Everyone was stunned, especially Zhao Yucheng, who dilated his pupils with such a shocked look for the first time. Upon seeing the firmness in Lyu Liang’s eyes, he cried subconsciously, “That’s impossible! How could you see through my disguise? How did you find out about all this?”
Lyu Liang, who snorted coldly, ignored his doubts and asked the question he was concerned about the most, “Where’s the real Zhao Yucheng? I will spare you if you tell the truth!”
“Hahaha, you thought I would yield? I never expected to stay alive since I came here!” Zhao Yucheng’s eyes, which had been dull, suddenly reflected a terrible light.
However, his aura weakened quickly, and his eyes closed gradually. His figure became vague again and turned into that of the robust man who should have been dead.
At the same time, a horrific destructive aura came from below.
“Watch out! The Time-Space Formation!” Zheng Xuan blurted, reminding the others of the green-robed man below.
The green-robed man, who had been motionless, rushed over at Lyu Liang speedily with the same determination and brutality that was in the robust man’s eyes.
All of them were aware of the man’s intention. However, it was too late for them to escape. While gritting his teeth, Lyu Liang held Liu Jiawen—who was the closest to him— tightly in his arms, and defended her against the man’s self-explosion by using his back.
Lyu Liang knew that all of this was targeted at him. If someone had to withstand such a destructive, suicidal attack, it had to be him!
A violent boom was heard before a soaring swirl appeared suddenly and enveloped Lyu Liang. Around the swirl, several space cracks in different sizes flashed out.
The entire explosion lasted for half an hour before it quieted down. The mountainous area within three hundred meters was razed to the ground. Meanwhile, a giant golden paper crane and an enormous single-horned demon were standing face to face.
Gradually, the paper crane dissipated, revealing the figures of Liu Jiahao and Yang Ying. On the other side, the demon wafted away like sand, showing Feng Xiu’s figure.
A light spot appeared and turned into a white line gradually. Then, a crack was pulled open along the line where Zheng Xuan jumped out.
Their four complexions and auras were awful. Although they tried to defend themselves, they were still injured by the aftermath of the self-explosion.
“Sister! Lyu Liang! Zhu Yan! Where are you?!” Liu Jiahao’s voice resounded through the skies, only to get no response. There was an eerie silence all around.
…
“Am… Am I still alive…” Lyu Liang regained his consciousness gradually as a tearing agony swept over him. He tried to open his eyes and realized that he was in a towering cave. It seemed like he was lying on the ground.
He was in so much anguish that he could feel nothing else. It seemed that he couldn’t control his body effectively. He tried to probe with his divine sense, only to discover that it was also blocked here.
After 30 more minutes, the pain was relieved and he also regained some sensation in his body. Then, he raised his head a bit. Unfortunately, what he saw almost made him faint again.
The lower part of his body was incomplete, and his arms were broken. It was no wonder that he couldn’t control his body at all! How could one move without limbs?
Lyu Liang soon sighed in relief when he realized that his body was recovering with new flesh and blood. The Devil Immortal Qi inside was out of his control, so it flowed everywhere in his body, making him feel limp and itchy, yet somehow comfortable.
Lyu Liang just relaxed and waited quietly for his recovery. During this period, he was disappointed to discover that both the divine beasts and the blood dragons had disappeared from his cave residence, which was not a good sign.
Although he didn’t need to count on them, more assistance would be better in this weird place. White, in particular, knew almost everything. However, White was not here with him now, which made him feel strange somehow.
“Didn’t senior White say that it takes only 30 minutes to recover with a Tianxuan Holy Rattan? Five hours have passed already. How can I recover thoroughly…” After a moment, Lyu Liang’s body became complete again. However, his Devil Immortal Qi had been reduced by nearly 50 percent.
He pulled an ultimate-grade Primordial Stone out without hesitation. It took 30 more minutes for him to regaine his full strength and finally feel slightly relieved.
The cave was enormous, and Lyu Liang was precisely at its center. There were four holes in four directions that seemed to be the only possible ways out. Lyu Liang was disappointed to find out that he couldn’t fly here…
However, what distressed him the most was his cultivation, which was stuck at the Peak of Void Return and didn’t improve a bit, even when he put on the Spirit Armor or stimulated the Ghost Devil Head. That was the biggest problem!
Who knew whether there was any creature? What if it was the one pouncing on him directly? With such insignificant cultivation, he didn’t even know whether he was good enough to become the creature’s meal!
Lyu Liang was hesitant about deciding which hole to enter. However, when he reached the one in the East, he heard someone fighting and crying.
Lyu Liang was wild with joy as he recognized Liu Jiawen’s voice and rushed to the East directly.
Then, he realized that he couldn’t even stimulate the Kun Peng Skill and the Devil Thunder Wing. He had been numb about it, so he wouldn’t be surprised if he couldn’t use the Field Domain.
As he ran to the hole, the sounds became clearer. It seemed that something was striking against the wall.
When he approached the hole, Liu Jiawen’s determined voice was heard saying, as if she was encouraging herself, “He has become disabled because of me! I’m a member of the Liu family! I must open a tunnel and save him! Then, I will take him home and feed him for his entire life! Yes, I will do that! I will beat down these weird bast*rds!” Finally, a scream was heard and something banged against the wall…
Lyu Liang was touched as he ran—although this girl always called him an idiot, she was loyal to him at the most critical moment. Thus, she was indeed a lifelong friend!
When he reached the hole, he found Liu Jiawen, who was struggling up from the ground. There was blood on the corners her mouth, yet she just wiped it roughly and rushed at the two paper men in front of her.
Her cultivation, not surprisingly, was also constrained at the Peak of Void Return. Although there was still a golden cover on her, she could only hack at them with a sword. Lyu Liang understood immediately that only such a primitive way of fighting was possible here.
One of the two paper men was white, and the other was yellow. Neither of them gave a hint of its cultivation. Although a single paper man couldn’t rival Liu Jiawen, the two of them cooperated perfectly during the fight.
When Liu Jiawen hacked at the white paper man, the yellow one floated toward her left at once and swept at her suddenly.
Liu Jiawen, who wasn’t prepared for that, was thrown through the air again. However, she didn’t fall onto the ground this time, because Lyu Liang had rushed and caught her in his arms.
“Eh? Ah! Are you a human or a ghost? You should have…” When she turned around, Liu Jiawen was stunned. Her mouth was hanging open so wide that one could ram an egg in.
With a laugh, Lyu Liang pulled her toward his back and whispered to her, “Thanks for your kindness, Fairy Jiawen! However, I think I can feed myself, so just let me deal with these two!”
Lyu Liang put on the Spirit Armor as usual. Even though it couldn’t improve his cultivation, it could serve as a form of defense. He rushed forward with the Kunwu Sword in his hand. The sword was shining with a vague blood-red glow, which made him feel much more confident.
The two paper men seemed to have quite a high spiritual intelligence and know the power of the sword. Very soon, their attacks turned into defense.
After a moment of astonishment, Liu Jiawen realized that Lyu Liang indeed had some mysterious method to make himself recover completely. Wild with joy, she rushed forward with her sword immediately.
Lyu Liang’s practical experience in melee battle was far richer than Liu Jiawen’s. Although he was troublesome enough for the two paper men, with Liu Jiawen’s strong help, it took him only half an hour to hack them off. Then, with a flicker, the two paper men turned into ashes and flew away in the air.
Before Lyu Liang and Liu Jiawen could take a break, two white paper men and two yellow paper men appeared…
“Hurry up! Go back to the stone hall! They won’t dare approach there!” Liu Jiawen took Lyu Liang’s hand and began running back at once.
Frowning, Lyu Liang also gave up fighting with them and followed her to the stone hall. As they reached the hall, the paper men vanished completely. They were supposed to be an existence like a triggered restriction formation.
“Didn’t you break your limbs? Why did you appear without any wounds?” When Liu Jiawen’s safety was guarenteed, she scanned Lyu Liang’s body curiously.
Lyu Liang, who had trusted a fair-weather friend like Liu Jiawen unconditionally, took out a small piece of Tianxuan Holy Rattan without hesitation and handed it to her. Then, he said with a smile, “This saved my life. Come on, swallow it. It will give you a passive skill of self-protection!”
“What, what do you mean? It’s, it’s for me? Are you mad? You should give this rare treasure to someone else! Do, do you know what, what it means?” Liu Jiawen looked panicked for the first time, which stunned Lyu Liang.
“Of course it’s for you. Having an additional life-saving skill wouldn’t be superfluous in such a dangerous situation. If you’re willing to feed me, why can’t I give this to you? Besides, no matter how valuable this stuff is, it’s meant to be used! Don’t make a fuss. Just take it and swallow it! Then, we can keep looking for a way out of here!” Lyu Liang rammed the Tianxuan Holy Rattan directly into Liu Jiawen’s wide-open mouth.
Liu Jiawen covered her mouth subconsciously and tried to spit it out. However, after a moment of hesitation, she swallowed it with a mixed expression. Then, she stared at Lyu Liang as if he was a criminal and asked, “Tell me the truth! Did my brother tell you something?”
Lyu Liang, who was amused, clapped Liu Jiawen’s head and said with a smile, “What are you talking about? What does that have to do with your brother? I don’t have another one for him. Anyway, your family won’t lack such stuff. If it had not been here, I would have hesitated about sharing it with you!”
Upon hearing his words, Liu Jiawen sighed in relief and muttered while pointing her finger at him, “Alright! You gave it to me because you knew nothing about it! Even if you discover something about it someday, you must not mention what happened today!”
Then, she became as lively and positive as usual. While looking around, she said in resignation, “When you were in the coma, I searched for all the four holes. Every time I went in, those paper men appeared. It was really annoying! Alas, if brother Zhu Yu had been here, he would have found a way out.”
“You like Zhu Yu?” he asked Liu Jiawen, who was in a daze. It was another silly question.
Upon hearing his words, Liu Jiawen raised her voice suddenly like a cat whose tail had been trodden. “What, what are you talking about? My brother and I consider Zhu Yu our elder brother. Plus, he is engaged to sister Xuan! You can’t talk nonsense! My Taoist companion must be a brave, upright hero! Although brother Zhu Yu is like that, we are too familiar with each other, so there’s no possibility of such a thing happening between us!”
Lyu Liang, who had never expected that his careless words would make Liu Jiawen so nervous, apologized to her immediately.
When he clutched his hands before Liu Jiawen, whose lips were pouted, Zhu Yan’s playful voice was heard. “Yo! You two must be in the mood for sporting in such a place. What’s the saying I’m looking for? Oh yes, a friend in need is a friend indeed!”
