Chapter 387 - Fog-shrouded Forest

Multi-colored sunlight erupted from the southwestern side of the mountain range, with countless white rays of light beaming from within and illuminating the horizon. Inside those pillars of light were faint, flickering, and constantly transforming rays of light in seven colors. It was a breathtaking sight.

The twenty or so pursuers from the Corpse Refinery Sect stared at the unnatural phenomena taking place in the southwest direction, dumbstruck. They seemed to have forgotten Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue altogether. One of them said, “The extraordinary treasure is born! Hurry, return to the sect and inform the Elders!”

The rest said little after recovering their senses. Without even sparing Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue a glance, they hastily flew back to their Sect on their swords.

Staring at the flickering seven-colored lights above the mountain range, Xiao Chen was suddenly felt dazzled. “Let’s go and have a look!”

The two of them returned to the tall precipice from before. This time, without green hills to obscure their vision, they were able to see everything at a glance. The seven-colored rays of light were flickering incessantly while faint strange noises were emerging from below the mountain range. This continued for about fifteen minutes until the multi-colored light gradually faded.

The sky regained its calm as if nothing had happened and sank into a death-like stillness. However, such a massive display of unnatural phenomenon surely wouldn’t escape notice. The countless cultivators on the Miasma Mountain Range must be making their way over where the phenomenon took place—Ghost-wailing Hill.

Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue stood tall over the cliff. Under the moon and the stars, their clothes fluttered in the wind. Xiao Chen clasped his hands behind his back as he gazed upon the mountain range in contemplation. Su Lianyue walked up to him. “What’s wrong? Are you planning to join the fun as well?”

“No hurry. Let’s wait for them to finish fighting it out. Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu must be watching them in secret, waiting to steal the treasure at the right time.”

Su Lianyue smiled sweetly. “You’re wise, Young Master.”

“Besides, the Corpse Refinery Sect still hasn’t made any move yet…”

The cold wind coursed through the night. The two of them returned to the cave, where fragrance was still lingering. Xiao Chen sat in meditation at the cave’s entrance for a long time while Su Lianyue returned to her previous lovely, enchanting self. She said sonorously, “It’s so deep into the night that even the birds and the beasts are in slumber. Young Master, aren’t you going to rest?”

Xiao Chen’s eyes remained closed. He didn’t answer. Su Lianyue added, “Don’t worry, Young Master. When you wake up tomorrow, the extraordinary treasure is as good as yours.”

Xiao Chen opened his eyes and turned around to look at her. “Is that so?”

Su Lianyue yawned and shook her hand. “Forget it. I’m sleepy even if you aren’t. Wake me up tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you worried that I’d kill you?”

Su Lianyue was already lying on a clean slab of stone but sat back up when she heard this question. She smiled rather helplessly. “You’re such a weirdo. It’s one thing for you to be wary about everyone, but why do you ask that everyone else be wary about you? Besides, why would you kill me?”

Xiao Chen turned away from her and inhaled the cold air. Su Lianyue laughed when she saw that he couldn’t answer. “Rather than being wary about everyone, why don’t you trust people more? Don’t you find it exhausting otherwise?”

“I once trusted someone with my life, but that person pushed me to a place of eternal damnation.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the final flame in the cave was snuffed out and their surroundings sank into pitch-black darkness. The two of them didn’t speak anymore.

At daybreak the next day, the sunshine filtering into the cave lent it a rather lively atmosphere. The croaking of frogs rang out around them and birdsongs filled the air. Xiao Chen had spent the night meditating. The dew that collected on his hair weaved the damp strands together. Suddenly, he heard a soft voice calling him. “Young Master, are you up?”

Xiao Chen opened his eyes. Su Lianyue was right in front of him, holding several vermilion-colored wild fruits in hand. Her purple dress fluttered in the wind. Her exposed wrists were as pale as snow. Under the sunshine, she seemed to be cast in a purple halo. It made her look even more enchanting. Who could have imagined this beautiful lady would be a famous figure in the Devil’s Practice who killed without blinking.

“Here, it’s freshly plucked.” Seeing him stare at her without blinking, Su Lianyue handed him a fruit.

Stunned, Xiao Chen coughed once upon realizing his lapse in manners. “Thank you,” he said. Except these words startled him even more. To disguise his awkwardness, he stood up and stared in the direction of the unnatural phenomenon yesterday.

“What’s wrong? Are you worried that it’s poisoned?” Su Lianyue retrieved her hand when he didn’t take the fruit. She placed it to the corner of her mouth and took a bite. She chewed it several times and then swallowed it, all while staring at his face.

Xiao Chen coughed. “Not hungry,” he said, but just then, his stomach began to rumble. Su Lianyue burst into laughter and handed him the fruit again. “Take it. Consider it repayment for your roasted goose yesterday, so we don’t owe each other anything. I don’t want to feel guilty if we happen to fight in the future.”

Xiao Chen stared at her, thinking that her eyes were particularly soft and gentle. It was rather charming. Su Lianyue raised her hand. “Hmm?” Xiao Chen took the fruit from her and was about to bite it when he noticed her staring at him. He put down the fruit and asked, “Why are you staring at me?”

She chuckled and turned her head, staring at the range upon range of mountains instead. When Xiao Chen finished eating the fruit, Su Lianyue chuckled. She was about to say something when he motioned for her to be quiet.

They immediately hid behind a stone wall near the cave’s entrance, where they began to hear voices from below. The noise told them that there were quite a lot of people here. When the voices came closer and closer, the two of them poked their heads out and saw thirty to forty people making their way to the location of the unnatural phenomenon yesterday in grandeur.

Judging from their apparel, these people must be from cultivators’ sects of Orthodox Path. The weaker ones were in the Core Forming Realm while the stronger ones were in the Nascent Soul Realm. Xiao Chen shook his head, indicating that they should let the group head there first.

When the group was a considerable distance away moments later, Su Lianyue said, “We should go, too. Otherwise, they’ll just steal the treasure and leave.”

Xiao Chen nodded. They launched themselves forward from the tip of their foot and left the cave, moving in the direction of the Ghost-wailing Hill. They traveled for two hours until they finally came upon a fog. The sunny, cloudless sky from before had instantly turned into a sea of dark clouds. The fog in front of them was unpredictable, surging violently in one moment and still in the next. It was as if there was a monster inciting trouble within.

“This must be Ghost-wailing Hill’s entrance.” Su Lianyue stopped in her tracks and stared at the fog in front of her.

The fog was, evidently, no ordinary mountain mist. Rather, it was a manifestation of miasma with potent toxicity. An ordinary human would surely die from the poison within fifteen minutes of inhaling the miasma here. Xiao Chen nodded and swiftly formed a protective layer of True Energy on his body. Su Lianyue also formed a faint layer of purple smoke around her. She nodded at him and said, “There might be demons and monsters here. Be careful.”

Xiao Chen was caught off guard, having not expected such words from her. By the time he recovered his senses, Su Lianyue had already disappeared in the dense fog in front of him.

Xiao Chen stepped forward and swiftly followed after her. Once inside the fog, he felt like he had entered a land of millennium-year-old ice. The cold pierced deep into his bones. Even if he was no ordinary human, he couldn’t help shuddering. The fog was so dense in this forest that he couldn’t see clearly beyond a distance of ten feet.

“Fairy Su?”

Xiao Chen carefully walked across the floor filled with decaying leaves that had piled up half an inch high. As if his voice was swallowed by the endless white fog, he received no reply. He couldn’t hear any animal sound in the forest, only the rustling of the leaves that he stepped under his feet. It was so quiet that it was eerie.

After walking for fifteen minutes, Xiao Chen only felt colder and colder. He still couldn’t find Su Lianyue anywhere. The forest before him seemed endless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find an exit anywhere. Out of the blue, a soft voice came from in front of him. “Young Master?”

Xiao Chen thrust his palm and the momentum dissipated the fog in front of him. He stared in the direction of the voice, where he could faintly make out a purple silhouette. He carefully walked over. “Fairy?”

They could only take a clear look when they were within ten feet of each other. Su Lianyue’s cheeks were rosy. Both of her hands were on her shoulders. She was so cold that she was trembling. “Where did you go? Don’t you think it’s strange that it’s so cold here?”

Xiao Chen slowly walked over and stared at the thick fog ahead. “It’s cold, but this place is a Yin energy hotspot. There’s nothing strange about it. Let’s go.”

“Young Master…”

Su Lianyue softly called for him to stop. Xiao Chen turned around and noticed her red cheeks and charming, glistening eyes. She was so alluring that his heart couldn’t help itching. He frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Su Lianyue was trembling all over as she walked up to him. Unexpectedly, she threw herself on him. “It’s so cold…”

Xiao Chen immediately sensed her temperature as well as her fragrance. Alarmed, he pushed her away. “What are you doing?!” Even though she was a Devil’s Practice follower, she hadn’t done anything outrageous in the past few days. Why was she this brazen now?

“Young Master…” Her voice was as soft as fine rain. Su Lianyue slowly walked up to Xiao Chen again, her gaze on his face. “Young Master, am I beautiful?”

Xiao Chen stared coldly at her. She was acting very strangely, he thought. He said emotionlessly, “A woman’s beauty is like a blade. The more beautiful one is, the sharper the blade is…”

Su Lianyue giggled. “Is that so…?” she said softly. To his surprise, she began to undress. Her entire dress slid off her shoulders and her bare figure appeared before him in its entirety.

Xiao Chen could feel a sudden shortness of breath and a gush of hot blood rushing up to his brain. Even so, he was still sober. He pressed two fingers together and used his psychokinesis, wanting to cover her with her dress. However, before he could lift the dress from the ground, she was already sticking close to him.

When her soft body fell in his embrace, he found it to be even harder to breathe. In particular, when her chest pressed against his, the warmth nearly made him feel like he had lost his mind. Su Lianyue wrapped her snow-white arms around his shoulders and breathed gently against his skin. “The extraordinary treasure will be yours sooner or later, so why be impatient now? Why don’t we…” She began undressing him as she spoke.

Xiao Chen got a whiff of what appeared to be fragrance and instantly felt a wave of vertigo. He felt like he was about to melt into the fog itself. He wanted to calm himself, but there was a fire burning within him that made him unable to resist Su Lianyue’s movements. All he could think about was the lovemaking between a man and a woman. In his mind, the protagonists were him and Su Lianyue. It made him look flushed with excitement.

“Young Master… What do you think? Do I look beautiful now…?” Su Lianyue’s cheeks were tinted red and her eyes were filled with emotion. Her arms were crisscrossed behind his neck. She raised her left leg and rested it on under his abdomen, rubbing it nonstop.

“Why won’t you say something, Young Master? Is this still not good enough for you…” Su Lianyue gently exhaled on his ear and continued to gently rub herself against him. “Do you want me to…”

The white fog in the forest seemed to have become even denser. Layer upon layer of the mist slowly folded upon themselves.