Chapter 197

Chapter 197: Reinforcements for the Lin Family

The Longfeng Mountain range was vast, with numerous deep mountains and dense forests. Although Zhou Luo had been doing his best to conceal his presence, he still encountered bandits blocking his path from time to time.

However, these fellows operating in the periphery were mostly at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement or sixth layer of Qi Refinement, completely no match for him.

It was said that deep within the Longfeng Mountain range, bandits at the Foundation Establishment realm also roamed.

Such beings were usually being pursued by the Qinyuan Sect and had no choice but to hide deep within the mountains for refuge.

They rarely appeared for decades at a time, but if someone entered their territory, they wouldn’t care whether the intruder was an Immortal Sect disciple or not.

Fortunately, both the Dragon Blood Grass and the Illusionary Forest were located within the outer region.

Otherwise, Zhou Luo would have truly given up on these clues.

Besides these two clues, Zhou Luo had also obtained information about other heavenly treasures back at the Qinyuan Sect, but those clues weren’t within the Longfeng Mountain range.

Zhou Luo didn’t want to spend more time searching for them either.

He would go after successfully reaching Foundation Establishment later; encountering a half-step Foundation Establishment or a true Foundation Establishment expert now would make survival uncertain.

After all, he only had two uses left for his treasure.

For now, it was wiser to focus diligently on cultivation; after all, he had already acquired the dual cultivation technique.

Three days later, Zhou Luo finally saw the imposing walls of Jiang City.

At this moment, the entire city was enveloped in a dense, luminous glow, as if an enormous crystal bowl had been inverted over it.

The defensive grand formation?

Zhou Luo was startled. Why had Jiang City activated the defensive grand formation at a time like this?

The defensive grand formation was a massive magic array constructed by the ruling power of a city specifically to resist foreign invaders.

Such formations were, at minimum, peak grade-one constructs, typically funded at enormous cost and built with aid from Immortal Sects like the Qinyuan Sect.

The activation of the defensive grand formation meant Jiang City was facing a crisis.

Zhou Luo had no desire to get involved in such messy affairs at this time; he chose to watch and wait on the sidelines.

If Jiang City was truly being attacked and breached by some force, he would simply return directly to Maple Leaf City.

If the city remained secure, he’d wait for the defensive grand formation to deactivate and stability to return before going back.

Five days later.

This day, in a river somewhere outside the city, Zhou Luo tread over the waves.

After walking several steps, spiritual light suddenly flashed across his body, and he vanished from the spot.

Upon closer inspection, one would see his physical form seemed to have transformed into a stream of water, merging directly into the river.

Moments later, he reappeared at the very center of the river, one zhang away from his previous position.

"The Water Movement Secret Method is mastered, but the concealment duration is a bit short," Zhou Luo murmured to himself, standing with hands clasped behind his back as he pondered deeply.

During this period, he had been diligently studying the Water Movement Secret Method acquired earlier from the cultivator at Zhen Yuan Tower.

After all, he walked the path of survival; escape techniques like this were a perfect match for his style of action.

Zhou Luo also intended to seek out many more such escape techniques for cultivation in the future.

These past few days of dedicated study and practice had not been in vain.

He finally mastered this escape technique.

This period was actually not short.

Because he had previously tried to practice it in the Longfeng Mountain range.

Since he had just mastered it, his time in hiding underwater was limited, at most supporting his escape for a distance of one zhang.

This one zhang was not far, especially in front of high-level cultivators; it could be covered in a snap.

Besides concealing his figure, this Water Movement Secret Method could also help him resist some damage by leveraging water’s properties when he blended into the flow.

They said water benefits all things without contention, and water-attributed spiritual energy had always had good defensive ability.

This was only the start; if he achieved minor success, he wouldn’t need to walk on the water surface like this—touching the river water would make him vanish on the spot.

Cultivated to great mastery, he could blend into any body of water, not just rivers, seas, or lakes; even a small pond could hold him, even a cup of water.

It could be called an excellent escape technique.

Just as Zhou Luo continued practicing, the formation disk in his storage ring suddenly glowed faintly.

This meant someone had intruded into his formation area.

To avoid disturbance, he had specifically set up small formations within a one-li radius.

The main function of these small formations was to monitor the nearby area; once a living thing appeared, they would trigger a warning.

Zhou Luo took out the formation disk and released his mental strength.

The Bagua diagram inside slowly rotated, transforming into a light screen filled with rays.

These rays were arranged orderly, dividing the light screen into four positions, each representing one of the four formations.

Now, a bright spot appeared on the eastern formation, and it was not small.

This indicated people had come into this area, and not just one person.

He immediately moved swiftly to the shore and attached spiritual symbols with hiding abilities to himself, quietly advancing forward.

The formations hadn’t been destroyed, meaning the opponents’ cultivation wasn’t too strong.

If they truly were cultivators at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refinement, they would have spotted that formation at once, and his own formations would have warned him upon sensing powerful spiritual energy.

Soon, he discovered two intruders.

To Zhou Luo’s surprise, these two were actually wearing the attire of the Lin Family’s Law Enforcement Hall.

From their expressions and movements, they were clearly here to investigate the situation.

Lin Family scouts.

Zhou Luo made this judgment in his mind.

Connecting it to the activated guardian formation in Jiang City, he thought first of reinforcements from the Lin Family.

This was indeed the case.

When he stood on a large tree, straining to see far, he suddenly discovered a giant flying boat heading toward here.

Judging by the direction, it was obviously bound for Jiang City.

Conveniently, he now had a reason to return.

In that moment, Zhou Luo immediately made a decision: he removed his mask and swallowed a prepared poison pill to weaken his aura, appearing heavily injured.

Right away, he went to a tree, leaned against it weakly, still gripping the Xuan Sky Sword.

He closed his eyes and waited quietly.

Moments later, an aura surfaced in the forest; a Lin Family scout sensed someone here and was sneaking closer.

Quickly, he spotted Zhou Luo’s figure and approached him stealthily.

"Who is it?"

Zhou Luo, with a pale face, pretended to notice the man, holding the sword before him, his spiritual energy fluctuating.

But due to the "severe injury," that glow was dim.

That man saw his face clearly and stepped forward.

"Zhou Luo?"

Zhou Luo also looked "surprised" at him: "Law Enforcement Hall?"

The man was shocked: "Aren’t you dead?"

News about Zhou Luo had spread nearly through the whole Lin Family.

Everyone had said he died at the hands of that Hehuan Sect evil cultivator; after all, from reports in Jiang City, with Zhou Luo’s fifth layer of Qi Refinement cultivation, escaping under a half-step Foundation Establishment evil cultivator was extremely difficult.

Even the family was thinking about reclaiming the Zhou Garden.

Because recently, another formation genius had emerged among the family members.

At eighteen years old, he had already reached the middle first-level; some claimed he would surely advance to upper level by thirty.

Most crucially, he had Sixth Grade spiritual roots.

This meant there was a definite chance he could reach the Second Level in his lifetime.

"I escaped." Zhou Luo said weakly, then his eyes rolled back as he passed out.

The man paused briefly, then shouted to his companion.

"Quickly notify the Fifth Elder and the Eighth Elder—I’ve found Zhou Luo."