Chapter 482 : Breaking Through Restraints
482: Breaking Through Restraints
Yun Qingyue knew that both she and Jiang Mo were trapped in the formation, but even though she could see those hidden formation lines, she still had no way to break through and escape. Since this path was blocked, she didn't mind trying another route.
She didn't want to touch the line connected to Tan Xin, but now it seemed she had no choice.
"Wait here with Tan Xin. I'll go down to take a look," Yun Qingyue said, withdrawing her gaze. She didn't explain too much to Jiang Mo, fearing that the more she said, the more Jiang Mo would worry, so she kept her tone casual.
But Jiang Mo knew Yun Qingyue's nature and quickly stopped her: "You mentioned formation traces on Tan Xin earlier... is this something very difficult to resolve?" Before Yun Qingyue could explain or refute, she continued: "If it weren't challenging, you would have mentioned it when you first saw Tan Xin, not waited this long."
Well, the little tiger she had raised not only understood her, but she also understood the little tiger.
Yun Qingyue sighed, tacitly acknowledging Jiang Mo's assessment: "Since we can't find a way out, we have to try something."
Jiang Mo didn't argue but instead extended a paw: "Then let's go together. Don't expect to leave me behind."
Yun Qingyue looked at her, and she looked back at Yun Qingyue. After a brief moment of eye contact, Yun Qingyue finally compromised: "Fine, we'll go together."
Jiang Mo cheered up again and no longer tried to stop Yun Qingyue, instead following her downward—actually, the White Tiger's perception was very keen, and although she couldn't determine directions in the blood pool, the area below always gave Jiang Mo a sense of danger. That's why neither of them had suggested looking downward when searching for an exit. Now that her senior sister wanted to go, how could she let her go alone?
The two massive figures began swimming downward, breaking through the formation lines that bound them. Like breaking through layers of spider webs, it was relatively easy at first, but as more webs clung to their bodies, movement became increasingly difficult.
Jiang Mo wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but as they descended deeper, she not only felt increasing pressure, but the familiar burning sensation seemed to return. Yet when she looked down at herself, not a single hair was damaged, as if the pressure and burning were just her imagination... but she clearly knew this was no illusion.
The physical discomfort gradually made Jiang Mo anxious, but looking at the familiar figure beside her, she said nothing.
Yun Qingyue's experience was no better than Jiang Mo's, but she was more enduring and had a clearer goal. Sensing the large tiger's gaze, she didn't look back but instead accelerated her descent.
The scenery beneath the blood pool seemed unchanging, making it easy to lose one's bearings. Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue had no idea how long they had been descending. Finally, the scenery before them began to show some changes.
Jiang Mo narrowed her eyes and hesitantly asked: "Ah Yue, what's that?"
Yun Qingyue had seen it too—something flickering in and out of view amidst the churning blood. She focused her gaze for a long time and, based on the occasional glimpse of white, uncertainly said: "It looks like... bones?"
Jiang Mo thought it looked like bones too, but she found it surprising. Given how evil this blood pool was, what kind of bones wouldn't have dissolved after soaking in it? But precisely because of this, these bones seemed all the more special.
"Should we go take a look?" Jiang Mo suggested.
Yun Qingyue didn't object, so the two swam toward the bones. They had returned to their original forms and were quite large, but when they finally approached the skeleton, they discovered that compared to it, their size could only be described as tiny—Jiang Mo approached first, looked up, and saw a bone as thick as her entire body could embrace, only to later realize this was just a leg bone!
This was an enormous creature, but one leg bone wasn't enough to identify what it was. So the two followed the leg bone, eventually finding the skeleton's skull.
Jiang Mo stared at the skull, tilting her head in confusion: "What animal is this? It looks somewhat familiar."
By now, Yun Qingyue had also clearly seen the entire skull. She looked at Jiang Mo, then at the bones, and was momentarily lost for words.
At this moment, the system suddenly spoke up, solving Jiang Mo's confusion: "Host, host, after scanning, and comparison, this should be, be a feline, animal's, skull." After a pause, it added: "Large, predatory, feline."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo fell silent, feeling that this description was somehow familiar, and all her tiger hair suddenly stood on end—a large predatory feline animal would be something like a tiger or leopard, right? Combined with her senior sister's subtle glance earlier, could this skull belong to a tiger? And given its enormous size, could it be a White Tiger? After all, this was a formation targeting divine beasts.
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, sending a chill down her spine and making her fur stand on end: "Sen-Senior Sister..."
Seeing her reaction, Yun Qingyue knew Jiang Mo had figured it out. She quickly spread her wings to embrace her, comforting her: "It's alright. We'll get out of here. I'm with you."
Jiang Mo felt uneasy, given that the skeleton before them was much larger than she was, indicating its strength when alive was likely greater than hers. But her senior sister's embrace still brought a sense of security, and after a while, she responded: "Mm, we'll definitely get out."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
The world beneath the blood pool was unexpectedly vast. Besides the tiger bones they first encountered, they also came across phoenix bones and a Black Tortoise shell. However, all of these had been soaked in the blood pool and were now useless, and they had no connection to the formation on Tan Xin.
Yun Qingyue speculated that these divine beast remains were meant for her and Jiang Mo, though dragon bones were conspicuously missing—this absence inevitably made them think of the dragon bones in Jiang Mo's space, which they had acquired by chance but happened to be exactly what was missing here. This realization considerably reduced their panic; at least these divine beasts hadn't died within the formation, which was somewhat reassuring.
Setting aside this unexpected discovery, the two continued their search following the formation line connected to Tan Xin. The deeper they went, the greater the pressure became. After passing several divine beast skeletons, Yun Qingyue's ice flame gradually weakened, and their vision was completely consumed by dark red.
Suddenly, a black shadow darted through the dark red blood sea, standing out distinctly.
Jiang Mo became instantly alert, but when she tried to follow it with her gaze, the shadow had already vanished: "What was that?"
This time, even Yun Qingyue couldn't provide an answer, but they soon saw the true form of the black shadow, as it flashed by and then attacked them—it was a mass of black energy. The sticky blood sea couldn't hinder its movement; it swam as freely and nimbly as a fish. In an instant, it darted in front of Jiang Mo, revealing a hideous ghost face.
Jiang Mo was genuinely startled and immediately raised her paw to strike fiercely. However, the viscous blood sea slowed her down, and the large tiger's swipe caught nothing as the black energy slipped away from her paw.
The next moment, one, two, three... numerous black energy masses surrounded her.
……
These clusters of black energy were unidentifiable—similar to demonic energy but not quite, resembling vengeful spirits but not exactly. They seemed to be special entities born from this special environment, filled with negative energy.
Jiang Mo couldn't handle them, especially under the formation's suppression. She not only lacked the strength to fight back but couldn't even activate her protective golden light.
Yun Qingyue's situation was no better. The once-fierce ice flame was completely suppressed here. The sea of fire had been reduced to mere sparks, which were quickly extinguished by the surrounding black energy.
The two stood back-to-back, undoubtedly trapped in a predicament.
Jiang Mo swiped with her paw again, not only missing the black energy, but the entity transformed into a ghost face, turned back, and bit her paw. Jiang Mo was shocked and quickly shook her paw to dislodge the ghost face. When she examined her paw, there were no visible wounds. But she wasn't sure if it was her imagination—she felt a chill when bitten and instinctively shuddered.
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Sensing something was off with Jiang Mo, Yun Qingyue quickly asked.
Jiang Mo shook her paw again and, seeing no marks, replied: "I'm fine. Be careful, Yue."
Yun Qingyue acknowledged, but in reality, her situation was no better than Jiang Mo's—or rather, it was worse. For some unknown reason, more black energy was attracted to her, and despite her valiant resistance, she ended up getting bitten more times than Jiang Mo. Even with her ice spiritual root, she felt an eerie coldness, and gradually her body experienced a stiffness brought on by the cold.
This couldn't continue. If they kept going like this, they might perish here!
Yun Qingyue tried desperately to mobilize her spiritual energy, but under the formation's suppression, her energy was already largely depleted and now impossible to summon. Meanwhile, the black energy across from her was eyeing her hungrily, seeing her weakness and pouncing.
Ghost faces flew at her from all directions. Even with Yun Qingyue's strong will, she couldn't help but feel terror in that instant—she had realized that these black energies attacked not just the physical body but also the soul. She had already struggled after being bitten a few times; with so many attacking at once, wouldn't it cost her life?!
For a moment, Yun Qingyue's mind was in chaos. Instinctively, she wanted to dodge but remembered Jiang Mo behind her and didn't dare move. In an instant, the ghost faces were upon her, and suddenly a fierce determination arose within her.
No matter what, she couldn't die here. No matter what, she had to take Jiang Mo away!
With a "crack," something seemed to shatter. Just as two parts resolve formed in Yun Qingyue's eyes, she suddenly felt a surge of energy in her sea of consciousness. That energy flowed through her meridians, gathering in her dantian, and wherever it passed, the bone-chilling cold seemed to be dispelled. She instinctively flapped her wing, and the blood sea's resistance seemed to vanish as her wing struck the approaching ghost face black energy squarely.
Formlessly, something seemed to emit a piercing scream, making even their souls tremble.
But Yun Qingyue's eyes were exceptionally bright. She mobilized the newly generated energy within her body, and the surrounding blood sea no longer seemed able to hinder her. A spiritual light flashed on her pure white wings, and as she struck again, the surrounding black energy was completely eliminated.
Seizing the moment, Yun Qingyue spread her wings, grabbed the scruff of Jiang Mo's neck, and continued deeper into the blood pool.