37: Chapter 36 Returning to the Mysterious Maiden Civilization

Li Fan had to admit.

When he saw that Qi Refining breakthrough required 3000 hard training points on the System panel last time, the thought, 'If only I had 9999 hard training points, how good that would be,' had indeed crossed his mind.

As the notification for the arrival of the hard training points sounded, Li Fan began to feel some regret.

"If I had known, I would have wished for one million hard training points. Is it too late now?"

At this moment, he heard Nangong Miao asking from atop the courtyard wall and casually blurted out a lie.

"Good stuff."

Nangong Miao did not press the issue and cast her gaze around to survey the surroundings.

"This courtyard is really familiar. How did you make it appear?"

Upon hearing this, Li Fan was somewhat surprised.

"You don't know?"

It seemed that Nangong Miao had merely treated the Human Illusion as a key to enter the Zhongyu Gate, so Li Fan began to explain the usage of the Human Illusion to her.

Nangong Miao integrated her Divine Sense into the Human Illusion, and the courtyard appeared even more realistic. Under the influence of the Human Illusion, her state of mind also became somewhat unsteady.

But before things could go further, the giant snake in the distance finally opened its eyes completely.

With it as the center, a violent explosion occurred again, accompanied by monstrous purple flames, and countless burning treasures shot outwards.

The incoming objects pierced through the courtyard wall. Seeing this, Nangong Miao waved her hand, casting a technique to deflect the subsequent treasures that were shooting towards them.

She then soared into the air, and seeing the purple flames rushing towards her, she inwardly sighed that things were looking bad.

"It seems this is as far as we go."

As she spoke, she subconsciously looked down at Li Fan, a trace of worry appearing in her heart.

"Have you found a way back?"

Seeing Li Fan shake his head, Nangong Miao took out an Evasion Talisman from her bosom.

The Immortal Dao Assembly only cared about entry, not exit. Except for unlucky fellows like Li Fan who stumbled in by mistake, every Cultivator who entered would prepare an Evasion Talisman for departure in advance.

"Then let's go to Zhonghuang Heaven as guests first."

As she spoke, she activated the Evasion Talisman, and golden brilliance flowed out, about to envelop the two of them.

But a sudden change occurred; purple flames ignited on the Evasion Talisman, and the brilliance immediately dissipated significantly.

"Not good!"

Nangong Miao waved the Evasion Talisman, pouring in magic power to desperately suppress the purple flames, but it was too late.

By the time she completely removed the purple flames, the Talisman in her hand had become dim and could no longer be activated.

Gazing at the overwhelming tide of flames rushing towards them, her heart tightened, and a trace of despair quietly welled up from the bottom of her heart.

"I'm going to end up perishing here with this wild boy."

Having lost the only means of escape, she could not use her brow flame, and her Spiritual Qi was exhausted.

Nangong Miao could only stand frozen in place, watching helplessly as the monstrous purple flames engulfed them.

The raging fire swept through.

Gritting her teeth, she used the last of her strength to forcibly summon her remaining Li Fire to resist, but this bit of pink flame was vulnerable before the eerie purple flames.

Thus, the purple flames also wrapped around her body and began to burn. Just as she felt desperate, Spiritual Qi carrying a biting sword momentum swept past, suppressing the purple flames all over her body.

Li Fan flew over, grabbed Nangong Miao's arm, and carried her through the raging flames.

Nangong Miao stared blankly at the figure holding her arm, seeing Li Fan's Spiritual Qi erupting, forcing back the surrounding purple flames and carrying her as he fled straight in one direction.

Li Fan was not having an easy time either, constantly consuming large amounts of Spiritual Qi to resist the purple flames. Fortunately, the Top-tier Qi Spirit Root and the Qi Sea Technique focused on having abundant Spiritual Qi and fast recovery.

Even so, he could not hold out for too long. His gaze was fixed on a point of light in the distance surrounded by purple flames; that was the newly manifested portal.

"It's the same as the portal when we entered."

He could only bet that this was the path back manifested by the Immortal Palace Secret Realm as he had envisioned. However, the purple flames were also burning on this portal, and he feared it would not last long.

Li Fan estimated his own Spiritual Qi consumption rate and the distance to the portal.

"It's doable."

But the next moment, the giant snake coiled in the center of the darkness flashed its eyes, as if it had just woken up and yawned.

With it as the center, the same explosion occurred again, and many fragments of objects were shot out by the impact. Li Fan had to increase his Spiritual Qi to defend against these incoming fragments.

Even worse, the intensity of the surrounding purple flames had increased several times over.

"It's over."

As he said this, Li Fan's Spiritual Qi consumption suddenly increased several times.

"Don't worry about me, you still have a chance to fly over."

Li Fan looked back at Nangong Miao; her eyes were somewhat dim, and she had already made a decision.

But Li Fan did not let go of the hand holding Nangong Miao's arm; instead, he noticed something behind her.

At this moment, a copper coffin crashed through the heat waves formed by the purple flames. Li Fan saw that the purple flames had not left a single scorch mark on it, and a trace of determination arose in his eyes.

As the copper coffin flew past them, he reached out and grabbed it, kicked the coffin lid half-open with one foot, and then stuffed the still bewildered Nangong Miao into the copper coffin.

Then, Li Fan used the last of his magic power to change the trajectory of the copper coffin, aiming it at the portal in the distance.

Finally, he squeezed his whole body into the copper coffin and closed the lid.

After doing all this, Li Fan, who was inside the copper coffin, could only pray that the portal could hold out long enough for them to enter before being destroyed by the purple flames.

Inside the copper coffin, it was as if the sounds from the outside were completely cut off; it was very quiet.

After a period of silence, a sound like glass shattering suddenly rang out, followed by a sound like blades scraping against the outside of the copper coffin penetrating inside.

"Did we succeed in passing through the portal and return to the Xuannü Star Domain?"

Li Fan was somewhat puzzled and was just about to lift the copper coffin lid to take a look when he was stopped by the voice of Nangong Miao, who was beneath him.

"Don't open it!"

"What's wrong?"

As a Dao Entrance Realm Cultivator, Nangong Miao naturally had much more knowledge than Li Fan.

"Just now, this coffin must have entered right at the moment the portal was destroyed by the purple flames, which corresponds to that shattering sound."

"Because of this, the portal's spatial teleportation ability was not complete; it cannot arrive in an instant as usual."

"Right now, we should be traveling through a spatial rift towards the original destination. The scraping sound coming from outside the coffin should be spatial cracks slicing against the coffin wall."

Hearing this, Li Fan felt a lingering fear; if he had opened the lid just now, wouldn't he have been finished?

"This coffin is extraordinary to be able to withstand spatial cracks."

Nangong Miao let out a long sigh of relief and then said,

"For now, there should be no danger. Just honestly wait for the copper coffin to travel along the spatial rift to the destination."

Upon hearing this, Li Fan's tense expression relaxed quite a bit.

If he hadn't calculated wrong, the destination of this trip was the Xuannü Star Domain. Maybe if he was lucky, it would drop him straight into the Yan Region.

"Finally, I can go back."

As he spoke, his brain felt a bit dizzy.

Just now, he had gone all out and drained the last shred of his Spiritual Qi. Now that he relaxed, his hands and feet felt weak, and he collapsed.

"You're crushing me!"

The inside of the copper coffin was not some Sumeru Mustard Seed; it was as big inside as it was outside, and because of the thickness of the coffin walls, it was actually even smaller inside.

Li Fan had squeezed in against the coffin lid. At this moment, he had fallen asleep, and without support, his whole body pressed onto Nangong Miao.

Feeling the sudden weight, in her panic, Nangong Miao wanted to push him away, but she discovered that Li Fan had already fallen into a deep sleep.

"I never expected to be saved by a Qi Refining Cultivator."

Looking at Li Fan's face, Nangong Miao recalled the experience in the Human Illusion and felt a bit flushed. She hurriedly circulated her Cultivation Technique, focusing her mind on recovery.

He did not know how much time had passed when Li Fan woke up. The first thing he heard was still the sound of the copper coffin scraping against spatial cracks.

He had slept very soundly during this nap because the soft sensation beneath his body was indeed much better than the mattress in his apartment.

"Have you slept enough?"

Hearing Nangong Miao's inquiry, Li Fan hurriedly braced his body up.

However, the space in the copper coffin was not large. No matter how they propped themselves up, the two were face-to-face; they couldn't even turn around.

Nangong Miao finished circulating another cycle of her recovery technique. At this moment, her delicate breath drifted out, hitting Li Fan's face, which immediately made him somewhat flustered.

Looking at the boy in front of her who had just saved her life, Nangong Miao also let go of her princess airs, and a light laugh rang out.

"I didn't see you like this in the Human Illusion."

Upon hearing this, Li Fan spoke with some embarrassment.

"A-Miao, the Human Illusion cannot be taken as real..."

Speaking of this, Li Fan realized that his form of address was problematic. The person in front of him was a big shot in the Dao Entrance Realm, so he immediately corrected himself.

"Your Highness Nangong..."

But Nangong Miao directly interrupted him.

"Call me whatever you want."

Then she touched her brow, hesitating, but still spoke slowly.

"Are you a virgin?"

Li Fan immediately opened his mouth to reply.

"The Human Illusion cannot be taken as real!"

The implication was that those intimate matters in the Human Illusion were all fake; he was still a pure college student.

Hearing this, the corners of Nangong Miao's mouth rose slightly, revealing a satisfied smile.

She circulated another cycle of her recovery technique, and her breath drifted onto the face-to-face Li Fan again.

The pure college student Li Fan could not withstand it and inevitably had some reaction.

He hurriedly braced against the coffin wall to pull back, but the internal space was only so big; where could he retreat to?

"Li Fan... you"

"...are poking me."

She feigned a delicate voice, staring at Li Fan with watery eyes.

Just as Li Fan was flustered and didn't know what to do, she wrapped her arms around Li Fan's neck, pulled him forward, and began to employ the simplest, most direct, one-step method to obtain Innate Qi.

...

Xuannü Star Domain, outside the atmosphere of the Main Planet.

A black line abruptly sliced open space, and the scratched-up copper coffin rushed out of the spatial rift, having exhausted its last bit of power, and just floated quietly outside the atmosphere of the Main Planet.

After a long while, the coffin lid was opened a person-width gap, and Li Fan crawled out from inside.

He sat on the coffin lid, looking at the vast land of the Main Planet below with somewhat unfocused eyes, and then placed that jar of goji berry aphrodisiac aside, eating it to himself.

Li Fan understood that he was, in all likelihood, no longer a pure college student.

Not long after, Nangong Miao also came out of the copper coffin.

During the time she came out later, Nangong Miao had changed out of the clothes that had been burned to tatters by the purple flames and put on a new palace dress.

At this moment, she had completely lost the disheveled appearance from the Immortal Palace Secret Realm; her complexion was rosy, and it was clear she was in a good mood.

"Besides the Innate Qi I absorbed, there is actually Heavenly Dao Luck?"

Unexpectedly, everything she lacked had been obtained from Li Fan.

She came to Li Fan's side and patted his shoulder with satisfaction.

"However, you were very hardworking."

Now that the Chenhuang Flame Source, Innate Qi, and Heavenly Dao Luck had all been obtained, she could set about repairing her brow flame and restoring her cultivation.

"Brother Fan~"

Her tone was soft, giving Li Fan goosebumps.

"What, isn't that how you called me in the Human Illusion?"

Nangong Miao raised an eyebrow, then thought of something, her eyes playful.

"Or do you want me to call you... hus... band?"

Li Fan curled his lips and used the same words Nangong Miao had used in the coffin.

"Call me whatever you want."

Seeing Li Fan like this, Nangong Miao's heart stirred, and she leaned in close.

"Husband, I am very unfamiliar with this place. Is there a place where I can cultivate?"

Li Fan then realized that while the Xuannü Star Domain was familiar to him, it was a foreign land to Nangong Miao.

She was all alone, having come to this unfamiliar place for the first time, and it was inevitable that she would feel some anxiety.

He immediately braced himself and stood up, his tone firm.

"There must be!"

In fact, Li Fan was overthinking it. As an Imperial Clan Princess, what kind of situation had Nangong Miao not seen?

It was just that she had arrived at a slightly farther place, and she was simply teasing Li Fan.

Although that was what Nangong Miao was thinking, seeing Li Fan pull her arm, his eyes serious, looking determined to protect her,

her heart wavered slightly, and she leaned against Li Fan's shoulder just like that.

"Nangong Miao, oh Nangong Miao, you are an Imperial Clan Princess, a Dao Entrance Realm Cultivator; how can you act like such a little girl?"

Although she thought this, she still held onto Li Fan's arm and asked softly.

"Then, husband, where is our residence?"

And Li Fan looked down at the vast continent of the Main Planet below and responded in a deep voice.

"We'll have one soon."