Chapter 20: The Kiss Part 4

Linlang woke from her meditation and opened her eyes to see Huo Zhi’s face right before her. Huo Zhi’s eyes were tightly shut, her lips trembling in obvious fear. Yet she was still loosely embracing her, shielding her within her arms.

Linlang restrained the fire-attribute Spiritual Qi emanating from her body, reached out and hugged Huo Zhi. Huo Zhi trembled all over in fright.

“It’s me!” Linlang said to Huo Zhi. Only then did Huo Zhi stop, her body instantly going limp.

“Linlang, you’re finally awake. The surroundings are Gnawing Rats. The Fire Scale Flood Dragon you absorbed earlier can counter them. Try it out. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll…” Huo Zhi hurriedly spoke to Linlang. Before she finished, she saw Linlang stretch out a hand, flames blazing from her palm. She swept it in a circle. The Gnawing Rats that had been rushing over frantically just moments ago immediately retreated, not daring to come within a meter’s distance.

“Hold onto me tight!” Linlang said to Huo Zhi. She rose from the ground, lifting Huo Zhi.

Huo Zhi was truly afraid of being touched by those Gnawing Rats. How could she dare not hold on tight right now? She wrapped her arms around Linlang’s neck, her entire body hanging on Linlang, wishing she could embed herself into Linlang.

Linlang only used one hand to support Huo Zhi’s waist to prevent her from falling. Her other hand released fire-attribute Spiritual Qi, intimidating the Gnawing Rats as she walked forward.

At this moment, quite a few people still remained in the main hall. They were individuals with certain means, including the Ji siblings. Their barriers were thick enough and hadn’t been gnawed through yet. They had placed the Fire Scale Flood Dragon corpse at the outermost perimeter, blocking some Gnawing Rats. However, a portion of the bolder ones weren’t afraid of the corpse and climbed over to gnaw through.

Ji Boxu was using his sword to kill the Gnawing Rats, leading his people forward. The smell of blood in the surroundings was extremely strong.

“You two, please lend a hand. The Artifact Talisman Sect will surely reward you handsomely! We don’t know what lies ahead. We can look out for each other.” Ji Boxu saw that the Gnawing Rats dared not approach Linlang and understood. He regretted it now, but it was too late. He only hoped Linlang and Huo Zhi would help.

“Sister!” Ji Shuling called out to Huo Zhi.

“From now on, the gains depend on one’s own abilities.” Linlang said towards that group, throwing back at Ji Boxu the exact words he had said to her and Huo Zhi earlier.

“You two fairies are greatly capable. I am full of admiration. Naturally, it’s each according to their own ability.” Ji Boxu smiled bitterly.

“Linlang, we still shouldn’t offend the Artifact Talisman Sect people too much. We don’t know what else we’ll encounter below,” Huo Zhi transmitted a message to Linlang.

Unless they killed them all, making enemies would be very troublesome.

“Mm.” Linlang responded. She had already scanned with her Spiritual Sense. There didn’t seem to be anything else inside.

This place was eerily strange. They did need more people as stepping stones to test for dangers.

“We should have helped each other from the start. It’s just that this consumes a great deal of spiritual energy…” Huo Zhi said aloud.

“Catch. Ten thousand Fire Spirit Stones, plus two Profound-Grade Talisman Artifacts.” Ji Boxu immediately understood. No longer stingy now, he tossed a Storage Bag, which Linlang caught.

“Ice-attribute. Various talisman materials also work.” Linlang squeezed the Storage Bag in her hand, weighing it, and said.

“Who has Ice Spirit Stones, talismans, talisman materials?” Ji Boxu immediately called for the people around to gather them.

Ice was a relatively rare attribute. Among this group, only Huo Zhi was ice-attributed. Blank talisman materials were also scarce, but many among them carried ice-attribute talismans and brought them all out.

Linlang accepted the ice-attribute talismans and other items they tossed over and gave them all to Huo Zhi.

The two made a small fortune.

“Now can you help?” Ji Boxu said.

Linlang didn’t speak. The Talisman Seal on her arm flickered. The Gnawing Rats, still in a frenzy, suddenly stopped attacking their targets and, as if fainting, collapsed onto the ground. Their squeaking became disorderly.

“Linlang, what’s happening?” Huo Zhi asked.

“They’ve fallen under an illusion.” Linlang said to Huo Zhi.

The Gnawing Rats were unawakened in intelligence and couldn’t defend against this. This illusion technique happened to work perfectly on them.

Sinking into the illusion, their movements became sluggish, immersed in their imagined world.

Linlang stood firm and continued exerting the illusion technique. The other cultivators, especially Ji Boxu, seeing this situation, deeply regretted their earlier decision. If they had absorbed it themselves, they would be the ones so impressive now.

But there was no use crying over spilled milk. They could only first carve a bloody path through these Gnawing Rats lost in illusion and then follow Linlang and Huo Zhi.

Whether there were even more terrifying things further behind, neither Linlang nor Huo Zhi knew. But within Spiritual Sense range, there was nothing, so Linlang didn’t move. She waited for the others to break through the siege before proceeding deeper with everyone.

As they ventured deeper, various rooms and furnishings appeared. They also discovered that the items inside were basically all gone.

No wonder. With Gnawing Rats that formidable, anything would have been eaten long ago.

“Don’t tell me, so unlucky? So many died, and there’s nothing?” Someone said dejectedly.

Ji Boxu’s expression wasn’t good. He’d spent ten thousand spirit stones, plus various talismans and talisman artifacts, just for this?

“Gnawing Rats fear fire. There should still be things further inside.” Someone said, continuing deeper.

Indeed, the temperature got higher the further they went.

Huo Zhi originally wanted to walk by herself since there were no more Gnawing Rats. But the moment her feet touched the ground, she was so scalded she jumped up and was picked up again by Linlang.

“The fire attribute is getting denser.” Linlang said. She sensed it; the real treasure was further inside.

Only about a dozen people followed them. These individuals had their own fire-resistant talisman artifacts and were very excited, wanting to see what kind of treasure was hidden so deep.

The further they went, the more scorching it felt. Huo Zhi’s ice-attribute technique’s circulation was also starting to fail against it. She felt a bit better only after absorbing several of the Freezing Talismans she’d just received.

Soon, everyone reached the end. Seeing the scene inside, someone immediately had a mental breakdown.

Inside was a gigantic magma pool, similar to the Seething Lava Zone they’d seen before, but the magma here seemed more thoroughly melted, even hotter. A fiery red, it had fluidity. Floating on its surface were some items—precisely the treasures these people wanted.

Everyone tried to fish out the items from the magma using their own methods.

They used Profound-Grade Object Retrieval Talismans, the Spiritual Qi ropes of Binding Talismans, metal talisman artifacts to dredge, etc.

But unexpectedly, the temperature of the magma was so high that those spiritual power talismans dispersed upon nearing it, scorched away. Metal talisman artifacts directly melted.

Even if they were also fire-attributed, if their fire level wasn’t as high as the magma around them, they would also melt and be absorbed.

“How do you retrieve these?” Huo Zhi watched in shock.

“There are Fire Scale Flood Dragon scales inside!” Linlang transmitted to Huo Zhi. She sensed a familiar aura from within; it was unmistakably the Fire Scale Flood Dragon’s.

“So the Fire Scale Flood Dragon probably bathed and played here. If it were obedient, it might have helped. Taking these items out would be very easy.” Huo Zhi said.

“Now the Fire Scale Flood Dragon is dead, chopped into several segments, taken by the Artifact Talisman Sect. Is the Artifact Talisman Sect making talisman artifacts on the spot?” Huo Zhi looked towards the Artifact Talisman Sect group. They might have also realized it, as they brought out the Fire Scale Flood Dragon corpse parts they’d put in their Storage Bags.

“You two fairies, if you want it, we can sell you a segment at the same price just now.” Ji Boxu’s side, after taking out the Fire Scale Flood Dragon corpse, saw Huo Zhi looking at them and said, wanting to recoup their losses.

“Brother, how can you be like this?! Give them a segment; don’t ask for spirit stones!” Ji Shuling said anxiously.

Just as Huo Zhi was speechless at Ji Boxu’s words, she felt slightly reassured hearing Ji Shuling’s interjection. The sister was still a good child.

“No need!” Linlang said succinctly. She laid down a layer of fire-resistant Talisman Robe on the ground and set Huo Zhi down.

“I’ll be right back.” Linlang said to Huo Zhi.

“Be careful, absolutely don’t take risks!” Huo Zhi quickly said.

Linlang nodded and walked forward, releasing the fire-attribute Spiritual Qi from her body. A red mist enveloped her. Her fire-attribute Spiritual Qi was released to the limit. The clothes on her body burned to ashes. As a result, she wrapped herself thickly in Spiritual Qi, forming a large cocoon. No one could see her appearance inside clearly.

As this mass of dense fire-attribute Spiritual Qi cocoon moved, Huo Zhi’s heart clenched.

Linlang’s body had absorbed the Fire Scale Flood Dragon’s Beast Rune Talisman, raising her fire level by one stage and increasing her fire resistance. Now, she stimulated all her Spiritual Qi for protection. Reaching the edge of the magma pool, she quickly fished up two items.

“Give me those two items, or I’ll kill her!” When Linlang, holding the items, turned back, she saw that among the people who had followed them, one person was holding a Dagger Talisman Artifact pointed at Huo Zhi’s neck, threatening her.

Huo Zhi had been entirely focused on Linlang just now. She hadn’t expected someone to suddenly grab her neck and use her to threaten Linlang.

You want the things Linlang painstakingly retrieved for free? In your dreams!

Did you think she was made of mud, easily molded?

Huo Zhi thought angrily. Even without a talisman in hand, the moment her ice-attribute Spiritual Qi surged out, it chilled the person enough to make them shiver. In that instant’s pause, she pulled out a talisman and hit the person with a Binding Talisman.

At the same time, Linlang retracted her fiery Spiritual Qi and swiftly closed in. She pulled Huo Zhi over and held her tightly with one arm. Extending her long leg, she kicked that cultivator. The bound man, unable to control his direction, staggered backwards… and fell right into the magma pool. He screamed and struggled, thick smoke billowing.

Shaking, Huo Zhi inhaled sharply. Linlang pressed her head down, preventing her from looking in that direction.

Huo Zhi calmed down a little and then felt that the place where she was buried her head was somewhat… unusual.

She touched it and immediately blushed with embarrassment.

Linlang wasn’t wearing any clothes!