Volume 11, Chapter 727 – Cheng Hongling’s Escape Route (Part 1)

Cheng Hongling slowly opened her beautiful eyes in a daze, only to see a strange room before her, shrouded in deathly silence.

She was stunned for but a moment before realizing her situation. At once, she reached out her delicate hand and touched her clothes. Once she confirmed that nothing had happened, her figure vanished from where she was, darting straight for the door.

The reason Cheng Hongling acted so decisively was that she understood Qi Huang’s current plight. He was already standing at the edge of a cliff. If he were further delayed because of her, then truly, all would be lost.

Crack!

Her Divine Sense easily shattered the door, and she shot out like lightning, only to be greeted by the sight of a vast cavern.

‘This house is actually built inside a cave?’

A look of astonishment flickered across Cheng Hongling’s face, but her attention was quickly drawn to the faint layer of Divine Sense shielding that enveloped the inner walls of the cavern. Clearly, this was set up deliberately to prevent her from escaping.

Cheng Hongling immediately tried to bombard the barrier with her Divine Sense. Yet to her surprise, it was unnaturally resilient. It was as if she were a mayfly shaking a great tree, she could not budge it in the slightest.

She thought carefully, then began unleashing her Killing Intent. That was the nemesis of Divine Sense, a force that could overwhelm even those above her.

Her Killing Intent surged violently out of her body, slamming against the shield with no restraint.

BOOM…!

The barrier indeed rippled with visible waves, but that was all.

‘This Divine Sense barrier is at least as strong as the Heavenly Tribulation Realm…’

Her heart went cold. She knew she absolutely could not break through a Heavenly Tribulation barrier with her own power.

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Just then, several guards at the cavern entrance were alerted and turned to look inside.

“She’s awake! I’ll go report to the Sect Leader!”

One disciple shouted, then hurried off.

“Sect Leader?”

Hearing this, Cheng Hongling grew even more anxious. If it was truly the Sect Leader, then his strength must be terrifying. He could very well be the one who had captured her in the first place. She could not afford another second of delay.

‘But do I still have a weapon stronger than this?’

She fell into thought, then her eyes lit up. She recalled the shriveled “heart” fragment Qi Huang had given her. That thing was obtained during the battle against the corpse-spider in the Kapok Valley Treasure Land. It could withstand even late Heavenly Tribulation Divine Sense strikes.

‘With this, combined with my Killing Intent, I should be able to pierce through this barrier.’

With that in mind, Cheng Hongling surged her Killing Intent toward the barrier at the cavern mouth, while at the same time she guided the heart fragment with her Divine Sense, smashing it into the same spot.

BOOM…!

The barrier shuddered under the assault. The fragment struck immediately after—

Crack!

Miraculously, the “heart” fragment carved a hole straight through the Heavenly Tribulation-level shield.

Overjoyed, Cheng Hongling darted through the opening like lightning.

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“Stop her!”

The guards nearby cried out in shock and rushed to block her.

Without even sparing them a glance, Cheng Hongling manipulated the heart fragment. Like a flying dagger, it sliced across the throats of the guards with deadly precision.

Emerging from the cavern, she discovered herself in an even larger hollow. Its walls were riddled with countless tunnels, none of which clearly indicated a way to the outside.

She extended her Divine Sense, searching for an exit… but just then, a burly figure rushed toward her at tremendous speed, fast enough to rival her Dancing Butterfly Movement Technique at full force.

Cheng Hongling dared not be distracted. She sent the heart fragment streaking toward the figure.

Whoosh!

The fragment tore through the air with a piercing shriek, its surface igniting sparks from friction.

“Break!”

The man roared, raising a massive blade to hack down at the fragment.

Clang!

Steel clashed against something harder. Contrary to expectation, the fragment sliced clean through the heavy weapon, shearing it apart, and hurtled on toward the man himself.

His face filled with shock, but his reflexes were extraordinary. At the last instant, he tilted his head aside to avoid a fatal strike, and in the same motion hurled his short blade toward Cheng Hongling.

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His raw strength was monstrous. The broken blade flew almost as fast as the fragment, stirring a violent gust that swept dust from the ground.

Cheng Hongling, as a cultivator, would never try to block such force head-on. She flickered aside with the Dancing Butterfly Movement, narrowly evading the weapon.

BOOM…!

The massive blade missed her by a hair, then crashed into the cavern wall. Stone exploded, leaving a vast crater.

Knowing she could not defeat him in a head-on fight, Cheng Hongling recalled the fragment and dove into a nearby tunnel.

“Stop!”

The man roared again, chasing after her in fury. Killing Intent surged from his body like a flood, sweeping toward her.

Yet Cheng Hongling was unmoved. She let the Killing Intent wash over her. She had an innate resistance to it, and with her Essence Soul left safeguarded at home, she was essentially immune.

The man’s rage boiled over. His muscles bulged grotesquely, turning him into a rampaging beast that tore through the tunnels, stone walls collapsing as if made of paper.

But no matter how fast he was, he still had only two legs. For now, he could not catch up to Cheng Hongling.

She breathed a little easier and scanned her surroundings with Divine Sense. To her dismay, she realized she was within a vast underground labyrinth.

Above lay a massive open-pit mine nearly ten miles across, long abandoned. Yet the walls remained full of branching tunnels that stretched in every direction, interwoven into an endless web spanning a hundred miles. It was a dizzying maze.

An ordinary person could spend a lifetime here without ever finding the way out.

But Cheng Hongling was not ordinary. With Divine Sense as her guide, she would not lose her way. The true problem was that she was trapped deep at the lowest level. The way up was tightly guarded, with watchposts every few steps, and mechanisms beyond counting. Escaping would be anything but easy.

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Still, she refused to resign herself. She charged upward without hesitation. She had to return for Qi Huang’s sake. Her own safety was of no concern.

Her resolve was clear. She did not waste time battling guards. Most were weaker than her, those strong enough to threaten her could not catch up, and so they were no real hindrance. The only challenge lay in the endless traps, but with the heart fragment clearing the path, she pressed forward.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man behind her grew more anxious. As he chased, he pulled out a Thousand-Mile Communication Tube and barked orders.

“Station on the thirteenth underground level, activate the Kan Position mechanism! Hurry and activate it!”

‘A mechanism?’

The words set her on edge. The ordinary traps were always running. If these required direct command to activate, then they must be far more dangerous.

When she reached the thirteenth level and the Kan position, she suddenly saw a strange green mist seeping toward her through the tunnel, carrying a sharp, acrid odor.

“Heh! Run, go on! Let’s see where you’ll run now. That mist is pure poison. Touch it and you die, breathe it in and you’re crippled!”

The middle-aged man’s mocking laughter followed close behind.

“Poison?”

Cheng Hongling’s rosy lips curved faintly. She circulated her Water True Qi, forming a protective shield around herself, and plunged directly into the poison cloud. Ever since mastering the Water Exquisite Art, she had become impervious to all toxins.

“Uh…”

The man stared, dumbstruck. Worry crept into his eyes. The Sect Leader had ordered him to guard her without fail. If she died here, how could he possibly explain himself?