260: Flame Flying Lion

Long Yuan had already reached the deep wilderness outside Nanming City. His targets were those Blood Wolf Hall thugs who had escaped using Personal Flight Devices.

What interested him, of course, were those Personal Flight Devices. Although the data captured by the Heavenly Dao Eye included information about them, he wanted to see for himself what level those flight devices had reached. After understanding them, he could roughly infer the level of Artifact Refining in the country that provided them.

As the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' Only by understanding their level could he prevent future troubles if he encountered them again.

By now, the sky was fully bright, but the deep wilderness remained gloomy and terrifying. Mountains rose and fell, ancient trees reached for the sky, and patches of shrub forests were interconnected, stretching boundlessly. Countless Vicious Beasts hid within, and the slightest carelessness could lead to a dangerous encounter.

However, for the current Long Yuan, walking through the wilderness was like strolling in his own backyard—he was completely calm and composed. As long as he didn't encounter a large swarm of Vicious Beasts or a Rank 7 beast, also known as a Commander-level Vicious Beast, he could roam freely. Even when facing a Commander-level Vicious Beast, he wasn't entirely helpless; if he could maintain his distance and utilize the power of the Xuan Gun, he might even be able to pull off a counter-kill. Thus, while Gu Fengyang and the others had given up the pursuit of the thugs after a short while, Long Yuan continued to give chase... after pursuing for about two hundred li, he was already very close to his targets.

The current limit of Long Yuan's Divine Sense was approximately a range of three hundred li. This level was enough to dominate the Blue Star! It was far greater than the radar detection range of any country on the Blue Star today!

In truth, with Long Yuan's current Divine Sense capability, which approached the Soul Transformation stage of the Cultivation World, it wouldn't be a problem for his observation range to reach a thousand li. However, this was only his theoretical level; in reality, limited by his own physical strength, he could only exert about thirty percent. Even so, this level was far beyond what the high-level Mind Power Master Xu Yanran could match, and it could support him in long-distance flight!

It could be said that Long Yuan's current flight capability was much stronger than any airplane or mecha; calling him a 'humanoid flight device' wouldn't be an exaggeration.

However, flying through the air in the wilderness was not a wise move, as it made one an easy target for Mutated Beast attacks. One might fly over a forest only to intrude upon a beast's territory; being discovered and attacked was perfectly normal. Therefore, Long Yuan had been using Shadow Step to advance rapidly, utilizing the shadows in the wilderness to hide his form. Such tracking technique was practically perfect!

He didn't use the full extent of his current Divine Sense power because it wasn't necessary; his Divine Sense simply locked onto the atmospheric disturbances caused by the fugitives' Personal Flight Devices. This airflow had been passing through at low altitudes, showing that the flight ceiling of these devices was quite limited. This was easy to understand, as the air density is higher at low altitudes, providing more lift. If they went to high altitudes where the air is thin, the lift certainly wouldn't support a person for long-distance flight. Furthermore, from an energy-saving perspective, the pilots would keep them at low altitudes; otherwise, the process of counteracting gravity alone would consume a massive amount of energy.

'Hmm? They've landed?!' Long Yuan suddenly noticed the low-altitude air disturbances ahead starting to descend. As the arc continued to drop, the destination became obvious—on a hilltop not far ahead.

Stepping through the shadows, he continued to advance and soon reached the base of the Peak. His Divine Sense detected five people on the summit, wearing the robes of the Blood Wolf Hall, each with a grim expression and panting heavily... 'Haha, I see them! These Personal Flight Devices look quite sleek. They aren't as clunky as helicopters but are small and exquisite, just enough for one or two people to sit inside. They're like mini personal aircraft, with viewports, thrusters, a control center, and so on. A very good design!' Long Yuan's eyes lit up as he saw the three flight devices next to the five men, and he gave them a favorable assessment.

Originally, he had speculated that Personal Flight Devices would be wearable like mecha. Such a design would actually be an upgraded version of mecha, which he estimated foreign technology hadn't managed to create yet. Thus, there were only these mini-flight devices. However, these devices had their merits; they were much more flexible and faster than the airplanes commonly used in Daming, suitable for one or two people, and even equipped with weapon Systems, making them ideal for decentralized team combat. For instance, in the previous battle, they could have fully coordinated with helicopters to utilize aerial superiority against ground personnel.

Unfortunately, Feng Lifeng had been struck down, and the helicopters had also received special attention. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the people from the Blood Wolf Hall naturally didn't dare to linger and could only flee for their lives... Long Yuan didn't hesitate with these five fleeing thugs, directly using a Soul Net to bring them all under control. Using the Soul Net to control opponents had become his standard move, especially since using it here meant he didn't have to worry about others discovering the anomalies in his Soul Power. His Divine Sense was fundamentally far superior to his opponents', so once the Soul Net was cast, the other party basically had no power to struggle!

The five men were suddenly attacked, their bodies going limp and numb as they collapsed to the ground. They were terrified, thinking they had encountered a high-level Mutated Beast in the wilderness, only to see a youth walking over leisurely. Their eyes widened, but having been completely restrained, they naturally couldn't say a word... With a wave of his hand, Long Yuan transferred the five men into a confinement room within the Heavenly Dao Space and moved the three flight devices into another room. Just as he was about to return, he heard a beast's roar. Turning around, he saw a red-furred lion with wings on its back flying in from a distance, charging to within thirty meters of him in the blink of an eye!

'A Flame Flying Lion?!' Long Yuan recognized it at a glance, as he had already seen countless types of Mutated Beasts in the simulation training space of the Heavenly Dao Space, and the Flame Flying Lion was one of them.

It was quite unexpected to find a Flame Flying Lion in this wilderness, as the Bloodline rank of this kind of Mutated Beast was rather high. Looking at this flying lion's wingspan of over ten meters, its level had reached the Peak of Rank 5, and it could fully exert strength equivalent to the Martial General level of the Human Race.

Rank 5 Mutated Beasts have also entered the Innate stage, and those with high Bloodline ranks might even be able to speak. Just like this flying lion, which now spoke: 'Kid, this King just saw five humans with flight devices land here. Where are they? Tell me, and this King might consider sparing your life!'

Long Yuan looked around and said, 'Flying Lion King, I'm looking for them too. Perhaps they've run away again?'

'Impossible! This King's subordinates are watching all around here. Where could they escape to? Now they're gone, but you've appeared here. You must have hidden them!' the Flame Flying Lion barked...