Shadows loomed before her eyes, flickering indistinctly, as if she had entered some unknown realm. In her dazed state, Li Fei seemed to see her long-absent Master. He was still wearing that old patched robe with a wine gourd slung across his back. Despite his shabby appearance, he insisted on putting on that otherworldly air.
"Master!" Her heart leaped with joy as she rushed to him, complaining, "Why did you suddenly abandon me and run off alone?"
The Master smiled at her and suddenly reached out to pat her head. "Xiao Bangchui, have you found your senior brother yet?"
Li Fei's heart skipped a beat—that's right, she needed to find her senior brother. That was why she had entered the Academy in the first place. But no matter who she asked, no one seemed to know him. The world of Celestials was far vaster than she had imagined. How much longer would she have to search?
"Soon, I'll hurry! Master, you have to wait for me!" she pleaded urgently.
The Master pinched her rosy cheek. "Who said I wanted you to find me? I spend my days drinking and enjoying life—carefree as can be! Having you around is nothing but trouble! Once you find your senior brother, you can dump this hot potato on him! Haha, then I'll be free at last."
With that, he turned to leave. Li Fei hurried after him. "Master, wait! I—I still want to talk to you!"
But his figure gradually faded into the distance, only raising a hand in farewell. "You're a good kid. Take care of yourself."
No matter how hard she ran, she couldn't catch up to his hunched back. Overwhelmed, she burst into tears. The scalding tears fell on her cheeks, and her skin began melting like snow under flames, inch by inch. Horrified, she clutched her face, only to find the skin on her hands cracking and peeling away. In sheer terror, she let out a scream—and suddenly woke up.
The lingering pain and itch of her skin disintegrating in the dream still haunted her. Li Fei screamed again, frantically feeling her face and hands. To her relief, her skin was smooth and intact, without even a scratch. Gradually, she calmed down.
What a terrifying dream...
She sat up and looked around. Her vision was filled with varying shades of green, some deep and rich, others light and fresh. She was sitting in a patch of lush, vibrant grass, surrounded by dense forest. There were no insect chirps or bird calls—eerily similar to the forest during the Second Selection. The difference was that the trees here were an almost blinding green, and the surrounding miasma was far thicker than during the Second Selection. Glowing wisps of miasma drifted everywhere, and the air itself felt viscous, as if she were moving through thin paste.
Was this the Academy's restricted area beneath the abyss? She remembered being knocked off the stone sword and falling. And vaguely, three people had fallen together—who were the other two, and where had they landed? Ri Yan had been urging her to jump down, but she hadn't expected to end up here so soon. Falling from such a height, she was miraculously unharmed, not even a scrape. The thick miasma must have cushioned her fall.
"...Is anyone there?" Li Fei called out. The dense miasma seemed to slow her voice as it traveled. The moment she spoke, rustling sounds came from the bushes and grass behind her. Instantly, she felt countless eyes fixated on her.Li Fei couldn't help but shiver. She anxiously scanned her surroundings—beyond the thick miasma, countless unseen things lurked in the grass and bushes. Their gazes, either murky or icy, bore into her. She abruptly stood up, mustering her courage to shout again, "Who's there? Show yourself!" As she spoke, she moved toward the thicket.
The rustling grew louder. As she drew nearer, over a dozen dark shadows darted out from the grass, scattering as if afraid of her approach. Li Fei's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of one shadow—its head was grotesque, neither fully human nor beast. Could it be a monstrous creature?
She recalled Hu Jiaping's warning: this was a restricted area teeming with demons and monsters. Fear crept in, but she forced herself to retreat, crouching to grope through the grass. Fortunately, the stone sword hadn't fallen too far, and she found it. She immediately poised to throw it, intending to fly away on it, but the stone sword remained unresponsive. It merely thudded back into the grass when she tossed it.
What was going on? Li Fei was stunned. Why couldn't she fly on the sword? She tried several more times, but the stone sword still didn't react. She still had a few curse seals in her pocket, so she channeled her spiritual energy to activate them, but the talisman paper also lay limp on the ground—useless. Were spiritual energy and immortal techniques ineffective here?
Even when she attempted Spirit Absorption, the intake of spiritual energy was painfully slow, as sluggish as when her body had first begun absorbing it naturally. The Five Elements Aura in the surroundings seemed entirely blocked by the dense miasma.
The countless gazes of monstrous creatures still felt like they were piercing her—an unbearable sensation. Gripping the stone sword tightly, Li Fei turned and hurried away.
Glowing specks of miasma swirled around her like countless tiny insects. The purple-black haze couldn't penetrate the space within several yards of her. It felt as though the entire world was shrouded in darkness, with only a small lantern illuminating the few steps around her, guiding her through this boundless gloom.
The grass along the way was waist-high, even taller in some dense patches, towering over her. The trees were unimaginably thick—she had tried carving one with her knife, but their bark, nourished by the miasma for so long, was harder than steel, leaving not even a scratch.
What should she do? Where should she go? Would anyone come looking for her? The black-veiled woman and Mo Yanfan were supposedly in the restricted area—would she encounter them? Should she wait in an open spot or keep moving?
Suddenly, a distant roar echoed—fierce and shrill, impossible to tell if it came from a tiger or a wolf. The wind instantly picked up, rustling leaves and grass violently. The thick miasma rippled like water, and the unseen gazes around her vanished. The hidden lesser demons began fleeing in panic—whatever had roared must have been a formidable creature.
Just as Li Fei prepared to avoid it, she faintly heard what sounded like shouts, though indistinct. She rushed toward the noise, climbing a small slope until she reached a clearing. There, towering several yards high, stood a massive Centipede demon—far larger than the one her Master had subdued before. Even more horrifying, its shell and countless legs were a sickly green, grotesque beyond measure.The Centipede demon writhed and coiled, howling incessantly. One of its eyes seemed freshly gouged out, its Demon Qi roiling wildly as blood splattered everywhere. Opposite it stood a boy—it was actually Ji Tongzhou. He clutched a long tree branch, struggling against the demon's countless legs. Even in battle, the young prince couldn't stay quiet, shouting sharply as he fought, "Disgusting! Get away from me!"
Those branches were harder than steel—who knew how he'd gotten them—and the Centipede demon's missing eye was likely his doing. Seeing him barely holding his own, Li Fei immediately rushed to help. Hearing footsteps, Ji Tongzhou turned and saw her, his expression caught between joy and anger. But in that split second of distraction, the demon's long tail lashed out, sending him tumbling head over heels until he crashed hard against a tree. Clutching his right leg, he howled in pain.
"Ji Tongzhou!" Li Fei gripped her Stone sword and charged forward. Though they often clashed, she couldn't just watch him get killed by a monster. Acting on impulse, she lunged—only to remember she didn’t know any sword techniques. Mo Yanfan had only taught her basic swordplay for fitness, useless against demons. Yet, strangely, the Centipede demon seemed terrified of her. The moment she approached, it scrambled backward but refused to flee entirely, lingering dozens of feet away, shrieking shrilly while its remaining eye burned into her.
Li Fei raised her sword protectively in front of Ji Tongzhou, urgency in her voice. "Where are you hurt?"
Ji Tongzhou clutched his right leg, his face deathly pale and drenched in sweat. "You—you jinx! If you hadn’t suddenly shown up—I think my leg's broken!"
She looped his arm over her shoulders, straining to lift him. "Quick! We need to move!"
His injured leg couldn’t bear any weight. The moment he tried to stand, he collapsed again, nearly dragging Li Fei down with him. Trembling, Ji Tongzhou gasped, "I can’t do it! I can’t run! Just go! With all this noise, maybe Mo Yanfan or that Black-veiled woman will hear us. That’s our only chance. If we both stay, we’ll die together!"
Without hesitation, Li Fei yanked him up. Tall and long-limbed, he hung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the discomfort unbearable. Worse, she was slow carrying him, and before the demon could catch up, the jostling alone threatened to make him vomit.
"Put me down!" Ji Tongzhou bellowed. "I’m gonna puke!"
"Shut up!" Li Fei scowled. Carrying him was hard enough without his whining. "If you’ve got energy to yell, check if it’s chasing us!"
Fury surged in Ji Tongzhou, but now wasn’t the time for princely arrogance. Gritting his teeth, he looked back—the massive Centipede demon remained rooted in place, making no move to pursue. Astonished, he muttered, "It’s not following us. Why?"
"Dongyang Zhenren from the No Moon Court once gave me an Amulet Bead. Probably that Mystical Treasure is scaring it off."
"Dongyang Zhenren of the No Moon Court?!" Ji Tongzhou clearly knew more than she did. "A Celestial that powerful and famous gave you a treasure?!"
"Save the questions for later. Shut up."
He fumed but clamped his mouth shut, not uttering another word.The annoying gazes of those monstrous creatures followed them persistently like shadows. Li Fei struggled to carry Ji Tongzhou as she ran for a long time until she suddenly spotted what appeared to be a cave ahead. The further she went, the fewer gazes she felt, and by the time she reached the cave entrance, those clinging, bone-deep stares had finally vanished.
Li Fei let out a sigh of relief and carefully surveyed her surroundings. The front of the cave was piled high with dead leaves and branches, untouched for who knew how many years, with no signs of human presence. Inside, the cave was filled with a gloomy aura, though it didn't feel particularly sinister. She carried Ji Tongzhou inside and had just set him down when he suddenly vomited, bracing himself against the wall. He had endured it for so long on her back—she was almost starting to rethink her opinion of this young prince.
After retching for a while, Ji Tongzhou finally collapsed weakly onto the ground, panting heavily before speaking in a feeble voice, "...I can't... I can't draw spiritual energy into my body... The miasma here is too thick..."
As he spoke, his eyes closed as if he were about to fall into a deep sleep. The purplish-black miasma began coiling around him like a living thing, seeping into his body through his orifices. The terrifying sight immediately reminded Li Fei of the girl who had been eliminated during the Second Selection right before their eyes.
She quickly took off the Amulet Bead from her wrist and put it on his. Though her immunity to miasma was due to her unique constitution, surely the mystical treasure given to her by Dongyang Zhenren wouldn't be completely useless? Otherwise, why call it a treasure?
Sure enough, the miasma retreated fearfully from Ji Tongzhou. He had only been unconscious for the time it took an incense stick to burn when he suddenly jolted awake, likely from the pain of his broken leg, letting out a low, hissing groan.
"Bear with it. I need to set the bone and bind it, or it'll heal crooked."
Li Fei took the branch from his hand and examined it. The branch was as hard as iron but fortunately straight. She carefully felt around his broken leg for a long time, and though Ji Tongzhou was in so much pain he nearly passed out, he didn't make a sound, gritting his teeth the entire time. By the time the branch was secured, his lips were bitten raw and bleeding.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally caught his breath and spoke weakly, "You... why are you here too? Ah! Don't tell me you were the one who knocked me down!"
Li Fei replied calmly, "I was knocked down too. It's just an unfortunate coincidence."
He always suspected there was some hidden meaning in her words, some subtle mockery directed at him, but he had never been in such a wretched state before—his princely dignity was nowhere to be found. After a long pause, he finally said, "No Immortal Techniques work here. When I woke up, I was surrounded by monstrous creatures. Luckily, they just watched me cautiously from a distance and didn't harass me. But then I ran into that Centipede demon..."
Technically, she had saved him, but he couldn't bring himself to say thank you, so he simply fell silent.
The two sat in silence for a while until they suddenly heard the growls of monstrous creatures not far from the cave. Both children paled. Ji Tongzhou said urgently, "Could it be the monsters that live in this cave coming back?!"
When they had first entered the cave, he had sensed an extremely powerful demon qi lingering around it, which was why the nearby creatures hadn't dared approach. If the cave's original inhabitants returned and found them squatting here, they would surely be dead this time.Li Fei made a gesture for silence and shook her head, then quietly peeked toward the cave entrance. Outside, the green leaves atop the trees were being tossed like waves by the surge of Demon Qi. Suddenly, a boy clad in a red-and-white disciple uniform darted out from the bushes like lightning—Lei Xiuyuan?! Had he fallen too? His earlier sword flying had been so erratic—he must have been the one who knocked her down!
Just as Li Fei was about to call out to him, she saw a massive, vividly striped Tiger Demon roaring in pursuit right behind him. This Tiger Demon was in even worse shape than the Centipede demon from before—not only was it blind, but its body was covered in bloodstains, and one of its ears had been sliced off. Given how relentlessly it chased Lei Xiuyuan, it was clear he was the one who had inflicted those injuries.
Lei Xiuyuan ran swiftly, his eyes locked onto the shadowy cave. With a deft dodge to evade the Tiger Demon’s massive claws, he rolled across the ground and slipped inside. Spotting Li Fei poised to rush out, he froze momentarily before whispering urgently, "Get back!"
He shoved her forcefully deeper into the cave and sprinted after her. The enraged Tiger Demon howled madly outside for a long while but ultimately dared not enter, retreating with a resentful snarl.
Inside the cave, the three children remained shaken, exchanging silent glances. In this bizarre place, none of their Immortal Techniques or Curse Seals worked. These esteemed disciples of the Immortals had been reduced to brawling like mere warriors against Monstrous creatures—utterly humiliating.
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