Seeing Ye Fei fall into Azure Dragon Valley, the girl did not dare let the immortal crane pursue him. Instead, she directed it to fly swiftly toward Green Bamboo Peak.
She had to tell the Yellow-Skirted Beauty what had happened.
If she delayed, it might be too late.
After falling from the immortal crane's back, Ye Fei was utterly terrified.
He tried desperately to control his body in midair, but it was no use. He fell faster and faster.
Am I going to die just like this?
Father!
Your son has failed you and let you down.
Listening to the wind roar past his ears, Ye Fei closed his eyes, unwilling to accept his fate.
Just as despair overwhelmed him, he suddenly felt his fall begin to slow.
What's going on?
Sensing something unusual, Ye Fei opened his eyes and looked around.
Before him stood a sheer cliff face, and beneath his feet lay an abyss whose bottom was nowhere in sight.
Yet he drifted slowly downward like a feather falling through the air.
Yes, drifted!
Ye Fei felt weightless, his body swaying from side to side. It was a wondrous sensation.
Apart from the cliff face, all he could see was an endless sea of clouds.
The cliff was utterly bare, without even a blade of grass.
Am I dreaming?
Ye Fei's eyes widened into circles, his face filled with disbelief.
This was certainly strange.
Ye Fei tried a few more times, but when he found he still could not control his descent, he simply gave up.
About half an incense stick's time passed before a patch of earthy yellow gradually appeared beneath his feet.
Clearly, he was nearing the bottom.
The mist around him began to grow thinner and thinner.
Ye Fei's view gradually cleared as well.
A dozen breaths later, his feet touched solid ground, and he stood firmly on the earth.
Looking up, he found himself in a long, narrow valley a little over ten zhang wide.
Although the valley floor was level, not a blade of grass grew there. Desolation filled his vision, and not even an insect's chirp broke the silence.
What a strange valley.
Ye Fei knitted his brows. Since he did not know where either end led, he chose a direction at random and walked ahead.
But even after walking five or six li, the scenery did not change in the slightest.
The valley's eerie atmosphere made Ye Fei afraid to stop. He could only keep moving forward.
Is that a tree?
After another four hours of walking, a patch of lush green finally appeared several li ahead of Ye Fei.
From a distance, it looked like a small tree.
The discovery filled Ye Fei with joy, and his pace quickened.
As he drew closer to that patch of green, Ye Fei found that it was indeed a tree.
It stood about a zhang tall and was shaped like a mushroom.
Not only were its branches and leaves luxuriant, but five round, purplish-red fruits the size of longans also hung from it.
Ye Fei did not recognize the fruit. This was his first time seeing it.
Standing beneath the tree, Ye Fei looked around. The same barren landscape stretched in every direction.
Should I pick them?
Looking at the five fruits, so tender they seemed ready to drip with juice, and smelling their wafting fragrance, Ye Fei could not help swallowing.
After waiting so long earlier and then walking so far, he had long since grown hungry.
Whatever. I'll pick them first.
Ye Fei quickly made up his mind.
He often roamed the mountains and had eaten plenty of unfamiliar fruits. These did not look poisonous, so he thought little of it.
A tree only a zhang tall posed no challenge to Ye Fei. He climbed it in a few quick movements.
The fruits were so small that Ye Fei could not be bothered with any fuss. He picked them and popped them straight into his mouth.
They were sweet indeed, though far too small. He finished them in a few bites and still wanted more.
To Ye Fei's surprise, small as those five fruits were, all his fatigue vanished the instant he ate them.
Could these be spirit fruits?
Ye Fei jumped down from the tree, his face full of uncertainty.
"Huh?"
"Why did the tree die?"
Still puzzling over it, Ye Fei suddenly gave a soft exclamation.
He saw the tree before him turn yellow and wither at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within just a few breaths, it had dried up completely.
Those must have been the spirit fruits Father told me about.
Looking at the withered trunk, Ye Fei instantly became certain of his guess.
He had heard Ye Canglong mention spirit fruits many times before.
The fruits had been so small, yet only five had restored his strength. Ordinary fruit could never have done that.
What a pity. Such wonderful fruit. If the tree hadn't withered, I could have come back to pick more.
Ye Fei gazed reluctantly at the dead tree, shook his head lightly, and continued onward.
Now that his strength had fully recovered, he was confident he could find his way out.
Fortunately, this time Ye Fei walked for only as long as it took to eat a meal before the end of the valley came into sight.
At last, the end.
Seeing the light ahead, Ye Fei could not help letting out a long breath of relief.
Although he had encountered no danger along the way, the deathly stillness inside the valley had weighed heavily on him.
"Master, he's coming out! He really made it out!"
Outside the valley, a girl dressed in green shouted excitedly as she watched a thin figure approach.
She was Siyu, the girl who had come to escort Ye Fei earlier.
In front of her stood the beautiful woman in a yellow skirt from Green Bamboo Peak.
The two had already been waiting there for quite some time.
The beauty showed no surprise when she saw Ye Fei emerge. Her expression remained calm.
At the same time they spotted Ye Fei, he also saw them.
Recognizing the girl in green, Ye Fei quickened his steps, moving even faster. In just a dozen breaths, he reached the valley's mouth.
"Greetings, immortal masters."
Ye Fei hurried forward and bowed respectfully to each of them.
"What is your name?"
The beauty gave a slight nod and asked softly.
"Ye Fei."
Before the two women, Ye Fei stood with his hands lowered and answered respectfully.
"Is Ye Canglong your father?"
The beauty raised her delicate brows slightly and asked again.
"Yes!"
"Immortal master, are you a friend of my father's?"
After answering, Ye Fei ventured a question.
To Ye Fei, since this woman had brought up his father herself, she must know him.
By asking, he could sound out whether she harbored any ill intent toward him.
After all, Ye Canglong had exchanged both his eyes for that Jade Plaque. Ye Fei had better be cautious.
"You could say that. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
"By the way, how did you fall from such a height without getting hurt?"
After explaining with a faint smile, the beauty looked at Ye Fei with feigned curiosity.
"Immortal master, this is what happened..."
Ye Fei concealed nothing and recounted everything he had experienced after falling into the valley.
As for the five fruits, Ye Fei had thought little of them and did not mention them.
The spirit fruits in the valley might have been rare to him, but an immortal master could probably find a whole pile of them with ease.
After all, Green Pine Mountain was the domain of immortal cultivators. Fruits like those surely grew everywhere and were not worth mentioning.
"You certainly have a tenacious hold on life."
"Azure Dragon Valley is exceedingly perilous. Normally, no one dares enter."
"Of all those who have entered, not one has ever come out alive. You are the first."
The beauty glanced at Ye Fei and spoke meaningfully.
"What?"
"It's that dangerous in there?"
"But I didn't encounter any danger at all!"
Ye Fei could not help feeling startled and looked at the beauty in confusion.
Apart from not seeing any living creatures, Ye Fei truly had not felt there was anything dangerous about Azure Dragon Valley.
"Enough. Since you're out, there's no need to dwell on it."
"Come back to the Sect with me."
The beauty swept her gaze into the depths of Azure Dragon Valley, then lightly pointed a slender finger. A ruyi appeared out of thin air and rapidly expanded, reaching about two zhang in length and two chi in width in the blink of an eye.
Then, with a wave of her delicate hand, a force swept up Ye Fei and the girl and placed them on the ruyi.
Once the two stood securely, the beauty raised her hand slightly. The ruyi flashed away like lightning, disappearing into the horizon in an instant.
The ruyi was more than three times as fast as the immortal crane had been.
In just a quarter of an hour, they passed through a curtain of five-colored light and entered a range of mist-shrouded mountains.
Looking around, Ye Fei saw dozens of peaks towering into the clouds.
Clusters of buildings rose and fell along every peak.
Moreover, streaks of azure light occasionally flashed between the peaks. Though slower than the ruyi, they were still extremely swift, no slower than the immortal crane.
Less than another eighth of an hour later, the beauty guided the ruyi down onto the slope of a mountain.
There stood the Green Stone Platform, seven or eight zhang on each side. All manner of exotic flowers and herbs were neatly arranged along its edges, filling the air with a pleasant fragrance.
"Follow me."
After putting away the ruyi, the beauty walked ahead with light, graceful steps, leading Ye Fei across the Green Stone Platform to a pavilion near the mountainside.
"Let's test your spiritual root first."
Slowly settling onto a stone stool, the beauty pointed with a finger of her right hand. A round Jade Orb the size of a bowl's mouth appeared out of thin air and hovered before Ye Fei.
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