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You Shi, Nine Vermilion Peaks, a deserted small gorge ten miles away.
The people of Nine Li Sect are accustomed to flying in the sky, almost in a straight line. This small gorge is not on any flight path leading to important areas within the sect and is not far from Nine Vermilion Peaks. Therefore, their actions began here.
Chu Xi enlisted Chu Yan's help. They needed someone like her—someone with cultivation above the early stage of Prudent Practice who could operate the Wingless Ship. Otherwise, within the five hundred miles of Nine Li Cave Heaven, without any Flying Sword artifacts for transportation, they would not know when they could reach the entrance of the Li Fire Formation, especially while avoiding the watchful eyes of many elders. Chu Yan was a gentle and kind girl, persuaded by Chu Xi's sweet words to agree to pilot the Wingless Ship for them.
Chu Xi spent about ten days preparing; it was unclear how she managed it, but she claimed everything was ready. Li Hong was nervous; if discovered by the elders, they would surely face punishment. Chu Xi dismissed this concern with a smile, sticking out her tongue: "You have the Fire Separation Pearl; no one will chase you out!"
Li Hong smiled wryly but realized there was some truth to it—essentially, they had nothing to fear. At worst, he would take all the blame upon himself. Even if discovered, since he wouldn't face severe punishment as the main culprit, then Chu Xi, Chuxiong, and Chu Yan as accomplices had even less to worry about.
During dinner time, Li Hong and Chuxiong went to the Dining Hall early to eat and show their faces in front of everyone. After eating a few bites, they quickly took advantage of mealtime when most disciples were in the Dining Hall at Nine Vermilion Peaks and slipped out down the peak. There were no restrictions below Nine Vermilion Peaks. The two had also explored the terrain over the past ten days. They identified their direction and hurried straight to the small gorge.
Ten miles away, with their current cultivation level, they arrived in just over two cups of tea's time. Chu Xi and Chu Yan were already there. Behind them, a Wingless Ship peeked out from the grass with a gleaming black hull.
Chu Xi and Chu Yan were dressed in black clothes with their hair tied up with black cloth, looking quite adept at "thieving." Seeing that he and Chuxiong were still wearing the sect's standard white robes, which made them stand out significantly, Li Hong felt troubled.
Chu Xi chuckled and pulled out two sets of short black shirts from her Spirit Bag. She said with a smile: "Change your clothes; these were hastily made by me and Sister Chu Yan. If they don't fit well, don't blame us." Under the increasingly darkening sky, her face appeared even whiter, looking charmingly elfin.
Li Hong naturally did not hesitate to change clothes but bowed deeply to the smiling Chu Yan beside him: "Thank you for your help, Sister Chu Yan."
Chu Yan smiled lightly. She was usually not very talkative but softly said: "You're welcome; hurry up and change; we need to make haste."
After changing clothes and stepping out of the grass, Chu Xi had already spread out a piece of Cowhide Paper on the ground. Seeing them approach, she pointed delicately at one end of the Cowhide Paper: "There’s an entrance to the Li Fire Formation here; it's relatively secluded—just what we need."
The Cowhide Paper map was somewhat aged, yellowed and brittle with deep cracks in many places. It clearly depicted the terrain within Nine Li Cave Heaven. Important locations such as Nine Separation Peak, Six Veins, Golden Lantern Gorge were marked. The spot where Chu Xi pointed was on the southern edge and looked to be at least two or three hundred miles away from here.
Li Hong looked closely at the map, his gaze unconsciously drifting to some small symbols on it. These symbols were all different; for example, the main peak and Six Veins were marked with triangle symbols, while some places had symbols resembling small grass, and others were marked with circles, which clearly had special meanings. The symbol for the exit of the Li Fire Formation that Chu Xi pointed to was a small torch icon. Li Hong noticed that there were several such torch symbols on the map, one of which was near Nine Separation Peak—definitely close to Heaven and Earth Platform.
"These are really good things!" Chuxiong exclaimed, his eyes shining as he echoed Li Hong's thoughts.
Chu Xi shot him a glare and carefully rolled up the map, tucking it into her Spirit Bag. "Let's set off."
Chu Yan stood at the bow of the ship, forming a hand seal. Following her finger's direction, the Wingless Ship soared into the sky. Standing at the bow, Chu Yan blended almost perfectly with the black hull of the ship; against the deep blue sky, Li Hong could only see her silhouette with a beautifully rounded chin.
Chu Xi crouched down, pressing her black cloth headscarf tightly to prevent it from being blown away by the wind; her eyes sparkled with excitement. She whispered, "We should fly directly south for a closer route, but we have to avoid Golden Lantern Gorge and Nine Beam Peak. So we'll first veer southeast and then head straight south. This will delay us a bit; we probably won't arrive until midnight. Once we enter the Li Fire Formation, we must make good use of our time. We can only stay inside for one hour at most, so make sure to ask everything you need to know. You must remember! But don't worry; I'll go in with you and remind you when time is up..."
Before she could finish, Li Hong was alarmed and waved his hands repeatedly. "Absolutely not! You stay in the passage; do not go in with me! It's extremely dangerous inside. With our cultivation levels, we can't even last a moment in there. I'm only relying on..." He stopped abruptly and turned anxiously to glance at Chu Yan—he couldn't let more people know about the Fire Separation Pearl.
Chu Xi pouted in dissatisfaction but didn't press further. Instead, she said, "Now let's take a moment to adjust our breathing. Remember to be light on your feet later. The guards are disciples under Elder Yue Weizi. Few people know about that exit in the South, and even fewer come and go. But we still can't let our guard down; I've calculated that at least four disciples will be guarding the entrance of the passage. With their cultivation levels, we have no chance of defeating them; we can only rely on wits rather than strength."
Chuxiong was momentarily stunned and murmured, "How high is their cultivation?"
Chu Xi replied, "I'm not sure. They are direct disciples of Elder Yue Weizi, on par with our master. I would guess they are at least at Late Stage of Heart Refinement to Golden Core Stage."
"Oh heavens!" Chuxiong exclaimed in shock but swallowed his words under Chu Xi's fierce glare. He appeared very nervous, his voice trembling: "Even if there are only four of them, their cultivation is so high that we might not even be able to hide from their ears and eyes!"
"That's why we can only rely on wits," Chu Xi said with a slight frown. "Right now, I can't think of a safer plan. We'll just have to see how luck plays out."
Li Hongyu felt uneasy upon realizing that there was such a significant flaw in Chu Xi's plan after she had insisted that everything would be taken care of by her!
Chu Xi seemed to know what he was thinking, giving Li Hong a glance before starting to rummage through the Spirit Bag. After a while, she pulled out something and held it in her Palm.
It was a small round ball, seemingly made of glass, red and semi-transparent, with a soft glow that made it look very beautiful. Chu Xi said proudly, “Fire Glaze. Hehe, I stole it from my master. Just throw it on the ground and it will explode immediately. I plan to use it to distract the guards.”
Explode! Li Hong felt his scalp tingle at the thought of how much noise that would make! Then he remembered something else and said seriously, “Chu Xi, thank you for your concern. But how many things did you actually steal from Ling Xiangzi Master Uncle? That map was probably stolen from your master too, right?”
Chu Xi didn’t seem worried at all; her bright eyes sparkled as she smiled, “I already told you my plan is very thorough. You don’t need to worry about how many things I stole from my master; she will definitely not find out. Hehe, because she is in seclusion now. Before she comes out, we will have everything sorted and returned. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.”
This girl… Li Hong was speechless; it was an understatement to say she was audacious. But knowing she was doing this for him made Li Hong feel grateful. As Chu Xi shrank her body slightly, clearly afraid of the wind, Li Hong thought for a moment and shifted his position to shield her. Chu Xi looked up at him, her bright eyes seemingly saying thank you.
“Actually, I want to thank you,” Li Hong thought silently.
The Wingless Ship glided through the air like a silent spirit. The only sound was the whoosh of the wind. Time passed slowly; the sky grew darker as midnight approached.
After making a large turn, the mountains ahead became lower and lower, faintly revealing the edge of Nine Li Cave Heaven. It was a strange chaotic area where all visible mountains and land bizarrely disappeared behind a hazy boundary. Here it felt as if an invisible hand swept downwards, decisively cutting off the earth.
The Wingless Ship flew lower and lower, almost brushing against the ground. Soon, the chaotic area was right in front of them. All colors faded away into a gray haze where nothing could be seen clearly. Ahead seemed to be a gray misty zone. The Wingless Ship stopped behind a small hill, and the four jumped off the ship, crouching down to look ahead.
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