Chapter 201: Chapter 168 What happened to you?_2 Chapter 201: Chapter 168 What happened to you?_2 At this instant,
Xu Hongyu felt as though time itself had slowed down.

A myriad of figures flashed through her mind: her father Xu Yichuan, her companion Little Lotus, her sister Yu Ru, and most prominently, the gentle visage of Chen Mu.

She had not yet found Xu Yichuan’s whereabouts,
nor had she returned to Yu City.

She could not die here…

In the past, Xu Hongyu had also faced life-and-death situations, but none had sharpened her senses as sharply as this moment, an unprecedented calmness enveloped her.

The scene that arose in her mind was the one where Chen Mu and she had walked along the parched riverbank after the drought ended, witnessing a stream of water meandering along the cracked riverbed.

The words that echoed in her ears were Chen Mu’s, “The highest goodness is like water.

Water benefits all things without contention.

It stays in places people disdain.

Thus it is nearly in harmony with the Dao.” In an instant, her mind became transparent and clear, all of her killing intent and sharpness dissipated, withdrawing all subjective desires, still as it was, like a winding stream flowing down, complying with nature.

Whoosh!

A drop of water emerged from the tip of Xu Hongyu’s sword.

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This was no longer an afterimage reflected by the sword light, but an actual droplet of clarity formed by the condensed Power of Heaven and Earth, tracing a meandering arc alongside her sword’s edge.

Lai Long’s expression subtly changed.

Faced with Xu Hongyu’s sword strike, he did not attempt to block it with his fingertips.

Instead, his whole body immediately retreated, falling back several zhang to avoid Xu Hongyu’s sword edge.

Xu Hongyu’s sword did not stop, flowing like a stream and stretching on, it repelled Lai Long and then curved towards her rear, colliding with the outstretched pitch-black hand of the Evil Corpse cloaked in black mist coming from behind.

“This is…”
At that moment, Little Lotus stood beside Xu Hongyu, witnessing the entire scene with astonishment shining in her beautiful eyes.

There could be no mistake, this must be the Artistic Conception, the Kan Water Artistic Conception!

But her joy lasted only for a moment and was abruptly halted.

Even at the brink of death, combining all of her experiences and epiphanies, and inspired by Chen Mu’s direct reference to the true nature of Kan Water, a flash of insight had allowed her to cross that boundary and step into the threshold of the Kan Water Artistic Conception for the first time.

Yet, the power she exerted now was still far from sufficient to counter the strength of the Evil Corpse.

Crack!!

The winding stream was brutally crushed by the surging Evil Qi in black mist; the black hand wrapped in that Evil Qi simply shattered Xu Hongyu’s Soft Sword bit by bit.

In the end, Xu Hongyu was sent flying to the right from the impact, colliding with Little Lotus, and the two flew more than ten zhang to the right together, crashing into a towering ancient tree, finally coming to a stop.

“Cough.”
“Hmm…”
Blood trickled from the corner of Xu Hongyu’s mouth, and Little Lotus too had blood seeping from hers.

From afar, Lai Long watched the scene, slightly shaking his head, “Your natural endowment and perception aren’t bad, able to sense the Kan Water Artistic Conception in a life-or-death situation.

However, it’s a pity that your cultivation is lacking, barely reaching Minor Achievement in Bone Tempering.

If only you were at the realm of Perfection, at this time of high noon, perhaps you might really be able to withstand my Evil Corpse to some extent.”
There was a slight tone of regret in his voice.

Xu Hongyu had promising perception and had even mastered the Kan Water Artistic Conception; it was a pity she was a woman, otherwise she could at least refine a new Golden Corpse or even have a slim chance of trying to refine another Evil Corpse.

A flicker of regret passed through Lai Long’s eyes, and then he controlled his Evil Corpse to advance towards Xu Hongyu and Little Lotus.

At this moment,
After being exposed and illuminated by the sunlight, much of the black mist and Evil Qi surrounding the Evil Corpse had dissipated, and combined with the collision with Xu Hongyu just now, the true appearance of the Evil Corpse was faintly revealed.

Beneath the ancient tree, originally helping Xu Hongyu to her feet, Little Lotus suddenly froze.

Xu Hongyu herself was shocked into stillness, unmoving as she watched the approaching Evil Corpse.

Even under the covering of grey mist,
Even with pupils pitch-black,
One could still vaguely see that in life he must have been a very handsome man, with sharp brows and starry eyes, dignified and commanding.

Even though the face had changed a lot from the invasion of Evil Qi, for Xu Hongyu, no matter how much it changed, she could still recognize it at a glance.

She stood there, stunned, the broken Soft Sword in her hand silently falling to the ground.

Swish!

The Evil Corpse had no expression on its face, and its large hand, wrapped in pitch-black Evil Qi, suddenly reached out, about to pierce through Xu Hongyu’s body.

A drop of crimson blood silently fell from the corner of Xu Hongyu’s mouth as she looked at the face that was extremely close to her, her eyes filling with a flurry of emotions for a moment before she barely formed a shape with her lips.

Pat.

The drop of blood falling from Xu Hongyu’s mouth quietly landed on the Evil Qi wrapped around the dark hand, immediately corroded and degraded by the Evil Qi, making a sizzling sound.

But in that moment, the black hand wrapped in Evil Qi slowed down noticeably, and eventually came to a halt right in front of Xu Hongyu’s chest.

Then.

The entire body began to tremble uncontrollably, and its movements became erratic.

“Huh?”
Lai Long seemed to have discovered something astonishing, watching this scene intently as his gaze moved back and forth between Xu Hongyu and the Evil Corpse.

He soon recalled a distant memory and said, “This Evil Corpse, in life its name was Xu something…

Could you be his direct blood relative?”
“Even if you are his blood relative, even if the Evil Corpse still retains a trace of its living spirituality, to be able to nearly resist my control like this…

good, good, such strong spirituality, I might have somewhat underestimated it earlier.

Having such spirituality after turning into the Evil Corpse, in the future, it even has the potential to gather Evil Qi and turn into a Mysterious Corpse.”
A look of pleasant surprise slowly appeared on Lai Long’s face.

Xu Hongyu was also staring at the scene in shock, watching the Evil Corpse in front of her as if struggling against something, the large hand pressing against her body trembling continuously, eventually poking forward, but moving very slowly.

“Miss!”
Xiaohe, witnessing the scene, suddenly reacted, yanking Xu Hongyu forcefully, causing Xu Hongyu to stumble, but they evaded the slow strike.

The black hand wrapped in Evil Qi stabbed straight into the ancient tree, causing the massive tree to wither rapidly at a visible rate.

Crack.

The Evil Corpse struggled to pull its hand out of the tree and swung at Xu Hongyu again, but still incredibly slowly.

“Miss, go, go!”
By this time, Xiaohe had completely reacted, pulling the still dazed Xu Hongyu and fleeing into the distance.

The Evil Corpse took a few difficult steps forward, twitched on the spot, and ultimately couldn’t catch up.

Lai Long didn’t bother watching Xu Hongyu and Xiaohe as they fled.

His gaze filled with surprise lingered on the Evil Corpse, stepping closer as he circled around it, muttering incessantly.

…

A few hundred meters away.

Xu Hongyu, dragged by Xiaohe for several hundred meters, finally started moving of her own accord, matching Xiaohe’s pace, and the two of them fled into the distance together.

Seeing this, Xiaohe’s heart settled slightly, though when she glanced at Xu Hongyu’s condition, she felt waves of heartache but knew that this was not the time to embrace her young mistress for comfort.

They needed to escape quickly to a safe place.

Although.

Although she had long anticipated that this might be the result, when the outcome was laid out before her eyes, even her heart found it hard to bear, let alone her young mistress.

Xiaohe bit her lip, following closely beside Xu Hongyu, unsure of what to say at that moment, her thoughts suddenly turning to Chen Mu, wondering what he would say if he were here.

But just as she harbored that thought, that incredibly familiar voice, as if in a dream, rang in her and Xu Hongyu’s ears.

“What’s happening to you…”
Xiaohe’s pace suddenly halted, and Xu Hongyu stopped alongside her.

They both looked ahead, only to see Chen Mu dressed in a simple gray commoner’s clothing, walking step by step toward them.

Strands of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves from behind him, casting a not so long shadow amidst the forest.

“…What’s wrong?”
Chen Mu looked at them.