"Senior Brother, I'll support you."
"Mm, all right."
Junior Sister Qing Daoxun draped Qin Shaofeng's right arm over her shoulder, and the two were almost pressed tightly together.
Qin Shaofeng's nose was filled with Qing Daoxun's scent. Even after the battle, his junior sister's faint, elegant fragrance still tugged at his heartstrings.
He abruptly shook his head, trying to cast all those tangled thoughts away in one go.
While Qin Shaofeng's mind was wandering, he failed to notice that Qing Daoxun, so close beside him, quietly reddened at the ears. Her gaze flickered away, and she did not dare look directly at him.
Getting back to business, the two finally turned their eyes to their surroundings. The moment they stepped inside, dense demonic qi swept over them, almost tangible.
At the center of the cave, a figure was tightly bound by thick chains, curled into a ball. Its aura was so weak it was nearly severed, like a candle flame in the wind that could go out at any moment.
"Senior Brother, this thing... the aura on it is very strange." Qing Daoxun's delicate brows knitted together, because she sensed that the bound figure seemed to...
Not be human.
"Junior Sister, stand here."
As Qin Shaofeng spoke, he raised a hand to shield Qing Daoxun behind him.
Beneath layers upon layers of rough iron chains, a human figure flickered in and out of sight, like an insubstantial body floating beyond the mortal world.
Its face was hidden in the dim shadows, its features blurred beyond recognition. Its body seemed covered by a thin veil, clear one moment and fading away the next, as though it were merely a wisp of smoke that the wind could scatter at any time, existing in an elusive state between presence and absence.
Yet the