Inside the spacious cavern beneath the Magnolia Forest, two human cultivators were seated on the ground with their legs crossed. They hadn’t moved from their position for an entire day. If a mortal were to do such a thing, they may be getting sore about now, but to these cultivators, they were completely refreshed.
The woman’s eyes snapped open first as her gaze drifted toward the center of the chamber.
There were several mounds all around the place, each inhabited by so species of Qi beast. They lived in harmony within this space for so reason, even though they would undoubtedly compete for resources once they left.
At the center of this strange space was a mound larger than any other. It stood tall and undisturbed, and Han Zei’s eyes sparkled with lust as she glanced at it.
“Long Yi, you should be fully recovered too, right? Let’s get going!”
The large man beside her simply groaned in response. He had tried convincing her to be patient and wait for rescue, but she wouldn’t have any of it. The allure of a heavenly elent had proven too much for Han Zei to resist.
Since she was going to be making her attempt at seizing a part of the heavenly earth anyway, Long Yi resigned himself to following along.
Under the eerie gaze of all the Qi beasts in their surroundings, the two slowly approached the mound at the center.
“Are you sure this heavenly earth resides here? I don’t sense anything,” Long Yi murmured.
“Of course you can’t. If it’s strong enough to subdue everything nearby, it can easily hide its presence. However, there should be a reason why none of the Qi beasts here took over this mound.”
“Even if that is the case, are you sure you should take such a risk? Your primary affinity isn’t even earth, right?”
“Once I obtain a piece of this heavenly earth, I’ll naturally gain an affinity with the earth elent. I won’t even have to restart my cultivation as long as I properly incorporate the right cultivation techniques into what I practice currently.”
The two didn’t have to argue for long, as they would soon have their answer. Han Zei wasted no ti and reached out for the suspected heavenly elent.
Long Yi nervously watched on, half in dread and half in anticipation. He was no stranger to these powerful but dangerous entities. After all, the Primordial Star Fire resided in the Crucible. However, after hearing about Li Lang’s account of his experience with it, neither he, Wei Ping, nor any of the students dared to casually attempt to ta a piece of it. That was because they agreed that the cost of failure was catastrophic.
Anything to do with the soul or spirit was considered extrely dangerous by all cultivators alike. From the accounts of Li Lang, the heavenly fire had put his spirit to the test, but it could’ve easily left him with crippling damage. The Crucible likely only gave an opportunity to those who it thought had a decent chance, which is why none of them forcefully made the artifact spirits lead them to the cave where the heavenly fire was.
Unfortunately, all these warnings had been exhausted on Han Zei already. She was too determined to make her attempt to care. To her, this was a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. Even if her sect secured it after, she likely wouldn’t get a turn with the invaluable resource, as it would be saved for only the elites.
If she succeeded, her status within the Rolling Tide Sect would skyrocket.
As soon as the woman made contact with the mound, her movents instantly stiffened. It was as if she were frozen in ti, blankly staring ahead.
“Han Zei? Are you okay?” Long Yi anxiously asked.
No reply ca.
He restlessly squird around as he surveyed their surroundings. Nightmare scenarios, such as the heavenly earth deciding to lash out at them for their disturbance, coursed through his mind.
Things got worse as the mound really did begin to move. Its surface beca viscous sludge and began to float around. It began to orbit the two human cultivators, causing Long Yi to grip his weapon tightly despite knowing he couldn’t resist sothing with the power equivalent to a Violet Core cultivator.
His fears were confird when the sludge rushed to engulf his companion, not giving him any ti to react. It stuck close to her skin, making her look like a mud statue of so sort.
Not sure how to get it off his ally, Long Yi was montarily stumped. Before he could put any of the ideas to the test, the sludge thankfully exploded off of Han Zei in a bombastic fashion.
The deafening sound alerted every Qi beast nearby, but it at least ant he had regained a late-stage Foundation Establishnt Realm ally.
“Damn, are you okay?” Long Yi cried as he drew close, prepared to fend off the sludge if it decided to change its mind.
The woman in question fell to one knee as she coughed repeatedly, looking drained. Her flush complexion from a mont ago was gone. In the short few seconds she had been enveloped, she beca as pale as a ghost.
“Okay, that’s probably a no. Take my shoulder. Let’s head back for now.”
The woman couldn’t muster up a reply and could only glare at Long Yi. Still, she complied.
Unfortunately for them, the matter didn’t simply end there. The mont they tried to retreat, they noticed an absurd amount of killing intent directed at them. The source wasn’t hidden, either. All the Qi beasts nearby glared at them with a red glint. They could lunge out at them at any mont.
They did.
Within a mont, hundreds of Qi beasts charged at the two humans from all directions. No matter how good of a fighter Long Yi was, he was completely flabbergasted at the turn of events. He knew there was no chance against this number of monsters who could all pose a challenge, even if they fought on equal terms.
Just as he was about to swing his green longsword in a wide arc around himself, the ground beneath them trembled, and the sludge returned. It spread itself thin, positioning itself protectively around the two of them, causing the Qi beasts to co to a halt. The few who failed to decelerate in ti crashed into the sludge and quickly stopped moving, as they visibly withered at a rapid rate.
The situation swiftly took another turn, as a new equilibrium had been reached. The Qi beasts surrounded the two humans, while the heavenly earth defended them. None of the parties moved, putting them into a deadlock, where Long Yi and Han Zei were trapped in the middle.
“What in the world?” Long Yi muttered under his breath. He felt the arm holding onto him tighten as Han Zei stumbled into him.
“Don’t—” Her words were faint, Long Yi barely caught any of it.
“What did you say?” he cried as he leaned his ear closer to her mouth.
“Don’t—touch—earth.”
Seeing how weak she was, Long Yi could stand it no longer and retrieved a Recovery Pill from his space ring. He grabbed her face and placed it into her mouth, but the effects weren’t as instant as he was used to.
Whatever the sludge had done to her, it took a huge toll on her body. Still, the pill helped, as it restored so color to her face.
“Do you need another one?”
The young woman weakly shook her head. She willed her Qi and materialized her own pills, allowing her to soon recover.
“Next ti, know that a Qi Replenishnt Pill would’ve been the better choice,” she said with a chuckle.
“Yes, yes. I’ll be sure to rember if another of my companions decided to stupidly pit themselves against a heavenly elent, that a Qi Replenishnt Pill is the best choice. Heck, maybe I should even stock up on higher-quality versions of the pill. Now, about what you were saying?”
The young Rolling Tide disciple didn’t quip back at his sarcasm and weakly looked down.
“Don’t touch the heavenly earth. If you do, we’ll likely both die here.”
“And why is that? What in the world is happening?” Long Yi asked as he gestured to the situation around them, where Qi beasts were still prowling about.
“I failed the heavenly earth’s test. It rejected .”
Long Yi almost wanted to scream at her for more answers, but seeing her distraught expression, he reined in his urge and carefully minded his tone and words.
“And why do you think that resulted in provoking the killing intent of all the nearby Qi beasts who had been living in harmony until now?”
“From what I learned during my trial, I think—they see it as the heavenly earth rejecting . Heavenly earths thrive from having Qi beasts living nearby, as they provide it with nutrients. It keeps the peace among its inhabitants, but now that I’m rejected, I’m no longer under its protection.”
“So they got the go-ahead to attack you? But the sludge is still defending us. Wait, is that because of ? That’s why you’re telling not to touch it—if I get rejected by it too, we’re dood!”
“Yes,” Han Zei weakly nodded. ”Now that all the Qi beasts’ hostility is on , the mont we step out of the range of the heavenly earth’s protection, they’re going to attack. We’re going to have to stay like this until help arrives.”
“Oh great. It’s just like the plan I championed, except we no longer have a choice.”
Left with no other option, the two got comfortable on the ground as they awaited their fate. Just as their conversation was dying down, a voice suddenly called out from sowhere.
“Sounds like you two need a hand, then? And to think you said nothing could possibly go wrong while we’re in the city. Why didn’t you tell when you left?! Once milady hears about this, we’re both going to get in so much trouble!”
Long Yi couldn’t help but feel elated when he spotted the bald head in the distance.
“Umm, she can lecture all she wants later. How about we get out of here first?”
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