61: Catching Red Clouds

Qing Wu was breaking the Formation; the Li Wu Sword flew out, constantly darting back and forth within the Formation.

The dao patterns on the Formation were also constantly dissipating; it wouldn't be long before the Formation could be broken.

Yuan Feng, meanwhile, was sitting on a broken stone.

Slightly raising her head, she saw a strange cloud.

This cloud appeared faintly red and would occasionally scatter bits of auspiciousness.

In an ordinary place, and with some concealment, one might not notice it without looking closely.

But this was the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, a place filled with Evil Qi and dark clouds; that single red cloud appeared extremely conspicuous here.

At first, the cloud was very far from the two of them, seemingly drifting aimlessly with the wind, so Yuan Feng ignored it.

After all, wherever it passed, Sweet rain fell from the heavens and withered wood met spring; it was essentially purifying the environment.

Perhaps a tall tree attracts the wind, for a light breeze actually blew it toward Qing Wu's direction.

The cloud also seemed somewhat oblivious to propriety, slowly inching closer to them.

It even stopped right after getting close.

It seemed to be... watching the excitement!

It truly wasn't treating itself as an outsider. Or did it truly look down on the two of them?

Yuan Feng then shifted her gaze away and slowly closed her eyes.

The cloud seemed to sense that the gaze watching it had receded, and its courage immediately grew.

Feeling that it hadn't seen enough, it inched forward again.

Yuan Feng didn't mind this and allowed it to approach.

When the cloud drifted right above her head, Yuan Feng remained sitting quietly with closed eyes, as if she were completely unaware of the cloud above her.

Seeing her lack of reaction, the cloud boldly descended a few more inches.

A pair of curious eyes faintly peered out from the cloud, staring intently at Qing Wu's Formation-breaking techniques.

Just as Hong Yun was fully concentrated, Yuan Feng suddenly opened her eyes, a golden light flashing within them.

The cloud shuddered violently, instantly sensing Yuan Feng's aura surge dramatically—far beyond what he could match. This made him feel extremely endangered.

Executing an escape technique, he instantly transformed into a streak of crimson light and shot toward the sky.

However, it was too late. The Restriction Yuan Feng had secretly laid out suddenly activated, and the surrounding space was immediately locked down by dense, fiery-red dao patterns.

But Hong Yun's escape technique was truly outstanding; in the blink of an eye, he had already broken through layers of Dao pattern seals.

It had to be said that Hong Yun did have a certain talent for fleeing.

But he was facing Yuan Feng, a Hunyuan Golden Immortal, who also had some expertise in the field of speed.

To capture Hong Yun, she didn't even need to move herself; activating the divine phoenix plume was enough.

"Want to leave?" Yuan Feng chuckled softly, and the divine phoenix plume in her hand transformed into a fire phoenix that spread its wings and flew out.

The fire phoenix was golden-red all over, its tail feathers trailing seven-colored radiance, moving so fast that it left a string of afterimages in the air.

Seeing things were going poorly, Hong Yun's cloud body suddenly burst into ten thousand fine threads, slipping through the gaps in the Restriction.

He reconsolidated high in the sky and, in the blink of an eye, had fled millions of miles away, completely leaving the sealed area.

The fire phoenix transformed from the divine phoenix plume let out a long cry; its body suddenly shrank by thirty percent while its speed tripled, pursuing him like an arrow from a bow.

The two of them streaked across the sky one after the other. Hong Yun sometimes transformed into drifting threads to scatter and sometimes condensed into an arrow shape to speed along.

Every time it looked like the fire phoenix was about to catch up, he would suddenly change direction, using the mountain terrain to turn and flee.

Once, he even intentionally lured the fire phoenix toward a spatial crack, turning back at the last moment and nearly causing the fire phoenix to crash into the rift.

"Fellow Daoist, why do this?"

"This poor Daoist was merely passing by!" a voice called out from within the cloud.

"Quite slippery," Yuan Feng raised an eyebrow with interest.

With a thought, the fire phoenix suddenly exploded, transforming into nine small firebirds that dispersed to flank him.

Seeing this, Hong Yun's cloud body suddenly expanded, spewing out a patch of crimson mist barrier.

The firebirds charged into the mist, and their speed immediately slowed by thirty percent.

Hong Yun took the opportunity to execute a secret method again; profound runes surfaced on his cloud body, and his speed doubled once more.

He no longer fled in a straight line but began to circle a solitary peak, leaving a cloud-mist afterimage with every lap.

In an instant, the entire mountain peak was surrounded by dozens of Hong Yun's afterimages, making it hard to distinguish the real from the fake.

The nine firebirds, momentarily caught off guard, crashed into the afterimages one after another.

Hong Yun's true body used the chance to flee far away, seemingly about to escape to a safe range.

Just then, the original fire phoenix suddenly dove down from the clouds.

It turned out Yuan Feng had already calculated his escape route and secretly laid an ambush.

The fire phoenix opened its beak and spat out a stream of fiery golden flame, weaving a celestial net in the air.

Hong Yun hurriedly braked, stopping before the fire net in a hair-raisingly close call.

He was about to turn when he found the nine firebirds had already closed in from behind.

Surrounded on all sides, Hong Yun finally had no path of escape.

"Senior, this poor Daoist truly meant no ill will!" a voice called out from Hong Yun, carrying a hint of helplessness, his form of address having changed from Fellow Daoist to Senior.

He had clearly sensed auras of the same Realm as his from these two earlier, but he hadn't expected it to be the other party's concealment.

By the time the other party made a move, he already had no way to escape.

The fire phoenix naturally wouldn't answer; it simply snatched the cloud in its beak and flew back.

Hong Yun struggled a few times but found he couldn't break free, so he resignedly shrank into a ball.

Upon returning to Yuan Feng, the fire phoenix transformed back into a plume and returned to her hand.

That ball of red cloud floated in mid-air, slowly stretching out.

A voice came from inside: "Senior, this poor Daoist meant no ill will. Please let me go just this once."

"I am willing to take you to my good friend's place to eat ginseng fruit..."

No matter how much he spoke, Yuan Feng did not answer.

As if things like ginseng fruit could ever compare to Wutong fruit.

Yuan Feng knew he had no ill intent and was purely curious, so she naturally wouldn't kill him.

With her vision, she could see the extraordinary nature of this cloud; its roots were exceptionally deep.

He just lacked some brains, not knowing the dangers of the Great Desolation and drifting out to wander everywhere, truly thinking that with his speed, no one could subdue him.

She would just give him a lesson.

It was naturally impossible for Hong Yun to run; if she could catch him once, she could catch him countless times.

However, seeing him making a constant fuss, Yuan Feng felt quite annoyed.

"Shut up. Didn't you like to watch? Now I'll let you watch your fill!"

She then pointed a finger, restraining him within a fiery red bubble.

This time, Hong Yun became well-behaved.

After a short wait, Qing Wu broke the Formation and took the Profound Origin Water Control Flag into his hand.

Turning his head, he saw Yuan Feng sitting on a rock with a slight fire in her eyes, which originated from that red cloud floating above her head.

What kind of look was this?

"Hong Yun!"

Qing Wu recognized the cloud's identity at a glance. Who else could it be but the future 'Good Old Man' of the Great Desolation—Hong Yun?

Only his current state... "Let him explain it to you," Yuan Feng said, reaching out to dispel the bubble Restriction.

With his restraint removed, Hong Yun immediately stretched his body, covering a thousand-mile radius.

"Hmm?" Yuan Feng slightly raised her gaze. With just one look, Hong Yun shrank his true body back down to about the size of three fists.

"Two Seniors, this Junior was truly just passing by. I had no intention of spying on you two, and even less would I have any improper thoughts about that treasure."

"Please, Seniors, let me go. I am willing to take you to eat ginseng fruit to settle this Karma."

Hearing this, Qing Wu couldn't help but palm his forehead.

This guy really was just watching the excitement, and that's why he was caught by Yuan Feng.

But thinking about it, the 'Good Old Man' Hong Yun naturally had a personality that drifted everywhere, going wherever there was excitement.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have made so many friends and earned such a title.

But what was with using ginseng fruit to settle your Karma?

Wasn't the ginseng fruit at Wanshou Mountain's Wuzhuang Temple? It was rumored to be at the border of the East and West.

When the two of them went to the West, they had also thought about looking for this Ginseng Fruit Tree to have an exchange with it.

But perhaps because Zhenyuanzi had sealed it off with the Earth Book, they didn't find it.

After thinking for a moment, he cast his gaze back onto the cloud before him.

This guy, with such a reckless personality, no wonder he would have such a tragic end.

"He should be caught and locked up for a while."

Qing Wu reached out and bound him with a vine.