"They just went out."
A cold glint flashed through Wu Fei's eyes. It seemed the cave abode's sudden collapse really was aimed at him. He had expected as much ever since hearing that the Illusory Realm Spirit had sensed desire in him.
"Illusory Realm Spirit, let me borrow your master's cave abode."
Outside the cave abode, Liu Yuexuan, Qi Gu, and the others had long since emerged. They had each gained something, but none had obtained the inheritance. Only Jing Fanyu and Wu Fei had yet to come out.
They had their suspicions.
Before long, Jing Fanyu also appeared at the entrance to the cave abode, but the very next moment, the abode behind him suddenly began to collapse.
He glanced at the others and realized that Wu Fei was still inside. His expression changed, and he was about to turn back into the cave abode when he suddenly received a voice transmission.
"Your friend is fine. He's making a breakthrough."
"Who are you?" Jing Fanyu frowned.
"The inheritance you took belonged to my master."
The cave abode was still collapsing, but Jing Fanyu stopped-not because of the Illusory Realm Spirit's words, but because he had indeed sensed a trace of someone breaking through.
"Senior Brother Jing, why is the cave abode collapsing? Let's move farther away," Liu Yuexuan said as she ran over.
"Junior Brother Jing, the cave abode has collapsed, but the Buddha Spirit Sect's Buddha Son still hasn't come out..." A Heavenly Sword Sect disciple looked worried.
At this, Jing Fanyu stared at a certain spot in the cave abode and said with certainty, "Senior Brother Wu Fei is fine."
Inside the cave abode, the Illusory Realm Spirit fell silent after warning Jing Fanyu. Wu Fei knew this was the fate the Illusory Realm Spirit had long since chosen for itself.
Huge rocks fell one after another without pause, crashing toward Wu Fei with tremendous force, only to be blocked by a transparent spiritual barrier some distance away from him.
"This life-and-death tribulation isn't up to much..." Wu Fei leisurely took out a reclining chair and spoke indifferently.
A quarter of an hour later, the entire inheritance cave abode lay in ruins. The fallen boulders had buried both Wu Fei and his spiritual barrier beneath them.
Only when the noise began to subside did Wu Fei rise and put away the reclining chair. His aura continued to climb, stopping only when he reached the Nascent Soul Early Stage.
He raised his eyes to the many boulders overhead, his gaze cold. With a turn of his palm, an exquisite glazed golden alms bowl appeared in his hand. It slowly floated upward and expanded, covering the space above him.
At the same time, Wu Fei withdrew the formation. Without the spiritual barrier to support them, the boulders fell, and the glazed golden alms bowl abruptly blazed with dazzling golden light.
With the aid of the golden bowl, Wu Fei emerged safely from the collapsed cave abode. When he saw Jing Fanyu, who had been waiting for some time, his gaze deepened for an instant before returning to normal.
"Senior Brother Wu Fei..." A gentle smile rose on Jing Fanyu's face as he congratulated him on breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Wu Fei responded with a faint smile, but when their eyes met, he noticed that the other's gaze seemed evasive. Recalling what the Illusory Realm Spirit had said earlier, he could not help finding it interesting.
Just what had the protagonist seen in the illusion...?
Ghost Qi permeated the night. Several small wooden cabins stood in the deep gloom, large moonstones giving off a soft glow. Various spiritual formations had been laid around the cabins.
Jing Fanyu, who should have been calmly absorbing Ghost Qi to cultivate, was frowning instead. He propped one hand against his temple and gazed through the wooden window into the dark night, his eyes gradually growing unfocused.
The scenes he had seen in the illusion during the day surfaced before his eyes again: the Buddha Spirit Sect, the Purple-Leaf Bodhi Tree, the Cleansing Pool, Wu Fei...
Wu Fei, Wu Fei-it was all Wu Fei!
In a wooden cabin not far from his, Wu Fei was meditating with his eyes closed. As he circulated his cultivation method, he drew the purest Spiritual Qi from the mixed air, channeling it through his meridians to gather and flow into his Dantian.
A soft glow gradually rose around him, lending him an air of compassion that could not help but leave anyone who saw him calm and peaceful, their thoughts still.
Suddenly, Wu Fei sensed a familiar presence appear in the cabin. The soft glow around him dispersed, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Demon Venerable."
Jing Fanyu sat on the wooden chair opposite him, staring fixedly at him with an unreadable gaze. The black mask on his face looked particularly dark today.
As Wu Fei removed the Buddhist prayer beads wound around his right wrist, he asked, "Have you come so late on some business, Demon Venerable?"
He vaguely felt that something seemed a little off about Yin Fan's current state.
Yet before he had turned even two beads in his hand, Yin Fan suddenly flashed closer, looking down at Wu Fei from above.
The Demonic Qi around him writhed wildly, wanting to draw close to Wu Fei, yet for some reason, it never actually did.
Something really is wrong... Wu Fei's brow shifted slightly. He raised his eyes to Yin Fan, who had not spoken a word since entering the room. The beads turned unhurriedly in his hand, making the only sound in the room.
Their gazes met, one pair of eyes profoundly dark, the other clear and bright.
After a long while, Yin Fan slowly reached out and pressed his hand over Wu Fei's eyes.
Wu Fei kept turning the beads. His vision went dark, while his other senses seemed to sharpen. One of Yin Fan's hands covered his eyes, while the other slowly traced its way from beside his ear to the corner of his lips.
"What do you mean by this, Demon Venerable?" he asked softly.
All he heard was a low chuckle from above. The hand beside his lips slowly moved downward until the entire palm rested against the warm skin of the Buddha Son's neck.
A moment later, the hand moved away, and a crisp sound rang out. As though sensing something, Wu Fei's heart stirred, and he turned his head slightly before the familiar presence drew close.
The Demon Venerable's breath brushed the corner of the Buddha Son's lips. The Buddha Son seemed to finally realize what the Demon Venerable had done, and the prayer beads flew from his hand. An unexpected flash of golden light struck Yin Fan back two steps, even making the Demonic Qi around him shrink back slightly.
The innocent-natured Buddha Son's eyes filled with shock, but that expression dispelled the pent-up gloom in Yin Fan's heart. He had already put his mask back on by the time Wu Fei could see him again, and behind it, the corners of his mouth curved considerably upward.
Wu Fei looked shocked, but a dark gleam flashed through the depths of his eyes. His hand secretly tightened around the prayer beads, and the sensation from a moment ago seemed to linger at the corner of his lips.
What a pity. If the rules weren't watching, he could have pretended not to know and let Yin Fan actually kiss him...