Netherworld Retrograde

Chapter 946: Chapter 449: Fleet

As time passed, the warm water in the bucket had already cooled. Yet it was difficult to suppress the throbbing of two restless hearts.

Under the temptation of the Heartless Fruit, both followed their most primal desires.

Cheese felt as though she was in the clouds, only to plummet into a deep Abyss the next moment.

Pain and pleasure erupted simultaneously, thoroughly shattering her defenses.

She had surely underestimated the curse of her pain sensation. And, the negative effects of Rainbow Through the Sun.

The combination of these two brought immense stimulation and burden to her body.

In a daze, she felt as if she was in turbulent waves, clinging tightly to the only floating wood, her consciousness drifting amidst the waves.

She did not know how much time passed when she opened her weary eyes to find the cave outside already bright with daylight.

Her body was dried and wrapped in a warm sleeping bag.

If not for the soreness that still lingered on her body, she would have thought last night was but a vivid dream.

More than once, she had covertly teased Li Ye, prompting him to hug her thigh tightly.

After all, as a senior, she was supposed to ascend faster than him. The newcomer should obediently cling to the senior’s thigh.

But when Li Ye really hugged her thigh, she felt she might have been too arrogant….

Previously, she had suffered severe injuries, and under the repair of the Holy Healing Potion, her left arm and legs were genuinely weak. But they were gradually recovering, and she could move to some extent.

Using this as an excuse last night, she had Li Ye assist in her cleaning.

Yet now, she felt her legs were genuinely weak to an extreme.

‘Does this count as having covered up my lie?’ she thought to herself, shifting her gaze to the figure seated a few steps away.

Li Ye was sitting beside the rock wall.

After awakening from that state, he sat there.

Instinctively wary of potential dangers, but his expression was somewhat dazed.

Countless voices echoed in his mind.

Some were joyful: ‘She should have always been yours.’

Some were regretful: ‘You shouldn’t have given her the Reversal Mirror.’

Some were blaming: ‘She was the one seducing you…’

Some were guilty: ‘You failed her…’

Finally, with a complicated sigh, all the voices transformed into silence.

Li Ye exhaled softly, his expression complex.

Then, he heard a sound and turned his gaze.

He met Cheese’s newly awakened eyes.

In that brief moment, both fell into a certain daze and silence.

It seemed the two intended to say or explain something, but eventually, they returned to calmness.

“Are you… okay?” After a long pause, Li Ye asked softly.

“A bit painful,” Cheese replied hoarsely, “But this time, I should be clean…”

This left Li Ye slightly embarrassed.

And Cheese awkwardly sat up from the sleeping bag, the body aches making her movements a bit stiff. Just sitting up made her feel uncomfortable.

As she moved, the sleeping bag slid down, revealing her fair skin and the mottled marks upon it.

Li Ye silently stepped forward, draping clothing over her, concealing the marks and her figure.

His arm trembled slightly, but eventually, it steadied.

With Li Ye’s help, Cheese dressed herself.

She did not mention what happened between them and instead murmured, “Let’s go retrieve the Reversal Mirror… Hope I didn’t throw it too far.”

“Okay.”

The Reversal Mirror is a highly effective Taboo Item.

If one overlooks the cost of changing gender, its usefulness is substantial.

It can interchange the user’s physical strength and Spiritual Power Strength.

For those on the True Martial Path, they possess considerable physical prowess, being the strongest among their peers. However, in terms of Spiritual Power Strength, they are inferior to users of other paths.

Therefore, the strong individuals of the True Martial Path are more inclined to engage in close combat.

Even with long-range attack means, they rarely use them. The cost-to-effect ratio is low, and it may not overcome an enemy’s Spiritual Barrier.

This is a limitation of the path.

However, the Reversal Mirror can break this limitation in certain special situations.

The Spiritual Ability Users of the True Martial Path can utilize this Taboo Item to elevate their Spiritual Power Strength to the extreme, gaining more strategies.

This Taboo Item cannot be easily discarded.

Li Ye, carrying Cheese, who was unable to move due to injuries, opened the Spiritual Barrier, pushed away the lake water, and walked into the lake’s depths.

It took more than half an hour to find that Reversal Mirror from a corner of the lakebed.

How gracefully it was discarded earlier, and how miserably it was retrieved now.

After recovering the Reversal Mirror, the two returned to the shore. They prepared to leave some marks along the way to rendezvous with other companions.

At this moment, Li Ye noticed a fleet of ships sailing in the distance.

The expanse of Qing Lake was vast and interconnected with many rivers of the second layer.

The cities and Nobles of the second layer were all built along the rivers.

Consequently, their ships could navigate within Qing Lake.

However, the entire Qing Lake was the territory of Extraordinary Creatures, led by the Abyss Dragon.

Sailing here was extremely dangerous, requiring either the mark of a city’s Guardian God as deterrence or offering sufficient flesh sacrifices as passage fees.

Otherwise… expect the ship and crew to be doomed.

Now, appearing in the distance, was a fleet from a city.

Though wooden ships, they were heavily laden with cargo, with two Abyss Dragons occasionally surfacing alongside, seemingly escorting the fleet.

One was a Four Awakenings and the other a Fifth Sense Abyss Dragon, which posed no threat to Li Ye.

“They should be heading to repair the passage,” Cheese explained, “We accidentally opened the passage from the first to the second layer. Some cities and Nobles of the second layer intend to leave. Later, as you know, the Heartless Fruit was discovered, and the passage destroyed… The Jile Sect wants to repair the passage and scatter all the Heartless Fruits from the second layer outward.”

Be it the Overlord He Lan or the Jile Divine Chosen.

The Heartless Fruit is the most dangerous existence here.

Once it spreads outside, it becomes uncontrollable.

Even though Li Ye already conveyed the intelligence to the official of the Giant City through the ark, the Heartless Fruit remains challenging to tackle.

Currently, all those parasitized, including Li Ye, are trapped in the second layer.

The outside world is temporarily safe.

But the passage is being repaired, and there’s a possibility that other passages to the outside exist in the second layer.

All the official can do is seal off the entire Ten Thousand Dragon Lake.

And deploy the Class B Forbidden Item, Mixed Element Banner, to lock the entire Ten Thousand Dragon Lake space.

Trapping all parasitized beings there, leaving the parasitized to fend for themselves, cutting off the channel of killing hosts and being parasitized.

This is currently the only method to deal with the Heartless Fruit.

Merciless yet effective.

If this outcome is to be avoided, Li Ye’s plan must be carried out.

“I still need to go to Jile,” Li Ye said, “But I wonder…”

“Whether their Treasure Vault holds anything valuable?”

(Just two thousand for now, brothers. The plot got a bit stuck. Originally, Cheese was to come first. But when writing the Immortal Palace plot, I was afraid of being scolded for Yang Wei, so I made adjustments. There are some logical issues; I’ll sort them out.)