After My Rebirth, I Ended Up Happily Ever After with the Saintess - Chapter 42

The intense dizziness brought by the spatial transmission quickly faded, and Ye Li’s feet landed steadily on the damp, soft ground. Bone-chilling cold and a dense, suffocating water vapor instantly enveloped her. As far as her eyes could see, it was a vast expanse of white.

Thick fog!

The fog was even denser than the rumors described! Even with her enhanced vision, she could only barely make out a distance of five or six zhang in front of her; anything further was a blurry, milky white. Even more alarming was the feeling she got when she tried to project her spiritual sense outwards: it felt like sinking into a viscous mire, with immense resistance. Ultimately, she could only manage to cover a ten-zhang radius around her, and even within that range, her perception was extremely vague and obscure!

This Cloud Mist Secret Realm truly lived up to its name! This alone was enough to greatly diminish the combat power of most disciples, making them feel like blind people fumbling for an elephant.

Ye Li immediately circulated the Underworld Emperor Sutra. The intensely cold spiritual energy flowed through her body, dispelling the pervasive, damp chill. At the same time, she pushed the Aura Concealment Technique to its limit, making her presence almost imperceptible, practically merging her aura with the surrounding fog.

She didn’t move rashly, choosing instead to quickly observe her surroundings.

Under her feet were dark green, slippery rocks covered in moss. Around her grew some peculiar ferns with thick, dark purple leaves. The air was filled with a strong smell of humus and a faint, sweet yet slightly fishy, strange fragrance.

The sky was invisible overhead, replaced only by endless, swirling white mist. The surroundings were eerily silent, save for the occasional, distant, indistinct sound of dripping water, which only accentuated the strangeness of the place.

Due to the random teleportation, she seemed to have been sent to a desolate, secluded corner of the Secret Realm.

“First, I must determine my position and look for the landmarks marked on the map,” Ye Li calmly planned in her mind. Although the map provided by Lin Feng was rough, it generally marked a few potentially iconic terrains.

She cautiously chose a direction and executed the Ethereal Shadow Steps, moving forward as silently as a specter in the mist. Every step was as light as a feather, ensuring no sound was made.

The environment in the Secret Realm was bizarre. She quickly discovered that most of the plants here appeared unhealthy and excessively moisturized, looking bloated and having strange colors. Many were covered in thorns or secreted viscous fluids. Some twisted, ghostly-claw-like dead branches jutted abruptly from the fog, adding to the gloom.

After traversing barely a li, a faint “rustling” sound suddenly drifted from the fog ahead, as if something was rapidly crawling over the moss!

Ye Li instantly froze, pressing her body against a cold boulder. She held her breath, her sharp eyes scanning the area in front of her.

Through the dense fog, several vines—each the thickness of a bowl, ash-white, and almost indistinguishable from the mist—were silently creeping along the ground and rock faces like living creatures! Their tips were raised like snake heads, trembling slightly, seemingly sensing something.

“Mist-Hidden Vines!” Ye Li’s heart tightened. This was a unique type of demonic plant in the Secret Realm, extremely skilled at camouflage and sneak attacks. Their vines were incredibly tough and carried a paralyzing toxin. Once entangled, escape was extremely difficult.

She completely suppressed her aura and remained motionless. The few Mist-Hidden Vines slithered around the vicinity for a moment. Failing to find a target, they slowly retreated back into the depths of the dense fog.

Only after they completely vanished did Ye Li let out a breath of relief. To encounter such troublesome things right after entering the Secret Realm—it was indeed perilous at every turn.

She became even more cautious and continued her journey. Along the way, relying on her powerful perception and superb movement technique, she successively avoided several hidden toxic swamps (which were gurgling with bubbles and emitting a foul stench) and a flock of strange birds that nested in the fog and cried like infants.

But at the same time, she also stumbled upon some opportunities.

Under a sheltered rock crevice, she discovered a few purple fungi that emitted a faint, soft glow and were shaped like small umbrellas—the “Purple Cloud Mushrooms.” These were supplementary ingredients for refining various detoxification and calming pills, and they were quite rare in the outside world. She carefully collected them.

Near the roots of a huge, ancient, dead tree riddled with holes, she found a small patch of “Moonlight Moss.” This moss was a material used for making certain special talisman inks and would emit a faint glow at night.

Although these gains weren’t earth-shattering, they gave Ye Li a more intuitive understanding of the Secret Realm’s value. No wonder countless disciples flocked here.

Just as she was meticulously scraping off the Moonlight Moss, the fragment of the Reincarnation Mirror deep within her soul suddenly trembled very slightly, conveying a faint sense of desire pointing diagonally forward!

Something was there!

Ye Li’s heart stirred, and she silently crept in the direction of that sensation.

Passing through a patch of even thicker, curtain-like mist, the sight before her made her pause slightly.

In front was a rare small clearing where the fog was relatively thinner! In the center of the clearing was an unremarkable small pond. The water was pitch-black, but it radiated a shocking coldness, causing a layer of white frost to condense around the edges. Right on the edge of the pond, three bizarre small plants grew, all ice-blue and shaped like ice sculptures. Each leaf seemed to have ice crystals naturally forming on it!

“Ice Crystal Grass! And at least five hundred years old!” A hint of pleasant surprise flashed in Ye Li’s eyes! This was a top-grade supplementary material for refining high-level ice-element elixirs and tempering ice-element magical artifacts! Its value far exceeded all her previous gains!

However, her joy lasted less than a second before an extremely dangerous premonition suddenly struck!

Without thinking, the Ethereal Shadow Steps instantly burst forth to their maximum speed. Her body shot backward as if weightless!

Almost the moment she left her original spot, the ground where she had been standing violently exploded! A giant tail—as thick as a bucket, covered in pitch-black scales, radiating a foul odor and extreme cold—swept across the area! The sheer force generated a blast of wind that temporarily pushed aside the surrounding mist!

Boom!

The boulder shattered, and a deep trench was plowed into the ground!

Ye Li stabilized her figure and looked. Her heart sank.

A monstrously large, ferocious head was slowly emerging from the black, cold pond! It looked like a python but wasn’t; a pitch-black fleshy crest grew on its head, and its pair of vertical pupils were a dead, ashen white, fixated on her! The demonic energy emanating from its body had reached the peak of the Second Rank, equivalent to a human cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Meridian Condensation Realm!

Black Water Profound Serpent! And a mutated one, carrying a potent cold toxin!

It had clearly been lurking at the bottom of the pond, guarding the three stalks of Ice Crystal Grass! The Reincarnation Mirror had sensed both the spiritual grass and this terrifying guardian beast!

“Hiss—!”

The Black Water Profound Serpent let out a spine-chilling hiss. Its massive maw opened, revealing pale fangs. A stream of pitch-black, bone-chilling venom shot towards Ye Li like an arrow! Its speed was astonishing!

Ye Li’s pupils contracted. She dared not take it head-on. The cold toxin was clearly extraordinary! She repeatedly changed her steps, her figure flickering left and right like a ghost, narrowly dodging the venom spray.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

Where the venom landed on the ground and rocks, it immediately corroded deep holes and instantly froze into a thick layer of black ice!

What terrifying toxicity!

Failing to hit its target, the Black Water Profound Serpent’s enormous body lunged out of the pond, bringing with it a torrent of black water and bone-chilling cold. Like a black mountain range, it rapidly pounced on Ye Li! Its gaping maw was large enough to swallow her whole!

Its speed, power, and toxicity had all reached an extremely frightening level!

Ye Li’s eyes were icy cold. She knew she couldn’t fight it head-on. If she were entangled or struck even once, the consequences would be unimaginable!

She didn’t hesitate and immediately activated a “Mist-Breaking Talisman”!

The talisman spontaneously combusted without fire, transforming into a clear, faint light wave that spread outwards! The surrounding dense fog was instantly cleared in a radius of over ten zhang, and her vision immediately became much clearer!

Using this brief moment of clear vision, Ye Li saw the trajectory of the Profound Serpent’s strike! She advanced instead of retreating, her body passing at an incredible angle right against the Serpent’s vicious lower jaw! Simultaneously, she pointed her fingers like a sword. The ice-blue cold light on her fingertip condensed to the extreme, and she fiercely jabbed at the Serpent’s relatively vulnerable seven-inch spot!

“Clang!”

A crisp sound, like striking metal! A huge recoil force shot back through her finger! The defense of those scales far exceeded expectations! Ye Li’s full-force jab had only left a white mark on the scale, failing to break the defense!

Instead, her fingers were numb from the impact!

“What strong defense!” Ye Li was secretly alarmed and used the force to glide backward.

Feeling the pain, the Serpent let out an angry roar. Its thick tail swept towards her again, blocking all her retreat paths!

In this critical moment, Ye Li abruptly threw out two “Profound Ice Blast Talismans”!

The talismans accurately struck the sweeping massive tail of the Profound Serpent!

Boom! Boom!

Two violent explosions erupted! The intense cold energy instantly burst forth, and countless ice shards shattered! The Serpent’s tail was immediately covered in a thick layer of solid ice, and its movement abruptly stalled!

Now!

A sharp light burst from Ye Li’s eyes. Her left hand, which had been accumulating power, violently swung out!

It wasn’t aimed at the Profound Serpent, but at the pond water next to the three stalks of Ice Crystal Grass!

A soft force rolled up a few small stones on the pond’s edge and accurately threw them into the pond water, splashing a large amount of water!

Simultaneously, her figure flashed towards the three stalks of Ice Crystal Grass like lightning! Her right hand drew a short sword. With a flash of cold light, she instantly pried up the grass along with a small clump of frozen earth beneath and placed them into her storage ring! Her actions were lightning-fast and seamless!

Her actions completely enraged the Black Water Profound Serpent! Thinking Ye Li was going to destroy the spiritual grass or attack its body, it let out an earth-shattering roar. Disregarding its temporarily frozen tail, its massive head violently whipped around, spraying venom everywhere again!

But Ye Li had already planned it out! The moment she collected the Ice Crystal Grass, she had already used the Ethereal Shadow Steps again, rapidly retreating towards the area with the densest fog on her side and rear!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The venom nearly grazed her back as it shot past!

She did not look back, instantly vanishing into the dense fog, her aura completely suppressed and gone.

The Black Water Profound Serpent wildly twisted its body, shattering the ice on its tail. It furiously destroyed everything around it but could no longer find any trace of the hateful little thief who had stolen its guarded spiritual grass…

Deep within the dense fog, Ye Li leaned against a large stone, panting slightly, a small smirk playing on her lips.

Three five-hundred-year-old stalks of Ice Crystal Grass—acquired!

Though the process was thrilling, the gain was enormous. A good start.

She slightly calmed her breath, re-identified her direction, and silently crept towards the approximate location of the “Ruined Ancient City” marked on the map.

The exploration of the Secret Realm had just begun. And the hunters in the dark might have already started their pursuit.