135: Chapter 135 Yue Xinxi and Chi Wanhe Resigned to Their Fate

The ability to fly on a sword brought by breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage made Xia Yingying incredibly excited. She could finally escape those maze-like paths on the ground!

Not long after leaving the Sect gate, Xia Yingying confidently summoned her Flying Sword and flew towards Chengyue City in the north, as indicated on the map.

The initial novelty was as fleeting as morning dew; soon, she was overwhelmed by a sense of utter confusion.

Being in the vast, boundless sky gave her the freedom to choose any direction—up, down, left, right, or countless diagonals. Not being confined to paths should have been convenient, but for Xia Yingying, it was a disaster. She felt like a drop of water falling into a vast ocean, completely losing her directional anchor.

Should she fly straight north? Or bypass that gloomy-looking mountain range ahead? Flying higher offered a wider view, but the howling winds consumed more mana; flying lower allowed her to see ground details clearly, but her view was easily blocked by the undulating mountains.

From an aerial perspective, familiar landmarks changed completely. The "Three Crooked-neck Old Locust Trees" that were clearly identifiable on the ground were nothing more than a few blurry black dots against a vast green background from a hundred meters up.

The "Benliu River" leading to Chengyue City now shrank in Xia Yingying's eyes into a thin, indistinguishable silver thread, mixed among countless similar gullies and streams, its trail hard to find.

The references on the map became tiny and abstract, leaving Xia Yingying's mind in a state of total chaos. She was completely unable to match the unfamiliar aerial views with the paths on the flat map in her memory.

Xia Yingying tried desperately to recall the map's outline, attempting to find the main road network below that should lead to Chengyue City.

However, all that met her eyes were countless crisscrossing thin lines—field paths, old wheel ruts, dried-up riverbeds...

They wove into a giant, unfamiliar web that seemed to belong to a completely different world from the "Chengyue City" on her map marked with a prominent red dot.

Should she wake up Sister Xinxi?

Xia Yingying hesitated.

Before leaving the Sect, she had solemnly promised Sister Xinxi that there would be no problem.

"Let me try once by myself first. It's no good to ask for help without doing anything!"

Xia Yingying made up her mind, and so—

"Two mountain peaks, yes, it's here—"

"Follow the river downstream to the confluence, then continue along the river to the right—"

"There's a small village here, right. Just like that, I can do it myself!"

Xia Yingying cheered herself on, her sword light flashing across the sky.

Below, above the entrance of that so-called "small village," the words "Taishan" were carved in bold, powerful strokes.

This was a city!

---

"Go over the highest mountain, the highest mountain... that's the one!"

Xia Yingying struggled to fly towards the highest peak nearby. As a result, she flew too high, passing directly over the mist-shrouded summit; the mountains and rivers below instantly turned into miniature models with indistinguishable details.

When her heart tightened, realizing she might have overshot, she hurriedly lowered her altitude to look for clues, only to plunge into a deep valley surrounded by peaks. High walls of rock were all around her, leaving only a small patch of gray sky above; her sense of direction vanished completely.

After another bout of random flying, Xia Yingying finally became completely lost above a totally unfamiliar and desolate hilly area.

"Eh? The river? Where's the river?"

Xia Yingying hovered in the air, looking at the completely unfamiliar yellowish-brown hilly landscape below. Her small face crumpled in anxiety, and her eyes turned red.

"...Sister Xinxi!"

"I... I'm lost again! The map... the map doesn't match! Where on earth is this?"

Woken up, Yue Xinxi was completely speechless at the situation. How could she still get lost while flying?!

Had she known, she should have guided her from the start to avoid reaching this point.

Left with no choice, Yue Xinxi compared the map with the current reality.

"It's okay. Come on, let's fly north first."

Yue Xinxi comforted her gently.

"Mm! The sunlight is just right here, shining on the right side of my face. The sun is leaning east... so this must be north!"

Xia Yingying accelerated with supreme confidence toward the warm southeast.

"Wait, Yingying! Wrong, wrong! That's not the direction of the north!"

---

"Yingying, you're off track. A little to the right."

"A little to the left. Yes, a little more to the left."

"West! Fly west! You silly girl! Chengyue City is behind you! If the sun is hitting the right side of your face, that's southeast!"

A cold and frantic voice exploded in Xia Yingying's Sea of Consciousness. Yue Xinxi no longer had her initial gentle demeanor; her thousand years of refinement were nearly ruined!

She lost count of how many times this had happened. Even the guidance of a Soul Transformation Cultivator's Divine Soul, supplemented by precise directional judgment, couldn't pull this girl back from her wild, runaway instinct for getting lost!

"Do you see that bare, reddish-brown mound that looks like it's been gnawed by a dog? Go around to its south side and follow the darkest, worm-like winding... Not that dry gully! It's the wider dirt track to your left with sparse shrubs beside it!..."

"Sigh! Off course again! Right! Press your wrist down slightly to the right! ...Heavens! How do you manage to perfectly avoid the correct direction every single time?!"

No matter how precisely Yue Xinxi described the landmarks or how painstakingly she pointed out the angles and directions, Xia Yingying's maneuvers always miraculously went the opposite way. Yue Xinxi felt her Soul Power was about to be exhausted in this desperate navigational tug-of-war.

Yue Xinxi felt she had been wrong; even if she had guided her from the start, it probably wouldn't have helped.

"What are we going to do in the future?!"

She lamented in despair, her cold tone filled with deep worry for their future trials. Probably even that unrestrained Sect Master wouldn't have imagined his little disciple could be so directionally challenged.

Yue Xinxi couldn't imagine which corner of the world Xia Yingying would end up in without her navigation. Must they tie a rope to her every time she goes out, or find an old horse that knows the way as a guide?!

Fortunately, she had this old mother—Pah, what old mother? This lady is still a maiden!

Seeing Xia Yingying circling futilely in the air like a fledgling bird with its compass removed, looking anxious, aggrieved, and on the verge of tears, Yue Xinxi sighed heavily. In the end, she couldn't bear to watch her continue wasting mana pointlessly.

Even if the Immortal-grade Cultivation Technique Xia Yingying practiced gave her mana thousands of times greater than an ordinary Cultivator's, it couldn't support such repeated path corrections and directional explorations.

"Enough!"

Yue Xinxi barked resignedly, her voice filled with helplessness. "Give me control of your body for a moment! Close your eyes and relax your mind!"

Xia Yingying's left eye instantly lit up with a frost-white glow! A powerful will took over control of the body. Yue Xinxi maneuvered Xia Yingying's body, standing steadily on the Flying Sword.

Her cold, sharp gaze swept over the movement of the clouds, the faint reflection of a distant river, and the outlines of several unique peaks on the horizon. Without further hesitation, she decisively turned the sword tip and transformed into a sharp stream of light, streaking towards a specific direction!

Below, in a dense forest of ancient trees.

Chi Wanhe suppressed all her aura, blending into the tree shadows. Looking up through the gaps in the layered leaves, she clearly saw the sword light representing Xia Yingying. First, it circled futilely like a headless fly, its trajectory outrageously chaotic, then it suddenly became straight and firm, flying toward the correct direction.

"Still circling within three hundred miles of the Sect..."

Chi Wanhe couldn't help but raise a hand to her forehead. Her exquisite face was written with the words "my heart is so tired," and she let out a long sigh.

"My god... this level of being directionally challenged is simply off the charts!"

Chi Wanhe complained frantically in her heart.

How far had she flown since leaving the Sect? Her direction had actually veered off to the middle of nowhere! If it weren't for the Revered Master's strict order not to appear except in a life-or-death crisis...

If it weren't for that "Old Lady" inside her finally being unable to watch any longer and taking over... As her Senior Sister, I really want to jump out right now, grab her by the ears, and shout:

"Junior Sister! Chengyue City is that way! THAT WAY!!!"

Forget it, at least the direction is right now...

Chi Wanhe shook her head helplessly, vanished into the forest shadows again, and turned into a silent stream of light to continue following from a distance.

For the trials ahead, I hope that "Old Lady" can hold on, and I hope I can hold on too... Sigh, my heart is so tired.