As noon approached, the consecutive intense battles had left them somewhat exhausted. Li Fei once again cast the Invisibility Spell, concealing the spiritual energy fluctuations of all four, and found an open space to rest. Su Wan took out her water pouch and dried provisions, selecting a large piece of jerky to hand to Li Fei with a smile. "You're too thin—eat more meat."
Li Fei waved her hand. "I've never eaten meat since childhood."
No meat? Su Wan took big bites of jerky and gulped water with great gusto, talking between mouthfuls. "No wonder you always seem so ethereal. What's the point of life if you don't even eat meat?"
This made the other three laugh. Deng Xiguang chuckled, "Junior Sister Su, is eating meat really a life pleasure?"
Su Wan grinned, baring her teeth. "Of course! I've never tried monster meat before. This is a rare opportunity—later, I'll hunt one down and slow-roast it to see how it tastes. If monsters can eat humans, why can't we eat them back?"
This girl... really had unique tastes. Deng Xiguang suddenly felt both awe and fear, his earlier flirtatious intentions completely vanishing.
Su Wan suddenly added, "Senior Brother Deng, why so quiet now that we're resting? Didn't you say you'd investigated all the disciples coming to Chestnut Blaze Valley? Tell us more."
Li Fei immediately perked up with interest, and even Lei Xiuyuan turned to look at him.
Seeing he had an audience, Deng Xiguang became animated. "Then let me continue where I left off. That exceptionally beautiful female disciple is under Qing Yue Elder, named Le Cailing. Rumor has it she was personally brought into No Moon Court by Qing Yue Elder due to her outstanding aptitude. The elder has a unique skill—a Music-infused Immortal Technique—extremely powerful. Le Cailing was chosen to inherit this technique. If she achieves immortality in the future, she'll succeed Qing Yue Elder as the master of Celestial Clear Joy's Purple Peak."
Li Fei asked curiously, "Music-infused Immortal Technique? Is it similar to Star Rectitude Hall's Celestial Sound Word Spirit?"
Deng Xiguang's old habits resurfaced as he praised, "Junior Sister Jiang is so learned, even knowing about Star Rectitude Hall's Celestial Sound Word Spirit! However, Qing Yue Elder's technique falls slightly short. The Word Spirit can bind an opponent's will, while the music technique can only kill. Imagine listening to a melody and just... dying. Isn't that terrifying?"
Dying while listening?! Li Fei and Su Wan immediately felt a sense of awe toward this Melodic Immortal Technique.
Lei Xiuyuan suddenly spoke. "Cultivating such a technique must come at a great cost. Moreover, killing without a trace can't be that easy."
Deng Xiguang shook his head. "I don't know about that. The secrets of cultivation are beyond my reach. But this Junior Sister Le is known for her cold arrogance. Qing Yue Elder's disciples are mostly female, so many male disciples often linger around. Yet, it's said Junior Sister Le has rejected countless suitors and has never spoken a single word to any male disciple."
Not a single word—truly impressive. Li Fei silently admired this. Should she emulate such behavior? Perhaps if she never spoke, those annoying rumors would stop.
"Who else? Tell us more!" Su Wan was thoroughly engrossed, treating it like a story.
Deng Xiguang happily continued, "There are plenty! Like that girl with the tall nose, named..."He rattled off a string of words, all about female disciples, making Su Wan chuckle involuntarily: "Senior Brother Deng, have you gone and learned about every female disciple here?"
Deng Xiguang rubbed his nose without a hint of shame: "Naturally. Why would I bother learning about men?"
To prove that all men were the same, he even gave Lei Xiuyuan a meaningful glance: "Brother, wouldn’t you agree?"
Lei Xiuyuan neither confirmed nor denied it. Deng Xiguang continued with great enthusiasm: "By the way, there are a few newly promoted junior sisters who are also quite nice. But when it comes to the most female disciples, Qing Yue Elder takes the prize. She has several senior sisters under her who are truly heavenly beauties..."
The entire noon passed in Deng Xiguang’s endless chatter about beauties. In the end, he boldly turned his enthusiastic gaze toward Li Fei and praised, "But in my opinion, none of these lovely junior and senior sisters can truly compare to Jiang Shi Mei. Junior Sister, you—"
Lei Xiuyuan stood up, dusted himself off, and mercilessly cut off his enthusiasm: "Save the nonsense for later. Let’s continue hunting demons. Today, we’ll aim to bag a few more."
The group quickly packed up their dry rations and water pouches. Deng Xiguang, still eager, leaned closer to Li Fei to continue speaking, but Lei Xiuyuan placed a hand on her head and firmly pushed her forward. He glanced back at Deng Xiguang: "Senior Brother Deng, you’ve got crumbs stuck to your chin."
Crumbs?! Heartbroken, Deng Xiguang covered his face in embarrassment—he had utterly humiliated himself!
Su Wan couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Amid the laughter, they gradually noticed white mist beginning to spread around them. The four immediately stopped their banter. Li Fei, quick-eyed and swift-handed, cast the Bronze Wall Technique first, scanning their surroundings before murmuring, "Anything unusual?"
Lei Xiuyuan focused and released an aquatic immortal technique to probe the area. After a moment, he shook his head: "No demon qi, but this isn’t ordinary mist either."
He looked up at the sky—the sun blazed overhead, its brilliance undeniable. This was not weather for mist. The fog had appeared abruptly and was growing thicker by the minute. Soon, visibility dropped to less than five paces. The four huddled closely together. The Invisibility Spell was still active, so they shouldn’t be detected by demonic beasts. But the birdsong and flowing water that had filled the surroundings earlier had vanished, replaced by an eerie silence where even their breathing sounded unnaturally loud.
The mist thickened further, eventually blotting out the sunlight until the surroundings were as dark as night. Suddenly, two strings of flickering lights appeared in the distance, glowing like scattered stars, stretching endlessly into the unknown.
Deng Xiguang squinted for a long moment before whispering, "Was there a slope over there earlier?"
The others looked—sure enough, the two strings of lights extended diagonally upward. What had been an open forest clearing now inexplicably featured a slope.
Su Wan stepped forward. Far from frightened by the sudden anomaly, the bold girl was practically glowing with excitement. She lowered her voice and urged, "Let’s go check it out!"
Deng Xiguang waved his hands frantically. As the saying went, anything abnormal must be demonic. Chestnut Blaze Valley was teeming with demonic beasts—no one lived here. How could there be lights? Besides, this slope and these lights had appeared out of nowhere with the mist. Who knew what horrors lurked there? If it turned out to be some thousand-year-old demon, they’d all be done for.
Su Wan pressed urgently, "What’s the point of just waiting here? Sooner or later, we’ll have to go take a look!"Lei Xiuyuan looked around; the mist seemed boundless, swallowing the forest whole. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Let's go take a look. The four of us should stick together and not stray too far. Li Fei, make sure to keep the Invisibility Spell active at all times."
With that, he suddenly took Li Fei's hand and whispered, "Stay close. Don't get lost."
Seeing this, Deng Xiguang couldn't help but feel a mischievous itch, momentarily forgetting his fear. He grinned at Su Wan and cleared his throat. "Junior Sister Su, hold my hand so you won't get lost—"
Before he could finish, Su Wan had already strode ahead, leaving him behind without a second thought.
The four of them moved silently up the slope, where they soon spotted two rows of slender stone candleholders extending upward. At the top, shadowy structures loomed, resembling buildings. There was no trace of Demon Qi in the surroundings, nor any sound—just an eerie silence.
No one dared to use cloud-soaring here, fearing that any spiritual energy fluctuation might disrupt the Invisibility Spell. They slowly ascended the slope and found a grand hall at the summit, resembling a temple or shrine, though it bore no plaque. The interior was empty, but two massive bronze oxen stood guard at the entrance, lifelike in their detail. However, each had only a single horn, and eerie blue flames flickered in their eyes, suggesting their hollow bodies were filled with oil.
"There's writing here," Su Wan pointed to a stone tablet beside the oxen, densely inscribed with characters none of them recognized—a script none had ever seen before.
On the reverse side of the tablet, only a few sparse characters were carved, but these were legible. Su Wan read them aloud one by one: "Overseas... Thousands of Continents... Myriad Islands... Otherkin... Tomb... What does this mean?"
No one could answer. They ventured inside the hall, finding it empty but marked with countless traces on the floor, as if boxes of varying sizes had once been placed there.
After studying the scene, Lei Xiuyuan murmured, "Were these all coffins once? An 'Otherkin Tomb'—perhaps this hall once held the bodies of foreigners from thousands of continents and islands overseas?"
Deng Xiguang frowned in confusion. "What are 'foreigners from thousands of continents and islands overseas'?"
Lei Xiuyuan tilted his head in thought. "Legendary people from beyond the seas? I sense no Demon Qi here—only a pure, spiritual force. This might have been a burial site sealed by the Celestials of No Moon Court. The Otherkin remains have likely been removed, but the Seal remains. Perhaps it loosened over time, allowing us to stumble in."
His reasoning seemed sound, easing the group's tension somewhat. Deng Xiguang, admiring the lifelike bronze oxen at the entrance, couldn't resist patting one. "These oxen are incredibly well-made. Are they divine beasts guarding the tomb?"
No sooner had he spoken than two overwhelming surges of Demon Qi erupted. Before he could react, the bronze oxen above him let out earth-shaking bellows. One lowered its head, its sharp horn driving straight toward him.
Li Fei acted swiftly, layering multiple Bronze Wall Techniques in front of him. Yet, with a series of deafening crashes, the barriers shattered under the impact. Deng Xiguang was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, disappearing into the distance. The other three were stunned. The once-motionless oxen now seemed alive, their eyes' blue flames turning blood-red as black miasma coiled around their bodies, radiating menace.Li Fei shot out countless leaves as enormous vines burst from the ground, entangling the two horned oxen. Lei Xiuyuan urgently called out, "Su Wan, go save Deng Xiguang!"
She acknowledged with a shout and vanished into the mist on her cloud.
Another earth-shaking roar erupted as the two Bronze Oxen effortlessly broke free from the resilient vines, their four blood-red eyes locking firmly onto Li Fei.
Cold sweat instantly drenched her back. She hastily mounted her cloud, the small white mist beneath her feet darting forward like lightning. Yet the relentless roars behind her persisted. Turning back, she saw the two Bronze Oxen chasing relentlessly on trails of black vapor—Seriously? So fast?!
Suddenly, Lei Xiuyuan flew to her side, wrapping an arm around her waist as he murmured, "Hold tight."
His body transformed into a streak of golden light, covering dozens of miles in an instant. A few swift movements later, the two bizarre Bronze Oxen were left far behind, vanishing from sight. The surrounding mist also abruptly dissipated—it seemed they had already escaped the Seal.
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