Gu Er, holding someone in his arms and with a fragrant fox demon standing close by, secretly grumbled to himself. A grown man wearing a sachet, so effeminate. Gu Er couldn't understand it, feeling like a breathing pillar stuck between them, with no one considering his feelings.
Wei Li did indeed use incense, and all his clothes were perfumed, but not for vanity, but to mask an odor.
Fox demons were not human, and the natural scent of their sweat glands was strong. Even as a heavenly fox, he couldn't escape his innate bestial nature. When he first transformed into human form, whenever he got close to someone, they would notice a strong, unusual scent emanating from him, though he himself couldn't smell it.
This was an utter source of embarrassment for Wei Li.
Later, as his cultivation gradually increased, the scent on his body diminished, and he developed a more human scent. He no longer had any peculiar body odor, but he had been doing the same thing for centuries and had grown accustomed to it. If he didn't wear some fragrance, he felt a sense of unease.
However, while ordinary people might subtly exude a fragrance, his was truly strong.
"By him wearing this, we can track his location?"
Gu Er looked at the wristband on Wei Li's hand, feeling both envious and displeased. He thought that catching a dog demon and tracking the scent of this fragrant fox demon would also allow them to find him, and it would save his sister the trouble of specially weaving this wristband for her brother-in-law.
There was no doubt this wristband was originally intended for his cheap brother-in-law, because he knew the black hair inside was from his sister. In the mortal realm, there was a saying about "结发夫妻" (jiefa fūqī), meaning a couple who bound their hair together on their wedding day. If they weren't a couple, who would casually give away their hair or other personal items?
It could only be said that this fox demon had stumbled upon a great bargain.
He hadn't even received anything from his sister yet.
Gu Junshi couldn't be bothered to answer Gu Er's foolish question.
If it couldn't, why would she bring it here if not as a farewell gift to Wei Li, congratulating him on his irreversible departure?
Wei Li's feather-like eyelashes drooped. He fiddled with the wristband Gu Junshi had personally fastened on his wrist. His previously chaotic state of mind seemed to be instantly purified.
He decided to endure it a little longer.
He said, "You all wait for me here."
Seeing him about to leave, Gu Junshi called him back.
She asked him, "Do you know the simplest way to get out of a maze?"
Sensing a deeper meaning in her words, Wei Li's eyes flickered. He raised the corners of his eyes and asked, "What way?"
"No matter what kind of maze it is, just follow one of its walls, either side, and keep going, and you will be able to exit the maze."
"But this place is so vast, and we are randomly placed everywhere. We can't find any walls."
Gu Junshi was aware of this. This maze was different from conventional ones; it didn't have high walls clearly demarcating spaces. Instead, spaces were cut everywhere. The correct exit could not be found by sight or by guesswork.
Therefore, if it were truly that simple, she wouldn't need to have Wei Li try such a troublesome method first.
"So now you need to go look. I've observed that the appearance of the blue light was sometimes in one place, as we saw when we first entered, but now it has appeared in three places."
Gu Junshi pointed them to the blue shimmering fragments of light that indeed appeared in different directions. They were like mirages, ethereal and fleeting like mist or sand, constantly shifting, and might vanish at any moment.
She continued, "If we consider them as passable junctions, then these three paths may not all be able to continue to the end. It's inevitable that one or two paths will eventually be blocked, and the blocked path will inevitably lead to a dead end."
This seemingly vast space, while functioning as a maze, had its deceptive elements. But similarly, if so many tricks and methods were employed, it couldn't be a boundless space. If it were truly boundless, they would have simply thrown them in, as they wouldn't be able to get out anyway, so why create a maze for them to wander aimlessly?
It must have boundaries, and boundaries imply ends, and ends imply walls.
To be honest, Wei Li didn't quite understand the trick behind her words at first, but he understood the instructions.
He just had to do as she said. When he encountered a situation, he would likely understand what she meant.
"Choose any of these three paths. If you're lucky, you might reach the exit directly. If you hit a dead end at any junction along the way, then do as I said."
Wei Li nodded. It was a three-way choice, with nothing to analyze, so he casually picked one based on his instinct and entered.
"Gu Junshi."
Before entering, he called out to her with his back turned.
Gu Junshi watched his retreating figure.
He asked, "Are you always annoyed by me?"
Gu Junshi didn't prevaricate. She honestly replied, "Sometimes, quite annoyed."
He turned his head, smoothed his neat short hair by his ear, and thought indignantly, I haven't even annoyed you yet, why are you annoyed by me?
Perhaps driven by a desire to conquer her, or perhaps due to the persistent dissatisfaction with her cold demeanor towards him, Wei Li bared his white teeth, revealing his two sharp canine teeth, and said menacingly, "Then keep being annoyed. Anyway, I'll keep bothering you from now on, and I'll annoy you to death!"
With that, he stomped away angrily and disappeared into the blue light the next moment.
After he left, Gu Er's expression changed, his brow furrowed deeply enough to trap a fly. He put Gu Junshi down. He could feel her physical condition worsening. The fox demon was present earlier, making it difficult to speak. He knew she was just pretending to be strong, but he didn't expose her.
He placed his hand on the back of hers. He was a zombie and had no body heat, but his sister's body temperature was almost the same as his.
Even the vitality in her body was being continuously drained...
He asked in a low, hoarse voice, as if pleading, "Sister, do you really need dragon marrow? Is there no other way to make you feel better?"
Gu Junshi didn't lift her eyelids. The cold paleness on her body grew stronger. She said, "I don't know..."
Her suddenly protruding abdomen, the drained vitality, and the reason for seeking dragon marrow in the "Dragon Island Secret Realm"—all these things indicated, "It's because of the child in my belly..."
At this moment, Gu Junshi languidly raised her eyes. Her complexion was sallow, but her pupils were intensely dark, like some unyielding will of steel. She stared fixedly at Gu Er, causing his entire mind to freeze.
"Gu Er..." Her voice, slightly hoarse and carrying a hint of suppressed discomfort, carried a warning. "Don't do anything superfluous. I have my own plans."
Gu Er listened intently, his fists clenched tightly, the muscles in his slightly hunched back under his clothes taut as stone. After a long pause, he finally let out an "En."
He could be a puppy, and when necessary, he would transform into a wolf.
He was capable of being ruthless. If this child's existence was truly a burden to Gu Yi, making her so weak, even endangering her life, he would take drastic measures to eliminate it, even if his sister would blame him later.
Gu Yi was his only relative in this world, and the only reason that kept him alive with such a body. If she were gone, then everything else would be meaningless.
—
Wei Li, now inside the maze, didn't know whether to consider himself lucky or unlucky.
He was repeatedly teleported within the space, moving from one open area to another. He never hit a dead end, nor did he successfully exit the maze. After countless repetitions of being tossed around, he finally entered a room.
Calling it a "room" wasn't entirely accurate.
Yes, it was no longer a place with vast, boundless surroundings. Instead, it was a concave shape with three walls. It was quite large, but compared to the places he had entered before, it at least had an discernible edge.
He mused, this might, should, probably be the edge of the maze, and as Gu Junshi had said, there were walls.
Since he had found it, he would now proceed as Gu Junshi had advised: follow the wall either forward or backward, pick a direction, ignore the appearing blue lights, and stop trying to find the exit through them.
He was constantly concerned about Gu Junshi's condition. Her abdomen was distended, her breath was weakening, and she couldn't hold on much longer.
He didn't walk slowly on his human legs. Instead, he twisted his waist, transforming into his nine-tailed fox form, and moved swiftly along the wall.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally found the exit.
Wei Li looked at the stone archway. Beyond the gate were steps leading to the underground palace. He felt a sense of dazed surprise, "I actually got out..."
Frankly, he hadn't used much of his brain during this process. He had basically just followed Gu Junshi's instructions the entire way.
The entire journey felt quite... simple?
Sometimes, when faced with a difficult problem, if you grasp the correct method, everything can be very simple, but only if you understand it.
The power of knowledge is infinite and is meant precisely for solving problems.
Wei Li now had another layer of admiration for Gu Junshi. This was the unique charm of knowledge and inner substance, the reverence a struggling student has for a top student.
Gu Junshi and Gu Er had been waiting for news from Wei Li. There was no specific way to calculate the passage of time in this space, but as she rested with her eyes closed, she estimated the time in another way. After nearly three hours, she sensed that Wei Li had exited the maze.
At this moment, she suddenly opened her eyes.
She was about to call Gu Er to go with her when she realized that besides them, another group of people had also broken into the maze. However, when they were trapped, instead of using knowledge to escape the maze like Gu Junshi, they intended to break through by brute force.
Because someone was damaging the maze, the blue lights, whether as a protective mechanism or due to energy anomalies, became unstable. Instead of appearing and disappearing in place, they began to riot. Gu Er turned around and saw the blue shimmering light appearing behind him. Concerned about the danger, he pushed Gu Junshi out first—
"Sister—"
Suddenly, Gu Er only had time to cry out in alarm before being engulfed by the blue light and vanishing in an instant.
As Gu Junshi regained her footing, before she could react, she was also swallowed by a blue light in the same manner. They were thus forcibly separated and lost each other.
—
Gu Junshi found herself alone in a white, vast space. She heard movement behind her and turned around—
She looked at the yellow-robed man before her, who had been "spat" into this space by the blue light. He was somewhat disheveled, stumbling a few steps before steadying himself. He also sensed the movement behind him almost simultaneously with Gu Junshi and turned around.
Gu Junshi looked at the man who, from the moment he saw her, seemed stunned, only able to stare fixedly at her.
Oh, she realized belatedly, she and he were supposed to be mortal enemies?
They had only been separated for a few hours, yet they met again. Although he might not be happy, his current expression... was it surprise?
As the other person turned around, Lu Ziyin saw the black-cloaked figure whom he had just parted from and would meet again. He gulped down a mouthful of... blood. kanδん
Don't misunderstand, it wasn't because he was scared out of his wits, but because he was injured when he forcefully tried to dismantle the maze and was flung into this space.
"Did you see?" she asked softly.
Lu Ziyin's face turned ashen. He really wanted to say, "See what the hell?" but he doubted she would believe it.
He wanted to say, how could he be so unlucky.
He had thought about what would happen if he were separated and encountered this black-cloaked figure, but it was just a casual thought at the time, and it had actually come true. He was truly baffled.
Why was Lu Ziyin even here?
It was all thanks to Tan Ya tricking him.
He, Ru Lan, and Tan Ya were basically all in this maze now, but why did he, of all people, have to encounter the black-cloaked figure?
Lu Ziyin truly couldn't figure this out.
"Who... who exactly are you?" Lu Ziyin suddenly asked, trembling.
Gu Junshi stood there and asked him back, "What do you think?"
Lu Ziyin finally gritted his teeth, "You are Gu Yi."
Gu Junshi then realized belatedly that her face was exposed.
Encountering Lu Ziyin was an accident, but she found it strange, "How are you so sure I'm Gu Yi? Don't you think I might be in disguise?"
Lu Ziyin had seen so many beauties in his life, and his memory points for beauties were always different from others.
"You just raised your left eyebrow, and when you smile, you always curve your right corner of the mouth first."
Gu Junshi: "..."
It seemed he truly didn't want to live.
He looked at her stomach, "Are you poisoned?"
Why was it that everyone's first reaction was to assume she was poisoned?
"Actually, you know who I am, right."
"Can... can I not know?" Lu Ziyin smiled innocently.
This couple were both terrifying people.
"You just raised your left eyebrow, and when you smile, you always curve your right corner of the mouth first."
Gu Junshi: "..."
It seemed he truly didn't want to live.
He looked at her stomach, "Are you poisoned?"
Why was it that everyone's first reaction was to assume she was poisoned?
"Actually, you know who I am, right."
"Can... can I not know?" Lu Ziyin smiled innocently.
This couple were both terrifying people.