with his usual agility to reach Scorpion and successfully subdued the S-class old man, the young man already had the heavy weapon aimed at him.

 

Ji Chenxi frowned. With the weapon pointed at him, it was hard to press the dagger any further.

 

“Looks like I’m still one step ahead of His Highness, the Third Prince,” the young man said with a smirk.

 

“Not necessarily,” came a lazy, indifferent voice.

 

The tall, long-haired beauty stood casually, plunging a dagger in without hesitation. Blood sprayed, yet the one behind the action remained utterly relaxed, speaking lazily in the young man’s direction: “You’re late, Chi Zhuo.”

 

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