Chapter 19 Sleeping Together in the Forbidden Zone, Phoenix Blood Revival
The moment she stepped over the red line, the world seemed to have been pressed on mute.
The heart-stopping roars of the beast tide, the sound of the wind, and even the rustling of the air outside all vanished in an instant.
In their place was a suffocating silence and a terrifying pressure as heavy as molten mercury pouring over one's head.
This was the core of Abandoned City No. 03 and the "Absolute Forbidden Zone" that connected to the Earth Cave cracks.
The air was filled with a gray-purple mist, and visibility was less than ten meters.
The gravitational field here was abnormally chaotic, at least 10 times that of the outside world.
With every step, she had to not only fight against gravity that felt like lead weights but also resist the abyssal chill that tried to burrow into her pores and freeze her bone marrow.
Su Qingyue carried Jiang Chen on her back; her forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat, and her legs were trembling slightly.
Her cultivation at the 8th Rank of the Qi and Blood Realm, which she took pride in, was suppressed here like a candle in the wind.
"This pressure... If it were an ordinary Qi and Blood Realm practitioner, even someone like Zhao Feng who relied on drugs to stack up his levels, they would have their blood vessels burst within ten steps of entering."
Su Qingyue gritted her teeth and pushed forward with difficulty.
Fortunately, although Jiang Chen on her back was sleeping like a dead pig, a faint, invisible force field constantly swirled around him—it was the residual power of rules from the "Nightmare Domain," which helped her shoulder most of the mental pressure.
The two stopped at the entrance of an abandoned underground air-raid shelter.
"I can't go any further; my True Qi is almost exhausted."
Su Qingyue glanced at her wristband; the signal was completely gone, and only a red "Danger" warning flashed on the screen.
She dragged Jiang Chen into the air-raid shelter, which was relatively dry, containing only some rusted iron shelves and moldy wooden crates.
She deftly laid out Jiang Chen's "luxurious" moisture-proof mat and down quilt, then laid him flat.
At this moment, Jiang Chen was in a terrible state.
His face was as pale as paper, his brows were tightly locked, his body was freezing cold, and he even began to convulse violently and uncontrollably.
That was the precursor to the collapse of his Soul defense mechanism after his Mental Energy had been overdrawn to the limit.
【Warning! Warning!】
【The host is in a state of Mental Energy depletion (0/200).】
【High-concentration abyssal radiation erosion detected... Dream defense network is about to shatter...】
【Body temperature plummeting! Soul is freezing!】
【High-level heat source urgently needed for neutralization! High-level heat source urgently needed for neutralization!】
Although Jiang Chen was asleep, his survival instinct made him begin to frantically search for a heat source.
Just as Su Qingyue wanted to stand up to check the environment, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Jiang Chen.
That hand was as cold as a corpse's hand reaching out from a ten-thousand-year-old ice cellar, and the grip was terrifyingly strong.
"Cold..."
Jiang Chen murmured, his voice weak and trembling, his whole body curled into a ball, and his teeth were chattering.
Su Qingyue was startled and reached out to touch Jiang Chen's forehead; it was ice-cold to the touch, as if she had touched a piece of dry ice.
"Has he been backlashed by Evil Qi?"
Su Qingyue was anxious.
She remembered that her aunt, Mu Qingxue, had once vaguely mentioned that Jiang Chen's Physique was extremely special, and once his Mental Energy was depleted, it would be very dangerous unless there was... special, supreme Yang energy to guide him.
"Supreme Yang energy... Do I have it?"
Su Qingyue looked down at herself.
Just then, she felt the phoenix blood within her, which had been dormant due to the oppressive environment, suddenly stir slightly because of contact with Jiang Chen's cold Qi.
At this moment, the temperature outside the air-raid shelter plummeted, and the ground began to frost over at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That Yin cold Qi from the underground cracks was difficult to resist even with Su Qingyue running her Qi and blood at full speed; a layer of white frost even formed on her eyebrows.
"If this continues, he will die... and I will freeze to death here too."
Su Qingyue looked at Jiang Chen, who was shivering with purple lips, and then at this gloomy, terrifying environment that resembled a graveyard.
She bit her red lips, a flash of shame, anger, and struggle crossing her eyes, which finally turned into determination.
"Jiang Chen, if you dare to betray me in this life, I will kill you with one sword!"
She quickly took off her combat jacket, which had long been soaked in blood and had become as hard and stiff as iron armor, wearing only a thin, form-fitting white training suit.
The tight fabric outlined her perfect curves, but in this environment, no one had the mind to appreciate it.
She unzipped the down sleeping bag, took a deep breath, and climbed in.
The moment their skin touched.
Jiang Chen was like a drowning person grasping at the only piece of driftwood, wrapping himself around her like an octopus.
His hands tightly wrapped around the slender waist of Su, the Campus Belle, and his legs domineeringly pinned hers down, burying his burning cheek into the crook of her neck, greedily absorbing the warmth.
"Mmm..."
Su Qingyue's body instantly stiffened, her mind went blank, and she blushed so hard it looked like she was about to bleed.
This position was too shameful! Too... too tight!
But the next second, something strange happened.
As the two were in close contact, the phoenix blood within Su Qingyue, which had been thin and caused her excruciating pain every time it flared up, suddenly boiled as if it had encountered some kind of catalyst!
That was the instinct of Yin and Yang converging.
A golden-red warm current rose from her Dantian, flowing continuously into Jiang Chen's body along every inch of their contact, while also warming her own limbs and bones.
【Ding! High-quality sleeping companion (Su Qingyue) zero-distance contact detected.】
【Contact area: 95%!】
【phoenix blood resonance rate: 100% (MAX)!】
【Triggered special status: Dragon and Phoenix Harmony (Pseudo) / Ice and Fire Dual Heaven.】
【Abyssal erosion has been neutralized... Mental Energy is recovering rapidly...】
【Experience points gained: 100/second...】
Jiang Chen's originally furrowed brows smoothed out, and his breathing became steady and strong again.
And that mysterious aura fed back from Jiang Chen's body (pure Mental Energy converted by the System) also made Su Qingyue feel warm all over, sweeping away her previous fatigue and cold.
This feeling... was too comfortable.
It was as if her Soul was resonating and trembling, with an indescribable tingling sensation shooting straight from her tailbone to the top of her head.
In the depths of this gloomy and terrifying forbidden zone, in this cramped sleeping bag, their heartbeats gradually synchronized, and their breaths mingled.
Don't know how long had passed.
Jiang Chen's consciousness saw a huge fire Phoenix in his dream.
That fire Phoenix was warm, soft, and exuded an alluring fragrance.
He subconsciously wanted to touch those warm feathers, his palm unconsciously exerting a little force, grabbing at those "feathers."
In reality.
"Mmm..." Su Qingyue couldn't help but let out a very soft moan, her body soft as water, without even the strength to push him away. "This bastard... where is he putting his hands..."
Just as this romantic atmosphere was about to spiral out of control.
Boom!
The ground suddenly shook violently, as if some behemoth was turning over underground.
An aura ten times more terrifying than before, carrying an ancient majesty, erupted from the depths of the air-raid shelter—that is, from the direction of the underground cracks.
【Ding! Key node of the main quest triggered.】
【Crack guardian is about to awaken.】
【Waking Up Anger Rank: World-destroying level.】
【Please host, go and suppress it immediately!】
Jiang Chen opened his eyes abruptly.
This time, there was no sleepiness in his eyes, only clarity and... a hint of surprise.
Because he discovered that he was hugging Su, the Campus Belle tightly like a rogue, and the feeling was excellent.
Their eyes met. The air froze for three seconds.
Su Qingyue's face was as red as a ripe tomato, her eyes misty, both ashamed and angry.
"That..." Jiang Chen blinked, still with no intention of letting go. "If I said I was sleepwalking to keep warm, would you believe me?"
"Jiang! Chen!" Su Qingyue was so ashamed and angry she wanted to die, and was just about to lash out.
Jiang Chen's expression changed, he covered her mouth with one hand, and pressed her head with the other, shielding her in his arms.
"Shh."
Jiang Chen's voice became incredibly serious, his gaze passing over Su Qingyue's shoulder, looking into the dark depths.
"Don't make a sound. There's a real beauty... ah no, there's a big guy, it's awake."