Chapter 2079: Unlucky Long Feng

Winds Rise in Kyushu

The cultivator who suddenly appeared in the ghost palanquin seemed quite young, only in his thirties or forties, but his aura was exceptionally pure, far beyond that of an ordinary Sunlit realm cultivator. He clearly misunderstood, believing he had been ambushed by Lu Ye and Jiu Yan.

Lu Ye raised a hand, saying, "Friend, you've misunderstood. It wasn't my senior sister and I who ambushed you!"

The man frowned. "There are only two of you here. If not you, then who else could it be?"

Lu Ye replied, "To be frank, we are also trapped here..."

He slowly explained, and while the other man listened with skepticism, neither Lu Ye nor Jiu Yan showed any hostility. Moreover, he also sensed that it was absolutely forbidden to fight in this place; doing so would likely lead to undesirable consequences. Lu Ye had a deep understanding of this.

"So, as you said, this is the interior space of that ghost palanquin?"

After a brief exchange, Lu Ye learned that the man's name was Chen Li. He was also unfortunate; he had been cultivating peacefully in his own cave dwelling when, unexpectedly, a red silk ribbon appeared out of nowhere, and he was disoriented before finding himself here. He pointed out that when he was in secluded cultivation, his dwelling was heavily protected by arrays both inside and out. He had been confident that no one in the world could launch a sneak attack without alerting him. Yet, he was still caught. Furthermore, he hadn't even seen what the ghost palanquin looked like. Compared to Lu Ye and Jiu Yan's experience, his could only be described as truly unlucky. At least Lu Ye and Jiu Yan knew the general situation.

"This is indeed the interior of the ghost palanquin. We are all trapped here now." Lu Ye nodded.

Chen Li frowned. "How long have you two been trapped?"

"Roughly half a month."

"Do you two not have a way to escape?"

"If we did, why would we still be here?"

Chen Li was clearly unwilling to give up. For the next half day, he searched for a way out, but unfortunately, the space was sealed, with no exit to be found.

While he was busy, Lu Ye and Jiu Yan secretly communicated. Originally, they thought the ghost palanquin would take them back to the Star Abyss, but now Chen Li had suddenly appeared, clearly also swept in by the ghost palanquin. This undoubtedly indicated that neither Jiu Yan nor Lu Ye were special. Besides them, Chen Li also met the ghost palanquin's criteria for capturing individuals, which is why he, in secluded cultivation, ended up here. Through Lu Ye's observations, Chen Li's strength was likely comparable to Jiu Yan's. As for the star system he came from, Lu Ye had never heard of it, indicating it was clearly not connected to the Myriad Phenomena Sea. This was not surprising; the starry sky was vast, and even the Myriad Phenomena Sea, as a central hub, only interacted with a small fraction of star systems.

With an extra person in the ghost palanquin, the atmosphere between Lu Ye and Jiu Yan finally became less awkward.

Several more days passed, and the familiar commotion from before resonated again. Lu Ye immediately opened his eyes and exchanged glances with Jiu Yan beside him, both their expressions shifting. When he saw Chen Li, he had already speculated that the ghost palanquin might capture more people. Now, it seemed his hunch was correct. This time, who knew which unfortunate soul would be caught!

Chen Li, meanwhile, quickly rose and darted towards the palanquin's door. He had already learned from Lu Ye that the palanquin door remained sealed, only opening for a brief moment when a new person was captured and then closing again. Therefore, to escape, one had to seize that fleeting opportunity! Lu Ye turned to look at him. He actually had the same idea but always felt things weren't that simple. Moreover, he had subtly mentioned this to Jiu Yan before, but she was unwilling to leave the ghost palanquin just like that. If their previous conjecture was correct, the ghost palanquin would take her to the Star Abyss, and she didn't want to miss this opportunity. No cultivator who had reached her level of cultivation and still possessed ambition would miss such a chance. Even if the path ahead was unknown, one had to explore it to truly understand.

Meanwhile, in the star system outside, two figures were locked in a chase, one pursuing and one fleeing, both moving at incredible speed. The one fleeing shouted as he ran, "Ma Bin, don't be so overbearing!" If Lu Ye were here, he would instantly recognize the fleeing figure as none other than Long Feng! That day, his ambush on Lu Ye failed, and knowing he couldn't remain in the Myriad Phenomena star system, he immediately fled. Lu Ye, with Xiao Gua, pursued him for several days but couldn't catch him, which truly infuriated Lu Ye.

After Long Feng left the Myriad Phenomena Sea, he wandered the starry sky, but unexpectedly, a few days ago, Ma Bin suddenly came knocking, relentlessly pursuing him. Alone, how could he be a match for Ma Bin? He could only flee. Along the way, his various magic treasures were depleted, and his entire condition was extremely poor. He felt he couldn't hold on much longer. This journey was likely his demise.

Ma Bin's powerful voice came from behind: "You harmed my cultivation foundation and ambushed my junior. All the grievances from the past, I will settle with you today!" Ma Bin didn't actually care much about Long Feng harming his cultivation foundation. In the rivalry among cultivators, injuries and deaths were inevitable; he had slain countless enemies over the millennia and had long accepted the possibility of being killed himself. What truly spurred his killing intent was Long Feng's ambush on Lu Ye. Therefore, after leaving Kyushu that day, he had pursued him all the way here. He had told Lu Ye then that he roughly knew where Long Feng would hide, and indeed, he had found the right place.

As he spoke, he unleashed a distant punch. Long Feng sensed something amiss and struggled to resist, but his body still shook, and he spat out blood. In terms of cultivation, the two were similar, but one had forged a cultivation foundation while the other had not, making their strengths vastly different. Had it not been for the protection of his many magic treasures and his ability to flee, Long Feng would have already lost his life.

"My end is near..." Long Feng sighed inwardly, knowing that this time he could not escape no matter what. His mind, surprisingly, settled, and a look of grim determination appeared on his face. Just then, he suddenly turned his head to look in a certain direction. To his surprise, a palanquin had appeared there at some unknown point. Almost at the same instant he saw this palanquin, a red silk ribbon emerged from its door, coiling directly towards him.

Long Feng was greatly alarmed and immediately tried to dodge! But how could he escape? The red silk ribbon easily wrapped around him, swiftly pulling him in and directly carrying him into the palanquin. Ma Bin, who had been in pursuit, saw this and was enraged. His entire being suddenly erupted with intense light, instantly transforming into a ball of light that hurtled towards the palanquin. However, his collision met with empty space. By the time he stabilized himself, the strangely appearing palanquin had vanished without a trace, and Long Feng was also gone. Ma Bin frowned, his powerful divine sense spreading out to search in all directions, but he found nothing.

Inside the ghost palanquin, the moment the door opened, Chen Li flashed out, actually managing to rush outside. From an unseen place, a loud laugh echoed: "A mere ghost palanquin, trying to trap me, Chen, is simply wishful thinking!" Lu Ye's expression stirred as he watched. "It actually worked?"

However, just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw Chen Li's figure, which had already rushed out, reappear at the palanquin door. Unbeknownst to him, a red silk ribbon had wrapped around his body, and with a swing of the ribbon, he was flung back like an arrow from a bow. With a smack, he landed spreadeagled against the wall directly opposite the palanquin door, slowly sliding down. Lu Ye's eye twitched. Sure enough, escaping from here wasn't that simple.

Another red silk ribbon swept in, and Lu Ye quickly shifted his gaze, wanting to see who the unlucky person was this time. Just like Chen Li's first appearance, this unfortunate soul tumbled a few times on the ground, then quickly got up, warily surveying his surroundings.

"Senior Brother Long Feng?" Jiu Yan stared in astonishment at the disheveled figure, having never expected Long Feng to be the unlucky person caught this time. Lu Ye's expression, which had been one of watching the show, slowly turned cold. He hadn't forgotten Long Feng's ambush on him that day. Had he not possessed enough methods, his fate that day would have certainly been grim. He never imagined that today, the ghost palanquin would actually sweep Long Feng in. What an unexpected encounter with an enemy!

"Jiu Yan?" Long Feng also looked surprised, then his heart tightened as he saw the familiar figure standing beside Jiu Yan: "Lu Ye!" Killing intent suddenly surged within him. He thought of how Ma Bin had hounded him, leaving him nowhere to run, almost at his wit's end, and now, in the blink of an eye, he had escaped danger and found Lu Ye here!

"Hahahaha!" He couldn't help but burst into laughter. As he laughed, his injuries flared up, and he began to cough violently. After settling down slightly, he raised a finger, and a spark of spiritual light gleamed at its tip. He stared coldly at Lu Ye: "Ma Bin's 'gift' will be repaid by you."

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow. "Those injuries of yours, were they inflicted by Senior Ma Bin?" Long Feng's injuries were too obvious; one look was enough to tell he had just endured a fierce battle. Lu Ye had initially been curious why this fellow was so gravely wounded, but hearing him speak, he understood the whole story. Ma Bin... so efficient. Just bad luck. Long Feng was clearly captured by the ghost palanquin, thus escaping his fate.

Wait... Lu Ye suddenly remembered something. If the ghost palanquin's criterion for capturing people was the strongest cultivator in a given area, then it shouldn't have been Long Feng who was brought in this time, but Ma Bin! He had discussed this with Chen Li earlier and learned that in Chen Li's star system, he was indeed the most cultivated and strongest. Coupling that with Jiu Yan's selection in the Myriad Phenomena Sea, Lu Ye had formed this hypothesis. However, Long Feng's appearance overturned this idea. Why was it Long Feng and not Ma Bin?

Long Feng clearly didn't want to answer his question. Being beaten so badly was humiliating enough; how could he pour salt on his own wounds? He simply stared at Lu Ye with murderous intent, yet he didn't actually make a move. Because he suddenly perceived an inexplicable malevolence shrouding him in this place, a malevolence he was utterly powerless to resist! Lu Ye, however, looked at him provocatively. Jiu Yan frowned deeply, somewhat at a loss for what to do. She couldn't possibly let Long Feng attack Lu Ye, but the enmity between Long Feng and Lu Ye was not something she could resolve.

"Enemies, are we?" Just as the atmosphere grew tense, Chen Li's voice broke through. He sat at the base of the wall, wiping the blood from his nose. That last impact had clearly been quite severe for him. His question was directed at Lu Ye. Although they weren't particularly close, they had spent several days together and were, by then, somewhat familiar.

"A deep one!" Lu Ye sneered, looking at Long Feng. "Still not making a move?" If Long Feng dared to act, he certainly wouldn't fare well. Lu Ye was also confident he could withstand Long Feng's attack in his current state.