Powerful Nether Breath began to surge out from Li Meng’s body.
The Nether Breath belonging to the Guiyi that had originally filled this space was instantly scattered and drowned out, as if a small stream had encountered a raging river.
Under the suppression of such powerful Nether Breath, the Guiyi could not even put up a struggle.
Its vertical pupils could only watch Li Meng’s shadowed face, revealing a trace of terror.
Of course, it was not just this Guiyi; even Qiu Qiqian, who stood to the side, was intimidated by the powerful Nether Breath Li Meng was emitting.
It was completely different from the gentle Nether Breath she had felt in her home.
Fortunately, Li Meng’s target was not Qiu Qiqian, so she was not completely immobilized like the Guiyi.
On Li Meng’s side, after finishing her “interrogation” of the Guiyi, she realized that such a creature had no ability to answer at all.
Thus, with a slight exertion of force, the Guiyi actually fell apart, turning into green smoke that dissipated.
All that remained was a crystal core with vein-like protrusions.
“Is … is it handled already?”
Qiu Qiqian could hardly believe it.
Although she knew Li Meng was strong, to choke a Guiyi to death with one hand … hiss … how could a Guiyi be choked to death?
“How could that be possible — Little Qian, you’re thinking too simply!”
Li Meng said with a light laugh as she waved her hand, then turned her head to look at Qiu Qiqian.
It was at this moment that Qiu Qiqian noticed that Li Meng’s gray eyes now contained a pale blue ring in each, which were flickering repeatedly like breathing lights.
“Wait, your eyes …”
Qiu Qiqian asked subconsciously, her voice carrying a hint of … worry.
“My eyes? Oh, this? Don’t worry. This is a method used to make it easier to track that Chimei-rank Guiyi. I just absorbed some of the dissipated Nether Breath in this space into my body. Using that part of the Nether Breath as a catalyst, I can see the direction in which the breath flows, allowing me to track the target’s location.”
“Then the Guiyi you just destroyed was …”
“That Guiyi was just a Baoshou-rank creature bred from this environment. There are quite a few guys like that in this Inner World. However, as long as we deal with the source providing the Nether Breath, these low-level Guiyi will quickly disappear as well.”
Qiu Qiqian nodded, and then her attention was once again drawn to the crystal in Li Meng’s hand.
“By the way, Li Meng, that thing in your hand is …”
“This? It’s an Anomalous Wart Crystal,” Li Meng said, lifting her fair hand and patiently explaining to Qiu Qiqian.
“This kind of energy crystal is dropped whenever a Guiyi is destroyed. Many devices in the Organization require this stuff.”
“Hmm … can you … let me see that thing?”
“Hmm? Sure.”
Li Meng did not doubt Qiu Qiqian’s motives and handed the crystal directly into her hand.
Strangely enough, even though Qiu Qiqian had not transformed into a physical entity, she could still hold the object in her hand.
She stroked her chin and looked the crystal over, observing the surface where “veins” seemed to flow.
Looking at the faint light flickering inside, she actually swallowed a mouthful of saliva involuntarily.
‘This thing … why does it feel … like it’s edible …’
Just as Qiu Qiqian was struggling internally, planning to put the crystal into her mouth, Li Meng suddenly snatched it back and ran a few steps behind her.
“Alright, let’s not waste any more time here. The Xianyi that Sister Nan and the others set up can’t trap this Guiyi for long. If time runs out, things will get troublesome.”
“Oh? Right …”
Qiu Qiqian nodded woodenly, then continued to follow behind Li Meng.
‘Hiss … that feeling just now … what was that about? That thing clearly didn’t look delicious, so why did I want to eat it … Is it because I’m a Guiyi? Hmm …’
Qiu Qiqian rubbed her chin, frowning slightly as she fell into thought.
***
“By the way … I used to think you were the type who reached the Youxun rank through special abilities, Li Meng. Looking at it now … did you actually attain physical mastery?”
Qiu Qiqian asked casually as they hurried toward their destination.
“Pfft … what ‘physical mastery’? It’s simply because that Guiyi was too weak; there was no need for me to activate my ability.”
“Is that how it is?”
“Yeah. In fact, among the few Youxun I know, my physical strength is probably at the bottom. But even so, dealing with that kind of Guiyi is a piece of cake!”
Li Meng continued speaking.
However, shortly after she said those words, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as if she had sensed something wrong.
“Hmm? Why did you stop so suddenly?”
Seeing Li Meng stop moving, Qiu Qiqian also came to a halt, looking around with some confusion.
“Is there … some kind of danger?”
“The corridor … has been elongated … Sigh, what a pain.”
Li Meng held her head and sighed.
From her perspective just now, she had been getting closer and closer to the source of that Nether Breath.
But … at a certain moment, the distance between her and the target was suddenly stretched, returning her to the starting position.
“Elongated? Is it a ghost wall?”
“It’s something like that, but in essence, it’s an effect achieved by the Guiyi that created this Inner World through twisting space.”
“Then next we should … Wait, what’s that sound?”
Countless roars and screeches suddenly echoed from both ends of the corridor.
Like voices coming from hell, they resonated within the seemingly endless hallway.
Then, the entire corridor began to shake visibly — not just the floor, but the walls and the ceiling as well.
Without a doubt, a large number of “things” were rushing toward Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng.
“Ugh … the situation doesn’t look good …”
As a Guiyi herself, Qiu Qiqian could feel it; many creatures just like the one from before were rapidly closing in from this direction.
‘That kind of disgusting thing … and there’s more than one? Is this a Guiyi wholesale factory?’
“I say, Li Meng, this situation shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?”
Qiu Qiqian stood back-to-back with Li Meng, asking with a bit of nervousness as her eyes looked uneasily toward the hallway on her side.
“Hmm … handling these low-level Guiyi isn’t an issue. The main thing is … we need to reach the target location quickly.”
“But … doesn’t that guy twist space?”
“The so-called space-twisting is essentially just because this Inner World was created using its own Nether Breath, so it can make changes at will.”
“Hmm … if it were a Yexun or a Lingxun, they would probably choose to concentrate their power and blast a path filled with their own energy toward the destination so that it couldn’t be changed … However … for me …”
“Little Qian, for now … could I trouble you to temporarily return to my body?”
“Huh? Alright.”
Although Qiu Qiqian did not know what Li Meng was about to do, she knew that with her current combat strength, staying outside would be useless anyway.
Thus, she decisively turned into a streak of light and returned to Li Meng’s body.
“Alright then … next …”
Li Meng held one of her hands high, rapidly condensing her own Nether Breath in her palm.
In her ears, the roars from both ends of the hallway drew closer.
Those beast-like Guiyi crawled toward Li Meng from the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling.
All of them moved in an extremely eerie and twisted manner without exception.
If it had been an ordinary person, they would have certainly been overwhelmed by fear and paralyzed.
But for Li Meng, this scene was not even as oppressive as when she was being trained by Sister Nan.
A large amount of Nether Breath gathered in Li Meng’s palm, eventually evolving into a sphere flashing with pure white light.
Then, in the blink of an eye, she gripped the sphere and pressed it into the ground.
In an instant, the pure white energy surged outward in all directions like a tsunami, with Li Meng at the center.
Before those Guiyi could even react, they were swallowed by the powerful torrent of energy, letting out one final wail before dissipating.
The torrent continued to wash through, submerging almost every corner of the Inner World.
The halls, the corridors, the rooms, and the stairs …
After being saturated with this new Nether Breath, the originally damaged and dust-covered Ancient Castle actually began to grow vines and flowers.
Outside the windows, it was no longer scattered moonlight, but a dazzling sun accompanied by the pleasant chirping of birds.
“Phew — this is much more refreshing. Little Qian, you can come out now!”
Li Meng straightened up, her hands on her hips, as she looked at this new Inner World with a look of pride.
Hearing the birds chirping outside the window, her mood improved significantly.
Following Li Meng’s instructions, Qiu Qiqian also separated from her body.
When she saw the current state of the Ancient Castle, her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Wait … where the heck am I? Is this still the same place as before?”
“It is! But it’s been renovated by me. As I said before, the Inner World is actually a space created by a Guiyi using its own Nether Breath. In other words, as long as my Nether Breath can cover this Inner World, I can seize control.”
“Wow, that’s so cow —”
Qiu Qiqian quickly covered her mouth, afraid of being a bad influence on this girl.
“What cow?”
Li Meng blinked, looking at Qiu Qiqian with a confused face.
“Nothing, nothing. Anyway, let’s hurry up and finish off that Guiyi.”
Qiu Qiqian waved her hand awkwardly and quickly changed the subject.
“Hmm … Oh, right, there’s one more thing.”
As she spoke, Li Meng opened her hand, pulling the large pile of crystals on the ground into her hand through the air, and then placed them all into a small bag she carried with her.
“Phew — alright, now we can go finish that guy off. Calculating the time … there should be 5 minutes left … that’s enough.”