Chapter 373 – Taking You to Kill

That hand passed through the glowing flames around Lu Yuan’s body and gently caressed his cheek.

Lu Yuan’s lips quivered, but before he could speak, a voice sounded in his ear.

“Close your eyes.”

Lu Yuan was slightly stunned but obediently closed his eyes.

In the next moment, Lu Yuan felt his face being cupped by a pair of hands. Then, a smooth and delicate forehead gently touched his own.

It was as if a drop of water fell onto the calm surface of a lake, creating ripples that spread outward silently.

Lu Yuan’s heart trembled fiercely.

“Lord Tong…”

He caught the fresh scent of dew hanging from the tips of grass blades under the starry sky.

Warm breaths gently brushed against his nose.

With closed eyes, Lu Yuan’s consciousness began to scatter like smoke.

He almost forgot the passage of time; he wasn’t even aware when his body’s poor condition had ceased.

Until Yuwen Tong’s voice brought him out of the daze.

“Open your eyes.”

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, seeing Yuwen Tong looking at him gently.

Only then did he realize that he had emerged from the “shutdown” state of the deity.

The secret technique of the gathering of the three flowers at the apex had also been undone.

He felt an unprecedented “weakness,” his skin lost its luster, and in the surrounding void, his white hair scattered like dried grass.

Through internal visualization, he noticed that the blood pill in his chest had been reduced to less than a quarter of its original size.

The flow of his blood and energy was weak, giving him a soft and powerless feeling.

Lu Yuan could imagine how terrible his complexion must be now.

In his mind, there was something new.

A glowing eye symbol quietly floated above his faint mental power core.

This symbol emitted a strange power, seemingly sealing his whole body from top to bottom, inside and out, preventing his “disintegration.”

It was Yuwen Tong… who saved him.

“Don’t use this power again in the future…”

Yuwen Tong looked at Lu Yuan and said, “It consumes your life essence and burns your lifespan. I wanted to warn you before, but later I discovered that you seemed to have a way to replenish the consumed life essence, so I didn’t say anything.

However…”

Yuwen Tong paused slightly, then continued, “This time, you went too far. If it happens again, I might not be able to save you.”

Lu Yuan was silent for a moment, then nodded and replied, “Thank you, Lord Tong.”

Yuwen Tong smiled and said nothing more.

She looked around; the collapse of this space had become very severe by now.

The black, mottled areas, like peeling paint, had almost spread to where they were standing.

“We should leave,” Yuwen Tong told him.

Lu Yuan’s expression tightened as he remembered the impending danger.

Just as he was about to tell Yuwen Tong that this so-called “tomb” was reputed to be a one-way trip, he saw Yuwen Tong casually make a slashing motion in the air, creating a rip like an unzipped opening.

“Uh…”

Lu Yuan stood there stunned, not knowing what to say.

“Let’s go.”

Yuwen Tong beckoned him.

As she stepped halfway through the rift, she quickly pulled back.

Yuwen Tong turned to look at him, blinking, “Can you still walk in your current state?”

Lu Yuan struggled to stand up from the void.

Since he had come out of the deity state, he had lost the ability to float, and it was Yuwen Tong’s Strength that had been supporting him.

“No problem…”

Lu Yuan prepared to use the abilities granted by the Death Messenger (extraordinary) panel.

The advantage of having multiple professional panels was evident at times like this; even though Lu Yuan was in terrible condition, it didn’t affect his ability to use other professional abilities.

Of course, his poor condition might also affect the performance of those abilities, inevitably reducing his combat effectiveness.

However, before Lu Yuan could use death energy to conjure black wings, Yuwen Tong spoke again.

“Forget it.”

Yuwen Tong shook her head and extended a hand.

“Give me your hand… You look like a puppy that just climbed out of the water.”

Lu Yuan remained silent, quietly handing his hand over.

Yuwen Tong took his hand and also took away the Roya-branded wheel he was holding in his other hand.

“I’ll hold this for you.”

Yuwen Tong’s hand was soft and cool as she led Lu Yuan through the open space rift.

Outside was a height of a thousand meters, with roaring winds and dark clouds obscuring the sunlight.

Yuwen Tong led Lu Yuan out of the collapsing space tomb without any hesitation, flying straight in one direction.

Lu Yuan looked back at where they had come from.

He saw the space tomb completely collapse.

The void twisted violently, forming dense “wrinkles” that quickly smoothed out, leaving no trace of the strange phenomenon, as if nothing had ever happened.

Lu Yuan turned his gaze back. The wind blew Yuwen Tong’s black hair as they flew through the gloomy sky.

“Aren’t you going to ask me anything, Lord Tong?”

Lu Yuan spoke softly.

The deity form and the secret technique of the gathering of three flowers at the apex were not powers from an evil deity system. Others might not know, but Yuwen Tong certainly did.

He was seventeen years old this year.

Transforming from an ordinary senior high school student to someone who can single-handedly kill ninth-stage powerhouses with super divine level bodies in less than a year.

The leap was astonishing, and anyone seeing Lu Yuan’s real accomplishments would be curious.

Lu Yuan didn’t think Yuwen Tong would attribute all this to his “Talent” every time, yet she had never asked him, only smiled and praised him lightly each time.

This made Lu Yuan, who had been ready with explanations, unable to hold back.

Now that she was holding his hand, he felt it was a good time to “come clean” to Yuwen Tong.

“What do you want me to ask?” Yuwen Tong turned to look at him.

Her light purple eyes reflected a pale, weak, and somewhat apprehensive young figure.

At that moment, Lu Yuan felt as if Yuwen Tong had seen right through him.

“Everyone has their own secrets, secrets that can’t be known by anyone else. Unless they’re the closest person to you, or someone about to die…”

Yuwen Tong looked at Lu Yuan, a slight, playful smile in her eyes. She spoke softly, “Have you already considered me your closest person, Lu Yuan?”

“Uh…”

Lu Yuan was momentarily at a loss for words.

Yuwen Tong’s remark made it impossible for him to deliver the carefully rehearsed lines he had prepared.

But he couldn’t reveal the secrets of his attribute panel either.

Just as he was contemplating how to respond.

The two had already flown through the darkened sky, and the heavens before them suddenly became bright and expansive.

Golden sunlight streamed through the clouds, falling on Yuwen Tong and flickering in Lu Yuan’s eyes.

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but blurt out, “Lord Tong, where are we going now?”

“Now…”

Yuwen Tong gently brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, turned her head, and with a shimmer of golden light around her, said softly:

“We’re going to kill someone.”

“Uh…”

…

“Crack-“

In a hidden military base in the Distant Star Federation.

A tall man in a deep blue military uniform crushed the monitor in his hand, his face gloomy.

“Roya and the others are dead.”

“What? Roya is dead too?!”

The man beside him looked visibly shaken, his eyes flashing rapidly as he said, “In such a short time… was it Yuwen Tong?”

The man in the military uniform nodded and spoke in a deep voice, “From the signal Brewer sent back just before his death, it seems it was indeed Yuwen Tong.”

“It appears that new demon blade from the Xia State is very important to Yuwen Tong. To eliminate Roya and the others in such a short time, Yuwen Tong must have been protecting him closely… No one has ever received such treatment before.”

The man in the military uniform closed his eyes and said, “I originally thought that after achieving the objective, at least Roya would escape.

But…

Losing Roya over a Hidden Star who barely touched the ninth stage… it was not worth it.”

“And what about the next steps…”

The man beside him had just started to speak.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, he abruptly raised his head to look at the sky.

The man in the military uniform abruptly opened his eyes.

In the next second, the alloy ceiling above them suddenly split apart.

It was as if an enormous force had ripped open a box from the outside.

A blade light, as brilliant as a river of stars, descended from the sky. Before the shock and terror could even manifest on their faces…

“Boom!”

The radiant star-like blade light swallowed the two and a good portion of the base entirely.

“Let’s go, next place.”

High in the sky, Yuwen Tong, bathed in starlight, slowly sheathed her sword and casually called out to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan stared in shock, looking at the military base below that was now completely engulfed in flames.

He saw a large number of Cyborgs, Mechas, and combat aircraft swarming out of the base like a disturbed beehive.

The intense explosions and the ear-piercing sirens merged into a chaotic roar, like a pot of boiling porridge that had scorched.

So… brazen?

This was the territory of the Distant Star Federation after all.

Lu Yuan blinked, but before he could gather his thoughts, Yuwen Tong already had him moving forward once more.

Judging by the direction, they were heading even deeper into the Distant Star Federation territory.

In the following time, Lu Yuan watched as Yuwen Tong led him to destroy three more hidden bases of the Distant Star Federation.

Under Yuwen Tong’s star-river-like blade light, these so-called modern war fortresses, capable of withstanding a nuclear bomb attack, were easily ripped open and crushed like fragile paper boxes.

Lu Yuan wondered if the Distant Star Federation wasn’t responding. Were they really allowing them to wreak havoc within their borders, like wild boars rampaging through a vegetable garden?

In the next moment, an even brighter light than the sun descended from the sky.

“The sword of the dome?!”

Lu Yuan blurted out!

He had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run.

This clearly was an extraterrestrial long-range energy strike, similar to Xia State’s “Sword of Judgement” defense mechanism.

To bring out something to target Yuwen Tong, it must be the highest-spec kind, capable of sinking a small continent directly…

Lu Yuan felt his scalp tingle, his thoughts not yet complete.

He saw Yuwen Tong glance nonchalantly at the enormous, dazzling energy beam descending from the sky, then casually raise her combat blade.

In an instant, the radiant river of stars poured downward.

The blade sliced through the energy beam effortlessly, as if cutting through the sun itself.

The momentum didn’t diminish, continuing to surge upward into the vast sky.

For a moment, Lu Yuan thought he saw something in the distant outer space being split by the blade, exploding into a brilliant firework, falling silently…

“Was that… a satellite?!”

Lu Yuan blinked in astonishment.

Suddenly, a furious roar, like thunder, rang out in the sky.

“Yuwen Tong, you deserve to die!”

“Boom!”

Lu Yuan whipped his head around and saw two figures rapidly approaching.

The power surging from their bodies reached the skies, and their mental power was so overwhelming that it even affected the atmosphere, causing the previously clear southern part of the Distant Star to darken quickly.

Ninth stage!

And not just any ninth-stage powerhouses!

Lu Yuan instantly recognized their identity and strength, subconsciously glancing at Yuwen Tong.

Lord Tong remained as calm as ever.

He saw her raise her hand, and her alloy combat blade, forged from some unknown material, became even more dazzling than a diamond.

Countless brilliant light spots emerged from Yuwen Tong, then flocked into her blade’s light like a school of fish.

Yuwen Tong blinked towards the direction of the two rapidly approaching figures.

“Vmmm-“

Lu Yuan felt as if an invisible string in the void had been plucked.

Then, two strange beams of light shot out from Yuwen Tong’s eyes, spreading, enveloping, freezing…

The two ninth-stage powerhouses from the Distant Star Federation immediately froze in mid-air.

At this moment, Yuwen Tong’s combat blade, now radiating immense power, gracefully sliced forward.

“Swish-“

A spread of starlight appeared, flashing and then vanishing in an instant.

As the light dissipated, Lu Yuan saw the distant figures silently split in half at the waist before quickly falling to the ground…

“That should suffice.”

Having completed this, Yuwen Tong contentedly retracted her hand, looked at Lu Yuan, and with a light chuckle, said, “From now on, the ranking positions of the top ten combat powerhouses on this planet will shift up by two places… They’ll move into the top ten just by lying down. Happy now, Lu Yuan?”

Lu Yuan, dazed, held onto Lord Tong’s cool, delicate hand, and looking at her smiling face, replied with a stiff expression…

A muffled “Hmm” escaped his lips.