Chapter 74: Ambushed on the Cliffside Part 2

Wang Ya didn’t want to respond to Zhang Qingshui and stayed silent.

Zhang Qingshui called again: “Wang Ya, be careful—there are flying things in the darkness. I don’t know what they are; I only saw a black shadow lunging at me, blocked by the Azure Dragon Vine.”

Wang Ya coldly replied, “Got it!” She paid even closer attention to her surroundings and continued descending.

After sliding down another five or six meters, she suddenly felt something staring at her. She turned her head toward the direction of the gaze and saw a black shadow about three or four meters away on the cliff face. It was too dark; she could only make out a vague outline. Appearing on the sheer cliff wall, she had no idea what it was. Wang Ya circulated her Demonic Power, her right hand forming a flower pinch, a vivid Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Seal Formula blooming at her fingertips. She slapped it straight at the black shadow.

The Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Seal, glowing red, shot toward the shadow and arrived almost instantly. But the black shadow suddenly expanded into a mass two meters in diameter, charging into the darkness behind it and vanishing without a trace.

What the hell!

Wang Ya was shocked and terrified! The thing flew silently and at extreme speed—if it had ambushed her, hanging on the cliff, she probably wouldn’t have escaped. She didn’t dare linger and quickened her descent.

After descending another ten meters or so, she suddenly spotted a plank road below her feet. Made of stone slabs with bronze chains as railings, suspended on the cliff—it was identical to the one outside the Azure Dragon Palace leading to the Myriad Coffins Array.

With a plank road, it meant she had circled onto the proper path. She landed on it, looked up, and shouted loudly, “Zhang Qingshui, lower the backpacks.” The area above was pitch black; she couldn’t see anything, not even the glow from Zhang Qingshui’s Azure Dragon Vine. Hearing no response, she called again: “Zhang Qingshui!”

Zhang Qingshui’s voice came: “Wait a moment.”

Wang Ya heard the tremor in Zhang Qingshui’s voice, sounding extremely strained—likely starved to the point where even speaking was an effort. She waited another four or five minutes before seeing the two backpacks descend together on the rappel hook. She shouldered her own backpack and looked up, not seeing Zhang Qingshui coming down. She asked, “Zhang Qingshui, do you have the strength to come down?”

She waited three or four minutes with no response from Zhang Qingshui. Instead, she heard a majestic, drawn-out howl from above. The sound wasn’t particularly loud—not even as loud as her own voice—but it carried a thunderous, majestic momentum.

Hearing this sudden sound, Wang Ya knew something was happening up there—otherwise, why wouldn’t Zhang Qingshui respond or descend?

In her astonishment, Wang Ya suddenly heard the sound of the rappel device friction on the rope, descending at extreme speed.

Soon, Wang Ya saw Zhang Qingshui, shrouded in the Azure Dragon Vine’s glow, sliding down rapidly from the cliff. Rolling black Qi wrapped around the green light emanating from the Azure Dragon Vine. The green light flickered violently, as if under fierce impact.

Zhang Qingshui’s descent was incredibly fast, nearly matching a freefall.

Wang Ya had no doubt that if Zhang Qingshui failed to check her momentum, smashing into the plank road headfirst would kill her on the spot.

Fortunately, at two meters above the plank road, Zhang Qingshui halted her fall, hovering in midair. After a brief pause, she descended rapidly again, landing unsteadily on the plank road. Her legs gave out, and she knelt directly on the ground. Her face was pale, her forehead covered in cold sweat, gasping for breath.

The Azure Dragon Vine coiled around Zhang Qingshui like a swimming dragon, its green spiritual glow enveloping a three-meter radius in soft light. And again came that long, deep howl Wang Ya had heard earlier.

Plants naturally couldn’t howl. Wang Ya knew it must be the Dragon Qi or dragon soul within the Azure Dragon Vine making the sound. She recalled it had made the same noise when she and the Giant Snake attacked it after emerging from the pool.

Something was attacking the Azure Dragon Vine, making it sense danger and howl.

Just as the Azure Dragon Vine’s howl rang out, Wang Ya felt the Yin Qi above her head roil and surge like boiling water. She instinctively looked up and saw a pitch-black monster, seemingly composed of black fog, floating in the air overhead before slamming heavily into the Azure Dragon Vine. At first glance, the monster resembled a humanoid form but sported a pair of gigantic wings spanning at least two meters, its entire body pitch black as if condensed from pure Yin Qi. Wang Ya clearly saw black Yin Qi scatter from its body upon colliding with the green light from the Azure Dragon Vine. Then she spotted more monsters emerging from the dense Yin Qi—fast as arrows loosed from bows, amid surging Yin Qi, they hurtled down aggressively like cannonballs, smashing into the Azure Dragon Vine before soaring back up into the darkness. Batch after batch of monsters rained down relentlessly, battering the Azure Dragon Vine into continuous howls. But those howls no longer carried the initial vigor, now sounding like mournful tremors.

Zhang Qingshui’s voice rang out: “Wang Ya, quick—the Azure Dragon Vine can’t hold much longer!”

Wang Ya thought, Better if it breaks! She knew the Azure Dragon Vine was Zhang Qingshui’s lifeblood; if it were destroyed, Zhang Qingshui would lose her lifesaving treasure, and any random thing could end her. But Zhang Qingshui couldn’t die yet—she still needed her to help break the array. Wang Ya stepped into Taiji Array Positions, formed the Vermilion Bird Evil-Purging Seal with her hands, and slapped it toward the black shadows overhead.

The Vermilion Bird Evil-Purging Seal transformed into a blazing Vermilion Bird, striking the descending cluster of monsters and instantly incinerating them into a fiery mass. The monsters, wreathed in flames, shot back up into the darkness, only to dive down again. Wang Ya clearly saw that though the Vermilion Bird Evil-Purging Seal had burned the monsters, it had little effect—not even enough to fatally wound them or impair their combat ability.

Wang Ya figured it was because her body’s Demonic Power had altered her constitution, making her Demonic Aura too heavy, which greatly diminished the efficacy of her evil-purging techniques. Seeing the Azure Dragon Vine retract onto Zhang Qingshui, leaving only a faint layer of green light over her as she teetered on the brink of death, Wang Ya immediately formed the Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Seal and blasted it at the monsters diving from the sky.