Chapter 311: Soft and Bouncy

An idea flashed through Ye Wenxin’s mind. “Senior Sister Xuan, please turn left.”

Xuan Luofei was puzzled but still followed Ye Wenxin’s instructions and turned to the left, facing the wall. Jin Xiaoqin and Long Qing’er also stopped in their tracks, frowning slightly at Ye Wenxin’s bad behavior.

Even a blind person should receive the respect that an ordinary person was due. Jin Xiaoqin was about to scold Ye Wenxin, but Ye Wenxin made a shushing gesture. “Move forward until I tell you to stop.”

Xuan Luofei was even more puzzled and felt the obstacle in front of her, but hearing Ye Wenxin’s words, she stepped forward without hesitation. In an instant, her figure disappeared into the wall, as if she had really gone through it.

Jin Xiaoqin and Long Qing’er were dumbfounded, not understanding how this was possible. Ye Wenxin took a deep breath before touching the wall. She silently chanted ‘this is the way’ in her mind, and to her surprise, she also passed through just like that.

Ye Wenxin tentatively walked inside, and as soon as she entered, she saw a fixed dead face within the wall. If it weren’t for her strong willpower, she might have died within the wall due to losing focus. She tried hard to remain calm and continued forward, quickly passing into the world inside the wall.

There stood a desolate, solitary city shrouded in black fog. The surroundings were dotted with dark green lights, reminiscent of the atmosphere often seen in ghost films. When Ye Wenxin looked into the distance, she saw that Xuan Luofei had already stopped and seemed to realize she was in a different space.

“We’re in,” Ye Wenxin reminded, pulling Xuan Luofei toward a corner. “I’ll go tell them how to enter. Will you be fine by yourself?”

Xuan Luofei smiled and sat on the ground, assuming a qin-playing posture, as if to tell Ye Wenxin that she wasn’t afraid of any evil monsters. Ye Wenxin thought for a moment and finally handed her a talisman. Then, following the same method as before, she passed through the wall again.

Compared to Ye Wenxin’s divergent thinking, it took Long Qing’er and Jin Xiaoqin quite a while to adapt to this rhythm. After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, they finally succeeded in entering the wall.

“Who would’ve thought it would work this way?”

“Could there really be some mechanism in the wall?”

Jin Xiaoqin and Long Qing’er voiced their doubts, prompting Ye Wenxin to explain, “I’ve always heard that a secret realm is the product of a cultivator’s state of mind. This senior has a dark heart, and the inside is mostly gloomy and fearful. I think this wall is not a real wall, but rather a representation of this senior’s mental barrier.”

The group seemed unable to grasp Ye Wenxin’s meaning. Ye Wenxin also didn’t know how to clearly explain the connection between this ghostly phenomenon and psychology, so she simply said, “In any case, this secret realm is very challenging.”

After she finished explaining a bunch of nonsense, Ye Wenxin realized that the only part the three of them understood was the last sentence. Ye Wenxin felt exhausted, deeply aware of the insurmountable generation gap between people from Earth and those in this world. At times like this, she deeply missed the days when Long Qingyue was still by her side.

“No matter how challenging it is, since we’re here, we should do something. We can’t just wait around for a month.” Long Qing’er, the most impatient among them, couldn’t wait to do something, and make up for her humiliating defeat at the tournament.

Ye Wenxin just glanced at Long Qing’er, not commenting on her childish thoughts. Jin Xiaoqin thought for a moment and then said, “Indeed, since we’re here, we can’t leave empty-handed. This secret realm is very weird, but it’s our duty, as cultivators, to punish evil and promote good. As you can see though, the fog here is so thick, leaving us in a similar state to Xuan Luofei. Let’s wait until dawn and then make a long-term plan.”

Jin Xiaoqin considered the dark, spooky surroundings, where they couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, and proposed the most conservative suggestion.

Xuan Luofei nodded slightly. “No, we’re not in the same state. I can still sense the presence of objects. Let me lead the way for everyone.” As she spoke, the guqin in her hands stood up, and her fingers plucked the strings. The sound formed golden qi that lightly surrounded everyone’s bodies.

“This will help prevent the Yin energy from entering your bodies, so you don’t become food for the Yin Fetuses,” Xuan Luofei explained briefly before striding forward with her guqin.

Watching her fearless figure, Ye Wenxin suddenly felt that Xuan Luofei was not just a naïve girl but a true, head senior sister.

But just as she thought this, Xuan Luofei stumbled and almost fell, making Ye Wenxin silently retract the good impression she had just formed.

However, Jin Xiaoqin was indeed right; flame stones and candlelight were useless here, and even Ye Wenxin’s proud eyesight couldn’t see through the black fog. So, she obediently followed behind Xuan Luofei.

The four of them formed a single file, holding onto the hem of the person in front of them. Jin Xiaoqin, at the furthest back, still seemed somewhat uneasy, muttering nonsensical things.

“Master, you’re not scared of these ghostly things, are you?” Ye Wenxin whispered. Jin Xiaoqin gave Ye Wenxin a hard pinch on her waist, clearly a silent protest.

“How could your master, who has lived for so many years, be afraid of such ghostly things?”

Ye Wenxin smiled silently, noticing that the usually tough Jin Xiaoqin was showing a rare girlish side.

Despite her words, Jin Xiaoqin moved even closer. Her chest pressed tightly against Ye Wenxin’s arm, rubbing insistently. Ye Wenxin felt a bit peculiar, but Jin Xiaoqin seemed completely unaware that she had gone from holding onto Ye Wenxin’s clothes to tightly hugging her arm.

In front of them, Xuan Luofei and Long Qing’er were walking very earnestly, and Ye Wenxin’s mood was also somewhat tense. If they hadn’t happened to encounter Xuan Luofei, they really wouldn’t know how to get through this dreadful place.

Thus, the four of them proceeded through the black fog. Occasionally, Ye Wenxin would see small, dark hands reaching out from the darkness, trying to pull them away from the group. Whenever this happened, Xuan Luofei would play her guqin, dispelling the surrounding evil spirits, but this journey was taking its toll on her.

Ye Wenxin thought that, if a cultivator close to Nascent Soul was having such a hard time, anyone else who managed to enter would surely be wiped out.

After walking for about another hour, the scenery ahead gradually became clearer.

In the distance, they saw a secluded waterside pavilion. There were no bridges or boats around, and the lake water glowed with a dark green light, intertwined with thick fog, making it particularly terrifying.