Chapter 366

Chapter 366: Unexpected Harvest

Lou Yun also felt as if he had become a reef, standing there while enduring the constant battering of giant waves at his feet, even able to detect a faint sensation of pain. Then, he transformed into sea wind, soaring freely through the air, occasionally stirring the seawater. Moments later, he seemed to merge with the ocean itself, gathering all his strength in an attempt to topple this reef obstructing his path, yearning for a more expansive space.

Yet, at precisely this moment, Lou Yun suddenly detected something entirely foreign to the surrounding environment. This thing appeared abruptly, giving him a sense of jarring incongruity. It felt like encountering a fishbone stuck in his throat while enjoying delicious fish meat—extremely uncomfortable.

Thus, Lou Yun decided to pull out this fishbone!

In this state, his perception of the energy of heaven and earth had reached an incredibly subtle level. He could even detect the very energy of heaven and earth contained within the seawater. And this “fishbone” was also located right within the seawater!

Very quickly, Lou Yun found this “fishbone”!

Seeing the fishbone before him, astonishment flickered across Lou Yun’s face, but it almost instantly hardened into a cold smirk. Opening his eyes wide, Lou Yun leapt forward, plunging directly into the seawater right in front of him.

This “fishbone” turned out to be an amphibious pouch, identical to that Yu Family invention he had seen before!

Although the entire Divine Weapon Island was enveloped by the Illusionary Sky Formation, it couldn’t incorporate the seawater itself. Therefore, Mei Yuanmu had specifically ordered the patrol groups to concentrate their efforts along the shore, deploying individuals with sharp spiritual senses to prevent possible underwater sneak attacks!

However, since the founding of the Sacred Weapon Island, such an incident had never occurred. After all, anyone trying to secretly reach Divine Weapon Island via the sea would have to submerge themselves kilometers away from the island, and couldn’t come in large numbers. Only then might they evade the searches conducted by the patrolling disciples!

But now, shielded by this amphibious pouch, they managed to evade the patrols successfully. Unfortunately for this fellow, his luck ran out when he encountered Lou Yun, who was meditating right there by the shore.

The moment Lou Yun saw this amphibious pouch and recalled the Yu family, who had lived undersea for unknown years, he immediately guessed the intruder’s identity—it was undoubtedly a member of the Yu Family!

In the water, Lou Yun’s movement technique was naturally somewhat hindered. Nevertheless, his speed remained extremely swift. Like a large fish, he shot towards that amphibious pouch.

While the amphibious pouch was an excellent tool for covert movement, its speed and reaction capability were definite weaknesses. Evidently, even at this moment, the person inside the pouch hadn’t detected Lou Yun swimming towards him. He was still striving to rise upwards, his goal being to set foot on Divine Weapon Island.

Lou Yun swiftly reached the pouch. Observing its gradual ascent, he offered a cold smile. Matching its pace without a sound, he also rose slowly towards the ocean’s surface.

Only when the pouch finally broke the water’s surface did Lou Yun suddenly strike. The energy of heaven and earth, gathered over the past moments, surged violently through his right hand and blasted into the bottom of the amphibious pouch!

Instantly, the entire pouch catapulted high from the sea surface like a rubber ball, shooting straight up into the air!

Simultaneously, the pouch split open along its middle, and a figure leapt out. At last, the person inside realized something was very wrong!

Sadly for him, though he managed to leap clear of the pouch, he hadn’t anticipated being hurled directly into the Illusionary Sky Formation covering the entire sky above Divine Weapon Island.

This was precisely Lou Yun’s intention. He certainly didn’t want to kill someone who had nearly succeeded in sneaking onto the island outright. He aimed to capture him alive and extract the information he needed from him. Therefore, Lou Yun had used a clever force in the earlier palm strike—designed to propel the pouch violently upwards without damaging it or harming the occupant.

Seeing the pouch open and the person successfully ensnared within the Illusionary Sky Formation, Lou Yun gave a cold chuckle. With a flicker of his figure, he too entered the formation.

The intruder, enveloped by the formation, was instantly dumbfounded. What spread before his eyes was a vast, misty expanse—utterly unlike the sky over Divine Weapon Island as he remembered it!

He quickly grasped the reality: he was trapped within a formation. He knew Divine Weapon Island possessed protective arrays.

Panic seized him at this moment. His plan upon approaching the island was to rely on the dual cover of night and seawater to land on Divine Weapon Island silently. But that powerful surge emanating from outside the pouch had revealed his discovery. His immediate thought was to flee. Yet, he hadn’t fathomed that the enemy’s palm strike had been deliberate, aimed solely at forcing him into the formation!

Regarding formations, he was utterly ignorant. In fact, there was no one among the Nine Families who understood them!

Although Lou Yun was also within the formation, his perception of heaven and earth’s energy allowed him to enter and exit this Illusionary Sky Formation with ease. He felt no urgency to apprehend the intruder yet. Instead, he stood quietly where he was, coldly observing the flustered figure from a detached standpoint, like a mere spectator.

Lou Yun was now akin to a cat, letting this mouse—already incapable of escaping his grasp—savor the bitter taste of panic and fear a little longer.

Finally, after suffering through numerous illusory experiences, the man trapped in the formation collapsed from sheer exhaustion. In an instant blur, Lou Yun appeared before him, looking down from a position of dominance.

Without alerting anyone, Lou Yun hauled this unlucky fellow back to his own residence.

Lou Yun first used the Seal Technique to neutralize the intruder’s magical weapon. During the process, he managed to gain an unexpected harvest!

Although encountering some resistance due to the energy barrier inherent within the bodies of Nine families’ members when employing the Seal Technique, the immensely powerful energy of heaven and earth ultimately surged through unimpeded, shattering the barrier forcefully. Simultaneously with successfully sealing his opponent’s magical weapon, Lou Yun unexpectedly realized he could now perceive the intruder’s magical weapon realm!

Lou Yun would later learn this harvest wasn’t entirely accidental. When members of the Nine Families commenced their cultivation, they employed a special method that allowed them to draw in small amounts of the energy from heaven and earth, forming this internal barrier within their bodies. While this borrowed energy could typically obstruct the spiritual senses of ordinary cultivators, it was wholly inadequate to withstand the assault of Lou Yun’s potent energy of heaven and earth!

This man’s magical weapon manifested as a leaf. Lou Yun hadn’t previously known which family possessed leaves as their magical weapons. However, he recognized the unnaturally pale complexion and the man’s attire as matching those of Yu Zili, whom he had recently tied to a rock and thrown into the sea. This confirmed the man belonged to the same family—the Yu Family!

Naturally, this leaf magical weapon also struck Lou Yun as quite peculiar. Evidently, the magical weapons of the Nine Families were all uniquely distinct, with no two being identical.

The bottle of the Jiang family, the book of the Han family, the feather of the Xiao Family, the zither of the Huangfu Family, the sword of the Helian family… and now the leaf of the Yu Family was added to the list!

So far, only the Meng Family and the Ding Family’s magical weapons remained unseen by him. However, the Liu family was different from the other eight families; they were renown masters of the spear—the weapon hailed as the king of a hundred arms in the world.

The cultivation of this Yu family member had reached the Heavenly level, One Star. Such strength placed him as a powerful figure not only among the Nine Families but likely across Spirit Weapon Star. Clearly, he had relied on his considerable prowess for this venture. Yet, today was simply his unlucky day. Had he not encountered Lou Yun, who happened to be immersed in sensing the energy of heaven and earth right there, he might very well have succeeded in sneaking onto the island!

The man lifted his head to look at Lou Yun but didn’t seem to recognize him. Lou Yun, uninterested in wasting words, went straight to the point: "No need to speculate. I am Lou Yun! You must be from the Yu Family. What’s your name?"

Upon hearing Lou Yun declare his name, the man’s eyes widened considerably, his expression a mix of disbelief and grim realization. Was his luck incredibly good, or incredibly bad, to have encountered Lou Yun before even landing on the island? Although his mission specifically targeted Lou Yun, this was absolutely not how he wished to meet him!

Still, doubts nagged deep inside. Logically, with the amphibious pouch and his own cultivation level, there was no good reason for his discovery before reaching the shore!

Seeing the man remain silent, Lou Yun let out a cold laugh. "I advise you to answer my questions. I have no desire to resort to torture to force words from you. But if you believe your bones are hard enough to withstand it… you are welcome to give it a try!"

This Yu family member was both older and possessed higher cultivation than Yu Zili. Lou Yun could tell he belonged to the fiercely stubborn type. Simultaneously with uttering this statement, Lou Yun gestured with his hand. A colossal wolf enveloped in blazing flames, its form seemingly ethereal, materialized directly in front of him!

Lou Yun gently stroked the head of the giant wolf, which had now opened its maw, its incisors seemingly forged from fiery steel. He remarked casually, "This is Illusory Wolf Heavenly Fire. You’re fortunate; since I subdued it, you are the first person to witness its presence. Should you decline to answer my questions… I am very willing to make you even more fortunate—the very first person to be roasted by its flames!"

The appearance of Illusory Wolf Heavenly Fire instantly elevated the room’s temperature. The flaming entity fixed its fierce gaze upon the Yu family member before it, maintaining its predatory stance.

After some fleeting thoughts wrestling within him, the Yu family member blurted out almost instantly: "I am Yu Ruoming!"

"Very good," Lou Yun nodded with a faint smile. He pressed on, "Now then, let’s hear it. Why did you come creeping towards our Divine Weapon Island in the dead of night? Shouldn’t all Nine Families be camped around the island, waiting to pounce on any of our people who step out?"

This was precisely what baffled Lou Yun. If it hadn’t been for his fortuitous presence, this Yu Ruoming stood a significant chance of landing successfully. Throughout his own absence from the island, the Nine Families could have surely employed similar tactics to infiltrate. Yet, they hadn’t. They chose the very first night after his return to attempt subterfuge. If anyone called this a coincidence, Lou Yun wouldn’t believe it even if beaten to death!

Yu Ruoming hesitated briefly before replying: "Because… I heard from Yu Zili that you had returned to the island. I simply refused to believe you could be that formidable. Furthermore, with your arrival, the island must surely be preoccupied with celebration! Security must have been relaxed. So I thought of sneaking onto the island under cover of night… to capture you alive!"

Lou Yun suddenly stood up. Twin beams of light—tangible, piercing—shot out from his eyes, locking onto Yu Ruoming’s face. He pronounced each word with chilling clarity: "Who… told… you… that?"