At first, although there were no traces of people on the land beneath Xiao Hua and Wenqu, the mountain ranges still rose and fell, and the forests stretched on without end, retaining a measure of life. But the closer they drew to the pale gray region, the more the mountains vanished. Even the hills grew lower and lower until they disappeared, to say nothing of forests! The entire land began to show uneven rises and hollows, some densely packed, some sparse. From high above, the earth actually resembled a sieve.
The two gradually entered the pale gray area, yet the space around them was not especially different. There were merely more fragments of space, which occasionally burst apart against their bodies! Ordinary cultivators would naturally have found it difficult to withstand this. They might not have been injured, but they would at least have needed to activate divine abilities to defend themselves. Xiao Hua and Wenqu, however, acted as though they saw nothing, still extending their divine senses to investigate their surroundings.
"Wuuu..." The wind still wailed like a woman sobbing softly. Xiao Hua felt nothing in particular, but Wenqu frowned and unexpectedly came to a stop.
"What is it?" Xiao Hua had hoped that avatars such as Wenqu would possess emotions of their own, yet he also feared their emotions might stray onto a crooked path. Seeing Wenqu suddenly react so strangely, his heart tightened, and he asked in a low voice.
Wenqu clutched his chest, pain showing on his face, and replied, "Fellow Immortal Xiao, have you ever heard this lyric? 'Faded fragrance and lingering powder remain as before; human emotions are less than hatred. One spring still brings several lines of letters; when autumn comes, the letters grow even fewer. Phoenix quilts turn cold, mandarin-duck pillows lie