Chapter 627: The third trial (4)
Han Yunxi turned around and jumped into the abyss!
If Long Feiye wasn’t coming up, she’d go down to look for him. Whether they met at the Yellow Springs or the River of Forgetfulness, she’d find him at one end of the bridge or another!
Pill King panicked and reached out to grab her, but he was too far away to reach. Too late, he watched Han Yunxi fall into the darkness.
“No!” he cried, his heart aching with true regret. The examiner hurried over as well. With Han Yunxi dead, who was supposed to treat her poison now?!
But in the next instant, a figure rose out of the darkness and headed for the ledge. The duo looked and realized it was actually Gu Beiyue in his wheelchair! He had been tossed clear out of the pits and was hanging in mid-air. Seconds before he fell back again, a long whip snaked up from the depths and lashed against the wheelchair. There was so much force behind the lash that it simply pushed him forward and safely onto the ground.
Whump!
The force sent Gu Beiyue and his wheelchair clattering across the ground before they finally rolled to a stop. Lil Thing bounced up from his body before falling back down again, dizzy from all the motion. Nobody knew what had happened to them in the abyss, but that whip had to come from Long Feiye!
So they didn’t die? How is that possible?
Pill King gaped at the sight, while the examiner beside him was so stunned she even forgot to scratch herself. “Impossible! There’s no way he could still have internal energy! No way!”
The Skill Sealing Incense was so potent that it’d lock away all of a person’s internal energy within the time it took to brew a cup of tea. Where did Long Feiye find his reserves? And how could they still be so strong? Even without the incense, the most powerful martial arts practitioners would still find themselves helpless in a freefall down such a steep cliff!
How did Long Feiye do it?
Not only did he send Gu Beiyue back up, but it was through using his whip. The lash was strong enough to send Gu Beiyue flying halfway into the air. If he had such strength to begin with, he should’ve revealed it long before this! Just what had happened?
Both Pill King and the examiner were left shaken by the thought. Neither of them could figure it out as they peered down and saw…Long Feiye flying up with Han Yunxi in his arms.
Is this man some sort of god?
As the duo watched confounded, a vicious lash came from a whip, causing them to scurry out of the way. The female examiner misstepped and simply went crashing to the ground. In the wake of the whip, they saw the long sword wrapped around its end. As the whip arched upwards, it drove the sword into the earth until it became a stable anchor. Once it was in place, Long Feiye pulled taut on the whip and flew up into the air with Han Yunxi in tow.
In one breath, he displayed the full extent of his domineering air!
They landed with gentle circles, him cradling her in a princess carry that caused his robes and her skirts to swirl romantically in the breeze. Pill King, the examiner, Gu Beiyue and Lil Thing were all dumbfounded by the sight, but Long Feiye ignored them all to knit his brows at Han Yunxi.
“Why did you jump?” he demanded coldly. “Were you seeking death?”
“I was looking for you!” Han Yunxi was still lost in a trance from her fears.
“Stupid woman!” Long Feiye said unhappily.
But Han Yunxi only wrapped her arms around his neck and burst into tears. “Long Feiye, you didn’t die! Sobsob…you’re not dead! Not dead!”
Long Feiye wanted to lecture her some more, but her sobs left him at a loss. A trace of hesitation crept onto the cold and angry face. Every time this woman cried, his world was left in chaos. She was hugging him so tightly that he had no choice but to bend down. Her face was covered in tears and snot, but his mysophobic self had no choice but to let her stain his shirt. She was even trembling, causing his cold, hard rock of a heart to ache at the sight…
But he didn’t tell her to stop. He let her cry as she wished, because he knew she had been truly, terribly frightened. He had stopped crying himself a long time ago, when he was still young, but he knew how much better a good cry could make one feel.
Like this, the entire cave fell into silence except for Han Yunxi’s choked sobs. She had buried her face in Long Feiye’s chest, muffling her tears in his chest. Gu Beiyue watched from a distance with a pang in his heart. But helplessness laid with it as well. Both he and Long Feiye had heard Han Yunxi’s panicked cries, but were too caught up in the moment to answer her. And from beginning to end, she’d shouted for no one else except Long Feiye.
“Silly girl…” Gu Beiyue smiled helplessly. He gently stroked Lil Thing and thought back to what happened in the abyss.
Once he and Long Feiye started falling, the Seal Skilling Incense abruptly intensified. Long Feiye knew he couldn’t fight its effects so he gave up flying back up to find equilibrium between them both. This way they could at least land safely and preserve their lives. But the incense soon locked up all of his inner energy. Gu Beiyue remembered that moment precisely, because it had been when Long Feiye lost all strength and sent both of them plummeting down the abyss.
But he had no idea what happened next. A sudden strong qi had exploded from Long Feiye, who seemed to recover completely before pulling him, wheelchair and all, to a complete stop in the middle of the air. Long Feiye seemed to be readjusting his internal energy, because it took him a while until he could drag them out of the pits. In the end, he’d added a lash of his whip to send Gu Beiyue back on the edge. He was certain that Long Feiye’s second wind had come from a different type of inner energy that was much more potent than his first. Long Feiye had terrifying reserves to begin with, but now this revelation made him even more horrific.
Maybe it’s not internal energy at all, Gu Beiyue mused. Could it be some sort of energy that was sealed deep inside Long Feiye in case of emergencies like this?
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Thinking up to here, he cast a glance at the sword embedded in the ground. Long Feiye had enough strength to throw his wheelchair out of the abyss, but not enough to carry Han Yunxi and come up as well. He had to use the whip as ballast to give him extra force. In that case, unsealing his reserves must have incurred a cost instantly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have needed extra help within those scant few seconds.
Gu Beiyue was now certain that Long Feiye’s body had to be hiding some sort of secret. His sword skills had come from Celestial Mountain Sword Sect, but not his whip skills. Could the sealed strength within his body come from Celestial Mountain as well, or from the same master who taught him the whip?
By now, Han Yunxi had stopped crying to smile. When she saw that Long Feiye was perfectly fine, she gave him a teary grin. Even the so-called tigress that was Qin Wangfei had silly expressions like that! Long Feiye’s heartache gave way to amusement at her face. He almost burst into laughter, but managed to hold himself back.
Gently, he wiped away her tears and said haughtily, “You were afraid because of a little thing like that?”
“Would feeling afraid have changed anything without you there?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.
Long Feiye didn’t know what to say and played with her bangs instead. “Alright, it’s okay now…”
“How did you break through the Seal Skilling Incense?” Han Yunxi asked curiously.
“Your lordship’s inner energy isn’t that weak. This is called ‘confronting a person with the danger of death and he’ll fight to live,’ understand?” Long Feiye asked.
Han Yunxi shook her head. She didn’t get it.
“It’s the highest level of inner energy cultivation,” Long Feiye remarked. Whether or not he was telling the truth, only he himself knew. Han Yunxi wanted to ask more questions, but the female examiner finally lost it and flipped out.
“Han Yunxi, he didn’t die! Hurry and treat my poison!”
Otherwise, her whole skin would rot away from her scratching. Han Yunxi prepared to jump off, but Long Feiye only held her tighter and kept her trapped. She stayed where she was and said coldly, “You set the rules for the third trial?”
Naturally, the woman knew what she meant. Although time wasn’t up, Han Yunxi had already violated the rules by making a move against the examiner. By all rights, they should have lost.
“I do set them! Han Yunxi, since you dared to come to the Medicine Requesting Cave, you have to abide by their rules! If you don’t have to skills to pass the trial, then you can’t afford to offend me!” the woman defended herself.
Han Yunxi broke into a cold laugh. “Rules? Did you even follow your own rules? Don’t tell me you already knew that Gu Beiyue and I didn’t know any martial arts?”
This test had obviously been designed to take advantage of their weak points. The examiner pursed her lips but didn’t answer. She was well aware that she’d broken the rules first.
“What, His Excellency Pill King’s even allowed to interfere with the matters of the Medicine Requesting Cave?” Han Yunxi asked. Although she didn’t know the details, she could more or less guess from how sneaky the old man had acted.
Now the examiner was thoroughly speechless. She kept scratching herself, unwilling to retreat yet having no other choice. If she’d known this would happen earlier, she never would have provoked this crowd. “Fine,” she surrendered, “Help me treat my poison and I won’t count anything against you!”
“Explain yourself, what do you mean by ‘won’t count anything?’” Han Yunxi was still being prudent.
“I’ll just act as if you didn’t attack me at all, alright?!” the woman said reluctantly.
Only then did Han Yunxi give her the antidote. After that, Long Feiye turned with her in his arms and flew out into the air. This time he borrowed the strength of his whip and sword again. Once they were halfway across the abyss, he used the same launching method to plant his weapon on the opposite ledge and pull them across. Although his inner energy seemed better than before, it was still far weaker than the explosive blast that had launched him back out of the cliff. Gu Beiyue could spot the difference with a glance.
Still, he politely averted his gaze as soon as the couple landed. In the end, everyone in their group made their way to the stone door on the other side. The examiner and Pill King remained on the opposite ledge. The latter had all but disappeared with his guilty conscience, while the woman was feeling much better after taking her antidote. But how could she give up after suffering such a big loss?
She looked silently at Han Yunxi’s group without a word.
“Aren’t you opening the door yet?” Han Yunxi asked loudly.
“Who told you that the trial was done after you crossed the abyss? I’m leaving. You guys can open the door yourselves.” The woman laughed, deciding to let them wait.
“You!” Han Yunxi was about to ask Long Feiye to team up and deal with her when Lil Thing suddenly jumped onto the stone door and began to frantically munch at its surface. They were a team, after all, and Lil Thing had been waiting for a chance to do its part. Finally it had seized an opportunity! Things like stone doors were nothing before its strength!
As expected, the giant door was reduced to nothing but a pile of powder soon afterwards. The female examiner was completely stupefied by the sight. Just who are these people? Even their squirrel is so scary!
Han Yunxi and the rest had stopped paying the examiner any attention, because all three of them were stepping carefully past the doors. No one had ever passed the Medicine Requesting Cave’s third trial. Just what was the last stone door? What else was lying in wait?