90: Shadowscale Serpent

The last glimmer of hope seemed to have been extinguished.

Standing before the teleportation Formation, Lin Feng remained silent for a long time.

The sea breeze blew the loose hair on his forehead, and his expression was somewhat dim.

"It was my misjudgment," he suddenly spoke, "If I hadn't insisted on activating that Formation, I wouldn't have brought Senior Sister into such a desperate situation..."

It was he who had brought her here through the teleportation, yet he could not find the way back.

Fang Lingyao looked at him and shook her head gently: "If you hadn't made a swift decision, we would have already died at the hands of Li Feiyu and Flower Without Shadow. Although this place is a desperate situation, at least... we are still alive."

She paused and continued: "Besides, it was I who invited you to explore the Secret Realm together. If we are talking about responsibility, it is also my responsibility."

The two pulled themselves together and began to slowly explore inland; because there was no path, it seemed a bit difficult.

What was more troublesome was that they soon encountered the "native inhabitants" of the island, a type of Yao Beast covered in dark brown scales, shaped like a lizard, but possessing sharp claws and teeth.

These creatures, known as "Earth Lizards," seemed extremely sensitive to fluctuations in Spiritual Qi. They lurked in the sand and rock crevices, relying on their familiarity with the terrain and their talent for burrowing to launch attacks out of nowhere.

Their individual strength was not top-tier, roughly between the first and second rank, but they were numerous, coordinated well, and extremely skilled at sneak attacks, making them hard to guard against.

Lin Feng and Fang Lingyao's Spiritual power recovered slowly, and their strength was greatly reduced, so they had to fight while retreating, eventually finding a rock crevice that was relatively easy to defend and hard to attack for a temporary rest.

However, after night fell, the attacks of the Earth Lizards became even more frantic.

Perhaps having smelled the residual Spiritual Qi and faint scent of blood on them, several large Earth Lizards tracked them down, crazily assaulting the narrow rock crevice where they were hiding, their claws scraping against the rocks, making teeth-grinding sounds.

"There is no way to retreat further." Lin Feng and Fang Lingyao stood back-to-back; the narrow space forced them to face the swarming Yao Beast head-on.

After dealing with a few Earth Lizards, the two breathed a small sigh of relief.

In the chaos, an Earth Lizard emerged from the shadows of the side rock wall, its sharp claws thrusting directly at Fang Lingyao's heart from behind.

Fang Lingyao was fully occupied dealing with the attacks from the front, and when she realized it, it was already a bit too late.

Lin Feng didn't even think; he turned sideways and used his own back to forcefully collide with the attacking claw.

Rip.

The sharp claw slashed across Lin Feng's spine, his clothes instantly shattered, and blood splattered. The immense impact made him grunt, and he stumbled forward a step.

But using the momentum of his stumble, he thrust his sword back from under his armpit, directly piercing one of the Earth Lizard's eyes.

"Awooo!" The Earth Lizard let out a miserable howl, retracted its claw, and began to twist frantically.

Fang Lingyao turned back and happened to see the bloody mess on Lin Feng's spine. Her heart felt as if it had been gripped, and her breathing suddenly hitched.

All along, she had been the one acting as the main force as Senior Sister; when had she ever seen someone risk their life to take damage for her like this?

The remaining Earth Lizards seemed to be deterred by their companion's miserable state and Lin Feng's reckless ferocity, hissing as they retreated into the darkness.

Inside the rock crevice, only the two's heavy panting remained.

Lin Feng slowly straightened up; the intense pain in his back made cold sweat seep from his forehead, and his movements were somewhat stiff due to the pain.

Fang Lingyao had arrived behind him at some point, her voice so low it was almost inaudible: "...Don't move."

She carefully cleaned the wound on his back. The cold moonlight shone through the gaps in the fog, barely illuminating her side profile. In those eyes that were always calm and waveless, perhaps there was a hint of... heartache that she herself could not sort out.

Lin Feng could feel the coolness of her fingertips and that sentiment, remaining silent without refusing.

In the following days, the two continued to explore, and their range went deeper and deeper.

Once, deep within a hidden rock wall crevice, Lin Feng sensed a faint, yet out-of-place, Spiritual Qi fluctuation that did not belong to the island.

He signaled to Fang Lingyao, and the two spent quite a bit of effort to painstakingly widen the crevice that was almost blocked by rubble.

Behind the crevice was actually a small, incredibly simple stone cave. Inside the cave sat a complete grey-white skeleton, the clothes on its body long since weathered away to nothing.

Beside the skeleton lay a dull-colored spirit beast pouch, as well as a Jade Slip covered in thick dust.

Lin Feng carefully picked up the Jade Slip, brushed off the dust, and slowly sank his Divine Sense into it.

It turned out that the owner of this Immortal Cave had been pursued by enemies, escaped while heavily injured, and in a panic, activated a dilapidated ancient teleportation Formation, only to be teleported to this isolated island devoid of Spiritual Qi.

At that time, he was already at the end of his rope; the Spiritual Qi on the island was sparse, his injuries could not recover, and in the end, he could only pass away here, dying with regrets.

At the end of the Jade Slip, he mentioned that in the spirit beast pouch he carried, there was still a "Shadow Scale Snake" egg he had obtained by Opportunity; this snake was quite spiritual, but alas, he was about to perish and could not hatch it.

Putting down the Jade Slip, Lin Feng was silent for a moment, his gaze falling on the spirit beast pouch.

He carefully opened it, his Divine Sense probing inside, and indeed felt a faint fluctuation of life; a snake egg covered in fine grey scale patterns lay quietly, its aura weak.

He took out the snake egg, hesitated for a moment, looked at Fang Lingyao beside him, and handed the egg over: "Senior Sister, the Jade Slip says this is a 'Shadow Scale Snake' egg, and it seems quite spiritual. Do you... have any interest in hatching and raising it?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Lingyao was visibly stunned on her cold face.

She looked at the snake egg, then at Lin Feng, a look of confusion and helplessness flashing in her eyes.

A girl raising a snake? Even if it was a Spirit Beast, this... was truly beyond her previous scope of understanding.

She subconsciously shook her head slightly: "...This item, it is more appropriate for you, Junior Brother, to handle it."

Seeing her reaction, Lin Feng said no more, nodded, and took the snake egg back.

He tried to channel a wisp of pure and peaceful Spiritual Qi into it; the grey scale patterns on the surface of the snake egg seemed to brighten slightly, and the faint life fluctuation also became a little more active.

The following days seemed to be infinitely stretched out.

On this isolated island, cut off from the world and sparse in Spiritual Qi, time lost its meaning.

Sunrises and sunsets, fog gathering and dispersing, repeating in cycles.

The two struggled to survive in this desperate situation while silently Cultivating.

Every day, Lin Feng would use his own Spiritual Qi to nourish the Shadow Scale Snake egg, and every month, for a few days, Fang Lingyao's body would become cold, and Lin Feng would hold her to help keep her warm.

About one year later, on a certain day, the snake egg that Lin Feng always carried with him finally had some movement.

Accompanying a faint "crack" sound, the eggshell cracked, and a small snake, covered entirely in grey scales with pale golden pupils and only the thickness of a finger, timidly poked its head out.

It seemed extremely close to Lin Feng's aura, winding its way onto his wrist. The cold, slippery touch made Lin Feng slightly startled, and immediately he felt a faint mental connection being established.

This was the Shadow Scale Snake.

Lin Feng raised it with great care; the little snake grew slowly, but its intelligence was quite high, and it became increasingly close to Lin Feng.

A turning point occurred another year after the Shadow Scale Snake hatched.