Chapter 33 "Chi Wan. I miss you so much."...
"Are you sure they're really dead?" Meng Chiwan asked calmly, but something seemed to be barely contained within her.
Jiang said in a heavy tone, "Once swallowed up there, how could they possibly survive..."
"...Take me there. If there's a complete corpse, I'll go and collect it for him; if not, I'll eventually give up." Meng Chiwan paused for a moment, then said firmly.
Jiang glanced at her and, seeing her overly determined demeanor and seemingly a bit naive, suddenly asked, "Do you know where that is?"
Meng Chiwan waited quietly for him to finish his sentence.
“It’s a deceptive place. If you want to go deeper, that place is in the opposite direction, and it’s the place you should never go,” Jiang Yi said.
“But Yun Xianqing and Zhong Huai are there. Zhong Huai has been kind to me, and I must repay him. Yun Xianqing is my... companion, and I cannot stand by and watch them die. Even if I am powerless to save them, I must have a definite answer.” Meng Chiwan lowered her head and twirled the bracelet in her hand twice.
"What if you die too?" Jiang Yi asked.
"I will do everything in my power to prevent it from coming to that," Meng Chiwan said.
She was already living a solitary life in this world, and if she really came to that point... she seemed to cherish her life, but she was actually the most pessimistic one.
Jiang Yi glanced at her intently, still somewhat puzzled, but finally sighed, "What about the immortal herb?"
"Let it be." Meng Chiwan closed her eyes, as if she were struggling with something. "You two don't have to go with me; you just need to point me in the right direction."
She just didn't want to lose everything she had gained. She had just given Yun Xianqing a Buddhist prayer bead, saying she wanted to have more interaction with him; how could she watch Yun Xianqing disappear?
Call her reckless, call her whatever you want. But she was truly fed up with this life where she could gain something one moment and lose it the next.
Jiang Yi said, "But I promised Yun Xianqing I would take you out. Now that we know the location of the illusionary place, we can roughly deduce where the depths of the secret realm are. If we go to the depths now..."
Meng Chiwan interrupted him: "Is the immortal herb necessarily deep inside?"
The snake's head, with its pitch-black pupils, slowly turned into dust, but the human body was still moving, albeit slightly, yet it had nowhere to hide under Meng Chiwan's watchful gaze.
"Are we heading in the right direction?" Meng Chiwan asked immediately. "We've certainly encountered more and more demons and monsters along the way, and their strength is also increasing... If the illusionary place is in the opposite direction deep inside..."
“That’s right,” Jiang Yi said.
“But if that’s the case, why… I’ve heard people say that the corpses in the places where the immortal herbs grow will automatically be purified, but along the way, there’s been no sign of the corpses being purified at all. Are we not deep enough yet?” Wen Liansong followed Meng Chiwan’s gaze and chimed in.
Meng Chiwan suddenly remembered the three corpses the two of them had encountered on the road. At that time, the three corpses clearly did not show any signs of needing purification.
“Even if we can’t completely purify it, as long as we’re heading in the right direction, and we’ve been traveling for quite some time, we shouldn’t be completely without any signs of purification,” Wen Liansong continued.
"...Is it possible that the place where the immortal herb mentioned in the book grows is not there at all?" Following Wen Liansong's words, Meng Chiwan pondered carefully and met Wen Liansong's gaze, then asked hesitantly.
"Upon closer reflection, there is indeed a rather unreliable claim..." Wen Liansong frowned, as if she had thought of something.
"What?" Meng Chiwan asked.
“Besides the version recorded in the book, there is another version that is not widely accepted… Some people say that the immortal herb does not actually grow deep in the secret realm, but rather in the opposite place, which is a place of illusion,” Wen Liansong said slowly.
"Why is it unreliable?" Meng Chiwan asked hastily.
Jiang, standing to the side, said, word by word, "Because the person who said those words later became a demon. But why would the person who actually obtained the immortal herb eventually become a demon? Unless he never obtained the immortal herb at all."
Meng Chiwan asked with some confusion, "Why do you say that? Isn't the immortal herb only able to dispel the demonic thoughts in one's heart?"
Wen Liansong replied, "It's not just that. The immortal herb can remove all evil and demonic energy. Once you take the immortal herb, you will never be able to fall into demonic possession again in this lifetime."
“Therefore, no one believed that he had actually found the immortal herb…” Meng Chiwan murmured.
"Now it seems that his statement may not be entirely unfounded," Wen Liansong said.
"But this is just speculation after all," Jiang Yi said after a pause.
“My intuition tells me we have to go with Chi Wan. Besides, Chi Wan saved my life,” Wen Liansong said slowly, but each word was firm.
Jiang Yi was still hesitating: "But I promised..."
Wen Liansong reached out and gently shook his hem: "I want to go. If you don't go with me, then I'll go with Chi Wan alone."
Jiang Yi gazed at Wen Liansong's unwavering face, his grip on the sword tightening and loosening, until finally, when the corpse on the ground ceased to move, he spoke: "I'll take you there."
The three turned and walked in the opposite direction. Although they still encountered many demons along the way, fortunately Jiang Yi was there. He swiftly struck with his knife, and they did not pose a threat.
The only downside was that some disciples of the immortal sects did indeed have murderous intentions towards Meng Chiwan and Wen Liansong, who both possessed the Heart of the Demon, but they were wary of Jiang Yi and had no choice but to let them go for the time being.
Even so, Meng Chiwan did not let her guard down. There were always cultivators stronger than Jiang Yiqiang around, and if she were to unfortunately encounter one, she would probably have nowhere to run.
However, most cultivators are likely heading deeper into the secret realm. After all, it's a divine herb. Even if they don't need to dispel their inner demons, they're unwilling to give it up. After all, which cultivator can say they're certain they won't develop inner demons in the future?
Having followed Jiang Yi with bated breath, I finally heard him say, "It's just ahead. Let's stop here for now and go check it out."
Meng Chiwan gripped Jinglan tightly and stood still, while Wen Liansong beside her also assumed a fighting stance.
Jiang gripped his sword tightly, drew a barrier on the spot, and then walked forward.
Strangely, despite the absence of fog ahead, Jiang Yi's figure disappeared after only a few steps.
Meng Chiwan's pupils widened slightly as she glanced at Wen Liansong, her eyes questioning.
Wen Liansong looked over and then explained, "The book says that there is an illusion here, hence the name 'Illusionary Land.' The illusion is probably like what we see now."
Meng Chiwan nodded, and then the two of them focused intently on the surroundings, waiting for Jiang Yi to return.
But after waiting for a long time, Jiang Yi still did not appear.
The light emitted by the two using their spiritual power began to flicker for some unknown reason.
The two exchanged a glance, keenly realizing that something might have happened.
“Let’s go,” Wen Liansong said immediately.
"Bang!"
The barrier shattered instantly.
A huge steel fork was stuck in the ground there, still trembling slightly from the immense force.
Then, for some unknown reason, the steel fork began to shake more and more violently, finally pulling itself up from the ground, raising a cloud of dust, and then flying into the illusion.
Meng Chiwan looked in the direction of the steel fork.
One second.
Two seconds.
"Run!" Meng Chiwan suddenly shouted.
Immediately afterwards, an incomparably tall and imposing figure stepped out from the illusion!
In just one glance, Meng Chiwan clearly saw that the thing was holding a steel fork in one hand and aiming in a certain direction, and coincidentally, that direction was exactly where she and Wen Liansong were!
The two separated and ran in opposite directions. The steel fork flew between them and then pierced through a row of trees!
The tree turned to dust the moment it came into contact with the steel fork!
Meng Chiwan's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. Amidst the dust, she coughed twice, choked by the splatter.
Then the dust settled, and she looked at Wen Liansong, clearly seeing an aura of terror emanating from him.
But in that instant, she caught sight of a demon's corpse lying under a tree, and the demon's corpse was slowly dissipating into a transparent color at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It's purification!
A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. She wanted to say something to Wen Liansong, but in an instant, the steel fork changed direction and came straight at her!
Even worse, that enormous steel fork split into two... then three... and finally into a dozen or twenty!
Each time it splits into two parts, it shrinks a bit, eventually becoming the size of a round fan.
One group rushed towards Meng Chiwan, while the other group rushed towards Wen Liansong.
Although its overall size has shrunk, its power has not diminished in the slightest! Every time it passes through a tree, the tree is instantly reduced to dust!
Meng Chiwan ran forward desperately, leaping onto a branch and dodging several steel forks, but when she landed, three steel forks were already within reach!
In an instant, her heart almost jumped out of her chest, and the terror in her eyes could be clearly seen from several meters away!
But in the next instant...
Meng Chiwan desperately retreated, taking a few steps to step onto the tree trunk, and then realized with a start that the steel fork in front of her had fallen from the sky.
She looked in that direction.
The thing that had just been so imposing, ruthlessly killing her and Wen Liansong and carelessly throwing steel forks around, now had something all too familiar wrapped around its neck.
Water sword.
She unconsciously gripped Jinglan tightly, then focused her gaze again.
Yun Xianqing was sitting on a tree at this moment, looking at her. He still had that same gentle, curved look in his eyes. The beauty mark next to his eye adorned his gentle features, like a babbling spring stream.
A sudden jolt went through her heart.
It feels like a lifetime has passed since we parted ways so recently.
"Chi Wan. I miss you so much."
Author's Note: I miss you all so much! [kissing emoji]
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