Chapter 508, Part II: On the Verge of Despair
Translator: Pika
Where are you putting your hand?!
Despite her reaction, Pei Mianman knew that he was doing this to save her, so she didn’t say anything.
“Wrap your legs around my waist. That’ll make it easier for you to cling onto me.” Zu An said this as he lifted her leg, trying to wrap it around him.
“No way!” Pei Mianman immediately refused. Even a pure and innocent young woman would know that such a thing wasn’t proper at all! How could she allow this?
Zu An began to sweat. “Miss, I’m really not trying to take advantage of you! My hands are occupied with trying to climb this wall. If I carry you with one arm, we won’t be able to go anywhere!”
Pei Mianman raised her head. She could see the veins on his sword arm bulging, clearly supporting a substantial amount of weight. She wasn’t a completely unreasonable person. Even though it was embarra.s.sing, she still ultimately agreed to it, given their current situation. “Fine. But you can’t tell Chuyan about this. No, wait一you can’t tell anyone!”
Zu An’s face darkened. “Why would I tell her something like that?”
Satisfied, Pei Mianman sighed in relief. She bit her red lip, and then wrapped her arms around his neck again. She did her best to clasp her legs around his waist. Her entire body was now hanging off him.
The two of them were intimately wrapped around each other, and she could feel his masculine aura all around her. Even the usually flirtatious and bold Pei Mianman felt a little shy. She buried her head into his chest, and her body was trembling just a little. She didn’t dare say a single word.
Zu An hadn’t had any wicked ideas before, but when he sensed just how sensitive she was, his mind began to stir as well.
The hissing of the strange snakes below him dragged him back to reality. They weren’t completely out of danger yet.
He was just about to move upwards with the Poisonous p.r.i.c.k when a few streaks of blue light shot towards them.
Zu An shivered in fear. He slashed with his blade, and the blue lights tumbled back down. He had already noticed that his attackers had been those strange snakes.
Several more snakes coiled their bodies, then shot upwards, flying at the two of them.
Zu An blocked them with his dagger. He was grateful that he hadn’t thrust this blade into the wall yet. If both of his blades had been stuck into the wall, he wouldn’t have been able to fend off those snakes in time.
Thankfully, he was suspended in midair, so only a few of the strange snakes on the ground could attack him in this manner at the same time. That was why he could just barely fend them off.
This was hardly something to celebrate, though. With the snakes attacking him, he had to focus on defense, and could not move forward at all.
Pei Mianman also noticed this predicament. She quickly said, “Give me a little bit of time. Once I recover, I’ll help you out with my black flames. You can use that chance to climb.”
“Okay!” This was the only option left to them. Zu An focused on cutting down the incoming strange snakes.
Pei Mianman pondered for a moment, then removed a pendant and hung it around his neck. “Wear this.”
Zu An was stunned. “What is this?” He had noticed a red cord hanging from her neck for quite some time. However, what hung from it was always buried in her cleavage, so he had no idea what it was.
He watched her pull it out slowly from deep within her chest, her fair white skin faintly visible. Blood almost shot straight out of his nose.
“It’s a protective talisman that my mother gave me. It can grant you immunity from the black flames. I’m not in the best condition right now, so I can’t control the black flames as well as before. Since the two of us are so close, I don’t want to accidentally hurt you,” Pei Mianman explained.
“Huh?” Zu An was incredibly touched. He couldn’t resist remarking, “Isn’t this your most treasured possession? If you give this to me, doesn’t that mean you’re completely open to me? If I do end up having some wicked thoughts about you, you wouldn’t be able to defy me.”
After all, half of Pei Mianman’s strength came from her black flames. If this pendant granted him immunity against those black flames, her life would be completely within his grasp.
Pei Mianman gave him a look of annoyance, then pouted playfully. “Why would I give that to you if I was worried about that? Focus already, and prepare to move.”
“Understood!” Zu An didn’t dare let himself be distracted in such a dangerous situation either.
“Let’s begin!” Pei Mianman’s hand surged with black flames as soon as she said this, and the incoming snakes shrieked and fell away.
Those strange snakes below were all scared of these flames, and became more apprehensive about attacking.
Zu An used this chance to plunge his dagger into the wall, and begin to scale it quickly.
He could feel that the black flames were now different. In the past, he always felt that the black flames were extremely frightening, and filled with destructive power. Now, however, they seemed warm and comforting, perhaps even a little inviting. This was probably all because of the pendant. He could feel a wave of warmth spreading outwards from his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was the pendant itself getting warm, or if it was just the lingering body heat of the beauty clinging to him.
“Help me defend against them!” Pei Mianman reminded him quickly.
Zu An was already prepared. He swung out with the Tai’e Sword, stopping the incoming snakes. Compared to the Poisonous p.r.i.c.k, the extra length of the Tai’e Sword made it more useful.
The snakes stopped their attacks. They probably realized that all of their efforts had only resulted in meaningless deaths.
Zu An exhaled in relief. The two of them hung in the air to rest. When Pei Mianman had recovered a bit of strength, they began to climb again.
Zu An felt like teasing her as the scent of her fragrance filled his nostrils again, but his eyes suddenly narrowed. He noticed that a large number of the snakes had grouped up together below them.
He hadn’t noticed it at first, but as more and more snakes gathered together, they gradually formed a ball of strange snakes.
This ball grew taller and wider as more snakes joined in, and the top of the ball slowly got closer and closer to the two of them.
Only some of the snakes had enough strength to successfully threaten them earlier. Now that they formed this sphere, however, many more snakes could crawl onto that sphere, which shortened the distance between them and their quarry.
“Hold onto me tightly! I’m going to move somewhere else.” Zu An said with a stern voice. Staying here would only be asking for a beating.
“What? But I haven’t recovered yet!” Pei Mianman’s forehead was covered in sweat. The last scuffle had exhausted her quite a bit, and she had no energy left to protect him.
“It’s fine. I can cover short distances quickly.” Zu An wanted to save Grandgale for more dangerous moments, but it was too dangerous to linger here any longer.
Pei Mianman suddenly realized what he was talking about. She remembered that he had an ability that allowed him to instantly move across large distances. She exhaled in relief and wrapped herself tightly around him.
Zu An used Grandgale. In his current state, Grandgale could cover about a hundred meters per use. This pit was a few soccer fields in size, so he needed to use it at least five times before he could make it to the other side.
Unfortunately, three consecutive uses were his limit, and he would not be able to cover enough distance. However, that wasn’t a concern right now. His first priority was to get away from this current spot.
A split second later, he reappeared a hundred meters away. Because he was still halfway up the wall, he made sure that he was facing the wall directly. The instant he reappeared, he stabbed his blades into the wall, and tried his best to cushion Pei Mianman from the impact.
However, the force still threw Pei Mianman violently into him.
Her face instantly turned red.
The two of them were already tangled around each other in the most intimate way, and pounding against each other only made their bodies shake even more.
Pei Mianman bit her lip, her eyes misty. She moved over to his ears and said quietly, “You’re terrible… Chuyan has no idea just how perverted you are.”
“You can’t blame me for that! That’s just my natural reaction. I have no control over this.” Zu An wanted to cry. I’m just trying to save us!
“I know…” Pei Mianman paused, then added quietly, “I’m not blaming you for it.”
Zu An’s heart trembled. What are you trying to say?
Whatever it was, he didn’t have time to think about it right now, because the ma.s.sive ball of snakes was rolling towards them. As it rolled, it seemed to grow even faster than before, and it was only getting larger.
He cursed secretly. He gave Pei Mianman a warning, then used Grandgale again, jumping to another part of the wall.
Zu An was left gasping for breath after using Grandgale three times in quick succession. He would be unable to use Gandgale again for some time. Each time, he had also teleported the furthest he could manage, which took a great toll on him.
He watched as the ma.s.sive ball of snakes pursued them relentlessly. Fortunately, Pei Mianman had managed to recover a little of her strength, and used her black flames to protect him.
Zu An used this chance to move a few more meters away. After that, however, the two of them found themselves out of options.
Zu An looked at those final few dozen meters, unwilling to give up. He was eighty percent sure that that tunnel was right there, but there was just no way that the two of them could make it.
He fended off the stray incoming snakes as he watched the ma.s.sive ball get closer and closer.
He a.s.sessed their situation, and determined that they wouldn’t be able to recover before the ball of snakes caught up to them.
His survival instincts still drove him to hack away at the closest snakes with his sword. However, when that ball of snakes finally rolled below them, the two of them were overcome with true despair.
Right at that moment, a nearby wall suddenly split open and a giant tongue shot out, thrusting straight into the terrifying ball of snakes.
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