Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Reduced to Ruins

Body movement techniques were considered a type of weapon technique since they involved utilizing the body. Yet magical weapons masters rarely practiced them. In their view, since they could soar through the skies by controlling magical weapons, why bother wasting time and energy learning movement techniques?

As for the scenario Chang Xiang mentioned—encountering enemies while airborne—the odds were incredibly low, and fleeing remained an option if conflict arose.

A significant portion of humanity’s countless movement techniques derived from observing various demon beasts’ movements. This was precisely why Lou Yun, despite his utmost efforts, failed to catch the beastman on Chiyan Mountain. In truth, the beastman’s long coexistence with demon beasts and his innate feral nature endowed him with movements as swift and agile as those creatures.

Lou Yun discovered that among the weapon techniques taught by his master, many were indeed movement-related. Each technique bore detailed annotations. After much searching, his eyes grew weary until he finally settled on one named "Wind Play Decision." Simply put, it enhanced body movement by harnessing the wind’s force.

"Wind Play Decision" demanded exceptional physical fitness, a quality Lou Yun possessed, leading him to choose this technique.

Mastered to its zenith, this movement technique could transform the body into wind, enabling travel over a thousand miles in an instant.

First, like cultivating a magical weapon, one had to perceive the wind’s presence—after all, wind was both invisible and intangible. Next, adjustments to the body were made based on wind direction, force, and other variables, allowing one to glide with the wind and thus increase speed.

Lou Yun continued his cultivation within the sealed valley. Chang Xiang’s company now banished any sense of monotony. During idle moments, Lou Yun mentally reviewed the knowledge imparted by his master. Unnoticed, time flew by.

After counting ninety days, Lou Yun finally prepared to depart the valley.

Standing beneath the cliff wall, Lou Yun lifted his gaze to the peak towering into the clouds, its summit invisible. A confident smile spread across his face.

He inhaled, focused his mind, and circulated spiritual energy throughout his body. Without any apparent movement, Lou Yun floated into the air, light as a leaf, seemingly weightless. Yet his elevation continuously rose. In moments, he could already see the mountaintop when he looked up!

Such was the marvel of the "Wind Play Decision" technique. That Lou Yun achieved this after only three months of practice drew silent yet profound admiration from Chang Xiang, though the latter kept it to himself.

The ten-thousand-ren sheer cliff saw Lou Yun standing atop its peak in short order. Peering down into the white nothingness below, Lou Yun felt reborn. Not only had he escaped death, but he had also encountered extraordinary fortune, his cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds—truly a blessing in disguise!

After a moment of reflection, Lou Yun leapt toward the opposing cliff face. This wasn’t suicidal intent; he wanted to inspect the beastman’s cave. After his fall that day, he didn’t know if Xiao Huo had slain the beastman!

A seed of unease took root in Lou Yun’s heart. He worried—if the beastman had survived, the fate of Wan Huier and Zuo Mingyang was uncertain.

Upon reaching the cave, Lou Yun spotted a rope hanging down near the entrance, followed by a palm-sized black mark on the cave floor. Relief flooded him instantly. This was surely the residue left behind after the beastman was incinerated by Xiao Huo’s Hellfire.

Turning, he noticed a message crudely etched onto the cave wall, unmistakably left by Zuo Mingyang.

The words essentially conveyed that Zuo Mingyang had taken Huier and Xiao Huo back to his residence. If Lou Yun saw this message, he should head to the estate at once to reunite with them.

Lou Yun smiled faintly. With a casual wave, he smoothed the wall’s surface. Perfect. Huier and Elder Zuo were safe!

Without delay, Lou Yun left the cave, ascended to the summit, and commenced his descent.

Along the way, he sensed numerous demon beasts inhabiting the mountain. Strangely, wherever he went, nearby demon beasts immediately scattered, seemingly terrified deep enough to avoid his vicinity.

This reaction was grounded in reality. Lou Yun’s magical weapon now resonated at the Intermediate Three-Star level, yet his actual combat prowess matched at least an Advanced Three-Star magical weapons master. This estimate didn’t even account for his bizarrely unparalleled "Wind Play Decision" technique, nor his unique cultivation method that rendered him razor-sharp, radiating a dangerous aura.

Demon beasts possessed senses far surpassing humans in certain aspects. Detecting the perilous energy emanating from Lou Yun, they wisely chose flight over confrontation, putting as much distance between themselves and him as possible.

Unaware of his own transformation, Lou Yun remained oblivious to the influence Chang Xiang exerted. Chang Xiang intended to gauge Lou Yun’s current threat level experimentally. Once they descended the mountain, however, he promptly concealed Lou Yun’s aura entirely, cloaking it like the Nine Clans’ followers.

Reaching the mountain base, Lou Yun detoured to check the spot where he and Huier had tethered the horses. Both dragon horses were gone.

Previously, the prospect of long-distance travel would have bothered Lou Yun. Not anymore. Unleashing "Wind Play Decision," he merged his body with the wind, streaking forward like lightning.

Relishing the exhilarating sensation of wind rushing past him, Lou Yun deliberately pushed his speed to its limit. He became a gale itself, moving so fast that passersby witnessed only a blur and a fleeting shape rapidly vanishing hundreds of meters away.

A one-thousand-li journey was conquered in a mere hour under Lou Yun’s relentless pace. Ahead, a swathe of densely clustered rooftops came into view.

Anticipation surged within Lou Yun at the thought of reuniting with Zuo Mingyang and Wan Huier. However, as he neared the estate, a growing sense of unease crept over him.

Reaching its perimeter, Lou Yun froze. Where grand residences once stood, now lay scattered rubble of collapsed walls. The charred black surfaces of remaining walls and scorched wooden beams starkly testified to a catastrophic fire.

After a stunned moment, Lou Yun charged madly into the ruins, Dream Emperor Sword already in hand. He swung it wildly, indiscriminately slicing through debris. Each swing flung aside heaps of toppled timber and bricks, revealing victims beneath—charred corpses, one or several at a time.

"Huier!"

"Elder Zuo!"

"Where are you?!"

Lou Yun screamed Wan Huier and Zuo Mingyang’s names, frantic and digging through the wreckage. He didn’t know when the inferno started, whether anyone survived, or if Huier and Zuo Mingyang were trapped within.

Gradually, Lou Yun’s frenzy subsided. Standing amidst the devastation, the Dream Emperor Sword clutched tightly, he panted heavily, coated head to toe in dust. Behind him lay over twenty corpses neatly arranged, unearthed during his desperate search.

These bodies, ravaged by fire, were unrecognizable. Identities lost.

"Huff… huff…" Lou Yun’s spiritual sense continued scanning the ruins unyieldingly, seeking any sign of life. Yet clearly, the fire had occurred long ago. Survivors were impossible.

After catching his breath, Lou Yun renewed his digging with the Dream Emperor Sword. Many here had shared meat in hearty bites, alcohol in generous bowls, and joyful conversations with him. Even brief contact made them friends in Lou Yun’s mind. He couldn’t leave them buried beneath the ruins; they deserved exhumation and proper burial.

He dug from day into deep night. Leveraging his extraordinary physique and cultivation, he eventually unearthed every corpse. Laid out before him, the final count was ninety-seven bodies!

Lou Yun recalled Zuo Mingyang mentioning nearly a hundred men under him. They seemed all accounted for here. Digging a vast pit next, he laid the bodies inside one by one, filled it earth, and erected a large stone carved into a grave marker.

With solemn gravity, Lou Yun bowed thrice before the grave.

This accomplished, he slumped against a remnant wall in the ruins. Fully calm now, his mind began analyzing the disaster. Accident? Then be it. Intentional arson? Revenge must be exacted!

Foremost, fire clearly consumed the place. The unknown: whether Zuo Mingyang’s men ignited it accidentally, or if evil hands deliberately lit the blaze. Lou Yun truly couldn’t grasp why so many seemingly hadn’t escaped.

They weren’t ordinary folk. Possessing some cultivation, however elementary, wouldn’t they flee a fire? Why succumb passively to death by flames?

Suddenly, insight struck Lou Yun. Inability to escape implied loss of consciousness. Deep sleep impairs reaction, profound drunkenness slows it further. Yet Zuo Mingyang, having presided here nearly a decade, wasn’t the type for such laxness—not everyone could have been drunk simultaneously. Surely they would avoid such a critical lapse.

Only one conclusion fit: Likely, all were drugged into unconsciousness and tragically burned alive while comatose.

Lou Yun sprang upright, consumed by the urge to seize the murderer and dismember them in cathartic fury. Yet despair forced him back down moments later. He knew too little of Zuo Mingyang’s enemies. The sole name he recalled: Wu Shaopin!

Mention of Wu Shaopin sparked a fierce glint in Lou Yun’s eyes. Uncertain if responsible, the man remained a prime suspect. Rather than idle suffering, investigation was vital. Evidence might lurk at Wu Shaopin’s domain.

Lou Yun resisted lingering a second longer. Rising, he surveyed the surroundings, expelled a long breath. Unless irrefutable proof confirmed Wan Huier and Zuo Mingyang’s death, grief would remain a mere fuel for the furnace of his wrath.

He strode toward the town, channeling all sorrow into pure rage.