"Fairy Shengyi, Fellow Daoist Ximen, I truly didn't do it on purpose. Please, save me."
Ximen Hongchun released the woman, but she was strangely persistent. Clutching a lotus lampstand, she pursued Bai Shengyi and Ximen Hongchun.
She trailed them by only a step, keeping close, yet her cries for help were incessant, as if she were about to die at any moment.
"Shut up!" Bai Shengyi glared at her coldly. "If you want to escape, keep up. If you want to die, I'll send you straight to the leech headquarters!"
In the time it took to speak, another wave of leeches swarmed forward. Bai Shengyi felt her trypophobia flaring up.
But as they ran, she began to feel that something was amiss.
These leeches were clearly more "interested" in the woman they'd encountered halfway.
In a flash of insight, Bai Shengyi suddenly recalled that Ximen Hongchun had found the woman by the muddy ground. She couldn't help but ask loudly, "Bai Yiyi, did you take something from these leeches just now?"
Bai Yiyi, one of the two individuals with no background that Feng Wuya had mentioned to Bai Shengyi, was someone Bai Shengyi had met once on the Floating Immortal Ship and remembered her name.
"I... I didn't," Bai Yiyi stammered, shrinking back guiltily, then began to cry timidly again, as if she had suffered an immense injustice.
Just then, two leeches leaped from the nearby bushes, charging at them. Bai Yiyi shrieked and instantly hid behind Ximen Hongchun.
Ximen Hongchun, wielding his great hammer, smashed the leeches to smithereens.
"Fellow Daoist Ximen, thank you for helping me," Bai Yiyi said, her hand over her chest, her voice choked with tears. She unconsciously moved closer to him.
Ximen Hongchun was not swayed. He asked coldly, "What did you take from them?"
Ximen Hongchun wasn't foolish. As soon as Bai Shengyi spoke, he understood. He had been cautious in the secret realm, doing nothing, yet the leeches had suddenly rioted. He had killed over a dozen, which had only attracted more leeches to chase him.
But what if the riot was man-made?
Ximen Hongchun scrutinized Bai Yiyi coldly.
"I really didn't. Fairy Shengyi, why are you slandering me?" Bai Yiyi said aggrievedly.
Bai Shengyi's face darkened. "I'm too lazy to rack my brains to slander you. Since you didn't, then you should separate from us. That way, you'll be safer."
"No, I want to stay with you," Bai Yiyi said quickly.
But it was too late. A vine extended from Bai Shengyi's hand, coiled around Bai Yiyi's waist, and flung her towards Bai Shengyi's front right.
Bai Yiyi's expression changed drastically. The lotus lampstand in her hand emitted a powerful light, and the vines shattered.
But before she could rejoice, a long sword suddenly appeared from behind her!
"Heh! But I don't want to! So, get lost!" Bai Shengyi snorted, and the vines from her hand shot out again, aimed directly at Bai Yiyi's face.
Bai Yiyi hadn't expected Bai Shengyi to attack so suddenly, forcing her to perform a backflip to dodge the combined assault of the sword and vines.
But in that brief moment, Bai Shengyi and Ximen Hongchun had run a considerable distance, separating themselves from her. The leeches immediately changed direction, with most surging towards her.
"Bai Shengyi!"
Bai Yiyi gritted her teeth in hatred, frantically trying to find a way to escape.
Meanwhile, Bai Shengyi sliced through a leech. The severed part surprisingly grew again, quickly becoming two!
Bai Shengyi urgently said to Ximen Hongchun, who was also about to switch weapons, "Don't use your sword anymore. Use your hammer to smash them."
Thus, two more pools of minced meat appeared on the ground.
But Bai Shengyi had no time to admire these bloody yet perfect works of art. She led Ximen Hongchun to a patch of dry sand before stopping.
"The leeches aren't chasing us anymore," Ximen Hongchun said.
Bai Shengyi mused, "The temperature here is a bit strange."
Their location was bordered by muddy ground and swamps on the left, wet everywhere, while the right was dry, granular sand and desert. In the distance on the right, atop the mountains, snow perpetually capped the peaks.
"It's snowing."
Snowflakes suddenly began to fall from the sky, and in no time, the entire desert turned silver-white.
The vast expanse of white made vision somewhat blurry.
"Ximen Hongchun?"
Bai Shengyi turned around, only to find Ximen Hongchun, who had been beside her moments ago, gone. Her calls echoed through the heavens and earth.
"Tsk, this secret realm is truly bizarre," Bai Shengyi frowned slightly. In just three days since entering, she had witnessed four different seasonal landscapes, yet she still hadn't grasped the core of this secret realm.
According to Elder Wen, this secret realm had different time flows. Bai Shengyi speculated that the Divine Revelation Academy intended to use this time difference to give everyone ample time to cultivate. But how could they cultivate peacefully in such a dangerous secret realm?
And if it were merely a trial of survival within the secret realm, how would it differ from perilous places like the Eastern Yue Jungle or the Boundless Cloud Sea?
In any case, for the academy to specifically bring them to this secret realm, it must possess something extraordinary.
"Crunch..."
A faint sound suddenly arose from all around. Bai Shengyi narrowed her eyes and scanned the surroundings, but saw only a vast expanse of white. She couldn't help but close her eyes.
But at that moment, a blur of motion flashed before her eyes.
Bai Shengyi dared not assume she was hallucinating and quickly retreated.
"Bang!"
Just as Bai Shengyi pushed herself away, a beast limb resembling a scythe tore through the air and smashed fiercely onto the ground, splashing a large amount of snow.
"Roar! Human, are you also here for my clan's spiritual mansion?"
A spirit creature with a human head and a beast body glared fiercely at Bai Shengyi. Its beastly body resembled a mantis, with powerful hind legs and forelimbs that were as sharp as blades, growing from its abdomen. It seemed ready to end Bai Shengyi with a single strike if she dared to utter a "yes."
Spiritual mansion?
Bai Shengyi seized upon this keyword. Seeing that the creature possessed intelligence, she paused and said, "I'm sorry, I stumbled into this place by accident. May I ask how I can leave?"
The mantis demon visibly froze. It had intelligence, but not a high IQ, and this was the first time it had encountered someone not seeking the spiritual mansion.
As he was about to answer Bai Shengyi, a loud voice reached his ears.
"She's lying to you! She's my companion!"
Then, as if to prove his words, that voice spoke to Bai Shengyi with great intimacy and familiarity, "Fairy Shengyi, I've finally found you! For the sake of our former companionship, please, save me!"
From not far away, another mantis demon, carrying a fishing-net-like bag, swiftly glided over.
The mantis demon was agile, moving silently and as if on solid ground even in the snow. If not for the voice, Bai Shengyi would never have noticed its approach.
Bai Shengyi's gaze fell upon the mantis demon's fishing net bag. Inside, to her surprise, was Bai Yiyi, whom they had parted ways with not long ago!
Speechless!
Was Bai Yiyi a lingering spirit?