Chapter 389: Hidden Dragon

The ancient vines and deep forests that no one had set foot in for decades or a hundred years, the steep and towering mountains, the gray and mottled high sky above, and the fine rain like needle hair falling—this was clearly no longer in the mountain belly, not even in the Kongdong Sect... Everything he saw, the mountain shapes were completely strange.

Pei Ye panted violently, not having recovered from the extreme emotions that had just risen and fallen. He looked up weakly and hoarsely: "This is... what place—"

His arm sank abruptly. The woman who had just held her arm and sword tilted powerlessly. Pei Ye's heart shrank and he supported her. Looking over in a panic, the woman's face was as pale as paper, her cold lips without a trace of blood, weak enough to be strange.

"Mi, Miss Ming?"

Ming Qitian seemed to have used a lot of effort to open her eyes, breathing lightly twice before saying in a small voice: "Must keep moving forward... they will chase..."

Pei Ye's heart, which had just relaxed a bit, sank again. He exerted his true energy from his wounded body, however, the woman's body was weak without a trace of strength. He pursed his lips, carried her on his back, used his sword as a staff, gritted his teeth and supported himself, running like a leopard in the forest.

The woman's body was cold and soft. Pei Ye's thin shirt had long been soaked. At this moment, she was pressed tightly against his spine, but what she brought was not the heat of the human body, but the coldness close to autumn water.

This feeling made the youth uneasy and panicked again: "... Miss Ming?"

The woman's body seemed to be getting more and more serious, her head pressing powerlessly on his shoulder, murmuring two weak syllables.

Pei Ye didn't hear clearly: "... What?"

Those syllables were drowned in the running. Pei Ye tilted his cheek toward the woman.

Ming Qitian moved her head toward his ear powerlessly, saying in a small voice: "... Sorry."

"..."

Pei Ye didn't know what to say for a while. The large area of dampness between their bodies—he only hoped it was his own blood. And in the panicked worry, he suddenly remembered one thing: "Miss Ming, don't you still have a pill...?"

The woman on his back was quiet enough to make him panic. It took several breaths before she said in a small voice: "... Waist."

Pei Ye immediately let go of one hand to touch it, taking out a thin jade bottle, and poured out a refined immortal pill.

Relieved heavily, Pei Ye raised his hand toward her left shoulder, but only touched a closed lip.

"Miss Ming, medicine."

The woman pursed her lips and turned away from the pill, saying in a low voice: "... Half each."

"... I'm fine, Miss Ming, just external injuries, still can run and jump."

But the woman just buried her head in his shoulder and neck, not moving at all.

"..." Pei Ye cut the pill into two. A certain miraculousness disappeared instantly, seemingly turning into just healing medicine. He fed half to the woman, and seeing that there was indeed some blood on her pale face, he swallowed the other half himself.

"We are south of Kongdong... still in 'Great Kongdong'...", the woman's light and weak voice came from his left shoulder, "We can't stop here, too close... but we can't keep running... too much activity will expose our whereabouts... best, find a place to hide."

"... How far are we from Kongdong?" Pei Ye panted, using the topic he had pulled from everywhere to soothe his heart: "I remember when I was in Xincang Mountain, Brother Zhu took me to use a similar method... it was over a hundred miles."

"Mm." The woman said in a low voice, "I am not skilled in learning, not that far, I think... it should be sixty or seventy miles."

"... That's quite far."

"Mm."

"And you are faster than him."

"Mm."

Pei Ye opened his mouth twice, but still couldn't suppress the panic in his heart, turning his head again to look at the face hanging on his shoulder: "Miss Ming, do you feel better?"

That half pill entered his mouth, and a vigorous heat surged from the youth's abdomen instantly, and the places where his muscles and bones were broken began to conduct power again... But such a miracle was like a cup of water on a cart of firewood on the woman. Pei Ye actually felt the improvement of her injuries, but it seemed completely unable to save her life. Every time true energy tried to cross over, it was extinguished in an instant.

There seemed to be a storm in the woman's body.

"Much better." Ming Qitian said softly.

"Then why are you..." Pei Ye looked at her drooping eyes, suppressed pain... the touch on his back was still completely cold.

Ming Qitian was silent for a moment, then said softly: "Remember what I told you about the "Gu She Heart Scripture"?"

"I remember."

"Mm... this is my unavoidable death pass." The woman said in a weak, low voice.

The words "death pass" made the youth's heart and lungs clench uncontrollably. But when he looked back and wanted to ask, there was no sound from behind, only a pale face with closed eyes. The woman's heart-spirit seemed to have sunk into the depths.

"..."

Pei Ye pursed his lips and looked back. In the ghostly rain, he ran with all his might without a moment's pause. The youth deeply knew that for a Mystic Gate Yue Que, the distance of sixty or seventy miles was just a short moment. How early or late the opponent arrived only depended on when they found the correct direction.

He pulled the woman out of the prison, just delaying the fate of being soul-taken by the heart-amber, but it never ended, just a short postponement... If Sima and Yi Danjun really caught up, he didn't know what else he could pray for.

And what pressed the youth's heart even more was that the woman was still sliding toward the abyss without a moment's pause. No matter where, no matter if there were no enemies, the mirror cracks that had been broken would only get bigger and bigger. This unstoppable process was even more desperate.

Pei Ye didn't know how long she could hold on. One hour? Or two hours?... It hadn't been a few moments since it was triggered, and the woman was already weak as if dying.

Running out for more than ten miles like this, Pei Ye was vigilant and worried about every fluctuation of the heartbeat on his back and every strange sound between the ancient forests of the Cang Mountains, until suddenly he looked up and saw a deepness flash past on the high cliff from a strange angle.

His footsteps paused.

Pei Ye had run south for nearly ten miles, washed the blood stains in a mountain stream, and then turned back to walk toward a more secluded place. At this time, he had run into a deep valley. The surrounding mountain images were like towering giants, high cliffs and ancient trees, wild owls and chaotic branches, everything was free and without human traces.

Pei Ye stopped and circled several turns to look for the deepness he had just seen, and finally truly saw a black hole opening on the stone wall at the end of the valley, deep and vague under the cover of ancient trees, simply impossible to see where it was.

"... Miss Ming, that seems to be a mountain cave?" Pei Ye panted and asked back.

But there was still no sound.

Pei Ye gritted his teeth, leaped up, hugged the woman tightly and stepped on the treetops, paused for a moment, true energy exploded, and in the rain flying with broken pearls, his person had already darted several feet and climbed into the cave entrance.

————

Kongdong.

The moment the two figures disappeared, the atmosphere in Sword Belly Mountain was like freezing. Ji Changyun turned his eyes with his sword, looking at the remaining two people, his clothes full of cruel wounds created by the fierce battle just now.

Yi Danjun didn't stop for a moment, darting toward the outside of the mountain. The spear energy that hadn't disappeared pulled out a straight line of fire, and then the ancient forest was startled by the wind, and his person fell by the stream, shaking half of the stream water into jumping pearls.

The green clothes were like a real clear wind, drifting down with his sword, the wound on his chest already sealed.

"The blood energy ends here." The cold rain washed the theatrical mask more brilliantly. Sima knelt down and reached his hand into the cold stream, "... They washed away the blood stains here."

This was a simple and effective interception. It was hard for the Mystic Gate to spend more effort. Crossing this stream and moving forward, it was a deeper and more secluded dense forest. To find the traces of the two, one had to expand the scope and slow down the speed.

There were several obvious footprints on the opposite bank of the stream extending into the dense forest, but they soon became shallow and disappeared.

Yi Danjun's golden pupils stared fiercely at the front, about to leap into the high sky again.

But Sima stopped him: "Wait."

The theatrical mask lowered his eyes and looked at the cold stream under his feet: "... Our people said that this youth is nimble and changeable, with a thousand thoughts, and doesn't look like he would be so careless to leave footprints... I think after he washed away the blood stains from this stream, he is very likely to have turned back."

The theatrical mask's gaze looked past the treetops, the ancient forest was continuous, the peaks were high and steep, and in the distance, a very high cliff was hazy in the rain curtain.

Yi Danjun paused temporarily.

Sima looked at this slanting direction, but was silent again: "... But that is a route to cross the mountain, instead it is easy to find..."

He turned his head to look at the few footprints on the opposite bank: "... Since he is nimble, I think he wouldn't design such a shallow misleading..."

He raised his head indifferently: "I think he is still in this direction. Since he left footprints, let's go and see."

He took the lead and leaped with his sword, and Yi Danjun followed closely, darting far across the stream in one leap.

————

Mountain rain continued.

The mountain cave was wider and larger than Pei Ye had imagined, and it was deep and unknown how far it went, and there was even the sound of water gurgling. At this moment, he was worried that he had come to the wrong place—this was not some secret place without people for thousands of years, but a place with a name.

But he had indeed run long enough and couldn't leave more traces.

Putting the pale woman on a huge, smooth rock at the cave entrance, the youth looked at the white dress stained with blood and paused his breath again—he really had never imagined the woman in such a fragile state.

Unable to bear looking closely, he turned around. The cave that blocked the wind and rain gave people an illusion of safety, so his body immediately had an excuse, and the injuries and fatigue of the past few days all surged up at once.

Pei Ye supported himself with his sword and didn't sit down, just standing and leaning lightly against the wall—he knew he had to rest slowly at this time. Once he relaxed completely, he wouldn't be able to get up again.

He roughly sorted out the situation of his body.

Having roughly sorted out the condition of his body, the severe injuries were the most obvious difficulty. Half a portion of spiritual medicine had wiped away the threat to his life, but those bloody punctures still left a fresh, metallic taste of rust in his throat with every breath. His true Qi was almost exhausted; if there were truly bears or tigers in this cave, he was not even confident he could keep the woman safe from their claws and fangs.

Not to mention his state of mind.

The fan of the broken cave would only become more tattered the more it was fanned. After his mind was invaded by the Edict Map, he had failed to seek a secret technique for mental cultivation or find a peaceful realm for quiet recovery. Instead, amidst the repeated, violent fluctuations of his emotions, those dark, sharp tentacles were unscrupulously extending into his depths.

When he was at Sword Belly Mountain, he had even already felt that intent.

Pei Ye looked dazedly at the woman sitting leaning against the stone. His own life had been saved by her from the hands of the Immortal Lord; if he was already beyond saving, at least he must exhaust everything to trade for the woman's survival.

It was just that even though he had indeed obtained a chance to press pause, what could he do now? And how much time did he have left?

His thoughts were chaotic and disorderly. Pei Ye caught his breath slightly and used his sword to prop up his body again. The thin, fine rain had long since soaked through his clothes and hair. Pei Ye subconsciously walked toward the depths of the cave, picking up some withered, dry vines.

After piling them together, he suddenly remembered he could not light a fire, so he took a deep breath, sat down beside Ming Qitian, and used his remaining true Qi to dry her clothes as much as possible.

Just at this moment, the woman finally opened her eyes.

"—Miss Ming?" Pei Ye examined her complexion, somewhat pleasantly surprised to find that the pain between her brows seemed to have vanished.

Ming Qitian raised her eyes and slowly surveyed her surroundings. Her voice was actually much clearer. She adjusted her posture, still leaning against the cave wall and looking outward, appearing calm and elegant: "High winds and fine rain, the landscape is open and vast. This place is very good."

". How are you?"

The woman turned her head back, and there was even some color on her lips. She said peacefully: "Which aspect are you referring to?"

". What do you mean which aspect? You were just unconscious and unresponsive—"

"This aspect is much better." Ming Qitian said, "I have woken up, and I should not fall unconscious again. Being able to speak with you, I can also do some things that ordinary people can do. Your injuries are very heavy; shall I help you bandage them?"

"Then what about the other aspects?"

Ming Qitian lowered her eyes: "The struggle between the Bright Heart and the Gu She has reached the next stage."

". What?"

"I cultivated the 'Gu She Heart Sutra' with the heart of the 【Bright Mirror Ice Mirror】, so when my heart held a different path, the 'Gu She' collapsed within me." Ming Qitian looked at the curtain of rain, "Power began to become uncontrollable, even wounding my own body in return; and in the mind-spirit realm, the Bright Mirror and the Heavenly Heart began a struggle to the death... This is the riotous 'Gu She'."

"Then what about now?"

"Now the chaotic confrontation has ended. The Bright Heart and the Heavenly Heart have completely separated." Ming Qitian said softly, "When they were strangling each other, even though it was painful, I could still use the 'Gu She' through my mind-spirit. Now that they are completely severed, although it is a bit more relaxed... I no longer have any cultivation."

Pei Ye's heart sank, but at the same time, he grasped another kind of hope: "Then, they won't fight anymore?"

Although having one's cultivation base broken was regrettable, if this fall ended here... at least it allowed the woman to preserve her life.

"How is that possible?" Ming Qitian revealed a pale smile and gently lowered her head, "The two armies have just set up their formations; how could they not fight? What follows is the decisive battle."

". What follows?" Pei Ye did not notice that his voice had gone hoarse.

"【Ice and Snow Body】." Ming Qitian said quietly, gently spreading an index finger toward the youth.

Pei Ye froze coldly in place. He suddenly understood what the strangeness he had always felt from the woman was.

It was not the bright red bloodstains or the pale complexion; "fragility" was also just a state that was not abrupt—she had also been truly heavily injured when facing the Immortal Lord.

This strangeness came from countless details that entered his eyes but went unnoticed... dirty hems of clothes, dust-stained fingertips, sweaty foreheads... representing everything about her falling back into being a mortal.

Pei Ye still remembered that after the Fenghuai battle, the woman had appeared before him again with white clothes like clouds without even washing or grooming, and in every meeting thereafter, she had always been as distant and quiet as pale clouds in the high sky.

Now, that innate stability still existed, but the "distance" was gone. She would also get dusty and sweaty; everything that was truly human began to return to this body.

And the consequence that came with it was...

Pei Ye watched the slender, moist finger before him with a tight throat. Starting from the fingertip, half of the knuckle had begun to show cracks like porcelain.

(End of chapter)