Trapped in the Bear's Cave

The sky was a clear, deep blue, and a gentle breeze added a touch of romance. 💀☜ 🐨💚

High above the heavens, treading on white clouds, hand in hand Yu Feng, Ah Rou's heart was filled with excitement.

Turning her head to look at the person beside her, she was captivated by the poetic sunset and the wine-like twilight in the distance, and her godlike profile completely mesmerized her, leaving her unable to extricate herself for Jiujiu.

In other words, it was a complete trust that allowed Ah Rou to hand over her Soul Power and body entirely to Ling Yi's control. At this moment, Ling Yi was in charge of Yu Feng, otherwise the two of them would probably fall from the clouds like a sparrow with a broken wing.

In the Star Dou Great Forest, atop a nameless, solitary peak, two figures stood still.

Looking down, one sees clouds halfway up the mountain. The bright moon hangs high in the sky, but it cannot dispel the darkness deep within the clouds.

Ah Rou looked at Ling Yi apologetically, and said with some self-reproach, "I should have listened to you and traveled in the form of ' Wind God Feilian '. Now it's already dark..."

If the two use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill and enter the "Wind God Feilian" state, their flight speed will be enough to fly from "Lingyun City" to this place within half an hour.

"It's alright~"

Ling Yi turned to look at Ah Rou and saw that the girl's expression was rather strange. She was clearly apologizing, but her eyebrows were curved into crescent moons and her rosy lips were slightly upturned.

"Coming and going in a hurry, life truly becomes a fleeting moment."

Ling Yi looked up at the white jade disc in the sky and said with a smile, "On the contrary, this leisurely journey of most of the day has allowed us to properly enjoy the beautiful landscape beneath our feet."

Faced with Ling Yi's gentle words of comfort, Ah Rou's eyes became even more infatuated. Her crimson eyes reflected Ling Yi's face in the moonlight, and she truly saw only him.

Taking a deep breath, Ah Rou tried to calm her voice and said with a charming smile, "Let's go down the mountain. The ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' is in a cave at the foot of this mountain."

"The sooner we take action, the sooner we can have peace of mind, lest some blind passing Soul Beast ruins it."

After a pause, Ah Rou turned her head and looked down the mountain, adding somewhat deliberately, "If I wasn't worried about making a mistake during the harvest and ruining the medicinal properties of the ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng,' I would have picked it and brought it directly back to ' Lingyun City '..."

Without waiting for Ling Yi's response, Ah Rou used her long legs to push off the spot and leaped down the mountain.

Watching Ah Rou's retreating figure, Ling Yi's face revealed a smile of interest.

He remembered clearly that a long time ago, when they were at the "Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well", Ah Rou, Ah Yin and other girls had followed him and learned various herb picking techniques. Even though they had never seen the "Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng", they had heard him talk about the corresponding techniques.

But since she said she wasn't sure, what could Ling Yi do? He could only trust her.

Shaking his head slightly, Ling Yi also leaped off the cliff and chased after Ah Rou.

In just a few breaths, Ling Yi caught up with Ah Rou, who had gone ahead, and the two of them quickly ran down the mountain under the bright moonlight.

As one of the people closest to Ling Yi, Ah Rou knew very well what kind of powerful strength was hidden beneath Ling Yi's seemingly weak body, who was Healing System Seven-Ring Soul Sage.

It can be said that although Ah Rou is a Beast Martial Soul Power Attack System Soul Master and recently broke through to the Six-Ring Soul Emperor realm, she is not really confident that she can beat Ling Yi in terms of physical strength.

She had already consulted Liu Erlong, Six-Ring Soul Emperor with a Fire Dragon Martial Soul, about this in private.

According to Liu Erlong, she once joined forces with Yang Shelly and Ah Yin to fight against Ling Yi, but they were easily suppressed. In a pure physical duel, the three of them lost miserably!

Ah Rou was somewhat skeptical about this. Without seeing it with her own eyes, she found it hard to believe that Ling Yi, who was usually gentle and refined, could have such a tough body.

Also, who is she?

Her original form was a 100,000-year-old "Soft Bone Rabbit". After transforming into a human, she still followed the path of Power Attack System in the Soul Master path. Do you understand the value of her "Fourth Soul Skill - Invincible Golden Body"?

Upon entering the dark clouds halfway up the mountain, it was discovered that it was not as dark as it had appeared from the summit. Moonlight, like a jade disc from the sky, pierced through the clouds, adding a hazy glow to the area.

With practiced ease, Ah Rou led Ling Yi down the mountain. Every step she took landed precisely on a solid rock, giving her a feeling of walking on flat ground, and a sense of familiarity, like returning home.

Soon, the two traversed the descent route that would take an ordinary person a day and a night to complete, and arrived at the foot of this thousand-foot-high solitary peak.

As soon as they stopped, before Ling Yi could even look around, Ah Rou grabbed his hand and eagerly pulled him toward a nearby cave. "Come on, Brother Yi, the ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' is in this cave, let's go pick it quickly!"

"I have a feeling that what you're going to pick isn't the ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng '~" Ling Yi thought to himself inexplicably.

However, he didn't resist and treated it as playing a game of adventure with the little girl.

Although there was no Blue Silver Grass around this lonely mountain, the ' Holy Embryo ' in the Sea of Consciousness had already marked the spiritual fluctuations within a radius of dozens of miles. A powerful Soul Beast with a violent yet 'peaceful' aura was quietly lying down a thousand meters away. A hundred meters behind it, three even stronger auras were crouching, seemingly waiting for something.

The cave wasn't too deep, but it wasn't shallow either. At first, there was a passage that was more than three meters wide and about five meters high. After walking through the passage for about ten meters, the two arrived at a space inside the mountain that was about thirty meters in diameter. The highest point overhead was about twenty meters high, which was quite large.

While still in the passage, Ling Yi caught a faint, pleasant fragrance. However, once the two entered the mountain's interior, the fragrance vanished abruptly, as if what they had smelled earlier was merely an illusion.

But Ling Yi knew that it wasn't an illusion.

Because, in the very center of that mountain's interior space, there was a green plant with lush green leaves and a few small red fruits hanging from it.

At this moment, at the very top of the cave, a beam of jade-white moonlight shone down, landing perfectly on the green plants, adding a touch of dreamlike beauty to them.

Besides, the cave was very clean, with no weeds or dead branches, no dust or dirt, and was spotless. Only at the very back of the cave wall was there a stone platform about ten feet in diameter, like a bed.

"It seems like someone lives here..." Ling Yi said, frowning as he surveyed the cave.

"Huh?" Upon hearing Ling Yi's words, Ah Rou's joy froze instantly, and she quickly said, "No... no way, I... I've been here before, it doesn't look like anyone has lived here..."

"But," Ling Yi pointed to the cave, "Look how clean it is inside. It must have been cleaned regularly... If it were Soul Beast, there would be some strange smell, and some hair, Lingyu, or something like that left behind..."

After a brief pause, Ling Yi glanced at the greenery on the ground again, then turned to Ah Rou and said, "Ah Rou, I reckon this ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' was transplanted here by the owner. It belongs to someone else; we shouldn't take it for ourselves."

"Let's pick a few ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' seeds and leave some Gold Soul Coin, or other medicinal herbs, as payment for the trade."

"Once you have the seeds, you can cultivate them at the ' Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well ' and harvest ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' just as easily, it only takes a little time and effort..."

Upon hearing Ling Yi's suggestion, Ah Rou secretly gritted her teeth, somewhat regretting having cleaned the place too thoroughly beforehand. However, she forced a smile and offered a different perspective, "Brother Yi, I think this place is currently unclaimed. Look, there aren't even any footprints..."

As she spoke, Ah Rou pointed to the ground beneath her feet, then to a stone platform deep within the cave, and continued, "Brother Yi, look, if someone really lived here, why wouldn't there be beds?"

"Furthermore," Yu Zhi said, circling the cave, "There isn't a single sign of life here."

"I reckon that even if this place once belonged to someone, and this ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' was transplanted here by that person, they are probably no longer alive. After all, the growth of a ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' takes tens of thousands of years."

Faced with Ah Rou's flawed explanation, Ling Yi noncommittal, only thoughtfully observing everything inside the cave.

"Ouch!" Ah Rou grabbed Ling Yi's wrist and shook it vigorously, saying coquettishly, "Brother Yi, why don't you pick and store this ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' first?"

"If she really is already taken, you can just give her equivalent compensation later!"

"Just think about all the spiritual essences and rare herbs and plants in the ' Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well' —if this ' Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng ' were transplanted there, it would definitely grow better than it does here now!"

Faced with Ah Rou's persuasion, especially with her arms being rubbed back and forth between her little rabbits, attempting to disrupt his Dao mind, Ling Yi could only nod helplessly and quickly said, "Alright, alright, then let's transplant it to the ' Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well ' for now. I'll leave a letter there later, explaining the situation..."

Around the same time, in the forest about a kilometer away from the cave, the broad canopy of trees effectively blocked the bright moon overhead, causing the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear," with its purplish-black fur except for the moon-white horizontal stripe on its chest, to disappear without a trace.

"Thump~"

A pebble the size of an average person's palm struck the back of the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear's " head, waking it from its slumber.

It instinctively opened its blood-red maw, about to roar, but a second before the sound could come out, it seemed to remember something and quickly raised a bunch of bear paws to cover its mouth, forcibly suppressing the roar.

Immediately, a pair of crystal-yellow pupils blinked. Before the second pebble flew over, the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" stood up on its back, intending to turn around and look around. However, driven by some invisible force, it still fixed its gaze on the cave a thousand meters away, which was also its lair where it had lived for thousands of years.

Crouching low with all fours on the ground, the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" moved slowly and leisurely, as if it had finished foraging and was heading home.

The kilometer distance was covered in no time. The moment it stepped into the cave passage, the dark bear's nose twitched involuntarily as it smelled a faint fragrance.

A flicker of longing flashed in its eyes, but it was quickly replaced by fear. It knew that it was not something it could covet.

The round ears twitched slightly, and the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" detected two breathing sounds inside the cave, as well as the two people's current movements, digging something out of the ground.

Now!

"Roar--!!!"

A roar, born from the depths of its heart yet long suppressed, erupted from the gaping maw of the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear," shaking the entire cave violently.

Inside the cave, Ling Yi had just transplanted the "Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng" into a stone basin when he turned his head and frowned as he looked towards the cave passage exit.

Almost at the same time, Ah Rou also turned her head to look in that direction, a slight smile playing on her lips, but she spoke in a tone of confusion, "What...?"

The moment the first word was uttered, a terrifying sound wave erupted from the exit passage, its enormous decibels threatening to deafen the two of them.

"Not good!"

Ling Yi immediately pulled Ah Rou into his arms, put the stone basin containing the "Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng" into his waist "Ruyi Hundred Treasure Purse" with his right hand, and interlocked his fingers with Ah Rou's right hand with his left hand. He activated his Soul Power to protect their ears, and a cyan light surrounded them.

As the azure light spread, Ling Yi and Ah Rou's bodies became ethereal and hazy. In less than two breaths, the light first shone brightly, then vanished in an instant.

Ling Yi and his companion had vanished from their spot, replaced by a gigantic pinkish-white 'rabbit' that was seven meters long from head to tail.

Just then, a huge, purplish-black figure entered the cave from the passage.

"The Purple-Patterned Demon Bear?" During their mental connection, Ah Rou sensed Ling Yi's thoughts.

A sense of urgency arose in Ah Rou's heart. She quickly took control of "Wind God Feilian", her body shrouded in azure wind, and she lowered her head to crash into the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" that had just appeared.

On the other side, upon entering its long-lost lair, before it could even reminisce about the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear," a cyan light suddenly burst forth before its eyes.

As the light faded, a familiar yet unfamiliar figure appeared before it.

"This is...?"

"Bang--!!"

The question mark had barely formed in its head when, before the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" could even figure out why this creature, which should have been in the forest outside the cave, had suddenly appeared inside, it saw the creature crash headfirst into its chest at a speed it couldn't react to at all. The entire bear was like a bowling ball that had been thrown out with force, spinning and tumbling out of the cave.

Inside the cave, seemingly due to excessive force during a stress response, the exit passage was affected by the powerful kinetic energy carried by "Wind God Feilian," and the four walls, weakened by the erosion of time, collapsed with a deafening roar!

Ah Rou, who was in charge of the "Wind God Feilian", did not rush out of the cave immediately, but instead turned around and went back into the cave to avoid it.

"Boom—!!!"

The rumbling sound continued for a while before finally stopping.

It is evident that this cave, located beneath a towering, solitary peak, has suffered a Destruction collapse. The ten-meter-long passage has been completely covered by rocks, and the cave entrance outside has been buried under fallen stones.

A dozen meters away, the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" lay on the ground rubbing its chest, wincing in pain. Before it could even sit up, several shadows enveloped it, blocking the pure white moonlight falling from the sky.

Sensing the overwhelming aura of a powerful figure, the "Purple-Patterned Demon Bear" lay there with its soft belly facing upwards, appearing particularly pitiful, weak, and helpless.

Inside the cave on the other side, because of the extreme speed of "Wind God Feilian", Ling Yi and Ah Rou were able to avoid all the falling rocks in time and safely reach the stone platform at the deepest part of the cave.

Whether by coincidence or not, at this moment, only the area of about ten feet around the stone platform inside the cave provided a space, while all other areas were buried by rocks.

Fortunately, the gap at the top of the cave that allows moonlight to pass through still exists, and through the refraction of the rocks, it still provides a faint light to the stone platform.

The two, who had already deactivated their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, leaned against each other, both looking solemnly at the desperate situation before them.

Both hands reached out to each other simultaneously, clasping halfway. To Ah Rou's surprise, Ling Yi placed his other hand on her head, gently stroking her smooth hair, and said softly, "Don't worry, I have plenty of food and water in my Storage Soul Tool, as well as tools specifically for digging tunnels. We can't be trapped here."

Ah Rou: "..."

No, aren't you going to ask me about my presumptuous decision just now?

And who the hell is worried? Why the hell would you carry around tunnel-digging tools?

A slightly frantic Ah Rou forced a smile and continued reciting her prepared lines, "No... it's alright. I informed Xiao Wu, Da Ming, and Er Ming beforehand. As long as Xiao Wu and the others arrive, neither the ' Purple-Patterned Demon Bear ' outside nor these rocks will be a problem."

"Given the current situation, the ' Purple-Patterned Demon Bear ' can't get in, so we're actually safe."

"Hmm~" Ling Yi nodded slightly in agreement, "Indeed, our physical strength and Soul Power were depleted from traveling by Yu Feng. Let's rest for a bit and wait for Xiao Wu and the others to arrive—"

As he spoke, he took out some packaged food and drinks from his Storage Soul Tool and invited Ah Rou to eat and drink to replenish her energy.

As the moonlight shifted, the light inside the cave gradually dimmed. Ling Yi estimated that it was probably around eight or nine o'clock in the evening. He took out two blankets from his Storage Soul Tool and spread them on the stone platform for the two of them to rest for a while.

Although this "Star Dou Great Forest" is located in the south and is generally a humid and hot environment, it is still chilly in the early spring and the nights are quite cold.

Noticing Ling Yi's movements, Ah Rou's dark, crystalline red eyes were filled with aggression.

"Brother Yi ~" she called softly as she walked quickly toward Ling Yi.

Ling Yi turned to look at where Ah Rou was. "What's wrong? It'll be ready soon..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ah Rou pounced on him, her rosy lips sealing Ling Yi's next words.

The flowers sway gracefully, her soft breasts are covered in sweat, her slender waist is locked in spring, and even in sleep, the spring night is blissful, when suddenly a melon is cracked open.

One break... two breaks... three breaks...