/*unedited*/

As s.h.i.+n Jiao was about to execute an attack on the group of cultivators that would paralyze them, he didn't expect that the woman would rush towards him without any regard for her own life.

"No, Sister Ji! Don't!"

Shouted the cultivators behind her, but a look of determination can be seen in her eyes. As she approaches, she took out a scroll from her robe and chanted a word.

s.h.i.+n Jiao wanted to dodge her advance but found that he is unable to move. Then when he saw the scroll on the young woman's hand vanis.h.i.+ng, he suddenly feels a dangerous and ominous feeling.

"This is… spatial spell." s.h.i.+n Jiao's eyes lit up as he observes his surroundings.

Since he cannot move, he just observed everything then, even the flow of Qi and natural energy. Although in reality the time that this happened was short, yet in s.h.i.+n Jiao and the young woman whom they called Sister Ji's perspective it was around 30 minutes of time.

"So that's what happened in spatial rifts like this… although I have an idea about long-range teleportation, spatial rifts, and instantaneous ones are still a mystery to me. But now, everything is clear. I understand how it works now. Haha…" s.h.i.+n Jiao thought as he finished a.n.a.lyzing everything around him.

But before he could recover, s.h.i.+n Jiao suddenly found himself inside a dark corridor.

"Huh! What… what happened?" the young woman asked while she tried to wave her hand on the front as she could not see anything.

"Am I dead? Did the explosive talisman worked?" she muttered as she continues fumbling her hands in front of her.

"Sigh… what explosive talisman you are talking about?" suddenly the young woman heard a voice beside her which made her jumped back and immediately took out her sword.

"Who… who are you?" she asked with clear fear in her voice.

"Me, I'm the enemy, right? You and your group have been chasing after me in the forest."

"You!... you're the monster who killed my brothers and sisters! I… I will kill you!" she shouted as she waves her sword towards the direction of the voice.

s.h.i.+n Jiao just watches the young woman who fumbles in the darkness as she could not see him. But s.h.i.+n Jiao can see her clearly with the use of his goggles.

"Sigh… I didn't kill them you know." s.h.i.+n Jiao dodges the attacks of the young woman.

But what surprises him is her keen hearing. Although she could not see him in the dark corridor, she would still pinpoint his location with just the slight sound of his steps.

"Enough… you're going too far." s.h.i.+n Jiao caught the hands of the young woman and remove the sword from her hand.

Because of the quick teleportation scroll that she has used, all of the young woman's QI was expended and now, she is like a simple mortal who could not fight back.

"Sob… sob…" the young woman began crying.

"What now!? You attacked me and now you are crying? Are you crazy?" s.h.i.+n Jiao said with dissatisfaction in his tone.

He didn't want to be entangled with the woman anymore. So he just let go of her hand and stepped back. Then he tried to send his spiritual sense around him and found that the corridor seems endless. The range of s.h.i.+n Jiao's spiritual sense is already more than a kilometer. But what baffled him is that he can only see exactly a kilometer of the maze around him.

Hence he found it a little weird.

The young woman continuously cried while s.h.i.+n Jiao investigated the corridor. He needs to get out of this place, or else he would never finish his mission. When the Nian clan ambushed him, he is already near the coastal city of Cui, so he is confident that if he can get out of this place, he could go to the city and can try to find a way to obtain a mind stone.

The reason why the mind stone can only be found in the city of Cui is that the city is a convergence of 3 different strong energies.

First is the strong Qi of the forest, then the vast Qi of the ocean where dark fogs can be seen far into the horizon, and third is the death Qi near the boundary of the cultivation land. These three elements of Qi are the catalyst that creates a mind stone.

So mind stones are very rare due to its process of creation which would take thousands of years.

At first, people found ten pieces of mind stones near the sh.o.r.e, hence they began to scour the sh.o.r.es but found none after that. Then someone found two fist-size stones near the forest outside of the coastal city. And so people began searching in the forest, and yet no one found more of the precious stone. And later on, another set of 20 mind stones was found near the coastal border between the cultivation land and Beastia, and yet after that, no one found them again.

From the frequency of the appearance of the mind stones, the people have estimated it to be every 3 years. And the pattern of the appearance is the same, first near the sh.o.r.e of the city, then outside of the forest near the city and the farthest is the coastal area of the boundary.

Hence, from then on, they posted people to guard those places and the city has harvested the mind stones like this for hundreds of years now.

s.h.i.+n Jiao only needs one pebble-sized mind stone. If his research is successful, then he can present it to the kingdom and they would do the rest.

With this in mind, s.h.i.+n Jiao wanted to start walking to find the way out of the labyrinth.

"How come, we were teleported in this place?" s.h.i.+n Jiao muttered as he tried to a.n.a.lyze the walls and the floor which seems to be made of fine cut stones.

"Let me cast a small flame." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought as he lifted his index finger and formed a fire through his Qi.

But to his surprise, he was unable to do so.

"What? What is going on?" s.h.i.+n Jiao thought as he tried again and again but to no avail.

"Hey, you!" s.h.i.+n Jiao turned to the woman who has stopped crying but would still sob from now and then.

"Woman, can you cast fire?"

The young woman's name is BaiBai Ji, and she is a member of the Nian clan elite squad. She was trained by the Nian clan to be a fighter along with her brothers and sisters. And they are taught to be loyal to the clan no matter what.

But BaiBai Ji is different. This is because of her mental fort.i.tude. The Nian clan's brainwas.h.i.+ng idea of loyalty to the clan is ineffective to her. As an orphan, she chose to stay in the Nian clan because in that place she can have food and a family.

So when she felt like she lost her family, she immediately broke down and cried.

Yet, this is part of her training.

Women elite cultivators of the Nian clan are taught how to seduce and even act pitiful in from of men. Hence with her training, she is natural in her action.

But when she heard s.h.i.+n Jiao's indifference tone she felt a little helpless.

The guy is stronger than her; he is more astute and also cautious.

She has already understood that because of her mistake, she is still alive.

If she has used the explosive scroll from back then, she is sure that the young man would be able to save himself and she would have died a useless death.

Luckily for her, it was a teleportation scroll. At least her family and friends are now safe from this monster. The problem now is herself.

"I… I can't use any spell because my dantian is out of Qi. I can't even absorb Qi in this place," she muttered.

"Tsk, just my luck. Where have you taken us anyway?" s.h.i.+n Jiao complained.

"I… why should I tell you? You're my enemy!" shouted BeiBei Ji.

"Haha… you know what, if you are of no use to me, then I would just leave you in this place to rot." s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a sneer.

But before the young woman could say anything, they heard the sound of something sharp hitting the stone floor.

"Shush… there's an enemy." s.h.i.+n Jiao muttered in a low voice.

With the use of the goggles, s.h.i.+n Jiao saw from afar a group of giant scorpion-like monsters. The creatures have surrounded them on both sides.

"d.a.m.n it, we are surrounded… can you still fight?" s.h.i.+n Jiao asked as he immediately took out the submachine gun.

"Umm… But I… I can't see anything." BeiBei Ji said while waving her hand.

s.h.i.+n Jiao deliberated something about whether he would help her by letting her borrow one of his gla.s.ses. But because of the dire situation, he decided to just let her borrow it for a while.

Taking out the gla.s.ses and a syringe, s.h.i.+n Jiao walks towards the young woman.

"Don't move okay? I will help you see in the darkness. Plus I will give you something which can help you recover your Qi almost instantly." s.h.i.+n Jiao said.

When he reached the young woman, he stood behind her and carefully put on the gla.s.ses.

The young woman immediately felt his presence from behind her but she didn't move. She knows how dangerous this place is, so she decided to just trust the guy.

When she wore the gla.s.ses, her vision immediately changed from black to a dimly lit room. Although she could not see that far, it is enough for her to see what's in front. Then suddenly she felt some slight sting on her shoulder.

"Ouch! What… what did you do?" she asked as she quickly jumped to the side.

"I just gave you a shot of pure Qi. It would recover your lost Qi by 10% in an instant." s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a smile.

Now feeling the Qi in her body revolves, BeiBei Ji immediately knew what the young man said was true.

The two then stood in the middle as multiple scorpion-like monsters began marching towards them.

s.h.i.+n Jiao turn towards the young woman.

"Hey, stay alive, alright!" he said as he immediately dashed towards the clump of the seemingly endless number of monsters.