Chapter 141

Chapter 141: Rescue

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“Is it freedom, or a new hell?”

The girl leaned against the cold wall and chuckled softly.

She felt the shackles locked around her wrists, where the skin had already been worn raw. Just a slight movement would send sharp pain shooting through.

But this pain had long become a habit.

She was nothing more than meat on a chopping block, the power of choice wasn’t in her hands at all.

She had once hoped for a savior too. When she was first imprisoned here, she would always cling to that small window that let in light, hoping.

Hoping that someone would come to rescue her.

But those hopes were like sand in her palm, the tighter she gripped, the faster they slipped away. In the end, her heart was filled with nothing but disappointment.

She knew it was her physique that had caused this trouble.

An innocent man suffers for possessing a treasure. Without the strength to protect herself, she could only be treated as merchandise, traded at will.

If not for her young age, she probably would have been devoured long ago…

“Who goes there?”

Sure enough, the subtle disturbance from the formation just now had alerted the masked figure.

The next second, the sound of a blade being drawn pierced the air, followed immediately by a bone-chilling killing intent rushing forth.

Lin Muyu, who was still outside the room, also sensed this murderous aura.

“Oh, quite a formidable character. Xiaotao, throw him into the reality layer!”

With the crisp female voice, the masked figure who had been radiating killing intent just moments ago vanished without a trace.

The masked demonic puppet that returned to the reality layer immediately froze, its mechanical head turning left and right twice.

He swung the sword in his hand, looking at the empty surroundings, and roared:

“Where is everyone?”

“Intermediate formations really are impressive!”

Lin Muyu nodded in agreement.

That masked figure’s cultivation was unfathomable. Having just recently achieved Foundation Establishment, if she were to face him head-on, she probably really wouldn’t be able to win.

Fortunately, Xiaotao had successfully seized control of the formation.

【Intermediate Formation – Reality Layer

Formation Creator: Unknown (Controller has been changed to Xiaotao)

Creates a reality space within the illusory realm, independent of and parallel to the illusory realm】

What Lin Muyu had just done was to first move the people from the reality layer out.

As a result, a cold and sinister killing intent was seeping through the door cracks to the outside.

Lin Muyu reacted quickly, directly throwing the source of the killing intent back into the reality layer.

The entire process was extremely fast and clean.

Only after the killing intent had completely dissipated did Lin Muyu breathe a sigh of relief and quickly walk into the room.

“Who are you?”

A hoarse voice suddenly emerged from the corner of the wall, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

Lin Muyu turned her head toward the sound, her gaze falling on the corner where a frail girl was huddled, looking quite young.

Her appearance was delicate, and even at such a young age, one could tell she would grow into a beauty.

However, her eyes were somewhat strange, her pupils were gray and cloudy, as if covered by a thick layer of fog, without any brightness.

Thick chains wrapped around her wrists and ankles, and where her flesh met the metal, the skin had long been rubbed raw and bloody.

Lin Muyu stared at those bloody marks for two seconds, and an inexplicable sour pain welled up in her heart.

How could such a small child be locked in such a dark place, suffering like this?

“I’m here to rescue you.”

Lin Muyu walked over with light steps, her voice gentle and soothing.

She didn’t immediately explain her relationship with Xiaoyun because time was pressing, the formation creator could return at any moment.

She had to rescue the girl first.

“Rescue me?”

The girl suddenly raised her head, confusion filling her small face.

Hearing those words, she was stunned, with unknown emotions surging in her heart.

“Why would you rescue me?”

This time, the girl’s voice carried obvious trembling.

“Do I need a reason to rescue you?”

Lin Muyu’s tone was calm, but she was already observing how to rescue the girl.

The girl didn’t speak again, her mind racing rapidly.

‘Should I trust her?’

This thought spun around in her mind several times.

Staying here would mean future suffering, but for now she could still survive a little longer.

Following this person, if she turned out to be another buyer, or if this was a deliberately set trap, then she might not even see tomorrow’s sun.

But… but it seemed she didn’t really have the right to choose.

Just as the girl was struggling with indecision, Lin Muyu had already taken action first.

She took a deep breath, quietly gathering her Foundation Establishment stage spiritual power in her palm, grasped both ends of the chain with her hands, and exerted force with her arms, trying to pry them apart.

As she used her full strength, the chain remained completely motionless, without the slightest sign of breaking.

“What the hell, what kind of metal is this? How is it so hard?”

Lin Muyu couldn’t help but complain, her small face turning red from exertion, with a small bead of sweat hanging on the tip of her nose.

Logically speaking, having reached Foundation Establishment, how could she possibly be unable to break open an iron chain?

It seemed the material was very special indeed.

The girl sensed the commotion around her and the corner of her mouth twitched.

“This person… seems a bit silly?”

Confirming that she really couldn’t break the chains with her bare hands, Lin Muyu hurriedly pulled out a transparent crystal rod.

“Since I can’t break it apart, let’s see if I can split it open?”

Lin Muyu muttered to herself.

“Xiaomu, basic transformation, bind to longsword!”

As her words fell, the crystal rod instantly burst forth with colorful rays of light, blindingly bright in the dim room.

The light gradually faded, and Lin Muyu now held a colorful crystal sword in her hands.

Colorful light flowed along the blade, beautiful and mesmerizing.

Lin Muyu had no time to appreciate whether the sword looked good or not. She gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, carefully adjusted the angle to avoid the girl’s wrists.

Then she slightly raised her arms, lifted the sword, and chopped down at the chains.

“Screech—!”

A piercing metallic scraping sound suddenly exploded.

The girl was startled by the sudden noise and quickly covered her ears, her head buzzing.

Seeing this, Lin Muyu quickly put away her sword and apologized:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know these chains were so hard. Are you alright?”

The girl took quite a while to recover before slowly lowering her hands from her ears, shook her head, her voice still a bit shaky:

“I’m fine, Sister…”

This soft call of “Sister” made Lin Muyu breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed the girl could still accept her.

Pressed for time, she picked up the colorful sword again, gave her wrist a light flick, and was about to chop at the chains again.

Before the girl could finish speaking, she heard the sound of wind being cut and knew Lin Muyu was about to act again. She quickly raised her hand and urgently shouted:

“Wait, Sister! Don’t chop anymore!”

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Muyu’s movement suddenly stopped, the blade stopping just an inch away from the chain. She turned to look at the girl with concern:

“Is the noise still too loud? Should I get you some earplugs?”

“No.”

The girl shook her head and explained:

“If you want to rescue me, why don’t you just dig out the chain’s anchor point from the wall over there? We can take our time unlocking the chains later.”

The girl’s words were like a revelation to Lin Muyu.

She slapped her own forehead and said with sudden understanding:

“Right!”

These chains were made of who knows what material and were ridiculously hard, but this wall was just an ordinary stone wall.

It seemed that haste makes waste, she had actually forgotten such an obvious solution.

With that said, Lin Muyu stood up, raised her sword with both hands, and aimed at the position where the chains were fixed to the base of the wall.

She applied slight force to her wrist, and as soon as the blade touched the rough stone wall, there was a hissing sound.

The seemingly solid stone was actually cut away like tofu.

“I’m going to put you somewhere in a moment, it’s very safe, so don’t be surprised.”

Lin Muyu soothed the girl.

Seeing the girl nod gently, she reached out her hand and lightly touched the girl’s arm with her fingertips.

The next second, the girl disappeared.

The girl only felt her body sway lightly before arriving in an unfamiliar place.

Unlike the cold, gloomy room from before, the air here carried a faint fragrance.

Rich and gentle spiritual energy caressed her skin, feeling very comfortable.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s very safe here. No one can enter. Let me see how to unlock these chains.”

Unlike the voice that had come to rescue her, this voice was even more gentle, possessing a magical power that made her lower her guard.