Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 425 - 288: Delving Deep

Chapter 425: Chapter 288: Delving Deep

The silent corridor was engulfed in an endless darkness, resembling the void that might follow death, devoid of any sound.

Suddenly,

a ghostly fireball lit up in the depths of the corridor, its orange flames casting a warm glow into the surrounding inky blackness, dispelling large swathes of darkness like ink.

Under this light, the shadows of one man and two women stretched out long.

"Changtian, because of you, our pace has been severely delayed,"

a cool, slightly hoarse female voice said with a hint of amusement, echoing through the empty corridor, "Can’t your Origin Qi last a bit longer?"

Xu Yuan’s voice was tinged with laughter. He took out a goose egg-sized Source Crystal and, while working his cultivation technique to restore his Origin Qi, he walked forward at a leisurely pace:

"I am a Soul Condensation expert, not like you two little Origin Initials."

Li Qingyan glanced at Xu Yuan:

"If your cultivation were half as deep as your thick skin, you might have already reached Mortal Transcendence."

Xu Yuan rolled his eyes at Li Qingyan and kept silent.

Listening to the two bicker, Bai Muxi, who was following behind, wore a soft smile on her lips.

This was already their sixth day since entering the Blood Demon Grottoes, but the silent Underground Palace was too vast. Even at their pace, they had yet to approach the deepest part they had set out to explore.

Of course, Xu Yuan’s inscrutable cultivation played a critical role in this.

After all, their speed limit was his speed limit.

And every time they covered some distance, he had to stop and rest for a while.

Although he practiced the crimson cultivation technique, a Soul Condensation expert was, after all, just that, and bearing the partial Origin Qi output of his Black Death Bacterial Armor, he simply couldn’t endure.

The three didn’t speak anymore and continued walking forward at a slow pace, a soft brownish-red mycelial mat absorbing all sound of their footsteps.

In the silence,

"Young Master....."

Bai Muxi’s soft voice whispered quietly, "Why not let Mu Xi carry you?"

As soon as she finished,

the cool gaze of the woman in the red robe at the forefront immediately swept over, but she said nothing.

Xu Yuan thought seriously for a moment and then shook his head:

"We can afford to slow down. I have already explained the reason before—we cannot take risks with the Spectral Ghosts."

In the first two days of entering the Blood Demon Grottoes, their method of travel was Bai Muxi leading the way, with Princess Li Qingyan carrying Xu Yuan at high speed.

By the third day, they had encountered Spectral Ghosts in that section of the corridor, whose physical strength was essentially equivalent to that of a Third Grade Great Master.

Since then, the roles of Li Qingyan and Bai Muxi were swapped.

The reason was simple: Bai Muxi was too inexperienced and Li Qingyan couldn’t stand it.

Even if Bai Muxi could raise her cultivation to Second Grade, the Underground City cultivation technique she practiced was far too rudimentary. With a Second Grade cultivation, she couldn’t even instantly kill those mindless Third Grade Spectral Ghosts.

And the result of not being able to kill them instantly was the vibration and spread of Origin Qi, attracting even more Spectral Ghosts.

So Li Qingyan simply handed Xu Yuan off to Bai Muxi to carry.

Li Qingyan was indifferent, and Xu Yuan was even more so.

After all, Xiao Bai didn’t wear a chest wrap, coming with a built-in shock-absorbing pad.

Moreover, her actions were gentler than the Princess’s, and she even formed a barrier of Origin Qi around him, allowing him to rest while on the move.

But the good times didn’t last; less than a day later, the three entered the "deep water zone."

The number of Spectral Ghosts nearby had decreased, but each one was essentially Third Grade.

After learning this, Xu Yuan immediately told Bai Muxi to put him down.

They had already ventured deep, and it was likely that a Spectral Ghost comparable to an Origin Initial might appear in this area.

Li Qingyan said she could handle it, but Xu Yuan insisted.

Spectral Ghosts could not be detected by will-spirit, only sensed through a special kind of Origin Qi like Old Man Luo’s method.

However, if one was not proficient, using this Origin Qi sensing method for a long time could easily lead to "overload."

Simply put, the speed of Origin Qi sensing couldn’t keep up with one’s own speed.

And there was an even more important point,

whereas the lower-ranking Spectral Ghosts identified their kind through unusual senses similar to sight and smell, the higher-ranking ones could discern living beings entirely through the fluctuations of Origin Qi.

The vibrations of Origin Qi from an Origin Initial rushing at full speed could be sensed by Spectral Ghosts ten miles away.

Attracting too many at once meant that the three of them were likely to meet their end here.

Without words, the three continued to walk silently along the corridor towards the front.

And in a hidden spot unnoticed by the three, a pair of pitch-black vertical pupils, like those of a hunter, were fixed steadfastly on them, moving silently with a massive form.

Time passed, second by second, in the silence.

Xu Yuan, quietly absorbing Origin Qi, suddenly spoke up:

"How many days have we been in the Blood Demon Grottoes?"

Bai Muxi answered directly without hesitation:

"Young Master, in one more hour and forty-five minutes, it will be the seventh day."

At her words, Li Qingyan looked slightly puzzled:

"So precise?"

Bai Muxi’s eyes smiled softly:

"Your Highness, as the controller of time in the Underground City, Mu Xi strictly regulates the daily routines of the people, so she is very sensitive to time."

After hearing this, Xu Yuan asked with interest:

"I never asked before, but does your Underground City still follow the timekeeping units from the surface world?"

Bai Muxi replied softly:

"There are water clocks passed down from the ancestors, with no need for change, so they have been used up to this day."

"Heh....."

Xu Yuan chuckled, then turned to Li Qingyan and suddenly said:

"Qingyan, we have been inside this Underground City for nearly a ten-day, and this quiet Underground Palace seems a bit too silent."

Li Qingyan’s eyebrows knitted slightly:

"Barbarian King?"

"Right."

Xu Yuan nodded his head gravely, "He isn’t like us; we can afford to wait, but he cannot. Yet there’s been no sign of him during this time."

Li Qingyan pondered slightly:

"Are you suggesting that the Barbarian King might have died...no, been transformed into a Ghoul?"

"Young Master...."

Bai Muxi suddenly interjected, a natural fear of Ghouls seemingly present in her as her gentle voice wavered, "Do you mean that we might have to face a Semi-Saint Ghoul?"

Xu Yuan glanced back at her and said:

"I had an elder friend who once told me that there is a buffering period when the powerful are transformed into Ghouls. During this time, the Ghoul instinct erodes their original consciousness, and their flesh is gradually transformed. This period is when they are most vulnerable."

"Changtian."

Li Qingyan interrupted Xu Yuan at this point, then suddenly drew her sword from her waist: "Even if the Barbarian King were gravely injured, he could not possibly be killed by this group of mindless Ghouls, just as I could not possibly be harmed by a Primordial Ghoul."

As she finished speaking,

Li Qingyan abruptly disappeared from Xu Yuan’s sight, and at the same moment, Bai Muxi moved to shield him with her body.

"Hiss-hah!!!"

In the flickering firelight, a piercing hiss arose from the darkness at the end of the corridor.

Unexpectedly, the sharp hiss stopped abruptly in the next instant, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

Bai Muxi stared at the end of the corridor, her pupils contracting.

From within that darkness,

the sword, trailing an orange flame, swept across in a dazzling arc, cleaving the giant hairless feline demon lurking in the shadows right in two!

And as it tried to regenerate, a strange fluctuation spread from the fresh cut, thwarting its attempt.

Almost at the same time, flames ignited and devoured the massive body of the feline demon Ghoul in an instant...

Dao Charm...

Xu Yuan observed her expression and asked softly:

"What is it?"

Bai Muxi’s voice carried a hint of uncertainty:

"The Primordial Ghoul... seems to have been killed by Her Highness with a single strike."

"Oh."

Xu Yuan, slightly surprised but not overly shocked by the news, pondered.

Ghouls from ten thousand years ago were dreadful because they not only possessed sentience but also could wield the powerful Spellcraft of Cultivators, and even had an almost unlimited ability to regenerate after death.

Loss of sentience meant loss of most of their strength; a Ghoul fighting on instinct alone had no chance of victory against a Cultivator of equal rank.

With Li Qingyan’s Cultivation Technique, amplified by the Black Death Bacterial Armor, killing an Origin Initial Ghoul wasn’t too difficult.

As he was thinking,

Xu Yuan suddenly noted that the expression on Bai Muxi, standing beside him, was somewhat absentminded. After a moment’s thought, he smiled and said:

"Mu Xi, are you feeling shocked by this?"

Bai Muxi came to her senses and said softly:

"I know my own talents are limited, it’s normal that I’m not as capable as Your Highness."

Xu Yuan raised his hand to gently rub her head, soothingly saying:

"This is not your fault. The Cultivation Techniques of your Underground Palace are too rudimentary, and the application of Dao Charm is also very simple. When we return to my Prime Minister’s Mansion, I will find you a Semi-Saint mentor..."

"Changtian, unfulfilled promises will become shackles."

Li Qingyan’s voice, distant, came from deep inside the tunnel, interrupting Xu Yuan’s promises: "Stop making empty promises there, there’s something here that might need you to take a look at."

"....." Xu Yuan.

With an irritated sigh, Xu Yuan patted the delicate and soft waist of Xiao Bai (Bai Muxi), signaling her to be at ease, and he replied loudly:

"I’ll be right there; I’m curious to see what it is that our Princess can’t decide on by herself?"

A short time later,

All three stood silently in front of a mass of flesh and blood that they could feel was slowly wriggling.

Li Qingyan pointed to the mess on the ground and asked:

"This Second Grade Origin Initial Ghoul seems different from the others; it can’t be completely killed. Changtian, do you have a way to deal with it?"

Xu Yuan stroked his chin, his worst fear having come to pass.

In the Cangyuan Chronicles, these level eighty-plus minor Ghouls had a resurrection feature.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan sighed:

"There is a way, but for us, it’s as good as none."

Li Qingyan raised an eyebrow and said:

"Let’s hear it?"

Xu Yuan spread his hands, rather blithely saying:

"Clear out all of the Black Death Mycelial Mat in the entire dead Underground Palace, or move this pile to the cavern where, without the Mats, it won’t be able to live."

"....."

Li Qingyan paused, looked around at the Black Death Mycelial Mat, then back at Xu Yuan, and then at the Mycelial Mats again, her expression gradually turning strange.

Are you kidding me?

Xu Yuan sighed, ignored her, walked past the pile on the ground, and continued deeper, saying:

"Stop looking. If you want to guard the corpse and kill it again, you can wait here a while."

Li Qingyan was silent for a moment, then suddenly called out to Xu Yuan:

"Don’t go ahead; this passage is blocked."

"Wasn’t there a blocked passage before as well?"

Xu Yuan said as if it were a matter of course: "Couldn’t we just blast it open?"

Due to the activities of some Ghouls, many of the paths in Bai Muxi’s memory had been sealed off by collapses.

Li Qingyan exhaled and asked with a smile:

"How do you blow up a collapse that extends for miles?"

Xu Yuan’s steps faltered slightly:

"What?"

Li Qingyan glanced at the darkness in front of the corridor and said with a serious tone:

"This corridor ahead is likely where the Barbarian King fought with the Mortal Transcendence Ghoul."