Chapter 277 Boiling a Frog in Slow Water
The fragrance here was clearly the result of a cultivator's secret technique, and Mu Jianjian's voice alerted everyone.
After she finished speaking, she quietly tapped her head with her hand.
In her previous battle with Ouyang Wenjin, she had exhausted all her true energy, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted. Fortunately, at the crucial moment, her pupil-turning technique made a breakthrough, and the illusory butterfly materialized, restoring some of her physical cultivation and functions.
However, my head is still dizzy and I feel some throbbing pain.
This feeling came at the worst possible time.
Suddenly, a black shadow, belonging to no one, appeared on the stone wall and slowly moved towards the crowd. Before anyone could react, a cultivator leaning against the stone wall was pulled into the shadow!
"They probably still want to take the lives of these cultivators." Ye Wuluo waved his fan lightly, and a transparent wind wall appeared around the cultivators.
"I'll set up the formation." Linghu Zhuoyu formed a formation with his hands, and the dark gray light flowed as his fingertips turned, turning into strands of light from his mouth and refracting in all directions in the space.
Sang Wanyue used the Xuan Shuang Technique to lower the surrounding temperature to the minimum so that she could feel the flow of true energy as soon as possible.
She felt something was off. The dark figure that suddenly appeared had the opportunity to pull several cultivators away, so why did it only take one?
Moreover, even though they have already eliminated one cultivator from the upper realm, with their companions out of contact, would the other cultivators from the upper realm still give them the chance to defeat them one by one?
Just as everyone was moving away from the wall and becoming unusually wary of their surroundings, a small flower sprouted from a crack in the stone in the corner. The bud was about the size of a fingernail, pure white and delicate, with green stems and leaves swaying in the wind, and slowly bloomed at Mu Jianjian's feet.
"bite--"
"Hi, Jianjian?" A girl with pigtails skipped over to my side, holding a popsicle in her hand, facing the scorching sun overhead.
"Ruan Ruan?" Mu Jianjian suddenly sat up and looked around. "Did you hear anything just now?"
In the crowded amusement park, she was sitting on a wooden chair next to a trash can, wearing sunglasses and casual clothes. Popular songs were playing in the background. Not far away, a staff member dressed as a clown was blowing up balloons. After a while, he folded the long balloon into a dog and handed it to a happy child clapping his hands in front of him.
Such a scene is commonplace, but in Mu Jianjian's eyes now, it is extremely bizarre.
"What?" Tang Ruan was puzzled, but then she moved closer to her and bumped her shoulder. "Did I keep you waiting too long? Are you angry?"
Seeing that the other person didn't reply, she continued, "Oh dear, maybe it's too hot? How about we go play indoors first? I remember there's a haunted house here that's really fun and scary..."
“I feel…” Mu Jianjian interrupted, she hugged her arms in a daze and rubbed them up and down, “I feel a little cold around here.”
"Cold? Big brother, look at the temperature today!" Tang Ruan raised her voice eight octaves, showing that she didn't seem to be faking it, and then said, "Are you running a fever? I'll take you to the hospital, Jianjian."
Mu Jianjian hesitated for a moment, then suddenly grabbed the popsicle from Tang Ruan's hand and took a big bite.
It tastes sweet and cool... Is this a dream?
Tang Ruan stared silently at the last wooden stick in her hand, veins bulging on her forehead. "If you want to eat, why don't you buy some yourself? Coming here to lick mine is disgusting."
Although she said that, she didn't show the slightest disgust on her face.
"But seriously, are you really alright?"
“No,” Mu Jianjian said softly, “Let’s go to the haunted house.”
She looked up and saw the other person taking her hand, and tried to erase the strange feeling in her heart.
This is Tang Ruan's personality... What's wrong with her?
——
Inside the cave, the little white flower still blooms swaying in the corner. Its snow-white petals stand out starkly against the blood-red soil beneath its roots.
A moment later, "Mu Jianjian" slowly opened her eyes. She first looked around curiously, then calmed down, reached out her hand to look at the small water droplets condensed in the air, and slowly curled her lips.
She was more vigilant than the cultivators she had previously invaded, but that was all.
"Yueyue," Mu Jianjian smiled and slowly walked to Sang Wanyue's side, "I can sense that the fragrance is coming from there. Shall we go and take a look?"
She raised her hand, pointed her index finger at the dark cave entrance not far away, and as she took a step, the little white flower in the corner behind her swayed and followed, its stem growing much longer.
Sang Wanyue glanced at the girl behind her, pondered for a moment, and then nodded, "Okay."
"Mu Jianjian" continued, "We don't yet know how many enemies are here. Now that they've captured a cultivator, they probably won't launch another attack anytime soon. We can leave one person behind to spread our divine sense and keep watch on our surroundings—"
“That way, we won’t have to expend our mental energy together,” she said, watching Sang Wanyue dispel the Xuan Shuang Technique, and the water droplets in the air disappear as well. Her eyes narrowed, and she had a satisfied expression on her face. “If you all trust me, I can go ahead and scout the way.”
“Let me do it,” Ye Wuluo glanced at her with her peach blossom eyes, a few wisps of breeze flowing from the gilded fan as it reached towards the darkness. “My secret technique is more suitable for this.”
——
"It's getting windy overhead."
Mu Jianjian looked up at the gentle breeze flowing overhead and spoke.
“This is a haunted house, not a closed room, of course it’s windy,” Tang Ruan found it amusing. “You’re not just making excuses because you’re scared, are you? That won’t do. Now that you’re here, you’re not leaving!”
"Why would I be scared?" Mu Jianjian muttered, glanced at the sign held by the staff member next to her, and followed forward.
She hadn't been afraid in a long time.
The idea came suddenly, yet it was so resolute.
Tang Ruan laughed and took her arm as they walked forward. "It's good that you're not afraid. I'm just afraid that you'll be scared out of your wits once you go in."
The haunted house uses dim lighting to create a terrifying atmosphere, with only a few corners marked by lights. The dark green lampshades, the bright red handprints on the glass walls, and the eerie background music can all send a chill down your spine at any moment.
“A red palm print…” Mu Jianjian murmured, when suddenly, a strange sound rang in her mind.
"bite--"
"There are flowers in the haunted house?"
She turned her head at the sound and stared blankly at Tang Ruan, who was fiddling with a white porcelain bottle in the corner.
On an inconspicuous little table in the house, a small porcelain vase the size of a palm held a tiny flower, which looked extremely strange under the green light.
"Is this a lily or some other flower? I don't think I've ever seen it before," Tang Ruan said, resting her chin on her hand. "Speaking of which, it's really incongruous to put such beautiful flowers in a haunted house."
Just as Mu Jianjian was about to delve into her thoughts, a "ding" sounded in her mind, interrupting her train of thought.
"Perhaps the staff forgot to take it when they were organizing it," she explained softly.
Tang Ruan put down the flowers in her hand and stared at her suspiciously. "Usually you would join me in complaining at this time... What's wrong with you today?"
Yeah, what's wrong with her today?
Why do strange sounds keep coming from my head...?
In a daze, Mu Jianjian saw the other person walk up to her and touch her forehead. "Were you working too late and too tired yesterday?"
"……work overtime?"
Such unfamiliar words.
"Sigh, I can tell from your expression it's the same again," Tang Ruan said helplessly. "You're always like this, setting goals for yourself and then working your butt off to achieve them, to the point that you forget to rest. But your health is the most important thing, don't act like you don't care!"
Mu Jianjian's nose tingled with emotion.
Yes, she worked hard to support herself while studying, then worked overtime relentlessly after graduation, and threw herself back into studying whenever she had free time...
Because she had no one to rely on, but now it's different.
She now has—
"bite--"
Mu Jianjian's eyes suddenly became sharp and firm. As the voice rang out again, she quickly reached out and tore the small white flower from the white bottle in front of her and crushed it.
The attack was so swift that even the white porcelain bottle wasn't spared; with a loud crash, the bottle shattered into several pieces on the ground.
"Ah!" Tang Ruan screamed, covering her face with her hands. "What are you doing? Damaging public property is punishable by a fine!"
"My hand slipped." Mu Jianjian lowered her eyes, not taking it to heart.
"You broke it yourself, so you have to pay for it yourself. It's ridiculous," Tang Ruan said speechlessly. "We'll tell the staff as soon as we leave."
She even slipped and fell; the way she did it just now almost made me think she was going to smash the vase and kill its owner as well.
"Let's keep going." Mu Jianjian raised her eyes and glanced indifferently at the passageway covered by black curtains.
"What's with that cold, arrogant tone of yours?" Tang Ruan's complaints never stopped, but she obediently followed her forward. "Anyone who didn't know better would think that porcelain vase offended you. What did it owe you? Little Flower is a life too..."
Mu Jianjian: ...
How come this fake Tang Ruan has the exact same personality as the real Tang Ruan?
——
"Sister, why did you stop?" Linghu Zhuoyu looked through the veil at the girl who had suddenly stopped in front of her.
The passageway was dimly lit, and the girl was completely enveloped in darkness. Countless flower buds quietly sprouted from the cracks in the stones at her feet, curling up and moving closer to her legs.
"Yu Yu, it's alright." "Mu Jianjian" turned around, reassuring him with a smile, and then turned to follow Sang Wanyue's footsteps.
When no one was watching, she rolled her eyes and kicked away a pebble at her feet.
What the heck...
They removed the osmanthus flowers she had arranged...
Mu Jianjian mobilized the scene in the lower realm and found that the other party had accidentally slipped. She then materialized her spiritual power and placed an ancient orchid medium in the scene again.
After much deliberation, I decided to add another medium to the boundary as a precaution.
She won't be foolish enough to be thrown back to the Upper Realm like Bian Yi!
It's a disgrace to lose a fight with such a secret technique.
Feeling disgusted with Bian Yi, "Mu Jianjian" raised her voice and waved to Ye Wuluo, who was scouting ahead, saying, "It's been a long time, you should rest for a while, let me take over."
——
The strange background music still echoed in the room. After walking through three rooms, Mu Jianjian suddenly stopped. "I want to go back and take another look."
"Go back where?" Tang Ruan asked.
"The original room." Mu Jianjian turned around and walked back, ignoring the shouts behind her. The mechanical monsters that suddenly appeared around her did not frighten her; on the contrary, they made her aura more composed.
"Waaaaah, I was so scared!" Tang Ruan was grabbed by a skeletal hand that suddenly emerged from the iron cage, nearly fainting from fright. Seeing the hand walk away, she immediately followed, "Why were you in such a hurry..."
She was about to say a few more words when she saw Mu Jianjian suddenly stop, almost bumping into her back.
"What's wrong?" Tang Ruan peeked out from behind her, only to find that the porcelain vase that had been smashed on the ground was gone, but a new porcelain vase with white flowers had been placed on the table. "Are the staff this quick...?"
She muttered to herself.
"Not a staff member." Mu Jianjian's voice gradually turned cold.
She is well aware of her current situation.
She was imprisoned in a place that resembled an "other world," but could this "other world" really recreate the scenes of the 21st century and portray her friend's personality so similarly?
She believes more that this is a consciousness space at the spiritual level than an "other world".
Recalling what the woman in pink had said about "the monk who smells flowers," it's likely that the small white flower in front of her was the spiritual medium used by that monk.
She looked down at her hands, trying to activate her inner energy, but found them powerless. All her secret techniques, magical artifacts, and spatial abilities had vanished; it was as if transmigrating into a book was a distant dream.
Besides the bottle and flowers that reappear.
“If I were to fall into a predicament where all the initiative was in someone else’s hands,” Mu Jianjian said with a smile, looking at Tang Ruan who looked puzzled. “What do you think I should do?”
"Huh?" Tang Ruan leaned closer, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Of course, we should fight to the death and strike hard. Otherwise, boiling a frog in lukewarm water will only make it more and more foolish, and it doesn't suit your personality either."
Mu Jianjian nodded vigorously in response, then reached for the pristine white paper on the table and gently pinched it, breaking it in two.
Did that person notice the abnormality of her awakening?
If we follow the thinking of ordinary people, if one were to awaken, one would definitely consider all the possibilities and thoroughly investigate every place one could go, finding all the white flowers before making a decision.
But how much time and opportunity would that consume? The size of the space, the number of white flowers, and the state of the real world were all unknowns, and she was unwilling to take the gamble.
Since the enemy is lurking in the shadows, she is determined to find him.
"Snap—"
Feeling the mental medium in her mind being cut off again, "Mu Jianjian" was stunned, and then heard a cold voice coming from her mind.
"I don't care who you are, come here."
His tone was domineering, even disdainful and arrogant.
After a moment of stunned silence, Mu Jianjian slightly parted her lips, licked the corner of her lips, and showed excitement in her eyes. She then used her mental power to convey her meaning.
"My dear Jianjian, are you trying to provoke me?"
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