Chapter 601 - 562: It’s Dark Now, Don’t Be Afraid

The sky was darkening!

What would happen when night fell?

The gray-clothed youth, his face contorted in terror, struggled to sit up. He first wiped the blood from his face to clear his vision, then sprang to his feet with the agility of a leaping carp.

"Night is falling!" he cried out, his gaze flickering around as he mumbled, "There was an insect explosion here, too. This is bad... We have to leave! Now!"

As he spoke, he lifted his foot to run, but as soon as he moved, his body twisted and he stumbled. He barely managed to stop himself, narrowly avoiding another fall.

Clearly, his body hadn’t had time to recover completely.

The Fetal Breathing Saint Method hadn’t failed him, but its effects seemed less miraculous here than in the outside world.

And without the Ganlin Healing Skill to replenish his Vitality—

After all, the body’s potential and its own energy are finite. The Fetal Breathing Saint Method could only induce self-healing by returning him to a primordial state; it couldn’t replenish the Vitality he had lost.

As she considered this, an idea came to Song Ciwan. With a flick of her wrist, she produced a Red Sun Pill from the Heaven and Earth Scale.

It was a Three-star Elixir, one of the leftovers from when she sold Flood Dragon Blood.

Her own Cultivation progressed so quickly that the Red Sun Pills eventually became ineffective for her. As a result, she still had a few dozen left in the Heaven and Earth Scale. Now was the perfect time to let the gray-clothed youth try one.

The Red Sun Pill was dark red, emanating a scorching fluctuation of blood qi. It was perfectly round, as if it had a spirituality of its own.

The moment it appeared, the gray-clothed youth seemed to sense something, and a thunderous rumble suddenly erupted from his stomach.

GRRRRUMBLE, RUUUMBLE...

The gray-clothed youth’s eyes widened, his cheeks flushed red. He turned his head, his gaze fixed on Song Ciwan’s hand.

Song Ciwan held the Elixir out to him, not wasting any time. "Eat this and see. You said night is falling. What happens when it does?"

The gray-clothed youth swallowed, then like a wary little beast, he shot his hand out like lightning, snatched the Elixir from Song Ciwan’s hand, and gulped it down.

He was now full of anticipation and curiosity for every kind of "food" Song Ciwan had.

The Elixir entered his stomach and instantly erupted with a torrent of scorching Vitality.

The Vitality, mixed with blood qi, surged like molten lead and mercury, erupting from his abdomen. His body, like a long-parched desert, immediately began to greedily absorb this unprecedented energy.

The gray-clothed youth had been weak and stumbling, but the moment the Elixir was in his belly, he instantly straightened his back.

He turned his head, his eyes burning like flames as he stared intently at Song Ciwan. Shocked and overjoyed, he said, "Th-this... what is this? What did you give me? Why... why is it so good? Do you have any more..."

[Human Desires: Shock, ecstasy, and craving from a Tier Three Chaotic God Martial Artist. Weight: Five jin and six liang. Tradeable.]

The mung bean cake hadn’t elicited desires weighing more than five jin from the gray-clothed youth, but this single Red Sun Pill immediately triggered a violent emotional fluctuation.

Seeing his eyes gleam, his entire body looked like it was about to erupt and lunge at her. Song Ciwan extended a finger and tapped lightly in his direction. This time, she used the "Xiu" Character Technique.

The gray-clothed youth’s body froze once again. The "Xiu" Character Technique was like a stream of cool water, gently holding him in place.

There was no harsh restraint, but a strange power that suddenly calmed his agitated emotions. His feverish mind began to cool, and even his damaged body seemed to show clear signs of recovery once more.

The gray-clothed youth felt as if he had been submerged in a cool, soft current of water, which plunged him into an indescribable state of peace.

He opened his mouth, then ran a hand through his slightly messy short hair, pacing in place for a moment as if at a loss.

This comfort was a sensation he had never experienced before, and he even began to feel a sense of panic because of it. He swallowed, glanced at Song Ciwan, then at the sky outside, and finally said with a flushed face, "Thank you for saving me."

Then he grew anxious again. "An insect explosion just happened here, and it’s getting dark. Those things will definitely come out at night! We have to go, quickly. If we can get back to our protected zone within a quarter of an hour, we should be fine."

He seemed about to reach out and grab Song Ciwan to run with her. But Song Ciwan, picking up on the information in his words, instead waved her hand. A vine shot out from her palm, quickly wrapping around the gray-clothed youth’s wrist like a rope.

Song Ciwan took a light step, yet in that single instant, she propelled herself forward by several dozen zhang.

With just that one step, she brought the gray-clothed youth, whose wrist was bound by the vine, directly to the entrance of the Vast Sea Library Pavilion.

Outside the door, the sky was dim. Song Ciwan looked back at the ancient pavilion, which at first glance seemed to have a thousand floors, and for a moment, a strange feeling came over her.

It felt as though every curved eave and upturned corner of the pavilion was connected to an Abyss!

An unfathomable Abyss, where shadows roamed. The solemn pavilion, spanning countless eons, seemed more like a doomsday beast gazing across the ages.

Song Ciwan immediately began pulling the gray-clothed youth along, walking quickly down a long street that was both classical and fantastical in style. Her steps seemed slow, but each one covered dozens of zhang, and she moved so fast the gray-clothed youth’s face was distorted by the wind.

As they walked, Song Ciwan questioned him to learn more about this place.

She asked first, "What does ’insect explosion’ mean? Do they happen often here?"

Song Ciwan actually suspected that she herself had triggered the insect explosion by observing the mysteries of the insect corpse’s meridians. But the gray-clothed youth’s words made it clear that, to him, such events were nothing out of the ordinary.

The gray-clothed youth’s voice was somewhat muffled by the wind. In a worried tone, he said, "The insect explosions have been happening more and more in recent years. If they keep happening like this, I’m really worried if there will be any Insect Food left in a few decades."

Song Ciwan asked, "You only eat Insect Food? Nothing else?"

The gray-clothed youth said with a wooden expression, "Some of the top masters have Spirit Soil Planting Pots and can grow Spirit Plants and Spirit Fruits. I’d love to eat them, but they’re not something we can afford."

Song Ciwan asked, "What do you mean by ’top masters’? What Tier are they?"

By her estimation, this gray-clothed youth, a Tier Three Chaotic God Martial Artist, was already stronger than most Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators in the Mortal World.

But judging by the gray-clothed youth’s attitude, it seemed he was considered to be at the very bottom rung in this Heaven-Reaching City.

The gray-clothed youth, facing the wind, spoke with a mix of yearning and fear, "Tier Six. Do you understand? Tier Six!"

Song Ciwan’s heart skipped a beat. ’Tier Six!’

’If Tier Three can be compared to Divinity Transformation, then wouldn’t Tier Six be... a True Immortal Martial Saint?’

’There are masters at the level of a True Immortal Martial Saint in this Heaven-Reaching City?’

The sky was growing darker and darker. For some reason, Song Ciwan suddenly looked back down the long street.

Behind them, the towering pavilion of the Vast Sea Tower Library was clearly visible!

’That’s not right. At my speed, I must have covered at least ten li. How can we still be so close to the Vast Sea Tower Library?’

The sky, for some unknown reason, suddenly shifted from a dim gray to pitch black.

And on the Vast Sea Tower Library, which loomed like a shadowy, thousand-storied mirage, orange-red lanterns suddenly lit up between its staggered corners and floors.

The lights flickered like ghostly eyes.

The gray-clothed youth’s voice trembled as he choked back a scream. "Ah... ah... They’re... they’re here!"