Thanks for Gam-Gam and Travis Mclennon for becoming as Supporters!
===BREAK===
Arden commandeered a speedboat and drove it straight into the Lemnian Hollow, heading towards Aerospace City.
"The ether… it's incredibly dense!"
Even Ju Fufu could clearly sense that the ether concentration far exceeded normal levels, which showed just how serious the situation had become.
Yixuan carefully sensed the ether and the faint, miasma drifting in from the direction of Aerospace City. She frowned deeply, then relaxed slightly. "That's good… that's good."
The sharp increase in ether concentration and the Hollow's rapid expansion looked almost identical to the sudden spread of Hollow Zero ten years ago. However, as someone who had personally experienced the Fall of the Old Capital, Yixuan could tell that the Lemnian Hollow was still a full order of magnitude weaker than Hollow Zero. Even in the worst-case scenario, New Eridu would not be swallowed.
Even so, Yixuan did not relax her guard. New Eridu might be safe, but if the Lemnian Hollow were allowed to keep expanding, Waifei Peninsula—and even the gates of Yunkui Summit—could still be engulfed by the Hollow.
Vrr— cough cough!
The speedboat surged up onto the beach of Aerospace City and slid forward for some distance.
"We're here!"
Arden jumped off the boat first, then went "ah—ah!" and finished off several low-level Ethereals on the shore with two swift sword strikes.
Ju Fufu and Yixuan disembarked as well, and the three gathered together. The first thing they needed to do was determine their direction.
This was something both Arden and Yixuan were very good at.
Arden walked in the middle, with Ju Fufu and Yixuan following on either side.
"Oh right, Fufu—once we get back, let's go register our marriage, okay?"
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting tense, Arden tried to lighten the mood by boldly planting a flag.
Keeping one's nerves constantly wound tight was exhausting, and it could be detrimental if they ran into a big boss later.
As an aside, Ju Fufu was already old enough. It was just that there had been too many things going on lately, and they hadn't had time to visit the civil affairs office.
"Mm!"
Ju Fufu nodded firmly without the slightest hesitation.
"Yixuan Shifu…"
After planting Fufu's flag, Arden seemed to feel it still wasn't enough. He turned his head toward Yixuan on the other side.
"If you and I both make it back to Yunkui Summit safely, Shifu, how about you fulfill this disciple's wish and marry me?"
Yixuan was instantly speechless.
Is now really the time to be saying things like this? A major crisis is right in front of us, and you're still thinking about—don't tell me your lust-brain kicked in?
Yixuan rolled her eyes at Arden.
"I will… consider it."
Thinking about the trials ahead, Yixuan felt that rejecting him outright at this moment would be unwise, so she gave a vague answer instead.
"Shifu, I'll remember what you said. Don't go back on it afterward!"
Arden flashed a grin like a cat that had just stolen a chicken. This was exactly the response he wanted from Yixuan Shifu.
"Understood. Focus on leading the way."
Unlike Arden, Yixuan appeared very casual, showing none of the gravity one would expect from deciding a lifelong matter.
In Yixuan's view, if the three of them didn't make it back, then agreeing to anything now would be meaningless. If they completed the mission and returned successfully, then celebrating their survival by getting married didn't seem so bad either.
Compared to the catastrophe facing Waifei Peninsula, marriage was nothing more than a trivial matter.
Only by holding firm to one's convictions could one unleash their full potential at critical moments and fight for survival.
Seen that way, agreeing to marry Arden afterward was fine—so be it.
Yes, this is for the future of Waifei Peninsula and for Arden's safety. It's absolutely not because I've fallen for my disciple and want to marry him… right, absolutely not.
Ju Fufu is only eighteen and already… come to think of it, I'm already in my thirties. I've long reached marriageable age—it might be time to consider…
While Yixuan was lost in these scattered thoughts and reassuring herself, Arden was already leading the team deeper into the Lemnian Hollow.
"What is this… what's going on?"
After dealing with another batch of Ethereals, Arden focused his gaze on the surroundings.
As far as the eye could see, there were still many Ethereals, yet none of them attacked the trio. Instead, they were madly surging toward a single location, like locusts madly searching for food.
And the place they were rushing toward matched the direction the trio was heading—the core where ether and miasma were most densely concentrated.
"Shifu, let's recalculate the position…"
At Arden's call, Yixuan did not respond.
"Yixuan Shifu?"
"Huh? Oh!"
Yixuan finally snapped back to her senses and began casting together with Arden to calculate the path ahead.
The result came quickly.
Looking at the outcome displayed on the talisman; Arden's brows twisted into a deep frown.
"It seems… it's near the large Porcelume mine we discovered before. As expected, this is Yi Jing's doing! I should've eliminated him back then to prevent future trouble!"
"Yi Jing? Does he really have the ability to cause something this big?"
Yixuan held a different opinion. She knew this junior brother fairly well—Yi Jing had a bit of cleverness and some petty scheming, but his actual abilities were mediocre. Even if he wanted to, he simply didn't have the capability to pull off something that threatened New Eridu.
"If it's not Yi Jing, then it's… a setup!"
Arden thought of another possibility. "Yi Jing is just a scapegoat they pushed forward. Behind him, there might be another force!"
"The Exaltists!" x3
Yixuan, Arden, and Ju Fufu spoke in unison.
A faction with both the capability and the motive to do something like this—only the Exaltists came to mind.
"But why would they do this?" Ju Fufu raised a new question.
"No idea."
Yixuan shook her head.
"Looks like the only way to find out is to take a look at that large Porcelume mine."
As he spoke, Arden released a talisman, sending the information they had uncovered back to Suibian Temple. Then, without hesitation, he rushed toward the location of the large Porcelume mine.
Since they had been there once before, it wasn't quite familiar territory, but they were able to head straight there. Moreover, the Ethereals were simply swarming toward their destination without deliberately targeting or obstructing the trio. As a result, they didn't waste much time before reaching the outskirts of the large Porcelume mine.
There, they witnessed a bloody massacre.
It wasn't humans being slaughtered—but Ethereals slaughtering one another.
As if drawn by some kind of attraction, the Ethereals were throwing themselves desperately toward the interior of the mine, only to have their path blocked by several super-sized Ethereals guarding the entrance.
"Miasmic Devourer: Avarice!"
The super-sized Ethereals, which looked like massive balls of flesh, were immediately recognized by Yixuan, who had extensive experience fighting Ethereals.
As the saying goes: "At the crossing it lashes its long tongue, frog body with an insect head and a sharp horn, filth covering its crimson shield, bloated belly with short wings soaring red."
Though not quite at the Overlord nor even Notorious level, Miasmic Devourers were extremely troublesome. Not only were they thick-skinned and tough, but despite their fat appearance, they were astonishingly agile.
Just a few of these creatures were enough to block tens of thousands of Ethereals outside the mine. A single meatball charge could wipe out large numbers of them, while the Ethereals' various attacks were completely ignored.
Unless the attacks reached a certain threshold, they couldn't even break through the filthy shields covering their bodies.
===BREAK===
Like the story and want more chapters?
Join and support me by joining my Patreon!
[email protected]/SiRoasa