Wall-Breaking Maiden
A sudden change occurred. The originally dead, thin frost seemed to come alive and wriggle, turning into strands of viscous black airflow that surged into Shuangjian's fingertips. This was the essence of the Nether Ghost Fog: the most yin and turbid demonic energy, a backlash that even demonic cultivators found hard to resist.
The bone-chilling, highly aggressive power instantly rushed into his meridians, yet Shuangjian's expression remained unchanged.
He could feel his already pitifully meager spiritual energy retreating steadily, brutally eroded and polluted by this foreign demonic energy.
Even though he had dealt with the ghost fog plenty of times in his past two lives, it was always as a righteous master commanding and refining it, rather than drawing it into his own body to be actively corrupted by these sinister forces like he was doing now.
Undoubtedly, this action would cost him dearly.
For instance... entering the demonic path.
But so what?
The seal within his body locked away the vast majority of his power like an iron chain. With his currently insignificant strength, let alone rescuing Yingshi, even making it to the bottom of the Repentance Cliff safely was a pipe dream.
Since his spiritual energy was insufficient, he would fill the gap with demonic energy...
He could not wait for a stroke of serendipity to descend.
And he was even less afraid of becoming a demon!
A person who had destroyed the world in his previous life was already no different from a demon, and was even more deeply sinful.
He was even somewhat thrilled by the choice to embrace the demonic path.
Because it was different.
Different from the previous two times, different from the established trajectory, and different from the rules' expectations!
The last bit of warmth in Shuangjian's eyes completely extinguished, settling into a bottomless, freezing pool brewing with a storm.
His hand tightly gripped the branches and leaves enveloped by the ghost fog until they and the surrounding leaves completely yellowed, turned brittle, and crumbled into powder.
More black airflow surged into his body. A tearing, burning agony radiated from his meridians, his vitality churning. He could already taste the metallic sweetness of blood in his throat, but he also felt power for the first time in a long while. Although it was still far from enough, it was already everything he could possess right now—the ghost fog had been completely absorbed, not a single bit left.
The ridiculous power of his bloodline. He utterly loathed its existence, yet he had to rely on it to channel the demonic energy a thousand times more smoothly than an ordinary person.
Shuangjian's expression grew increasingly icy. In the next moment, his figure vanished into the forest.
...
Hiss...
Yingshi opened her eyes, clutching the back of her neck. A delayed headache combined with the pain in her neck made her feel worse than if her chronic neck issues had acted up.
She grimaced and took a moment to recover. Once the accumulated pain dissipated slightly, she was finally able to open her eyes and properly take in her surroundings.
So dim, so damp, so freezing cold!
Moisture clung to the air, so thick it could almost be wrung out into fog, or perhaps freeze into ice.
The four walls were made of rough rock. Occasionally, water droplets slid down from above and hit the ground, the sound infinitely magnified in the cramped space, making one's heart flutter with panic.
Yingshi felt as if she had been locked in a deep, dark water dungeon. The temperature here was extremely low, and she shivered from the cold.
When she tremblingly pushed against the ground to sit up, her palms touched some slippery moss-like substance. She already felt dirty...
It turned out she wasn't just afraid of bugs, ghosts, and blood—she was also afraid of dirt!
She didn't mind the simplicity of the thatched cottage on the back mountain, but she couldn't stand this kind of wet, pitch-black place, especially when the air was filled with the smell of rust and mold—that was not something you wanted to inhale into your lungs!
Yingshi wiped her hands fiercely on her clothes. Enduring her coughs and dizziness, she struggled to stand up properly, trying to minimize her contact area with the environment.
She had to escape! She had to save herself!
But the problem was, where on earth had Mi Ruotian taken her?
When she read the book, she always skipped the environmental descriptions. If it wasn't a place with exceptionally distinct characteristics, she had no impression of it at all. Right now, she had no idea where she was!
But undoubtedly, Mi Ruotian hadn't believed a word she said from the very beginning. He obviously realized that she knew him, and knew him as a demonic cultivator, so he didn't even bother pretending anymore and just openly played the villain!
Then it was highly likely she had been brought to the demonic cultivators' stronghold beneath the Repentance Cliff, right?
It couldn't be that she had already been taken away from the Yunshui Sect and sent to the Nether Realm, could it?
Impossible, impossible! This must be the Repentance Cliff!
Yingshi shuddered, silently ruling out the option she absolutely refused to believe.
The book had mentioned that the predecessor of Repentance Cliff was a forbidden area within the Yunshui Sect used to imprison sinners and punish disciples.
But that was hundreds of years ago before the Yunshui Sect declined. The current scale of the Yunshui Sect was simply not enough to support the operation of this functional area—where were there enough disciples to punish? Where were the human, material, and financial resources to maintain the normal operation of this place?
Therefore, Repentance Cliff had actually just been an abandoned, uninhabited area for many years.
This was probably also one of the reasons why the demonic cultivators chose this place as their stronghold. It was hidden enough to avoid alerting anyone, and even if someone was alerted, it wouldn't be impossible to escape.
In the plot, the male lead, unable to control himself during a power outburst and fearing he would crush Xu Xiaoran and that batch of cannon fodder to death, took the initiative to jump off the Repentance Cliff.
After he went down, he originally wanted to hide in a cave to internalize his surging spiritual energy, but unexpectedly arrived at the demonic cultivators' stronghold and ran into Mi Ruotian, who happened to return there.
So to speak, this was likely the inside of the cave, and Mi Ruotian wasn't here right now. He must have gone to follow the plot, such as meeting up with Xu Mingcheng or something, and he wouldn't come back until the time the male lead was supposed to jump off the cliff.
Yingshi simply didn't have the energy to complain: Just how big was this little demon's heart?! After kidnapping the sect master's daughter, he just went off on his own to meet her father...
However, this also meant that she probably hadn't been unconscious for long, perhaps only for one night. The third day probably hadn't passed yet, so there was still time to escape!
She wasn't worried about other Nether Realm lackeys showing up to hinder her escape, because the plot mentioned that as soon as Mi Ruotian arrived at this place, he killed all his fellow sect members indiscriminately.
There was no orthodox concept of great unity among demonic cultivators to begin with. Under the Nether Demon Lord, the Eight Demon Kings were independent and incompatible like fire and water.
Could it be that all the damp coldness in this water dungeon actually originated from the ghost fog produced by those demonic cultivators after their deaths?
Yingshi deeply suspected that yin energy had invaded her body; no wonder her teeth had been chattering since she woke up!
She didn't dare to delay any longer. Suppressing her aversion to the environment, she reached out and began feeling along the stone wall, starting to look for a way out of this square prison she had awakened in.
The rock walls on all sides were airtight. Let alone a door, there wasn't even a window.
But she couldn't possibly have been stuffed in here out of thin air by Mi Ruotian. There must be a sealed exit, just not out in the open.
She felt her way inch by inch, bending her knuckles to knock on the stone wall—this was all experience learned from playing escape rooms in reality. The sound produced by knocking on movable walls and other fixed walls was different.
When she actually heard an exceptionally hollow thud, Yingshi suddenly felt a surge of admiration for herself!
"As expected of you! You can definitely do it, you're almost out!" she muttered to herself, cheering herself on while gritting her teeth and pushing hard against the odd stone wall. "Urghhh..."
No good!
It didn't budge an inch!
Panting heavily, Yingshi forced herself to calm down. She closed her eyes and used the method Shuangjian had taught her to observe her spiritual veins!
She couldn't forget that she was a cultivator now; she couldn't keep limiting herself with the self-identity of an ordinary female college student...
Trying again and again, her use of spiritual energy was much smoother this time. Following Yingshi's will, that highly impactful force slammed into the stone wall in front of her. With a loud bang, stone dust fell in a rustle, and a faint crack appeared on the wall—but that was all.
Still, no way out was broken open.
"...Dammit."
Yingshi's breathing grew heavier, and fine sweat seeped from her temples.
She could clearly feel that the dampness in the water dungeon was suppressing her spiritual energy as time went by.
It was very likely that the longer she stayed, the weaker she would become.
Whether it was the mechanism of the prison itself or the excessive influence of the yin energy from the suspected ghost fog, she couldn't afford to delay!
Recalling the sensation of spiritual energy flowing from her fingertips just now, Yingshi suddenly thought of a method. She tentatively guided her spiritual energy to one side of her body, spreading it evenly as if enchanting an object...
She prepared to combine magical black tech with simple physics, using the entire side of her body to ram into that section of the rock wall.
"Whatever, I'm going all in!"
Yingshi took two steps back, gritted her teeth, took a running leap, and slammed into it...
Just as she leaped into the air and her spiritual light flared, the wall let out a violent hum and trembled. When it was less than a fraction of a millimeter away from her body, it completely shattered and collapsed in an instant—an external force had destroyed it!
An even colder, gloomier wind from outside the prison rushed in, but mixed within it was a trace of an exceptionally clean and crisp aura that was entirely different...
Before Yingshi could react, her body was already flying forward due to momentum. The only thing she could do was quickly cut off her spiritual energy supply to prevent the attack from rebounding onto herself due to the sudden change. In the next second, she crashed entirely into a warm and solid embrace.
"..."
Yingshi had tightly closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in fear of the pain from colliding with the wall. Now, her body had indeed hit a barrier, but it wasn't cold and hard; it was clearly a warm, conscious human body!
This person even reached out and caught her! In a bizarre posture that resembled a princess carry!
The first person that came to Yingshi's mind was Mi Ruotian. Her blood ran cold instantly, and she subconsciously tried to break free. Fear made her breath hitch in an instant, nearly suffocating her on the spot!
They say desperation breeds wisdom. She was clearly so desperate, so frantic she was about to cry, so why wasn't there any heaven-sent wisdom suddenly popping into her head, telling her how to use her silver tongue to make this perverted demonic cultivator let her go?
"Yingshi."
The newcomer seemed unable to bear watching her tremble like a white mouse about to be sent to the operating table any longer, and softly called out her name.
Hmm? This voice...
Yingshi's chest was still heaving, but the fear in her heart abruptly paused for a moment. Then, astonishment, daze, and joy surged up almost simultaneously.
Suspecting she was hallucinating, she suddenly opened her eyes and looked up, meeting a pair of calm and composed eyes—eyes that were drop-dead gorgeous!
"...Shuangjian!"
Yingshi truly never expected that the person who caught her outside the prison would actually be Shuangjian, who was supposed to be waiting in the thatched cottage for the plot to unfold!
Her hands, which had been curled up against her chest, immediately wrapped around his waist to help him hold her more securely, while a sob escaped her throat.
She thought she would never see him again!
She thought her being kidnapped by Mi Ruotian had already become a devastating disaster!
Her heart beat even faster, but it was a joyful fast, an excited fast.
So fast that it made her want to say some swear words her mother would never allow her to say...
"Are you alright?" Shuangjian frowned, scanning her expression, not setting her down immediately.
Hearing this concern, Yingshi's tears suddenly welled up. Feeling both wronged and terrified in hindsight, she opened her mouth, ready to cry!
She hadn't done anything, yet trouble had come knocking. She had almost perished halfway before the plot even fully began...
It was all that perverted demonic cultivator's fault!
"Mi Ruotian kidnapped me and brought me here!" Yingshi choked out, loudly tattling on him.
