The shattered, jagged cliff face ahead, like the savage fangs of some colossal beast, rapidly swelled in Qing Lian's vision.
Her heart sank. This time, she feared there was no escaping disaster.
Suddenly, two blood-red tentacles appeared in her sight and struck the mountain before she did.
The already crumbling mountain instantly split apart, exploding into countless rocks and a sky full of dust.
Having narrowly escaped death, Qing Lian had no time to rejoice before plunging into the dust cloud.
Then, the two blood-red tentacles closed in and caught her body.
After helping her dissipate the immense force carried by the lingering impact, the tentacles bore her swiftly out of the dust.
Qing Lian turned and looked toward the ends of the tentacles.
She wanted to know who had saved her life.
A familiar figure came racing toward her.
The lingering fright on Qing Lian's face vanished at once, replaced by boundless delight.
"Extreme Yin, it's you!"
"This place is dangerous. Let's leave first."
Song Wen arrived beside Qing Lian, and the Blood Year tentacles had already fully retracted into his body.
He swept an arm around her willow-slender waist. Without pausing in the slightest, not even slowing his escape speed by half a fraction, he continued racing onward.
However, he changed direction and dove toward the ground.
An earth-yellow talisman drifted out of the storage ring on Song Wen's finger.
As the talisman shattered, an earthen-brown spiritual glow enveloped Song Wen and Qing Lian.
The two then plunged directly into the ground piled with rubble and vanished without a trace.
Beneath the rock pile, a Gu insect that had long been waiting slipped into Song Wen's body as he passed.
Song Wen continued fleeing deeper underground.
"Extreme Yin, thank you for saving me. This is the second time