Chapter 136: Breaking Free
Given Quincy's spoiled, headstrong nature, Leo had expected her to snap back the moment he shut her down. Her silence surprised him.
"You have healing pills, I assume. Take them. Restore your spiritual power. Then we move." Leo pulled her out from under the boulder, his voice low.
Quincy nodded, her face cold as frost. She took a small bottle from her storage pouch and swallowed a pill. The wounds on her legs, visible through her torn skirt, began knitting together at a visible speed.
Leo's eyebrows rose. That was no ordinary healing pill.
Nearly an hour later, Leo had pried away several smaller stones with the Black Flood Dragon Shears and carved out a hole just big enough to crawl through. He squeezed out first and froze.
Before him stretched a tunnel—dozens of meters wide, the ceiling dozens of meters high. Side passages branched off in every direction. Rubble lay scattered everywhere, chunks of rock of all sizes. A few corpses here and there. Spirit herbs growing wild, thick as weeds. The dim, stagnant air told him this was somewhere new. Somewhere deep. The cave collapse hadn't just buried them—it had dropped them into some underground world beneath the Bloody Battlefield.
He needed to find a way back to the surface. If they were trapped here past the six-month mark, the teleportation array would seal. Who knew when it would open again? Hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Even a Golden Core Master wouldn't last that long.
Leo scanned the tunnel. Vera and Quincy still hadn't emerged. His jaw tightened. Now? Of all times? Then he remembered Quincy's legs—crushed. He let out a breath and waited.
A faint surge of water-attributed spiritual power—he sensed it immediately. They were using water techniques. Minutes later, Quincy and Vera climbed out, scrubbed clean, dressed in fresh robes.
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For mortals, broken bones took months. For cultivators, less time. Still, crushed legs needed days to heal, even with good medicine. Leo's ribs would take days too, but they didn't slow him. They never did.
Leo helped Vera pull Quincy through, then Vera followed.
"Your legs aren't healed yet. Vera, you carry her." Leo kept his eyes on the tunnel ahead. He needed his hands free, and Quincy had enough admirers back in the Palace. If anyone saw him carrying her, word would spread. Then he'd have to deal with jealous fools coming after him—and that was a headache he didn't need.
"I don't need anyone to carry me." Quincy's voice was ice. She tapped her spirit beast pouch. A sleek white beast emerged—a one-horned rhinoceros, its eyes burning with red flame, its hooves black as coal.
"A third-grade Flame-Eye Unicorn Rhinoceros." Leo stared. Rare. Metal and fire attributes. Ferocious in battle, stronger than anything its size had a right to be. That horn could match a magic artifact.
His leopard was also peak third-grade. Against this? Two, maybe three of them wouldn't be enough. And this beast had room to grow. A lucky break, and it could reach fourth-grade.
Only a Golden Core family could afford something like this. Even a Foundation cultivator would struggle.
Quincy's lips curved slightly at Leo's reaction. She mounted the beast with Vera's help. The rhinoceros moved easily, its broad back carrying her without slowing. An extra fighter, stronger than most cultivators.
Leo allowed himself a small breath of relief. They were only three, but all core disciples. Quincy alone had several artifacts. Together, they could match two or three ordinary teams. The only problem now was finding a way out.
"Senior Brother Leo, what do we do?" Vera asked quietly. Quincy's eyes drifted toward him too, her ears open.
"We look for survivors first." Leo had already decided.
Vera's face lit with sudden understanding. She had forgotten about Quiver and the others.
They searched the rubble for nearly an hour. Scattered corpses—Palace disciples, Ice Profound—but no Quiver. No Winnie. No Solon or Angus.
"They fell with us. Where are they?" Vera frowned.
"There were over twenty people fighting when the cave came down. Some died, but most ran in different directions. This place is strange. They could have landed somewhere else." Leo voiced what they were all thinking. There was no better answer.
A scream cut through the silence. Sharp. Hollow.
Vera and Quincy tensed. Their eyes met.
No sound of fighting. That was strange. Leo's hand tightened on his blade. At least they weren't alone down here. He kept his voice low. "Let's go."
They moved carefully. Stone and rubble marked their path. The tunnel changed as they walked—narrow in some places, wide as a courtyard in others. Spirit herbs grew unchecked, thick as weeds.
A fortune in herbs. If they made it out, Leo could plant the seeds in his boundary space and harvest them in days. But none of that mattered if they were trapped here. He would collect them later. If there was a later.