"You're talking nonsense!"
Lu Xueqi's face turned deathly pale, and the hand gripping Tianya trembled.
"I'm talking nonsense?"
Bi Yao's smile grew brighter. "You can ask him—and that blockhead too. Who's been finding them water to drink and food to eat these past few days?"
"If it weren't for me, they'd have starved to death here long ago."
"You!"
Lu Xueqi was left speechless by her words, her chest heaving.
She looked at the Demon Sect enchantress before her, then at the silent Li Xiaoyu. Grievance and anger welled up inside her.
One was as cold and ethereal as an immortal; the other, as radiant as fire.
One was a prodigy of the righteous path; the other, a Demon Sect enchantress.
The two women had met again in the Blood-Dripping Cave.
The air crackled with tension.
Li Xiaoyu and Zhang Xiaofan stood between them, their heads aching.
"Senior Sister Lu, Bi Yao..."
Zhang Xiaofan wanted to explain, but he was so tongue-tied that he didn't know where to begin.
Li Xiaoyu felt helpless.
He knew that the conflict between the two women was about more than the divide between righteous and demonic paths.
There was also a kind of hostility between women.
"Enough!"
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Li Xiaoyu barked.
Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao both trembled and looked toward him.
Li Xiaoyu stepped between them, separating them.
He first glanced at Lu Xueqi, who looked aggrieved, and a trace of apology flickered in his eyes.
Then Li Xiaoyu turned to Bi Yao, who was still provoking her.
"Now isn't the time to fight."
His voice was steady.
"We're all trapped in the Abyss of the Dead, with our lives hanging in the balance. Our only chance of survival is to work together and find a way out."
"If you insist on fighting to the death here, we'll all die in this place, and none of us will ever get out!"
His words brought them both to their senses.
Lu Xueqi reined in her anger and put away the Tianya Divine Sword.
She knew Li Xiaoyu was right.
The most important thing now was to survive.
Bi Yao pursed her lips, unconvinced, but didn't say anything more.
"I'll let it go for now, for that blockhead's sake."
Bi Yao gave Lu Xueqi a cold snort, as if to save face.
Li Xiaoyu had put a stop to the confrontation just like that.
But everyone knew it was only temporary.
As long as the two women were together, they were like fire and water—never meant to mix.
Li Xiaoyu looked at them and sighed inwardly.
With Li Xiaoyu smoothing things over, the atmosphere in the Blood-Dripping Cave was strange, but at least it had temporarily settled down.
Lu Xueqi found a corner as far away from Bi Yao as possible, sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes to regulate her breathing. She didn't look at anyone, as if she were an ice sculpture.
Bi Yao, on the other hand, tugged Zhang Xiaofan along and continued asking him about the Green Cloud Sect's gossip, laughing from time to time as if she'd already forgotten about their earlier clash.
Li Xiaoyu looked at the two groups keeping their distance from one another and shook his head.
He walked to the cave entrance and peered outside.
All was still darkness and deathly silence.
Li Xiaoyu knew they couldn't keep waiting like this.
They had to take the initiative and search for a way out.
"Xiaofan, Miss Bi Yao, come over here."
Li Xiaoyu beckoned to the two inside the cave.
Zhang Xiaofan and Bi Yao came over when they heard him.
In the distance, Lu Xueqi opened her eyes too, her cool gaze turning toward them.
"I've made up my mind. We can't just sit here and wait for death."
Li Xiaoyu looked at the three of them and said gravely, "This Blood-Dripping Cave may be safe, but it isn't a long-term solution. We have to explore deeper and see if there are any other exits."
Zhang Xiaofan immediately agreed with his suggestion.
"Senior Brother Li is right. We should look for a way out."
Bi Yao's big eyes shifted as she nodded. "All right! I love exploring! Maybe we'll even find some treasure!"
Li Xiaoyu then turned his gaze to Lu Xueqi.
Lu Xueqi said nothing. She simply rose and walked to his side, showing her support through action.
Seeing that no one objected, Li Xiaoyu didn't hesitate any longer.
"Good. Then we set out now."
"I'll lead the way. Xueqi, you'll cover the middle. Xiaofan, you and Miss Bi Yao take the rear and keep an eye out behind us."
He quickly assigned everyone their positions.
The arrangement took everyone's abilities into account while also keeping Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao apart to avoid any friction.
Thus, the four formed a temporary exploration team. Carrying torches, they headed deeper into the Blood-Dripping Cave.
The inside of the Blood-Dripping Cave was far larger than they'd imagined.
The passages twisted and turned like a maze.
The cave walls were covered in strangely shaped rocks that, in the torchlight, looked like demons baring their claws and fangs.
The stench of blood and a peculiar, delicate fragrance grew stronger in the air.
After the four had walked for about the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the passage ahead grew wider and wider.
At last, a vast stone chamber appeared before them.
The chamber was circular, a hundred zhang across, with a ceiling soaring high overhead.
A colossal statue stood at its center.
The statue depicted a woman dressed in an elaborate palace gown. Her features were breathtaking, her bearing dignified, yet sorrow lingered between her brows.
Rotten prayer mats and magical artifacts lay scattered at the statue's feet.
The walls surrounding the chamber were covered in densely packed writing.
The characters flowed like dragons and snakes, their strokes vigorous and forceful. Each one seemed to hold a strange magic.
"What is this place?"
Zhang Xiaofan looked at the scene before them and asked in a quiet voice.
"Judging by the statue's clothing and the magical artifacts, this must have been a place where a predecessor of the Joyous Union Sect cultivated."
A strange glint passed through Bi Yao's eyes. She clearly knew more about the Demon Sect's history than the others.
"The Joyous Union Sect?"
Disgust flashed in Lu Xueqi's eyes.
Li Xiaoyu's gaze, however, never lingered on the statue.
He was captivated by the densely packed writing on the walls.
He could sense an abstruse and immense power contained within those characters.
That power seemed to be the source of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, encompassing all things and containing the most fundamental truths of the world.
"Look at those words," Li Xiaoyu said gravely.
At his words, everyone turned their eyes to the walls.
The moment they understood what the characters said, all of them shuddered.
"Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs!"
The words were filled with doubt and defiance toward Heaven and Earth and the laws of the world.
They were the exact opposite of the principles they'd been taught: to follow the Heavenly Dao and revere nature.
Shock showed on all four faces.
They continued reading.
They saw that the walls laid out, in ancient script, a complete and profound system of cultivation theory.
That theory was not bound by the distinction between righteousness and evil.
From a height unlike anything they had ever seen, it analyzed the nature of spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth, explained the relationship between the human body and the universe, and revealed the mysteries of longevity and power.
"This is..."
A storm surged through Li Xiaoyu's heart.
The moment his Taiji Profound Clarity Path cultivation method encountered those characters, it began to operate on its own, beyond his control.
It was as if he had glimpsed a door leading to an entirely new world. Every question he had ever had about cultivation was answered by those words.
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