Chapter 52

And in that instant, Bai Yueli’s fingers could not help brushing over Fu Yan’s lower lip. That inexplicable touch made her freeze slightly.

Everything happened in the span of a spark. By the time Fu Yan, her eyes full of astonishment, belatedly came back to herself, she felt that there was now a delicate, translucent pearl in her mouth.

“Mm.”

After the Miasma-Avoiding Pearl entered her mouth, Fu Yan reflexively let out a soft sound. The icy pearl instantly landed on the tip of her tongue, finally pulling her thoughts back.

In the next moment, those slender jade-like fingers swiftly withdrew. Fu Yan only felt as if her lips had been brushed like a dragonfly touching water. It was itchy, making her somewhat unable to control the urge to touch them again.

At this moment, Fu Yan naturally did not notice Bai Yueli’s expression before her. When her fingers had landed on Fu Yan’s lips just now, Bai Yueli had felt a soft warmth from the pads of her fingers. Clearly, it had only brushed past as if touching and not touching, yet she felt as if her fingertips were faintly burning.

“This is the Miasma-Avoiding Pearl Senior Sister mentioned just now?”

Just as Bai Yueli still seemed to be lingering on the feeling of that touch, Fu Yan’s somewhat doubtful voice transmission sounded in her mind.

Bai Yueli paused slightly. Very soon, she wore an extremely natural expression again and slowly lowered her right hand. Only then did she raise her eyes to look at Fu Yan and continue transmitting, “Holding a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl in your mouth allows cultivators to move freely through this miasma. You don’t need to waste your true essence sealing your seven orifices and six senses. However, it also has a certain time limit.”

After hearing Bai Yueli’s explanation, Fu Yan somewhat awkwardly reached up and scratched her head, then continued transmitting sheepishly, “Hehe, so that’s how it is. I only came in too hurriedly, so I forgot to prepare a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl in advance.”

In truth, if one traced it to the root, the reason was still that Fu Yan had not known there was such a good thing as a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl.

“Right.” In order to quickly shift away from the issue that made her seem a little ignorant, Fu Yan immediately continued transmitting, “Why is Senior Sister in Demonic Miasma Gorge?”

Taking advantage of Fu Yan’s awkward pause, Bai Yueli had already returned to her usual indifferent expression. Only then did she casually put away the Yueyao Sword, which still carried a trace of aggression, and transmitted an explanation. “I originally planned to seclude myself for only two months, but because I gained some understanding of my own strength during seclusion, I was delayed by another half month.”

In truth, Bai Yueli had only left the upper-grade cultivation secret room in Chaoyang City ten days ago. After leaving Chaoyang City, she had prepared to train while making her way back to the sect. Only, after walking for two days, Bai Yueli suddenly discovered a distress signal.

It was a distress signal unique to disciples of the Shuiling Sect. So after taking a look, Bai Yueli understood that a sect disciple had encountered trouble. That was why she followed the distress signal all the way here, arriving at the vast Demonic Miasma Gorge.

“So that’s how it is!” After hearing Bai Yueli’s explanation, Fu Yan answered with a smile.

At the same time, Fu Yan could basically confirm that the distress signal Bai Yueli had seen should have been left by Shui Liuqing. And Shui Liuqing was very likely indeed inside this Demonic Miasma Gorge.

Thinking of this, Fu Yan immediately furrowed her brows slightly. When she slowly raised her eyes again, however, she suddenly saw Bai Yueli opposite her looking fixedly at her. Fu Yan paused slightly, then quickly transmitted an explanation as well. “I’m the same as Senior Sister. I discovered the distress signal from one of our Shuiling Sect disciples, so I found this place.”

After the words fell, Bai Yueli finally withdrew her gaze. Fu Yan did not know whether she believed her or not, but she definitely could not directly say that it was because she and Shui Liuqing had signed a master-servant contract that she had found this place.

At some point, wind had begun blowing through the gorge. The miasma around them seemed even denser than before. Fu Yan looked at the environment before her and also knew they could not remain here forever. They still [bailiantales.com]had to find Shui Liuqing as soon as possible and leave.

“Senior Sister, the miasma here seems to have grown denser. There’s no way to distinguish directions at all. Can you still sense the distress signal?” As Fu Yan spoke, she observed the surroundings herself to guard against any poisonous creature suddenly leaping out to attack.

Hearing this, Bai Yueli shook her head. She had already entered Demonic Miasma Gorge three or four days ago, yet she still had no clue. Moreover, she could feel that the longer one moved through this miasma, the easier it became to lose direction.

“The person who fought you just now was?” Bai Yueli seemed to suddenly remember what had happened earlier and could not help asking Fu Yan through voice transmission.

Fu Yan shook her head as well. “I don’t know who he was either. At that time, I sensed Senior Sister fighting someone ahead, but before I could get close, that person charged out directly. During the fight, he didn’t hold back at all. Almost every move was fatal.”

After the words fell, Bai Yueli also nodded. Clearly, the person who had fought her earlier had also suddenly rushed out. From the looks of it, the two people should have been working together.

“They should be chasing down the disciple who sent the distress signal,” Fu Yan guessed.

After all, inside Demonic Miasma Gorge, aside from her and Bai Yueli, there should only be the pursuers left. This place was not some exploration ground either. Ordinary people would not come in for no reason.

Just then, Bai Yueli seemed to suddenly sense the distress signal again. She turned back to look at Fu Yan and transmitted, “Follow me.”

Fu Yan did not doubt her. Seeing that Bai Yueli turned and walked in a direction after speaking, Fu Yan did not hesitate at all and quickly lifted her feet to follow.

Inside the quiet gorge, the two of them moved slowly [stolen content]in one direction, one in front and one behind. Because neither of them knew what danger might suddenly arrive in the next moment, the two did not continue saying anything along the way.

However, because there were two of them, one opening the path and the other watching the rear, both of them carefully observed the movements around them. It was much easier than being alone, where one had to watch both ahead and behind while also worrying about poisonous creatures that might suddenly appear.

After walking for who knew how long, when Fu Yan raised her head, she saw that they seemed to be closer to the left-side stone wall of the gorge. If they continued walking, they would probably soon arrive beneath the stone wall on the left.

“Ahhh!!”

“Pff—save me, save—”

Yet at this moment, a burst of miserable screams suddenly rang out in the quiet gorge. In this kind of environment, it sounded especially chilling.

Hearing the heart-rending screams, Fu Yan and Bai Yueli could not help stopping. The two looked toward the direction the sound came from and exchanged a glance.

With a whoosh.

In the next second, before Fu Yan and Bai Yueli could react, they saw a figure swiftly rush out from beneath the stone wall ahead. The speed was so fast that it made people click their tongues.

If she had not clearly sensed the surging true essence fluctuations around him, Fu Yan would almost have doubted whether the shadow that had run past as fast as lightning just now was truly a cultivator.

“It’s the great perfection Illumination-stage expert who fought me just [Read on BaiLianTales]now.” Very soon, Bai Yueli’s slightly surprised voice sounded in Fu Yan’s mind.

As soon as these words fell, Fu Yan instantly thought of the heart-rending screams from just now. If she guessed correctly, that person should have been the one who had fought her.

But what was strange was that that person’s strength was definitely not much worse than Fu Yan’s. Yet now, he was already in grave danger. And that great perfection Illumination-stage expert had not been able to rescue his teammate. Instead, he had fled out somewhat miserably.

With these two people’s strength, one had died and one had been injured. Fu Yan truly could not imagine what terrifying monster they had encountered. Thinking of this, she could not help raising her eyes to glance at Bai Yueli beside her.

The other party had clearly also thought of something and nodded toward her. In the next moment, the two showed no hesitation at all. They decisively and swiftly turned around, seemingly also preparing to leave this place.

But… it seemed it was already too late.

Just as Fu Yan and Bai Yueli were preparing to use their lightness skills and leave, they swiftly felt that they had already been surrounded. From within the surrounding miasma came the sound of thick, sticky saliva. Just listening to it made one’s scalp go numb.

Fu Yan had no time to care about anything else. In an instant, she tightened her grip on the broken Linglong Sword. Very soon, a shadow swiftly charged out from the miasma and directly pounced toward the two of them.

The two dodged lightly and avoided it with ease. It was also at this moment that Fu Yan finally managed to clearly see the monster’s appearance.

Within the green miasma, the monster glared with a pair of blood-red eyes, especially eye-catching. Its front half looked like a spider, with four legs rapidly crawling across the ground, and its size was about half a person’s height.

However, the monster’s lower half consisted of several slimy tentacles. The thick saliva sounds from unauthorized copy just now came from those tentacles. A green liquid was being secreted on them, and it looked like it should be poisonous.

Just as Fu Yan landed steadily to the side, in an instant, a group of these monsters directly rushed out from the surrounding miasma. They tightly surrounded the two of them.

“Senior Sister, let’s spread out a little.” Staring at those tentacles, Fu Yan could not help transmitting to Bai Yueli beside her. If they stayed together, it would be easy for those terrifying tentacles to entangle them both.

Bai Yueli nodded, naturally understanding this reasoning as well.

In the next second, with a swish, the tentacles behind those monsters directly flew toward the two of them. Fu Yan immediately used Wind Shadow Steps. Very soon, she was weaving through a dense mass of tentacles.

Bai Yueli on the other side was the same.

Because there were too many tentacles, even though Fu Yan’s speed was already fast enough, she still inevitably collided with one or two of them. She did not dare be careless in the slightest and directly slashed with her sword.

With a snap, under the power of the third form of Illusionless Sword, one tentacle was finally severed by Fu Yan’s sword, then fell straight to the ground.

However, before Fu Yan could catch her breath, she saw that the tentacle she had just cut off actually grew back again, as if it had not been injured at all.

Looking at this scene, Fu Yan immediately felt somewhat unwilling to believe it and raised her sword to cut off another tentacle. But the result was exactly the same as before. The monster’s tentacles seemed as if they could regenerate endlessly, and it did not suffer any real damage at all.

Thinking of that great perfection Illumination-stage expert who had fled miserably just now, Fu Yan finally felt a little lingering fear. These monsters really were extremely strange.

“Senior Sister, these things are too strange. They can’t be killed at all. It’s as if they can regenerate infinitely.” Fu Yan did not dare delay and immediately transmitted her voice to Bai Yueli again.

Bai Yueli’s voice quickly sounded in her mind as well. “Mm. We shouldn’t stay here for long. We need to break out quickly.”

As she spoke, the true essence inside Bai Yueli’s body swiftly surged, as if she were preparing to forcibly carve out a path through the monster swarm.

Seeing this, Fu Yan could not help instantly mobilizing all her true essence as well. In the next moment, the broken Linglong Sword was covered by a layer of frost. Fu Yan gripped the sword hilt tightly, then directly used her most powerful low-tier earth-rank sword move.

“Wind Sweeps Scattered Clouds!”

As Fu Yan gave a soft shout, the surrounding air currents swiftly surged. An incomparably terrifying force instantly formed on the Linglong Sword. Without any hesitation, she swept her sword horizontally toward the left.

In an instant, sword light shot out in every direction through the green miasma. Under Fu Yan’s sword, the tentacles in its path were all crushed into pieces one after another, then turned into dust that slowly fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of this opening, Fu Yan directly used Wind Shadow Steps to the extreme again and followed behind the sword light. Of course, she did not forget to transmit to Bai Yueli, “Senior Sister, hurry!”

From the moment Fu Yan began gathering power for this sword strike, Bai Yueli had been somewhat startled by that terrifying force. She had not expected that after only a few months of not seeing each other, the other party had already grasped such a terrifying sword move.

Fortunately, she only lost focus for a moment. So after seeing Fu Yan move, Bai Yueli also swiftly used her lightness skill and closely followed.

Very soon, the two finally broke out of the monster swarm’s encirclement. However, they did not dare stop at all. They swiftly vanished beneath the stone wall on the left side of the gorge.

After running for who knew how long, Fu Yan finally sensed that those strange monsters did not seem to have caught up with them, and only then did she slow her steps.

Finally returning to the center of the gorge, the two people who had run wildly all the way finally stopped. Fu Yan let out a deep breath, then raised her head to look at Bai Yueli beside her. “Senior Sister, are you all right?”

Hearing this, Bai Yueli shook her head.

Seeing this, Fu Yan nodded. Her whole person seemed to gradually relax a little. Somewhat amused, she sighed, “Demonic Miasma Gorge really is terrifying. There are actually such strange monsters here.”

After saying this, she seemed to suddenly think of something again. Fu Yan shifted her gaze back to Bai Yueli and transmitted, “Senior Sister, let’s continue moving along the center of the gorge.”

There was a swarm of monsters beneath the stone wall on the left. Who knew what even stranger monsters might appear beneath the stone wall on the far right?

“All right,” Bai Yueli answered.

Inside this vast Demonic Miasma Gorge, staying even one more minute clearly meant one more portion of danger. So the two only rested briefly before once again advancing through the center of the entire gorge.

Perhaps because the center was truly too open and had nowhere to hide, after Fu Yan and Bai Yueli bailiantales.com walked for a long time, they did not encounter monsters like those tentacled poisonous creatures again.

Only some ordinary poisonous creatures appeared occasionally, but naturally, they could not get close.

Very soon, the first ray of morning light came from the distant horizon. Fu Yan raised her head and looked at the sky above the gorge, knowing that it was almost dawn outside.

And she and Bai Yueli had actually wandered through this miasma for an entire night.

After taking another few steps, Fu Yan suddenly saw Bai Yueli lower her head and spit out a pearl. She could not help pausing slightly. When she looked carefully, she discovered that what Bai Yueli had spit out was precisely a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl.

However, the Miasma-Avoiding Pearl at this moment had already turned black. Inside it seemed to be an extremely dense mass of miasma. Only then did Fu Yan remember what Bai Yueli had said before: the Miasma-Avoiding Pearl had a time limit.

Clearly, the Miasma-Avoiding Pearl in Bai Yueli’s mouth had already reached its limit and had completely lost all effect. That was why Bai Yueli directly spat it out.

Thinking of this, Fu Yan did not think too much. Just as she assumed Bai Yueli would take out a new Miasma-Avoiding Pearl, she saw the person before her directly seal her seven orifices and six senses with true essence instead.

Just as Fu Yan had done when she first entered.

“Let’s go.” Bai Yueli did not seem to pay much attention to Fu Yan’s expression. After finishing all this, she turned again, preparing to continue opening the path ahead.

But this time, Fu Yan behind her did not move.

Bai Yueli had taken two steps before discovering it. She immediately turned back and stared at Fu Yan behind her, transmitting, “What’s wrong?”

Unexpectedly, Fu Yan was staring tightly at her. Her clear eyes actually carried a trace of anger, making Bai Yueli even more puzzled. She seemed not to understand why the other party had suddenly become angry.

Fu Yan was indeed somewhat angry. She looked at Bai Yueli before her, and only after quite a while did she transmit, “Senior Sister, did you give me the last Miasma-Avoiding Pearl?”

Although this was a question, Fu Yan’s tone was exceptionally certain.

Thinking of this fact, Fu Yan could not control the anger in her heart. She herself did not know whether she was angry that Bai Yueli had so casually given her the last Miasma-Avoiding Pearl, or angry that because of her own ignorance, she had caused Bai Yueli more trouble again.

Although it was only a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl, and without it, one would merely waste some true essence, Bai Yueli had clearly already wandered through this Demonic Miasma Gorge for four or five days. She had also fought several battles in succession against others and monsters, so the true essence in her body should have been consumed quite a bit.

Moreover, using true essence to seal the seven orifices and six senses also had one very obvious drawback: one’s perception of the surrounding movements would be somewhat weaker. In a gorge like this, where danger could appear at any moment, sometimes a difference of even the slightest margin could plunge one into difficulty.

So the moment she thought of how Bai Yueli had given her the last Miasma-Avoiding Pearl, Fu Yan’s heart filled with regret and heartache. Even though, with Bai Yueli’s strength, it might not have much effect on her.

Hearing Fu Yan suddenly say such a thing, Bai Yueli seemed to instantly understand something and could not help feeling amused. “Don’t worry. Whether or not I have a Miasma-Avoiding Pearl doesn’t affect me much.”

Fu Yan continued looking at her and did not speak.

Bai Yueli seemed to discover for the first time that the person before her was inexplicably somewhat stubborn. She could only helplessly transmit, “Actually, I only felt that if you were affected by the miasma, I would have to spare effort to take care of you, so you might as well…”

Before she finished speaking, Bai Yueli suddenly saw Fu Yan step forward directly. Then Fu Yan actually directly grabbed her right hand. This sudden action made her somewhat stunned.

Fu Yan did not say anything more. She merely held Bai Yueli’s hand and continued walking forward. Only this time, she was the one walking in front and opening the path.

Bai Yueli raised her eyes and looked at Fu Yan’s back before her. After thinking for a moment, she ultimately could not be bothered to continue saying anything and simply let Fu Yan lead the way ahead.

Of course, she also did not withdraw her hand.

At first, Fu Yan had only acted on impulse when she directly took Bai Yueli’s hand. Only after she had walked a few steps and her mood slowly returned to calm did she finally belatedly feel the softness in her hand.

For a moment, letting go did not feel right, but not letting go seemed even more wrong. Fu Yan did not know what had gotten into her just now. Wanting to open the path ahead was one thing, but why had she gone and held the other person’s hand too? Otherwise, she would not have ended up in such an awkward situation.

Fortunately, Fu Yan was walking in front, so Bai Yueli behind her could not see her expression clearly. The awkward atmosphere was not so hard to endure.

As she walked and walked, for some reason, Fu Yan’s mind involuntarily fell onto the sensation in her palm again. Bai Yueli’s hand was slightly warm, light and soft. The skin on the back of her hand was also smooth as congealed cream, as if Fu Yan were holding a piece of top-grade Hetian jade. It made one’s heart itch a little…

Stop.

Fu Yan hurriedly gathered her thoughts. She felt that she was behaving like a rogue, actually focusing her whole heart and soul on feeling Bai Yueli’s hand. It was simply too sinful.

After swiftly throwing these inappropriate stray thoughts out of her mind, Fu Yan finally took a deep breath. Then she raised her eyes and began focusing intently on guarding against the movements around them.

After walking for a short while, Fu Yan finally discovered that something was wrong. It seemed that ever since dawn, this gorge had become extraordinarily quiet. They had walked for so long, yet one could basically say they had not encountered anything strange at all.

It had gone too smoothly, which made it even stranger.

Just then, Fu Yan suddenly discovered there was no road ahead. To be precise, it was not that there was no road, but that an enormous crack had appeared ahead, as if someone had carved it open with a single sword.

The crack in the ground was three or four meters wide, and below, it seemed to lead straight to underground lava. Waves of hot air slowly surged upward.

“It is…” Fu Yan could not help murmuring.

At some point, Bai Yueli behind her had also stood beside her. She lowered her head and looked at the enormous fissure in the ground, her brows and eyes full of seriousness. “That True Immortal from back then actually also carved open an underground trench with a single sword.”

Hearing this, Fu Yan could not help remembering the legend she had heard in Liujin Ancient City about Demonic Miasma Gorge. Now, hearing Bai Yueli’s words, her face immediately filled with disbelief. “Senior Sister means those legends are true? This place really was split open by that True Immortal mighty figure’s sword back then?”

Bai Yueli’s gaze was still fixed tightly on the underground trench before them, but she nodded.

Seeing this, Fu Yan’s gaze could not help falling once again into the trench before her. It was pitch-black below, and one could faintly see red, scalding lava.

Fu Yan truly found it difficult to imagine that with just one casual sword strike, someone could split open a crack in the earth itself. How powerful must that strength have been?

Only after quite a while did Fu Yan finally come back to herself from this shocking fact. She turned to look at Bai Yueli and was just about to continue asking something when she discovered that the other party’s hand had already been withdrawn at some unknown time.

After realizing this, Fu Yan could not help feeling somewhat relieved. At least this way, it would not be awkward anymore. Originally, she had still been struggling over how to naturally let go of Bai Yueli’s hand.

Only, feeling the remaining warmth on her palm—

Why was there also a sense of loss?