“Sister, why are you here?” Ye Xuan asked Chu Lingwei, a hint of confusion in his voice, as if he didn’t understand. “I’ve been searching for you here all this time, but I didn’t see you.”
“You’ve been looking for me here?”
Chu Lingwei had passed by this place yesterday, but she hadn’t sensed any aura.
“Yes, I’ve been searching for you here for seven days,” Ye Xuan nodded firmly. “Those people are nowhere to be found, and there isn’t a single cultivator here.”
“Has your cultivation improved?” A strange feeling arose in Chu Lingwei’s heart. Why did this Ye Xuan, who looked so much like Ye Xuan, feel so unlike him, yet she was certain he wasn't him?
Ye Xuan nodded vigorously at this, his eyes alight with excitement. “Sister, I feel my cultivation has greatly improved. I believe as soon as we leave here, we’ll definitely break through to the Heaven Realm’s Fusion Heaven Realm.”
Chu Lingwei’s heart skipped a beat. He was definitely not Ye Xuan.
“You can cultivate here. I have other matters to attend to,” Chu Lingwei said expressionlessly.
“Sister, this place is very dangerous. Can I follow you?” Ye Xuan’s face showed difficulty. “If I act alone, I’ll encounter danger.”
“Haven’t you been living just fine these past few days?” Chu Lingwei sneered.
Ye Xuan’s expression stiffened. He chuckled awkwardly, took a step back with a hint of helplessness, and bowed to Chu Lingwei. “Since Sister doesn’t wish for me to follow, then I shall not. I wish Sister great advancement in her cultivation.”
“You too.”
Chu Lingwei stepped onto her flying sword and quickly departed.
There was no trace of aura from behind her. This Ye Xuan had not followed her.
Before Chu Lingwei could even reach the barrier, the entire ground began to shake violently, and she was thrown from her flying sword to the ground.
“This is bad, this place is about to collapse.”
A familiar sensation washed over Chu Lingwei. She inwardly cursed, mounted her divine-grade flying artifact, and sped towards the barrier.
It must be that Wuming obtained what he desired, causing such a change here.
Wuming emerged from the barrier but did not see Chu Lingwei. His expression changed, and his divine sense shot out, searching for her.
Is this truly an illusion array?
Chu Lingwei looked at the several high-level spirit beasts that were already surrounding her, a wry smile on her face. Their combat power was far greater than any she had faced before.
Facing the relentless assault of these spirit beasts, Chu Lingwei could only defend, tossing talismans from her storage bag at them as if they were free.
At this moment, the earth’s tremors intensified. Large rocks and soil began to fall from the sky.
It seemed they were indeed in the very center of the spiritual domain.
“Fellow Daoist Chu.”
Wuming leaped forward, pulling Chu Lingwei into his embrace, and quickly retreated. “Let’s go quickly.”
“They’re catching up!” Chu Lingwei gasped, watching the spirit beasts charging towards them in the distance, their numbers having grown from a few to over a dozen.
Chu Lingwei could feel they were getting closer and closer to the sky. She believed that in a short while, they would be crushed into meat paste.
“What is happening?” Chu Lingwei asked Wuming while fending off attacks.
“This place will disappear soon. If we don’t get out, we will never be able to leave,” Wuming’s voice came, his curved blade slicing an eighth-rank spirit beast in half as he rapidly fled with Chu Lingwei.
“In this situation, we probably can’t leave, can we?”
They were surrounded by all the spirit beasts in the spiritual domain, and the space they occupied was constantly shrinking. The possibility of escape was slim.
“No, we can definitely get out,” Wuming’s voice was resolute. A surge of immense spiritual power erupted, sending all the surrounding spirit beasts flying.
Chu Lingwei was once again astonished. Just how high was this person’s cultivation?
So many spirit beasts, and with just a gentle wave, they were all sent flying.
“If you have such terrifying cultivation, why didn’t you use it earlier?” Chu Lingwei said with a hint of helplessness, truly not understanding what there was to hide. “What a pity, you’ve gotten yourself into trouble now, haven’t you?”
The distance between them and the sky and ground was shrinking rapidly. This place would soon cease to exist.
Wuming chuckled softly. He brought Chu Lingwei along, and with a flash, they appeared in a mountain valley.
The spirit beasts and the collapsing terrain were nowhere to be seen.
“Where is this place?” Chu Lingwei stood still, looking around. Within a hundred paces of her, she could see clearly, but beyond that, everything was a blur.
“You can consider this place my domain.”
Wuming sat on the ground and began to heal himself. The wound on his chest slowly mended.
“You clearly have the ability to heal wounds, so why didn’t you treat it earlier?” Chu Lingwei waited for Wuming to open his eyes and looked at the man before her with a complex expression.
At this moment, this man gave her a strangely familiar feeling.
She had a feeling that she knew the man before her.
“I cannot heal my wounds,” Wuming shook his head, forcing a bitter smile. “As soon as I leave this place, my wounds will relapse.”
“How can we leave this place?” Chu Lingwei stood up, thinking of what had just happened. “If it’s like this here, what will happen to the spiritual domain?”
“Those cultivators will be fine.”
Wuming closed his eyes, resting.
“Did you know me before?” Chu Lingwei crouched before Wuming, looking at his unfamiliar face, her eyes filled with confusion.
“Probably not,” Wuming replied without opening his eyes, his thin lips moving slightly. “I have been here for five hundred years and have been unable to leave. I believe Fellow Daoist Chu is not five hundred years old.”
“How old are you?”
Wuming’s expression stiffened upon hearing this question, and he did not answer.
“You must be very old, right?” Chu Lingwei thought with a smile. It seemed he was rather sensitive about age.
“That has nothing to do with Fellow Daoist Chu, does it?” Wuming’s voice held a hint of anger. He was not old at all.
“I’m wondering what I should call you? Senior? Grandpa? Ancestor?”
Wuming listened to the increasingly absurd titles, causing him to quickly open his eyes, displeasure evident. “Just call me Fellow Daoist.”
Chu Lingwei smiled and stood up. “Since you’ve obtained what you wanted, we should leave quickly.”
“We will leave in an hour.”
Wuming took a deep breath, trying to calm his voice.
An hour later.
Wuming brought Chu Lingwei out of his domain. Darkness assailed them, and Chu Lingwei felt they had appeared in a very small cave.
“Pfft!”
Wuming felt a dull ache in his chest, and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted out. His body went limp, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
“Fellow Daoist Wuming?”
Chu Lingwei supported Wuming’s arm. “How did you get so severely injured?”
More than half of his spiritual power was gone, and his body was covered in external injuries. Not a single patch of skin was intact. He looked as if he had undergone some kind of torture.