"I tracked you down. After seeing Little Fatty, Fatty said you were here, so I came to protect you. This place is very dangerous. With Master's physical condition, he probably can't withstand such an attack."
This was Lin Xue's true thought. It was too terrifying. If she had been a step later, Ye Tiancheng would have been seriously injured even if he hadn't died. These piranhas were infused with demonic energy, which even cultivators couldn't resist. They also had a destructive effect on Ye Tiancheng's righteous true qi.
"Thank you, Xiao Xue. You saved me. You take me to continue exploring. I feel the fragment of the Fuxi Qin is getting closer to me. After we find it, we can go to the Pure Land again and repair it. This way, all living beings in the world will benefit from what we do."
Lin Xue looked at Ye Tiancheng with some emotion. "Master, I haven't seen you like this in a long time. I feel like you're no longer the Master I used to know. That person carried a hint of a farmer's aura, just a small citizen who wanted a comfortable life. But when I see you now, I feel that you understand how to think for the common people, and your thoughts have been elevated to a certain realm. My own realm can barely keep up."
"Alright, stop praising me. Isn't it because I'm getting older? After experiencing many things, I'm more timid now and less willing to take risks. Otherwise, I would have been bolder than I am now. I came here today fully prepared mentally. Normally, I don't have to think so much. I feel I'm still very powerful. I just came when I wanted to. Now I have to consider many things. I really feel old."
"Master, the meaning of you taking a disciple is for your legacy to be passed on. As long as I am here, even if Master grows old one day, I will definitely protect you."
What Lin Xue said was quite touching. The key point was that the two of them were not much different in age, although Lin Xue's cultivation helped her maintain her youthful appearance.
Ye Tiancheng was in his early twenties and looked about the same. He seemed to be of the same age. However, Lin Xue looked almost the same even after twenty years. This was important. Perhaps one day when Ye Tiancheng was too old to move, he could truly rely on this disciple.
The two of them walked through the cave. Ye Tiancheng's way of discerning direction was by sensing the aura of the Fuxi Qin fragment. This process required a certain amount of spiritual power. Soon, they reached the end of the cave. Lin Xue asked Phoenix to scout the path and successfully found an exit. They needed wings to fly out. Lin Xue didn't care about anything else and directly blew open the rocks. The rock debris scattered everywhere. Then, before their eyes, a tropical rainforest appeared.
"Where is this now?"
Ye Tiancheng felt very curious. This tropical rainforest had a Southeast Asian flavor. It felt like they had crossed latitudes from the village they had visited before. All the environments were completely different, and the feeling was completely opposite.
"Master, let's be careful. There are many strange creatures in this forest that we haven't seen before. I think after passing through that cave, we have arrived at a new place that is not on the same horizontal plane as before. This place is completely sealed, another world. We must be careful."
"I can feel it. The Fuxi Qin fragment should be in this tropical rainforest. Let's explore slowly, but be careful of the creatures here."
Now that Lin Xue had formed a contract with Phoenix, she blew a whistle. Phoenix instantly used its spiritual power to create a protective shield and enveloped the two of them.
"Great! Your little phoenix is really capable. Having such a divine beast by my side makes me feel very secure."
Ye Tiancheng truly felt it was good, but at the same time, he had a slight worry. This tropical rainforest was full of danger everywhere. He hoped it wouldn't implicate Lin Xue and her little divine beast. Lin Xue, at such a young age, had already reached such a high level. If it weren't for her saving him several times, Lin Xue could have been even more powerful.
"I can feel that it's already dark. It's completely dark now. We should rest properly. It didn't matter in the cave, but in the outside world, it's impossible to see the road ahead in the dark, which will greatly hinder our progress."
After discussing with Lin Xue, Ye Tiancheng decided to light a bonfire and rest in the rainforest. Both of them needed to replenish their sleep. Otherwise, if they stayed up until morning, they would be exhausted all day. Staying up late was extremely harmful to the body.
The two quickly lit a bonfire with their spiritual power, and Phoenix fell asleep on Lin Xue's shoulder. However, the spiritual power protecting them internally still protected them. Even though Phoenix was asleep, it wouldn't forget its duty, which was to protect its master and her master.
They hadn't slept for long when they were woken up by a very strange sound. The sound was more like an old man groaning in pain, as if he were sick.
"Master, did you hear something?"
"I heard it. Did you?"
Both of them instantly became alert because not only was there the old man's strange sound, but there was also a deafening bell sound, like one struck in a temple, making their hearts tremble.
"We must have entered some illusion. I'll try to break it."
Although Lin Xue hadn't experienced much, she had read many books on cultivation, so she knew this situation was very dangerous and they should try to escape as much as possible. Otherwise, the danger that appeared couldn't be resisted by true qi alone. The situation was becoming increasingly perilous.
"Master, let's run quickly. This place is too strange. We've fallen into an illusion."
Ye Tiancheng nodded. The atmosphere became tense. He didn't speak but followed Lin Xue's pace, and the two of them ran quickly.
They didn't know how long they ran, stopping and starting. Soon, the sky outside lit up. They actually ran until dawn. Perhaps it was already dark when Ye Tiancheng set out, so dawn came very quickly.
"Master, do you see it? There seems to be a village in front of us."
This place didn't seem like a place where people could live, but Lin Xue really saw patches of green fields under the mist, as well as a few farmhouses. They looked just like a normal small village, with nothing strange about them.
"No matter what, let's go and see first."
As soon as Ye Tiancheng finished speaking, he suddenly felt dizzy and then fainted. Lin Xue anxiously kept calling out to her Master, but Ye Tiancheng didn't wake up. For them, Ye Tiancheng's fainting meant they had no other choice but to go to the village to find help.
"Master, are you alright? Don't be afraid. As long as your disciple is here, nothing will happen to you. Let's go in quickly."
Although Lin Xue said that, she was also very nervous in her heart. She suppressed the great fear in her heart and took Ye Tiancheng away. There was no one in the village, which was the most terrifying thing.
Lin Xue quickly helped Ye Tiancheng onto the kang and began to treat him with spiritual power. The reason Ye Tiancheng suddenly fainted was that he had absorbed a large amount of miasma. The little phoenix's protective shield had a protective effect, but it could only prevent ordinary attacks. This kind of poisonous gas could only be partially blocked; in fact, most of it was still inhaled.
After resisting the miasma with spiritual power, Ye Tiancheng quickly woke up.
"Cough, cough, cough, what happened to me? How did I end up here?"
"You fainted after we saw the small village. It was probably due to being poisoned by the miasma, but Master, you're fine now. But this village only has two households, and there's no one. I saw the stove was still hot, so it seems like someone lives here. It's really strange."
"It's alright, let's rest first. It's not a big problem."
Ye Tiancheng could only force himself to calm down at this moment. Ye Tiancheng felt that Lin Xue was starting to panic. The more this was the case, the more he had to hold up half the sky.
"Then should we go back or continue exploring?"
"I can feel it. The Fuxi Qin fragment is around here, much stronger than before. It's very likely in the village. So, as we get closer to the truth, we need to be even more composed and not falter at this moment."
Lin Xue also felt that what Master said made sense, so she stopped talking and prepared to investigate and see what was strange about this village.
"Master, I've already gone around. There's still no one. This situation is very confusing. I don't know if there are people or not."
"It's fine if there's no one. Perhaps the people who live here ran away when they saw us coming. All sorts of situations are possible. We just need to deal with it calmly."
"Okay, Master. Then we'll rest for half an hour. After you've recovered, we'll continue."
Lin Xue left the little phoenix to take care of Ye Tiancheng, and then she wandered around aimlessly. Her main purpose was to investigate and see what the situation was around here. The absence of people was too strange; there must be something going on.
Lin Xue wandered for about half an hour. When she returned, she found that Ye Tiancheng had just woken up. In fact, Lin Xue admired Ye Tiancheng quite a bit. No matter the situation, he slept soundly. It was clear he had a big heart.
"Master, I've looked around everywhere. There's not a soul. This seems to be a deserted village."
"There's no need to investigate outside. The secret is inside. I strongly suspect that there are people in this village, but they are hiding now and deliberately don't want us to see them."
"Then it seems we should search the houses properly and see if there's any hollow space, perhaps a secret compartment or something. Otherwise, this wouldn't be the case. I always feel that these people wouldn't just disappear into thin air."
After the two of them finished their discussion, they began to search everywhere in the houses. They searched for a long time but didn't find anything peculiar. They didn't think there was any secret room or underground passage here. They couldn't see anything for now.
"Master, look here. It feels a bit different. I think there's a problem here."
Lin Xue was, after all, more meticulous than Ye Tiancheng. She quickly found a spot and knocked on it. It felt quite hollow. Then Ye Tiancheng kicked it, and the wooden board shattered. Inside was a hollow space, and it even felt like wind was blowing.
"This should be a passage. There was a layer of foam board, so even if we found this spot at first, we wouldn't have discovered anything unusual. Even if you knocked, there wouldn't be any hollow sound."
These people went to such great lengths to hide that secret room,
It meant that the place it led to might hide a huge secret.