Chapter 66

It seemed no one had expected that beneath this patch of brambles, a huge crack would suddenly split open. Completely unprepared, Fu Yan and Si Yizhi fell straight down just like that.

The wind whistled past their ears. Their falling speed was especially fast, so much so that Fu Yan had no way to borrow force and fly back up. She could only reflexively protect her body tightly in case something suddenly cut her.

“Ahhh!!”

Beside her, Si Yizhi still looked as if his soul had nearly flown out of him. His loud scream immediately rang throughout the entire underground crack.

“If you want to attract even stronger demon beasts, you can keep shouting louder.” Fu Yan tried her best to steady herself. Without raising her eyes to look at the person beside her, she merely transmitted lightly.

Hearing this, Si Yizhi seemed to finally come back to himself. Looking at the way he was still rapidly falling headfirst, he could not help swallowing. Only after calming down did he finally flip in midair and manage to assume the same standing-fall posture as Fu Yan.

“At a time like this, Fellow Daoist, please stop making sarcastic remarks from the side.” As he spoke, Si Yizhi hurriedly and somewhat arduously raised his eyes to look upward. He saw that in only a few breaths, they could already barely make out the sky above.

The surroundings truly seemed like an abyss. No end could be seen at all. Neither of them knew where they would fall if this continued.

“No, could it be that this mountain peak split straight down the middle and was forced into two halves? We’re not going to fall into the core of the earth, are we?” Si Yizhi looked at the sky above his head growing smaller and smaller. He could only withdraw his gaze weakly. Then he raised his eyes to look at Fu Yan beside him, and a somewhat surprised expression appeared on his face. “Fellow Daoist, you’re so calm. Have you encountered this kind of scene before?”

“No.” Fu Yan’s answer was very simple and straightforward.

Si Yizhi: “…”

Although Fu Yan looked very calm on the surface, she was actually somewhat panicked inside. After all, no one knew what situation they would face next. This secret realm truly was full of dangers.

Very soon, the two of them fell into silence again. When Fu Yan turned sideways, this was the first time tonight that she clearly saw Si Yizhi’s face opposite her. She could not help freezing slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing Fu Yan staring at his face with a somewhat complicated expression, Si Yizhi seemed not to have reacted yet and could not help blurting out another question.

After saying this, however, he immediately realized something. He swiftly turned his face away, not daring to continue meeting Fu Yan’s gaze. Although his heart had already started pounding nonstop, Si Yizhi still tried hard to pretend as if nothing had happened.

Borrowing the speed of their fall, along with the dim light here, Si Yizhi could not help mobilizing true qi, swiftly letting it move across his face.

And so, in a place neither of them could see clearly, Si Yizhi’s face had already begun changing drastically. In only a single breath, he had completely changed into another face.

In the next moment, Fu Yan directly raised the broken Linglong Sword in her hand. With a swish, she pressed the blade against Si Yizhi’s throat. Her gaze seemed to hold not a trace of warmth as she enunciated each word. “Who exactly are you?”

Fu Yan had finally returned from her memories, because the face she had seen just now was clearly completely different from the one she had seen when she encountered him in the ancient tree forest.

Looking at that face alone, if Fu Yan had met him halfway, she absolutely would not have connected him to the man from the Soul-Nourishing Lotus pond that time. Whether from his face or body shape, these were two entirely different people.

However, that cheap, annoying personality and tone were clearly the same person. Moreover, the other party had previously said that they had already met before.

Back in the spider cave just now, because this person had immediately spoken in a familiar tone, Fu Yan had not carefully distinguished him. On top of that, the situation had been dangerous, so she had never carefully examined the aura of the figure before her.

Thinking that this person could freely change his body shape and appearance, Fu Yan could not help feeling lingering fear. Although she understood that many people knew simple disguise arts, this was the first time Fu Yan had seen a disguise art that could even conceal one’s aura and turn it into that of a second person.

Si Yizhi stared at the broken sword before his neck and could not help jumping in fright. He hurriedly turned his head back again. This time, his face was very familiar to Fu Yan. It was exactly the one he had used in the ancient tree forest.

“Heh heh.” Si Yizhi lightly raised his hand, trying to push away the sword blade against his neck. Looking at Fu Yan before him, he chuckled and said, “Fellow Daoist, is there some misunderstanding? I am me. Didn’t we meet before in the ancient tree forest?”

“Is that so?” Fu Yan did not loosen her grip on the sword hilt. Instead, she carried a trace of a smile. “Didn’t you say you had already completely deleted the memory of last time from your mind?”

Si Yizhi: “…” Miscalculated.

“Swords and blades have no eyes. It’s better to explain things properly. Fellow Daoist, how about you lower the sword first? We’re still in the middle of falling, after all.” Si Yizhi raised his hand again and gently pushed at the incomparably sharp broken sword in front of him.

Fu Yan still stared tightly at him, seemingly with no intention of letting him go.

This time, Si Yizhi could not help sighing. He had known this person would not be so easy to fool. But naturally, he could not possibly reveal his identity in full either. After weighing things, he did not continue being vague.

After lowering his head again to glance at the broken sword so close to him, Si Yizhi finally continued explaining, “Fellow Daoist really misunderstood. These two encounters were truly only accidents. Look, if I deliberately meant to approach Fellow Daoist, I definitely wouldn’t have dragged myself into that spider cave too and nearly turned into a meal on a plate.”

After the words fell, Fu Yan fixedly looked at him one last time. Only then did she slowly put away the broken Linglong Sword.

When she had just realized the other party possessed an extremely powerful disguise art, the first thing Fu Yan had thought was indeed whether their two meetings had been this person deliberately approaching her.

But thinking carefully again, the two times they had met truly did not seem to show any signs of deliberate planning. Just as Si Yizhi had said, they really were only two accidents.

“Whew.”

Seeing this, Si Yizhi could not help letting out a breath of relief. He had truly been prepared for the two of them to start fighting togestolen contentther in this narrow ground fissure.

With a rumble, a tremendous sound came from below at this moment. Both of them paused slightly. When they hurriedly lowered their eyes to look, they finally discovered that they were about to hit the bottom.

Fu Yan could no longer care about much else. She hurriedly and swiftly mobilized powerful true essence, greatly reinforcing her protective true essence. She did not want to be smashed into a puddle of meat paste just like this.

Bang! Bang!

In the next second, two figures swiftly fell through a small opening and crashed heavily into the ground, directly smashing out two large pits and instantly stirring up thick dust.

“Cough, cough!”

Fu Yan and Si Yizhi finally climbed up somewhat miserably from within the cloud of dust. The latter swiftly coughed while waving away the dust before him. “I’m too pitiful. This is the first time I’ve discovered that the feeling of having my feet on solid ground can be this good, this reassuring!”

Hearing this, Fu Yan could not help glancing sideways at him. She confirmed once again that this person definitely had not deliberately approached her.

Only after quite a while did the surrounding dust finally slowly drift away. Fu Yan slowly walked out from the pit she had smashed open, then patted her slightly wrinkled skirt. Only then did she raise her eyes to examine their surroundings.

All around them was a quiet underground stone cave. Fu Yan and Si Yizhi had directly smashed through the top layer of the stone cave, which was how they had inexplicably fallen inside.

“Is this an underground world?” Si Yizhi also looked around the stone cave with a face full of curiosity, but he did not discover anything useful.

This place seemed to be an ordinary underground stone cave. The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, without any unfamiliar living aura. Fu Yan also carefully observed the stone cave around them. Only after quite a while did she finally confirm that there was no danger here.

Although there was no danger for now, who knew what might exist in this underground world? So they still had to find a way out as quickly ​read the original at bailiantales.com​as possible. Sitting here and waiting for death was definitely not an option.

Thinking of this, Fu Yan paid no attention to Si Yizhi beside her. She directly gripped the sword hilt in her hand and carefully walked toward the exit of the stone cave opposite them.

Seeing this, Si Yizhi swiftly followed her steps as well. “Ah, Fellow Daoist, wait for me!”

Fu Yan naturally could not be bothered to continue dealing with this person. She had already stepped into the stone cave’s exit. The passage before them was very spacious. It was large enough for five or six people to walk side by side without any problem.

Fortunately, Si Yizhi also understood that their current situation was not very good. At last, he did not continue speaking and disturbing Fu Yan. Instead, he also focused all his attention on the surroundings, afraid of missing even the slightest movement.

Neither of them knew how long they walked along the passage before Fu Yan finally heard a sound coming from ahead. She could not help stopping. She mobilized the true essence inside her body, wanting to hear it more clearly.

Splash, splash.

“It sounds like flowing water?” Si Yizhi naturally also heard the sound ahead. So when he saw Fu Yan stop, he immediately pricked up his ears as well, then said quietly with joy on his face.

Fu Yan could not help nodding. It did indeed sound like flowing water ahead. Logically speaking, if there was flowing water, then there must be an exit. After all, no matter how deep underground water was, there would always be a route where it flowed out. So as long as they followed the direction of the water, there was a high chance they could leave this underground place.

With this thought, the two people in the passage both let out a slight breath of relief. They looked at each other, then could not help quickening their steps, continuing toward the direction of the water ahead.

Very soon, the passage before them became more and more spacious. It also seemed that they had finally reached the end ahead. Only then did Fu Yan slowly slow her steps and release her mind to sense what lay ahead.

Aside from the sound of flowing water, there did not seem to be any other unfamiliar aura ahead. However, after the accident in the spider cave, Fu Yan did not relax her vigilance because of this. Instead, her grip on the sword hilt became even tighter.

“This…” Si Yizhi seemed to have discovered something and actually revealed a surprised expression. He muttered to himself, “That’s not right. How could the sound of ordinary flowing water be this turbulent? Why do I feel like bailiantales.comit isn’t a thin stream of water, but more like an extremely rapid river?”

Hearing this, Fu Yan could not help stopping as well. She carefully sensed the sound ahead. It was indeed just as Si Yizhi had said. Ahead, there seemed to be a river swiftly flowing.

This was strange. Deep underground, how could there be a proper river?

As if both of them realized this problem, the two people at the passage exit both furrowed their brows slightly. Clearly, this was not a good thing.

However, they now had no way back. So after taking a deep breath, Fu Yan no longer hesitated too much. She could only hold her sword and slowly walk out of the passage before her.

Si Yizhi’s expression also finally became serious, seeming to lose that unreliable appearance from before.

The moment they faintly walked out of the passage, the view before them immediately opened up. Fu Yan could not help blinking slightly before quickly adapting to the sudden expanse.

Before them was an extremely large space. The ground around them was somewhat uneven, though it did not hinder their footing. Below the passage was a semi-circular arc, and on the stone wall behind them, it was clear that Fu Yan and Si Yizhi’s passage was not the only one.

Because with just a casual glance to the right, Fu Yan had already discovered two identical passage exits. This meant that all the passages here led to this place.

Splash, splash, splash!

Most magnificent of all was that there truly was an enormous river before them. At this moment, the river below was swiftly flowing from left to right, and the current was extremely turbulent.

What was even stranger was that the river water before them was entirely pitch-black. It looked impossible for it to be ordinary underground water. Moreover, Fu Yan could clearly sense that above the river, there seemed to be some indescribable aura field.

As for the opposite side of the river, it was exceptionally ​read the original at bailiantales.com​wide. Fu Yan could vaguely see an entrance there. However, if they wanted to reach the other side, they would definitely have to cross the river.

“This is…” From the very beginning, Si Yizhi’s gaze had fallen on the river below, and his whole person looked somewhat incredulous.

Fu Yan did not look at him, but answered honestly, “That’s right. This should be the legendary underground hidden river.”

An underground hidden river was said to only exist deep underground. It would not flow out. Instead, it would circulate in a fixed place. However, even if one drilled through the earth’s core, the chance of encountering an underground hidden river was said to be less than one in ten.

So when Fu Yan and Si Yizhi saw this underground hidden river before them, both of them were somewhat incredulous. They had not expected that this less-than-one-in-ten chance had truly been encountered by them.

Of course, although an underground hidden river was rare, it was not a good thing. It could be said that any living creature that fell into the river would never come out alive again. In the end, they would only meet the fate of having their soul scattered and their corpse and bones destroyed.

What was even more frightening was that for cultivators, no one knew what kind of aura field existed above this underground hidden river, but it made it impossible to use true qi and fly directly across. If one wanted to cross the river, one needed a precious river-crossing treasure or some other method.

Therefore, encountering an underground hidden river on this continent was a symbol of extremely bad luck.

Now, looking at the underground hidden river before them, Fu Yan and Si Yizhi both helplessly sighed, because they definitely had to think of a way to cross the river. After all, returning the way they came was also waiting for death.

Thinking of this, Fu Yan only paused slightly before jumping down from the passage exit. She slowly arrived beside the river and stared at the underground hidden river before her, seeming to think about how they should cross it.

But at this moment, something suddenly swiftly entered her field of vision. In an instant, no one noticed that a trace of coldness flashed through Fu Yan’s eyes.

“Cough, cough!” Si Yizhi suddenly flew down weakly from ahead. His face was bloodless as he looked at Fu Yan and asked, “How is it?”

Fu Yan turned back to look at him and said with a very helpless expression, “This really is an underground hidden river. What do ​Read on BaiLianTales​we do now? You’re seriously injured too. Going back isn’t an option either.”

“That’s right.” Si Yizhi weakly raised his eyes and looked at the rapidly flowing underground hidden river before him, immediately looking troubled.

Seeing this, Fu Yan hurriedly crouched beside him with some concern. But just as she prepared to reach out and support him, in the next moment, she swiftly flipped her palm and struck Si Yizhi directly in the chest.

“Pff.”

Si Yizhi immediately spat out a mouthful of blood. He stared at Fu Yan before him with a face full of disbelief. “You…”

Fu Yan calmly withdrew her hand. The way she looked at Si Yizhi was full of contempt. “Don’t blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being injured. From now on, you’ll only drag me down. Since you’re going to die anyway, rather than letting your resources benefit others, it’s better to give them all to me.”

“You… pff!” As the words fell, Si Yizhi glared tightly at Fu Yan. He seemed to want to say something, but he spat out another mouthful of blood. In the blink of an eye, he completely collapsed on the ground and no longer had any life left.

Looking at the corpse before her, Fu Yan could not help sneering. Only then did she reach out and hook her hand. Si Yizhi’s storage spirit ring steadily landed in her hand. Then she somewhat excitedly prepared to examine the resources inside.

Yet at this moment, light suddenly burst out beneath Fu Yan’s feet. In the next moment, several enormous curtains of light appeared before her. In an instant, the light curtains swiftly surrounded Fu Yan.

In that instant, Fu Yan felt her whole body unable to move. What was even more frightening was that her true essence also seemed impossible to mobilize. Her whole person was completely locked in place by the light curtains.

“Hahahahaha!”

At this moment, triumphant laughter suddenly came from behind a huge rock ahead. The moment Fu Yan raised her eyes, she saw two figures slowly walking out from that side.

The two people before her were a man and a woman. Their cultivation stolen contentwas both at late Illumination stage. After seeing that Fu Yan had been completely locked in place, they immediately walked over slowly.

“You… who are you people?” Fu Yan was immediately greatly shocked. She seemed never to have imagined there were actually other people here. Even her voice carried an involuntary trace of panic.

“Senior Brother really predicts things like a god!” The woman looked at Fu Yan and seemed very happy. She hurriedly turned sideways to look at her senior brother and sincerely praised him aloud.

The man smiled proudly. Only then did he raise his eyes and look toward Fu Yan. “Don’t waste your strength. No one trapped by my Spirit-Locking Array has ever escaped.”

Seeing the two people come closer and closer, Fu Yan immediately looked somewhat afraid. However, she still forced herself to remain calm. “You… what do you want to do? Do you know who I am?”

Seeing Fu Yan’s somewhat pitiful appearance, for some reason, the man could not help looking at her a few more times. There seemed to be some surprise in his eyes.

Seeing this, the woman at the side immediately became furious. She hurriedly reached out and tugged at the man beside her, somewhat angrily calling, “Senior Brother!”

Only then did the man seem to come back to himself. He turned his head to look at the woman and said coaxingly, “Junior Sister, don’t be angry. Senior Brother only thinks this woman is truly somewhat vicious. She can even deal such a cruel blow to her own companion.”

“That’s more like it.” After hearing her senior brother’s explanation, the woman finally felt a little better. Then she continued staring at Fu Yan before her, the hatred in her eyes not lessening at all. “Who cares what your identity is? I hate people like you the most. You think you have some beauty, so you only know how to attack your own pursuers.”

Fu Yan: “…”

“Right.” As if suddenly thinking of something, the woman could not help turning back to look at the man and asked, “Senior Brother, didn’t you say that once someone came, we could cross this underground hidden river? What should we do now?”

Hearing this, the man could not help smiling. Only then did he continue explaining, “Junior Sister, don’t panic. Now that we have stepping stones delivered right to our door, crossing this underground hidden river will be easy.”

After hearing the man’s words, the woman immediately revealed a look of sudden understanding. Then she looked at Si Yizhi’s corpse on the ground and Fu Yan trapped inside the Spirit-Locking Array. “Senior Brother means we can throw their corpses into the underground hidden river, then use that chance to jump across?”

“Junior Sister is truly clever.” The man praised her without stinginess.

Taking advantage of this moment, he could not help looking at Fu Yan a few more times. It had to be said that compared to his junior sister’s delicate, girl-next-door type of beauty, he was more interested in this kind of bold, dazzling beauty. So at this moment, he did feel somewhat regretful.

Of course, the man only thought about it. After all, the junior sister beside him was not without danger. He also could not abandon the larger situation.

“What a pity about such a beautiful face,” the man could not help murmuring softly.

The woman at the side seemed not to have heard clearly and asked doubtfully, “Senior Brother, what did you say just now?”

The man came back to himself. He looked at Si Yizhi’s corpse on the ground nearby and hurriedly said, “All right. Someone else might come here very soon. We need to hurry and cross the underground hidden river.”

After the woman nodded, she looked at Fu Yan again. The corners of her mouth could not help curving into a sinister smile as she slowly said, “Then let me personally send you to hell. Maybe you’ll even meet the companion you cruelly murdered just now!”

“If you dare touch me, you’ll regret it,” Fu Yan said one last time as she looked at the woman walking over.

The woman naturally only took it as Fu Yan still making empty threats. She was too lazy to say anything more. She directly raised her sword and prepared to kill Fu Yan with one strike.

Yet in that very second, a forceful sword blade suddenly pierced straight through the woman’s forehead. She seemed not to have had time to react before she fell straight down.

“Junior Sister!” The man behind her had sensed something wrong the moment Fu Yan drew her sword. But the distance between the woman and Fu Yan was too close, and he had no way to react. He could only watch helplessly as the woman’s corpse fell.

At the same time, before the man could even take a step, he felt a strand of silver thread press tightly against his throat. His [Read on BaiLianTales]heart immediately filled with terror, because the corpse on the ground had suddenly appeared behind him.

The moment the silver thread cut open his throat, he heard an innocent voice come from behind him.

“Aiya, I don’t like being someone else’s stepping stone.”