“Elder Sister, what happened to you?” Feng Yue worriedly asked, rushing to help Feng Xianyue up.
Feng Xianyue pulled herself out of Feng Yue’s hold without giving her a second glance.
Looking at all the cultivators gathered around, Feng Xianyue urgently said, “We have to leave this place.
Something dangerous is coming.”
However, no one moved to leave.
They watched her as if she were speaking another language.
They didn’t believe her.
A tight, humorless smile flickered across Feng Xianyue’s face, but she hurriedly ran her hands through her hair as if in frustration.
“Elder Sister, you don’t know, but this is a mid-tier secret realm dominated by monsters not stronger than us.
The few stronger ones wouldn’t appear randomly.”
“Don’t bother explaining, Feng Yue,” Lan Hua cut in, sneering at Feng Xianyue.
“Take a look around.
The only weak one here is you.” She continued but cast a quick glance at Xiao Yu and looked away.
“So don’t bother making everyone panic.
A dangerous monster to you is a weakling to us.”
Feng Xianyue caught the glance Lan Hua shot at Xiao Yu, who was also at Qi Condensation, and remembered her.
She had found the girl suspicious for trying to befriend her, and it seemed that she wasn’t far off the mark.
When she glanced at her, Xiao Yu couldn’t meet her gaze and kept fumbling with her fingers.
It didn’t matter to Feng Xianyue—they were not close enough for her to wonder about her actions.
Feng Xianyue rubbed her ears, which were suddenly tingling.
She felt when the temperature dropped…
the whispers slithered back, curling around her ears like cold fingers.
It seemed like the remaining cultivators noticed because everyone instantly drew their swords.
“This is no ordinary monster,” Han Long observed in a quiet voice.
“What is happening, Martial Brother Han?” a panicked voice asked.
Han Long sent Feng Xianyue a questioning gaze, but before getting any answers, ancient wraiths and soul devourers appeared out of nowhere, and the cultivators immediately moved to defend, some to attack.
The spirits that appeared were all in their condensed form, no longer wandering spirits.
The strength of a condensed spirit is equivalent to that of a peak-level Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Though the strength of the wraith had little difference from the cultivators present, they couldn’t let their guard down.
What they felt in the air was definitely not the aura of a mere condensed spirit but something terrifying…
something more powerful.
The fact that it was yet to appear chilled them more.
It was present but stayed hidden, probably studying its enemies.
This could only mean…
it was an intelligent beast!
The fight between the cultivators and spirits immediately began, sending strong waves rippling through the air.
Feng Xianyue slowly backed away, not because of any cowardly impulse but because she had something wrong with her body since earlier.
No matter how many healing pills she took, she kept getting weaker.
It was like something vital was being drained from her body.
Taking advantage of the fight happening, Feng Xianyue hid behind a large boulder and sat cross-legged to examine her body.
Using her spiritual powers to examine the health of her body, she searched for any hidden internal injury but found none.
However, Feng Xianyue noticed something.
It was subtle at first, but because of how closely she was observing her body, she saw it.
The aura of the Nine Yin Physique was spilling out from her left arm.
Shocked, Feng Xianyue finally came to a realisation. Get faster updates on g.com.
All those times she wondered why the wraiths could still find her…
so this was the cause.
She had been careless.
Feng Xianyue was angry for bringing danger to herself.
What would happen if she had not been able to escape?
When she tried to suppress the yin energy, it surged out with a powerful force, as if being pulled out by a suction force.
After a lot of effort, Feng Xianyue suppressed the rate at which it came out and stood in frustration.
She was annoyed at whatever that was draining her yin energy.
She was not fighting but already being hunted as a source.
Just then, when the fight was at its peak, the hidden powerful spirit appeared, and the cultivators all let out a terrified gasp.
“A Moon Eating Spirit Sovereign!…
Impossible!” someone shouted.
This was a powerful spirit that was recorded to have disappeared from the world.
For it to appear in a mid-tier secret realm was a shock to everyone.
Back then, it was known as a half-spirit, half-ancient curse which fed on the energy of the yin physique.
This could only mean that someone with a yin physique was around.
With a wave, a third of the cultivators were all drained of their life, and what was left was an empty husk with no soul.
A deafening silence followed, then chaos erupted.
Everyone shouted at once.
Terrified at this show of strength, the place became chaotic, and all survivors scrambled—every cultivator for themselves.
No one lingered as a last show of heroism.
Lan Hua ran, not caring about how undignified or disheveled she looked.
Feng Yue, however, stood paralyzed, hands trembling in terror.
Her eyes couldn’t leave the empty bodies scattered all over the ground.
Just when they surmised that they were done for, the Moon Eating Spirit ignored them all and chased after Feng Xianyue, who was already running away.
Feng Xianyue was drained and could hardly move her body, so she didn’t run far when a powerful force struck her back and sent her flying.
She let out a painful scream, wrapping her hands around her stomach.
Laying sprawled on the ground, she coughed out a mouthful of blood, her body wracked with unbearable pain.
Her Nine Yin Physique was being pulled outward, destabilising her spiritual energy.
Her aura turned chaotic.
Feng Xianyue’s mind was in turmoil and body in pain.
It was like all her tendons were being pulled apart ruthlessly, and another scream tore from her throat.
Fortunately, Feng Xianyue’s pain didn’t last a minute because suddenly someone stepped in, cutting off the pain caused by the Moon Eating Spirit.
The figure sent a powerful sword attack and immediately made quick hand seals too fast for the naked eye to see.
His aura blazed…
peak Golden Core, unmistakable!
And though the spirit’s strength was equivalent to that of a Nascent Soul, the new cultivator was able to seal the Moon Eating Spirit.
However, the seal was unstable and wouldn’t last.
Before Feng Xianyue could process what was happening, someone gathered her against his chest, his arm locked around her—one under her shoulder and the other hooking her knees as he hurled her up.
The wet copper smell of her blood soaked through his sleeve as he sped away.
Despite that, he didn’t stop and only felt the need to move faster.
The disoriented Feng Xianyue only felt herself being carried like a sack of rice.
Placing Feng Xianyue against the boulder, he immediately fed her a pill.
Feng Xianyue’s spinning mind finally registered the figure before her.
It was the beauty she had met when she first fell into the secret realm.
She didn’t even realise she spoke her thought out loud, calling the stranger “beauty,” until she heard his cold voice.
“Take the pill and stabilise your yin energy,” he said in one breath and stood.
Figures he was so ruthless the first time they met—it’s not surprising how he carelessly hurled her up and how coldly he spoke to her despite her severe injury.
The remaining cultivators who ran to safety watched this strange exchange in shock.
The dark robes with golden thread were the signature dress code of the Void Severance Sect.
“Why is a demonic cultivator saving her?” Feng Yue unconsciously asked, her eyes brimming with hatred.
Why wouldn’t she just die?
she internally cried out.
Just now, she would have died if Han Long had not saved her.
She was terrified and angry at the same time, and the anger happened to be directed at Feng Xianyue.
Feng Yue believed that the monsters were after Feng Xianyue, who deliberately wanted to drag them down with her.
It didn’t take long before the Moon Eating Spirit broke free from the seal and attacked.
Lunar chains of spiritual energy erupted from the Moon Eating Spirit, weaving into a shimmering domain that sealed the stranger and Feng Xianyue inside…
together, trapped, with no way out.
The stranger’s expression shifted—barely a flicker—but Feng Xianyue caught it.
Fear?
No.
Recognition.
He knows what this is.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, already forming hand seals.
“If you disrupt my formation, we both die.”
Feng Xianyue’s yin energy screamed in protest; the domain’s pressure amplifying the pull on her physique.
Blood trickled from her nose.
Outside, the barrier shimmered, and the spirit’s hollow laughter echoed through the clearing.
The stranger’s golden core blazed brighter.
“I can hold it for fifteen minutes.
After that…” He didn’t finish.
He didn’t need to.
More healing pills dissolved on her tongue, but the pain barely dulled.
She met the stranger’s gaze.
They had no choice.
Work together…
or die together.
Feng Xianyue clenched her fist, her eyes blazing with determination.
The stranger studied her for a moment…
something unreadable passing through his gaze.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Try not to die before those fifteen minutes are up,” he said.
Feng Xianyue’s lips curved into a bloodstained smile.
“Fifteen minutes?
I’ve survived worse with less.”