The Yellow Springs Road did not stretch on forever. Abruptly, the mist parted, and the stone path dissolved into an endless, crimson ocean. They had arrived at the heart of the Higanbana—the Equinox Flowers.
With no path to guide them, Liu Yue made a snap decision, carving a frantic trail through the dense vegetation to maintain their momentum.
Swish! Swish!
His blade hacked through the stems, sending a storm of blood-red petals spiraling into the air. But in this cursed place, misfortune compounded upon itself. The destruction of the flowers released a concentrated burst of their hallucinogenic pollen. The fragrance grew thick and cloying, a sweet poison that clouded the mind and dragged memories of the past to the surface with violent clarity.
Leading the charge, Liu Yue’s movements grew erratic. His blade swings became frenzied, chopping at empty air as if fighting ghosts from his past. With the road behind them gone, there was no turning back; there was only the madness ahead.
Xiao Yifeng reacted instantly. He grabbed Su Miaoqing’s wrist and darted laterally, putting distance between them and the unstable Liu Yue.
Su Miaoqing stumbled, her condition deteriorating rapidly. Her skin burned with an unnatural flush, her eyes glassy and unfocused, lost in a dreamscape only she could see.
Xiao Yifeng felt the edges of his own consciousness fraying, a heavy lethargy pressing down on his soul. He wasted no time. Internally, he circulated the Wuxiang Heart Sutra of the Wuxiang Temple, the Buddhist chant resonating in his mind to anchor his spirit.
Externally, he clasped Su Miaoqing’s hand tighter, silently channeling the Ice Clear Art of the Ask Heaven Sect into her meridians to preserve her last shred of sanity. With his free hand, he barely managed to deflect a lunging skeleton, his movements hampered by the need to protect her.
He looked down. Su Miaoqing was trembling, her expression twisting in struggle against the illusions.
"Miaoqing, sleep," Xiao Yifeng whispered, his voice cutting through the chaos. "When you wake up, it will all be over."
Before she could protest, he delivered a precise chop to the back of her neck. She went limp in his arms.
It was a cold, calculated move. Unlike the temporary alliance of the others, who eyed each other with suspicion even as they fought, Xiao Yifeng and Su Miaoqing shared a genuine bond. He could carry her burden—literally. If they stopped here, they would simply add two more corpses to this field of bone and bloom.
The illusion woven by the Higanbana was merciless. To Xiao Yifeng's surprise, the first to break was Lingyun.
The old Daoist let out a maniacal, screeching laugh, his eyes seeing horrors invisible to the rest. He whipped his horsetail whisk around indiscriminately, lashing out at friend and foe alike with lethal intent.
Liu Yue was barely holding on. As the vanguard, he had inhaled the thickest cloud of pollen. One of his eyes burned with total insanity, while the other twitched in a desperate battle for control.
Conversely, the most composed members of the group were Xiao Yifeng and Mo Shuiyao. It mirrored their awakening at the Gate of Hell.
Xiao Yifeng relied on the supreme mental fortification of the Wuxiang Heart Sutra. Mo Shuiyao, however, remained unaffected for a different reason: the Entwined Pavilion were masters of the mind. Illusions and charm arts were their bread and butter.
Luo Yun, Wang Laoxie, and Lin Xiao hovered in the space between lucidity and madness. Xiao Yifeng expected Lin Xiao to endure; the man had been a rival capable of contending with him in his past life, after all. But the resilience of Luo Yun and the hunched Wang Laoxie was a surprise. Clearly, everyone harbored deep secrets.
"Fellow Daoist Wuchen," Mo Shuiyao’s voice drifted over, smooth and alluring despite the chaos. "Why don’t we join forces to break out? If we remain here and the others lose their minds completely, they will be far more dangerous than these mindless skeletons."
Xiao Yifeng tightened his grip on the unconscious Su Miaoqing. His mind raced, calculating the variables.
"I appreciate Fairy Mo’s kindness," he replied, adopting the stiff, righteous tone of his 'Wuchen' persona. "However, as a member of the orthodox path, since I have maintained my clarity, it is my duty to lead. This time, I shall take the vanguard."
He swept his gaze over the others, his voice firm. "Fellow Daoists, follow me, but maintain a respectful distance. Do not approach too closely. Fairy Mo, if you are interested, you may flank me."
Mo Shuiyao’s eyes flashed with amusement. She instantly grasped the subtext.
By ordering them to keep their distance, he minimized the risk of a frenzied ally stabbing him in the back. By volunteering to lead, he maintained his righteous façade. And practically? He was turning the others into a rear guard to soak up the pressure from the skeletal horde chasing them.
It was a strategy that killed three birds with one stone.
Mo Shuiyao covered her mouth, her laughter like tinkling bells. "Since Fellow Daoist is so gallant, this humble girl shall respectfully obey."
With the agreement set, Xiao Yifeng hesitated no longer. He layered several defensive barriers over himself and Su Miaoqing, then summoned the Luohong sword.
"Go!"
He charged forward, the Luohong dancing in his grip. The Thousand Sword Art manifested a swirling vortex of steel around him. Under the cover of the sword glare, his left hand crushed a high-tier talisman—the Fire Phoenix Charm.
SCREE—!
A piercing cry resonated through the void. A majestic fire phoenix, wreathed in golden flames, erupted from behind him. It spread its massive wings, turning the gloomy underworld into a furnace. The divine fire surged forward, incinerating the blockade of skeletons into ash before they could even raise their rusted weapons.
Xiao Yifeng moved like a god of war, one arm clutching Su Miaoqing against his chest, the other wielding his sword with lethal precision. Any skeleton that survived the phoenix’s flames was instantly shattered by his sword Qi.
Beside him, Mo Shuiyao was a phantom. She dissolved into a blur of shadows, weaving through the chaos. She did not engage directly; she flickered into existence only to deliver a fatal strike, shattering a skull or a spine, before vanishing again. Her efficiency was terrifying.
Together, the righteous swordsman and the demonic enchantress carved a bloody path toward the edge of the flower sea.
Farther back, Lin Xiao gritted his teeth, forcing down the hallucinations. His folding fan snapped open, spinning to create a wall of fan-shadows that shielded his body as he pursued the leaders. Wang Laoxie, silent and grim, hooked his twin weapons into the earth and vaulted forward, refusing to be left behind.
Bringing up the rear were Luo Yun and Liu Yue.
Luo Yun glanced at the burly man beside her. Liu Yue was trembling violently, the madness nearly claiming him. Her eyes softened with a trace of pity. She shifted her zither and plucked a single, sharp string.
Twang!
The piercing note acted like a needle to the soul, jolting Liu Yue awake.
He gasped, sweat pouring down his face. He looked at Luo Yun with profound gratitude, but then his gaze drifted back. Lingyun, the old Daoist, was still behind them, swinging his whisk at invisible demons, completely lost.
Liu Yue hesitated. Then, he sighed.
"Fairy Luo, go on ahead," he growled through clenched teeth.
Before she could speak, he spun around and rocketed back toward the mad Daoist.
Luo Yun watched him go, a complex expression crossing her face. She sighed softly, hugged her zither tight, and took to the skies to catch up with Xiao Yifeng’s group.
Liu Yue bit the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to anchor his mind. He roared, his voice booming like thunder: "WAKE UP!"
Simultaneously, he slashed his golden blade, sending a terrifying wave of energy straight at Lingyun.
The sheer killing intent of the attack shocked Lingyun’s instincts. The old Daoist broke into a cold sweat and reflexively dodged to the side.
Crash!
The blade aura missed him by inches, obliterating a sneaking skeleton directly behind him.
Liu Yue’s shout, imbued with a power similar to the Buddhist Lion’s Roar, shattered the worst of the illusions. Clarity flickered in Lingyun’s eyes.
Liu Yue didn’t give him time to relapse. He swooped in, grabbed the old man by the collar, and pinned his arms.
"Fellow Daoist Lingyun!" Liu Yue bellowed. "If you trust me, stop resisting! I’ll drag you out of here!"
Lingyun blinked, realizing his precarious situation. "In this state... how could I not trust you, Fellow Daoist? I leave everything to you."
With that, the old Daoist squeezed his eyes shut and voluntarily sealed his five senses, becoming dead weight to avoid falling back into the illusion.
Liu Yue exhaled a heavy breath, relieved the old man hadn't been stubborn. Hoisting Lingyun over his shoulder like a sack of grain, he accelerated toward the group.
He hadn't flown far when he saw a figure waiting ahead. Luo Yun.
She hovered in the air, her jade-like fingers dancing over the strings of her zither. The melody she played was like a babbling brook in a serene valley—butterflies dancing, cranes calling—a stark contrast to the hellscape around them. The music washed over Liu Yue, cooling his boiling blood and clearing his mind.
"Fairy Luo?" Liu Yue stared, dumbfounded. "You waited?"
Luo Yun smiled, a genuine warmth in her expression. "I did not expect to find a cultivator of such chivalrous heart in a place like this, Fellow Daoist Liu. Witnessing your actions made me feel ashamed of my own haste. I waited to see if I could be of assistance."
Liu Yue, fighting to keep his sanity, simply shook his head. "My thanks, Fairy. But this is no place for conversation. We must fly!"
Luo Yun nodded. The two accelerated, the zither music forming a protective bubble around them as they chased after Xiao Yifeng.
However, at the front of the pack, the breakout had hit a wall.
The edge of the Higanbana sea was tantalizingly close, but the path was blocked. Two massive skeletons stood like sentinels before the exit.
Unlike the mindless fodder they had butchered earlier, these two radiated a terrifying pressure. Their bones shone with a metallic luster, and the energy fluctuation rolling off them was equivalent to the Late Golden Core stage. To possess such power in death meant that in life, these had been mighty Nascent Soul cultivators.
Bang!
One of the skeletons reached out a bony hand and casually crushed Xiao Yifeng’s fire phoenix. Sparks scattered into the dark mist, extinguished in an instant.
Xiao Yifeng skidded to a halt, his heart sinking.
Mo Shuiyao and Lin Xiao landed beside him, their expressions turning grave as they assessed the blockade. Ten meters behind them, Wang Laoxie touched down, his eyes darting between the skeletons and the party, a flicker of calculation hidden in his gaze.
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