Chapter 00089: The Escape
# The Escape
Chapter 89
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 89: The Escape
Dayong Calendar, Year 1154, late in the sixth month.
Night.
The morning's first light faintly illuminated the silent valley.
A gentle breeze rustled the swaying bamboo forest, but it carried the pungent smell of burnt tung oil.
A group of fierce-looking men, holding swords and torches, had been searching for most of the night.
Even the wolf-dogs they led by the leash were starting to look weary, but the men still refused to give up.
Yang Yiyi quietly parted a few bamboo leaves, revealing her clear, black-and-white eyes, and took a careful peek.
She knew that this group would soon catch up to her.
She had to leave now, before the encirclement was complete.
To be chased by government officials would mean she was a fugitive, but to be hunted by a group of household servants and thugs dressed like men of the martial world... well, that made the situation far more complicated.
Yang Yiyi was originally the youngest child of a common farming family.
With four older sisters and parents who were past fifty, their life was poor, but it was also a happy one.
This all changed when Yang Yiyi was eight years old.
Her father developed an ailment in his lower back, and their already impoverished family was immediately dealt a heavy blow.
Her eldest sister was already married, which was fortunate, but there were still four more children to feed, the oldest of whom was only fifteen.
They simply couldn't support everyone.
But it is often said that the youngest child is the most doted upon, and this was not the least bit false.
Her parents didn't just casually sell Yang Yiyi off; they took care to find a proper path for her.
Two roads lay before her.
One was to become a child bride for the family of Squire Wang at the edge of the village.
The Wang family were all kind and good-natured people.
To become their daughter-in-law would mean she would be free from worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life.
The other path was to go up the mountain next to their village and seek to join the Green Robe Sect.
If she could earn her master's favor and become an inner disciple, she would no longer have to worry about her livelihood in the future.
However, if she chose this path, her future would be entirely uncertain.
The people of the Jianghu were not like common folk; a life of flashing blades and deadly fights was an unpredictable one, to say the least.
Although there were two paths, in the eyes of the young Yang Yiyi at the time, there was only one.
I want to become a disciple and learn martial arts, to be a great hero!
An eight-year-old child could hardly understand that a simple, quiet life was the true treasure, nor did she know of the dangers and bloodshed of the Jianghu.
She just thought being a female warrior hero was cool.
Her parents had explained all this to her, but she remained obstinate.
Since that was the case, they decided to let her have her wish.
The Green Robe Sect was only a minor school, but even the smallest of sects did not accept just anyone.
Every day, Yang Yiyi and a group of other children who also wished to become disciples trained their bodies with basic exercises.
As time went on, more and more children were eliminated, but Yang Yiyi possessed a stubborn streak.
She was dead set on becoming a great hero, and with her tenacity, she remained until the very end.
And just like that, ten years passed.
Yang Yiyi was formally accepted into the Green Robe Sect.
This should have been a joyous occasion; after all, her long years of hard work had finally paid off.
But on the very day of her formal induction as a disciple, her master announced that a close friend was hosting a birthday banquet, and that they must go to offer congratulations in a few days.
He then selected a few disciples to accompany him.
Yang Yiyi was quite happy when she was chosen, thinking it meant her master valued her.
She never imagined that shortly after arriving at the banquet, she would be drugged and knocked unconscious after drinking a single cup of tea.
When she awoke, she was already in a prison cell, surrounded by a dozen other girls in the same predicament.
After they all talked, she learned that her master had sold her to this so-called 'close friend'.
They, these beautiful young women, were all to be used as cultivation cauldrons for him to practice his techniques.
It was like falling from heaven straight into hell.
All the girls locked up together were in their teens.
Some wept endlessly, while others railed against their cruel fate.
But Yang Yiyi did not give up.
That stubborn streak of hers kicked in once again.
Taking advantage of a moment of carelessness from the guards, she stole a rock and smashed the door lock.
The dozen or so girls who had been captured or tricked then fled for their lives.
Yang Yiyi had no idea how many of them were recaptured.
Right now, she was using all her strength just to save herself; how could she possibly have time to worry about others?
The sky was gradually beginning to lighten.
Having run for an entire night, Yang Yiyi was almost out of strength.
Moreover, once daylight broke, without the cover of darkness, it would be even harder for her to escape.
She was in a place she had never been before, so the question of where to run was a major problem.
But there was no time for her to hesitate.
She seized the opportunity and shot out from her hiding place in the bamboo forest like an arrow, quickening her pace and running in the opposite direction.
"The dogs are barking! She's over there!"
"After her!"
"Damn it! How can this little wench run so fast!"
The forced sprint drew their attention.
Yang Yiyi knew the risk was great, but she had to do it.
If she let them tighten their encirclement, she truly wouldn't be able to escape, even if she grew wings.
Besides, Yang Yiyi was very confident in her running speed.
When she was a child, she had met an old Daoist priest who came to her door asking for water.
He had taught her a certain chant.
She didn't know what it was, only that reciting it silently while running not only made her faster but also made her feel less tired.
This had made her the most famous tomboy in the surrounding villages; when she ran all over the mountains and fields, no one could catch her.
Some might wonder, you trained in a sect for ten years, why not fight back? Go back and beat them up.
Unfortunately, she didn't have that ability.
Her ten years of hard work had all been spent on building a foundation.
Her master had never taught her any of the sect's real martial arts, let alone high-end techniques like internal energy cultivation methods.
Her combat power was equivalent to someone who had arduously practiced basic calisthenics for ten years.
To face the large group of men with dogs and swords behind her head-on, she would probably be pinned to the ground and carried off in just a few moves.
So, Yang Yiyi's only thought was to run.
To run as far away as possible.
But she had been fleeing for an entire night, and she hadn't eaten anything since being locked up, having only drunk some thin rice slurry.
When she first escaped, she could run like the wind on sheer willpower, but now her strength was clearly failing.
No matter how many times she recited that chant, she couldn't run fast enough to shake off her pursuers.
A chase and an escape, an escape and a chase.
The trees in the forest flew past her in a blur.
Yang Yiyi saw sunlight ahead and thought she had finally escaped the bamboo forest and reached a main road, where she could find someone and ask for help.
But as she rushed out of the bamboo forest, Yang Yiyi screeched to a halt.
Before her was only a sheer cliff.
The sound of footsteps, accompanied by the barking of dogs, was closing in from behind.
Yang Yiyi had no escape.
Yang Yiyi had not been an outstanding disciple in her sect; she was even considered a bit dull, always giving the impression of being half a beat slow.
But while Yang Yiyi might not have seemed smart, her personality was extremely fierce and stubborn.
Once she set her mind on something, you could argue until the sky fell, and you still wouldn't be able to change her mind.
One could only imagine what would happen when such a person was forced into a desperate situation.
"Today, I, Yang Yiyi, would rather jump from this cliff than go back! When I become a vengeful ghost, I will surely find you all and take my revenge!"
With that, she leaped forward.
The pursuers behind her didn't even have time to say a few perfunctory words to humor her; she gave them no opportunity at all.
The cliff was not a perfectly sheer drop.
Yang Yiyi had been chased all night and had little strength left, so her jump was not very far.
As a result, as she fell, she felt her shoulder slam into a rock first.
Then, she began to tumble all the way down the steep slope of the cliff, her consciousness nearly flung from her body.
Her ears were filled with a cacophony of rumbling and cracking noises, and she had no time to distinguish between them.
Having jumped with the resolve to die, she was simply waiting for the moment she would hit the ground with a final, heavy thud.
And when Yang Yiyi's consciousness cleared a little, she was astonished to find that she hadn't been smashed to death.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a large pine tree above her, its canopy like a massive cloud that completely obscured her view of the cliff's edge...
(End of this chapter)