Dual Cultivation

After traveling for half a day, Su Yang stopped advancing once they reached a small lake that appeared to be profoundly deep with a bottom.

"Is there something wrong with this place?" Xie Xingfang asked him when he suddenly stopped moving.

"No, but I'll be right back. Give me like 5 minutes. If something goes wrong while I am gone, immediately use your life-saving treasures and get out of the Abandoned Forest."

After saying that, Su Yang dived into this mysterious lake without any explanation, greatly shocking Xie Xingfang.

"Su Yang?!" Xie Xingfang cried out loud, but alas, Su Yang was already too deep in the lake to hear her.

Thus, Xie Xingfang began to look around with alertness, and she quickly realized that without Su Yang by her side, the Abandoned Forest immediately appeared countless times more dangerous and terrifying, and even the slightest noise would cause her heart to skip a beat.

Furthermore, a single minute without Su Yang by her side felt like an entire hour, and the second minute felt even longer, whilst the 3rd minute felt like an eternity.

Five very, very long minutes later, Su Yang resurfaced from the lake and returned to her side.

"Su Yang!" Xie Xingfang sighed in relief after seeing his face again, feeling like a lost child who reunited with her parents.

"What were you doing in the lake?" she then asked him.

"I'm sorry for leaving you alone so suddenly and without an explanation since I wanted this to be a surprise..." Su Yang showed her the thing he retrieved from the floor of the lake; it was a beautiful flower with azure-colored petals and a glowing stem.

"This… Could this be…?" Xie Xingfang covered her mouth from shock.

"Yes, it's the Flower of Luminosity— it's a rare treasure that can boost one's constitution, and it will assist your cultivation and body greatly after we cure your current condition." Su Yang said as he extended it to her.

"Y-You're giving this to me? Are you sure? This is a priceless treasure that has appeared only once eight hundred years ago and has never shown up again until now…" Xie Xingfang hesitated to accept it.

"It may be rare but I have no use for it, and since it can improve one's constitution, it'll benefit you the most," Su Yang said, and then he continued, "And once I return to the Divine Heavens, there will be plenty of treasure that will make this Flower of Luminosity look like nothing."

"Divine Heavens…" Xie Xingfang mumbled in a low voice before accepting the Flower of Luminosity a moment later.

"Thank you, Su Yang…" Xie Xingfang said to him afterward.

"Don't even mention it," Su Yang smiled.

"Anyway, let's continue heading towards the center. Since my pill will only last me for so long, it would be for the best if we tried our luck at the Purple Qilin's nest," he continued before he started moving again.

Xie Xingfang nodded, and she closely followed him again.

Nearly an entire day later, they stopped again.

"We've finally arrived at the center, Su Yang," Xie Xingfang suddenly said to him.

Before them, unexpectedly, there appeared to be no poison mist, almost as though it'd suddenly disappeared. However, if they were to look up into the sky, the poison mist still existed, and it appeared to be even thicker than the poison mist in the inner area.

"Although it doesn't seem like the poison mist is there, that's actually not true. For some reason, the poison mist is transparent in the center of the Abandoned Forest, and this has tricked many people, causing many deaths before people finally realized the real situation," Xie Xingfang explained to him.

"That's because the poison mist in the center is completely different from the poison mist in the outer and inner areas, and it's at least ten times more potent," Su Yang said after a brief examination of the clear poison mist with his smell.

"10 times…? Then how much time do you think your pill will last?" Xie Xingfang asked him.

"Since half of the pill's power is already gone from the inner area, I'm afraid that I have at most 10 hours before I have to leave. Though, I can extend it by around 2 hours if I cultivate and focus on defending myself from the poison mist."

"Twelve hours, huh? Then let's hope the Purple Qilin is already in its nest by the time we arrive," Xie Xingfang sighed.

Su Yang nodded, and once they stepped into the center of the Abandoned Forest and the transparent poison mist, they quickly began looking for the Purple Qilin's nest, as every minute counted from this point forth.

"Watch out, Su Yang!" Xie Xingfang suddenly warned him when she noticed something small flying towards his face.

Su Yang glanced at the needle-like object with a calm expression, and his body exploded with Sword Qi when the needle was a millimeter from touching his skin.

After destroying the needle until nothing was left, Su Yang flicked his arm, sending his Sword Qi flying into the distance.

Boom!

The ground shook violently a second later before quickly calming down again.

"W-What was that?" Xie Xingfang asked him afterward.

"No idea, but it was at the third level Heavenly Spirit Realm, and that needle contained some very powerful poison— enough to kill even a Sovereign Spirit Realm Cultivator within seconds," Su Yang shrugged.

"Even a Sovereign Spirit Realm Cultivator cannot last a minute against the poison?" Xie Xingfang took a deep breath after hearing his words.

"By the way, I have been wondering for a while now, but what kind of techniques have you been using? It feels like Sword Intent yet it's not." Xie Xingfang then asked him.

"Oh, it's Sword Qi, and it's one level above Sword Intent," he calmly responded.

"Sword Qi…?" Xie Xingfang looked at him with a dazed face, as this is her first time hearing such a term.