As Han Yu's panic grew he muttered incessantly.

"No, no, not again," he whispered. "I marked the trees before… this time I didn't. I just ran straight. It should be fine. It has to be fine."

But the oppressive atmosphere made him doubt everything.

Then, out of nowhere, a spark of thought flickered in his mind. He had another option.

Han Yu stopped for a brief second and looked down at his halberd. His breathing steadied slightly, and an idea formed.

'I can... try that...' If he could not outrun the danger on foot, he could try to fly.

It was a crazy idea.

Cultivators were not supposed to attempt flight without proper training or supervision, especially not those below the Core Condensation stage. Han Yu had reached the Early Stage of the Core Condensation realm, but he was still new.

Flying with a weapon as a medium required immense spiritual control. He had seen it done by elders, and had even flown behind Senior Sister Xuan Qing, but even she had told him it was risky.

Still, what choice did he have?

He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. "If I'm going to die, I might as well die trying."

Channeling his Qi, Han Yu infused the halberd with his spiritual sense. The weapon responded instantly, glowing faintly with a pale light as it rose into the air. He could feel the connection between his mind and the halberd strengthen, forming a tangible bond.

He let go of it briefly, watching it hover unsteadily, wobbling slightly in the air.

His pulse quickened. "Alright, come on, just like Xuan Qing did…"

WHOOSH

He took two steps back, then ran forward and leaped onto the weapon.

For a split second, gravity won, and he nearly fell face-first into the mud. But instinct and sheer desperation made him correct his balance just in time. His feet found a firm base on the metal shaft, and his Qi surged downward, stabilizing the halberd's position.

To his astonishment, it worked.

The halberd steadied beneath him, its movement syncing to his will.

Han Yu exhaled sharply, half laughing, half terrified. "By the heavens… it actually worked!"

He willed it forward, and the weapon responded clumsily at first, jerking side to side before finally finding a smoother rhythm. His robes whipped around him as the air rushed past, and he felt a surge of exhilaration.

Then he remembered why he was doing this.

He looked back toward the direction of the tomb. Even from here, high above the trees, he could still see the clear red glow piercing through the forest canopy. The crimson pillars were so bright they dwarfed everything else in sight, like wounds carved into the world itself.

A shiver ran through his spine. "Yeah… definitely not staying for that."

He leaned forward, pushing more Qi into the halberd. It surged ahead, slicing through the air.

WHOOSH

The trees blurred beneath him, their tops swaying slightly as his shadow passed over them. He rose higher, climbing above the denser parts of the forest. The higher he went, the easier it became to maneuver, though it also meant he had to pour more Qi into maintaining balance.

He ignored the growing drain on his reserves. Every pulse of energy felt like a countdown, but he did not care. His only goal was to put as much distance as possible between himself and those accursed ruins.

Wind roared in his ears as he flew.

He leaped over narrow clearings, skimmed across canopies, and soared past jutting branches hidden among the trees. Occasionally, a branch would scrape his boots or a gust of wind would nearly throw him off balance, but he clung on with fierce determination.

Despite his terror, a strange exhilaration coursed through him. This was the first time he had flown alone, the first time he had felt the true freedom of gliding above the world, even if it was under the shadow of dread.

"Ha… ha! I'm actually doing it," he breathed between gasps, half laughing again. "Take that, Seniors! You all had said I'd need months of practice!"

Then the realization hit him again. He was still inside the inner realm. Still trapped. Still running from something he could not understand. The laughter died in his throat, replaced by grim determination.

Han Yu looked ahead, forcing the halberd to move faster.

His eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of an opening, a change in terrain, or anything other than endless forest. But all he could see was the faint shimmer of the crimson sky behind him, growing dimmer as he finally put distance between himself and the ruins.

"Keep going," he muttered. "Just keep going."

And so he did, racing across the silent world, a lone figure cutting through the night sky with only fear and desperation to drive him forward.

Behind him, the pillars of red light continued to burn bright, ancient, and unyielding... illuminating the false heavens like the gaze of a forgotten god.

Han Yu didn't know how long he was flying, nor how far he had come. After all, walking was slower, and he had to traverse through the trees and uneven ground. But while flying, not only was nothing in his way, he was also several times faster.

"I must've come at least a hundred kilometers, right?" Han Yu wondered.

Wanting to check, he took out one of the timekeeping talismans he had been using. These were basic talismans every Qi refining cultivator could make with ease. They worked time by measuring the depletion of Qi within them.

Though they could only measure time one day at a time, and needed to be recharged every day. But Han Yu didn't fully trust it either, as there could be deviations due to the strange and turbulent Qi present in the inner realm.

Who knew how far the deviation could go, especially with the tomb glowing like that and releasing more Qi than all the Elders of the Twin Leaf Peak Sect combined.

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