Chapter 22: Escape

  As for the changes on the river surface, Leng Yun, who was hiding at the bottom of the whirlpool, didn't know about it. At this time, he had also reached a critical juncture. The ancient and unusual Qingdong lantern, although its exterior hadn't changed much, had clearly grown in size. Especially the wick, which had previously been only as big as a fingernail, was now almost the size of a fist. The faint blue light it emitted had turned the small cave into sky blue.

  As for how long he had been sitting underwater, Leng Yun was already numb from the cold and had lost all sense of time. If it weren't for the small lamp in his hand that occasionally fed back a warm and cool spiritual energy during the ritual, coupled with the fact that he himself was a pure water spirit root, and had grown up with Xiao Hei and other dragon tribe demon beasts, he would have probably frozen to death by now.

  Just as Leng Yun was wailing in regret for having lit the small lamp, the flame inside suddenly flickered and then, under Leng Yun's astonished gaze, the originally fist-sized flame suddenly condensed before transforming back into a size similar to that of a fingernail. Although the flame had shrunk, Leng Yun felt that the temperature within the cave had dropped several times lower. However, just as this happened, the entire lamp suddenly flashed and transformed into a blue light that entered Leng Yun's body. Following which, a soft, pale blue glow enveloped Leng Yun.

  "It's finally done!"

  As the refining was completed, Leng Yun let out a long sigh, but just at this moment, the entire cave suddenly began to shake violently, as if someone was fighting above their heads. Then, a massive pressure suddenly pressed down from above, and under this pressure that seemed like heavenly wrath, even the whirlpool that had been rotating normally stopped moving. Leng Yun was also pressed heavily onto the ground by this pressure.

  At this time, a strange old man's voice suddenly sounded in Leng Yun's ear, "Jin Dan, you bunch of grandsons only dare to rely on your numbers, if you have the ability, come and compete with me one-on-one."

  As soon as the strange old man's voice fell, a sound passed through the river water and entered Leng Yun's ears, "For your kind of evil spirit, anyone can kill you."

  Upon hearing this conversation, Leng Yun was taken aback at first, and then couldn't help but feel a little worried that his sneaky trip to refine his life-bound artifact might not please the other party. Just as he thought this, another voice came over.

  "Golden Snake, if you hand over the lower volume of the Dan Wang Ce and swear a blood oath not to spread the heavenly rank dan poison formula within the book, I can plead for mercy on your behalf with the Sect Master and spare your life. Otherwise, all disciples and descendants of the Dan Du Men will be hunted down by the nine provinces' various sects."

  "Forever subject to extermination by all nine provinces!"

  Leng Yun, who was being pressed down at the bottom of the water, only felt a chill spreading from his head to his whole body. As for the various things about Dan Du Men, Leng Yun had not been without guesses over the past year or so. After all, since he was caught by the strange old man and brought into Dan Du Men, the feeling he got from the strange old man was that of hiding and concealing. Previously, it was in the mountains, now it was in Qiong Shui City, which clearly was not the kind of immortal door situation he had imagined. Especially with the strange old man's repeated injuries and returns, but he had never thought that Dan Du Men would be in such a state.

  "How dare you! My Danxuan Gate was originally the orthodox Dan Ding, and the Dan Wang Ce is also the secret scripture of our sect. You three sects are vying for the position of sect master, disregarding the friendship of fellow sect members, and instead trying to exterminate us. And yet, you still have the audacity to shout at me to hand over the lower volume of the Dan Wang Ce."

  The old man's words had just reached this point when a muffled sound came, although Leng Yun couldn't see the scene on the water surface, but he knew that the old man should have been injured. Just as Leng Yun was worried, the old man's angry curse sounded again under the water, "Huan Ming Lao Er, you are a late-stage Yuan Ying cultivator, yet you use such a despicable sneak attack, you wait for me, if I don't die this time, I will make sure that your Dan Ding Sect is destroyed and has no descendants!"

  Just as Leng Yun was unclear about what had happened above, a anxious and severe strange voice immediately entered the river bottom, "What are you waiting for, why don't you chase quickly! If he escapes again this time, you won't need to return to the mountain anymore!"

  The cold cloud under the water was stunned by this series of changes, especially the last words of the strange old man, which clearly sounded like he had been severely injured. For this cheap master, Cold Cloud was both worried and relieved, worrying about the safety of the strange old man, after all, these days the strange old man was indeed good to him, and being relieved was finally free again.

  "What should I do now?"

  At this moment, Leng Yun was somewhat bewildered. The old man had obviously escaped and would not return to Qiong Water City again. With his judgment, the mansion in Qiong Water City was also a place he could no longer return to. After all, who knew whether the Dan Ding Sect would investigate the past or not? As for the term "Shang Ren" mentioned in the book, it was a title that only those above the Yuan Ying stage could use. Not to mention the Yuan Ying later stage's Huan Ming, who had ambushed the old man earlier, even the Jin Dan Shang Ren before was an existence that Leng Yun could only look up to. As for these two Yuan Ying experts, Leng Yun couldn't even muster a thought of avenging the old man at this moment. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather he simply didn't dare think in that direction.

  Sitting at the bottom of the water, Leng Yun sank into deep thought for a long time. Finally, Leng Yun made up his mind to escape, no matter how far he could go, as long as he could get away from Dan Du Men and Dan Ding Pai, it would be better. After all, someone like him, a small fry, couldn't afford to mess with the likes of Dan Ding Pai, a massive entity.

  Leng Yun didn't hesitate at all, accelerating the Turtle Breath Technique, and with great difficulty crawled out from the bottom of the cave. This Turtle Breath Technique, apart from being able to hide one's breath, its greatest effect should be in tempering the body. Since Leng Yun started practicing the Turtle Breath Technique on his own initiative, over a year had passed, and Leng Yun's physical strength had increased by several times. His power had also grown exponentially, but fortunately, the pressure from above was much smaller than before, so Leng Yun didn't take long to swim out of the underwater cave.

  The people on the riverbank had already felt the abnormality of the spiritual energy, after all, the bronze lamp had stopped absorbing the water spiritual energy after Leng Yun's sacrifice was completed. Although the river surface was still shrouded in thick fog, there was no longer a situation where the water spiritual energy surged from all directions. As the old man escaped and Jin Dan Shang Ren chased after him, Yue Mo Men's Tian Ying Shang Ren and Dan Ding Pai's Huan Ming, as well as some people hiding secretly by the riverbank, had already focused all their attention on the so-called heavenly material and earthly treasure.

  Dozens of powerful divine senses swept back and forth in the Qingjiang River, but for these divine senses, Leng Yun naturally felt them after building his foundation. However, the greatest effect of the Turtle Breath Technique was to avoid others' divine sense perception. Adding the demonic energy inside Leng Yun's body, these divine senses didn't discover anything unusual about him, even if they were from two Nascent Soul cultivators. Leng Yun activated the Turtle Breath Technique and stuck to the muddy bottom of the Qingjiang River, swimming rapidly downstream like a fish with the current.

  As for the Dan Poison Gate, alchemy techniques, including the old man's current situation, were all thrown to the back of his mind. To avoid disaster and seek good fortune, a person's life is more important than anything else in the world. This was what the elder of the Man Long Island had instilled in Rong Yun and the other island youths since they were young, and it was also the secret to survival that he had learned from his decades of traveling around the country. Rong Yun, who had been deeply influenced by the old man's teachings since childhood, did not think that his escape was inappropriate, after all, he really could not do anything at this time. As for the Dan Poison Gate, Rong Yun felt no sense of guilt or debt, because the island elder had taught him and the other children that a good bird chooses a suitable tree to perch on. The old man often boasted to Rong Yun and the other kids about how he used to be part of several major martial arts sects.

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  The first volume is finished, and I'm begging for votes here. The next volume will be about Die Lengyun's life in the Mo family, which is a branch of the evil Moon Demon Sect.