Feeling the fresh air, Zhang Qingshui’s spirits lifted, and she cried out in a low voice, “We broke through?” She practically squeezed past Wang Ya’s body to reach the cave mouth, peering out with great difficulty using the light from the Azure Vine. After a long while, she turned back to look at Wang Ya, who was right in front of her, and said, “We’re on a cliff?” She had heard the sound of flowing water and remembered the massive swarms of creatures that had appeared in the labyrinth. Excitedly, she grabbed Wang Ya’s hand and shouted, “Wang Ya, we can survive this!”
Wang Ya frowned and disgustedly shook off Zhang Qingshui’s hand. She hated Zhang Qingshui’s touch.
Zhang Qingshui’s expression dimmed, but she quickly suppressed her disappointment and said, “With the Azure Dragon Vine, we can leave.”
Wang Ya sat silently at the cliff’s edge, gazing intently into the dark space. The incantation from the Seeking Dragon Break Defense Art surfaced in her mind. She hadn’t expected that after digging the tunnel for twenty days, they had come this far. Now that they had reached this point, she had no desire to continue with Zhang Qingshui, who harbored ulterior motives. The Feng Family’s possessions were not for Zhang Family members to see.
Seeing Wang Ya’s expression not one of elation at escaping but instead unusually grave, Zhang Qingshui knew something was wrong. Before she could think further, Wang Ya turned her head and stared at her. Her stunningly beautiful face was frosty cold, and a layer of misty haze in her eyes revealed killing intent. Zhang Qingshui was both startled and puzzled. She couldn’t understand why, after sharing hardships in the tunnel for so many days, Wang Ya suddenly wanted to kill her. Was it because she had grabbed Wang Ya’s hand earlier, reminding her of that night? Or because they had escaped and Wang Ya no longer wanted her alive? She recalled Wang Ya’s previous words and dismissed the possibility of it being about that night. As for escaping, that didn’t hold either—the outside was a sheer cliff, and the Yin Qi here was even denser than in the Azure Dragon Palace, fraught with extreme danger. How could this be an escape? There was only one possibility: they were approaching the core area left behind by the Feng Family’s constructions, and Wang Ya didn’t want her to see the Feng Family’s hidden treasures. Zhang Qingshui’s mind raced, and just as Wang Ya’s killing intent surfaced but before she could act, Zhang Qingshui figured out Wang Ya’s intentions. She said, “Wang Ya, the path ahead is fraught with life and death. One more person means one more ally. Keeping me alive is more valuable than killing me. My current strength poses no threat to you at all—with your abilities, you can kill me anytime. Why rush it now?”
Wang Ya let out a light scoff and asked with a smile, “How do you know I want to kill you?” She had only just formed the intent to kill and hadn’t even moved yet, but Zhang Qingshui already knew?
Zhang Qingshui replied, “The way you looked at me carried killing intent, and these past days, you haven’t given me a proper glance.” She changed tack and said, “Though it’s pitch black outside, I can feel it’s teeming with killing intent. The Yin Qi here is too heavy—far denser than in the Azure Dragon Palace. Killing me now wouldn’t be wise.” With that, she shifted her gaze from Wang Ya’s excessively demoness-like face to the ink-black space outside. She feared looking too intently and provoking Wang Ya again.
Of course, Wang Ya understood that Zhang Qingshui was only saying this to stay alive, but she still pondered her words carefully and decided to spare Zhang Qingshui’s life for the time being. She did need Zhang Qingshui’s help because she didn’t know how to calculate arrays, and what lay before her was the true Illusory City Labyrinth. Even with the incantations, without knowing array calculations, she still wouldn’t find the way. She tossed out, “Wait here for me!” and squeezed back past Zhang Qingshui into the tunnel. Half-crouching, she returned to retrieve supplies. Though they had no food or water left, many items were still useful—like the mountaineering gear, tent, sleeping bag, outdoor gas canister, and so on. Especially that mountaineering kit. She knew Zhang Qingshui’s Azure Dragon Vine was better than climbing rope, but she had a psychological shadow over the Azure Dragon Vine.
Wang Ya’s backpack had worn out long ago while transporting soil, but fortunately, while digging the tunnel, she had unearthed quite a few things, including another backpack. She kept the useful items she dug up, returned to their “base camp,” packed briefly, stuffed everything into two backpacks, shouldered one, and dragged the other back to the tunnel exit.
While Wang Ya was gone fetching things, Zhang Qingshui had drawn in some Yi Wood Energy from the Azure Dragon Vine using it, recovering her spirits slightly—but only slightly. Her biggest problem now was hunger and thirst. Without food or water, mere Yi Wood Energy couldn’t sustain the energy her body needed.
Wang Ya pulled out the climbing rope, secured one end in a rock crevice, and let the other end dangle down the cliff. She tossed a lit Glow Stick into the abyss to gauge its depth, but the light was quickly swallowed by the darkness. Previously, to save resources, she had worked in the dark, with Zhang Qingshui only using the Azure Dragon Vine’s spiritual glow for light, so their lighting tools were still functional. Wang Ya didn’t hold back and directly shone the Strong Flashlight downward. The black fog here was extremely thick—even the Strong Flashlight could only illuminate within two meters, blurring beyond one meter visibility. This was a rare Yin Gathering Treasured Land, where the gathered Yin Qi had condensed into heavy black fog that even light couldn’t penetrate.
According to the Dragon-Seeking Formation-Breaking Art, a Blood River encircled the Illusory City Labyrinth outside it. Descending from this cliff, she was very likely to encounter the Blood River. With no other path, even if it was the Blood River below, she had to go check it out and feel out the situation.
Wang Ya, harnessed securely with the safety rope, descended extremely cautiously. She wasn’t afraid of the rope slipping but wary of something suddenly emerging from the darkness. Ever since crawling out of the tunnel and hanging on this cliff, all the hairs on her body had stood on end, as if some threat lurked in the shadows. She pricked up her ears and listened intently but heard no movement—except, if anything, the whisper of yin wind.
She descended bit by bit, extremely slowly. After sliding about fifty meters, she suddenly heard Zhang Qingshui’s trembling voice from above: “Wang Ya, are you okay?”
