Mu Fengyun’s cheeks flushed.
Though he had his back to Yuan Shu, they were standing so close that the familiar, faint fragrance of pear blossoms from her body slipped into his nose without restraint.
He did not even dare to turn around, afraid that if he did, he would see…
Yuan Shu glanced at the cloak in his hand, but had no time to reach out and take it. “We can talk about that later. Slow down the movement of the walls first!”
As she spoke, Yuan Shu gathered her spiritual power and pushed it toward the walls closing in from all sides.
If she had been trapped in a spatial formation like this in her previous life, Yuan Shu would not have panicked. After all, she had already reached the Integration Realm back then and was fully capable of breaking out of the formation!
But now, she was only at the Nascent Soul Realm, and Mu Fengyun’s strength was not particularly high either.
If this matrix space continued to contract, the two of them might very well die here!
Mu Fengyun understood at once and nodded. “All right.”
Since Yuan Shu herself did not care about such trivial matters, there was even less reason for him, as a man, to mind them.
Mu Fengyun drew a deep breath and raised his hand. Icy-blue spiritual power surged forth, condensing into a frigid breath that slammed into the dark walls surrounding them.
Boom!
A tremendous impact rang out. The dark wall behind him was instantly frozen, and the speed at which it was closing in abruptly slowed.
Yuan Shu’s eyes lit up. “Senior Brother Mu, the power of your Ice Soul is impressive!”
She had used all her strength merely to slow the compression slightly, yet he had frozen it outright?
Mu Fengyun looked a little embarrassed. “Ice-element spiritual power does have a certain ability to delay movement.”
“This is more than just a delay—you froze it completely! Senior Brother Mu, I’ll cover you. Keep going!”
The moment Yuan Shu finished speaking, her figure flashed. She drew out Zhaohua and, with a sharp snap, lashed apart the attack rushing toward Mu Fengyun from the left.
Her snow-white skin flashed before his eyes. Mu Fengyun’s thoughts stirred uncontrollably once more, but he quickly steadied himself and continued raising his hand to release his icy breath.
A short while later, all the dark walls around them had been frozen. Their movement was temporarily halted, and only then did the two of them allow themselves to relax slightly.
“Junior Sister Yuan, this cloak…” Mu Fengyun hesitated before asking again.
“Thank you.” This time, Yuan Shu answered him and took the cloak, draping it over herself.
She did not particularly enjoy exposing herself either. Just now, time had been too tight; when forced to choose between getting dressed and staying alive, staying alive was naturally more important.
The blue-gray cloak was slightly too long for her, but at least it completely covered her dazzling snow-white body.
Mu Fengyun let out a quiet breath of relief.
However, the cloak was fastened only by a single tie at the front.
Whenever Yuan Shu raised her hand or moved, the cloak fluttered open halfway, revealing glimpses of her long, straight, fair legs and that dazzling expanse of white.
The half-hidden, half-revealed sight stirred an even more peculiar kind of desire!
Mu Fengyun’s face grew hot again, entirely beyond his control.
At that moment, Yuan Shu was communicating with the Hehuan Divine Tree through her divine sense.
“Hehuan, do you remember any way to escape the spatial formation in this underground palace?”
Although Yuan Shu was relatively familiar with this place, that familiarity came from events after she had reached the Integration Realm. Any method of breaking the formation that she could think of required the strength of that realm.
She could not use those methods now.
Hehuan Divine Tree scratched its head at the question. After a long while, it hesitantly spoke.
“Shushu, doesn’t the formation in this underground palace change its position every so often? Why don’t we wait? Maybe once the time comes and the formation shifts, we’ll be able to get out the next time around?”
Yuan Shu thought it over. “That’s not a bad idea.”
But the moment she finished speaking, a sound that made one’s teeth ache and bones itch suddenly rang in their ears.
Yuan Shu turned her head and saw cracks spreading across the layers of ice clinging to the dark walls around them.
It seemed they were about to collapse!
The thought had barely formed when a crisp crack rang out. The entire layer of ice on the dark walls shattered at once, transforming into ice-element spiritual power that dissipated through the air.
The dark walls, which had been motionless, began closing in toward the center once again!
Mu Fengyun had already recovered. He raised both hands and released an even more powerful icy breath.
The icy breath spread across the walls, freezing them in an instant.
Before the two of them could breathe a sigh of relief, another teeth-aching, bone-itching crack rang out.
Under their astonished gazes, the two-inch-thick layer of ice shattered once again!
“Junior Sister Yuan, this formation is constantly devouring the power of my icy breath. Its freezing effect is already barely doing anything!”
Mu Fengyun did not need to explain. Yuan Shu could see it for herself.
The killing methods of this matrix space adapted at random. It was indeed formidable!
The two of them were forced to stand back-to-back, releasing powerful spiritual energy once more in an attempt to slow the walls’ advance. But this time, the effect was poor.
The dark walls continued to draw closer, moving faster and faster.
What were they supposed to do?
Yuan Shu furrowed her brows. Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she hurriedly called out in her sea of consciousness.
“Hehuan, there’s a Yin Water River beneath this formation. I once left a teleportation mark in the river, and that mark should remain intact for a thousand years.”
“Help me search for it now. We might be able to find it!”
“All right!” Hehuan Divine Tree immediately agreed.
Yuan Shu nodded. She glanced at the walls drawing ever closer, then turned to look at Mu Fengyun beside her.
“Senior Brother Mu, I have a way to leave this place, but I need you to protect me. I can’t be disturbed during the process. Is that all right?”
Mu Fengyun froze for a moment, but quickly nodded. “Yes!”
After receiving his answer, Yuan Shu wasted no more time. She sat down cross-legged and released all the power of her divine soul, spreading it in every direction.
Mu Fengyun retreated to Yuan Shu’s side and sent out streams of icy breath with a wave of his hand.
The icy breath spread over the walls, coating them in ice and delaying them for a certain amount of time. Although the delay was very brief, as long as he released the icy breath quickly enough, he could effectively impede the walls’ advance.
Time passed second by second. Fine sweat appeared on Yuan Shu’s forehead.
After all, using divine-soul power to search through such a vast underground palace for a tiny mark she had left behind was no simple task.
But this was the only method she could think of now!
Even though she had left the mark when she was at the Integration Realm, it should still be under her control!
The black walls drew closer and closer. The space in which Mu Fengyun could move grew increasingly narrow, yet Yuan Shu showed no sign of waking.
Mu Fengyun began to grow anxious. Because of the depletion of power within his body, he could faintly sense the unrest of the Cangming Ice Soul inside him.
The reason the Cangming Ice Soul had remained obediently within his body was that Yuan Shu had previously used fire-element power to suppress it.
His master had also expended spiritual power to reinforce the suppression.
Now that his spiritual power was depleted, the force suppressing it had weakened. The Cangming Ice Soul might soon fall out of control. If that happened…
Mu Fengyun pressed his thin lips together. He turned to look at Yuan Shu, who sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, then gritted his teeth and once again sent out a wave of icy power.
No matter what happened, he had to protect Yuan Shu!
Although Mu Fengyun had already done everything he could, and double vision had begun to cloud his sight from the loss of spiritual power, the dark walls still closed in around them.
Mu Fengyun took a step back and bumped into Yuan Shu’s leg.
He gasped heavily, enduring the bone-deep icy pain in his body, and released another wave of icy power.
But in an instant, the layer of ice on the walls shattered completely, and they began pressing toward the two of them once more.
Dark walls surrounded them from the front, back, left, right, above, and below. The two of them were like prey trapped inside a tiny box, with nowhere left to retreat.
Mu Fengyun’s face had already pressed against the ink-black wall. He raised his hand, intending to unleash another blast of icy energy.
A sudden, excruciating pain erupted from his heart meridians and instantly spread throughout his entire body!
