Rustle~
At the same time Xuan Hao was trying to figure out a way to cross the large body of water between him and the mountain range, the exhausted figures of Qing Yi and Chu Yang crawled out from a small hole in the ground. Even then, it was still obvious that the aura around both of them had undergone a significant change, with both of them having made significant improvements in their cultivation over the short time since they had been forced underground by the strange rise in temperature a little over a week earlier.
Chu Yang going from the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm to the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, while Qing Yi had not only managed to break through to the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, but even looked like she was about to reach the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm as well.
However, from their exhausted figures, it was also obvious that this rapid improvement did not come easily.
Thump~
"Finally, back to the surface again! I never want to go back underground ever again!" Flopping on to the ground covered in a soft layer of grass, Qing Yi didn't bother waiting for a response as she closed both of her eyes and fell asleep on the spot. Considering that she was someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, the fact that she was exhausted enough to fall asleep on the spot meant that she had overdrawn her own energy far beyond her own limits.
Although this wouldn't result in any permanent damage to her soul, it still meant that she would enter a deep sleep that she wouldn't be able to wake up from for a few days or longer depending on how exhausted her soul was.
Even if sleeping was a good way to recover energy for normal mortals and help speed up their healing process to some extent, the same could not be said for cultivators. Although it was still helpful to some degree, the process of recovery took far longer than meditation.
"Looks like she couldn't hold on any longer…" Looking at the already sleeping Qing Yi from the side, Chu Yang muttered this to himself as he remembered what they had gone through over since falling into the massive underground river that swept them deeper underground.
At first, everything had been fine, and they had spent a little over a day being pulled along by the current before they encountered their first demon beast in the turbulent underground river, a large fish demon beast. Although this demon beast was only in the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, weaker than both of them, it was impossible for them to fight it, as it could move around freely in the river unlike them.
Because of this, they ended up spending the next two days desperately trying to fight off the constant attacks of the fish that would attack the moment they let their guard down before escaping the moment they tried attacking it.
In the end, Qing Yi managed to fool the fish demon beast by pretending to have run out of energy to fight back. Killing it the moment it tried to go in for the final attack. However, this did not come without cost, as Qing Yi ended up getting injured in the process.
After this, they ended up attracting more fish demon beast and with no end in sight, it looked like they wouldn't be able to escape the turbulent underground river alive, that was, until that thing appeared…
A large snake-like creature half the size of the massive underground river that they were trapped inside of!
Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he thought about the giant snake-like creature, Chu Yang could not help feeling thankful for the talismans that their master had given to them before they made their way inside the mystic realm. If he hadn't managed to activate one of the talismans when the snake was about to swallow them along with the different fish demon beasts attack them, he was certain that he and his senior sister wouldn't have been able to make it out of the underground river alive…
"But… I wonder just how strong master is…" Whispering this to himself as he glanced down at his interspatial ring where the last talisman given by his master was stored, Chu Yang remembered the large sword that appeared in front of them the moment he activated the talisman and how the snake-like creature fearfully tried escaping to no avail as the giant sword slashed down towards it, killing any of the smaller fish demon beast that had yet to get swallowed before slashing it in half.
Not only that, but the sword had even slashed apart the large underground river. Opening up a path to several different underground cave systems running along the side of the river that they had been unable to find out about before due to the constant attacks from the different fish demon beasts.
Having no time to even think about how the large snake-like demon beast that should have reached the Later Stages of the Domain Lord Realm had been killed with such ease back then, they both used all of their remaining energy to escape from the turbulent underground river as fast as possible. Not daring to risk staying inside the underground river for even a second longer now that they finally had a path out of it.
Even if there should be far more demon beasts present inside the underground cave systems, they would at the very least be able to fight back against them. Far better compared to the constant harassment of the different fish demon beasts inside the turbulent river.
At least, this was what both of them had thought at first…
In the end, both of them ended up locked in a constant state of battle over the next five days, as they used up all of the talismans their master had left them except one to fight their way back up to the surface again.
The intense and constant pressure that both of them had been under during these five days was what caused their cultivation to improve rapidly, Qing Yi being the one who improved the most, as she was far less experienced when it came to the constant battle. Resulting in her current cultivation being on the cusp of reaching the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Compared to their first time underground and their encounter with the mole demon beast, it was only now that both of them managed to understand just how dangerous the underground world of the mystic realm was.
In a sense, their first journey into the underground world of the mystic realm could be considered a walk in the park without any real threat to their life. The complete opposite of their second time, where they both realized that there was a very real chance that the talismans of their master would run out and they would end up dying inside the mystic realm…!
Shaking his head as he thought about how they had just barely managed to escape alive, Chu Yang sat on the ground before starting to meditate with the purpose of recovering from his current exhausted state as fast as possible. Understanding very well how dangerous it was for both of them now that they had no energy left to defend themselves against the different demon beast lurking around the surface of the mystic realm.
At the very least, they had been lucky enough to end up on a location that didn't have any powerful demon beasts nearby, while they could use their Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base to intimidate some of the weaker demon beasts.
Well… Considering Qing Yi's current state, it looked like he would be the only person capable of doing anything in case they ended up encountering a demon beast-
Roar!
And to make matters worse, it hadn't even been a few minutes before the first demon beast appeared. Although only at the Seventh Stage of the Core Formation Realm, it still ended up forcing Chu Yang out of his meditation to deal with it.
Roar!
"This is going to become annoying…" Hearing another demon beast roar not too far away after he finished dealing with the first, Chu Yang could not stop a silent sigh filled with exhaustion from escaping his lips. Even if the demon beasts attacking them weren't stronger than the Core Formation Realm so far, if they continued attacking before he had a chance to recover, he might end up becoming too exhausted to even use his aura to intimidate them!
Boom!
At least that time was still a bit off, as Chu Yang used his aura to cover the area around him-
R-Roar…
Scaring away any of the nearby demon beasts who had been approaching them in the process. Buying himself some precious time to recover without having to worry about being ambushed by some random Core Formation Realm or Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast in the process.