Yan Qing curled her lips. What time is it? Still pretending? Tch!

At this moment, Yan Qing No. 2 in front finally woke up slowly.

"Ugh—Brother Chu!" She struggled to sit up, her face filled with relief at surviving a close call.

"Thank goodness, we're all alright! Cough cough cough—" He hadn't said two words before he suddenly started coughing.

Chu Jiang No. 2 quickly helped her up, saying, "You injured your lungs when you fell. Don't talk too much, just rest."

Yan Qing No. 2 nodded, then looked around somewhat fearfully and asked,

"Brother Chu, do you know where we are?"

Chu Jiang No. 2 shook his head. As a disciple of the Xuanmen sect, he had been feeling a great sense of panic ever since he woke up, but unfortunately, he couldn't find the reason yet.

"Don't worry, no matter what happens, Brother Chu will protect you even if it costs him his life."

Chu Jiang No. 2's words were extremely harsh, and even Yan Qing herself was somewhat moved by them, let alone Yan Qing No. 2, who loved him so much.

She threw herself into Chu Jiang's arms, and the two stood silently embracing, neither of them saying anything more.

Yan Qing turned around, looked at Chu Jiang with a mocking expression, and laughed.

"I never would have guessed you were such a Casanova."

Chu Jiang replied with a forced smile, "I'll take that as a compliment—okay, shut up, here comes the real show."

His words had barely faded when a tremendous commotion erupted in the distance, as if something heavy had been pulled apart. The sound continued, growing louder with each bang.

Chu Jiang No. 2's expression changed instantly. "This is bad, we have to get out of here right now!"

When he got up again, he was surprised to find that his legs seemed to be filled with lead, so heavy that he could hardly lift them.

"Brother Chu, I... I can't move!"

Yan Qing No. 2 suddenly screamed, and then her body fell straight backward.

Chu Jiang No. 2 belatedly realized that a thin silver metal chain had silently reached out and wrapped around Yan Qing No. 2's waist, pulling her backward.

Yan Qing noticed that the silver metal chain had retreated in the southeast direction.

This all happened incredibly fast; from the moment the metal chain appeared to its disappearance, only a few breaths passed. Chu Jiang No. 2's body seemed welded shut; he couldn't muster any strength at all and could only watch helplessly as Yan Qing No. 2 vanished into the night.

"Qingqing—!!"

A heart-wrenching scream rang out, startling Yan Qing. This Chu Jiang seemed different from what he appeared; could he truly be head over heels in love with that second Yan Qing?

No! It's Qingqing. Now, she was absolutely certain that although this Qingqing looked exactly like her, her personality was completely opposite.

Yan Qing knew she couldn't be as gentle and considerate as him; after all, there's a big difference between a tomboy and a lady. Although they were indeed similar in some ways, she believed that not only she, but Chu Jiang himself was very aware of this.

Since arriving in this timeline a hundred years ago, Chu Jiang seemed to have become much colder towards me all of a sudden. He must have finally realized that I really wasn't the person he was looking for.

When she looked at him again, she found that he was staring at the southeast corner where "Qingqing" had disappeared with a complicated expression, and he hadn't looked at her once.

The Chu Jiang who roared in pain on the spot was the most authentic version of himself.

After thinking for a moment, she quietly walked to Chu Jiang's side and comforted him.

"Do you need to rest? Trust me, your Qingqing will be fine."

Yan Qing's words of comfort seemed to have little effect; Chu Jiang merely glanced at her, his tone becoming even harsher.

"No, let's go with them—you want to know what happened, now's the time to satisfy your curiosity."

Almost simultaneously, Chu Jiang No. 2, who had been looking pained, suddenly turned and ran towards the cave in the southeast.

"Come on, stay close."

Chu Jiang ran off without saying a word, while Yan Qing was a step too slow and had to speed up to catch up.

As Yan Qing ran southeast, her pace slowed considerably. The reason was simple: the roads here seemed exceptionally slippery, covered in a transparent, colorless slime that made each step incredibly cautious.

Directly in front of her stood a huge cave, the entrance of which was their destination.

Chu Jiang No. 2 was less than five meters in front of her. Perhaps he was too impatient, because he had already fallen four or five times. His whole body was covered with that transparent slime, and he looked particularly miserable.

Yan Qing's gaze was fixed on the transparent slime. For some reason, she instinctively hated these things, so she was very cautious the whole way, even taking out a Luoyang shovel and a walking stick to avoid getting the slime on her.

Because Chu Jiang No. 2 was distracted and kept falling, he wasn't moving very fast, and Yan Qing easily caught up with him.

As she drew closer to the cave, she finally saw what it looked like.

"No wonder I couldn't see clearly before; it turns out these caves are all made of black rock!"

Yan Qing clicked her tongue in amazement; she had truly seen something new this time. To be honest, she had never seen a cave made of black rock before.

"This is hellfire volcanic rock," Chu Jiang suddenly explained from behind. "This is not produced in our realm, so it's understandable that you haven't seen it before."

"Hellfire volcanic rock?" Yan Qing murmured to herself, "Could it be the legendary Nine Nether Hell? The one guarded by the Eight Heavenly Dragons and Yaksha Kings of Buddhism?"

"Yes." Chu Jiang began to speak sparingly.

Yan Qing became interested. Although she didn't know the purpose of the Hellfire Volcanic Rock, its presence here clearly indicated it wasn't naturally occurring but man-made.

Moreover, she had encountered the Eight Heavenly Dragons and Yakshas of Buddhism many times. Their presence was felt in countless instances throughout the dungeons she had encountered on her journey.

If she wasn't mistaken, the mere wisp of power leaked from the Nine Nether Hell in those dungeons of the Rules of the Strange World that she hated to the core had already brought her to the brink of death.

This place must be somewhere that has escaped from the Nine Nether Hells suppressed by the Eight Heavenly Dragons and the Yaksha King.

Yan Qing secretly became very vigilant. Although the people here couldn't see her, it was still better to be on the safe side.

With a thought, the dice of heaven and earth spun rapidly, shrinking to the size of a head and hovering above her. A faint golden light shone down, completely enveloping her.

At this moment, Chu Jiang No. 2 had already reached the entrance of the cave and stepped inside without hesitation.

Yan Qing shook her head. It seemed that Chu Jiang No. 2 was still a bit reckless.