Chapter 57: The Road to Vitality Cliff and the Straight Man Synchronicity Test
The Road to Vitality Cliff and the Synchronicity Test of Straight Men
The appearance of the Erosion Bee was like a thorn, piercing the brief peaceful atmosphere of the Emerald Dream.
"Soul-Eating Bees usually move in groups, and these few might be the vanguard." Qingluo's face was serious. "The fact that they can find this place means that something must have happened in the outside world, or... a powerful force is deliberately tracking you."
Li Jiuyou snorted coldly, the red-gold demonic fire leaped in his palm, and the violent aura rose again: "Come as many as you want, I'll burn them all!" But his slightly pale face and the hand that subconsciously pressed on the old injury on his lower back revealed that he was not completely exhausted.
Jiang Xuelan's icy blue eyes swept across the lush yet fragile forest around him. He said in a deep voice, "We can't stay here for long." He looked at Qingluo, "Where is Shengji Cliff? We need to get the Jianmu fragments there to nurture them as soon as possible."
Qingluo nodded and pointed to the northeast of the forest: "In that direction, you will get there after passing through the 'Echo Valley' and the 'Mirror Lake'. But..." She hesitated, "Echo Valley is a bit special. The environment there will amplify all sounds and... emotional fluctuations. You two..." She looked at the faintly glowing vine patterns on the wrists of Jiang Xuelan and Li Jiuyou, and the meaning was self-evident.
Li Jiuyou's brows were twisted into a knot: "It's this kind of damn place again!"
Jiang Xuelan had no expression on her face, but her fingertips curled up slightly.
Without further ado, everyone set out immediately. Che carefully tucked the Jianmu fragment close to his body, the pure wood spirit energy forming a faint protective shield around it. Man Gu carried the bone club and led the way, while Xuan Jia slumped back onto his shoulder, his green eyes scanning the surroundings vigilantly.
Along the way, the atmosphere was noticeably more depressing than before. Li Jiuyou deliberately kept a distance of more than three meters from Jiang Xuelan, as if he were the source of some plague. Jiang Xuelan, on the other hand, didn't look away, and the chill around him was even stronger than usual.
However, the existence of the blood pact makes this "keeping distance" seem futile and ridiculous.
For example, when Li Jiuyou crushed the dead branches blocking his way with one foot, the crisp sound was amplified by the blood contract, causing Jiang Xuelan's eyebrows to jump.
For example, when Jiang Xuelan swung his sword to cut off the hanging vines, the sharp sword intent passed by, and Li Jiuyou felt as if his skin was scraped by an ice blade.
Not to mention those uncontrollable, subtle emotional fluctuations - Li Jiuyou's fleeting curiosity when he saw the strange mushroom, Jiang Xuelan's momentary distraction when he heard the birds singing...all of them were like tiny stones, thrown into the other's heart through the blood contract, stirring up circles of awkward ripples.
"Damn it, when will this crappy contract ever end!" Li Jiuyou growled angrily for the Nth time because he felt Jiang Xuelan's disdain for him "walking too loudly".
Jiang Xuelan took a deep breath and activated the Mysterious Ice Art for the nth time to suppress the subtle feeling of emptiness caused by Li Jiuyou's "hunger". He said in a cold voice: "If you can control the dissipation of your own energy, the interference will naturally be reduced."
"That's easy to say! Why don't you control your chilly thoughts? I'm almost catching a cold!"
"Who are you calling ridiculous?!"
Just as the low pressure between the two was about to trigger a new round of ice and fire conflict, Qingluo, who was leading the way, suddenly cheered, "We've arrived at Echo Valley!"
Suddenly, everyone's eyes became clear.
A vast valley, as if cleaved by a giant axe, appeared before him. The mountain walls on either side were as smooth as mirrors, gleaming with a rainbow of mineral hues. A faint mist filled the valley, so quiet that one could hear one's own heartbeat.
"The echoes here are amazing," Qingluo explained. "Not only do they repeat sounds, but sometimes they even reflect... well... things in your mind. But as long as you keep your mind clear, you'll be able to pass through quickly!"
No distracting thoughts? Jiang Xuelan and Li Jiuyou exchanged a glance, each believing the other to be the culprit behind their own "distracting thoughts."
Sure enough, as soon as we stepped into Echo Valley, strange things happened.
The slight "crackling" sound made by Li Jiuyou stepping on a small stone was amplified and repeated by the valley, layer upon layer, and finally turned into - "**Ice-faced bastard! Ice-faced bastard! Big bastard...**"
Li Jiuyou: “???” I didn’t shout that!
Jiang Xuelan glanced over coldly.
Then, Jiang Xuelan frowned slightly because of the humidity in the valley. An almost inaudible sigh was caught and distorted by the echo, turning into - "**The turkey is so noisy... The turkey is so noisy... so noisy..."
Li Jiuyou: "!!!" You are the turkey! Your whole family is turkey!
Ah Che's face flushed from stifling laughter. Man Gu tried to pretend he hadn't heard. Xuan Jia, in his tortoise shell, was laughing so hard he couldn't stop.
The two men had dark faces and quickened their pace, wanting only to leave this damn place as soon as possible. However, the more anxious they were, the more likely they were to go wrong.
The demonic fire in Li Jiuyou's body dissipated slightly due to his emotional fluctuations, and the scorching breath touched the cold mountain wall.
Echo Valley reacted instantly.
The image of Li Jiuyou suddenly appeared on the left side of the mountain wall, but that image was not of his current appearance. Instead, it was a blurry, younger version of him—a red-haired boy huddled in a dark corner, hugging his knees and growling in a low voice: "...I'm not a bastard! I'm not!"
On the right side of the mountain wall, Jiang Xuelan's image was reflected, also blurry and young - a child as cold as ice, kneeling in the snow, facing the deserted wasteland, repeating over and over again: "...Don't cry...Be strong...Don't cry..."
The two men stopped in their tracks abruptly, as if they were under a spell.
Those deeply buried, untouchable fragments of memory were thus blatantly dug out and magnified by Echo Valley, and displayed before the other party.
Embarrassment, anger, shame... and a subtle hint of panic after being caught in a mess surged into the hearts of both of them at the same time.
At this moment, perhaps due to the intense emotional fluctuations of both parties, the **Blood Covenant Vine** suddenly became hot!
A stronger sense of resonance than ever before erupted!
The two of them groaned uncontrollably at the same time and covered their wrists.
What's worse is that Echo Valley also amplifies this resonance!
The whole valley began to resound with a strange, synchronized, and increasingly louder sound—
"Plop! Plop! Plop!"
It was their heartbeat! Under the dual influence of the Blood Pact and the Echo Valley, they were once again forced to synchronize and resonate, resounding through the valley like the sound of drums!
The strong, powerful, and perfectly synchronized heartbeats seemed to be announcing some strange connection to the entire valley.
Li Jiuyou felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat and his face was burning.
Jiang Xuelan's frozen expression completely shattered, and her ears were so red that they almost bled.
"Fuck! What the hell is this place! I'm going to tear it down!" Li Jiuyou was so angry that the red-gold demonic fire erupted and was about to hit the mountain wall.
"Shut up! Concentrate!" Jiang Xuelan shouted, grabbing his wrist (skin to skin again!), and forcibly pouring icy immortal power into him, trying to suppress the damn heartbeat resonance and demonic fire riot. "Do you want to detonate the echoes of the entire valley?!"
Li Jiuyou was so frightened by him that he struggled to shake him off: "Let go! Don't touch me!"
"Do you think I want to?!" Jiang Xuelan gritted his teeth. As the two of them were pulling each other, they staggered and almost fell down together.
In the chaos, it was unclear who tripped whom first, and who subconsciously pulled whom aside.
When they came to their senses, they found themselves face to face, pressed very close to each other against a relatively smooth mountain wall. Jiang Xuelan still held one of Li Jiuyou's hands against the wall, while his other hand, for balance, subconsciously rested on the wall beside Jiang Xuelan's ear. To stop him, Jiang Xuelan also placed her other hand on his chest (pressing his pecs again!).
Breaths mingled, heartbeats (still in sync!) roared in the cramped space.
The Echo Valley perfectly amplified the two people's rapid breathing and deafening heartbeats countless times, surrounding them like surround sound.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! (His heart was beating so fast...)"
"**Plop! Plop! Plop! (Why does this icy face smell so good...)**"
"**... Let go! (in unison)**"
The two men pushed each other away as if they had been electrocuted, and each bounced three feet away. They turned their backs to each other, gasping for breath, and did not dare to look at each other again.
The echo in the valley gradually died down, leaving only their own thundering heartbeats (gradually becoming out of sync, but still fast) and an extremely awkward silence.
After a long while, Li Jiuyou finally shouted in a rough voice without even turning his head: "... Hurry up and leave! Are you waiting for this broken valley to hold a concert for you?!"
Jiang Xuelan took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, which were not at all messy (it was strange), and returned to his cold calm voice: "Lead the way."
Qingluo, Ache and others who were waiting for them at the valley entrance all had wonderful expressions on their faces.
Xuanjia used his turtle claws to frantically write down in a notebook (which appeared at some unknown time): "A large-scale social death scene was achieved in Echo Valley! The synchronized heartbeat concert received rave reviews! There was suspected double chest muscle contact and a pre-wall-dong move! Progress was rapid! No regrets in my turtle life!"
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