Chapter 72
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Chapter 72: Black Fog
Ye Yun stared at the dim space, his brows tightly knit. If Su Ling’s words were true, this was still the first layer. Yet he’d nearly died breaking through the flaming hall, only to remain trapped here? Had the Golden Pill master gone to absurd lengths, weaving such intricate layers into the first level alone? Was this truly necessary?
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?” Su Ling tapped his arm as she noticed his daze. “What’s your name again? I forgot.”
Ye Yun snapped back to reality, forcing a bitter smile. “Just call me Ye Yun, Su Ling.”
“You skipped ‘Junior Sister’ again! No respect for seniority. Next time, I won’t be this lenient!” Her scolding lacked bite. She pouted, glancing around with feigned innocence, her starry eyes narrowing.
“Junior Sister Su Ling, have you found anything since arriving?” Ye Yun wandered the chamber, scanning the barren walls. If she’d been here unharmed, perhaps this area lacked deadly traps.
Did the first layer not have array restrictions everywhere? How else to explain this empty space?
The stone chamber stretched ten times larger than his previous one, utterly empty—no objects, no adornments, just cold, smooth stone walls.
“Did anything happen when you entered? Any restrictions triggered?” Ye Yun finished circling the room, finding no exits.
“Nothing. It’s been like this the whole time.” Su Ling shook her head. “I checked everywhere. No mechanisms, no restrictions. No way out.”
“Impossible.” Ye Yun’s frown deepened.
“Wait!” Su Ling blinked, tilting her head upward. “It’s too high. I only glanced—didn’t check properly.”
Ye Yun followed her gaze. A gentle black fog rippled near the ceiling, obscuring the top.
“Then that’s our only path.”
Squinting, Ye Yun studied the fog. Flickers of white light pierced through intermittently, eerie and unnatural. Though danger loomed, staying meant certain entrapment. He inhaled sharply. “Stay here. I’ll investigate.”
Su Ling tensed, mouth opening to argue.
Her reaction stirred something odd in him. “I owe you my life. If I perish, consider the debt repaid.”
Without waiting, he leapt upward.
“Ye Yun!”
Her cry echoed as he plunged into the fog.
“What sorcery is this?!”
The moment her voice reached him, the mist coiled around him. No physical assault came, but his mind fractured. Spiritual power raged uncontrolled within him. His body plummeted like deadwood.
Near the ground, clarity struck. He twisted mid-air, landing deftly.
“What happened?!” Su Ling gaped, pale.
Ye Yun raised a hand, silent, eyes locked on the swirling fog above. The black mist muddled the mind, yet before the chaos, he’d glimpsed it—the white light, warped but unmistakable. An exit.
Pinpointing its source through the disorienting haze seemed impossible, yet it dwarfed the lethal flames they’d faced. At least here, survival was possible.
“The exit’s above,” he said grimly. “But first, we must endure the fog’s mental assault. It’s the key.”
Su Ling pouted in frustration. “If only there was a treasure that could refine one’s mental state!”
A mind-refining treasure?
Ye Yun froze momentarily before his eyes lit up with realization. He whipped out a jade pill bottle and swallowed a drop of spiritual liquid.
A surge of spiritual power and cooling energy flooded his body, followed instantly by sharp pain. Without explanation, he leaped upward toward the stone chamber’s ceiling.
The black fog enveloped him again, seeping into his body to cloud his mind. But as the cooling energy within him stirred, all fear vanished completely.
With spiritual power roaring and his mind crystal clear, no negativity remained. Ye Yun’s thoughts sharpened as never before—his vision pierced through the fog, revealing the chamber’s ceiling.
Contrary to his expectation, there was no exit. Instead, a flickering pearl the size of a baby’s fist glowed softly, embedded in the ceiling.
Ye Yun stretched toward the pearl but abruptly halted mid-reach. His gaze flickered before he withdrew his hand and dropped back down.
“Well?!” Su Ling pressed as he landed.
Feigning difficulty, Ye Yun frowned. “The black fog disrupts mental focus. It’s uncontrollable.”
Su Ling’s face fell. “Then we’re trapped? If my father discovers I sneaked out before we break these restrictions, I’ll be doomed!”
Studying the girl two years his junior, Ye Yun asked, “Who is your father? Why sneak out?”
“It’s Senior Sister Su Ling!” She stomped her foot, still fixated on titles. Avoiding his question, she complained, “Father forbade me from the sect trials. Endless mountain training is suffocating!”
“Which Tian Zhu Peak elder is he?” Ye Yun pressed, suspecting the pearl was the restriction’s key. He recalled how Su Ling and her sister had swayed Qin Qianhan—proof of her high status.
“Tian Zhu Peak? I’m not from there.” She lowered her voice. “I hid in Uncle Ouyang’s team from Shadowless Peak. Luckily, he didn’t spot me.”
Uncle Ouyang—could that be Peak Master Ouyang who’d opened the Hualun Secret Vault? If he ranked among Heavenly Sword Sect’s four peak masters, Su Ling’s father must rival even Ouyang Wentian.
Ye Yun’s eyes widened. This mischievous girl had sneaked into such danger despite her lofty background?
“Ye Yun! Any ideas yet?” Su Ling snapped impatiently.
He shook his head.
“Liar!” She narrowed her eyes. “I recognized Elder Seven’s mind-soothing elixir you drank earlier.”
“You know Elder Seven?!”
“Since childhood.” She lifted her chin proudly.
Now certain her father equaled Shadowless Peak’s master, Ye Yun steadied himself. “I’ll attempt again.”
Carefully swallowing another drop, he shot upward.
The black fog now parted harmlessly. The faintly glowing pearl came into sharp focus.
Ye Yun snatched it decisively. With a hiss, all fog funneled into a ceiling vent, vanishing completely.
