69: Chapter 69 Escape!

The Yunling Mountain Range in the dead of night.

Li Qing pinched a hand seal with his fingertips. The iron wood boat beneath him trailed a pale green stream of light, like a meteor piercing the night sky, heading straight into the Yunling Mountain Range.

From time to time, he turned his head to look at the pursuers behind him.

After killing Boss Scar, Li Qing had escaped from Anping Market, but he hadn't expected the pursuers to come so quickly.

Li Qing's brow furrowed. In his peripheral vision, that dark shadow clung to him like a bone-deep canker, drawing closer and closer.

He secretly thought to himself that things were looking bad. The flying Magical Artifact used by the pursuer was faster than his iron wood boat. At this rate, he would be caught sooner or later.

Gritting his teeth, Li Qing put away the iron wood boat. Since he couldn't escape, he might as well face it. He wanted to see who exactly it was.

"Kid, why aren't you running anymore?"

Before the person even arrived, his voice drifted over, filled with mockery.

Li Qing looked up at the person catching up. Guided by the dim moonlight, he finally saw the other party's appearance clearly.

The newcomer wore the outer sect deacon robes of the Feiyun Sect. His face was filled with righteousness, giving him quite an otherworldly, immortal-like appearance.

"Anping Market's outer sect Deacon Hu Fei!"

Li Qing's pupils contracted slightly, and his heart instantly sank to the bottom.

Deacon Hu Fei's name was a household word in Anping Market. An outer sect deacon of the Houtu Sect, at Qi Refining Perfection, he was the local tyrant of Anping Market.

Li Qing believed he could instantly kill opponents of the same level and even challenge those above his level, but Qi Refining Perfection was simply not something he could deal with right now.

"Just Qi Refining Stage 7, yet you dare to trespass on my Anping Market's territory, and even dare to kill and cause trouble in the market? Who gave you such dog guts?"

Deacon Hu Fei shouted in anger as a terrifying pressure crashed down toward Li Qing.

Without a word, Li Qing took out a High Grade defensive Talisman, and activated the Earth Spirit Shield and Yellow Dust Barrier as well.

He wanted to see just how powerful a true Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator was.

"Good, you still dare to resist."

The moment the words fell, Deacon Hu Fei moved.

His body flickered as the spiritual energy around him surged wildly. A thick, earthy-yellow spiritual energy palm shadow appeared out of thin air, whistling through the wind as it struck directly at Li Qing's face.

Wherever the wind from the palm passed, the air was compressed and distorted, and even the surrounding mountain winds were scattered in all directions.

"Is this the Houtu Palm of Qi Refining Perfection? Truly formidable!"

Li Qing did not dare to be careless in the slightest, instantly activating the Talisman in his hand.

"Bang!"

"Clang!"

Unsurprisingly, the Yellow Dust Barrier and Earth Spirit Shield were shattered.

The Feiyun Palm shadow slammed solidly against the defensive Talisman. The light barrier of the High Grade defensive Talisman shook violently, seemingly on the verge of shattering.

Ultimately, it was blocked.

The Yellow Dust Barrier, Earth Spirit Shield, and High Grade defensive Talisman—three layers of defense were needed just to block a single strike from Deacon Hu Fei.

After this single probe, Li Qing already had the intention to retreat.

Although he could instantly kill opponents of the same level and even challenge those above his level, the opponent was a genuine Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator. Fighting head-on was pure suicide; there was absolutely no chance of winning.

Just now, he had revealed all of his trump-card defensive measures. Only by stacking the Yellow Dust Barrier, Earth Spirit Shield, and High Grade defensive Talisman together did he barely manage to withstand a casual strike from Deacon Hu Fei.

If he stayed any longer, it would absolutely be a dead end.

Deacon Hu Fei stood where he was, looking at the spot where he had just attacked, a hint of surprise appearing on his face.

He had originally thought that with his Qi Refining Perfection cultivation, slapping a Qi Refining Stage 7 Loose Cultivator to death would be as easy as crushing an ant. He hadn't expected the opponent to have quite a few defensive treasures; blocking with three layers of defense, he actually hadn't killed the boy outright.

He curled his lip, his tone carrying a bit of disdain and surprise: "I didn't expect you to have so many defensive methods, kid. You actually have some decent assets."

Li Qing was in no mood to listen to his nonsense. At this moment, only one word remained in his mind—escape!

As for fighting back, Li Qing didn't even have that thought.

As long as the green hills remain, there is no fear of lacking firewood. If he didn't run now, he wouldn't be able to escape even if he wanted to later.

His eyes narrowed. Taking aim at the pitch-black night all around him, he immediately pinched a hand seal and gave a low shout, "Shadow Evasion!"

This Shadow Evasion was the only escape movement technique he could show off. It was most suitable for nighttime use. Now, in the pitch-black Yunling Mountain Range in the dead of night, it was like a fish in water.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Qing's figure suddenly faded, merging directly into the darkness and vanishing on the spot.

The next second, he had already appeared near the edge of the woods over a hundred Zhang away, without making the slightest sound.

He didn't dare to pause. Wildly pouring spiritual energy into his movement technique, his figure disappeared again, appearing even further away. Through successive teleports, he was about to completely merge into the night and vanish without a trace.

Deacon Hu Fei's eyes narrowed. Staring at the trajectory of Li Qing's disappearance and reappearance, he immediately recognized this evasion technique. His face suddenly darkened, and he spoke in a cold voice, "Shadow Evasion?"

Having roamed this area for many years, he possessed no small amount of experience. With a single glance, he recognized the origin of this movement technique. He immediately snorted coldly, "So Senior Brother Han Pei's death really was related to the Tianyun Tower!"

At the thought of the Tianyun Tower, the anger in Deacon Hu Fei's heart flared even more. Urging the spiritual energy beneath his feet, he directly executed his own movement technique and gave chase.

His cultivation was far higher than Li Qing's, and his spiritual energy was robust. Although his technique was not as mysterious as Shadow Evasion, it excelled in endurance. With every step spanning dozens of Zhang, he bit tightly onto Li Qing's heels.

As he pursued, Deacon Hu Fei laughed coldly. His voice drifted along the mountain wind, piercing sharply into Li Qing's ears:

"Kid, if you have the ability, keep using Shadow Evasion! I want to see just how much spiritual energy a little Qi Refining Stage 7 Cultivator like you can have! When your spiritual energy is completely drained and you can't move, you still won't escape my grasp!"

Li Qing did not reply, continuing to use Shadow Evasion.

You want to wait for my spiritual energy to run out?

Then keep waiting!

An hour later, Deacon Hu Fei's expression turned a bit ugly. Chasing him all this way had consumed more than half of his spiritual energy, yet this Loose Cultivator was still as lively as ever!

Chasing someone in the mountain forest made the Wind-Thunder Shuttle quite useless. Gritting his teeth, Deacon Hu Fei continued to pursue.

He simply didn't believe that this Loose Cultivator named Li Qing had more spiritual energy in his body than he did.

Li Qing drank another drop of spirit dew, and the spiritual energy in his body instantly filled to the brim.

Glancing back at Deacon Hu Fei, who was still pursuing him, Li Qing shook his head.

Taking advantage of the darkness, he had to escape Deacon Hu Fei's line of sight as quickly as possible.

Once dawn broke, his Shadow Evasion would no longer be as effective.

"Shadow Evasion."

His figure disappeared once again.

Soon, Deacon Hu Fei appeared at the spot where Li Qing had vanished. He wanted to continue the chase, but ultimately stopped in his tracks.

At this point, the spiritual energy in his body was less than thirty percent. In this Yunling Mountain Range, this was a very dangerous thing.

"If I had known earlier, I would have brought some treasures to restore spiritual energy!"

Deacon Hu Fei regretted it slightly. He had left in too much of a hurry, and many of his treasures had not been brought along.

Though somewhat unwilling, he still sat down cross-legged, took out Spirit Stones, and began to replenish his spiritual energy.

To think that he, a grand top-tier expert of Qi Refining Perfection, actually couldn't catch a Qi Refining Stage 7 Loose Cultivator.

He could already imagine how embarrassing it would be once the news spread!