Jian Lin was anxious and angry, speaking incoherently, "I don't know, after I fainted, I woke up here. I didn't choose to seal my sea of consciousness, I don't know what happened."
"Calm down, Jian Musheng, look into my eyes," the Demon Lord held her shoulders, his voice steady and reliable, "Everything has a precursor. Something must have happened. Think about it and tell me, I'll help you figure it out."
Seeing his firm and reliable gaze, Jian Lin pouted, almost crying. It was always like this; no matter what happened, he would help her without hesitation.
"There was one strange thing," Jian Lin calmed down, organizing her thoughts, "When I broke through to the Golden Core, I didn't have the feeling of enlightenment at all. My mind was full of you. I didn't want you to leave me, but you left, and my heart ached terribly. I wanted to find you, and that feeling sustained me, so I survived."
The Demon Lord was stunned, not understanding why Jian Lin would think of him at such a crucial moment in her life, especially since he had never intended to leave.
"There's also a small strange thing, I don't know if it counts," Jian Lin frowned, thinking seriously, and voiced that elusive feeling, "The one time you changed from black clothes to white robes, when you carried me on your back, I always felt like I had experienced that feeling before."
The Demon Lord was even more confused. He asked doubtfully, "So we attribute all of this to you not wanting to leave me. Then why did you seal your sea of consciousness? You could see my face as soon as you woke up."
Jian Lin was enlightened. She murmured, "In that case, someone prevented me from seeing you."
"Who?" the Demon Lord pressed. "I've been in this barrier for almost three days and haven't found anyone else. Your Golden Core breakthrough was an accident, and even Bai Xian was captured by the Man-eating Flower King. No one could have placed a curse on you."
Jian Lin's attention was diverted. "Bai Xian was captured?"
No wonder she hadn't seen that third wheel.
"This is not important," the Demon Lord said indifferently, "Let's solve your problem first."
Jian Lin sighed. She couldn't figure it out herself, and after explaining it, it seemed even more absurd. The Demon Lord was right in front of her, he was worried about her, he cared about her, and there was no indication he wanted to leave.
Thinking of this, Jian Lin felt even more heartache. She urged the Demon Lord, "Since you don't have any good ideas, why don't you go back first? I'm worried you'll be in danger."
The Demon Lord hesitated for a moment, realizing it was true. He gently comforted her, "Alright, I'll go back first. Don't worry, take your time to find a solution. With me outside, you don't have to worry about anything."
Jian Lin nodded and watched the Demon Lord disappear from her sea of consciousness. Everything returned to silence.
After a long time, she remained in the same仰望 posture. The system slowly appeared, displaying its main interface on the sky screen.
Listening to the system's movements, Jian Lin suddenly had an epiphany. In this sea of consciousness, besides herself, there was only the system. According to the Demon Lord, no one would be confined within their own sea of consciousness. Then it could only be...
"A'zha!" Jian Lin shouted, gritting her teeth. "I know! Is it that your system has a bug and trapped the host in her own sea of consciousness? Do you have any antivirus software, or should you try restarting? If that doesn't work, go consult your host."
The system seemed to freeze and then replied after a while, "Host, I cannot restart the system. If I restart, you will return to the beginning of this book. Can you truly accept that?"
Jian Lin was stunned. She had almost forgotten about that. She couldn't bear to leave the Demon Lord. "Then don't restart. Try the other two options."
"Okay, please wait, Host." The system agreed.
Jian Lin breathed a sigh of relief, then became nervous again, anxiously waiting for the system's reply.
After a long time, the system reappeared and said in a low, submissive voice, "Host, it's confirmed. There are no problems."
Disappointed again, Jian Lin could no longer get angry. She collapsed onto the beach, her body limp, her eyes vacant, and closed her eyes to feign death.
In a daze, she seemed to fall asleep. While sleeping, she was still thinking. Sleeping in the sea of consciousness, did that mean being in a loop? Sleeping within sleep.
The sound of waves, the beach, and the flashing system gradually disappeared. Jian Lin stepped into darkness. Suddenly, a blurry figure flashed. She extended her finger, laboriously touched Jian Lin's forehead, and then quickly dissipated.
"Jian Lin, it's not time for you to remember him yet. Forget it." The blurry figure sighed, like a mournful poem.
Suddenly, Jian Lin gasped and sat up abruptly. Her forehead throbbed with pain, and she heard a man's muffled groan.
"Ah!" Jian Lin covered her forehead, raised her eyes, and met the Demon Lord's gaze. She said incredulously, "Are you... real, or an illusion?"
The Demon Lord held his chin, a mixture of tears and laughter on his face. "I'm real. You're awake. How did you break through the sea of consciousness?"
Jian Lin was filled with disbelief. Yes, how had she gotten out?
"Pinch me," Jian Lin said, swallowing. "Let me confirm you're not a dream."
The Demon Lord chuckled softly, then suddenly lowered his head and kissed Jian Lin's lips, biting her lip hard.
"Ouch, it hurts! I know, I'm really out. Let go of me," Jian Lin pushed the Demon Lord away, feeling shy yet excited. "That's great, I didn't die in my own sea of consciousness, and I can still see you."
The Demon Lord cupped Jian Lin's cheek, their eyes meeting, sparks flying, and they became inseparable once more.
By the time they emerged from the tree hollow, the sun was shining brightly. Jian Lin had been unconscious for a whole night and morning.
"That's good, not too much time was wasted," Jian Lin straightened up and took a deep breath, feeling completely different, full of infinite energy. "Let's go save Bai Xian."
The Demon Lord slowly emerged and walked behind her, saying lazily, "Mm, let's go."
Jian Lin turned back, glancing at him with a probing look. "By the way, Lord Chongyuan, why didn't you save Bai Xian?"
"He's a living dead person, the Man-eating Flower King can't do anything to him," the Demon Lord said matter-of-factly. "As for why I didn't save him, it's because saving him would mean killing the Man-eating Flower King, which would trigger the barrier. We can only go to another place in the secret realm."
Jian Lin didn't understand. "So what if we go? What if we meet? Speaking of which, why didn't you come looking for me?"
"There are countless barriers in this secret realm. If you look for me and I look for you, there's a high chance we'll miss each other. Only when one looks for the other and waits is the best method," the Demon Lord snorted, mocking her lack of understanding. "I knew you wouldn't be able to wait and would come looking for me, so I waited for you."
So that was it. The Demon Lord truly understood her.
Jian Lin nudged his shoulder with relief, and they walked down the slope together, quietly entering the man-eating flower jungle.
Outside, the sun was scorching. Inside the jungle, it was densely shaded, with steaming humidity.
As Jian Lin walked, she suddenly noticed a large patch of man-eating flowers had fallen. She asked softly, "Was this caused by some powerful natural enemy?"
The Demon Lord glanced at her and hesitantly asked in a low voice, "You... don't remember anything at all?"
That patch of man-eating flowers had been destroyed by the spiritual energy wave from Jian Lin's Golden Core breakthrough.
Jian Lin's eyes widened in surprise when she heard this. So she was that powerful.
However, she wasn't surprised about forgetting things. She always felt it was a system bug; she had forgotten so many things.
She didn't even know how she got out of her sea of consciousness, so why bother dwelling on her state during the Golden Core breakthrough yesterday?
"Wow, I'm really amazing."
Jian Lin leaned closer, wanting to see her achievement. Suddenly, a man-eating flower lying on the ground opened its mouth and bit Jian Lin's arm.
She felt something slippery, making her want to scream in disgust.
The Demon Lord quickly covered her mouth. The man-eating flowers here could hear sounds. With his other hand, he drew a dagger and fiercely stabbed it into the pistil of the man-eating flower.
If the pistil wasn't destroyed, the flower wouldn't die. It had only been a night, and that flower had already regrown its roots and burrowed into the soil.
The man-eating flower gurgled twice, opening its petals. At the same time, Jian Lin saw undigested items in the sticky fluid.
She truly threw up.
After washing her hands several times, Jian Lin calmed down. She said worriedly, "Is the Man-eating Flower King even more powerful? Won't Bai Xian be soaked in sticky fluid all day?"
A living dead person wouldn't rot, but it would be disgusting enough. Jian Lin didn't want that third wheel anymore.
"No, the Man-eating Flower King is different from the man-eating flowers," the Demon Lord said, leading her forward. "You'll understand when you see it yourself."
The further they went, the denser the man-eating flowers became. Originally, they could walk side-by-side, but later they had to walk sideways until they saw a deep green sphere formed by a huge vine. The Demon Lord told her they had arrived; that was the Man-eating Flower King.
Jian Lin was stunned. The sphere was huge and solid, like a cage. Man-eating flowers bloomed arrogantly all around, like a mutated plant that gave one goosebumps.
Jian Lin looked around for a while, guessing, "Bai Xian isn't inside, is he?"
"He is."
"Then if we want to save him, we have to go in?"
"Yes."
Jian Lin froze. After the previous experience, she really didn't want to touch any more man-eating flowers.
The Demon Lord seemed to guess her thoughts and tempted her, "Inside, there's not only Bai Xian, but also top-grade immortal herbs and the mechanism to leave the barrier."
She wavered.
The Demon Lord continued, "If we don't go inside, we might as well crush the token and leave the secret realm. After all, waiting for fifteen days to expire isn't very meaningful."
Jian Lin was persuaded.
She stood up and walked forward, saying softly, "Alright, let's make it quick."
"Wait, take this torch," the Demon Lord grabbed her and took out a fire starter from his Qiankun bag. "Man-eating flowers are afraid of fire."
Jian Lin's face lit up with a surprised smile. That was great; it turned out these man-eating flowers had something to fear.
Holding the torch, the man-eating flowers automatically retreated, clearing a path. They cautiously moved forward and entered the sphere.
Inside the sphere, various man-eating flowers were tightly woven together. The air was stuffy, mixed with a strange sweet fragrance.
Jian Lin dared not think about what that smell was. Holding her breath, she walked forward. Suddenly, the space ahead opened up, and they reached the innermost part of the Man-eating Flower King.
The torch crackled and burned. A voice came from the darkest area, "You've finally come to save me."