Meanwhile.
In the deepest reaches of Shennongjia Primeval Forest, Northlake Province.
Few people ever set foot here. Dense miasma shrouded it year-round, and signals from modern technology could not penetrate this place.
Two young figures, a man and a woman, slipped silently between the tangled ancient trees like woodland sprites.
The woman was around twenty, dressed in a pale blue tracksuit that outlined her graceful curves.
Her skin was fairer than snow, her features exquisite. Her lively eyes surveyed her surroundings with curiosity, and her face bore the excitement of someone who had just escaped a cage.
"Brother, we're finally out!" Gu Qingxue stretched and complained, "We only get to come out once a year. That's way too long! My phone runs out of battery in there. I'm practically dying of boredom!"
The man beside her, Gu Changfeng, looked a few years older, with handsome features and a composed air.
He shook his head helplessly. "Qingxue, Master only wants what's best for us. Spiritual energy in the outside world is so thin it might as well not exist. He's afraid that if we spend too long in the mundane world, we'll be tainted by impure energy and lose our devotion to the Dao. Look at Master himself. He hasn't stepped outside the sect gates in ten years."
"I know, I know." Gu Qingxue pouted and pulled last year's latest-model iPhone from her backpack, its battery long dead. "But it's really so boring in there. I don't even know what the outside world is like anymore. Let's hurry and find somewhere to charge it. I want to scroll through Douyin!"
They traveled swiftly, emerging from the isolated primeval forest in just half a day.
Upon reaching the market town at the foot of the mountain, Gu Qingxue eagerly found a small