The two flew slowly through the air, and the distant scenery gradually unfolded before their eyes.

Qin Luo frowned slightly, lost in thought, clearly without any particularly good ideas.

At this moment, Dongfang Jinyao suddenly said:

"Hey, you haven't told me your name since we met! I'm a well-mannered girl, I can't keep calling you 'Hey'."

Qin Luo was slightly taken aback when her sudden question interrupted his thoughts.

You've been calling me "Hey" for ages...

He quickly came to his senses, and a faint smile appeared on his lips:

"My name is Qin Luo."

After saying that, he turned back to ponder again. Dongfang Jinyao, upon hearing this, muttered softly:

"Qin Luo? That's a rather ordinary name."

However, seeing that he had responded to her, but not asking for her name, Dongfang Jinyao couldn't help but feel a little annoyed and scolded him playfully:

"You are so naive. My name is Dongfang Jinyao. Remember it well, lest you forget who you were exploring the ruins with in the future."

Qin Luo looked up, and just as he was about to brush her off again, he sensed that a continuous stream of spiritual energy was emanating from a building on a distant mountain peak.

This spiritual energy stood out conspicuously in the desolate ruins, instantly attracting all his attention.

Seeing Qin Luo like this, Dongfang Jinyao curiously followed his gaze. When she sensed the spiritual energy, her eyes shone brightly.

Before Qin Luo could react, Dongfang Jinyao flew away swiftly.

Seeing this, Qin Luo was secretly annoyed and couldn't help but curse the girl for being too reckless. But since things had come to this, he dared not delay for a moment. He quickly used his movement technique, and spiritual power surged under his feet. He turned into a purple light and chased after her.

On the other side, Dongfang Jinyao had just been flying and was happily rushing towards the place where the spiritual energy was dissipating when suddenly, the spiritual energy that was originally slowly flowing out of her body suddenly disappeared at an extremely alarming speed.

In just a few breaths, the spiritual energy she had stored to successfully overcome the spiritual tribulation dissipated to almost one-third of its original amount, leaving very little trace.

"How... how could the spiritual energy suddenly dissipate so quickly?"

The sudden change caused Dongfang Jinyao to lose her composure, and she unconsciously murmured to herself.

In the midst of this extreme panic, she completely forgot that she was thousands of feet in the sky.

In that instant, the already dwindling spiritual energy within her body finally gave way to the inability to support her hovering and levitation in the air.

ah!

As the exclamation suddenly rang out, Dongfang Jinyao's body was violently torn off, plummeting straight down.

The wind howled past her ears, and the rapidly receding sky was reflected in her bright eyes. Her once rosy cheeks now appeared somewhat pale.

At the critical moment, Dongfang Jinyao felt a familiar aura rushing towards her.

A strong, powerful arm precisely encircled her slender waist, while the other hand gently slid down to the back of her legs.

Those broad, warm hands possessed a reassuring strength. The moment they touched the back of her knees, they slightly tightened, steadily supporting her, and then gently pulled her into their arms.

Dongfang Jinyao's body jolted, halting her rapid fall. She subconsciously looked up and, upon seeing Qin Luo's handsome profile, her eyes were filled with the relief of surviving a disaster. Her usual sharp tongue lost its edge at this moment, and she could only slightly open her mouth, unable to utter a single word.

How long has it been? And yet, he pulled her into his arms again...

Thinking of this, her heart involuntarily quickened, and her mind became a jumbled mess.

I still vividly remember the embarrassment of such close contact last time, and I never thought I would repeat the same mistake again.

She stole a glance at Qin Luo and saw that he looked scared but had no intention of being frivolous. A complicated feeling welled up in her heart, a mix of gratitude, shyness, and a little indescribable panic.

Why did he look so frightened? Was it out of chivalry, or... did he have other feelings for me?

At this moment, Dongfang Jinyao's thoughts became increasingly chaotic, and her cheeks flushed slightly from this series of reveries, just like the clouds on the horizon.

Little did Qin Luo know that she was indeed feeling a sense of lingering fear, and only breathed a sigh of relief after Anwen caught her.

"Phew~ That scared me to death, these are two investment opportunities!"

Just as Qin Luo was about to scold her, he noticed that the spiritual energy in his dantian was dissipating at an alarming rate, and countless stars were dimming. This startled him, and he quickly fell to the ground, but it was too late.

Although his spiritual energy was far more abundant than that of ordinary people, he could only sustain it for a short while due to this level of loss.

The moment they made a move, the spiritual energy vanished, causing the two to fall from a height of several thousand feet.

The wind whistled past my ears, seemingly about to pierce my eardrums.

Dongfang Jinyao stared wide-eyed in horror and instinctively reached out to grab Qin Luo's sleeve.

Qin Luo forced himself to remain calm. As he plummeted, his gaze swept rapidly downwards, searching for anything that might slow the impact. However, below lay a desolate landscape, with only jagged rocks and a dried-up riverbed.

"Never mind."

After making the decision, Qin Luo suddenly tightened his grip, holding Dongfang Jinyao tightly against his solid chest.

When Dongfang Jinyao sensed this silent action, her delicate body, which had been trembling slightly with fear, gradually calmed down in an instant:

"you......"

Bang!

Before she could finish speaking, a loud bang exploded in her ears, making her eardrums ache.

The thick dust instantly enveloped the two of them in a hazy mist.

Despite the dust obscuring her vision, Dongfang Jinyao keenly caught a faint yet heart-wrenching muffled cry, followed by drops of warm blood falling onto her face.

This made her heart clench, and she cried out anxiously:

How are you?

However, all that answered her was the gradually fading muffled groans and deathly silence.

Dongfang Jinyao struggled to get up from Qin Luo's embrace, ignoring the still-lingering dust, and tried to open her eyes to see her surroundings.

Qin Luo's face was as pale as paper, and a trace of blood clung to the corner of his mouth.

Beside them was a huge, shallow crater created by the impact, with the rocks around the edge shattered into powder.

"Cough cough!"

Qin Luo coughed, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and swallowed the churning blood with difficulty before speaking in a somewhat hoarse voice:

"It's alright, such injuries are nothing out of the ordinary for me."

At this point, Qin Luo's gaze gently fell on Dongfang Jinyao in his arms, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief, speaking softly:

"As long as you are safe and sound, this little bit of physical pain is nothing to me."