The flower path seems to be long, but it’s actually not. With Li Xi’er talking continuously, no one feels “bored” along the way.
Lin Luoran casts the spell Wen Guanjing taught her and drops some blood on the sack and marks it with her spirit. Though there is no time for her to refine the sack, nobody in the similar level with her will be able to open it.
She is fairly disappointed after opening the sack. The famous “Universal Sack” only has a one-cubic meter space in it, which is mostly occupied by compressed food. A jade slip is sitting in the corner.
The sack, just like the bead, is also controlled by spirit. The moment Lin Luoran thinks about taking out the jade slip, it appears in her palm.
Ten light spots are shining on it, and they are very close with each other. Lin Luoran looks at Wen Guanjing who says,
“Sister Lin, this is the jade slip that connects us. We can find each other as long as we are in certain range… It also shows some places where the ancestors have found treasures. Those treasures may be plants which used to be too small to be pulled up or they didn’t have the time to do it. We can check on them one by one this time.”
Seeing that Lin Luoran is listening carefully, Wen adds, “This month is the dormancy period of monsters. Still, we should not go too close to the central area. It is dangerous, and we may not have enough time to return from there.”
Lin Luoran nods. Time passes fast when they are talking. When Lin Luoran looks up again, they have arrived at a golden gate.
She puts away the jade slip. The gate is made up of several tall pillars and a stone plaque with some tadpole-like characters written on it. Lin Luoran has no clue what the characters mean. Except cultivators from the State of Huaxia, no one else is around. The others have already been in the land.
Between the pillars, there is a light curtain which prevents them from seeing behind the gate.
“Let’s go!” Before Wen Guanjing asks everybody to hold hands, Li Xi’er, who is in high spirit, drags Lin Luoran through the light curtain.
Wen Guanjing fails to pull them back. He turns around and asks the others with a sullen face, “Did I tell you that we will land in different places if we go through the curtain separately?”
They look at each other and shake their heads…
*****************************
Lin Luoran wasn’t able to react before Li Xi’er dragged her through the light curtain. The second she steps inside, Lin Luoran feels that she is falling down… Wind spikes her hair. Instinctively, Lin Luoran grabs Li Xi’er and tries to open her eyes. Then she realizes that both of them are falling!
It is a misty, dark and bottomless valley!
Li Xi’er also realizes that they are falling. She screams, “Sister, help! Ah!”
Li’s new elder sister Lin Luoran is tightly grabbed by her and has no spare hand to save her…
Lin Luoran knows that she must stay calm, or they will die in a few seconds. The treasures in the secret land are not important for now. They will turn into pastes if they fall to the ground like this.
However, the valley is almost bottomless, and there is no foothold on the cliff. Lin Luoran wants to cast a spell, but Li Xi’er is grabbing her hands. Also, which spell can save them from falling down?
Fire Ball spell…is useless. Make a water bed? There is no water near. Earth spells are useless too because they are in mid-air. Metal spells are normally used to attack, and the wood spells… There is not even a grass on the cliff!
While they fall deeper into the valley, Li Xi’er’s screams turn into tears. Lin Luoran is trying her best to keep her eyes open against the strong wind, hoping to find a chance of survival — in fact, she may as well hide into the bead. However, Lin Luoran won’t do this until the last second, because her conscience will prevent her from leaving Li Xi’er, who always calls her “Sister Lin”, behind.
This girl with big eyes who wears ancient costumes has just started her cultivation and her life… While falling down, Lin Luoran finally sees a prominent terrace on the cliff 100 meters away, and vines grow near it!
There is no need to think. Lin Luoran uses her left hand to make the gestures, and green light quickly gathers on her fingertips — “Bound! Go!”
The green light merges into the root of the vines. The vines react rapidly and crawl to them when they pass by the cliff — oh, no! The vines are too thin to hold two persons. Immediately, Lin Luoran makes a prompt decision and throws Li Xi’er to the vines. Under the Bound Spell, the vines entangle all over Li Xi’er instantly. Lin Luoran gives Li a little push and helps her land on the terrace!
As for herself, Lin Luoran is falling down faster after all these moves. She disappears into the misty valley…
Li Xi’er is tied up by the vines like a rice dumpling, and she hits on the cliff so hard that she dazzles for a while. Then Li comes to herself and realizes that she is the only one on the terrace, and Lin Luoran is nowhere to be found.
“Sister Lin…” Li Xi’er weeps. Her baby-fat face is like a red peach. With the vines crawling all over her body, she looks exactly like a red rice dumpling with peach stuffing.
After weeping for a while, Li Xi’er realizes that she should first get rid of the vines. However, she has never learnt any kung fu, and her physical strength is less than kung fu masters. Actually, she is just a weak little girl without the spells and magic weapons.
Now, cry-baby Li Xi’er finally remembers that she still has the Universal Sack. She casts a spell. The Universal Sack glows and a white ball of thread appears in her palm.
The white ball of thread is a little bell entangled with something like fish wire. This magic weapon can help her get rid of the vines?
Li Xi’er bites her lips and barely moves her fingers. The fish wire flexibly goes through the little intervals between her body and the vines. She puts her fingers together and the fish wire tightens and rips the vines off her. Li Xi’er scrabbles and gets out from the bound.
She kisses the fish wire in her palm. She wants to smile, but starts to cry because of the fact that Lin Luoran has fallen down into the deep valley in order to save her, “It is all my fault. If I remembered that I had the Jingle Bell, Sister Lin wouldn’t have fallen down…”
Jingle Bell may be the name of this ball of fish wire. Li Xi’er carefully moves a bit towards the edge. A few pebbles roll down to the valley while she walks. Li Xi’er waits, but no sound of pebbles hitting the ground comes, which indicates that the terrace she is staying is very far away from the bottom of the valley… Will Sister Lin be ok?
In the view of Li Xi’er, Wen Guanjing is a strong cultivator, so Lin Luoran, who is Wen’s “elder sister”, must be more powerful.
But this is such a deep valley. Looking down from here, Li Xi’er can only see the mist and the cloud. She has no idea whether Lin Luoran is still alive… Li is all alone now. She doesn’t know how to reach for help, so she curls up in the corner, crying badly.
Brother Wen always says that I am too reckless. Why can’t I correct myself. I am the one to be blamed. Sister Lin, where are you…
