Chapter 352

Chapter 352: Escaping With Their Lives

At this moment, Lou Yun’s body was practically hollowed out. If he hadn’t absorbed some of the Heaven and Earth energy earlier, he wouldn’t even have possessed the strength to walk. Yet, pushed to such limits, he burst forth with his utmost potential. Relying purely on his physical strength, he was actually still able to achieve such incredible speed!

Startled by Lou Yun’s yell, Chang Feng and Mo Bingju didn’t understand why Lou Yun wasn’t heading outwards but instead was running deeper in. However, hearing the urgency in his tone, they didn’t dare hesitate. Exchanging a glance, they nodded at each other. Supporting one another, they hurried their steps towards the valley exit.

In the instant before leaving, they couldn’t resist turning for one last look at the mass of evil qi. That single glance not only made them both feel nauseous, but Mo Bingju’s already moving foot came to a stop once more. It was Chang Feng, whose will was somewhat firmer, who gritted his teeth, exerted slight force with his arm, and dragged Mo Bingju onwards.

Yet Chang Feng knew clearly in his heart that the scene just witnessed by that glance would be deeply branded into his mind, something he would never forget for the rest of his life!

Although the evil-qi mass possessed the weight of a great mountain, it was, after all, condensed from gaseous evil qi. Upon hitting the ground, the tremendous force of the impact caused the evil qi to begin dispersing and overflowing. Bereft of Lou Yun’s control, it dissipated almost entirely in just moments, naturally revealing Tang Qianqiu, who had been crushed beneath it.

However, what lay underneath was not Tang Qianqiu’s body at all, only a pulpy mess of flesh!

Tang Qianqiu, gravely injured and powerless to resist, had effectively been pulverized alive by the impact of the evil-qi mass!

That a Heaven-level realm evil weapons master could meet such an end was something even Chang Feng and Mo Bingju, with their myriad battle experiences, found utterly unacceptable!

Lou Yun rushed into the small building at his utmost speed, arriving directly at the second-floor room. Inside, Yi Xuan and Yi Ru stood together, their little faces filled with terror. They had clearly heard the tremendous crash moments before, but apparently Tang Qianqiu had warned them not to leave the room. So, not knowing what was happening outside, they were paralyzed with confusion.

Suddenly seeing a black silhouette appear before her, Yi Ru, being a girl, instantly opened her mouth in fright, letting out a sharp scream. Yi Xuan, though equally scared, nonetheless stepped forward, placing himself in front of Lou Yun and shielding Yi Ru behind him.

Yi Xuan’s reaction and actions greatly satisfied Lou Yun. However, this was neither the time for catching up nor for praise. Lou Yun simply offered a slight smile: “Yi Xuan, Yi Ru, it’s me!”

It had been three or four years since the two children had last seen Lou Yun. Though they missed him constantly in their hearts, at this moment, they hadn’t even imagined the person appearing could be their master. Therefore, even hearing Lou Yun’s familiar voice and seeing his familiar face, they still hadn’t processed it.

Lou Yun had no time for lengthy explanations either. Reaching out his hands, he scooped one up in each arm. Then, without pause, he leaped directly out of the room’s window.

Chang Feng and Mo Bingju struggled to suppress the churning in their guts, trying their best to quicken their steps towards the valley exit. Before they had even covered a few hundred meters, a rush of wind sounded from behind. Alert, they whipped their heads around to see Lou Yun, carrying the two children, had caught up. They couldn’t help but be stunned.

Lou Yun spoke before they could: “Don’t speak! Hurry!”

After witnessing Lou Yun’s two fierce battles moments ago, Chang Feng and Mo Bingju’s view of him had undergone an earth-shattering change. They were in awe of his formidable abilities. Seeing even someone as powerful as Lou Yun scrambling to leave here, they naturally dared ask no more. Closing their mouths, they increased their speed towards the valley entrance once again.

Strangely, after the three walked out of the Ghostly Valley one after the other, there was still no movement from within the valley. Lou Yun kept scanning behind them nonstop with his Six Senses and Spirit Vision, yet he detected no one giving chase.

This couldn’t help but make him wonder internally: Had Tang Qianqiu been lying earlier? Or was their master simply not within this Ghostly Valley at all?

However, since Tang Qianqiu hadn’t been speaking to Lou Yun earlier, but to his junior brother, he likely hadn’t needed to lie. His master should indeed be in this Ghostly Valley; it was just unclear for what reason he hadn’t shown up yet.

Though they had left the Ghostly Valley, Lou Yun still dared not let his guard down. Fortunately, as he ran, his body continuously absorbed Heaven and Earth energy, managing to replenish a considerable amount. He decisively summoned the Dream Emperor Sword, gesturing for Chang Feng and Mo Bingju to step onto it. Then, carrying Yi Xuan and Yi Ru, he stepped onto it as well.

Carrying the weight of five people, and with Lou Yun still low on Heaven and Earth energy within him, piloting the flight was a truly grueling task. Yet, to preserve everyone’s lives, Lou Yun could only grit his teeth and persevere.

After flying over a hundred kilometers, Lou Yun truly couldn’t hold on any longer and landed within a dense forest.

Even so, Chang Feng and Mo Bingju felt nothing but heightened admiration for Lou Yun. To pilot a magical weapon while carrying four people over a hundred kilometers in this state—that was absolutely not something an ordinary person could achieve.

Lou Yun’s face was pale as paper now. He had truly reached his limit. Were it not for his powerful mental strength sustaining him, he likely would have collapsed unconscious long ago.

Taking a deep breath, Lou Yun addressed Chang Feng and Mo Bingju: “Save the talk for later. We’re not out of danger yet. Regulate your energies quickly. I need to rest too!”

The two nodded, immediately beginning to regulate their breathing. Turning to Yi Xuan and Yi Ru, Lou Yun smiled faintly: “Your master needs to rest now. Can you stand guard for me?”

After experiencing the flight journey, the two children had long since regained their senses. Though overwhelmingly excited, with countless things they wanted to tell Lou Yun, seeing his current state, they nodded very sensibly. Yi Xuan pounded his little chest forcefully: “Master, rest easy. Leave this place to me!”

Seeing Yi Xuan acting so grown-up despite his small size, a trickle of warmth spread through Lou Yun’s heart. Though he didn’t know why these two children had seemingly become Tang Qianqiu’s disciples, at least their hearts hadn’t been tainted by evil qi.

Lou Yun nodded with a smile. Closing his eyes, he maintained his standing posture and began vigorously absorbing the Heaven and Earth energy around him.

The two children, having cultivated evil weapons themselves, understood quite a bit about cultivation. Seeing Lou Yun resting in this bizarre manner puzzled them greatly. Yet, they naturally didn’t dare ask. Instead, they focused intently on fulfilling their assigned duty.

That their master would entrust such an important task to the two of them filled them not only with overwhelming excitement at his trust but also with a powerful sense of responsibility.

Like two alert little leopards, they clenched their small fists tightly, their four small eyes darting vigilantly within their sockets, watching for the slightest movement in the surroundings.

Truthfully, Lou Yun had absolutely no need for two children to guard him. He had merely used this method to settle them down and prevent them from running off.

Now, although Lou Yun’s eyes were closed as he rapidly absorbed Heaven and Earth energy to replenish his exhaustion, he was actually mentally aligning himself with the surrounding Heaven and Earth energy and the environment. He had merged into one with it. The slightest ripple within five hundred meters couldn’t escape his perception.

His thoughts even drifted back to the strike he’d used to defeat Tang Qianqiu earlier. Though it lacked a name and didn’t belong to any specific weapon technique, deep inside, he faintly sensed his future method of attack seemed destined to evolve towards this unconstrained direction.

Weapon techniques, though powerful, were only potent among the high-level ones. Even Solar-class weapon techniques seemed full of flaws in his eyes, while those of lower levels were scarcely worth considering.

Lou Yun didn’t realize that this perspective was a natural change in his mindset that arose after developing a soul and becoming capable of perceiving and absorbing Heaven and Earth energy.

Executing a weapon technique using spiritual energy and executing one using Heaven and Earth energy were two entirely different sensations and processes.

Executing weapon techniques with Heaven and Earth energy would subtly resonate with the way of nature. Lou Yun himself would gradually blend into his surroundings. This very resonance caused the execution of those low-level weapon techniques within their environment to feel jarringly discordant; one might even say it disrupted the environment’s integrity.

For instance: if Lou Yun was within a specific environment, the whole setting, including himself, was like a meticulously composed painting. But the activation of a low-level weapon technique would be like a jarring splash of pigment added extremely abruptly to this painting, thus ruining the entire picture.

Only when the weapon technique’s execution could also blend into this painting, enabling Lou Yun, present within the scene, to feel no dissonance or incongruity whatsoever, would Lou Yun’s perception deem it a good weapon technique!

Achieving this didn’t necessitate a weapon technique being especially high-level; it only needed to adhere to the way of nature during its execution.

The present Lou Yun naturally couldn’t grasp such profound implications, hence his perspective that low-level techniques were bad, high-level ones were good.

Reflecting now on the attack that had condensed the evil qi into an imagined mountain form was still deeply mortifying. That irregular lump of evil qi—even he himself couldn’t discern the shape of a mountain in it, let alone others.

This inevitably made Lou Yun somewhat envious remembering the book mountain deployed by the Han family’s Han Rui back in the day. Not only did it resemble a mountain in form, but even the aura of the technique itself felt immensely mountain-like. The emergence of this thought stirred something within Lou Yun. If he could learn the Han family’s technique of transforming the magical weapon book into book waves, or book mountains, perhaps he could similarly condense Heaven and Earth energy into quite convincing energy waves and energy mountains?