C223 Gloomhollow!

Chen Qingyan suddenly realized she couldn't make any sense of him.

Back when Gloomhollow was a haven of relative peace and safety, he had lingered cautiously on its outskirts, reluctant to venture deep within.

He had even earnestly persuaded the man with the human head and dragon body about the valley's perils.

Now, amidst a catastrophic disaster, with numerous powerful individuals trapped and countless lives lost, he knew full well the terror that was unfolding, yet he resolutely pressed on.

From her observations, he was no compassionate hero set on saving the world.

Otherwise, a few scornful taunts from Hu Yue wouldn't have been enough to send the Hu family to their doom.

What was different this time?

"Odd fellow."

Ultimately, Chen Qingyan could only shake her head in bewilderment.

Her statuesque form began to levitate, buoyed by the Snakeskin Scabbard beneath her feet, which, despite its delicate appearance, seemed to support her weight.

The scabbard was just that—a scabbard, devoid of any sword.

Yet, standing atop the Snakeskin Scabbard, her hair dancing in the breeze and her eyes piercingly fixed on Gloomhollow, she resembled an unsheathed blade, sharp and ready.

"Yu Yuan!"

Her voice was a soft call.

The young man sprinting through the woods abruptly turned.

Whoosh!

A streak of sword light zoomed from the distance, halting just above his head.

Chen Qingyan extended her hand, offering, "Let me give you a lift."

Yu Yuan looked up to see the Snakeskin Scabbard first, admiring the intricate snake pattern and sensing the potent sword's will within. After a brief silence, he nodded in agreement.

He rose on his toes and clasped Chen Qingyan's jade-like hand, pulling himself up into the air.

In the next instant, he too was standing on the Snakeskin Scabbard, positioned right behind Chen Qingyan.

The scabbard, no wider than a toddler's arm, seemed to expand under his feet, the elegant snake pattern undulating like ripples on water.

Yu Yuan's expression remained unchanged as he gazed at her pale nape and urged, "Faster."

"Lean on..."

Chen Qingyan halted mid-sentence, then after a brief pause, she corrected herself, "Lean on my shoulder, hold on tight so you don't fall if we go too fast."

Yu Yuan's lips curled into a smile. "Alright."

He placed his hands on Chen Qingyan's shoulders, feeling their warmth.

Before he could process any further sensations, the Snakeskin Scabbard beneath his feet shot through the air like a streak of arc light.

The surrounding landscape rapidly receded and vanished.

Standing on the Snakeskin Scabbard, Yu Yuan felt a sense of daze wash over him. He was reminded of years past when he had also stood on this very scabbard, soaring over the renowned mountains and rivers of the Land of Quiescence and Euwrea.

However, back then, the person before him was Qingyan's master.

His hands weren't resting on her shoulders then, but rather... wrapped around her slender, supple waist.

During the swift flights, he would hold her closer; during the gentle glides, he would ease his grip. Together, they would share laughter and conversation—she, who now held a prominent position in the Sword Sect.

He let out a soft sigh.

"Miss Chen!"

At that moment, Hu Hang and Liu Zaihe below were frantically waving their hands and shouting.

The flight of the Snakeskin Scabbard slowed.

Yu Yuan looked down and saw that from the Hu family group, only four remained, including Hu Yue and Hu Xuan.

Hu Hang, Liu Zaihe, and the other two counselors from the Hu family were disheveled, with traces of blood at the corners of their mouths.

Clearly, they had pushed themselves to the brink, depleting their vitality in a desperate escape, resulting in internal injuries.

"Gloomhollow is treacherous!"

Hu Hang's complexion was ashen, his eyes brimming with sorrow. "My sister, my uncle, and our Hu family members—they were all dead the moment they set foot in Gloomhollow! Sacred Hands, revered by all herbalists across Aetherius as a sacred place, has been breeding monstrous venomous creatures in Gloomhollow and even deliberately set a trap for us!"

"Sacred Hands is nothing but a cancer on this continent, with vile ambitions!" exclaimed a counselor, unable to contain his anger.

Liu Zaihe's lips quivered as he spoke, "It's hard to believe that Sacred Hands would prey upon cultivators from across the continent within Gloomhollow. With such a fearsome creature lurking in the forbidden area, it's likely that no one was aware of its existence!"

"Miss Chen, quickly turn back and get away from the Serpent Spine Mountains!" Hu Hang urged once more.

"Thank you for the warning," Chen Qingyan responded calmly.

With that, the Snakeskin Scabbard took flight again.

Moments later, Gloomhollow, now the most perilous area within the Serpent Spine Mountains, came into view for Yu Yuan.

The entire Gloomhollow was engulfed in a kaleidoscope of toxic mists, resembling a mischievous child's ink stains splattered across the valley.

Eerie howls and wolf cries echoed from the mists shrouding the valley.

At Yu Yuan's command, the Snakeskin Scabbard halted mid-flight, dozens of meters from the valley's entrance. Yu Yuan inhaled deeply, releasing his grip from Chen Qingyan's shoulders, and leaped down.

He landed just outside the valley and looked up, "I appreciate the escort. You can turn back now, regroup with Hu Hang and Liu Zaihe, and keep as much distance from this valley as possible."

"I've suddenly lost the urge to leave," Chen Qingyan declared.

Yu Yuan regarded her in silence, "Don't be fooled into thinking that scabbard will keep you safe and prevent your death."

Chen Qingyan's gaze shifted, "How do you know my scabbard can protect me?"

"It's a guess," Yu Yuan said, shaking his sleeves.

An astonishing number of dust particles, far finer than grains of sand, burst from his sleeves, swirling around him, creating a protective cocoon.

What was astonishing was that these particles remained suspended, not touching the ground.

Yu Yuan proceeded towards Gloomhollow, the myriad particles steadfastly orbiting him, neither dispersing nor becoming chaotic.

Chen Qingyan watched intently, huffed, and said, "It really is you!"

"Gloomhollow!" Yu Yuan internally scoffed, his eyes burning with a resurgent fighting spirit.

After more than three centuries, he was stepping back into Gloomhollow, into the forbidden area he had once designed with his intent, approaching the all-too-familiar rune circle.

"Stainless Crystal Dust."

With a mere thought, he flicked his sleeve, sending even more invisible dust particles cascading toward Gloomhollow like a shower of fine dust.

Beneath Gloomhollow, the subterranean caverns echoed with eerie howls that could chill one's very soul, as if they were gateways to a purgatory. Dense smoke billowed from these caves, blending indistinguishably with the toxic miasma that filled the valley.

It seemed as though the oddities within the miasma were drawing special nourishment from the cave's smoky tendrils, rapidly gaining strength.

"Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!"

An invisible barrier materialized abruptly as Yu Yuan's sleeve released a puff of dust. A massive, egg-shaped barrier of bright yellow light enveloped Gloomhollow from the heavens to the earth. This luminescent shield was etched with delicate, intricate lines that became increasingly visible.

The miasma that drowned the valley, along with the mist from the caves, appeared to be a unique form of energy. It infiltrated the lines of the barrier like colorful ink, making the shield glow with an even more intense light.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Qingyan realized that the so-called "colored ink" was actually an assortment of the world's deadliest toxins. These venoms were refined from the miasma and the cave's vapors, transformed into a potent essence, and then channeled into the bright yellow barrier, serving as the power source for the rune circle.

Without question, this barrier was a formidable Poisonous Killing Array.

​