For some reason, Wu Fei's heart skipped a beat, and an uneasy premonition stirred within him. Sure enough, the churning demonic Qi abruptly closed in the next instant, while the Demon Venerable's hand rose to the side of his face.
Under the cover of night, an intimate tension gathered. The black-robed Demon Venerable pressed one hand against the white-robed Buddhist disciple's shoulder and touched his face with the other, his voice slightly lowered. "I've taken a fancy to your Buddhist disciple..."
As Yin Fan's fingers gently stroked his cheek, Wu Fei felt as though he could sense that warm breath even through the mask. He lowered his gaze slightly and closed his eyes, his expression as composed and peaceful as ever, but the instant his eyes closed, boundless emotion surged in their depths.
In just an instant, Wu Fei buried those emotions that had nowhere to go deep within him again. When he opened his eyes, he was once more Wu Fei, the Buddhist disciple of the Buddha Spirit Sect, his black-and-white eyes clear and unruffled.
The corners of his lips lifted slightly. "I fear I cannot bear such great affection from the Demon Venerable."
Yin Fan narrowed his eyes, his fingers moving to the patch of skin concealing demonic Qi. After a moment's hesitation, he finally withdrew his hand, demonic Qi stirring around him.
"Don't forget the prayer beads."
As his words fell, the final wisp of demonic Qi vanished before Wu Fei.
Wu Fei chuckled softly. Only after sensing that the prayer beads on Yin Fan were extremely far away did he slowly close his eyes. His aura erupted, his sleeves billowing without wind, and his savage aura even whipped up a gale over the flat ground.
Heavenly Dao...
A moment later, Wu Fei opened his eyes, his aura slowly settling.
Seeing the darkness recede and the sky about to brighten, with no one else around, Wu Fei abandoned all concern for appearances and deftly stored the black flood dragon's corpse and the Hundred Summer Seven-Heart Lotus in the lake in his storage ring.
Then he hurried toward the cave.
Jing Fanyu did not ask much about where Wu Fei had gone when he stayed out all night. After all, both he and Wu Fei knew perfectly well what had happened last night.
"There was something strange about the Spiritual Qi last night..." Wu Fei took the prayer beads from Jing Fanyu and continued, "When I absorbed Spiritual Qi last night, my Exquisite Heart immediately gave a warning. The Spiritual Qi must have contained an aura detrimental to cultivation."
Jing Fanyu activated his Myriad Spirits Body to sense it for a moment, then said, "The Spiritual Qi is normal now."
His expression grew somewhat grave, and he felt there was something deeply suspicious about it.
For now, their only option was to travel in the direction Wu Fei had indicated during the day, find somewhere to stay at night, and use as little spiritual power as possible.
Wu Fei, meanwhile, frowned slightly, his eyes inscrutable. For some reason, those things had emerged two days earlier than in the book...
This was actually another fortuitous opportunity for the protagonist. The great inheritance tomb had existed as a realm of its own for tens of thousands of years. Though it had neither sun nor moon, it still had day and night.
The living creatures within naturally lived and died as well. Over time, dead Demon Beasts and spirit beasts turned into ghost Qi, which poured out from every corner at night. If the Spiritual Qi a cultivator absorbed contained ghost Qi, the ghost Qi entering their body would severely damage their muscles, bones, and meridians.
Initially, the protagonist had suffered the worst injuries from absorbing ghost Qi, but later, his Myriad Spirits Body gradually suppressed it, making Jing Fanyu the only person capable of absorbing ghost Qi.
As he thought, he worked with Jing Fanyu to finish off the Red-Patterned Spotted Python before them, adding several fatal wounds to its huge, ferocious body.
"Senior Brother Wu Fei, do you recognize this spirit herb?" Jing Fanyu uprooted the Spirit Plant guarded by the Red-Patterned Spotted Python and showed it to Wu Fei.
Its leaves were long and curled, its stem a translucent crystalline purple, and a flawless pure-white flower bud at its tip remained tightly closed.
Wu Fei examined it carefully and shook his head slightly. "I don't recognize it either."
Jing Fanyu did not mind. He casually packed it into a jade box and put it in his storage ring.
Just like yesterday, when evening arrived in the outside world, the small world gradually darkened as well.
There were no caves nearby like the one from last night. Wu Fei was about to find somewhere at random and set up a spiritual array to make do for the night, but Jing Fanyu stopped him.
"Please wait a moment, Senior Brother Wu Fei."
Wu Fei's hand paused, and he looked up at him. Jing Fanyu took out a spirit treasure, which landed in the clearing and transformed into a simple, elegant wooden house.
Jing Fanyu smiled slightly. "A little trinket the Artifact Refining Peak made. This house can't withstand attacks from Demon Beasts, but it will do as a place to stay."
"Not bad." Wu Fei nodded, then set up several spiritual arrays around the wooden house.
He had to admit that traveling with the protagonist made daily life extremely comfortable. Wu Fei could not help glancing at Jing Fanyu...
Gentle and considerate on one hand, savage and unrestrained on the other. The more I look, the more he suits my tastes. What a pity...
Before Jing Fanyu noticed, Wu Fei withdrew his gaze and turned toward the cliff a short distance behind the wooden house. It was close enough that he could clearly hear the rushing water.
"Junior Brother Jing..."
Jing Fanyu was taking out and sorting the spirit herbs and spirit medicines he had collected during the day. Hearing Wu Fei's quiet call, he looked over in puzzlement.
Wu Fei raised the hand draped with prayer beads and pointed toward the waterfall behind the wooden house. "Would you come over there with me to take a look?"
Jing Fanyu paused, then smiled faintly. "Of course."
The sky had not yet gone completely dark. Once they drew closer, they could see the entire waterfall clearly. A stream roughly two or three meters wide rushed down the cliff into the shallow pool below, sending up sprays of crystalline droplets.
The pool seemed to be a shallow hollow carved out by the falling waterfall. It was not large, and the water flowed into it before running out through another corner, leading somewhere unknown.
The fresh mist that greeted them was invigorating. Something suddenly occurred to Wu Fei, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly, a fleeting smile crossing his face.
He bent down and scooped up a handful of clear water. It was a little cold, but that was no problem for a cultivator.
"Junior Brother Jing..." He turned around, his tone calm. "Could you keep watch over the surroundings for me?"
"Of course." Jing Fanyu agreed first, then a guess arose in his mind. "Senior Brother Wu Fei, are you going to..."
His gaze fell on the pool behind the white-robed Buddhist disciple, carrying a hint of surprise.
But as soon as he had said "of course," Wu Fei began undoing his Buddhist robes and took off his prayer beads. Before Jing Fanyu could react, he had set his robes aside, revealing his lean, muscular waist.