Ji Yuan looked toward the sound.
A streak of light shot from the distant gray sky.
It flew at astonishing speed.
Its trailing light had yet to fade when the figure landed before him and Huang Lou Lou.
The light receded, revealing Dugu Yan's striking face.
Her black fighting clothes were torn in several places, but her aura remained fierce. She had clearly suffered no serious injury.
"How did you two get here?"
She asked as soon as she landed, her gaze sweeping between Ji Yuan and Huang Lou Lou twice.
Ji Yuan cupped his fists. "It's a long story—"
"This isn't the place to talk."
Dugu Yan raised a hand to cut him off, then turned decisively. "Follow me first."
She took flight and sped toward the gray mist.
Ji Yuan and Huang Lou Lou exchanged a glance, then each flew after her.
After about the time it took an incense stick to burn, the mist ahead had thickened until visibility fell below thirty yards.
Dugu Yan did not slow at all. She was plainly familiar with the area.
She wove through the mist, avoiding several spatial rifts hidden within it, then descended and led them into a broad ravine.
Sheer stone walls rose on either side, black as ink and riddled with gullies and holes worn by time.
A faint gray mist hung in the ravine. It was not especially thick, yet it gave the strange impression that something was blocking their sight—
Though few obstacles stood in the ravine, no matter how hard they strained their eyes, they could not see anything beyond a hundred yards.
Fallen Star Valley.
Dugu Yan landed before an unremarkable stretch of stone wall and pressed a spot on its surface.
A faint formation pattern lit beneath her palm. The wall slid