Chapter 44 Body Seizing
Just as Lu Li was pondering, Chu Qingfeng and Liu Xinyu also walked up one after another.
Both of them seemed as if their bodies had been emptied, bending over and panting heavily, their faces flushed bright red. They spent a full half quarter-hour recuperating before finally catching their breath.
"Senior Brother Lu, why haven't you gone in?" Liu Xinyu asked.
"Of course I was waiting for you two. I'm not that kind of person who takes everything for himself," Lu Li said calmly, without batting an eye.
Hearing this, both of their eyes lit up. Chu Qingfeng's originally somber face also softened a bit, and he cupped his hands toward Lu Li, "Junior Brother is righteous. But this kind of act of harming fellow disciples, Junior Brother must never do it again."
Lu Li's eyes flickered, and he said with a smile, "Naturally. Just now, it was only because I was angry they injured Junior Sister Liu, and I lost my head for a moment and couldn't restrain myself."
Hearing this, a trace of emotion flashed in Liu Xinyu's eyes, mixed with some internal conflict.
Chu Qingfeng, on the other hand, heaved a heavy sigh of relief, thinking that although this junior brother was a bit hot-tempered, he was truly good to his own people. So he cupped his hands again and said, "Junior Brother, everyone has recovered enough. Let's go in together and see what treasures there are. The three of us can divide them evenly."
"Alright," Lu Li nodded, extending a hand, "Senior Brother, Junior Sister, please!"
Saying this, he feigned a step forward. The two of them suspected nothing and walked straight inside, while Lu Li's raised foot instantly withdrew.
Just as the two of them stepped into the cave dwelling.
A sudden change occurred.
Earth-yellow qi rose out of thin air, instantly enveloping both of them.
Ah!
Screams rang out simultaneously. Lu Li released his Divine Sense and saw that both of them had already collapsed within the yellow mist, their heads pressed tightly against the ground, motionless, with blood flowing from the corners of their mouths.
Another gravity restriction array?
Lu Li's expression shifted drastically. After a brief struggle, he gritted his teeth and charged in. Almost instantly, Lu Li felt as if a great mountain had landed on his back, his bones cracking under the pressure.
With no time to think, Lu Li grabbed one in each hand and dragged the two of them rushing out of the cave dwelling.
"Senior Brother! Junior Sister! Are you alright!" Lu Li asked with deep concern, slapping each of them twice across the face in an attempt to wake them up.
Pfft!
Having taken Lu Li's two slaps, the pair spat out a mouthful of blood and finally regained consciousness.
"Th-thank you, Junior Brother," Chu Qingfeng said with lingering fear.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Lu, for saving us."
Once they spoke, both began cross-legged recuperation. If Lu Li had not acted just then, they likely would never have made it out.
Seeing this, Lu Li furrowed his brows. There was truly something amiss in there.
At this moment, the yellow mist had yet to disperse. If it were merely a gravity restriction array, that would be one thing, but he worried there were other perils lying in wait behind it.
He wore a conflicted look, glancing back at the two of them. Yet it was this very glance that inadvertently revealed something unusual about the opposite Cui Zhu Mountain, prompting him to turn around and inspect it.
An incredulous look immediately crossed his face. The once-vibrant Cui Zhu Mountain was now draped in a layer of withered yellow, and the bamboo leaves at the very summit were slowly shedding and falling.
"What is going on here?"
Lu Li could not fathom it. How could things change so suddenly?
"Junior Brother, I think we should turn back. It seems this place cannot be breached," Chu Qingfeng said, having largely recovered, rising to his feet with lingering fear.
Liu Xinyu simply watched Lu Li in silence.
Lu Li placed one hand behind his back, tapping his fingers lightly, before finally shaking his head. "I still wish to try again."
With that, he produced a swift movement talisman, pressed it against his leg, and turned back to look at them. "You two wait here."
Chu Qingfeng wanted to say more, but Lu Li had already rushed inside.
Within the yellow mist, Lu Li hunched over, pressing forward with great difficulty. Every single step required a brief pause. This stretch of yellow mist, less than two zhang across, felt insurmountably distant to traverse.
This spot was roughly four to five zhang away from the skeleton. While Lu Li walked with difficulty, he believed he could clear the yellow mist itself; his true concern was whether other dangers lingered in the remaining two to three zhang beyond it.
A full two quarter-hours passed before Lu Li finally traversed those two zhang.
Just as he was about to clear the edge of the yellow mist, Lu Li abruptly halted. After a moment's thought, he casually retrieved a storage bag and tossed it forward.
Whoosh, whoosh...
Instantly, flames surged ahead. Crimson-red fire blazed to a height of four to five chi, extending all the way to a point one zhang in front of the skeleton.
"Is this another restriction array?"
Lu Li's heart pounded as he stared at the rising crimson flames.
After observing intently for a moment, Lu Li still could not resist the temptation of treasure. He slowly extended his hand to test the temperature of the flames. Having tempered his body, ordinary intense heat could not harm him; what he feared was fire exceeding his limits.
After several probes, Lu Li's face suddenly lit up. "No problem!"
Though scorching, the flames remained within his tolerance. Lu Li exerted force and lunged straight out of the yellow mist. The moment he left the mist, his body abruptly felt light, carrying him five to six chi forward directly into the center of the blazing fire.
Whoosh, whoosh...
The flames raged intensely, and a sudden scent of burning drifted over.
Lu Li glanced down. His physical body was unharmed, but his clothes had been burned to ashes, and not a single strand of body hair remained. Wiping his head, charred gray ash flaked off in handfuls.
Lu Li glanced back. Outside, Liu Xinyu let out a shrill gasp and instantly turned away.
Ugh.
Lu Li grimaced and charged forward stark naked.
The instant he stepped beyond the fiery perimeter, both the yellow mist and the flames vanished entirely.
"The restrictions are broken?"
Stunned for a moment, Lu Li had no time to ponder; he stepped forward, scooped up the ink-green long robe, and threw it over himself. Seeing this, Chu Qingfeng outside lit up with joy and rushed in as well.
"Damn it!"
With his robes half-donned, seeing Chu Qingfeng barge in, Lu Li abandoned his clothes entirely. In two or three strides, he rushed to the long table and swept up the bluish-stone pebble.
Upon entering, Chu Qingfeng found nothing left. Scanning the surroundings, he suddenly spotted a green jade bottle beside the long table and lunged toward it.
Lu Li initially thought to snatch the jade bottle as well, but thought better of it. One should not push things to extremes, especially with acquaintances.
Aside from these two items, the entire cave dwelling was completely bare. A few scattered remnants suggested that many treasures must have originally been housed here, only to vanish through the erosion of passing years.
As Chu Qingfeng glanced at the green jade bottle, intending to check its contents, he suddenly noticed that Lu Li's expression had turned bizarre.
At this moment, Lu Li's face looked exceptionally strange, flickering alternately between green and red, his eyes flashing with the exact same hues.
"Junior Brother, what is wrong with you!" Chu Qingfeng's expression shifted as he hurriedly stepped forward to ask.
"Fall... back," Lu Li rasped from his throat, forcing out the two words with difficulty.
At that exact moment, a grey shadow had surged into his mind, locking in a fierce battle and merging with his Divine Sense.
"Young brat, stop struggling. To serve as this seat's physical vessel is a blessing cultivated over eight lifetimes. This seat has waited for this day for several hundred centuries..."
The grey shadow abruptly transformed into a sinister-looking middle-aged man. The man possessed an extraordinary bearing, with a cascade of ink-black hair and a blood-red flame mark upon his brow.
"Bo... body seizing..."
A term flashed through Lu Li's mind, his eyes filled with terror.