The night passed without a word, but with kisses.
Their awakening was accompanied by high temperatures, but fortunately, the Shadow Heart provided insulation, making Jiang Junyi and Wan Qingyun not so uncomfortable.
"Qingyun, are you awake?" Jiang Junyi gently asked, wiping the sweat from Wan Qingyun's forehead and lips.
"Mm..." Wan Qingyun slowly opened her eyes, and Jiang Junyi's smiling face came into view.
"Are we home..." Wan Qingyun murmured, still half-asleep.
Jiang Junyi smiled and kissed Wan Qingyun's lips: "You're still sleepy. We're in Takla, Koyik, and still in a life-or-death crisis."
Wan Qingyun's eyes gradually cleared, and she remembered that they were trapped.
She gently stroked Jiang Junyi's cheek: "Will the Shadow's power be alright maintaining for so long?"
Jiang Junyi shook his head: "The Shadow Heart is different from true qi. A simple deployment like this doesn't consume much true qi or physical strength."
"It's just that the Shadow seems to be restricted here."
Wan Qingyun nodded: "For the daytime sunlight, I'll take over."
She blinked: "My true qi doesn't have warming properties at night."
"Alright~"
The two quickly tidied up and broke through the soil blocking the cave entrance.
As soon as he stepped out, Jiang Junyi felt the dazzling sunlight and the scorching ultraviolet rays.
Instantly, a feeling of being in another world arose.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Junyi once again embarked on his journey.
Fortunately, it was a canyon, so the area exposed to sunlight wasn't that large.
They walked quietly for a while...
"Crunch!"
Jiang Junyi stepped on a dry bone and stopped in his tracks.
Behind him, Wan Qingyun's expression was serious, her beautiful eyes scanning the surroundings.
The place where they were now was a circular open area in the canyon. The moment they stepped in, Jiang Junyi and Wan Qingyun noticed something unusual.
Jiang Junyi squinted slightly, looking at the piles of white bones not far in front of him.
There were human and animal bones.
"Qingyun, be careful, I don't think this place is right," Jiang Junyi whispered.
"Mm, I feel it too, it's like something is hiding in the dark," Wan Qingyun tightened her arm slightly around Jiang Junyi.
Jiang Junyi cautiously walked forward, step by step, gradually lowering his center of gravity.
If there was any sudden situation, he could make the optimal move immediately.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle."
Jiang Junyi suddenly looked towards the source of the sound, but it was a wall?
Suddenly, the "rustle" sound went from weak to strong, and finally evolved into echoes from all directions.
Jiang Junyi remained tense, constantly scanning his surroundings; he dared not be careless.
"There's a problem with these canyon walls... Many of these sounds are echoes; the true killing intent is still unknown," Wan Qingyun whispered quickly, leaning behind Jiang Junyi.
"I know," Jiang Junyi nodded.
Wan Qingyun's words made him feel a little more at ease, and he relaxed a little.
"Bang!" "Bang, bang, bang!"
Just at that moment, four segmented worms, 3-5 meters long with rust-red scales covering their skin, suddenly leaped out of the sand beneath Jiang Junyi's feet!
They opened their four rotating, serrated jaws, ferociously biting at Jiang Junyi!
Wan Qingyun's pretty face instantly turned ashen white at the sight; it was truly, too disgusting!
But even so, she still suppressed the discomfort in her heart and extended her slender hand.
Black true qi mixed with dazzling starlight surged out, instantly binding the huge segmented worms like chains!
"Hiss—!"
Jiang Junyi tilted his head to dodge, almost smelling the foul odor emanating from the worms' grotesque mouths.
"Break!"
Wan Qingyun lightly shouted, gripping tightly.
The true qi tightened abruptly, and a series of "crunching" sounds continuously echoed from the worms' bodies.
That was the explosive sound produced by the intense friction and resistance between the scales and the true qi.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!"
The worms wriggled frantically, the intense pain making them struggle desperately.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Green liquid splattered, and the four worms broke into two halves, wriggling frantically on the ground.
Jiang Junyi's pupils slightly constricted at this moment; he noticed that the wounds on these worms were slowly stopping bleeding.
"No, these sand worms can still survive even when cut in half!"
"What?!" Wan Qingyun gasped, panting.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"
At this moment, sounds echoed from all directions once again, even louder than before!
"Run!"
Jiang Junyi made a decisive decision and ran with Wan Qingyun on his back.
He couldn't free his hands to help Wan Qingyun now, and the Shadow Heart was also restricted; it could either turn into a shirt, or pants, or a long saber.
"Damn it, it seems we've stumbled into a sand worm nest!" Jiang Junyi gritted his teeth, "And seriously, there are really sand worms?!"
These segmented worms were almost identical to the sand worms he knew from movies and TV shows; magnified a hundred times, they would be living Lords of the Desert!
Jiang Junyi ran quickly, and Wan Qingyun inadvertently looked back. Just that one glance made her get goosebumps all over.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!"
Behind the two of them, countless iron-jawed sand worms (scientific name) with grotesque mouths attacked frantically.
The sandy ground was completely rust-red!
Those enormous, slender, segmented bodies squeezed together, vying for position on the canyon path.
In an instant, the area behind them became a red ocean!
Wan Qingyun had no doubt that if they were even a little slower, they would become one of the white bones among them.
At this moment, Jiang Junyi no longer cared about preserving the power of the Shadow Heart; after it transformed into pants, his speed increased slightly.
"Qingyun! Which way do we go?!" Jiang Junyi yelled urgently.
A fork in the road appeared before him.
"Right!"
Jiang Junyi's figure didn't stop at all; he sprinted forward, the red ocean following him like a shadow.
Gradually, he smelled a strong sour odor.
"Junyi, watch out ahead!" Wan Qingyun urgently shouted.
Jiang Junyi looked intently and saw a pool of light green water stretching across their path.
Running to the edge, Jiang Junyi bent his knees and pushed hard, leaping out and landing on the ground.
Wan Qingyun: "Phew... we can rest for a bit."
"Huh? Those sand worms behind us..."
"Just look back and you'll know."
Hearing this, Jiang Junyi turned his head to look.
The red ocean, upon encountering this pool of light green water, seemed to have met its natural enemy, and the massive horde abruptly stopped!
But the sand worms at the very front, those that charged the most fiercely and were the most grotesque, were in a rather miserable state.
Jiang Junyi was certain that this particular sand worm was struggling the hardest, its body wriggling with the greatest amplitude.
It desperately tried to burrow backward, but there were simply too many of its brethren behind it.
First sand worm: Brothers, brothers! Please, stop!
Second sand worm: Every man for himself, good brother, I will remember you.
The leading sand worm desperately curled its body, attempting to survive.
Finally!
The red ocean stopped dead before the pool, with the leading sand worm even hovering above the water.
"Hiss!"
The sand worm right behind the leading one suddenly shook its body...
First sand worm: No, buddy, what are you doing?
Second sand worm: I sneezed...
First sand worm: I'm really going to f***ing...
"Splash!"
A sand worm fell into the pool, and an extremely unpleasant "sizzling" sound immediately erupted.
The sand worm only struggled for a moment before completely dissolving!
Wan Qingyun: ( ° ロ ° )!
Jiang Junyi: ( ⊙ _ ⊙ )
The two looked around intently, and light green pools were everywhere!
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