Gu Ningyun pressed her right hand against the Blue Lake Scallop through the thin protective shield.
Although this Blue Lake Scallop was at the rank two early stage, it was unconscious and on the verge of death.
Could she...
With a thought, half of the spirit energy in her dantian was drained, and her divine sense was largely consumed.
However, a look of joy appeared on Gu Ningyun’s face.
The rank two early stage Blue Lake Scallop had been taken into her space, where it now rested quietly on the seabed.
The space recognized her as its master and was bound to her primordial spirit.
Once taken into the space, even if the scallop's cultivation was far higher than hers, it could only stay there obediently.
Gu Ningyun swallowed two Spirit-Replenishing Pills and fed the scallop a few Antidote Pills.
She only withdrew her divine sense after seeing that the meat inside the shell had stopped foaming and its life force had stabilized.
As expected of a Blue Lake Scallop, which was naturally venomous, its resistance to toxins was remarkable.
Even before the Antidote Pills had fully taken effect, its condition had already stabilized.
It seemed that even without the pills, the Blue Lake Scallop would have recovered on its own once removed from that foul-smelling environment.
It simply would have taken longer.
But even if she had known that beforehand, Gu Ningyun still would have fed it the pills.
While this rank two early stage Blue Lake Scallop could endure it, she had nearly three thousand small scallops and twenty clusters of blue sea coral living on her space's seabed.
If the toxins leaked, she didn't know if those rank one creatures would be able to survive.
The currents around her slowed down, but their sliding speed did not.
The Red-Spotted Sea Iguana’s pressure had long since vanished, and Gu Ningyun had regained control of her body, even managing to collect a rank two scallop.
However.
Fearing it would impair her judgment of surrounding dangers, Gu Ningyun did not block her sense of smell, even though her stomach was churning.
The passage was smooth, about half a meter wide, thick, and elastic. Even a three-meter-wide scallop could be flushed down into the depths of the passage by the current.
This was likely the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana’s esophagus.
Gu Ningyun tested the walls with her hand, but other than a dull ache in her arm and a surge in her chest that made her want to cough up blood, it had no effect.
Her divine sense could not penetrate the walls to see what was outside the passage.
A rank three Red-Spotted Sea Iguana was so powerful that even its internal organs were this formidable.
Never before had Gu Ningyun felt so profoundly what it meant for demon beasts to be weak in spells but physically invincible.
It was true for beasts on land, and it was true for those in the sea.
She extended her divine sense toward both ends of the passage and encountered the divine senses of Mu Chenze and the others.
Mu Chenze and the other three had propped up shields with their spirit energy. Four bubbles—blue, red, gold, and white—collided and slid down within the current.
The five of them scanned each other with their divine senses. Relieved to find that no one was seriously injured or poisoned, they all let out a sigh of relief.
When Gu Ningyun’s divine sense passed over Wen Xuan and Jiang Yao, she saw the scraps of cloth gripped tightly in their hands—the corners of the sleeves they had torn from her own.
They had been gripping them so long that their fingers were deathly pale and bloodless.
Sensing Gu Ningyun’s divine sense lingering on them, Wen Xuan and Jiang Yao finally realized they were still holding the torn fabric and slowly relaxed their fingers.
As blood began to flow again, their fingers gradually regained a healthy pink hue.
Gu Ningyun couldn't help but send a transmission, "I'm fine."
Jiang Yao’s brow slowly unfurled.
Wen Xuan nodded, giving a soft "Mhm."
Gu Ningyun could hear that her voice was somewhat hoarse.
The corrosive stench was worsening, and the scent of blood grew even more intense.
Even though she was already somewhat numb to the smell, the intensifying odor made Gu Ningyun’s stomach turn with nausea.
She had intended to say something, but as soon as she opened her mouth, an involuntary "Hrk" escaped.
She kept her mouth shut.
The end of the passage was approaching. Her divine sense detected that the space beyond the opening widened significantly.
The stench suddenly surged, becoming a hundred times more potent than before.
Gu Ningyun had no choice but to block her sense of smell.
If she didn't, she would be knocked unconscious by the stench, following in the footsteps of the Blue Lake Scallop.
No, the Blue Lake Scallop was fortunate enough to be taken in by her; if she fainted here, there would only be death.
At the bottom of the open space, a pool of murky liquid, so green it appeared black, was bubbling. Within the bubbles were bits of flesh and bone, dissolving at a rate visible to the naked eye.
This space was the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana’s stomach, and that pool of liquid was its gastric acid!
It was easy to foresee that if they fell into that acid, their fate would be even more wretched than those scraps of meat.
The residual pressure from those scraps indicated they were rank two sea beasts, yet they themselves were only in the Qi Refining stage.
The current that had swept them in had drained away through the esophagus. At the end of the passage, there was no more water; they were sliding directly against the walls, separated only by a single protective shield.
The toxins on the surface of the esophagus and in the air corroded them relentlessly. The protective shields sizzled and popped, quickly showing signs of damage.
The spiritual light on her hairband began to fade.
The concentration of toxins had reached a level that even a mysterious-rank early stage hairband could not withstand.
Before the hairband’s shield could completely dissipate, Gu Ningyun propped up a barrier with her wind spirit energy. Her energy drained rapidly, but it couldn't keep up with the speed at which the shield was being corroded.
A stinging pain dozens of times more intense than before radiated from all over her body. This time, it didn't feel like needles; it felt like needles threading through her very flesh.
Gu Ningyun felt as though her physical body was about to collapse.
A streak of cyan spiritual light darted out from her storage ring, tracing a graceful arc in the air.
Her tattered outer robe hung loosely on her body as the spiritual light dove into the collar of her flowing-light white undergarments and pressed against her heart.
A white protective shield expanded from the light at her chest, enveloping Gu Ningyun.
The protection this shield provided felt even more powerful than the earth-rank array of her Cloud Residence, giving her an unprecedented sense of security.
It was the Xiaoyao disciple jade token!
From the moment she felt the pain to the deployment of the shield, less than a hundredth of a breath had passed.
Had Gu Ningyun’s focus not been entirely on her body, she wouldn't have even been able to track the trajectory of that light.
The power of thunder and stars took effect once more, and Gu Ningyun’s complexion improved.
She hurriedly swept her divine sense to both sides. Seeing that Wen Xuan and the other three were also protected by the shields of their disciple jade tokens and were taking Return-to-Spring Pills, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But before she could fully exhale, her pupils constricted.
Mu Chenze, who was at the very front of the passage, was nearing the end. He was about to slide out and plummet toward the pool of gastric acid at the bottom of the stomach.
The esophagus was smooth; they didn't even have a place to grab onto to slow down.
"Jiang Yao, do you have any rope?"
Jiang Yao immediately understood Gu Ningyun’s intent.
He pulled out two ropes and threw one downward. Gu Ningyun moved aside to let the rope slide past.
Sensing its master's intent, the protective shield did not obstruct the rope, allowing it to drop through.
Mu Chenze grabbed the rope in one swift motion.
Seeing that Mu Chenze had a firm grip, Gu Ningyun grabbed the middle of the rope with one hand.
Jiang Yao gripped the rope connecting Gu Ningyun and Mu Chenze with his left hand, while his right hand flicked the other rope upward.
Once Wen Xuan and Jun Luo had also grabbed onto the rope, Gu Ningyun exerted her strength with both hands simultaneously, pulling the four of them toward her.
Gu Ningyun once again felt grateful that she had never slacked in her body refining, turning herself into a powerhouse of strength.
If she were truly a fragile magic cultivator, she wouldn't have been able to pull all four of them over even with all her might.
Still, with one person on one side and three on the other, the uneven weight made her wonder if she’d end up with one shoulder higher than the other.
Just as the five of them converged, they slid out of the passage together, falling rapidly through the air.
Gu Ningyun flicked out a walnut.
Rate on N.U.
