Chapter Ninety-Two: Don't Misunderstand

A voice transmission?

Xu Zhe was shocked at once.

This time, he was certain: there was a real, living person asking him for help.

Had they seen him when he had just appeared at the mouth of the cave?

His divine sense had remained fully spread, and he could clearly tell that the transmission came from below the abyss, accompanied by a faint ripple of divine sense. It was so weak that it seemed the sender was already at the very end of her rope.

If not for his appearance, she likely would not even have dared to expend what little divine sense she had left.

“Who are you?” Xu Zhe returned to the edge of the cave and asked through voice transmission.

Following that faint trace of divine sense, he swept his gaze down into the abyss and soon saw, on the cliff wall opposite, another narrow cave.

Its entrance was extremely well hidden, and it was very close to the mass of hibernating gold-devouring ants. Without careful scrutiny, one would never notice that a figure was seated there.

Though he could not make out her face, her outline made it easy to tell that she was a woman of slender build.

He still could not discern her cultivation realm, apparently because she was too weak; there was not the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy anywhere in her body.

“I... I’m Gu Jiaer. Save... save me,” came the halting reply. Her divine sense was clearly about to fail as well.

Xu Zhe was not in a hurry to rescue her. After all, that dense swarm of gold-devouring ants below was far too dangerous!

Xu Zhe was a man who knew his own limits. True, he could take on five hundred peak Nascent Soul cultivators alone, but there were nearly a hundred million of these ants. How was he supposed to fight them?

But... why did the name Gu Jiaer sound a little familiar?

Xu Zhe frowned slightly, yet no matter how he thought about it, he could not remember whether he had ever had a classmate by that name.

He took out a small notebook from his storage ring, leaned back against the stone wall at the cave entrance, rubbed the tip of his tongue with his finger, and began flipping through the pages.

The first three pages recorded ninety-nine names.

All of his classmates, including students from other majors at the same school, had their names written there.

Only...

“Are you one of the hundred chosen prodigies?” Xu Zhe asked through voice transmission.

After a long silence, the other side replied in a feeble voice, “Yes.”

“Oh, I knew it. That name did ring a bell.”

Xu Zhe suddenly understood. He took out a pen, crossed out the words “Flight Attendant A” on the page, and replaced them with Gu Jiaer.

As for the later “Flight Attendant B,” “Flight Attendant C,” and “Flight Attendant D,” Xu Zhe thoughtfully decided, given Gu Jiaer’s current weakness, not to ask any of those unimportant questions for the moment.

“Save... me,” the other party transmitted again with great effort.

Xu Zhe understood her feelings very well, but how was he supposed to save her?

That swarm of gold-devouring ants was extremely sensitive to spiritual energy. If he used any spell to rescue her, there would definitely be a surge of spiritual energy, and there was no telling whether it would wake them.

By then, not only would he fail to save her, he might be dragged down with her.

“Is there a way out behind you? How about I put some spirit stones and pills into my storage ring and toss it over? You can find a safe place to recover first, then come out on your own,” Xu Zhe asked.

“Behind me... there’s only poisonous mist. I... I can’t get out,” Gu Jiaer transmitted.

“The Pure Yang Gold Mist, right? It’s fine. I can give you a cultivation formula; practice it and you should be able to hold it off for a few hours,” Xu Zhe said, already beginning to prepare the storage ring.

“I... I... can’t move,” Gu Jiaer replied in despair.

It seemed she had already realized that Xu Zhe had no intention of coming over to save her personally.

Xu Zhe felt somewhat helpless at her words. If she could not even move, then no matter how many things he gave her, it would be useless. At the very least, she had to be able to shift to a safer place before taking any pills.

Otherwise, if she stayed too close to the gold-devouring ants, the pills and spirit stones would only wake them.

“Gu Jiaer, I have some bad news. I can’t think of any way to save you. I hope you can understand,” Xu Zhe said calmly.

If there had been a way to save her, he would have tried.

But if there was no way, then there was nothing to be done. There was no need to feel indebted to her, nor guilty.

“...”

After hearing this, Gu Jiaer fell silent once more.

Xu Zhe remained where he was, quietly watching her blurred silhouette.

Only after some time did Gu Jiaer slowly reply, “All right... thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m leaving now,” Xu Zhe said with a sigh, genuinely regretful.

If he had a body stronger than the Overlord Body, and if his cultivation had reached the Body Integration stage, he might have been able to force a round of combat against that swarm of gold-devouring ants.

Unfortunately, he was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

What was more, Gu Jiaer’s condition was far from good. She likely would not last many more days before she truly ran out of energy and passed from the world.

“W-wait.”

Just as Xu Zhe turned to leave, Gu Jiaer’s voice came again, faintly carrying a trace of pleading.

“What is it?” Xu Zhe asked.

“Stay... stay and talk to me for a bit.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that. Your divine sense is nearly exhausted. If you keep transmitting, you probably won’t make it through today,” Xu Zhe said, shaking his head as he politely declined her request for conversation.

“It... it doesn’t matter. I’ve been trapped for three hundred years. I... I want to know what the outside world is like now,” Gu Jiaer’s faint, powerless voice echoed in Xu Zhe’s ears.

Xu Zhe thought for a moment, then said lightly, “The world outside isn’t all that wonderful. There are a lot of bad people.”

“Y-yes... that’s true, haha. Then... have the last three prodigies all awakened?”

“They have. But one of them, Qi Ming, died recently.”

“And... and the very handsome one? I... I remember his name was Xu Zhe.”

“Yes, I’m right here.”

“...”

Gu Jiaer fell into silence again, with no response for a long time.

Xu Zhe blinked. For a moment, he almost thought she had talked herself to death, but in his divine sense, she still had a faint trace of life.

“You... you are Xu Zhe?” Gu Jiaer’s tone was plainly shocked, disbelieving.

“That’s right, it’s me.”

“...”

Gu Jiaer fell silent again.

Xu Zhe could not quite understand it. Why did she go quiet every time his name came up? Was this flight attendant so shy?

“By the way, how did you end up trapped here?” Xu Zhe decided to take the initiative and change the subject, while also asking the question that had been bothering him.

This place was so dangerous. How had Gu Jiaer been trapped here for so many years?

Three hundred years?

Wait. Wasn’t that the same length of time since Wang Jianguo disappeared?

Xu Zhe suddenly realized something and pressed further. “Did you enter Immortal Burial Valley with Wang Jianguo?”

“Yes... back then, thirteen of us went together,” Gu Jiaer replied, then asked, “Did they make it back?”

“Wang Jianguo went missing. I don’t know about the others. Besides you and Wang Jianguo, who were the other eleven?”

“You... you don’t know about this?” Gu Jiaer’s voice again carried a hint of surprise.

Xu Zhe shook his head. Just as he was about to answer, his expression abruptly changed.

Down in the abyss, one of the gold-devouring ants suddenly twitched, as if awakening.

If one woke up, the others would surely be disturbed in turn. By then, that whole swarm...

Xu Zhe immediately transmitted, “Gu Jiaer, the gold-devouring ants are waking up. I have to go. I’m sorry, but I can’t save you.”

“Go... go quickly,” Gu Jiaer’s weak voice came at once.

“I’m sorry.”

Without hesitation, Xu Zhe turned and sped back along the same path.

Life and death are the common lot of mankind.

He truly had no way to rescue Gu Jiaer. To be precise, he could rescue her, but that would immediately alarm the gold-devouring ants.

Those ants were adept at flight and swift as lightning. With his current strength, if he took Gu Jiaer with him, he would probably be caught in no time.

So there really was no way to save her.

Even now, he had to take advantage of the fact that the gold-devouring ants had not fully awakened and get as far away from this area as possible. Otherwise, if he were discovered later, the only option would be to leave Immortal Burial Valley.

Whoosh!

He did not use much spiritual energy, relying mostly on physical strength. His whole body turned into a blur as he swiftly crossed the abandoned village.

But when he passed the palace, Xu Zhe looked again toward the crystal coffin.

...

His brows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and a thought emerged in his mind, though he hesitated.

Forget it. Let’s try it!

Xu Zhe stopped abruptly, turned around, and rushed back into the palace, placing one hand on the crystal coffin.

The coffin gave no reaction. Instead, the bronze flying sword hidden in his sleeve trembled slightly.

“I don’t mean to disturb you, but... I need to borrow your help for a while and take shelter here temporarily,” Xu Zhe said sincerely. At the same time, he exerted force with his arm and easily slid the coffin lid open.

The crystal coffin still remained motionless, as though it possessed no intelligence.

Yet Xu Zhe understood clearly that it either did not wish to pay him any mind, or was tacitly permitting him to do this.

He had no time to think further and immediately called out a thanks before turning around and swiftly racing back toward the village.

Not long after, he returned once more to the cave entrance.

The gold-devouring ants below still showed no movement, but the one that had twitched earlier was now slowly unfolding a pair of wings.

Gold-devouring ants had six wings in total. With its two wings spread now, it was almost at the brink of full awakening.

“Y-you came back?” Gu Jiaer asked in astonishment.

“I have good news for you. I’ve found a way to save you.”

As soon as Xu Zhe finished speaking, his figure flashed. He bent low and became a blur, shooting straight toward the cave where Gu Jiaer was located.

Before he had even fully landed, he suddenly thrust out a hand.

Wrong target!

Again!

This time, he accurately seized the collar of Gu Jiaer’s clothes and yanked her entire body upward. In the same instant, he forcibly twisted direction in midair, stomped hard against the cliff wall with both feet, and shot rapidly toward the upper cave entrance.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

At almost the same moment, the gold-devouring ants directly beneath them, now within arm’s reach, were suddenly awakened in great numbers.

All six wings spread at once as they beat furiously, the buzzing growing denser and denser.

Xu Zhe had no time to pay them any mind. After flying into the cave, he grabbed Gu Jiaer and charged all the way toward the palace.

Buzz—

A vast wave of ear-splitting hums rose behind them.

The sound made by nearly a hundred million gold-devouring ants flapping their wings was actually so piercing.

This was the first time Xu Zhe had ever heard such a sound, but he had no time to look back and see what it was like when nearly a hundred million gold-devouring ants took flight. He had already rushed to the outside of the palace entrance.

“D-don’t go near that coffin...” Gu Jiaer transmitted in terror.

But before her words even reached him, Xu Zhe had already brought her straight into the crystal coffin and lay down inside it, then pushed with his hand and swiftly sealed the lid shut.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The next second, a huge mass of gold-devouring ants surged in from all directions, slamming densely against the crystal coffin and producing wave after wave of terrifying dull impacts.

Yet the crystal coffin did not move even slightly. It remained as stable as a mountain, and not the slightest damage appeared on its surface.

Instead, the gold-devouring ants that had crashed into it burst apart into a bloody slurry, splattering across the ground, while leaving not a single stain on the crystal coffin.

“As expected of a magical coffin. It’s far more practical than any flying sword treasure,” Xu Zhe praised without reservation.

“You... what is moving on you?” Gu Jiaer suddenly cried out in alarm.

This time, she spoke out loud directly. Her voice was very weak, and because she was lying right on top of Xu Zhe, a faint blush appeared on her otherwise pale face.

“Oh, I’ve got a flying sword on me. It seems to want to write something. It’s fine, just ignore it,” Xu Zhe said, also feeling the flying sword in his sleeve move. It seemed that because he had said the crystal coffin was more practical than it was, the sword wanted to express its dissatisfaction.

“Shameless... don’t you dare do anything improper,” Gu Jiaer said with a slight flush, reproachful.

“???”

Xu Zhe was completely baffled. I saved you, and now I’m the shameless one who’s doing something improper?

Ah! I get it.

“Don’t misunderstand. I understand that men and women should keep proper distance, but this is the only place to hide for now, so we’ll have to squeeze in together for the moment. Once the gold-devouring ants disperse, we can leave,” Xu Zhe explained, then added, “Also, don’t look at me with that shy, secretly delighted expression. I know that in a dangerous situation like this, when a man and a woman suffer hardship together, it’s easiest for feelings to arise. I hope you can control yourself, stay rational, and not let hormones go to your head.”

...

At last, I’ve finished the second update, an extended version, only in hopes of monthly votes.