A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

The next moment, her expression became utterly bizarre!

A bloody light glinted in her pupils.

Yuo Qing’s expression grew even stranger. A long, green sword, the very same Spiritual Artifact she had used against Lin Nan, slipped from her hand. She pointed at Lü Zhong and said sinisterly, ”I never would have thought... Nephew Lü, that you’d be able to see through my Possession Technique’s disguise. I’m truly curious, how did you figure it out?”

”How did you know?” Lü Zhong’s face was grim. He didn’t answer her question, instead throwing one back at her.

”Hehehe, the Heart Listening Secret Technique, of course!” Yuo Qing advanced step by step, her posture twisted and grotesque, yet possessing a strange, inexplicable beauty. She taunted, ”If I hadn’t heard Nephew Lü’s thoughts, how could I have been so sure?”

The Heart Listening Secret Technique was a variation of the Tier Two Spell, Mental Perception. When cast, it allowed the user to hear the target’s thoughts.

”Then what do you want?” Lü Zhong’s expression returned to calm.

His mind raced, churning through countermeasures.

A Qi Refining Stage cultivator facing one at the Foundation Establishment Stage... the chances of victory were slim to none.

The only option was... to run!

With the two Jade Talismans from the Sect Leader and Shuini, he could block at least four attacks from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. He wouldn’t be taken out in a single exchange, giving him a decent chance of escaping with his life.

Realizing this, Lü Zhong decided to stop feigning civility with Yuo Qing.

Given the vicious cunning of a Demon Cultivator, a successful sneak attack was out of the question.

The moment he moved, a golden light suddenly flared to life around his body.

At the same time, on a Jade Token in his robe, the four flower-shaped patterns on its surface dwindled to three.

CLANG! Yuo Qing’s Spiritual Artifact, her Flying Sword, was blocked.

Seizing the opportunity, Lü Zhong launched a counterattack.

With a flick of his hand, WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH, three Golden Talismans shot out, tearing through the air.

They were Tier Two Evil-breaking Talismans. To a Demon Cultivator, the Yang Qi they contained was the deadliest poison in the world!

Sure enough, Yuo Qing’s face changed the instant she saw the Evil-breaking Talismans. With a wave of her hand, she immediately recalled the Flying Sword that had been attacking Lü Zhong.

The sword’s body trembled, shaking out dozens of sword-shadows.

By the time Yuo Qing dealt with the three Evil-breaking Talismans, Lü Zhong was nowhere to be found in the Central Control Room.

He burst out of the Central Control Room into utter chaos.

The Earth Eight Directions Array, which had been concealing the sky, had been shattered at some point.

The entire mining site was filled with the sounds of battle cries.

To the south, flames lit up the sky. Hot wind occasionally blew over, carrying a sickening stench of burning flesh and a thick, cloying, metallic smell that coated the throat with a single breath.

’The mining site is finished!’

The thought flashed through Lü Zhong’s mind.

But he didn’t dwell on it. The fate of the others at the site was insignificant; saving his own life was all that mattered.

A glance from the corner of his eye revealed Yuo Qing in pursuit.

’Three more hits...’

Lü Zhong felt a mountain of pressure, but he didn’t slow down one bit.

He dropped down, plunging into a mine tunnel.

Trying to shake off a Foundation Establishment Cultivator like Yuo Qing with just the Light Body Skill and the Wind Raider Divine Technique was impossible. His only hope now lay in the incredibly complex network of mine tunnels.

One in front and one behind, the two began a chase through the tunnels.

Lü Zhong would occasionally activate a Golden Light Talisman, forming a sphere of light to block the tunnel.

Each time he did, he managed to pull away from Yuo Qing.

But soon, she would easily catch up again, leveraging her immense advantage in speed.

”Nephew Lü, why bother?”

”Struggling so desperately... in the end, you still can’t escape death.”

”Why not just stop obediently now and let me possess your body? You’ll suffer less that way...”

The current Yuo Qing had three bloody, segmented limbs extending from each side of her body, moving like a spider. Whenever a Golden Light Shield blocked her path, she would shatter it with just a few strikes from her limbs.

The Golden Light Talismans were being used up one by one.

Yet, the distance between them grew ever shorter.

Lü Zhong’s heart sank to rock bottom.

’I have to risk it all!’

Gritting his teeth, he flipped his hand and took out the Black Muzhu.

The Black Muzhu was already full of Spiritual Qi. It floated in his palm, emitting a soft halo of black light.

”Go!”

Lü Zhong barked a low command, and the black light shot from his hand.

As a Spiritual Artifact, it naturally possessed a Spiritual Attribute. Thus, even without being refined, it could still lock onto a target. With a WHOOSH, it flew toward the spider-like Yuo Qing and launched a ferocious attack.

RUMBLE!

Living up to the might of a Spiritual Artifact, the clash began. The rock walls seemed to turn to tofu, shattering in huge chunks.

Seizing this chance, Lü Zhong increased his distance.

Only after throwing out ten Golden Light Talismans in a row did the sounds of battle behind him gradually fade.

”Phew!” Lü Zhong took a deep breath, feeling a wave of relief.

The price was losing the Black Muzhu, a Spiritual Artifact, but in exchange, he had escaped the pursuit of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and saved his own life. There was no doubt whether the trade was a loss or a gain.

Without hesitation, he left all his Mechanical Beasts behind to hinder the enemy.

Summoning a Spirit Wind to envelop him, Lü Zhong pressed forward through the mine tunnels.

Out of caution, he had specifically memorized the map of the mine tunnels beforehand.

Concealing his Breath and Traces, Lü Zhong headed for the exit.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, focusing on a spot to his front-left.

”Who’s there? Come out!”

”It’s... it’s me...” Xiao Changyuan emerged from behind a rock wall, clutching his chest. He was stunned for a moment upon seeing Lü Zhong, then his expression filled with immense joy.

Before he could say anything, Lü Zhong cut him off. ”If you don’t want to die, run!”

With that, Lü Zhong didn’t bother to see if Xiao Changyuan had listened and continued sprinting toward the exit.

The warning alone was a gesture of goodwill toward a fellow sect member.

Expecting him to bring Xiao Changyuan along, or even to stop and explain, was nothing but a fool’s dream.

Xiao Changyuan froze for a second, then, without a word, activated a Featherweight Talisman and followed.

The boots on his feet shimmered with light, clearly a Magical Artifact themselves. His running speed was actually on par with Lü Zhong’s.

...

Soon, Lü Zhong was near the entrance.

After stopping, he used a scene playback technique to learn that two cultivators were lying in ambush on each side of the entrance. Their cultivation was all at the Late-stage Qi Refining. They were clearly hoping to catch a big fish.

Under these circumstances, trying to sneak out with the Breath Concealing Skill and the Stealth Technique had a chance of success, but it was extremely risky.

Lü Zhong didn’t know, nor did he have time to confirm, if any of the ambushers had learned the Qi Observation Skill.

He looked at Xiao Changyuan, who had caught up. His condition was not good. The wound on his chest and abdomen was bleeding profusely from the strenuous movement, and his face was growing visibly paler.

”Junior Brother Xiao, I need you to go ahead and lure out the enemy!” Lü Zhong said bluntly.

”Alright!”

Xiao Changyuan agreed instantly. He took the Golden Light Talisman Lü Zhong gave him and charged forward without the slightest hesitation.

He listened closely and heard strange noises coming from the tunnel behind them.

A quarter of an hour ago, Lü Zhong had lost contact with all the Puppets he had deployed. It was clear the Demon Cultivator possessing Yuo Qing had already dealt with the roadblocks and was now chasing after him again.

Suppressing his unease, he waited until Xiao Changyuan had covered some distance before following.

...

At the mouth of the tunnel, four Luoyun Sect disciples in blue Cloud Pattern Dharma Robes were hidden inside two separate Stealth Arrays, constantly monitoring the exit and ready to strike at any moment.

Just as Lü Zhong had guessed, one of the four had indeed mastered the Qi Observation Skill.

”Someone’s coming out!” the one casting the spell suddenly said.

The person beside him understood and immediately used a Magical Artifact to notify their companions on the other side.

”Wait, there’s another one behind him!”

The words had barely faded when Xiao Changyuan burst out of the mine tunnel.

Immediately, two Luoyun Sect disciples charged out from their Stealth Array.

Lü Zhong, who was right behind, was also engaged by two Luoyun Sect disciples.

’If it were one against four, it might have been troublesome, but now...’

He sneered and, without hesitation, activated the two Divine Techniques of his Shuo Jin Sword.

Shuo Jin and Molten Fire erupted!

Instantly, the air temperature began to rise.

The body of the Shuo Jin Sword glowed with a dazzling light due to the intense heat.

If its blade hadn’t been forged from Molten Fire Stone, it would have already melted into liquid iron.

With a shift in his Sword Mantra, the Shuo Jin Sword entangled one of them.

The other Luoyun Sect disciple was frozen with a horrified expression, but he was no longer breathing.

The cause of death was a green Light Spear that had pierced through his chest and abdomen.

As the Spiritual Attribute of his Earth Wood Spirit Ring grew stronger, the power of the Sharp Wood Spear became increasingly terrifying.

A single strike had directly pierced through the Luoyun Sect disciple’s defensive Golden Light Shield.

Even though it consumed five percent of his Spiritual Power, Lü Zhong felt it was an incredibly worthwhile trade.

In just a few breaths, he had finished off both opponents.

Seeing that things had gone south, the two remaining Luoyun Sect disciples immediately turned and fled.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong had no intention of pursuing them.

He merely collected the Storage Bags from the corpses on the ground before immediately fleeing into the distance.