"I… I'm afraid the light from the Domain-breaking Talisman won't cover you…"
"Just bear with it for a moment."
Fearing Jiang Lan would misunderstand, Li Mengning explained in a low voice.
"…"
Jiang Lan glanced at her, then wrapped his arms around her waist. It was soft and impossibly slender.
The tip of his nose felt as if it had plunged into a sea of cool, fragrant flowers.
"So fragrant…" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Li Mengning's long, slender neck—fair as frost and snow—instantly flushed crimson, like fine white jade stained scarlet.
She bit her red lip gently, then wrapped her arms around Jiang Lan.
A clear light flashed from the Domain-breaking Talisman, enveloping them both.
The Void before them blurred, and a dark, deep passage seemed to appear. Their figures vanished.
"Do you really know where the Blood Red Plateau is?"
The next moment, the two of them appeared on a solitary, bitterly cold mountain. The world was a vast expanse of pure white snow.
Jiang Lan seriously suspected that this woman had no sense of direction.
"I… I'll look again…" Li Mengning said in a small voice, her tone clearly lacking confidence.
"Do you have enough Domain-breaking Talismans?" Jiang Lan asked.
"I… I should have enough…"
"…"
'I should have known she was this unreliable. I never should have trusted her so easily.'
Jiang Lan suddenly regretted being so rash.
Fortunately, Li Mengning didn't let him down completely. After realizing she truly didn't know the way to the Blood Red Plateau, she personally went to a nearby town to ask for directions, bought a map, and painstakingly drew out the route.
With the map in hand, they spent another half-day traveling before finally arriving at the border of the Blood Red Plateau.
The air was filled with a dry, slightly metallic scent of blood, and wisps of miasma drifted toward them.
Looking from a distance, the area was shrouded in a blood-colored mist, gloomy and dark. There were vast stretches of reddish-brown scorched earth, withered mountain ranges, dried-up lakes, and rolling hills. Deeper within, one could see one towering mountain after another.
From time to time, streaks of light and Divine Rainbows could be seen flying in from other places, landing somewhere in the Blood Red Plateau ahead.
Jiang Lan recalled the plot from his memories.
'After the ruins of the Blood Immortal Sect appear, they'll attract a large number of Noble Sects to fight over them, leading to bloody conflicts and heavy casualties. At the same time, the Blood Immortal Sect's former protective Grand Array will reactivate. A blood-red light will cover thirty thousand miles, and all the cultivators who went to fight for the opportunity will be completely annihilated. Almost no one will survive. But that's actually a conspiracy by the remnants of the Blood Immortal Sect. They need to collect enough Life Force to open their ancestral shrine. However, after the remnants of the Blood Immortal Sect open the shrine, they'll discover it's already empty. The Blood Immortal Sect's true inheritance was never in the ancestral shrine at all.'
'The Blood Immortal Sect's inheritance is actually in the tomb complex where the previous generation's Blood Immortal Ancestor was buried.'
'According to the plot, some guy named Ye Ming is supposed to stumble upon it…'
Jiang Lan's gaze swept over the area. The Blood Red Plateau covered a vast territory. There were dozens of known tomb complexes alone, not to mention the undiscovered ones that had yet to see the light of day.
'Searching for it one by one would take who knows how long.'
'However, since I chose to intercept the opportunity, I'm naturally confident. The Blood Immortal Ancestor was, after all, a supreme figure who dominated the Nine Provinces in his lifetime. Even in death, his corpse would be anything but ordinary. The corpses buried with him wouldn't have been ordinary people in life, either.'
'The tomb complex where the Blood Immortal Ancestor is buried is bound to be surrounded by powerful Demon Beasts and vicious Demons. If I follow that trail, it should be easy to locate…'
Jiang Lan's gaze fell upon a colorful venomous snake flicking its tongue from a crack in the rock wall nearby.
With a slight flicker of his Heart Thought, wisps of Life Force were drawn out and vanished. The venomous snake instantly disintegrated, turning to ash and disappearing.
The snake's many memories, experiences, and innate talents were all instantly stripped away and devoured by him.
Jiang Lan even felt his resistance to poison increase slightly.
'As expected, the creatures living here have a natural fear of a certain area…'
Subsequently, Li Mengning naturally became his current "mode of transportation."
The two of them transformed into a streak of divine light and sped away.
She carried him through the air, her black hair dancing in the wind. Beneath her veil, her flawless, jade-white face showed no trace of emotion.
Only when her glassy, coolly indifferent eyes swept over certain areas of the Blood Red Plateau did they reveal flashes of worry.
'Those places are occupied by powerful Demon Beasts. They're very dangerous. If Jiang Lan went there, he'd be eaten, not even his bones would be left…'
Before long, the scorching heat and bloody scent in the air grew stronger, and the sky grew darker.
The mountains on both sides were steep and jagged, with almost no vegetation. The reddish-brown earth radiated a scorching heat.
The two of them walked through a great rift valley that looked like a scar upon the earth, where only a sliver of the sky was visible.
From some of the rock walls, one could even see jets of blood-red mist spewing out. Without an Antitoxic Pill, an ordinary cultivator would likely die from the poison within half a day of arriving here.
Li Mengning had many treasures and was not lacking things like an Antitoxic Bead. Besides, with her cultivation and strength, she had no reason to fear this blood-red mist.
Jiang Lan, however, could clearly sense that this blood-red mist contained a dense concentration of Life Force.
'In other words, I can actually manipulate and devour this blood-red mist. For ordinary people, this blood-red mist is something to be avoided at all costs, but for me, it's a great tonic.'
'This place… is actually a pretty good spot.'
As they ventured deeper into the Blood Red Plateau, Jiang Lan could clearly feel the blood-red mist growing thicker and the number of Demon Beasts increasing.
However, they couldn't even withstand a single strike from Li Mengning's sword before being sliced in two.
'Years ago, she was already at the Fourth Realm, the Illuminating Nether Realm. She can only be stronger now. Unless she runs into a Demon King Level Demon Beast, nothing can stop her. I remember there's a Red Yin Pool in this Blood Red Plateau. Inside, there seems to be a nearly mature Thousand-year-old Nine Yin Rourou Lotus, guarded by a Demon Python with the strength of a Demon King. It's a pity it's useless to me right now, but for Li Mengning, who cultivates the Supreme Profound Secret Skill, it's a rare Celestial and Earthly Treasure that can advance her cultivation…'
"Jiang Lan…"
Jiang Lan was lost in thought when a soft voice suddenly reached his ears.
He looked back and raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
"It's very dangerous up ahead. You shouldn't go," Li Mengning said in a low voice.
She stood behind Jiang Lan, dressed in plain cyan gauze. Her hair was done up in a cloud-like bun, with a few strands of dark hair falling beside her flawless, crystal-clear ears, which she gently tucked back.
"Whatever you need, I can bring it back for you." Seeing Jiang Lan's confusion, she explained.
Jiang Lan shook his head. "No need."
"You… Don't try to act tough. I can sense a very powerful aura up ahead. If you stay here, you won't be in any danger." Li Mengning's glassy eyes were fixed on his face as she spoke with great seriousness.
"Can even you not handle it?" Jiang Lan asked.
Li Mengning hesitated for a moment before replying, "I can handle it, but… I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you."
Jiang Lan chuckled inwardly. In Li Mengning's eyes, he was basically just a burden, dead weight.
"Alright, I'll wait for you here."
"There should be a Red Yin Pool up ahead. Inside is a nearly mature Nine Yin Rourou Lotus, but it's guarded by a two-headed fiend-python. Help me retrieve it," Jiang Lan said.