Chapter 375: I Was Being Used by Someone

"You went to such great lengths to find me, yet now you ask who I am?"

Lu Yu slowly turned around, his gaze locking directly onto the other man's face, his eyes revealing a trace of coldness and doubt.

"No, this is absolutely impossible! It's impossible!" Huo Yun's voice trembled with terror, shouting almost hysterically, "How could you possibly be that Lu Yu! You absolutely cannot be Lu Yu!"

In the headquarters' files, Lu Yu was clearly just a Martial Artist at the Vein Refining Initial Stage.

Yet the person standing before him gave him the feeling of being a powerful existence at the True Essence Realm!

Otherwise, how could someone like himself, a late-stage Vein Refining Martial Artist who had already opened the Extraordinary Meridians, be so easily subdued by the other party without any power to resist?

"He is Lu Yu, the genuine Brother Lu." Song Tian stepped forward with a look of certainty, his gaze toward Huo Yun as if looking at a hopeless idiot.

Huo Yun felt as if someone had grabbed his throat; he opened his mouth but could say nothing, falling into a deathly silence.

Yes, thinking back carefully, when this fellow surnamed Song saw this person appear, he had blurted out "Brother Lu" and anxiously told the latter to leave quickly.

In such a critical situation, there was no possibility of him acting to deceive himself.

But all of this was simply too unbelievable!

"Brother Lu, how about I help you take off the mask on his face to see exactly what kind of sacred being this fellow is?" Song Tian suggested.

"Association President, let me do it." Lu Yu shook his head gently.

After all, the other party was a Vein Refining Martial Artist; if he really wanted to harm Song Tian, there were a hundred ways to do it, and Lu Yu did not want to put the Association President in danger.

"Right, alright." Song Tian nodded, looking slightly embarrassed as he understood Lu Yu's concerns.

"No, don't, please don't!" Seeing this, Huo Yun let out a cry, trying to stop Lu Yu's movements.

However, all of this was to no avail.

The next second, Lu Yu reached out and gave a light tug, and the mask on Huo Yun's face was removed, exposing a face full of terror to everyone.

"You, you are actually?" Song Tian widened his eyes, his face filled with extreme shock.

Seeing this, Lu Yu breathed a slight sigh of relief. He knew clearly that he had plenty of ways to make the person before him spill the truth, but since the Association President could recognize this person, things might save a lot of trouble.

"Association President, who exactly is he?" Lu Yu asked hurriedly.

"He is Huo Yun from the headquarters." Song Tian's voice carried a trace of complexity, containing both disappointment toward someone he once admired and current anger.

"A late-stage Vein Refining Martial Artist who has long held the top spot on the Contribution Points Monthly Ranking for Pulse Refining Realm Martial Artists. In our Association, below the True Essence Realm, he was once publicly acknowledged as the number one person."

After Song Tian finished speaking, his mind went blank. All along, in his heart, he had been full of respect for this powerhouse on the monthly ranking.

Not just him, but the vast majority of Martial Artists in the Association would talk about the deeds of this powerhouse during their leisure time.

To be number one on the headquarters' monthly ranking for several consecutive months—what kind of outstanding strength must that be!

Moreover, it was said that the headquarters valued him highly and invested a large amount of resources to cultivate him.

Among the many Pulse Refining Realm Martial Artists, if one were to say who had the most hope of breaking through to the True Essence Realm, it was none other than him.

Yet the series of events that just occurred completely overturned the glorious image of this person in Song Tian's mind.

Not only did he cruelly attack him, a fellow companion, but he also attempted to abduct Brother Lu and force Brother Lu to refine Superior True Qi Pills for him.

Is this, is this really the powerhouse he had always respected? It is simply bottomless and despicable!

"People from the headquarters..." A flash of cold killing intent crossed Lu Yu's eyes.

It seems this matter really does have something to do with the headquarters.

Could it be that after they invited him to refine pills and were rejected, they came up with these low-class tactics, intending to forcibly bind him and take him away?

"Speak, who exactly sent you?" Lu Yu's voice carried endless coldness, making even Song Tian, who was standing to the side, shiver.

"I! I..." Huo Yun was also someone who knew how to assess the situation; after all, at this moment, he was like fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of others.

It would be better to tell the truth exactly as it happened; perhaps he could still save his small life.

"Brother Lu, this matter really cannot be blamed on me; I was also being used by someone." He pleaded pitifully, "As long as you are willing to let me go, I guarantee I will tell you everything I know, word for word!"

"You still want to negotiate terms with me?" The killing intent in Lu Yu's eyes grew stronger, "Do you think I only know this one Acupoint Sealing Technique?"

Huo Yun's face instantly turned as pale as paper. He understood in his heart that there were many kinds of Acupoint Sealing Techniques, and among them, there was no lack of methods that could make the person struck wish they were dead.

By comparison, his own Mysterious Yin True Qi seemed much simpler and more singular.

Thinking of this, he dared not hesitate any longer and hurriedly shouted, "It was Xiao Zhan, it was Xiao Zhan who sent me!"

"What, who did you say?" Song Tian was so surprised his jaw almost dropped.

Lu Yu glanced at Song Tian, secretly pondering to himself, could this person also be from the headquarters?

But among the three people present yesterday, there was no one with that name.

What is the background of this Xiao Zhan? And where did he learn this news from?

"That's right, it was him!" Huo Yun gritted his teeth and said with a look of resentment, "That fellow Xiao Zhan, I don't know where he found out the news that you, Brother Lu, could refine Superior True Qi Pills.

Then, he found me in private, told me this news, and told me to come here to bring you to his side so that from then on you would refine Superior True Qi Pills exclusively for him. When I heard that, I refused him on the spot."

"Is that so?" Lu Yu sneered, his eyes full of suspicion, "You would be that kind-hearted?"

"Brother Lu, what I said is the absolute truth." Huo Yun said hurriedly without even thinking, "Everyone is in the same Association after all, how could I do such an immoral and bottomless thing?"

"You still know that doing this is immoral and bottomless?" Song Tian was so angry his face turned red, and he pointed and accused him.

"I really had no other choice." Huo Yun said, even squeezing out a few tears, "You might not know, but Xiao Zhan is a one-in-a-million martial arts genius, born with his Extraordinary Meridians already open.

While we are still struggling to perform Meridian Opening, as soon as he reached the Vein Refining Realm, he could smoothly circulate his Qi and increase his True Qi. Therefore, he is already a True Essence Realm Martial Artist.

Not only that, he is also Association President Zhou's closed-door disciple, and the two have a relationship like father and son. In every respect, I cannot afford to offend him."

"So you agreed to him?" Lu Yu pressed.

"Yes, Brother Lu, if I didn't agree, what other choice did I have?"

Huo Yun sighed helplessly and continued, "He specifically instructed me that if you were unwilling to come with me, I should use some forceful means to bring you over.

It can be said that all my actions just now were done according to his instructions; I was nothing more than a knife in his hand."

"You certainly have cleared yourself quite cleanly." Song Tian gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Even if this matter was Xiao Zhan finding you and instigating you to do it, you are not innocent."

"That's right, I admit, I did indeed have thoughts I shouldn't have."

Huo Yun cast a fearful glance at Lu Yu and said cautiously, "I am already at the Vein Refining Late Stage, and in fact, I could open up my Dantian Qi Sea at any time. It's just that I've heard that the more True Qi one has in their body before opening the Qi Sea,

the more True Essence one can contain after breaking through to the True Essence Realm. That is why I have been delaying it and not rushing to break through..."

"What did you say?" Lu Yu suddenly interrupted him, "The amount of True Essence contained in the Qi Sea differs among different True Essence Realm Martial Artists?"