Resting and Setting Out

The smoke from the battlefield has not yet cleared.

Lü Qianmo's massive body lay on the muddy ground, dark red blood flowing from the wound where the two swords had met, turning the surrounding soil a deep brown.

Lü Qiansha's two halves of his body were several feet apart, the cuts so clean they looked as if they had been cleaved open by something in one go, the cross-sections of his internal organs and bones gleaming coldly in the dim light.

Mingyu had shrunk back to the size of a palm, hovering beside Shen Fei's shoulder. The edges of her dark body were still undulating slightly, and her breathing was much heavier than usual.

Yu Yan floated beside Nie Li, the pale golden flames dimmed considerably, and her golden eyes were half-closed, clearly reaching their limit.

Shen Fei stood there, his knees trembling, but he stubbornly refused to sit down. He glanced down at the Ink Cloud in his hand; the dark film remaining on the blade was gradually fading, revealing the non-reflective black surface beneath.

The Dark Law that were poured into the sword just now have been mostly used up. The patterns formed by the melting white beads on the hilt are still shining, but the light is much fainter than before.

He retrieved the sword into his Soul Sea and felt an intense emptiness in his Dantian. His Meridians walls ached intermittently, as if they had been sanded from the inside.

Nie Li walked over from the side, the Heavenly Meteor Divine Thunder Sword already sheathed. His complexion was also bad, his lips were pale, the sweat on his forehead was still wet, and the front of his gray cloth robe was soaked with sweat.

He stood beside Shen Fei, glanced at the two corpses on the ground, then at Duan Jian and Lu Piao, who were still panting in the distance, and said, "Clean up the battlefield first. Collect everything; don't waste anything."

Shen Fei nodded. The two of them, using their last bit of strength, began to search separately for the things left on Lü Qiansha and Lü Qianmo.

Lü Qianmo's corpse was cleaved in two, but the Space Ring at his waist was intact. Shen Fei squatted down and took the ring out from the pool of blood, wiped the blood on his trouser leg, put it on his finger, and took a look.

The interior was disappointingly empty, containing only a few mediocre Demon Crystal, a few half-used Elixir, and a neatly folded inner armor.

He took out his inner armor and unfolded it in his hand.

The inner armor is dark gray and feels very dense, somewhere between soft and hard armor. There are no extra patterns on the surface, except for a dark Crystal Stone about the size of a thumb embedded in the chest area. The patterns around the Crystal Stone are very fine, spreading outwards from the center like blood vessels on the surface of the armor.

Shen Fei used his Soul Force to probe it and found that the Crystal Stone contained a layer of stable Spiritual Power, which was connected to the material of the inner armor to form a complete defensive circuit.

He weighed it in his hand; it wasn't heavy, and wearing it shouldn't hinder his movements.

Legend Rank inner armor is priceless and unavailable elsewhere. This is the only decent-looking piece of Lü Qianmo has; the rest are all junk.

He stored the inner armor in his Space Ring, and also took Lü Qianmo's Demon Crystal and Elixir. Even a small amount is still something, and besides, the team was suffering heavy losses, so every little bit helped.

Nie Li also retrieved a Space Ring from Lü Qiansha's corpse, examined it, shook his head, and probably didn't find anything worthwhile.

After the two men collected everything usable from the corpse, they called Duan Jian and the others over, sat down cross-legged, and began to recover.

He sat there for an hour.

Shen Fei closed his eyes, and the Dark Prison Reincarnation Art slowly circulated in his Meridians. His Spiritual Power rose from his Dantian and traveled in circles along the Yin Meridians meridians.

My Dantian felt painfully empty. Each time the energy circulation ended, my Spiritual Power reserves only increased slightly, much slower than usual.

The walls of the Meridians had endured far more impact than they could have during the previous battle, and now their recovery was extremely sluggish, like rusty gears barely meshing together.

He gritted his teeth and maintained a steady rhythm, patiently and calmly replenishing his Spiritual Power little by little.

The Shadow Mantis lay curled up in the Soul Sea, its Blade Forelimbs retracted, its compound eyes half-closed, its aura weaker than usual, but it was also recovering.

An hour later, everyone's Spiritual Power had recovered by more than half. Shen Fei opened his eyes first, moved his shoulders, and his joints made a few cracking sounds.

The feeling of fullness returned to my Dantian, and the soreness in my Meridians subsided considerably. Although I hadn't fully recovered, I could at least travel normally.

He stood up and glanced at the others. Lu Piao and Du Ze had also finished their training, while Duan Jian had already stood up and was leaning against a tree trunk, waiting.

Xiao Ning'er and Ye Ziyun also stood up. Xiao Ning'er moved her left arm, and the blood under the bandage had faded a bit, but her movements were not greatly affected.

Nie Li finished his practice, stood up, dusted off his clothes, glanced around at the group, and nodded. "That's enough, let's go."

Mingyu floated over from beside Shen Fei's shoulder and hovered in front of him.

Its dark body was almost invisible in the dim light, and its voice was still hissing, but softer than before. "I cannot be discovered. Transform into black mist and wrap it around your sword."

Shen Fei nodded, summoned Ink Cloud from his Soul Sea, and held the sword horizontally in front of him.

Mingyu's body began to spread out from the edges, and the dark mist peeled off layer by layer, transforming from a thumb-sized humanoid shape into a thick black mist that spread along the hilt of the sword to the blade. Finally, the entire mist enveloped the surface of the Ink Cloud, shrinking into an extremely thin layer of dark mist film that flowed slowly along the blade.

Shen Fei placed it on his waist.

The group continued on their way. The muddy ground beneath their feet began to harden from the battlefield, with fewer pebbles and more withered grass. After walking a while longer, the terrain began to sink, as if they had entered a huge basin.

The air temperature was rising, and the pungent smell of sulfur rose from the ground, mixed with the acrid smell of burning dust. The ground had turned from hard soil into dark red rock layers, and occasionally a dark red light could be seen flowing beneath the cracks, like magma slowly churning deep within the rock walls.

The sun was nowhere to be seen on the distant horizon; the entire sky was shrouded in a layer of grayish-brown fog, the light was even and dull, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or evening.

Nie Li walked at the front, his steps slow but steady. Shen Fei half a step behind him, Xiao Ning'er followed beside Shen Fei, and Duan Jian walked at the very back of the group, his black wings tucked under his cloak, his steps light.

Lu Piao and Du Ze walked in the middle, with Ye Ziyun beside Xiao Ning'er. None of them spoke; they simply walked quietly.