Chapter 39: Yan Huaixuan Is Injured

Chapter 39: Yan Huaixuan Gets Hurt

As time went by, the gap Yan Huaixuan had opened was shrinking fast.

Shen Lian instantly realized Yan Huaixuan was about to lose his grip too.

When the last person bolted out and the gap was about to shut, Shen Lian shoved Yan Huaixuan aside and dove out without thinking.

He wasn't that full of himself to think Yan Huaixuan came to save him.

That phony Yan Huaixuan was probably just trying to look like a saint in front of the newbies. Since he was saving the newbies anyway, what did it matter if Shen Lian bolted too, right?

But out of nowhere, Yan Huaixuan grabbed his shoulder.

Shen Lian could only watch in despair as the gap sealed shut, trapping him and Yan Huaixuan inside the blood formation.

As the blood demons slowly rose around them again, Shen Lian's eyes went wide. He bit his tongue, tried to hold it in, but finally snapped.

"Yan Huaixuan, what exactly do you want?"

Yan Huaixuan saw the raw disgust in his eyes, a world away from the warm, bright look he used to have.

Yan Huaixuan didn't get why his usually steady, unbothered heart suddenly felt a flicker of annoyance.

He frowned. Wasn't the red thread of fate already cut? So why was Shen Lian still messing with his head?

Yan Huaixuan quietly shoved that weird feeling aside.

He said flatly, "You look a lot more real like this than before."

Shen Lian: "?"

Shen Lian let out a mocking laugh at that. He swept his hair back and smiled faintly. "Mind your own damn business."

With that, Shen Lian spun around and walked off. He already figured Yan Huaixuan was messing with him—letting everyone else go on purpose just to keep him stuck here.

Wasn't this Yan Huaixuan's go-to move?

First dangle a little hope, then toss someone straight into hell. If that was the game, Shen Lian wasn't about to stick around and embarrass himself.

Watching Shen Lian walk off without a second thought, Yan Huaixuan stood there, eyes fixed on his back. His fingers twitched, the warmth of Shen Lian's shoulder still tingling in his palm.

But then, the whole ground started shaking.

All the blood demons melted into pools of blood, and the whole formation started spinning.

Caught off balance, Shen Lian stumbled back a few steps and ended up crashing right into Yan Huaixuan's arms.

Shen Lian: "..."

Before Yan Huaixuan could even speak, Shen Lian was already pissed.

He'd just sworn he was done with Yan Huaixuan, and now he was back in this guy's arms. What the hell was this?

Even though his whole body was screaming in pain, Shen Lian still called out Chen Xue and forced himself to stand steady.

But this time, a brutal wind started picking up inside the blood formation.

Outside the formation, the Tianheng Sect folks gasped, "The blood formation is shifting!"

Zheng Huifeng was frantically scanning the crowd of new disciples for that familiar figure. "Shen Lian?"

But no—Shen Lian was nowhere to be seen.

One of the survivors, still shaking off the horror of the fight, managed to choke out, "He's still in there with Immortal Master Yan."

Zheng Huifeng's eyes nearly popped out of his head in fury.

Shen Lian could feel something was off too. The raging wind was almost knocking him off his feet.

He gritted his teeth and tried to shield himself with whatever little power he had left. But the next second, his body went weightless.

He froze, then looked up to see someone standing in front of him, blocking out all the brutal wind.

Shen Lian's vision went black, and he blacked out.

Right before he passed out, a flicker of disgust flashed through his eyes.

He... was really this pathetic.

Yan Huaixuan's brow furrowed slightly too.

Ling Yun's voice turned serious. "Master, this formation feels off."

At first they'd figured it was just some Evil Cultivator messing with them, but now Ling Yun had picked up an incredibly thick aura of yin-cold energy.

"Break the formation first," Yan Huaixuan said, holding Shen Lian up with one hand and forming hand seals in front of his face with the other.

Yan Huaixuan's eyes snapped open, his cold, lifeless pupils turning silver-white in an instant.

"Break."

The moment the words left his mouth.

Ling Yun hummed and vibrated in front of him—one became two, two became three, three became everything.

Countless swords fanned out behind Yan Huaixuan like a holy halo, then crashed toward the blood formation in a tidal wave.

Outside, everyone was losing their minds with worry. Even the Tianheng Sect elders were hesitating.

Yan Huaixuan was the Main Sect's prized genius. If he died here, that would be...

But right then, the blood formation just vanished.

All that was left was a patch of scorched ground, with every trace of blood wiped clean.

The last thing they saw was those countless swords, packed with world-shattering power, blasting through the blood formation and vanishing into the sky.

When Shen Lian woke up, his whole body was screaming in agony. He rubbed his head, only to realize the clear sky above had gone a dull, gloomy gray.

A blood-red moon was hanging in the sky.

Shen Lian sat up at once, his first instinct to grab for Chen Xue.

Luckily, Chen Xue was right there next to him.

Chen Xue was just as drained. "Master, looks like we've ended up in demon territory."

Hearing that, Shen Lian gritted his teeth. Every single time he crossed paths with Yan Huaixuan, nothing good ever came of it.

Just as he was mulling it over, Shen Lian suddenly remembered something.

Wait, where was Yan Huaixuan?

He turned around and saw the man meditating not far away.

But Yan Huaixuan seemed off—his long black hair had turned completely silver, and his body was covered in bloodstains, a stark, jarring sight against his white robe.

In Shen Lian's memory, this was nearly unthinkable.

Yan Huaixuan was always spotless; the current situation could only mean one thing—Yan Huaixuan was injured.

Chen Xue let out a confused "huh?"

Shen Lian: "What's wrong?"

Chen Xue stared at Yan Huaixuan's face, dazed, "I don't know why, but I feel..."

It paused, then shook its head, "Never mind, it's nothing."

Shen Lian didn't think much of it. He picked up Chen Xue, eyes narrowing.

"Yan Huaixuan."

No answer.

Shen Lian slowly tightened his grip on Chen Xue, approaching Yan Huaixuan with a blank expression.

Still no response from Yan Huaixuan.

A cold glint flashed in Shen Lian's eyes as he thrust Chen Xue forward.

But before he could get close, Yan Huaixuan lifted a single finger.

Shen Lian's sword went flying, and Shen Lian himself stumbled back, only stopping after he jammed the blade into the dirt.

Yan Huaixuan slowly opened his eyes, and Shen Lian noticed that his eyes had also turned silver-gray.

There was something weirdly off about Yan Huaixuan now.

Seeing his assassination attempt had failed, Shen Lian sneered and turned to leave.

Demons or monsters, whatever—as long as he wasn't near Yan Huaixuan, he was fine.

Yan Huaixuan said calmly, "You're inside a barrier I set up, so the demons outside won't detect us."

"Demons hate cultivators more than anything; if they found one, they'd skin them alive and rip out their guts."

Shen Lian: "Quit the act."

He stepped out and immediately spotted a demon roaming the wasteland in the distance—its body covered in scales and hideous sores, with a human body but a grotesque bull's head.

Shen Lian: "..."

He quickly stepped back inside.

Death or survival—Shen Lian knew which one to pick.

But he didn't turn around—he didn't need to, knowing Yan Huaixuan must be wearing a mocking smirk.

But Shen Lian waited and waited, and still Yan Huaixuan said nothing.

Shen Lian blinked, startled. He slowly turned and saw Yan Huaixuan had gone back to meditating, silent as ever.

Light began to swirl around Yan Huaixuan, making his silver-haired form look like some kind of immortal.

Since he couldn't leave anyway, Shen Lian sat down too, meditating to recover.

"Chen Xue, what cultivation level do you think Yan Huaixuan's at now?"

Chen Xue shook its head, "I can't read him, but a year ago he was at Void Insight; by now, he should be at Tribulation Transcendence, right?"

Tribulation Transcendence—way out of Shen Lian's league.

Shen Lian took a deep breath, pushing down that weird feeling, and started circulating his spiritual energy.

He didn't notice Yan Huaixuan slowly open his eyes, glance at him, then close them again.

Yan Huaixuan meditated like that for about seven days, and Shen Lian would've starved if not for his small stash of fasting pills.

He'd snuck out once; outside was a barren forest crawling with demons.

Chen Xue told him demons were also ranked into different tiers.