Pang Qing scrambled to his feet, a look of grievance on his face as he spoke from a distance, "Xiao Xian, I admit I was scared at the time, but I didn't run far before I came to my senses and realized I was wrong. I feel I shouldn't have fled so quickly; I should have come back to confirm if you were dead or not."
"Even if you were dead, I would have avenged you. Even if it meant being shattered into pieces, I would have avenged you."
Mo Qi's forehead was covered in black lines!
"There's no need for revenge now. You can go. I don't want to see you," Linghu Xiao Xian said, her chest heaving, though her tone was remarkably calm.
Pang Qing, however, remained unyielding, "Xiao Xian, I know I was wrong. Please give me another chance."
Linghu Xiao Xian remained silent.
Pang Qing continued, "Our decade-long bond, are we to part ways over such a small matter? No one is perfect. I am a bit timid, but that doesn't negate my feelings for you!" Da Feng Xiao Shuo Wang
Linghu Xiao Xian let out a cold laugh, "Timidity is understandable, but the indifference you showed the moment you left cannot be simply explained away by timidity. Facing my supposed death, you didn't even shed a single tear."
Pang Qing attempted to argue further, "This, I can actually explain. Since childhood, my parents told me to be strong in the face of any hardship. A true man sheds blood, not tears..."
Linghu Xiao Xian had no patience to listen to him further and glided forward.
Pang Qing chased after her, "Xiao Xian, wait for me."
Mo Qi shook his head, "For someone like this, is it better to be dead or alive?"
Xiao Bai chuckled, "It's better if he's dead, because relying on him won't help against Gui Zu."
"What?" Mo Qi sounded surprised. "You seem to know a lot about Gui Zu?"
Xiao Bai replied nonchalantly, "I've only heard about him. But I'm from the sea, so naturally, I've heard more legends about him than you. Gui Zu is a demon god from ancient times. How could a mere nobody like him possibly deal with him?"
Xiao Bai's words were in stark contrast to her voice, tone, and facial expression.
There was a sense of contrasting charm.
Mo Qi felt like laughing.
As they spoke, the two of them quickened their pace in pursuit.
Linghu Xiao Xian hadn't gone far. She didn't want to see Pang Qing, but she felt it was better to travel with Mo Qi.
She hadn't traversed this exit from the forbidden area before and didn't know what dangers lay ahead. She had only heard that most people couldn't get out.
Seeing Linghu Xiao Xian slow down as she walked, Pang Qing thought she had a change of heart and was overjoyed.
He smiled, remaining silent.
He believed that silence was more eloquent than words at this moment!
Mo Qi and Xiao Bai soon caught up. Mist began to gather ahead. At some point, the narrow passage suddenly opened up, the surrounding stone walls vanished, and it seemed they had left the prison-like forbidden area.
But all of them knew they hadn't escaped yet.
Because that chilling atmosphere and the scent of blood had always lingered in everyone's hearts, never dissipating.
Even though the surrounding environment had changed, the fear in everyone's hearts had not.
In fact, their fear was deepening.
Led by Linghu Xiao Xian, they walked aimlessly, feeling increasingly weary.
Yet, the path seemed to have no end.
Mo Qi suddenly stopped and said, "Let's stop walking. We won't get out by blindly rushing forward."
Linghu Xiao Xian also stopped, a look of anxiety on her face, "Do you have any brilliant ideas then?"
Mo Qi shook his head, "No."
Linghu Xiao Xian shot him a glance and then looked away.
Xiao Bai looked around, deep in thought.
Pang Qing thought to himself, this is precisely the time for me to shine. He then smiled and said, "We've probably entered some kind of formation. If we're not familiar with formations, we won't be able to get out."
Xiao Bai cast him a sideways glance, "Seeing you smile so happily, you must have a way out? And you're confident about it?"
Pang Qing straightened his back and declared loudly, "I wouldn't dare say I'm confident, but I have about seventy to eighty percent certainty."
As he spoke, Pang Qing took out a small yellow flag. Before anyone could ask, Pang Qing proactively explained, "This is called the Zao Huang Qi, specifically for breaking all sorts of formations. If I raise it into the air, it will lead us in the direction of the exit."
It sounded quite plausible!
The three of them, in unison, chose to trust him!
So, Pang Qing raised the Zao Huang Qi into the air, and it flew in one direction against the wind.
The others also glided forward, following at high speed!
Pang Qing looked at the three trailing behind him. He felt extremely pleased.
Yes, this is my true demeanor.
Everyone will follow my lead, and it will be correct.
The Zao Huang Qi turned left and right, darting through the air with increasing speed, while the others' pace lagged behind.
Mo Qi glanced at his surroundings and suddenly shouted, "Stop chasing! We won't get out this way."
As he spoke, Mo Qi stopped, and Xiao Bai immediately followed suit.
Linghu Xiao Xian hesitated whether to stop.
But then she heard Pang Qing say, "My Zao Huang Qi will never make a mistake. He's just jealous of me, or rather, he doesn't want to see me shine, so he's deliberately going against me."
Linghu Xiao Xian steeled her resolve and continued to chase.
Xiao Bai clasped her hands in front of her chest, adopting a mature adult posture, and asked Mo Qi leisurely, "Why do you say we won't get out by chasing the flag like this?"
Mo Qi pointed to the side of the path, "That's a small flag I casually stuck there earlier. We've run so far, and it's still there, which means we've been going in circles the entire time."
Xiao Bai followed his gaze and saw a faint blue flag planted by the roadside. If Mo Qi hadn't pointed it out, she wouldn't have noticed it.
"I had a vague feeling that we were going in circles, but I didn't dare to say it out loud," Xiao Bai said with a smile.
"Hindsight!" Mo Qi also chuckled.
"Moreover, I have a vague feeling that we've been under someone's surveillance all along. They've been monitoring our every move," Xiao Bai continued.
This time, Mo Qi didn't smile, "I have that feeling too."
"And the formation we're in seems to have a power that's silently draining our spiritual energy. I feel my spiritual energy is depleting," Xiao Bai added.
Mo Qi nodded, "This is the Dou Zhuan Xing Yi formation. If we move with the formation, we will activate its eye, which absorbs and transfers spiritual energy. At that point, we ourselves will become part of the eye, and our spiritual energy will merge with the entire formation, circulating within it."
"So," Xiao Bai stared at Mo Qi, "as long as we stand still, the formation won't activate, and our spiritual energy won't be drained?"
"Yes," Mo Qi said with a wry smile. "If we stand still, but someone else is moving, the formation will still activate. In that case, we'll also suffer collateral damage. However, if we sustain minor injuries, they will definitely be severely injured."
"Then we must stop them quickly," Xiao Bai said somewhat anxiously.
"Let's wait for them to come back," Mo Qi sighed. "If they come back and still don't believe they're going in circles, then it's hopeless. We'll just have to keep being implicated."
As they were speaking, Pang Qing and Linghu Xiao Xian, led by the Zao Huang Qi, indeed flew back.
When Pang Qing and Linghu Xiao Xian saw Mo Qi and Xiao Bai, they were both shocked.
What, what happened? How did they get ahead of us?
Mo Qi felt that no matter what, he had to stop Linghu Xiao Xian. As for Pang Qing, he could be left to his own devices.
So Mo Qi shouted at Linghu Xiao Xian, "Miss Linghu, please stop! We haven't moved. You are the ones going in circles."
Linghu Xiao Xian immediately stopped and stood by the roadside, panting heavily.
Only after stopping did she feel how weak she was!
Mo Qi added in a timely manner, "Not only are we going in circles, but as we turn, our spiritual energy is continuously draining."
Linghu Xiao Xian completely believed Mo Qi's words, but she still glared at him, "You're not a good person either. Why are you deliberately pretending to be one?"
"How am I pretending to be a good person?" Mo Qi asked with an innocent expression.
Pang Qing also realized something was wrong. They couldn't keep going in circles.
But he had to find a way to save face. So he stopped, retrieved the Zao Huang Qi, and, adopting a righteous stance, looked at Mo Qi, "Did you do this? My Zao Huang Qi's guidance never makes mistakes."
Mo Qi didn't even want to say more. He just glared at him fiercely, which left Pang Qing speechless and daring not to utter another word.
The atmosphere in the group then fell silent.
Xiao Bai had already quietly deployed her divine sense, extending invisible tendrils into the surrounding space.
Mo Qi also quietly unleashed his mental power to sense the environment.
After a moment, Pang Qing said impatiently, "Waiting here like this is not a solution. Waiting is just waiting for death."
Xiao Bai suddenly retracted her divine sense and said to Pang Qing, "If you want to leave, we won't stop you."
Pang Qing paused for a moment and said to Xiao Bai in a teasing tone, "You little brat, what do you know? You should go play house, hahaha."
Xiao Bai retaliated by swinging her palm through the air. A muffled "slap" was heard as it struck Pang Qing's face.
Pang Qing had instinctively moved to dodge, but the attack was too fast. He couldn't evade it at all and was hit squarely.
Pang Qing somersaulted in the air before crashing heavily onto the ground.
His entire face swelled up.
Pang Qing was furious. You've gone too far! It's bad enough that one person bullies me, but after one finishes, another continues. This is utterly unbearable!
I am, after all, a Human Immortal cultivator!
It's ascension!
Ascension, do you consider it a mere decoration?
Pang Qing prepared to get up and unleash his Huoying Flying Sword again. As he formed the hand seals, he suddenly realized that his spiritual energy was scattered and his aura was weak. He couldn't activate any techniques at all.
He quickly analyzed the situation in his mind. This situation arose for two reasons: first, his earlier circling had caused the formation to absorb a significant amount of his spiritual energy; second, Xiao Bai's slap had indeed dissipated a considerable portion of his spiritual energy.