Biting her lip, Chu Yuyan slowly moved backwards several meters. The lake began to roil, and a piercing shrieking sound could be heard coming from within it. Chu Yuyan moved backward as quickly as possible
Amidst the ringing shrieks which filled the air, a dark green altar suddenly rose up from within the lake. Waves swelled across the surface of the lake of blood. Figures appeared from within the blood. It was difficult to tell which were male and which were female, because they had no skin, only bloody flesh. They carried the dark stone altar on their shoulders as it rose out of the lake.
The altar was over one hundred fifty meters in diameter, and as it rose out of the surface of the lake, it emitted a sickly reddish-green glow. On top of the altar was a throne made of stone, seemingly the same dark green stone the altar was formed from.
Sitting on the throne was a corpse. A death aura wafted around it, and its face was covered with a mask. The mask was white and featureless.
Meng Hao’s pupils constricted and he stood motionless. Chu Yuyan stood there pale-faced, equally unwilling to move. Enough time passed to take about ten breaths, and then the stone altar slowly began to sink back down. Once again, the bloody surface of the lake grew still, and everything returned to quietness.
Meng Hao let out a long breath and walked backward slowly. Chu Yuyan did the same thing. When the two of them had retreated about three hundred meters, the sense of imminent danger in their hearts slowly faded.
“What was that…” said Chu Yuyan, the first words she had spoken voluntarily in days. Her voice was weak and hoarse.
Meng Hao didn’t reply. Instead, he turned and walked off. Chu Yuyan hesitated a moment, then followed silently. They returned to the cliff face, to a place where earlier they had discovered a natural cave. Inside, Meng Hao sat down cross-legged. Chu Yuyan leaned back against the cave wall, her arms hugging her legs. She stared blankly outside.
She was a proud woman, but what had happened now, coupled with the suppression of her Cultivation base, the presence of the detestable Meng Hao, all of this, gradually filled her heart with pernicious despair. Her only hope was that the Violet Fate Sect would somehow be able to track her down here.
But this place was very strange, and apparently could suppress Cultivation bases. Most likely, it also suppressed the brand of the Violet Fate Sect in her body, which would make it impossible for them to know where she was.
Her clothes were in tatters, and couldn’t even cover her sufficiently. More than half of her body was exposed, especially when she sat in this posture. Almost all of her legs were visible.
Time passed. Every time it seemed a day had come and gone, Meng Hao placed a rock into a small pile next to him. There were already eight. According to his calculations, eight days had passed.
Their Cultivation bases were locked down, preventing any spiritual energy from dispersing. Luckily, they didn’t need food. But this place had no spiritual energy, and if things kept going on like this, they would begin to grow more and more hungry. Considering they were stuck in a remote abyss, they really needed the energy of heaven and earth… except there wasn’t any.
During the eight days, Meng Hao would spend about half the time circulating his Cultivation base, trying to break through whatever was suppressing it. At the very least, he was hoping to be able to open his bag of holding. And yet, he experienced no success.
The rest of the time he spent taking Chu Yuyan out to search for a way out. But, having searched the area so many times, they didn’t find any exit. The only thing they found out was that there seemed to be a lot of vipers lurking about.