Because of the fog, the visibility was only a few meters in diameter, and the line of sight could not penetrate very far. If the Mosquito Daoists were hiding nearby, they would not be able to detect them in advance.
"Hmm~" For some reason, Pei Mianman wasn't that scared. It seemed that she always felt safe around this guy, even though his cultivation level was clearly lower than hers.
"How are your injuries?" Zu'an asked, taking out another pill for her. She had just been injured by Mosquito Taoist and was visibly weak.
“It’s okay, I’m much better now,” Pei Mianman shook her head and refused. “The effects of the medicine are still there, but I’m slowly recovering.”
Zuan couldn't help but marvel at the miraculous effects of Ji Dengtu's medicine, and vowed to have a proper chat with Xiao Xi next time they met.
"By the way, how do you know the writing on that stone tablet?" Pei Mianman asked curiously, still vividly remembering what had just happened.
“Of course, it’s because I have a great memory,” Zuan said proudly.
Pei Mianman snorted: "I've read records of various ethnic groups since I was a child, how come I've never seen such writing before?"
Zuan knew she was a top student, and if he casually claimed it was some kind of script from her hometown, he wouldn't be able to fool her and it would only arouse unnecessary suspicion. So he replied, "Actually, I don't know either. I think I saw this script in a dream, and I recognized it as soon as I saw it."
Pei Mianman was surprised: "The ancients said that some people are so talented that they are born with divine gifts. I thought it was just a legend. I didn't expect that such a situation really exists."
Zu An breathed a sigh of relief. He had made up this somewhat mythical excuse because there were similar historical records, and he didn't expect it to actually work.
While he was relaxing, he was also filled with doubts, wondering why he would see the Yin Ruins and oracle bone inscriptions in this world.
Thinking of Qin Shi Huang and others he had seen in the secret realm, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
"Ah!" Pei Mianman suddenly exclaimed and instinctively grabbed his arm.
"What's wrong?" Zu An's heart jumped, and he looked around warily, thinking that Mosquito Taoist had come to attack. Unfortunately, everything was quiet and he didn't see any danger.
“Blood…” Pei Mianman pointed to the ground beneath her feet, “The soil is dark red, as if it has been soaked in blood.”
The surrounding area was shrouded in a bluish-gray mist, and visibility was limited to only a few meters in radius, which was already quite oppressive. Now, seeing this dark red earth made one feel a chill run down their spine.
How much blood must have been shed to turn the soil this red?
Zuan stared at the ground for a while, then comforted him, "It might not be stained with blood; it's more likely because it's rich in iron oxide."
"Iron oxide?" Pei Mianman was taken aback, her expression somewhat bewildered.
"You can think of it as iron, like rust," Zu'an comforted her, but he wasn't sure himself. Was it really caused by iron oxide?
Pei Mianman said, "No matter what, we still need to be on high alert. This secret realm is likely to be quite dangerous."
In fact, this is already common knowledge in the cultivation world. You can tell how dangerous a secret realm is just by looking at the environment. If it is a place with gentle breezes, sunshine, green mountains and clear waters, it is mostly peaceful inside. Even if the core area is dangerous, you will be fine as long as you don't get close.
However, if a secret realm is gloomy and terrifying, it is most likely an extremely dangerous place.
Clearly, the current environment falls into the latter category.
The two continued to walk cautiously forward, because the thick, bluish-gray fog made it easy to lose one's way and not be able to distinguish east from west. They could only proceed one step at a time.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet gave way; it had been loosely laid and couldn't support their weight at all.
"Watch out!" Zu An and Pei Mianman warned each other in unison, then jumped back.
Unfortunately, Pei Mianman was seriously injured and ran out of energy halfway through the jump, causing her to sink. Zu An hurriedly tried to grab her, but because of her, he also had to fall a little further down.
He was terrified and hurriedly reached out to grab the wall beside him. He had no idea how deep this unknown place was or what traps or mechanisms might be hidden below, so he naturally dared not fall down.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The surrounding earthen walls were incredibly hard and smooth for some reason. With Zu An's current cultivation level, breaking stone tablets and splitting rocks would be a piece of cake. Theoretically, with this full-force grip, he could have shoved his entire palm into the wall and stopped the two of them from sliding down.
But who knew that his fingers could only make a shallow hole in the wall before they could go any further? Even though they only managed to get a tiny hole in, his fingers still hurt terribly.
With nowhere to grab onto, he could no longer stop the two from falling and plummeted downwards.
Zu An instinctively pulled Pei Mianman into his arms, protecting him with his body. After all, the other was seriously injured, and if he fell and hit the ground, he would probably die on the spot.
As for himself, he has the Primordial Chaos Scripture protecting him, and his recovery ability far surpasses that of others.
The two rolled down the slope like that, with him pressing Pei Mianman's head tightly against his chest, covering her with as much of his body as possible.
Fortunately, it wasn't a bottomless abyss below, and after rolling around for a while, the two finally crashed into the ground.
Zu An groaned as he felt something sharp pierce his back, but he had no time to pay attention to that. He hurriedly cupped the woman's face in his arms and asked, "Da Manman, are you alright?"
Pei Mianman's alluring peach blossom eyes no longer held their usual captivating charm; instead, she stared at him blankly, saying, "I'm... I'm fine. Aren't you afraid of risking your life and making Chu Yan heartbroken?"
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