Chapter 87: Terror on the Island

When she could see clearly again, she found herself standing on a small island.

Around the island lay a clear lake, its blue waves gently rippling; the scenery was so lovely it lifted the spirit at once.

But Gu Weiyu kept firmly in mind that this place was a secret realm.

She walked around the island to take a look. There was no one else here. Remembering Wan Gu's words, she took the Heart-Linked Bellflower out of her storage space.

At first she had thought that with such a vast secret realm, and only five of them, it would not be easy for them to appear within five hundred meters of one another.

Yet to her surprise, the moment she took out the flower, it was already red.

The Heart-Linked Bellflower had a special trait: when two people both holding one were within five hundred meters of each other, the flower would turn red.

The brighter the color of the flower, the closer the two people were.

Gu Weiyu lowered her head and looked at the deep red bellflower in her palm. It seemed her distance from someone was rather close indeed.

After some thought, she spoke to the Heart-Linked Bellflower: "Lian Hongyi, at the island in the middle of the lake."

Having said that, she put the bellflower away again.

Her spiritual sense spread out from the island in the middle of the lake as she began to scrutinize the surroundings carefully.

The lake lay as still as a jade mirror. The air around it was utterly stagnant, without the slightest breeze, and the cries of insects, birds, and beasts had all vanished without a trace.

There was not a sound to be heard anywhere. The silence was almost unnaturally complete.

Gu Weiyu looked uncertainly toward the lake, and her spiritual sense continued probing the depths below. Her intuition told her that something here was not quite right.

Suddenly, her spiritual sense detected, in the water beneath the rocky wall of the island, a kind of coral-like thing glowing faintly red.

She used the Vine-Pulling Art and, with the help of vines, plucked one stalk and slowly drew it out of the water. Once it emerged, it seemed even more delicate and translucent.

Although Gu Weiyu did not recognize it, she could tell at once that it was certainly a treasure.

She circled the island and gathered nearly twenty or thirty stalks. Then, all at once, she felt a faint tremor beneath her feet.

Gu Weiyu was startled. Just as she hesitated whether to summon Qing Tuan and leave the island, she clearly felt the ground shudder again.

"What is going on?" Gu Weiyu looked down. Could this island be collapsing?

The tremors came one after another, growing ever more frequent.

Gu Weiyu even noticed that cracks had begun to appear beneath her feet on the island.

"Qing Tuan!"

Not daring to hesitate any longer, Gu Weiyu hurriedly summoned Qing Tuan.

A miniature black cloud appeared before her, swiftly expanding to the size of a cushion as it floated beneath her feet.

Gu Weiyu lifted a foot to step onto Qing Tuan, but suddenly stumbled. Her body tipped backward, and then she...

Missed her step.

Her body could not stop itself from falling backward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the lake behind her. No way—she did not know how to swim!

And who knew what might be lurking in that water!

She flailed her arms and legs wildly, trying to steady herself, but another tremor and slip struck beneath her feet, and her feet were completely separated from the island.

"Ahh—"

Gu Weiyu instinctively shut her eyes, but the expected lake water never came. Instead, she landed in something soft...

"Qing Tuan!" Gu Weiyu cried in delight, looking happily at Qing Tuan, which had caught her, and she patted the cloud beneath her.

Qing Tuan twisted its body, carrying her swiftly upward into the air. She turned to look down, only to discover in horror that the "island" below had already vanished without a trace, transformed into two strange beasts resembling crocodiles. Right then, those two beasts were opening their enormous mouths.

An inexplicable suction surged from below. Qing Tuan wavered and slowly drifted toward the beasts below.

Gu Weiyu hurriedly had Qing Tuan switch to attack mode, and bolts of lightning shot downward.

At the same time, two thunder dragons burst from Gu Weiyu's palms, each striking one of the beasts.

The two creatures were hit by the lightning, and their massive bodies began to convulse as a faint crackling sound rose from below.

That strange suction faltered. Qing Tuan immediately seized the chance to ascend.

Seated on Qing Tuan, Gu Weiyu looked down below. The once calm lake surface suddenly began to bubble as countless tiny crocodile-like heads rose up from beneath the water, filling more than half the lake.

Good heavens, how had so many crocodile beasts come out? Could these two really have bred this many?

At that moment, the newly emerged little crocodile beasts all opened their mouths at once and began drawing in toward Qing Tuan.

The suction below abruptly intensified, and Qing Tuan's upward speed immediately slowed, even beginning to sink once more.

"Master, the spiritual power Qing Tuan has gathered is almost used up!" Qing Tuan's voice cried anxiously.

Gu Weiyu nodded. She cast a swift glance downward and thought to herself: Why are they still coming?

At full speed, she unleashed another twin-thunder strike. Two thunder dragons slammed into the giant beasts below, and the suction weakened again.

Qing Tuan immediately took the opportunity to accelerate, and Gu Weiyu let out a breath of relief.

Just as they were about to break free from the range of the suction, a strange cry rang out, and all those crocodile beasts suddenly snapped their mouths shut in unison.

Caught unawares, Qing Tuan overexerted itself, shooting forward like a giant meteor flung into the distance...

Gu Weiyu was hurled high to the top of the protective barrier, then dropped in free fall back onto Qing Tuan, and was left dazed and battered.

Those crocodile beasts were truly malicious in their tastes. If her cultivation were stronger, she would have loved to rush back and beat them senseless.

At the lakeshore, Xu Weizhou, whose face was usually without expression, watched the changes on the island in the middle of the lake. Even he could not help but show a flash of astonishment.

He had not expected this Lian Hongyi to possess not only lightning spiritual roots, but also such a formidable flying magical artifact.

Thinking of some rumors he had heard about Lian Hongyi, his expression softened for a brief moment.

Watching Gu Weiyu fly farther and farther away, a pair of boots embossed with a pale blue sheen of feathers appeared beneath his feet. He strode lightly toward the direction where Gu Weiyu and Qing Tuan had vanished.

With a slight lift of his foot, he appeared more than ten meters away in an instant. Those boots were, in fact, a rare instant-movement magical artifact.

Not far away, there came the sound of a splash.

Qing Tuan, carrying Gu Weiyu, had plunged together with her into a dense thicket.

Gu Weiyu put Qing Tuan away and got to her feet from the bushes, covered in grime. "Damn it, they actually dared to play tricks on me!"

She muttered and cursed the crocodile beasts a few times under her breath, and casually cast a Dust-Cleansing Spell on herself.

"Are you... all right?"

A cool, indifferent voice sounded, and at the same time, the figure of a youth in a green robe appeared outside the bushes.

"Senior Brother Xu?" Gu Weiyu looked toward the bushes at the sound and was quite surprised to see Xu Weizhou.

"I came from the island in the middle of the lake..." Xu Weizhou said concisely.

"Oh—" Gu Weiyu quickly understood. So the one who had been so close to her was actually Xu Weizhou. "Senior Brother Xu, I am fine."

Xu Weizhou gave a faint nod. "Mm. Then let us go."

With that, he turned and walked ahead on his own. Gu Weiyu emerged from the bushes, and when she looked up, she had only time to catch a glimpse of a corner of his green robe.

Seeing this, Gu Weiyu grumbled inwardly. Brother, with emotional intelligence like that, are you not doomed to be single forever?