Chapter 480
480: Gentle Embrace
Yun Qingyue fell into the blood pool alongside Jiang Mo. Although she understood formations better than Jiang Mo, her situation within the pool was hardly any better. She experienced nearly the same illusions that Jiang Mo had endured. However, she was somewhat stronger than Jiang Mo—without the system's forced awakening, she still managed to struggle awake through her own mental fortitude.
When she awoke, she had already separated from Jiang Mo, and all she could see was endless crimson.
Yun Qingyue felt uncomfortable, not only from her instinctive revulsion to the blood pool but also because the blood contained too many negative emotions. It was filled with savagery and murderous intent, and as the Swan Goose was an auspicious beast, staying in such an environment made her entire body uncomfortable.
The sudden surge of savagery in her chest felt alien to Yun Qingyue, even frightening, and it took considerable mental effort to suppress these unfamiliar emotions. She dared not imagine the consequences of soaking here for an extended period; she wanted to leave quickly... Oh, and her little tiger too—she needed to bring her along.
Yun Qingyue swiftly calmed herself and focused on her surroundings. This time, she could see the faint lines amidst the blood—the formation's lines were also red, eye-piercingly red, and so dense as to inspire despair.
Ever since absorbing part of the Formation-Breaking Cone's energy, Yun Qingyue had gained the ability to see the essence of formations. She could perceive the patterns of a formation's operation through lines invisible to others. At the same time, by avoiding these formation lines, she could freely traverse formations. Though not as convenient as the Formation-Breaking Cone's ability to completely ignore formations, it was certainly practical.
But this time, such clever methods were useless because her abilities were clearly suppressed while inside the blood pool. She could neither cast her spells nor easily break free from the sticky blood, and she couldn't even control her form to make it smaller.
This was a formation targeting divine beasts, almost completely restraining her.
Yun Qingyue could no longer pass through the lines, losing her ability to move freely within the formation. Instead, the lines bound her, turning her into prey on a spider's web, impossible to break free no matter how she struggled.
Witnessing this situation was truly despairing. Yun Qingyue struggled several times without result. Moreover, inside the blood pool, her entire body was in a weightless state, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right. Even when trying to exert force, she didn't know which direction would be best. Consequently, the suppressed savagery surged again, at times even overwhelming Yun Qingyue's rationality.
A wisp of deep blue flame emerged from the massive Swan Goose's body. Though lacking the magnificent presence that usually accompanied her attacks, who could blame her when surrounded by blood imbued with demonic energy?
The small sparks of ice flame were like oil meeting fire, instantly transforming from tiny embers into a potential wildfire.
With a "boom," the ice flame exploded, becoming somewhat uncontrollable upon meeting demonic energy, as had happened many times before. Fortunately, as the master of the ice flame, she didn't need to worry about these flames backfiring on her. The jade-like pupils of Yun Qingyue reflected the deep blue hue, but the depths of her eyes no longer held their former coolness, instead showing joy and frenzy.
Suddenly, something flashed through her mind. Yun Qingyue's remaining rationality grasped this spark of insight, and she suddenly remembered that she wasn't the only one trapped in the blood pool—there was also her little tiger.
Yun Qingyue instantly panicked. Although she didn't know if the ice flame could kill the White Tiger, this certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience either way. She tried to recall the ice flame, but upon meeting demonic energy, the ice flame was relentless, completely beyond her control. Even under her forceful control, the ice flame broke free, showing signs of backlash.
She withdrew her attempt just in time, narrowly suppressing the backlash surging in her chest, but this reality made her heart sink further.
Yun Qingyue dared not imagine Jiang Mo being surrounded and scorched by her spiritual fire, but releasing the ice flame wasn't entirely without benefit. At least after the ice flame's burning, the formation's lines seemed to lose part of their energy supply, their bright red color becoming somewhat dim.
Looking at those lines, Yun Qingyue had an intuition that perhaps the lines weren't as solid now.
This was just a sudden thought, but Yun Qingyue dared not miss the opportunity. She chose a direction with slightly fewer lines and suddenly flapped her wings. Indeed, the sticky, heavy restraining sensation diminished considerably. In her vision, this was even more apparent—the previously spider-web-tough lines were now broken by her wing flaps!
Yun Qingyue's eyes immediately brightened. Although the broken lines quickly repaired themselves, the momentary break was enough. The formation's suppression of her greatly decreased, allowing her to search for Jiang Mo and protect the little tiger under her wings.
With this in mind, Yun Qingyue chose a direction based on intuition and struggled forward.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Jiang Mo was somewhat exhausted. Her bloodline was purer than Yun Qingyue's, making her more severely suppressed by the formation. However, the White Tiger's naturally robust physique, combined with her constant concern for her senior sister, allowed her to barely move under the formation's suppression.
But such determination is like a burst of energy—strong at first, then weakening, and finally exhausted.
When Jiang Mo, full of hope, went to retrieve someone, only to find Tan Xin—whom she couldn't discard, couldn't protect, and couldn't rescue—her determination immediately dispersed by half. So with one paw holding the little monk, she looked around in confusion, knowing neither which direction to search for her senior sister nor what to do next.
It was at this moment that Yun Qingyue's ice flame burned toward her. The system had already activated an early warning: "Warning, warning, dangerous energy rapidly approaching, please prepare yourself." It didn't even stutter.
Jiang Mo habitually trusted the system. Hearing this, her scalp instantly tightened as she anxiously looked around. As for escaping or defending, that was a joke—in her current state, suppressed by the formation, she couldn't escape, nor could she mobilize spiritual energy for defense. In the end, she could only choose to physically endure, which was practically equivalent to waiting for death.
"System..." Jiang Mo had just called out, wanting to ask if there was anything in the system mall that could save her life, but before she could finish, her vision was filled with that familiar deep blue.
Senior Sister's ice flame—Jiang Mo recognized it at once, and the panic in her heart inexplicably dissipated.
Jiang Mo instinctively trusted Yun Qingyue, even more than the system, and didn't believe these flames would harm her. In contrast, the system could sense the terrifying power contained within the ice flame, especially given past instances where the ice flame went out of control upon encountering demonic energy. After calculating, the system determined that these flames weren't as harmless as the host imagined.
This was ice flame, after all—when out of control, it could burn through a Fusion-stage cultivator like child's play.
The system in Jiang Mo's mind was practically exploding, continuously issuing alerts that made Jiang Mo's head ache.
However, the ice flame spread rapidly, reaching her in almost an instant. No matter how loud the system's warnings were, Jiang Mo had no time to react. She was instantly enveloped by the ice flame, the bone-chilling cold making her shiver.
"It's over," the system inwardly cried out, unsure whether to feel sorry for the host or for itself after carrying a loan for over eighty years.
The system closed its eyes, not daring to look at the situation outside, but things weren't as bad as it had imagined. In fact, after being enveloped by the ice flame, Jiang Mo only felt a moment of coldness. The ice flame passed through her, even penetrating the gaps between her fur, without burning a single tiger hair. It just enveloped her, almost tenderly.
Jiang Mo wasn't particularly surprised; on the contrary, she felt a sense of expected security. However, she was the only one receiving special treatment—the little monk she had retrieved didn't enjoy such privilege.
In almost an instant, the monk's robe was ignited, his eyebrows and eyelashes immediately singed.
Jiang Mo looked down and saw this scene, quite startled, and quickly protected the little monk entirely—though Tan Xin's condition was uncertain, they had come for him, and burning him now would make their journey in vain.
When Yun Qingyue finally arrived, this was the scene she witnessed. The joy of finding Jiang Mo was instantly replaced by a sour, bitter emotion.
Jiang Mo seemed to sense the familiar gaze and raised her head just in time to see the approaching Swan Goose. The giant white bird immediately filled her vision, and a burst of delight exploded in her golden tiger eyes. She almost wanted to pick up the little monk with her mouth and rush forward... Seeing this undisguised joy, the sour feeling in Yun Qingyue's heart seemed to ease somewhat, and she actively approached.
……
"Ah Yue, are you alright?" The big tiger circled the Swan Goose twice, clearly wanting to inspect every inch of her. She still felt regretful for unconsciously letting go of her.
Yun Qingyue shook her head with dignity, indicating she was fine, but her gaze fell on Tan Xin, whom Jiang Mo was protecting.
Jiang Mo instantly understood and released Tan Xin, but as soon as he appeared, he was almost burned by the ice flame. Jiang Mo was startled and hurriedly extinguished the fire with a few paw swipes, then protected him again: "Ah Yue, what is this..." Why would Senior Sister burn the little monk for no reason?
Yun Qingyue shook her head: "The ice flame is out of control; I'm not deliberately burning him."
Jiang Mo was skeptical, since the out-of-control ice flame hadn't burned her. But on second thought, her senior sister wasn't one to lie, so what did it mean that the uncontrolled ice flame refused to burn her?
The big tiger's eyes sparkled, and the tip of her tail hanging behind her curved slightly, inadvertently revealing her good mood.
However, in the current situation, there was little else to be happy about. They were still in the blood pool, and although they had reunited, they were somewhat at a loss about where to go next and what to do.
"Ah Yue, let's take Tan Xin out of here first." After reuniting, Jiang Mo seemed to have found her anchor.
However, Yun Qingyue looked around and didn't feel optimistic about the current situation—where the ice flame had passed, the power of the great formation restraining them had weakened, but this didn't mean the formation's binding no longer existed. It wouldn't be easy for them to leave, especially with Tan Xin, on whom she saw even heavier formation marks.