CHAPTER 12
"No!" Sheng Qing couldn't help but shout.
Meng Yunxi glanced at Sheng Qing with a strange expression, then resolutely walked into the space where the five lines intersected.
Nothing terrible happened. Meng Yunxi's figure disappeared the moment she stepped in, and a few seconds later, she came out carrying a stone box with intricate patterns on its surface.
Pandora's Box!
A seemingly unrelated word flashed through Sheng Qing's mind, but its appearance in a specific place and at a specific time must have its own specific meaning.
"Don't open it!" Sheng Qing shouted with all his might.
"Why?" Meng Yunxi asked without any hint of doubt, deftly opening the box.
Two red, bead-like objects slowly floated up from the box and finally settled steadily about a body length in front of Meng Yunxi's chest.
"Put it back!" Sheng Qing's tongue seemed to utter incomprehensible words.
Meng Yunxi looked up at the huge statue, then turned her gaze back to the red-glowing bead, her eyes burning with intensity.
Sheng Qing felt an urge to stop him no matter what, otherwise something terrible would happen.
In a daze, I heard a voice in my ear urging me to stop him!
He involuntarily wanted to move his feet, but his body was suppressed by another powerful force, making him unable to move.
Sheng Qing watched helplessly as Meng Yunxi summoned the power of the wood element. In a few breaths, a towering tree grew from the ground, dragging Meng Yunxi and the giant statue all the way upwards.
Using the red light emitted by the beads, Sheng Qing could see from afar that the two red beads were placed into the eye positions of the stone statue's head.
With a click, like the sound of a lock cylinder colliding with a keyhole, something silently revived.
As if waking from a lucid dream, when Sheng Qing came to her senses, Meng Yunxi had already returned to the ground and was standing outside the statue, intently observing the huge statue in the center of the five-pointed star.
Sheng Qing moved his hands and feet, and the force that had been suppressing his movements had disappeared, while another force that had been guiding him to stop Meng Yunxi had also subsided.
"Why do you do this?" Sheng Qing asked from afar.
"It's none of your business." Meng Yunxi was still staring intently at the giant statue, without turning her head.
"Aren't we in the same boat?" Sheng Qing pressed.
"Why can't we do that?" Meng Yunxi finally deigned to turn around and take a look.
"..." Sheng Qing himself couldn't explain it, and was momentarily speechless.
A deafening roar followed.
Meng Yunxi quickly retreated, and even kindly pulled Sheng Qing along, and the two retreated together to the passageway.
The original location of the stone statue began to collapse and crumble from the bottom. Sheng Qing couldn't tell whether the goddess statue started to break first, or the huge stone statue, or both at the same time.
Sheng Qing didn't know why she was so concerned about the order of the collapse, yet she truly felt something being released, but she couldn't verify its falsehood.
Sheng Qing felt that Meng Yunxi was still holding his hand tightly, and even seemed to be tightening her grip.
What was he doing? Sheng Qing could almost feel Meng Yunxi's rapid breathing brushing against his neck.
She couldn't help but turn back, only to see him maintaining a reasonable distance, his face expressionless as he gazed at the collapsing stone statue in the distance. "Let's leave quickly," Meng Yunxi said, her voice slightly hoarse, as she released her grip.
Sheng Qing found Meng Yunxi's behavior quite strange, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Recalling her own earlier actions, she realized she hadn't fared much better. Thinking this, she slowed her pace.
"You don't think this place is an impenetrable fortress that won't collapse, do you?" Seeing that Sheng Qing hadn't caught up for a long time, Meng Yunxi's tone was a little impatient.
"Coming right away!" Before Sheng Qing could quicken his pace, a loud roar reached his ears, and the rubble on the ceiling cracked and fell down.
In the blink of an eye, Meng Yunxi flicked her fingers and quickly made a hand seal. A gray square object appeared out of thin air, separating the rubble from the two of them.
What kind of elemental power is this? Is it earth? Do I need to use a spell?
Sheng Qing looked down at her hands and couldn't help but sigh, realizing that she, being clumsy, would probably never learn. She tentatively poked at them again; they were very hard and solid. This was practically a ready-made impenetrable wall! She cast an envious and admiring glance at Meng Yunxi.
"You don't need to get so close." Meng Yunxi frowned slightly and awkwardly moved her feet to the side.
"Hmm?" Sheng Qing glanced at the distance between the two. How was it close? Just as she was about to refute, she caught a glimpse of Meng Yunxi's strange expression, as if she couldn't control herself and quietly took a deep breath.
"What's wrong with you?" Sheng Qing took a step back and looked at Meng Yunxi curiously.
"The smell on you..." Meng Yunxi hesitated, her body involuntarily wanting to lean closer to Sheng Qing. But she quickly controlled herself, turning her face away from Sheng Qing.
"Huh?" Sheng Qing reflexively raised her hand and sniffed again, but still no strange smell. "Could it be that you can smell the fragrance they were talking about?"
Meng Yunxi nodded slightly without saying a word.
"Why is this happening?" Sheng Qing recalled Meng Yunxi's strange behavior, and a terrible guess surfaced in his mind: Could it be that she was possessed by it?
"Are you really Meng Yunxi?" As he asked, Sheng Qing took a few steps back without making a sound, about to bump into the wall.
"Nonsense." Meng Yunxi said unhappily, glancing at him quickly. "Are you afraid I'll eat you up because you're so far away?"
Sheng Qing revealed his guesses one by one, and Meng Yunxi laughed instead of getting angry.
"Your actions clearly resemble...?" Sheng Qing retorted with dissatisfaction, "Otherwise, why would I suddenly smell something strange?"
"It doesn't taste strange, it smells good," Meng Yunxi corrected earnestly.
"What's the difference? In any case, it's a smell that only monsters can detect." Sheng Qing stared warily at Meng Yunxi.
"Knowing too much won't do you any good." Meng Yunxi's expression was gloomy. After a pause, she added, "This is only temporary. I won't do anything to you."
Sheng Qing remained wary, keeping a safe distance from the wall. But then she heard something strange behind her; the wall seemed to come alive and was moving towards her.
"What's going on?" Sheng Qing turned around and back in a panic, but then suddenly remembered that he couldn't get too close to Meng Yunxi, so he stopped in his tracks.
"Why is the wall moving? What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. You don't think I'm omnipotent, able to continuously support this thing, do you?" Meng Yunxi raised her chin, gesturing for Sheng Qing to look up.
Sure enough, not only were the walls on all four sides shrinking, but the walls overhead were shrinking as well.
"What exactly is going on? This instance is..." Sheng Qing felt that the term "instance" was a bit inappropriate, so he changed his wording. "Have we already broken through the secret realm?"
“Theoretically speaking, yes.” As she spoke, Meng Yunxi moved closer to Sheng Qing. “Are you just going to stand there and watch? Didn’t your teacher teach you how to use the power of earth element?”
"If I said I forgot, would you believe me?" Sheng Qing glanced at Meng Yunxi guiltily, then awkwardly tried to make amends, "I see you're quite skilled at using it, why don't you teach me?"
"You..." Seemingly angered, Meng Yunxi was speechless for a moment.
On one hand, he had to concentrate on keeping the space from collapsing, and on the other hand, he had to resist the temptation of the strange fragrance in the confined space. Now, he also had to teach him how to use earth elements? Meng Yunxi's expression visibly turned ashen.
Sheng Qing also felt sorry for him, being forced by the ever-shrinking wall. Seeing the two getting closer and closer, he didn't dare to urge him on.
Apart from the sound of gravel hitting the outside of the space, there was only an eerie silence.
The sound of footsteps, which forced them to move towards the center, woke the two. However, the space after the top was lowered was no longer large enough for an adult to stand, so the two had to squat on the ground. Meng Yunxi gave up.
"Follow me and learn." Meng Yunxi's voice was devoid of emotion, and she spoke in a strange and unfamiliar tone while her hands moved incessantly.
What are you babbling about? To Sheng Qing, it seemed even harder to understand than the Wenzhou dialect.
"Slow down, say it again." Sheng Qing tried his best to repeat it several more times, and judging from Meng Yunxi's expression, she seemed quite satisfied.
But the reputation of being clumsy isn't just for show; I still haven't mastered those few techniques. Either my movements aren't standard, the order is wrong, or I simply omit a certain movement.
"Follow me step by step, don't rush." Meng Yunxi even had the energy to comfort him.
How could I not be anxious? Sheng Qing glanced at the gap between the two of them, which was only a dozen centimeters. It is said that the normal social distance is more than 45 centimeters, and the current situation is obviously very abnormal.
"That's not the right posture." Meng Yunxi couldn't help but reach out and straighten it. "It has to be like this."
This is bad!
Before their fingertips even touched, they were propelled together by an unknown force, like the positive and negative poles of a magnet meeting and becoming tightly intertwined.
"You forgot?" Sheng Qing asked, rather embarrassed. "The situation with the twin siblings."
Meng Yunxi's expression wasn't much better; it was clear he was still struggling.
The space was much more spacious, but the two of them couldn't help but move closer to each other.
"Think of something quickly!" Sheng Qing urged anxiously as the two were about to get close.
"I was just thinking about it." It seemed that saying those three words had already exhausted all her strength. Meng Yunxi tried to move away by turning to the side, but it backfired.
Sheng Qing closed his eyes in frustration. Oh well, it's just a little sticker, it's not like we've never done it before.
He opened his eyes and glanced at Meng Yunxi again, and a thought struck him: it wasn't a complete loss.
So I stopped resisting, relaxed, and let my body get closer and press against mine.
Huh? The inexplicable attraction between the two has vanished.
"What did you do?" The two, realizing what had happened, simultaneously released their bodies from each other and asked in unison.
"I didn't do anything." The same unspoken answer.
"Can you still smell my scent?" Sheng Qing asked tentatively.
"It's okay," Meng Yunxi said, sniffing carefully, "but the flavor is a bit weak."
Sheng Qing closed his eyes and carefully sensed it. The power in his body did not dissipate as quickly as last time. As his thoughts drifted, the invisible power flowing in his body seemed to be somewhat obedient.
"Shall I give it a try?" Before Meng Yunxi could answer, Sheng Qing took her arm.
The owner of the arm was slightly stiff, but after a while, the tense muscles relaxed.
At first, she could indeed feel a strange attraction, but when Sheng Qing focused her attention and let her mind wander, closing her eyes and imagining it like turning on a faucet, the attraction between them gradually dissipated.
"Can you still smell it?" Sheng Qing asked with a hint of joy.
Meng Yunxi's eyes flashed with doubt, and she shook her head.
"I've found a way." Sheng Qing smiled smugly, "I'll never be forced into this situation again..." He was too embarrassed to say the rest.
Sheng Qing actually wanted to try again, since practice makes perfect. But the other person was, after all, an adult of the opposite sex, and too much physical contact would be inconvenient, so she had to give up.
Sheng Qing's thoughts were jumping around, his imagination running wild, and the spacious room seemed particularly narrow.
The atmosphere suddenly became a little strange.
"Are you still going to study?" After a long pause, Meng Yunxi asked calmly.
"What?" Sheng Qing's wandering consciousness was pulled back, and she was stunned for a moment before she reacted. "You mean that technique? Learn it, learn it, learn it!"
Meng Yunxi patiently and slowly performed the incantation once, refraining from rashly attempting to do anything Sheng Qing didn't do well.
Perhaps it was because her mind was calmer, or perhaps it was because she no longer felt that pressure, but Sheng Qing followed along two or three times and actually managed to do it quite well.
"It's done!" Sheng Qing raised an eyebrow, adopting a nonchalant expression, and the cramped space visibly felt more spacious.
In Meng Yunxi's eyes, this was clearly a smug smile, a man wildly demanding a reward.
Normally, he would have nitpicked and made sarcastic remarks, but for some reason, he blurted out, "Not bad!"
Just as the atmosphere was about to become harmonious, a huge impact, like an avalanche, suddenly came from all directions.
Before losing consciousness, Sheng Qing only saw this space rapidly shrinking and Meng Yunxi's astonished expression as she protected him.
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