Chapter 1072: Unbroken Past Forty-One

Screams, roars, and shrieks were incessant. Swords and claws clashed; divine light and ghostly flames vied for dominance.

The battle between the two sides on the battlefield was extremely fierce. However, She Ji and Sun Yiqiu found themselves in a highly awkward and precarious situation, essentially caught between two warring factions. She Ji protected Sun Yiqiu, maneuvering and struggling to break through the front lines.

A strong, foul stench mingled with the murky yin energy, almost completely depleting the already sparse spiritual energy of the underworld. This caused She Ji extreme nausea. Despite her severely depleted body, she had to endure the revulsion and inhale the burning aura, which provided very little spiritual replenishment.

Her body grew heavier, and her consciousness became hazy. The next moment, a shadow enveloped both She Ji and Sun Yiqiu.

A one-horned monster came flying backward, striking them both as She Ji's pupils dilated. It carried them, slamming them hard against the side of a mountain.

"Bang."

Debris accompanied the three as they crashed into an empty cavity within the mountain. She Ji and Sun Yiqiu were thrown clear, realizing that the one-horned monster was only half a body.

As the mountain shattered, the monstrous half-ghost, half-fiend's foul blood splattered onto Sun Yiqiu. The spiritual talisman, already almost devoid of power, did not light up. Drenched in the corrupted blood, Sun Yiqiu, whose soul-body was already fading in consciousness, immediately cried out in agony.

"Ah—"

She Ji, also disoriented, heard Sun Yiqiu's scream. She struggled to push the monster off her and rushed to Sun Yiqiu, striking him hard with her palm.

With a resonant impact, Sun Yiqiu's soul-body only trembled slightly, and a large amount of foul blood was shaken off. However, Sun Yiqiu's pain did not diminish at all; his soul-body clawed at itself. The tainted blood adhering to his surface burned and permeated him, like maggots clinging to bone.

"Roar! Give it to me! Let me eat..."

Astonishingly, the half-bodied, one-horned monster was still alive and now scuttled rapidly towards them.

She Ji fiercely kicked the loose rocks on the ground; they flew like cannonballs towards the monster. As the collision sounds rang out, She Ji forcefully gathered her spiritual energy, then slammed her hand against her chest. She formed a misty spiritual shield around Sun Yiqiu, then picked him up and rushed deeper into the mountain cavity.

Given her current state, She Ji could not eliminate this type of monster quickly and couldn't afford to waste time here.

She Ji dodged and moved forward through the mountain, holding Sun Yiqiu. Behind them, the sounds of crumbling rock and roars constantly echoed, gradually fading into the distance as time passed.

She Ji was burning with anxiety, checking Sun Yiqiu's condition as she fled.

"Young Master Sun, Young Master Sun, Sun Yiqiu!"

She Ji touched the tip of her right index finger with her right thumb, then squeezed her fingers, dripping blood onto Sun Yiqiu's soul-body. As the blood fell, it "splashed" faintly with a five-colored halo, and Sun Yiqiu's pain seemed to lessen considerably.

"Just hold on, keep holding on. You'll be alright, you'll be alright!"

The mountain cavity was extremely deep, winding forward and downward. It was an exceptionally rare underground river channel in the underworld, but the chilling yin energy of the waterway was excessively intense. Sun Yiqiu trembled more and more violently, and even She Ji felt a biting cold. She knew that neither of them could endure it for long.

After an unknown amount of time, She Ji felt they must be far from the chaotic battlefield. She carried Sun Yiqiu out of the waterway and moved through narrow crevices. When they encountered obstacles, she shattered rocks to advance. However, compared to fleeing outside, it seemed safer underground, so She Ji was not in a hurry to exit.

After roughly half a day of fleeing, She Ji finally stopped with Sun Yiqiu at a rock fault.

She Ji stopped the bleeding from her right hand. A wave of exhaustion, akin to collapse, washed over her, causing her to brace herself with her left hand and slump to the ground. However, her right hand still held Sun Yiqiu, carefully placing him on her lap.

She Ji exhaled a mist of spiritual energy that emitted a faint glow, illuminating the previously dark, confined space.

"Young Master Sun, how are you feeling?"

Sun Yiqiu was currently in great pain, sometimes feeling as if he were burning, other times as if countless ants were gnawing at him. Yet, he witnessed everything She Ji did, and despite his limited experience, he understood her sacrifice. So, even with a slightly twisted expression, he endured the agony and tried his best to answer clearly.

"I'm fine, I feel much better..."

She Ji knew Sun Yiqiu was putting on a brave face, but she still felt a slight sense of relief.

"Don't worry, Young Master. I will protect you until we escape. Let's rest here for a bit longer."

"Just call me Yiqiu. We've known each other for quite a while now, haven't we? Should I call you She... uh, Ah Ji?"

As he spoke, Sun Yiqiu looked up at the woman's bowed face and managed a smile, which in turn brought a smile to She Ji's face.

"No one calls a young lady by such an unpleasant name! Actually, I once gave myself the name She Ruoruo. I've never told anyone that in all these years. You can call me Ruoruo."

Sun Yiqiu was somewhat surprised that She Ji had such a delicate-sounding name.

"It sounds very delicate, doesn't it? Have you heard of Lady White? She's the demon immortal I admire most. I aspire to experience a love like hers. Ruoruo—Lady White's real name is Bai Ruo, so Ruoruo means 'like Bai Ruo.' And it's not bad-sounding, is it?"

"It's very nice, much better than She Ji."

"Mm!"

Sun Yiqiu's expression changed, and the pain intensified. His soul-body felt terribly cold, even colder than when he was protected by the spiritual talisman beneath the Yellow Springs. He began to shiver. She Ji quickly leaned down and wrapped him more tightly.

The warm, soft touch against him seemed to significantly alleviate Sun Yiqiu's pain. Remembering all his past dreams and everything he had experienced after death, he suddenly felt that his life had been worthwhile. He had previously lamented his misfortunes, but now he felt they weren't as exaggerated as he'd thought.

"Gu... Ruoruo."

"Mm."

She Ji responded very softly. Even in their current situation, the intimate address and the unfamiliar feeling made her face flush slightly.

"If—I mean, *if*—I can't hold on, you must escape if you get the chance. I know you're very strong. Without me, this burden, you can definitely..."

She Ji reached out and pressed her hand over Sun Yiqiu's cold, spiritual lips, revealing a smiling face.

"You won't die."

"Uh, I'm already dead..."

"Pfft, you're right!"

She Ji was physically exhausted and in pain, but she felt incredibly happy inside, happier than ever before. If her previous feelings for "love" were a mixture of half-understood affection and desire, strong obsession and longing, and guilt towards the Sun clan, then now she seemed to understand genuine love.

However, She Ji now also looked up, frowning at the distant depths of the cavern, from which faint roars could be heard.

That bothersome monster was incredibly persistent. In the past, She Ji would have been confident she could easily dispatch it, but now, she had no choice but to leave with Sun Yiqiu.

"Yiqiu, we've rested enough. We need to go. Immortal Hu must be looking for us too."

Sun Yiqiu merely nodded weakly. She Ji then lifted him from the ground, and they continued forward, but this time, the cavern they chose quickly reached a dead end.

She Ji didn't want to turn back. Her left hand, like a blade, carved a path as she forcibly performed "Earth Escape" through the underworld with Sun Yiqiu. Dark earth and shattered rocks fell away. She Ji dared not relax for a moment, pushing through with every ounce of strength, constantly breaking new ground.

About fifteen minutes later.

With a "bang," She Ji and Sun Yiqiu suddenly felt their bodies drop. They burst out from the side of a small hill, accompanied by mud and gravel, and rapidly fell.

Sun Yiqiu's soul-body tumbled down the hillside with She Ji, then they rolled together to the bottom of the hill.

The underworld's terrain was different, after all. Even as a ghost, Sun Yiqiu was still left disoriented by the fall. But he quickly realized something and struggled to get his soul-body up, looking at She Ji beside him. She had her eyes closed and wasn't moving.

Just as Sun Yiqiu grew panicked, the spiritual talisman in his embrace, which had been silent for so long, suddenly ignited, then transformed into a final wisp of spiritual light that ascended into the air.

The next moment, a streak of light in the distance approached rapidly, soon reaching the sky above.

Hu Yun, who was nearly frantic with worry, felt his heart pound when he saw the spiritual light. He quickly channeled all his magic to fly over, and just as the light vanished, he finally spotted the two figures at the hollow of the small hill.

Sun Yiqiu stared blankly at the sky. As the halo faded, he clearly saw the person hovering above.

'Is that her?'

Upon seeing that it was Hu Yun, Sun Yiqiu immediately realized that he must be there to help and understood that this was the "Immortal Hu." Then, he suddenly realized something else and quickly shouted skyward.

"Immortal! Immortal! Quick, save Ruoruo! Immortal, Ruoruo, the Immortal is here! Wake up, the Immortal is here!"

She Ji had undergone a brief faint but was now actually conscious. She opened her eyes, revealing a faint smile.

"Why are you shouting? I'm fine, just trying to scare you..."

Hu Yun awkwardly froze in mid-air, looking at the two figures embracing below. They were indeed in an unusually terrible and disheveled state. But why did he feel so superfluous at this moment?

As Sun Yiqiu and She Ji looked up at the sky again, Hu Yun had already arrived beside them. He took out two dates, then with a gentle application of power, the dates transformed into two streams of red mist that permeated She Ji's and Sun Yiqiu's bodies respectively.

Only then did She Ji and Sun Yiqiu's gazes find Hu Yun again. He looked at Sun Yiqiu, then at She Ji, and once both their gazes returned to him, Hu Yun's eyes rested on She Ji.

"Ruoruo?"

It was unclear if the effects of the fire dates were instantaneous, but She Ji's originally pale face suddenly flushed pink.

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