Chapter 100: Fall
Yun Che and Lan Xueruo suddenly jumped down like that, completely catching Xiao Zaihe off guard. By the time he managed to forcefully halt his Storm Fury Eagle, he could no longer see any trace of them.
"Hmph, utterly insane. Falling from this height, even I would be smashed to pieces. But that brat was hit by a poison fire gun—he's as good as dead anyway."
Below seemed to be a vast wasteland, calm yet carrying a faint, dangerous aura. Although he was certain the two who jumped were already doomed, Yun Che had emptied his sect's treasure vault. He might be carrying spatial equipment capable of holding large amounts of space. Yun Che's life or death didn't matter, but his sect's belongings had to be recovered. Otherwise, their sect would decline at an alarming speed.
Xiao Zaihe descended in a straight line at extreme speed. As soon as he landed, he was attacked by a violent True Xuan Beast. He swiftly struck it down, but unexpectedly, this stirred up a hornet's nest. A massive horde of True Xuan Beasts roared in from all directions, forcing him to flee in terror.
This wasteland stretched for hundreds of miles. Xiao Zaihe searched like a headless fly for over two hours, until the sky was completely dark, without finding a single trace. The Xuan Beasts here were unexpectedly dense and mostly ferocious and violent. In the short span of two hours, he had been attacked dozens of times, including one low-level Earth Xuan Beast. Although he escaped on his Storm Fury Eagle, he was still drenched in cold sweat.
The aggressive Xuan Beasts here were extremely concentrated. In this long stretch of time, they would have already gnawed Yun Che's corpse clean. It would be impossible to find anything. With that thought, though sulking, Xiao Zaihe had no choice but to give up the search and steer the Storm Fury Eagle toward New Moon City.
Yun Che having Lan Xueruo hold him as they jumped was not a desperate choice born of hopelessness. Rather, if they didn't jump, they would surely die at Xiao Zaihe's hands. But if they jumped, they would definitely live.
Because there was Mo Li.
"Are you insane?!" Yun Che's action took Mo Li by complete surprise.
Their bodies plummeted at breakneck speed, one soft and warm body holding him tightly. But he had no leisure to enjoy this pleasant sensation. He raised his left hand, and in his lightly clenched palm, seven medicinal herbs quickly appeared. With a slight squeeze, the seven herbs were refined by the power of the Heavenly Poison Pearl into a small pill, which he then labored to stuff into his mouth and swallow forcefully. Only then did he speak urgently to Mo Li: "Mo Li, whatever you do, don't save me! Or you'll die. For now, lend me part of your power! Just enough for me to perform 'Mystic Void Crossing.'"
After killing the Flame Dragon, the poisonous backlash had left Mo Li unable to use power for three months. But transferring a small portion of power to Yun Che, rather than releasing it herself, would undoubtedly cause much less backlash. However...
"'Mystic Void Crossing'? Don't you know that to perform Mystic Void Crossing, you need at minimum the power of the Heavenly Xuan Realm! With your current body, how can you possibly withstand Heavenly Xuan Force? If things go wrong, in just a few breaths, your Mysterious Vein might burst directly!"
"Don't forget, my current Mysterious Vein is a Divine Mysterious Vein! I believe it's not so easily destroyed! And I don't need it for long—just the few seconds before landing!"
The wind roared sharper by their ears, and the scene below magnified with increasing speed. Lan Xueruo tightly shut her eyes, her arms instinctively wrapped around Yun Che in protection, but also out of subconscious fear.
Her consciousness was fading, but Yun Che kept his eyes wide open, staring downward. The airflow impact beneath his feet began to change noticeably, signaling that the ground was very close. In a few more breaths, they would smash heavily into the earth...
"MO LI!!!"
With a shout in his heart, a colossal force suddenly surged violently into his Mysterious Vein... It was a power that made him feel capable of controlling space, but also so strong that it nearly shattered his Mysterious Vein in an instant.
Yun Che's eyes widened, his gaze turning fiercely alert. He released this Xuan Force without reservation, part of it impacting the airflow below, part protecting his body. As if something were propping them up from beneath, the speed of his and Lan Xueruo's fall rapidly decreased, slower and slower... But in those few short breaths, even Heavenly Xuan Realm power could not completely neutralize such an absurd impact. The moment before they hit the ground, their falling speed was still fairly fast... Without a moment's hesitation, Yun Che's arm wrapped around Lan Xueruo, and with a push, he thrust her delicate body upward.
Lan Xueruo's eyes flew open, and what she saw was the faint, light smile at the corner of Yun Che's mouth. But his face gradually receded in her pupils... In that instant, she felt something warm and bittersweet slam hard against her heart. She opened her lips, but it was too late to make a sound.
BANG!!!!
Yun Che's body finally hit the ground, crashing heavily into the earth. The hard ground instantly split into pieces. Before he could even feel the pain, his consciousness scattered completely in a single moment.
"Junior Brother Yun!"
It took a full four breaths after Yun Che landed before Lan Xueruo touched the ground. The force with which he had pushed her upward was gentle yet surprisingly lingering, like a soft but irresistible wind, slowing her descent more and more. When she was about ten meters from the ground, she even stopped midair. When she fell, it was equivalent to dropping from a ten-meter height.
Such a height could no longer cause any injury. Lan Xueruo landed steadily on her feet, then dashed madly toward Yun Che. Seeing the horrifying pit beneath him and the countless cracks spreading over ten meters across the ground, tears burst forth like a flood.
"Junior Brother Yun! Junior Brother Yun... Junior Brother Yun!!"
Lan Xueruo knelt beside Yun Che, crying out in grief. Having not shed a tear in over a decade, she now wept without restraint, tears like a breached dam quickly soaking her entire face. She pressed her hand hard over her mouth, but could not suppress her sobs.
She had told Qin Wuyou that he was someone who valued loyalty and friendship—if you helped him in his time of need, he would surely repay you, or at least not refuse her request then. At the gates of the Xiao Sect, she had indeed saved him, using her contracted Xuan Beast to rescue him from Xiao Zaihe's pursuit. But she never imagined his repayment would be so fervent and resolute—twice in a row, he protected her with his own body and life.
There were many people in this world who treated her well, and even more who desperately tried to please her. But since childhood, she had seen too much heartlessness, feigned affection, ingratitude, honeyed words laced with deceit, and wolves in sheep's clothing... Including the family she had always believed were her closest. She had been disappointed time and again, almost to the point of despair. Otherwise, she wouldn't have left home and wandered through seven Xuan Palaces in two years, searching for a sliver of hope.
Her sincere and gentle nature was true to herself, but after so much coldness and trauma deep inside, she had never opened her heart to anyone. Every time she laughed and talked with someone at arm's length, her heart was a thousand miles away.
She never imagined there could be someone in this world willing to shield her with their own life when she faced mortal danger... At least, not her family, nor those who fawned over her...
But Yun Che, this little "junior brother" she had ulterior motives toward, had deeply shaken her soul and made her weep like rain. It also made her know for the first time in her life that there truly could be someone willing to guard her with their life—twice.
Only, perhaps she realized it a little too late, because the moment she knew, he might never wake again. Such a terrifying fall was simply impossible for someone with only Xuan Entry Realm power to survive. The only outcome was death.
Lan Xueruo's heart ached, her vision completely blurred by tears. In her sorrow, she didn't even notice that although Yun Che's body had created such a huge pit and so many cracks, there was no pooled blood beneath him.
As she wept, her hand suddenly felt a warm touch. In that instant, she was like an electric shock, her whole body trembling, her beautiful eyes flying open. Through her still-blurry vision, she saw Yun Che slowly open his eyes. Perhaps because she had cried so miserably, her face was a mess, and he gave a faint smile. His hand was resting on her palm, telling her he was alive.
"Junior Brother Yun..." Lan Xueruo felt as if she had suddenly risen from hell to heaven. In overwhelming joy, her voice became ethereal: "You... you're not hurt?"
"I was... dead, actually." Yun Che moved his lips, his voice hoarse and weak, but the faint smile on his lips was every bit as teasing as usual: "But the King of Yan said there was a beautiful, kind-hearted girl crying too sadly over my death, and even he couldn't bear to watch, so he sent me back..."
Sorrow and joy intermingled; Lan Xueruo didn't know whether to cry or smile. She wiped her tear-streaked face somewhat clumsily, trying to put on a feigned angry expression, but the sight of her pear-blossom-like tears made her indescribably poignant: "Even in this state, you still... still can't stop your cheeky talk. That mouth of yours... in the future, who knows how many girls it will lead astray."
"Hehe..." Yun Che laughed, but the laughter immediately pulled at his wounds, making his brow twitch in pain: "Then, is it possible... to lead my senior sister astray..."
From the first day they met until now, Lan Xueruo and Yun Che hadn't spoken all that much, and a large part of it had been these kinds of mildly teasing jokes. She had grown used to hearing such things from him—it was amusing and fun. But this time, deep inside, there was an indescribable, nameless flutter. She moved her lips, about to speak, when she saw Yun Che's eyes close, and he fell unconscious.
[End of Volume One.]
[Volume Two "Smoke and Clouds of Cang Feng" begins... Keywords: Cangfeng Mystic Palace, Cang Xueruo, "Phoenix Ode Scripture", Heavenly Xuan List, Fen Juechen.]