After My Rebirth, I Ended Up Happily Ever After with the Saintess - Chapter 46

Night Li, enduring the scorching pain in her meridians from the Blood Boiling Spirit Liquid and the weakness from the backlash of her internal energy, hurried deeper into the ruined ancient city like a wounded, solitary wolf. She had to find an absolutely safe place to heal as quickly as possible. Although Li Hao’s storage ring brought a windfall, it was also like a death warrant, ready to attract even stronger coveters.

Deeper in the ancient city, the fog seemed to be completely dispersed by an invisible force, yet the light grew increasingly dim. A heavy, indescribable pressure permeated the air. The style of the crumbling architecture became more bizarre. Giant gargoyle sculptures crouched among the broken walls and ruins, their empty eye sockets seemingly staring at every intruder.

According to the vague markings on Lin Feng’s map, the area ahead should be the “Silent Necropolis,” rumored to be the ancient city’s burial ground for important figures. It was extremely dangerous but often hid untold secret treasures.

Night Li had no choice at this moment. The outer areas were unsafe after the recent disturbance, and she could only seek survival in peril. She suppressed all her aura, operating the Concealment Art to its maximum, carefully making her way towards the Necropolis area.

Passing through a collapsed giant archway, the sight before her stole her breath.

It was not the gloomy tomb she had imagined, but an incredibly vast underground space! The ceiling was not rock, but like a night sky, twinkling with countless faint, star-like points of light, illuminating the area below into a dim, ethereal blue world. The ground was made of smooth, mirror-like black flagstones, stretching to the edge of her vision. In the center of the square stood hundreds of black stone steles, several zhang (a unit of measure, roughly 3.3 meters) tall, each carved with different ancient patterns and unidentifiable characters, emanating an air of desolation, antiquity, and majesty.

It was terrifyingly silent here; even the sound of her own heartbeat seemed amplified countless times.

Night Li dared not be careless. She could feel that this area contained an extremely powerful restrictive force. She cautiously attempted to send a wisp of her spiritual sense towards the nearest stele—

Buzz!

An invisible rebounding force suddenly struck, causing her spirit-soul to tremble slightly! A barely perceptible ripple spread across the stele’s surface.

“Such a powerful restriction!” Night Li’s heart clenched, and she became even more cautious. She followed the edge of the square, intending to bypass this bizarre stone forest.

However, just as she walked less than a hundred zhang, another change occurred!

In the center of the square, the tallest stele, carved with a blurry star map pattern, suddenly lit up without warning with a soft yet magnificent white light! The light spread like mercury pouring out, instantly engulfing the entire square!

At the same time, Night Li felt an irresistible, enormous suction force emanating from the center of the square, tugging at her body, pulling her towards the glowing giant stele!

She was utterly horrified, desperately mobilizing her spiritual energy to resist. But with her internal injuries and the terrifying suction force, her body was still uncontrollably dragged towards the center of the square!

It was at this very moment that her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a graceful figure in water-blue on the opposite side of the square. This figure was also caught by the sudden white light and suction force, struggling to resist, and being dragged toward the center! It was Qin Yixuan!

The two had unexpectedly met again, and in this manner!

Their eyes met, both showing shock and a hint of helplessness.

The white light grew brighter, and the suction grew stronger! In moments, both would be forcefully pulled into the absolute center of the square!

“Don’t go there! The center is strange!” Qin Yixuan’s clear, cold voice, tinged with urgency, penetrated the light.

How could Night Li not know? The energy fluctuations emitted by the giant stele made her soul shudder! If she were sucked over, the consequences would be unimaginable!

“Join forces! Break this suction!” Night Li made an immediate decision and shouted sharply. At this moment of life and death, personal grievances had to be set aside; survival was the only goal!

Qin Yixuan clearly understood this as well. Without the slightest hesitation, she responded, “Alright!”

Almost instinctively, both reacted simultaneously!

Night Li forcibly gathered a breath of True Qi, ignoring the agonizing pain in her meridians. The Netherfrost Emperor Sutra (Yōuhuán Dì Jīng) was pushed to its limit. Extreme cold spiritual energy furiously surged into her feet, gripping the ground like roots, even freezing the black flagstones beneath her feet into spiderweb-like ice cracks! She was using her own body as an anchor to resist the suction!

Qin Yixuan, however, made a completely different choice! She did not resist forcefully but flowed with the direction of the suction. Her movement technique became unpredictable and fluid. The Autumn Water longsword in her hand burst forth with dazzling blue light, its tip trembling rapidly, tracing profound and mysterious trajectories!

“Azure Water Sword Art, Countercurrent Style!” (Bì Shuǐ Jiàn Jué, Nì Liú Shì!)

She was actually using her incomparably exquisite swordsmanship to guide, divide, and weaken the immense suction force! It was like finding a sliver of hope by overcoming hardness with softness in a raging torrent!

One hard, one soft—two completely different approaches—yet they resonated miraculously at this moment!

Night Li’s extreme coldness stabilized the rear, providing a solid fulcrum! Qin Yixuan’s flowing sword momentum continuously disintegrated the structure of the suction force in the front!

The massive suction force suddenly stalled, and a subtle loosening appeared!

“Now!”

“Attack the stele’s base!” Night Li keenly seized this fleeting opportunity and yelled hoarsely! She deduced that the energy source of this suction field seemed to be the glowing giant stele!

As if they shared a single mind (perhaps the tacit understanding of top-tier geniuses), Qin Yixuan’s sword momentum drastically changed from soft to hard the instant Night Li spoke! A condensed, ultimate blue sword energy, as if the Milky Way had poured down from the Nine Heavens, tore through the white light and precisely slashed towards the base where the stele connected with the ground!

Simultaneously, Night Li gritted her teeth and focused most of her remaining spiritual energy onto her fingertip, sending out a simple yet devastating Netherfrost Finger (Yōuhuán Zhǐ), which embodied all her current strength, at the exact same spot!

Boom!!!

The sword energy and finger strike hit almost simultaneously!

A blinding flash of light and a deafening roar erupted at the base of the giant stele! The entire square shook violently, and the massive suction field instantly collapsed and dissipated, like a balloon being punctured!

The white light rapidly dimmed, and the giant stele returned to its original silence.

Pfft!

Night Li could no longer hold on. She spat out a mouthful of blood, knelt on one knee, her face ashen, and her aura extremely weak. The forced outburst had severely aggravated her internal injuries.

Qin Yixuan on the other side was no better. Her face was slightly pale, and her breathing was ragged. It was clear that the reversal of her sword momentum and the powerful strike had also heavily taxed her spiritual energy and mental focus.

They looked at each other from dozens of zhang apart, and a complex silence permeated the air.

The brief yet heart-stopping cooperation just now required absolute trust and tacit understanding. In a moment of crisis, both entrusted their backs (or flanks) to the other and perfectly cooperated to break the fatal situation.

This experience could not be easily erased.

After a long pause, Qin Yixuan spoke first, her voice still cold but with less of the previous aloofness and hostility: “Your injury…”

“It’s nothing.” Night Li wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, struggled to stand, her tone flat, but the coldness in her eyes had softened slightly. She took out a jade vial, poured out a healing pill, and swallowed it. She then hesitated for a moment and tossed Qin Yixuan a bottle of ordinary Spirit Replenishment Pills: “To replenish spiritual energy.”

Qin Yixuan caught the vial, looked at it, and did not show suspicion. She also poured out a pill and took it. The pill dissolved into a warm current in her abdomen, restoring a hint of color to her pale face.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“Mutual benefit,” Night Li was still concise, but the atmosphere was no longer as tense as before.

The two found relatively safe corners and quietly began to meditate and recover. After their recent cooperation, they seemed to have reached a subtle understanding: in this unknown and dangerous Necropolis area, they would temporarily observe a truce and not interfere with each other.

However, this Silent Necropolis did not seem to intend to let the intruders rest peacefully.

Just about an incense stick’s worth of time after they began recovering, the tallest giant stele changed again!

This time, it did not emit suction, but the star map pattern on the stele’s surface suddenly lit up, projecting a massive, swirling starry sky light screen! Within the light screen, points of starlight converged, gradually forming the majestic phantom of a giant beast—a lion-like creature with a single horn, completely composed of starlight!

The phantom beast let out a silent roar toward the sky, and a terrifying pressure, far stronger than the previous suction and filled with an aura of destruction, swept over the entire square like a tide!

The intensity of this pressure made both Night Li and Qin Yixuan, who had just caught their breath, change their expressions drastically!

This was absolutely not the aura of a second-tier demon beast! This was at least third-tier, possibly even higher! Equivalent to a human Spirit Ocean Realm (Linghai Stage) or above! Although it was only a phantom, the power it contained was definitely not something they, two Vein Condensation Realm (Ningmai Stage) practitioners (Night Li’s displayed cultivation), could contend with!

The starlight giant beast phantom lowered its head, its empty gaze locking onto the two minuscule beings in the square, and slowly raised its massive paw!

The scent of death instantly enveloped both of them!