Chapter 83

Xu Chen was panting heavily, the Yuan Qi in his dantian depleting as fast as a bursting dam; in an instant, the Yuan Qi replenished by one Great Origin Pill was completely exhausted, and he had no choice but to take out the Jade Bottle again, pour out a Great Origin Pill, stuff it into his mouth, and after a moment's thought, thrust the Jade Bottle into the hands of the woman in black, saying:

"My cultivation is insufficient, and my Yuan Qi cannot sustain me for long. For now, I can only rely on pills to replenish it. You hold the pill bottle, and when I give the order, take one out and feed it to me!"

"Alright!" The woman in black grabbed the Jade Bottle tightly, appearing extremely flustered.

Xu Chen circulated his cultivation technique to refine it for a few breaths, feeling the Great Origin Pill begin to transform into Yuan Qi and surge into his meridians and dantian, only then gathering his strength to control his Flying Sword and continue hacking his way out.

"Boom—"

After another few dozen feet, Xu Chen delivered a heavy blow, severing a leg off a spider the size of a zhang, and feeling his Yuan Qi failing, he called out for a pill; the woman in black hurriedly and clumsily opened the Jade Bottle to pour out a Great Origin Pill, fumbling around Xu Chen's face, nostrils, and eyes before finally stuffing it into his mouth.

By this time, this large spider had been thoroughly enraged, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws as it sprayed strands of black silk to shroud Xu Chen.

Xu Chen could not care about the hands fumbling on his face; feeling the pill enter his mouth, he swallowed it quickly, then gritted his teeth and circulated his cultivation technique at top speed, dodging and weaving through the rift passageway while controlling his Flying Sword to launch a storm-like attack against the giant spider.

The woman in black was both ashamed and anxious, but she dared not speak.

Because her finger was being tightly bitten by Xu Chen, and the pain made tears well up in her eyes.

Although her body was aching everywhere, having her finger held and bitten in the mouth of a strange man caused a sensitivity that directly disrupted her mind, leaving even her Soul in a state of chaos.

The Dao heart she had spent ten years stabilizing completely collapsed at this moment, and her cultivation realm was as good as zero; her aura was so chaotic that her whole body felt weak and numb, and her blood surged within her body like a roaring tide.

The Soul Beast before them was a very formidable type among these spiders, and they were few in number; this was also the first time Xu Chen had faced one head-on.

In terms of strength, it had reached at least the mid-stage of a First Stage Demon Beast, which posed no great pressure to him, whereas those smaller and more numerous ones were only at the early stage of the First Stage.

If these Soul Beasts were placed outside, they would be completely vulnerable, especially before two Zhenyuan Realm cultivators of the Yuqing Hall, who could cut through a whole group like chopping melons and vegetables.

But deep in this Black Wind Rift, where Divine Sense was strongly suppressed and the Soul was eroded and disturbed by black mist, even those in the Zhenyuan Realm would be like blind men unable to exert their full strength, and thus, forced into a defensive position, they could only flee in a sorry state.

And among them, those Soul Beasts that reached the strength of the Zhenyuan Realm had almost no possibility of being defeated here; at most, one could only wound them.

Therefore, after the man in green and the woman in black entered, aside from joining forces to kill more than ten weak, small Soul Beasts on the outskirts at the very beginning, they had gained almost nothing after entering a two-mile radius, and after getting lost and separated, the situation became even worse; every time a Soul Beast appeared, they were bound to be injured.

However, Xu Chen's situation was different; he was not suppressed by Divine Sense inside, which was not much different from being outside. The only issues were that the terrain was too complex, and most helplessly, his cultivation was too low and his Yuan Qi insufficient, making it impossible to release powerful Magic Spells. His First Stage Flying Sword did not have much lethality; it was fine for killing ordinary Soul Beasts, but it was very strenuous when encountering Soul Beasts of truly equal strength.

Therefore, just for this large spider, Xu Chen spent a full cup of tea's time, finally piercing through its head with his sword when his Yuan Qi was about to be exhausted.

Watching the large spider's body collapse and dissipate into black mist, leaving behind a thumb-sized Soul Bead on the ground, Xu Chen panted for a moment before grabbing the Soul Bead and stuffing it into his Storage Bag.

However, he still dared not stop to rest.

Because within the range of his Divine Sense, he could still see many spiders crawling from the crisscrossing rift caves, and among them, there were at least two more of this huge size.

And at the edge of Xu Chen's weak Divine Sense, he seemed to be able to feel a cold, obscure, and powerful aura; that was the most terrifying existence among this group of Soul Beasts.

But fortunately, this most powerful Soul Beast seemed to have stayed in place the whole time, never moving from beginning to end; he did not know if it looked down on him or was waiting for a better opportunity.

"Pill!"

As Xu Chen spoke, he felt something still in his mouth; he loosened his teeth and discovered it was the finger of the woman in black, which had been bitten white and was still bleeding.

"…What the hell did I do?"

Xu Chen was momentarily stunned.

"You, you taking pills like this will cause your meridians to be unable to bear it!" The woman in black withdrew her finger, her voice trembling.

Xu Chen cast aside the messy thoughts in his heart and shook his head, saying: "What other way is there? To survive right now, this is the only way. Otherwise, we will both die here today. In this pitch-black darkness, if we die, we'll be a pair of ill-fated ghosts and won't be lonely. In the next life, don't be so stubborn, or you'll die even faster!"

The woman in black was both angry and furious; she struggled a few times but soon quieted down, saying softly: "Actually, I have a bottle of Spirit Liquid in my Storage Bag, but my Yuan Qi is currently scattered and I cannot circulate my Divine Sense..."

Xu Chen was overjoyed upon hearing this and said: "No matter, I can help you open it."

The woman in black shook her head and said: "It won't work; it requires the Soul Lock Magic Spell unique to my Yuqing Hall to open it..."

However, before her voice had faded, Xu Chen's Divine Sense had already probed into her Storage Bag, and seeing a Soul Locking Array composed of no more than three layers of Ancient Rune, his heart could not help but relax slightly. He poured his Divine Sense into the Array with all his might, pushing the Ancient Rune rings to begin spinning rapidly.

The colorful Ancient Runes turned into flying wheels that were completely invisible to Divine Sense under the blue light, spinning rapidly at a speed of hundreds of times per breath. In no more than seven or eight breaths, only a few slight 'click-click-click' sounds were heard, and the blue light penetrated the Array to reach the center; the Soul Locking Array collapsed and disintegrated inward, and countless items suddenly floated densely in the pitch-black space.

Pill bottles, Spirit Material, Magic Treasure, Spirit Talisman, Spirit Medicine, Spirit Box, Jade Bottle, skirts, combs, hair ties, dudous, small panties...

Xu Chen was instantly dazzled, his eyes blurred by the treasures flashing with spirit light, and he could not help but swallow his saliva and ask: "There are so many things in here, which one is the Spirit Liquid?"

The woman in black was startled and asked in surprise: "You, you opened it?"

"Yes!" Xu Chen nodded.

"Then, what did you see in there?" The woman in black still did not believe him.

"I saw everything: combs, Copper Mirror, black skirt, red hair tie, and a chest binder with lotus flowers painted on it, white silk small panties with red strings..."

"You..." The woman in black was instantly ashamed and anxious again, but she no longer doubted that Xu Chen was lying, because what he said was indeed the clothing she carried with her.

"Don't be angry, I just want to get out alive. I'm not interested in anything else; just tell me which one is the Spirit Liquid!" Xu Chen urged.

"That, that smallest emerald green Jade Bottle is it..." The woman in black's ears turned bright red, her voice humming like a mosquito.

"Alright, found it!"

With a movement of Xu Chen's Divine Sense, a three-inch-sized emerald green Jade Bottle appeared in his hand out of thin air. He opened it, and sure enough, a rich Spirit Qi rushed toward his face; just by sniffing it lightly, he immediately felt a fresh Yuan Qi pass through his internal organs and go straight into his dantian.

"Yuqing Hall is indeed wealthy; you even carry such good things when you go out. It seems we won't die here today!"

Xu Chen sighed, tilted his head to pour a drop into his mouth, put the cap back on, and thrust it into the hands of the woman in black, saying: "Hold onto this; when I can't hold on later, feed me a drop!"

"Alright..." The woman in black grabbed the Jade Bottle, her whole body trembling, not knowing if it was from excitement or anger.

Of course, Xu Chen had no energy to talk to her at this moment; with a drop of Spirit Liquid in his stomach, he was instantly full of Yuan Qi, so he brandished his Flying Sword and hacked his way out again.

But just at this moment, that terrifying aura that had been dormant for a long time seemed to be startled by the aura emitted by the Spirit Liquid and began to move in the direction Xu Chen was heading.

Xu Chen's powerful Divine Sense naturally felt the change in the situation, and after rapidly killing a few small spiders, he ran wildly to the side, but his speed was far from catching up with the speed of this Soul Beast; he went left, the Soul Beast went left, he went right, the Soul Beast went right. Half a stick of incense later, he rushed into a huge and empty cave.

And after entering, he swept his Divine Sense, and his hair instantly stood on end.

Within a range of nearly forty zhang of Divine Sense, there were clusters of spider webs hanging everywhere, and in each cluster of spider webs, a basin-sized insect egg was suspended; the entire cave was a huge spider nest, and in addition, a large number of spiders of various sizes were rapidly crawling from all directions, trapping the two of them in the middle like a tide.

The Black Wind converged into a huge black vortex in the center of the cave, and the center of the vortex seemed bottomless, with a faint red light flickering, as if it were a terrifying giant eye.

Xu Chen's face turned bitter as he said: "It seems we are going to die here today!"

Although the woman in black still could not see with her Divine Sense, with the light of the pearl and the faint red light, she could still vaguely see the surrounding area of more than ten zhang; she was also frightened into a stiff posture, her hands trembling violently.

A cold and terrifying aura slowly pressed in from behind.

Xu Chen carried the woman in black on his back, stepping toward the center of the cave step by step, his Flying Sword flying in the air around his body, releasing a sharp momentum, but under the encirclement of this huge cave and the dense spiders, it was as weak as a firefly.

"I, I still have two Spirit Talismans in my Storage Bag..."

"It's too late!"

Xu Chen took a deep breath.

Before the words had even faded, a terrifying aura swept over them like a tidal wave.

Xu Chen felt his Divine Sense instantly shattered into pieces; before his Soul could steady itself amidst the frantic tremors, he saw a black light erupt from the alleyway, transforming into clouds and mist that filled the sky, which, strand by strand, turned out to be a spiderweb dozens of feet wide, descending to cover them both from above.

The woman on his back let out a muffled groan and spat out a mouthful of blood, drenching Xu Chen's neck; the sliver of vital energy she had managed to gather and recover earlier collapsed instantly, and her head slumped heavily against the back of Xu Chen's head, falling silent.

Xu Chen also let out a muffled groan, his vision going black from the impact as he nearly face-planted into the ground.

Yet, at this moment of life and death, he poured all his Divine Sense into the Jade Bottle within his Sea of Consciousness, frantically communicating with the Jade Bead, and received a faint feedback of consciousness—it was the two words: Jade Tablet.

(End of chapter)