After purifying the outer space, Li Meng used her partial authority over the Inner World to “teleport” the entrance of their destination directly in front of them.
It was a rather ancient-looking door, so decrepit that there were holes through which one could see directly behind it.
However… behind the door was a pitch-black void, looking like nothingness itself.
Li Meng did not hesitate.
She opened the door and walked inside with Qiu Qiqian.
This was a space of total gloom… it was even more unsettling than the space outside had been.
No matter which direction one looked, there was no end in sight.
It was as if the entire space consisted only of endless darkness.
The only visible things were countless carved stone pillars standing tall, much like those in a palace.
Compared to the outside, the concentration of chaotic and violent Nether Breath here was significantly higher.
It was accompanied by a bone-chilling cold, though Qiu Qiqian, being a Guiyi herself, could not feel it.
However, there was no doubt that the final Guiyi was here.
‘Wait… why do these monsters always like to create such depressing, dark environments? And so empty, too…’
Qiu Qiqian could not help but complain as she looked at the pitch-black environment.
‘If I had this kind of power, I would definitely build a real palace like a final boss in a game. I’d even provide some background music when the time came.’
Although it was darker here than outside, Li Meng could still see… about 100 meters directly ahead of them, a massive figure was crouching.
Judging by the silhouette… it should be about 3 or 4 meters tall.
Li Meng knew that once this was dealt with, the incident would be over.
Just as she took her first step forward, the torch on the nearest stone pillar suddenly ignited, emitting a strange, dark purple flame.
Then came the second, the third…
As if welcoming Li Meng and Qiu Qiqian, the torches on the pillars lit up one after another, leading all the way to the deepest part of the palace.
When the torches there finally ignited, Qiu Qiqian could see clearly.
On a slightly raised marble platform, there was a magic circle drawn in blood.
In the center of the circle crouched a monster… its form resembled a cockroach, and its back was covered in spikes of various sizes.
The creature seemed to notice their arrival.
The Guiyi on the platform shifted its body slightly.
A second later, its massive, insect-like limbs propped it up, and then… it turned to look at Li Meng and Qiu Qiqian with the incredibly pale human face at its front.
It was a lifeless face, like a mask.
Pitch-black tears flowed from solid black eyes, falling drip, drip onto the ground.
“Guhe… hee hee… ouhahahahahahahaha!”
Upon seeing the pair, the Guiyi actually began to laugh maniacally, its entire face twitching violently with the sound.
However, Qiu Qiqian did not find the scene particularly frightening.
Instead, she wore an expression of disgust, as if looking at a pile of trash.
‘Mainly because this guy already looks like a cockroach, and now this crazy laughter makes him look like… a total creep. It’s really hard not to feel disgusted.’
The moment that thought crossed Qiu Qiqian’s mind, the Guiyi stopped laughing.
With a swing of its insect limbs, several stone pillars in the area suddenly shot toward Li Meng.
Li Meng simply performed an elegant side-step, flashing through the gap between two of the pillars and letting the others collide with a thunderous crash.
Seeing Li Meng’s agility, the Guiyi let out that unsettling laugh again.
It stood upright and forced its abdomen open, causing countless twisted, pitch-black hands to erupt from the bottomless cavity, lunging at Li Meng once more.
However, faced with so many arms, Li Meng did not dodge.
She simply released her Nether Breath, condensing it in front of her to form a barrier strong enough to block every single one of them.
“There are only 4 minutes left… well… I suppose I should get a bit serious.”
As soon as she spoke, Li Meng’s usually soft eyes sharpened.
She instantly released a burst of Nether Breath far stronger than her opponent’s.
The materialized energy flowed like a rushing stream of light, scattering the twisted arms in an instant while pinning the Guiyi in place, rendering it unable to move.
Then, Qiu Qiqian saw Li Meng turn into a flash of silver light.
Because of her “binding” relationship with Li Meng, she was suddenly pulled along.
By the time she recovered, she found herself standing right in front of the monster…
“Uh… hello?”
“Hee hee…”
The Guiyi looked down at Qiu Qiqian with its pale face.
The foul stench made Qiu Qiqian’s stomach begin to churn.
It was at that moment that Qiu Qiqian noticed Li Meng’s figure behind the monster.
Li Meng raised one of her legs — clad in a white stocking — high into the air and brought it down like a massive hammer.
With a loud boom, she slammed it into the Guiyi’s back.
The powerful impact not only sent Qiu Qiqian flying back a short distance but even made the entire space shake.
At the point of impact, a large crater was smashed directly into the ground.
“Um… is it over?”
Seeing that Li Meng was not making any further moves, Qiu Qiqian quickly flew to the edge of the crater.
Looking at the mangled, broken Guiyi lying at the bottom, she was momentarily speechless.
“Wait… was it just… one-shotted?”
“Yes. After all, it was only a Chimei-class Guiyi,” Li Meng said matter-of-factly while clapping her hands.
“I have to say… the time it took to fight it was shorter than the time we spent walking here…”
Qiu Qiqian floated down into the crater.
Seeing this creature, which was supposed to be a mini-boss, gone in an instant, she couldn’t help but feel a bit… sympathetic?
“Well, it’s normal. In the real-world, plenty of people travel a long way home just to do some small task. Let’s not talk about that. Little Qian, help me look for where the Wart Crystal dropped.”
‘Wart Crystal? Is it this?’
Qiu Qiqian looked at a black crystal on the ground that occasionally flickered with a white light.
She leaned down and picked it up.
“Ah, you found it, Little Qian. Phew… I thought it might have been blown somewhere hard to find.”
Li Meng sighed in relief seeing the Wart Crystal had been found so quickly.
As she walked toward Qiu Qiqian to take the crystal…
Gulp.
Qiu Qiqian stuffed the crystal directly into her mouth and swallowed it.
“Eh? EHHHHH!”
Seeing this, Li Meng completely lost her cool and let out a startled cry.
“Little Qian! Why… why did you eat that!”
Li Meng stood on her tiptoes, grabbed Qiu Qiqian’s shoulders, and began to shake her violently, trying to shake the Wart Crystal back out.
“Guaa… stop shaking me, stop… I’m going to throw up if you keep shaking me.”
Qiu Qiqian spoke weakly, having no strength to resist.
‘This silly girl… has she forgotten how strong she is? If she keeps shaking me like this, I really will… ugh…’
“Because you ate the Wart Crystal! They contain the Nether Breath of a Guiyi! Even people in the Organization have to use special procedures to purify them before use!”
Li Meng explained anxiously, the frequency of her shaking increasing.
“Uwaaaa… I’m sorry! Then… then stop shaking me first. I really am going to… bleh…”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll… I’ll let go.”
Seeing that Qiu Qiqian really was at her limit, Li Meng finally released her.
She watched as the ghost girl fell flat on the ground and began to pant heavily.
“Phew… finally… that’s a little better…”
“How is it? Little Qian, what are you feeling right now?”
“Right now…”
Qiu Qiqian floated back up unsteadily.
“Right now I feel very dizzy. It feels like the whole room is spinning.”
“Oh! I’m not talking about that! I mean, do you feel… more prone to anger? Are your thoughts becoming chaotic? Can you think normally?”
Li Meng looked at Qiu Qiqian with a worried face, clearly terrified that any of those symptoms would appear.
“Everything you just said, I feel it all right now…”
Qiu Qiqian said while holding her head.
After all, Li Meng had shaken her so hard that she hadn’t recovered yet; naturally, she would have those reactions.
“Really? Um… if that’s the case… I’m sorry… then I’ll have to…”
Hearing Qiu Qiqian’s words, Li Meng seemed to make a certain resolution.
Her face suddenly darkened, and along with it came a gradually intensifying Nether Breath.
“Hey, hey! Why are you suddenly boosting your Nether Breath? You don’t actually think I’m turning into a mindless monster, do you? This is just the aftermath of you shaking me so hard!”
Qiu Qiqian waved her hands frantically to explain.
“Eh? Is that so?”
Hearing this, Li Meng’s expression instantly returned to normal.
“It is! Honestly… with your IQ, how did you become a so-called Youxun… was it purely based on brute strength?”
“Um… sorry, sorry. I’ll make it up to you after we get back. So… do you feel anything strange now, Little Qian?”
“Other than not quite recovering from being shaken by you, I don’t feel anything unusual.”
“Really?”
Li Meng suddenly stood on her toes and leaned in close.
She was so close that their noses almost touched, so close that Qiu Qiqian could smell the jasmine-like fragrance on Li Meng, so close… that she could feel Li Meng’s warm breath.
Li Meng used her watery gray eyes to stare straight into Qiu Qiqian’s face.
“Is there really… nothing unusual?”
“Really… really! Also… don’t stand so close to me!”
Qiu Qiqian pulled away with a red face, feeling her heart leap into her throat… even though she didn’t actually have one.
“Phew… that’s good then. That’s good. In that case, we can get out of here.”
As she spoke, Li Meng crouched down and lightly tapped the floor of the space with her finger.
A second later, the entire environment began to turn illusory and transparent until it vanished completely.
Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng returned to the true interior of the Villa.
***
“Is it settled?”
Sister Nan, who had been standing guard outside, asked instinctively when she saw Li Meng emerge from the Villa.
“Yes, it’s all settled. These are the Wart Crystals we collected.”
Li Meng opened her small bag and showed Sister Nan the results of the mission.
Seeing this, Sister Nan instructed an armed guard to bring over a special platinum-colored case to store the Wart Crystals.
However… during the process, Sister Nan noticed something.
“In here… isn’t there one Chimei-class Wart Crystal missing?”
“Ah… that… it’s because I didn’t control my strength well at the time. I… destroyed the crystal along with it. Sorry.”
“Oh?”
Sister Nan looked at Li Meng’s cheek, which was stained with a bit of dust, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
She didn’t press the matter, only saying, “Be more careful next time.”
“Mhm, I will. Then… Sister Nan, I’ll be heading back now.”
“Goodbye. Be careful on the road.”
After Li Meng left, Sister Nan watched her back.
She couldn’t help but feel… like the girl was in an exceptionally good mood.