Chapter 13, get ready for the good show!
The cave was deep, with thousand-year-old mermaid candles hanging on both walls. There were no intersecting paths, so Su Yunyu simply walked forward.
Only after reaching the end did they realize that the trial was to successfully refine a fifth-grade pill.
If successful, one can obtain the right to use a ninth-grade alchemy furnace.
Yes, it's just the right to use it, only three times.
After all, the Ninth-Grade Alchemy Furnace is a rare treasure. It had already recognized a powerful master, but the god perished and the artifact was destroyed, leaving only fragments behind.
The Water Immortal was a kind person; he didn't set up any major obstacles, only allowing one person to enter at a time, and after refining, one could obtain it.
Su Yunyu almost wanted to burst into laughter at the mere fifth-grade pill; he was determined to get the ninth-grade pill furnace this time.
After preparing everything, Su Yunyu instinctively added ingredients to the alchemy furnace and controlled the heat.
The higher the grade of the elixir, the slower the refining process.
For example, to successfully refine this fifth grade, Su Yunyu calculated that it would take another hour.
It's neither long nor short.
For safety's sake, Su Yunyu planned to wait until she got the alchemy furnace before going out.
Thinking of Long Aotian outside, Su Yunyu took out a communication token to ask him to wait for an hour, but as soon as she took it out, she seemed to hear a strange, heavy breathing sound from the other end.
But in the blink of an eye, the sound disappeared. Just as Su Yunyu was about to lean closer to listen carefully, there was no sound.
Could it be that Xiao Shuying simply accidentally touched the communication tablet?
Could it be like this? I feel a little uneasy...
Su Yunyu gripped the communication token and called out to the other side:
"Sparse shadows, desolate shadows"
There was no response.
Only his own voice echoed against the walls of the cave.
Something's wrong with Xiao Shuying!
Su Yunyu turned to leave, but then looked back at the alchemy furnace that was being refined.
If he leaves for too long, the elixir will be ruined.
If we wait a little longer, we can get the alchemy furnace.
However, when faced with this choice, Su Yunyu only hesitated for a second before leaving without looking back.
Although he knew that with Long Aotian's luck, he would definitely not be in any danger.
However, some dangers are serious enough even if they are not life-threatening.
As they hurried out, they suddenly heard a loud thunderclap in the distance, and the lightning directly illuminated the cave entrance.
what happened
Su Yunyu was even more anxious and ran out of the cave like a whirlwind. As soon as he came into view of the outside world and was looking around, he suddenly saw Xiao Shuying lying on the ground not far away.
"..."
Su Yunyu was somewhat anxious. Who had attacked Xiao Shuying? The timing was so perfect; they must have known everything about their actions.
Wait, I think of someone.
But she couldn't worry about that right now; Su Yunyu simply walked up to Xiao Shuying and checked on his condition.
His dantian was injured, his sternum was fractured, and his meridians were disordered; it was clear that he had been attacked.
Su Yunyu took out a pill from her spatial storage and had the unconscious Xiao Shuying swallow it first. Then, she used her spiritual energy to gradually soothe the disorder in his body.
The person who made the move was a highly skilled individual, definitely not an ordinary person. If Xiao Shuying hadn't had a protective magic weapon, she would probably be even more seriously injured right now.
Just as he was sorting out his meridians, he suddenly discovered a trace of black power flowing through Xiao Shuying's dantian. This power was being rejected by its owner and was rampaging wildly.
This is……
Demonic energy!
No, this is a secret realm, how could there be demonic energy here?
Just as Su Yunyu drove away the black aura and was greatly surprised, Xiao Shuying slowly woke up, this time without vomiting blood.
He blinked a few times, his empty eyes finally focusing on Su Yunyu. Seeing the familiar sky-blue color, he sat up abruptly and grabbed Su Yunyu's wrist:
"Master, Song Chi, Song Chi is suspicious! He went in the direction of the thunder!"
Sure enough, Su Yunyu thought it really was him.
After all, he was the only one who knew their exact whereabouts.
This person clearly claimed to be just an elder's disciple, and appeared to have no cultivation whatsoever, so how could he possess demonic energy...?
Besides, why was he heading in the direction of the thunder?
"Boom!"
Another bolt of lightning struck. An uninformed person might have thought someone was undergoing tribulation, but upon seeing the direction, Su Yunyu instinctively sensed something was wrong:
"That's the Nine Palaces Thunderfire Formation!"
This array is the core of the secret realm, continuously supplying spiritual energy to the realm every moment. It resonates with the thunder and fire of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. If it encounters thunder like this now, the abundance of spiritual energy will greatly increase.
Su Yunyu wasn't sure what other uses this formation could have, but if someone wanted to sabotage it, especially someone with Song Chi's strength, it probably wouldn't be difficult.
"Come with me first."
Without saying a word, he took Xiao Shuying and flew away on the wind. In a short while, they arrived at the location of the great formation, and at the core of the formation stood Song Chi!
At the heart of the formation, a thin, white stream stretched between heaven and earth, forming a spiritual pillar from which all the spiritual energy had gathered.
At this moment, Song Chi stood there, his hands constantly churning out dark and terrifying demonic energy. The originally pure white spirit pillar was now stained with a gray tinge.
"stop--"
Su Yunyu immediately guessed that he wanted to pollute the array's core. Without saying a word, she picked up the Xuehua Sword, flew up, and slashed at it.
Hearing the sound, Song Chi turned around abruptly and saw the scabbard of the Xuehua Sword, with its seven iconic pearls. His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at Su Yunyu in disbelief.
"Who are you--"
Before he could finish speaking, and before he had time to finish, the Snow Flower Sword was already upon him. Song Chi hurriedly dodged, his demonic energy surging in his hand, and a demonic chain filled with death energy suddenly appeared.
He swung the demonic chains at the Snow Blossom Sword, the dark chains wrapping around the blade. Su Yunyu slashed down, but found he couldn't break through.
Just as Song Chi was about to smile, the magic chain began to freeze from its end.
“…Oh,” Song Chi quickly retracted the magic chain and touched it affectionately.
"As expected of the Snow Blossom Sword, its power is extraordinary."
"Who exactly are you?" Su Yunyu held her sword in mid-air, looking at Song Chi who was neither too close nor too far away, and asked coldly.
Song Chi looked at the person before him, their flowing robes and the cold white silk framing their long, dark hair. His gaze then shifted to the peacock-patterned mask, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.
"My name is Feng Mingye."
"..." Su Yunyu had never heard of it.
I had no choice but to ask the system to help me look it up.
Xiao Shuying, who was standing outside the formation at that time, watched the two fight without making a sound. When she heard the name Feng Mingye, a sense of familiarity flashed through her memory.
I feel like I've heard this somewhere before...
“Su Yunyu,” Feng Mingye, who was originally dressed as a disciple, changed from white robes to red as he spoke, his eyes also becoming slightly narrower and more pointed, filled with interest:
"How can the number one person in the world come to this secret realm? Isn't that too unfair to the other disciples?"
"Or perhaps..." He glanced sideways at Xiao Shuying, and seeing that the person he had knocked unconscious not long ago was now standing unharmed in the distance, a smile immediately appeared on his lips:
“You really care about this apprentice.”
After saying that, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes. Su Yunyu sensed the killing intent and flew over again to attack with her sword.
Faced with the overwhelming sword intent, Feng Mingye's forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat, and he no longer had the time to kill Xiao Shuying.
This time, he swung away the magic chains, but his target wasn't the Snow Blossom Sword; it was—
With a snap, the peacock-patterned mask cracked open and fell to the ground.
The sword intent abruptly stopped, and amidst the flowing black hair, a face of unparalleled beauty suddenly appeared.
Her eyebrows resembled distant mountains, her lips were like crimson hues, and her face was that of a beautiful woman. Her eyes held the brilliance of a thousand stars and the splendor of ten thousand snowflakes. Her eyes were red at the corners, and she remained silent with her lips pursed, exuding a cool and decadent beauty.
"..."
Feng Mingye's eyes widened in shock, and he blinked several times before he reacted, bursting into laughter:
"Today I have finally seen your true face. You truly deserve to be called the best in the world. Your cultivation and appearance are both the best."
"..."
Su Yunyu subconsciously wanted to raise her sleeve to cover her face, but then she thought that her identity was no longer a secret, so why should she be ashamed of it? She simply glared at Feng Mingye and attacked him angrily.
Feng Mingye, however, no longer wanted to fight. He was already no match for Su Yunyu in a head-on confrontation, and he had only been dodging the attacks so far. Now that he saw that Feng Mingye was serious, it was best for him to slip away first.
He immediately retracted the magic chains, intending to activate the teleportation technique, but at the critical moment, his body inexplicably stiffened—
Not good! It was this moment of stiffness that caused his body to freeze for a brief second, during which he took a heavy blow from the Snow Blossom Sword.
Blood gushed from his shoulder instantly, and a sharp pain shot through him. Feng Mingye's expression changed, but he dared not linger any longer. He had no time to investigate the source of the anomaly and quickly teleported away.
Amidst the churning demonic energy and splattering blood, the bleeding figure vanished from the formation, but before leaving, arrogantly uttering:
"Just wait and see what I'm about to show you."
As Feng Mingye disappeared, Xiao Shuying's tense body outside the formation finally relaxed, and she slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
His power is very unstable, and it always returns suddenly amidst great ups and downs.
For example, just now when Feng Mingye shattered Su Yunyu's mask and saw his true face, he was especially stunned by what he saw.
For some reason, old and new grudges suddenly surged into his heart, and only one thought remained in his mind: he would make Feng Mingye pay the price.
In that state of mind, it's like being possessed; you can only focus on one goal and can't care about anything else.
After her success, the cost of overexerting her strength caused Xiao Shuying, who had not yet recovered, to stagger and fall to the ground.
Just as Su Yunyu was about to check the abnormality of the array core, she heard the commotion and rushed over to help Xiao Shuying up, only to find that he was even weaker than before.
I didn't know what was going on, and I thought it was a side effect of demonic energy entering his body, so I only transferred some spiritual energy to him.
Are you alright?
Su Yunyu lowered her eyes, her face calm, and asked Xiao Shuying.
Little did they know that his face was even paler than Xiao Shuying's at that moment.
Having just exhausted too much spiritual energy in his fight with Feng Mingye, and because Xiao Shuying was always injured and needed to transfer spiritual energy each time, he was now as pale as a daffodil, as if he would shatter at any moment.
"It's nothing," Xiao Shuying shook her head. Seeing Su Yunyu's paleness, she concealed her complicated feelings and asked feigned concern:
"Master, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
In reality, Su Yunyu felt completely drained.
However, having just fought a fierce battle with Feng Mingye and gained the upper hand, he felt truly powerful, and thus his mental state was actually quite good.
But the next second, Xiao Shuying saw the array's core behind her, her pupils suddenly contracted, she pointed at it, and said in a surprised tone:
"Master...something terrible has happened..."
A note from the author:
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Update +1 [Newbie][Caloquist Cat]
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