Chapter 64: Moonlit Hunt

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Moonlit Hunt

Shen Dujiang was an old hand in the Jianghu, after all. He hadn’t lost the Lightweight Body Technique that had once made him famous. Now, at the precipice of life and death, his potential erupted. With Chen Yue pulling him along, he just barely managed to keep up with their sudden burst of speed.

The pair shot through the narrow alleyway like two blurry shadows.

However, Gu Yiqiu and his two men on the wall reacted even faster!

As the teapot flew at him, Gu Yiqiu just snorted coldly. With a casual flick of his sleeve, a gentle wave of Qi Force effortlessly swept the teapot and its boiling water aside, not even a single drop splashing out.

His gaze locked onto Chen Yue’s escape route. With a light tap of his foot, his figure floated over the courtyard wall like a phantom. In just a few steps, the distance between them shrank from over a hundred feet to less than fifty.

A Marrow Refining Realm expert’s control and explosive power over their Qi Blood and body were far beyond anything a Bone Forging Realm cultivator could match!

The alleyway ahead came to an end, revealing a stretch of low-lying residential rooftops.

Chen Yue knew it would be impossible to shake them in the alley; they would more likely be trapped. He let out a low shout, "To the roofs!"

The pair pushed off again, leaping onto the roof of a residence and fleeing across the continuous line of ridges.

On the rooftops, the moonlight was a bit brighter, but the terrain was complex and the tiles were slick with moisture, making it a greater test of their Body Technique and balance. Chen Yue spoke urgently to Shen Dujiang, who was right behind him, "We split up! You go west, I’ll hold them off for a moment! Otherwise, I might get away, but you’ll be a dead man for sure!"

Shen Dujiang knew Chen Yue was right. Given the Body Technique Chen Yue had just displayed, he might have a chance of escaping alone. But saddled with a burden like him, they would both be finished.

Shen Dujiang was not an indecisive man. He nodded at once and growled, "Take care!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, he had already changed direction. Pushing the escape technique he’d kept up his sleeve from his younger years to its absolute limit, he fled desperately toward a denser residential area to the west.

Chen Yue, however, stopped abruptly. He spun around to face Gu Yiqiu, who had closed in to about thirty feet behind him, and unleashed a series of kicks.

"THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!"

One by one, roof tiles flew up, whistling through the air with powerful force, shooting toward Gu Yiqiu like projectiles fired from a heavy crossbow, blotting out the sky.

Though they were just ordinary tiles, empowered by the formidable strength of Chen Yue’s Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield, their power could not be underestimated. They specifically targeted Gu Yiqiu’s lower body, sealing off his path forward.

Gu Yiqiu’s pursuit was forced to a slight halt. He frowned, a flash of impatience in his eyes.

His palms flew, slapping and sweeping. Streams of solidified Qi Force surged forth, shattering all the incoming tiles in mid-air and turning them to dust.

This momentary delay also allowed Guo Xun and Wei Chi, who were following close behind, to catch up. The three regrouped, but the rhythm of their pursuit had been broken.

Chen Yue seized this fleeting opportunity. He stomped his right foot hard, sending a large patch of shattered tiles flying up, and his hands moved in a continuous flurry, like a butterfly flitting through flowers.

This time, it was not a random volley of kicks. He was executing the exquisite Hidden Weapon Techniques of the Meridian Bone-Piercing Nail at the Perfection Realm.

Each piece of broken tile was imbued with powerful spin and piercing force. Their trajectories were cunning, and they moved so fast that they left only blurry black lines under the moonlight, letting out shrill, air-rending shrieks as they completely enveloped the three pursuers.

"SHH-SHH-SHH!"

The tile shards rained down. Gu Yiqiu swung his palms to block them, the collisions between his Qi Force and the tiles creating a series of dense explosions.

Guo Xun and Wei Chi brandished their weapons to defend themselves, their bodies forced to sway repeatedly. They were actually held in place, however briefly, by this sudden, fierce barrage of hidden weapons.

Guo Xun batted away a few shards and looked at Gu Yiqiu ahead of him, saying urgently, "Elder Gu! That old fox ran west! Should we send someone after him?"

He was worried that their target, Shen Dujiang, would get away.

A cold glint flashed in Gu Yiqiu’s eyes. He shattered several incoming shards with a palm strike and said coldly, "Wei Chi, you go. That old fox is just small fry. You alone are enough!"

He could already see that the young man before him was the real threat. Not only was his Body Technique bizarre, but his skill with hidden weapons was also outstanding. This kid absolutely could not be allowed to escape.

Before his voice had faded, Gu Yiqiu’s figure blurred. He left a faint afterimage in his place as his real body seemed to teleport, dodging several cunningly angled shards by a hair’s breadth. He moved too fast for the naked eye to follow, pouncing straight toward Chen Yue several dozen feet away.

The explosive power and minute bodily control of a Marrow Refining Realm master were on full display.

Seeing Gu Yiqiu break free from the entanglement of hidden weapons and lunge at him fearlessly, Chen Yue knew he could no longer delay him with projectiles. He immediately stopped and unleashed his Vertical Cloud Thousand Layer Step with all his might.

"SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!"

Under the moonlight, Chen Yue’s figure suddenly blurred. One became two, two became four... In an instant, he had conjured five or six illusory figures, impossible to tell from the real one, that shot off in different directions—forward, backward, left, and right.

Each phantom carried a real disturbance in the airflow and a faint aura. This was the Illusory Body Traces of the Vertical Cloud Thousand Layer Step, a technique designed specifically to confuse enemies and create openings.

Gu Yiqiu’s charging figure couldn’t help but pause for a fraction of a second. His sharp gaze instantly swept over the scattered phantoms. The powerful Perception of the Marrow Refining Realm allowed him to quickly lock onto the aura of one of the figures.

"Hmph, a petty trick!"

Gu Yiqiu snorted coldly. His footwork shifted, and he unhesitatingly pursued Chen Yue’s true body, his speed now a notch faster than before.

Behind them, Guo Xun had only just freed himself from the barrage of tile shards. As he was about to give chase, he was horrified to discover that in the blink of an eye, Gu Yiqiu and Chen Yue had already put over a hundred feet of distance between him and them.

A look of horror filled Guo Xun’s eyes. ’I can sense that the kid’s aura is clearly still within the Bone Forging Realm, but how can his Body Technique be this fast? He can actually keep pace with Elder Gu, a Marrow Refining Realm expert who specializes in Body Techniques?’

Meanwhile, Gu Yiqiu’s own heart was in turmoil.

’That youngster’s exquisite and fierce hidden weapon skills had already made me drop my contempt. I see now that the deaths of Cheng Ziqian and his partner were well-deserved.’

’But this Body Technique... it’s just too fast!’

’The reason I, Gu Yiqiu, have been able to make a name for myself all these years, even managing to narrowly escape the pursuit of a Refining Organ Realm master back in the day, is because I rely on my superb Lightweight Body Technique.’

’Among those in the Marrow Refining Realm, I’m confident that my Body Technique is second to none. Yet tonight, chasing a mere Bone Forging Realm junior, I’m putting in my all and still have this suffocating feeling of being unable to close the distance!’

’When did a freak like this pop up in this small county town?!’

One chasing, one fleeing, the two of them sped across the continuous rooftops like lightning, leaving two blurry afterimages in their wake under the moonlight.

The night wind howled in his ears. This time, Chen Yue held nothing back, pushing his Vertical Cloud Thousand Layer Step to its absolute limit and making full use of the complex terrain to interfere with his pursuer.

But Gu Yiqiu was like a maggot feasting on a bone. Relying on his higher Cultivation and vast experience, he clung to Chen Yue relentlessly, the distance between them closing at an agonizingly slow pace.

Their figures moved like lightning, flitting rapidly over the continuous rooftops. Tiles shattered with a "CRACK!" under their feet, rustling as they tumbled down.

In the residences below, the common folk had long since been awakened by the astonishing commotion. They could only shrink under their blankets, trembling in fear. Not a single person dared to peek outside, let alone shout a question.

In this day and age, a rooftop chase at night usually meant a life-or-death feud in the Jianghu. The only way to survive was to mind your own business.

In the blink of an eye, the towering walls of Youlin County were just ahead.