He flew back up and raised his sword.
"Serene Lotus Splitting Strike," he muttered, and he charged at the serpent.
His sword suddenly had some lotus patterns appear on it. They glistened and shone, making the sword look more divine. Feng Wuji's eye burned with a murderous intent, he bit his lips and used the blood from them to tap the places on the sword that had lotus patterns, activating them at once. The places where the blood touched turned crimson, and some baleful Qi began to rise from them. The Qi felt malevolent and dangerous; it was from Feng Wuji's cultivation technique.
The serpent's eyes squinted a little when it saw the baleful Qi gathering and forming. It detected that the Qi was very dangerous, potent, and could pose a threat to it, and attacked immediately. It used its tail to gather some momentum and shot towards Feng Wuji, who was also rushing towards it with his eyes blazing red.
Feng Wuji's speed suddenly increased by more than three times. It seemed like during this period he had broken through in his movement technique. Taking advantage of this, he raised his sword, gathered the baleful Qi, and slashed towards the serpent.
Several sword lights attacked the serpent on various parts of its body, and this time its scales couldn't save it. Various injuries started appearing on its scales, and some of them were critical.
The Verdant Jade Demonic Serpent retreated and shot another wave of ice from its mouth. Feng Wuji dodged the ice blast and flashed to the head of the serpent, where he used the baleful Qi from his sword to pierce one of its eyes.
Its eyeball exploded as soon as it was pierced, and it hissed, "SSSSSSSS!"
The hiss spread like a shockwave. Feng Wuji clutched his ears and started bleeding from his orifices. His eyes turned glassy, and he quickly sped away from the serpent's head.
"Su Mei, you better be ready! I can't hold it back for much longer!"
"I'm almost done! Just keep it distracted for a short time!"
The serpent continued to hiss in pain, its entire body trembling. Then it gained its composure, its eyes filled with a renewed primal fury. These bastard humans had not only invaded its territory and injured its child, but now they dared to harm its precious eye?! How dare they!
The serpent went all out, like Su Mei earlier. It summoned its foundational spirit from its central meridian. It flashed like light out of its forehead. It was an eye. It was glassy with a narrow vertical pupil that was blue. It seemed to be a manifestation of ice and aloofness from the aura it emitted. It went to the top of the Verdant Jade Demonic Serpent's head and began to emit a blue glow.
The serpent became charged when it summoned its spirit, and it exhaled a gust of air that turned all the wind and moisture in the atmosphere icy. It gathered the cold to make icy shards like before and rained them down on Feng Wuji.
Feng Wuji became a blur avoiding the shards, but they were too much and too fast for him, even with his movement technique. The situation was getting increasingly perilous, and the serpent was approaching him again with its gigantic mouth wide open, displaying its intent to consume Feng Wuji.
And then the ice started melting suddenly. The air lost its chill and became warm.
"SSSSHHHHHHHH... SHHHHHH..."
A sound came from Su Mei's direction. Around her were several trees that had been destroyed in the battle. She was standing in the air but very close to the ground. Her right hand was raised slightly, and on it was a ball. It seemed to be made of fire and burned with a gold light, like her foundational spirit. It was the Sun Annihilation Array core, and she was using it to gather heat from the sun to create an atmosphere that would benefit her and put the serpent in great danger.
The icy shards melted, and the serpent's eyes flashed with worry for a second, then immediately burned with determination. It turned away from Feng Wuji and flew towards Su Mei.
Su Mei flew away from the ground calmly as it approached. When it was about three meters away, the air suddenly twisted and huge ropes of flames sprang up and captured the serpent. Su Mei flashed forward and channeled the array to create a huge, falling sun, which she used to pierce the serpent's head at once.
The serpent's eyes dimmed immediately, and it fell downwards, becoming still at once.
Su Mei dispersed the chains and the array, making the ball of fire in her hands turn into motes of light that dispersed into the air. She flew downwards, and just as she was about to celebrate, a sound came from the serpent.
"Arrouyyygghsko!"
It sounded foreign, and it was strange for a serpent to make such a sound. She was stunned and was trying to make sense of the situation. Then, other sounds started echoing from the forest.
She then realized that this was no ordinary sound; truly, it was a call to its kind to come now. She heard some rustling coming from the bushes where other sounds had come from. Then she looked at Feng Wuji; a silent agreement crossed their eyes, and they quickly sped away, not looking back.
They flew through the forest and sped; they became literal blurs as they didn't care about managing Qi and ran with all their might.
Feng Wuji's eyes scanned the forest for somewhere to hide, and then he saw it. A hollow carved into the earth, hidden by fallen branches, leaves, moss, and grass. It was a cave. it could not be seen by normal eyes and the only reason Feng wuji was able to see it was because of the baleful qi that had gathered in his eyes when he was fighting with the serpent.
"Follow me," he said, and he flew towards it.
Su Mei didn't ask any questions; she followed him. Feng Wuji quickly flew into the cave. Su Mei's eyes glinted with surprise when she saw him enter.
The cave was hidden so cleverly that even she hadn't noticed it until he entered. She didn't waste any more time and entered the cave also.
And on the surface, a species of one of the most dangerous animals in the secret realm had begun to gather together.
Feng Wuji and Su Mei made their way into the cave, and as soon as they entered, a stench hit them.
It was bad!! Terrible!! And absolutely disgusting! It reeked, and the duo quickly put their hands over their noses.
Su Mei reached for her storage ring and brought out a flower that instantly purified the space they were in, but the bad smell still lingered in the air.
The cave wasn't that big; it was very small, and the only special thing about it was that there were entrances to two tunnels. The tunnels were deep, and neither Su Mei nor Feng Wuji—even with his eyes that were still affected by baleful Qi—could see inside.
They didn't approach the tunnels. They just quickly found spaces in the cave, spread their mats, and started cultivating. They popped pills into their mouths like they were candy, and they quickly filled their reserves.
Feng Wuji was bloodied; his robes were torn and had patches that showed his injured skin. He was healing quickly, but the baleful Qi still clung to him and was making his eyes ache badly!!
Meanwhile, Su Mei was relatively better. She also had some scars here and there, but they were healing fast. After about five hours, they had completely regained their strength.
"How is it possible for a cultivator in the Qi Vortex realm to have so much Qi and be able to fight against an Elemental Vein realm monster?" Su Mei said out of the blue as she gazed at Feng Wuji with her piercing gaze, as if she was trying to see all his secrets.
"I'm lucky, I guess," Feng Wuji said, flashing his smile like before.
Su Mei's body trembled a little.
Bastard!!she thought internally. I hate his stupid smile.
"And the flying??, and don't tell me that was also luck" she asked again, her eyes practically boring into him at this point.
Feng Wuji, knowing that it was hopeless trying to deal with someone like her, sighed and pointed at his boots. "They're Cloud Surfers."
She looked at his feet. "Oh," she said, and then she went back into meditation.
"Since we're sharing secrets why were you lying about your realm? You're clearly in the Foundation Establishment realm you qi isn't dense as an elemental vein realm expert's," Feng Wuji also asked.
Su mei went still she looked away and her eyes became fixated on the ground"Well, I have a special constitution that granted me the ability to do so. But my father, the Divine Halo Master, didn't want anyone to find out, so he gave me a cloak to disguise my realm."
"Oh."
They both sat there without saying a word after that, and Feng Wuji couldn't help but notice how much of a beauty Su Mei was.
Her hair was white like a dove and cascaded down her back in waves. Her lips were delicate and looked like they were crafted by gods; her gold eyes also seemed to mesmerize the world, and her face was a work of art. She simply looked divine and ethereal in this moment.
Su Mei felt Feng Wuji's gaze and looked at him. "Why are you staring so hard?"
"I was just caught off guard by your beauty," Feng Wuji said, flashing his devilish smile.
"Huh?" Su Mei asked, confused.
But Feng Wuji merely flashed her his smile and moved his gaze from her to the entrance of the tunnels.