Chapter 307 – Lu Yuan’s Escape Plan!

The Flying Bear Generals of the Yellow Bear, who had been exploring separately, were gradually returning.

Lu Yuan did a quick headcount and found that nobody was missing.

However, a few people were slightly injured, and though two of them were unscathed, their collectors had been destroyed and they didn’t have spares. Their faces were incredibly glum.

Once everyone was assembled, most of them were in relatively good spirits.

Opening up a secret realm is high-risk, but with high risk comes high reward.

This wave of exploration in the Elephant Deity Secret Realm would yield merits equivalent to many runs in other secret realms of the same level.

As the leader, Yin Muqing, finished the headcount and was about to speak, she suddenly sensed something and looked in the direction they had come from.

Everyone turned in unison and immediately spotted two figures, both glowing faintly like Yin Muqing, hovering midair at the distant entrance.

It was Javier Sleepless’s exploration team!

“Weren’t we supposed to explore for ten hours ahead of them? It’s been less than four hours…” Lu Yuan checked the time and frowned.

Han Xun, with a stony face, said, “It’s a matter of the flow of time. Clearly, the time flow in this secret realm is different from the outside world…”

Lu Yuan was momentarily taken aback, frowning slightly.

He hadn’t noticed this point during his last trip to the Wailing Ruins.

He had to admit, he was inexperienced in secret realm exploration and still had a lot to learn from seasoned explorers like Han Xun.

“Let’s go!”

Yin Muqing’s face turned slightly cold as she stared in the direction where the two figures appeared. She called out and then led the way deeper into the plains.

The Flying Bear Generals followed closely, all choosing to run on the ground.

Firstly, to avoid attracting unknown hostility, and secondly, to conserve energy.

Lu Yuan followed the main group, still mulling over how to “reasonably” break away from the team to carry out his solo instance plan.

Before long, the opportunity he had been waiting for presented itself.

“Swish-“

At the forefront of the team, Yin Muqing suddenly halted mid-flight and swung her alloy long blade diagonally forward, releasing a tangible energy blade.

The blade sliced through the air, creating ripples in its wake.

With a resounding crash, it struck a pile of jagged black rocks ahead, blasting out several bloodied ancient elephant deity creatures.

The entire Yellow Bear main force came to an immediate stop.

Simultaneously, they all felt faint tremors emanating from the black ground beneath their feet.

In the distance, shadows exuding strong evil energy waves emerged into view.

Terrifying screeches echoed from the sky above.

Strange birds with wings and elephant heads began circling overhead.

Everything happened so unexpectedly, as if this vast, ominous plain had suddenly awakened due to their intrusion within just a few breaths.

A wave of malevolent intent surged towards them.

“Whoosh-“

Without showing any outward reaction, Lu Yuan subtly touched his right chest area, where the elephant deity curse was scorching hot.

Although he didn’t believe that a mere elephant deity curse could cause such a commotion, he could clearly sense that a significant portion of these ancient elephant deity creatures were specifically targeting him.

But with the battle erupting, no one had the chance to notice this detail.

“Do I come with an inherent aggro aura?” Lu Yuan mused just as a large group of ancient elephant deity creatures started thundering towards him.

Even the weakest evil energy waves were at level S and most were at level SS, with several reaching level SSS.

At a glance, there were dozens of them, and the number kept increasing.

Despite being seasoned explorers of various evil deity secret realms, even the Flying Bear Generals’ faces turned grim at the sight of such a formidable scene.

“Kill!”

As the ancient elephant deity creatures and the exploration team were about to collide, several four-winged Flying Bear Generals soared into the air, proactively charging forward to intercept.

Each of them effectively engaged a level SSS evil deity creature.

These level SSS monsters were all enormous, generally standing over seven meters tall. When they moved, they resembled small mobile mountains.

Lu Yuan noticed Han Xun’s peculiar gaze fixed on his face.

Pretending not to see it, he maintained a natural expression throughout.

Han Xun didn’t have the time to question Lu Yuan about his strength at this critical moment.

As one of the few four-winged Flying Bear Generals in the team, he merely shot Lu Yuan a complex look before rushing forward with the other four-winged Bears to block the invading ancient elephant deity creatures.

Lu Yuan blended into the crowd, quietly searching for an opportunity.

Finally, he spotted a strange bird swooping down towards him. The creature had dark gray feathers, a gigantic elephant head, and was flying using giant ear-like wings.

Feigning a moment of panic, Lu Yuan struck out with his palm as though to resist the incoming attack.

But as soon as the strange bird made contact, he changed his palm to a claw, grasping tightly onto the creature’s talon.

He made it appear as though he was unintentionally being carried into the sky by the bird.

“Go! Go!”

While airborne, Lu Yuan discreetly unleashed some Platinum Qi, jabbing the creature’s rear to provoke it into flying away faster.

Seeing the bird in apparent pain and beginning to fly off into the distance, Lu Yuan felt a glimmer of hope.

Suddenly…

“Swish-“

A silver blade light, as swift as a dragon, cut through the sky.

The desperate bird, flapping its ear-like wings, abruptly froze in mid-air.

Without a sound, it split into two halves.

Foul-smelling blood rained down as Lu Yuan, with a dark expression, fell back to the ground.

Despite his frustration, he had no choice but to offer his most sincere thanks to the “helpful” individual who had thwarted his escape.

“Thank you, my Lord, for your assistance!”

Yin Muqing, with an aloof expression, slowly sheathed her blade and gave him a brief, indifferent glance before looking elsewhere.

Filled with helplessness, Lu Yuan had to temporarily abandon his escape plan and, feigning sincerity, joined the battle against the encroaching evil deity creatures.

Lu Yuan kept his strength controlled between level S and level SSS. Casually slaying one ancient elephant deity creature after another, he secretly activated his blood sphere, absorbing the essence of the flesh and blood from the fallen creatures on the battlefield.

Everyone was engrossed in fighting, with no one specifically stopping to gather spoils.

It seemed Lu Yuan was having quite a field day.

He wasn’t sure how much essence he had absorbed, but he knew the blood sphere in his chest kept swelling and growing stronger.

Once it reached a certain level, the blood sphere emitted a resonant hum.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-“

Vital energy surged through his body like a tidal wave, making his bones and muscles vibrate, while the Five Viscera shone with a radiant glow. A new power emerged within him.

[Strength Points: 27 (limit break 1)]

“My strength attribute increased by one point.”

Glancing at his attribute panel, Lu Yuan saw that his strength had risen from 26 to 27.

The experience bar for [Elephant Deity. Ming King Stance (extraordinary)] had also reached 15%, progressing quite quickly.

“This method of getting stronger while slacking off is pretty delightful…” Lu Yuan thought to himself. However, he knew this couldn’t be a long-term strategy; absorbing too much would attract unnecessary attention from the others and earn him accusations of stealing merit.

“It feels more satisfying to absorb the experience from the creatures I kill myself. Leeching off others’ experience isn’t my style…”

He continued pondering while scanning the battlefield.

During this time, he had been formulating methods to “escape.”

However, Yin Muqing, stationed at the center of the field, controlled the situation with her blade skills, making his previous plans hard to execute successfully.

Several unlucky individuals, like him earlier, were grabbed by the strange elephant-headed birds and carried into the sky. But Yin Muqing saved them all with swift, precise slashes.

Still…

There was a glimmer of opportunity.

Despite their continued battle, the pressure on their group hadn’t lessened; their situation had actually become tougher.

More and more ancient elephant deity creatures surfaced from the black plains, and the number of elite leaders with level SSS evil energy waves now exceeded ten.

Yin Muqing intervened increasingly often, her silver blade light occasionally slicing through the air, dazzling and stunning.

“If I stay here any longer, we might drag down the whole team. On my own, I can use guerrilla tactics, fight when I want, run when I need to…”

Lu Yuan’s eyes flashed, his face expressionless.

It was no longer about wanting to leave the team; he had to leave.

People were already getting injured, and the situation was becoming increasingly dire.

“Why are there more and more of these monsters? Should we…”

Someone in the fighting crowd muttered with a grim face, clearly considering retreat.

But with Yin Muqing leading the team, any action depended on her decision.

Lu Yuan could almost feel Yin Muqing’s inner conflict at that moment.

Just then, an increasingly dense group of strange birds in the sky suddenly made a collective dive, managing to grab three people at once and carry them off to be torn apart.

“Perfect opportunity!”

Lu Yuan’s eyes gleamed with determination. He yelled loudly on purpose.

Then, with a loud “boom,” he stomped hard, shattering a large patch of ground beneath him, and shot into the air like a cannonball towards the group of strange birds.

His posture made it look like he was bravely charging to rescue his comrades.

“Thank you…”

A Twin-winged Bear, who had been grabbed into the sky and was struggling against multiple elephant deity strange birds pecking at him, felt a glimmer of hope and gratitude as he saw Lu Yuan approaching. But before he could voice his thanks…

A pale, strong hand slammed down on his head.

“Bam!”

The poor guy didn’t even have time to utter a sound before Lu Yuan sent him plummeting downward with just one slap.

Using that momentum, Lu Yuan propelled himself higher, soaring right into the “warm embrace” of the strange bird swarm.

“Don’t worry about me!”

Lu Yuan shouted, his eyes appearing bloodshot, directing his voice downwards.

The explosive sound drew many people’s attention, momentarily stunning them.

Before anyone could fully react, Lu Yuan silently invoked his skill in his mind.

“[Panic Boiling]!”

Powered by the strong mental power from his limit-break intelligence, his profession’s core skill [Panic Boiling] activated.

The deep-seated fear buried within erupted in the hearts of the nearby elephant deity strange birds surrounding Lu Yuan.

Like encountering an Archenemy, an intense sense of terror drove them to desperately flap their wings, scattering in all directions.

Lu Yuan clung tightly to the largest and strongest of the strange birds, flying rapidly deeper into the plain with it.

He had chosen the perfect moment to act-right during the brief instance when Yin Muqing had just drawn her blade to assist another Flying Bear General.

By the time Yin Muqing snapped back to attention, Lu Yuan, who appeared to be “abducted” by the strange bird, was already far away, the distance between them uncertain.

Yin Muqing’s face showed a struggle, but ultimately… she didn’t pursue. She chose to stay and ensure the safety of the Yellow Bear members on the battlefield instead.

Watching the main group fade into the distance, Lu Yuan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt a thrill as he saw the opportunity unfold before him.

Away from the main group, the sky’s the limit, and he could now embrace freedom fully.

A true leveling paradise… beckoning him eagerly!

…

The surging army of ancient elephant deity creatures receded like a tide, leaving behind a field scattered with broken bodies.

It was a veritable “harvest” festival.

However, the freshly disengaged members of the Yellow Bear exploration team were far from happy.

Their team had started to suffer “casualties.”

…