However, time had been wasted, and given the Blood Bat's exceptional lightness skill, it was only a short while before they were already dozens of feet away.
With Li Ling's current strength, he could easily have captured the Blood Bat, but he was worried that in addition to the Blood Bat, there were other innate masters who had been assigned to search the surrounding area, so he did not pursue them.
His prized Ferghana horse was killed by a hidden weapon, so he had no choice but to choose one of the horses left behind by the assassins and quickly leave this dangerous place.
Riding a fast horse, Li Ling arrived at a small town nearby. His princely attire was too conspicuous, so he had changed into a set of warrior's casual clothes, but the disguise on his face was not removed immediately.
He arrived at a restaurant, ordered a few dishes, and then asked the innkeeper to prepare some dry rations to put into his Qiankun World. He planned to travel non-stop for the next few days to leave the troubled area nearby.
He had just finished eating and left with his rations when more than thirty knights rushed into the town to search, with the tavern where Li Ling was located being the first target!
Li Ling's Qiankun World is a real world, where time also flows. Food left there will spoil over time. He isn't powerful enough to freeze time within his Qiankun World yet, so he needs to replace his rations every few days. (The rest of the text appears to be unrelated and likely refers to a different topic: "Wishing Star of All Heavens and Myriad Realms.")
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Chapter 165 A History That Went Astray
"Huh?"
Several knights rushed into the tavern, each holding a portrait. They pulled almost everyone in the inn over and began to check whether each person matched the portrait.
However, just as they pulled over a waiter in the inn to identify him, the waiter saw the portrait in the knight's hand and immediately exclaimed in surprise.
"Boy, do you know the person in this portrait?" The knight grabbed the waiter by the collar, pulled him in front of him, and said fiercely.
"Sir... I've seen this man before." The waiter looked at the knight's fierce appearance and subconsciously felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard and nodded.
"Where is this person now?" As soon as the waiter made this move, all the knights in the inn surrounded him and questioned him.
Looking at the people around him, the waiter could sense the chilling murderous aura emanating from them. Compared to these people, the people who usually ruled the town like kings were nothing but lambs.
The waiter was immediately stunned and frozen in fear.
"Speak quickly!" a knight said impatiently.
The waiter stammered, "This person just ate here..."
"Has he eaten? Where is he now?" The knights were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately asked.
"He's been gone for quite a while!" the waiter said after thinking for a moment. In fact, if Li Ling hadn't bought a lot of dry food and cooked meat before leaving, he might not have remembered.
"What? They're gone?" The news quickly reached the ears of the middle-aged knight who was the leader. Upon hearing the news, the middle-aged knight immediately exclaimed.
“Indeed, sir, the other party has only been gone for a quarter of an hour!” A knight in charge of interrogating the waiter knelt on one knee in front of the middle-aged knight and answered respectfully.
"Gather everyone and inform the other teams. We must set off immediately; we cannot allow him to escape!" the middle-aged knight commanded decisively.
"Yes, sir!"
After an incense stick's time, the group of knights set off again, heading in a grand procession towards the direction Li Ling had left in.
At first, Li Ling just wanted to leave quickly. Soon, he realized that someone was following him. Instead of speeding up his escape, Li Ling slowed down.
He knew that most of the people who came to track him at the beginning were not experts, but if they followed him all the way and the real experts got the news and surrounded him, it would be difficult to deal with them. At that time, one's own fists would be no match for four hands. Therefore, Li Ling planned to get rid of the group of tails behind him first.
"Quickly, all of you, chase after him!" The middle-aged knight Chen Tian urged his men rapidly. He didn't know how the young man he was tracking had offended the adults, but the man had to die!
"My lord, look!" Just as Chen Tian was urging his men to hurry up, a knight raised his whip and pointed to the distance, giving instructions.
Chen Tian looked in that direction and saw a chestnut horse stopped there, just as the waiter had described. It was the same horse that the young man was riding!
"The horses are here, so the target must be nearby. Search them immediately!" Chen Tian ordered as he approached the horses.
Soon, more than thirty knights dismounted and began searching the surrounding area, using their horses as the center.
There was a grove of trees next to the horses. The knights dispersed and entered the grove to search. Suddenly, seven or eight knights fell to the ground silently at the same time. The leader, Chen Tian, also felt a chill in his heart and instinctively lowered his head.
Then a "poof" sound was heard, and a hole the size of a finger appeared in a big tree in front of him, piercing through the tree that a person could hug!
"Everyone get out of the woods!" Chen Tian was shocked when he saw this and shouted loudly.
But he shouted too late. Li Ling suddenly appeared on a big tree, his sword energy emanating from his body. With each strike from his hand, most of the knights didn't have time to react. Bloody holes appeared between their eyebrows, and they all fell to the ground. At the same time, Chen Tian's broadsword was also knocked away by Li Ling's finger.
"Who are you? Who are you working for?" Li Ling slowly floated down from the tree and asked Chen Tian.
"Indeed, your skills are excellent. However, since you dare to oppose the Prime Minister, you will inevitably die in the end!" Chen Tian looked at the young man in front of him, surprised that he had such skills at such a young age, and at the same time hoped that the other party would be intimidated by him.
"I see your martial arts skills are extraordinary. If you are willing to surrender to the Prime Minister..."
"puff!"
Without further ado, Li Ling pointed a finger at Chen Tian's brow. Now that he had obtained the information he wanted, Li Ling naturally didn't want to waste any more words with him.
He pointed a finger at Chen Tian's brow, creating a bloody hole, and then quickly left to conceal his presence.
In the following days, Li Ling did not expect that Qin Hui had a highly skilled tracker under his command who caught up with him again. After many battles and a great deal of effort, he finally managed to shake off his pursuers.
This delay meant that by the time Li Ling arrived at the alliance meeting point, it was already several days late.
"I never expected it to be Qin Hui, but why would Qin Hui want to assassinate the Crown Prince?"
Li Ling knew some about the history of the early Southern Song Dynasty in the real world, but not much. He had never heard of Qin Hui assassinating the crown prince. After escaping, he couldn't understand why Qin Hui would arrange for someone to assassinate Chen Muyang.
What Li Ling didn't know was that this martial arts world was different from orthodox history. In a world with time travelers, the future history had already begun to go astray.
Moreover, with Li Ling now added to the mix and the introduction of pistols, and the potential for grenades and cannons in the future, the course of history has been severely altered.