The sand beneath their feet rose faster and faster, surpassing their insteps and continuing upward. The entire ground tilted over, making them sway unsteadily as they ran. Under normal circumstances, this would naturally be nothing to worry about, but now that they had lost all their Yuanli, and it seemed even their physical strength was being rapidly consumed, running became somewhat difficult.

Gu Baiying reacted extremely quickly. Since the stairs were impassable, he took another small path. Though the hall looked square from the outside, it had many narrow corridors and passages. Gu Baiying tried his best to flee toward higher ground, with Zanxing following behind. Looking back, she could see golden sand continuously pouring in from the depths of the passage under the dim torchlight. Though it was dry and even had bright colors, it appeared particularly ghostly.

It was as if the sand was alive, like snakes relentlessly pursuing them.

At this thought, Zanxing’s steps faltered. She looked down and saw that the yellow sand had unknowingly risen to her calves. When she tried to pull her legs out, her feet seemed to be stuck by some viscous liquid, as if something was pulling her into the center of the yellow sand.

“Master Uncle,” she instinctively called out to the figure ahead: “I don’t think I can get out.”

Gu Baiying whipped around. In the next moment, Zanxing felt her hand being forcefully pulled, her entire body becoming light as Gu Baiying directly lifted her horizontally in his arms and ran forward.

The path beneath their feet remained bumpy and unsteady. His clothing was ice-cold, yet his embrace was warm. Though this was a life-or-death moment, an extremely urgent time, the young man kept his face cold and his steps steady, showing not the slightest trace of panic in his expression, which oddly gave her a sense of security.

Zanxing: “I…”

“Shut up.” He didn’t even glance at the person in his arms as he charged toward the dark passage.

Muffled wind sounds came from behind, seemingly mixed with some strange light noises. They didn’t know how long they ran until Zanxing felt the ground’s tilting gradually stop, and looking back, there was no yellow sand surging up behind them.

Gu Baiying also realized this and stopped.

Zanxing said: “Master Uncle…”

Gu Baiying suddenly let go, and she fell unceremoniously onto the ground with a thud.

Mimi meowed and licked the sand particles on her paws. This cat was quite clever – when Zanxing’s calves were trapped by the sand, it had smoothly climbed onto Gu Baiying’s shoulder, treating him as a human-shaped spirit boat. It was quite something that Gu Baiying managed to carry two burdens without being caught by that strange sand tide.

Thinking of this, Zanxing didn’t bother to complain about his rude behavior.

After getting up from the ground, Zanxing looked around. After that wild scramble, she didn’t know where they were now. The hall where the Serpent Witch placed her altar looked square from the outside, but internally had many narrow passages. They were now at the end of a passage, directly facing a small hall, or rather, a secret chamber. The walls were carved with totems, and gold, silver, and precious stones were casually piled on the ground, like some secret realm from a treasure map.

“There’s no path ahead.” Zanxing murmured, “Master Uncle, how do we find Senior Brother and the others?”

This dead end only had this one secret chamber with no other exits. To reunite with Tian Fangfang and the others, they would have to go back the way they came. But this entire hall was tilting to one side, and they were currently standing at the high point. If they went back and encountered the returning sand tide, they would probably be buried alive in this ghostly place before finding Tian Fangfang and the others.

“There’s something wrong with this place.” Gu Baiying frowned. Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly clutched his left shoulder and hissed in pain.

Zanxing was alarmed: “Master Uncle, your wound!”

She still remembered Gu Baiying’s wound – it was left behind during the standoff with the Golden Flower Tiger in the Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm. Though at the time in the thatched hut, Gu Baiying had already treated the wound himself, and it looked much better, why was this old wound suddenly acting up now?

Zanxing realized something and looked down at her palm. Sure enough, the scrape on her palm from the secret realm’s thatched hut had nearly healed. Before sleeping last night, she had removed the bandage Gu Baiying had wrapped for her, but now, that nearly healed scar had somehow become fierce and ugly again, with burning pain reminding her that this wound had relapsed.

There was something wrong with this place.

“Could it be a curse left by the Serpent Witch Clan, turning all of Wufan City into a product of Mo Sha?” Zanxing was puzzled: “Then what about that dragonfly girl?”

“I always feel it’s not Mo Sha.” Gu Baiying leaned against the wall and sat down, supporting himself with his Embroidered Bone Spear.

He looked somewhat weary.

Zanxing crouched down beside him: “Master Uncle, how are you? Is the wound serious?”

Gu Baiying brushed away her outstretched hand and spoke impatiently: “Mind your own business. This little wound is nothing to me. Worry about yourself instead!”

Zanxing looked at her brushed-away hand and sighed: “Why are you so contrary?”

“What’s contrary about it?”

“You care about people, yet you put on an unapproachable appearance.” Zanxing said, “Just now, when I was almost swept away by the sand, didn’t you choose not to abandon me and flee alone?”

Gu Baiying snorted: “You’re Xuan Lingzi’s direct disciple, a person of the Taiyan Sect, and you call me Master Uncle. I couldn’t just watch a junior die before my eyes.” He emphasized: “Yang Zanxing, I advise you not to overthink, and don’t be presumptuous.”

“What about forcing people to dance with me at the Auspicious Snake Festival?” Zanxing looked at him calmly: “Was that also an elder who couldn’t bear to watch, so he intervened?”

Gu Baiying was stunned and didn’t speak for a moment.

Zanxing lowered her head: “Master Uncle, do you think I’m pitiful, so you privately forced people to invite me to dance?”

“Nonsense, who thinks you’re pitiful?” The young man immediately retorted.

Zanxing smiled and didn’t respond.

When she didn’t speak, the atmosphere fell silent.

Gu Baiying glanced at her and coughed lightly: “The scar on your face… I heard your fiancé broke off the engagement because of it?”

“Yes,” Zanxing admitted frankly, “Not only that, he also mocked me in public together with his new lover.”

Gu Baiying’s handsome brows furrowed: “What trash. Let me tell you, having a scar on your face is nothing. You should cultivate properly, and if anyone points at your face again in the future, just beat them down directly.”

When he said this, he seemed somewhat indignant on her behalf, like someone who felt frustrated by her lack of fighting spirit. Zanxing found it interesting and deliberately moved her face closer to his, pretending to be sorrowful: “Is it really that ugly?”

The woman suddenly came closer. Under the dim firelight, the black scar on her cheek appeared blurred, like a strange and beautiful black flower, while her eyes were like clear springs, deep and shallow, carrying a bright vitality.

He paused, then pushed Zanxing away with one hand, warning: “Don’t get so close to me!”

Zanxing couldn’t help but laugh inwardly, increasingly feeling that this little Master Uncle was truly a paper tiger. She was afraid that if Gu Baiying saw her smile, he would become angry from embarrassment, so she kept her head down. Unexpectedly, this appeared to him as if she was hurt by his earlier action.

The young man uncomfortably turned his head away, softened his tone, and spoke as if nothing had happened: “That little scar-who could tell unless they looked carefully?” After a pause, he added: “I don’t think it’s ugly either.”

Zanxing was stunned and looked up at him.

He sat leaning against the wall. Though his tone seemed casual, his gaze was very serious. Even though they were in a dark secret chamber, even though he was injured and disheveled, at the moment he spoke these words, this person was like the Embroidered Bone Spear beside him – brilliantly radiant and stunningly beautiful.

Zanxing felt her heart skip a little, and it wasn’t a reaction caused by the Xiaoyuan Pearl.

She asked herself: This is the suspension bridge effect, right? It has to be the suspension bridge effect! Although Gu Baiying’s appearance and temperament were indeed her preferred type, in such a crisis-filled moment, when Mo Sha could violently attack at any second, it wasn’t appropriate to think about such romantic matters.

She was truly muddled.

Seeing Zanxing silently looking down on her, Gu Baiying frowned and asked: “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Zanxing came back to her senses and changed the subject: “I was just thinking about how to reunite with senior brother and the others.” She rubbed her aching knees, stood up, and looked toward the passage outside the secret chamber, saying: “This return path isn’t safe either…”

Zanxing’s voice came to an abrupt halt.

When they came, they had fled along the passage to reach this place. The path they came from was a single passage with no forks – Zanxing remembered very clearly. However, what now lay before her was not the dark passage lit only by torches, but an unfamiliar place that looked like a main hall in some residence, with calligraphy and paintings hanging at the front and two rosewood chairs.

“Master Uncle, look…” Zanxing turned around, then froze again.

Behind her was space – Gu Baiying had vanished. In just an instant, he had disappeared into thin air.

The changes didn’t stop there.

The secret chamber that had been casually piled with gold and silver had become a boudoir, apparently a woman’s boudoir. This room also had hanging goose-yellow gauze curtains, with exquisitely embroidered bedding. On the wooden table in front of the dressing mirror, some rouge and powder were casually placed, and on the chair lay a half-embroidered sachet.

What did this mean – some kind of magic door?

Gu Baiying had disappeared, and Mimi had vanished with him. In this place filled with strangeness everywhere, only Zanxing remained alone in an instant. The Xiaoyuan Pearl at her chest showed no reaction. She dared not act rashly, only gripping her Panhua Stick tightly as she surveyed her surroundings.

Could it be an illusion? She pondered, hesitating for a moment before carefully using her Panhua Stick to poke at the half-finished sachet on the chair.

The stick tip touched the sachet – it was soft. The feeling of the sachet was real, not like an illusion.

But what was going on?

Zanxing took two steps forward. Just then, in the deathly silence, footsteps suddenly echoed. These footsteps were exceptionally clear, and someone called: “Zanxing.”

Her heart jumped in alarm. She immediately turned around, then froze in place: “How is it you?”