Chapter 829: Bottom of the Cliff
"Whoosh——"
The speed of descent grew faster and faster.
Zhang Ruochen gritted his teeth and immediately activated the power of the Dragon Pearl. A pair of golden dragon wings spread from his back, using the wings to slow his falling speed.
The deeper he descended, the greater the force pressing down on Zhang Ruochen's body.
Eventually, even with the dragon wings, their effect became quite limited.
Moreover, the space beneath the cliff was even more fragile. Every few dozen meters, one or two massive spatial rifts would appear, hanging horizontally in the air. Anyone who fell into them would undoubtedly die.
Several times, Zhang Ruochen nearly plunged into the Void Space.
"Haha! Zhang Ruochen, let's die together!"
Feng Han landed below Zhang Ruochen, his face covered in blood, laughing wildly with a ferocious expression.
"Even if I die, you must die before me."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes turned cold and stern.
The next moment, he executed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm. Dragon roars and elephant bellows echoed from within his body. Dragon and elephant shadows surged from his arms, coalescing into palm prints that he continuously struck downward.
"Boom! Boom!"
He unleashed seventeen palm strikes in succession, relentlessly hitting Feng Han.
Even though Feng Han had the Hundred Beasts True Cauldron to block, blood still flowed unceasingly from his mouth. More than a dozen bloody cracks split across his chest, nearly tearing him apart.
Just as Zhang Ruochen prepared to deliver the eighteenth palm, he saw the black ground beneath Feng Han appear.
They had reached the bottom of the cliff.
"Haha! Master, your prized disciple is still going to die young. He can't inherit your legacy, and he'll never become a Sword Saint."
Feng Han laughed even louder. Even if he was about to die here, Zhang Ruochen would be his burial companion.
But under Feng Han's astonished gaze, Zhang Ruochen took out the Cosmic Divine Wood Map, opened the Space Gate, and leaped into the Scroll World.
The moment the Space Gate closed, the Cosmic Divine Wood Map fell to the ground.
"No..."
Feng Han roared, landing first, shattering the hard rocks into dust.
Of course, his powerful Half-Saint body also turned into a bloody pulp, leaving only a silver skeleton embedded in the stone.
A mere cliff, no matter how high, couldn't kill a Half-Saint by falling alone.
But the powerful downward force, combined with the cultivator's own gravity, when they hit the ground, was like a Saint's full-force strike. Even with protective treasures, it was impossible to withstand.
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen emerged from the Scroll World, stepped onto the ground, retrieved the Cosmic Divine Wood Map buried in the earth, wiped the dust off it, and held it in his hand.
The scroll was completely unharmed.
"It's a pity I haven't yet comprehended Space Rules. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to use the Cosmic Divine Wood Map to save my life."
Zhang Ruochen put the Cosmic Divine Wood Map back into his Qi Sea, feeling quite emotional.
Regardless, surviving was the greatest fortune.
Zhang Ruochen looked up toward the top of the cliff. He could see spatial rifts scattered above. Those rifts would close and then split open again, appearing highly unstable.
With his cultivation, even a single leap upward could only reach nine zhang high. When he landed, his legs sank directly into the ground, and his entire skeleton felt like it was about to fall apart.
"I wonder if Senior Sister Duanmu made it back to the top of the cliff?"
Zhang Ruochen estimated that, even without any accidents, climbing from the bottom to the top would take at least several months.
The cliff face was full of dangers, and the probability of encountering no accidents was far too low.
In other words, with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, it was almost impossible for him to return to the cliff top. For many, this would be a deeply despairing situation.
Yet, he took it lightly, merely shaking his head before looking at the ground.
The ground was covered with dozens of large pits. At the bottom of each pit lay a skeleton. Human bones were the majority, along with a few barbarian beast skeletons.
At the edges of some pits, Zhang Ruochen found broken silver silk ropes and iron chains.
Clearly, they had all come seeking the resurrection medicine and divine corpse, trying to reach the bottom of the cliff. But they encountered accidents, fell, and died.
What terrible things had they encountered?
What dangers lurked on the cliff face?
To have intact skeletons after falling from here, they must have been at least Fish-Dragon Ninth Transformation cultivators who had cultivated a Glazed Treasure Body. More likely, they were all Half-Saints, overlords who dominated their regions in the Kunlun Realm.
"A rumor about resurrection medicine has killed so many people. Who is the mastermind behind this? No..."
Zhang Ruochen suddenly noticed something and looked again into the pits.
"Why are they all skeletons? Where did their flesh and blood go? Could some kind of creature be living at the bottom of this cliff?"
Zhang Ruochen became cautious, releasing his Space Domain and spiritual power fully to guard against any mishap.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen felt as if a pair of eyes were watching him from the darkness.
"Who's there?"
Zhang Ruochen pointed his finger, sending out a pillar of sword ripples toward the direction he sensed.
But as soon as the sword ripples' power erupted, it shattered the fragile space.
Zhang Ruochen had to immediately retract his power, retreat quickly, and then chase after it at an even faster speed, disappearing into the darkness.
Not long after, at the top of the cliff, the ghost mist trembled.
Then, a massive phoenix shadow flew down. At a hundred zhang above the ground, it transformed into the silhouette of a stunning beauty, condensing into Mu Lingxi's petite figure.
A pair of beautiful phoenix wings turned into specks of light and flew back into her back.
Mu Lingxi first looked around, then walked to the edge of a large pit. She saw it was filled with blood, leaving only a pulp of flesh.
The blood was still fresh, emitting a faint warmth.
Her legs trembled, and she fell to her knees. A sharp pain struck her heart, as if blades were twisting inside.
"Why... why must I experience this kind of... pain... twice... wuwu..."
Mu Lingxi pressed her hands to the ground, her fingers digging into the stone. Her crystal-white face, streaked with tears, pressed against the dirt as an overwhelming wave of grief surged forth.
This feeling was utterly unbearable.
She shouldn't have jumped off the cliff. Why had she done something so foolish? If Zhang Ruochen hadn't tried to save her, he wouldn't have died together with Feng Han.
"It's all my fault... it's me... I killed you... I'm sorry..."
Mu Lingxi lay on the ground, her hair disheveled, tears streaming endlessly. Her breathing became rapid, and her eyes turned utterly resolute. "Since you're dead, what meaning is there in my living?"
She pressed her hands against the ground, sat up abruptly, and drew the Abyssal Ancient Sword, aiming it at her own heart.
But as she looked up, she saw a young, handsome figure standing across the pit. He was staring at her with curious eyes.
It was none other than Zhang Ruochen.
Mu Lingxi froze as if turned to stone, the raised sword stopping mid-air.
Zhang Ruochen pursed his lips and asked, "Senior Sister Duanmu, what are you doing?"
Tears welled up in Mu Lingxi's resolute eyes again. She threw the Abyssal Ancient Sword aside, rushed forward, and threw herself into Zhang Ruochen's arms.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the Abyssal Ancient Sword and then at the bloody pulp on the ground, roughly guessing what had happened. A complex, hard-to-describe emotion stirred within him.
He closed his eyes, lowered his head slightly, and gently inhaled the scent of Mu Lingxi's hair behind her ear. Then, he stretched out his arms and held her tightly.
Suddenly, Mu Lingxi lifted her head, pressing her soft, fragrant lips against Zhang Ruochen's.
After a long kiss, they parted. Mu Lingxi was slightly breathless. She clenched her small fists and lightly pounded Zhang Ruochen's chest, tears streaming as she asked, "Where did you go just now? I thought..."
"I encountered something strange earlier, so I went to chase it. But it was too fast; I couldn't catch it." Zhang Ruochen stroked Mu Lingxi's cheek and sighed softly. "Don't do anything foolish from now on. If I had been a little later, the consequences would have been unthinkable."
"Mm."
Mu Lingxi's eyelashes fluttered, and she giggled. "As long as you're alive, I'll never do anything foolish."
Zhang Ruochen let out a soft exclamation, staring at Mu Lingxi's brow.
There, a blood-red phoenix mark, no larger than a cinnabar dot, was incredibly vivid, radiating a very sacred power fluctuation.
It was just a mark, yet it seemed as if it could come to life at any moment.
Mu Lingxi also seemed to sense something. She touched her brow with her finger, recalling how she had suddenly transformed into a phoenix earlier...
So, she immediately withdrew her spiritual power into her body and began to investigate.
In her Qi Sea, a phoenix-shaped mass of Saint Qi had appeared, as if it were alive, gently flapping its wings and letting out low cries.
"Could I have awakened my phoenix bloodline?"
Mu Lingxi was also somewhat unclear about what was happening to her. Nevertheless, following the meridian chart of the "Eight Desolates and Six Directions Skill," she controlled the flow of Saint Qi.
"Whoosh——"
A pair of massive icy wings burst from her back, over ten meters long, with vibrant feathers radiating five-colored light. Even Wind Rules, Speed Rules, Ice Rules... over a hundred types of Sacred Dao Rules flowed between the wings.
Mu Lingxi's aura became incredibly sacred. Her skin was as clear as jade, and every strand of hair emitted a faint holy light. She looked like a Phoenix Heavenly Maiden descending to the mortal world, as if she could soar into the sky and vanish from the human realm at any moment.
Her pair of phoenix wings were real, not conjured by Saint Qi.
Zhang Ruochen also found it hard to believe. "Could your Mu family be a Phoenix Half-Human Clan?"