Chapter 3 (Part 2) of Volume 5 of the First Book: Joy and Worry for Me

  We left the metropolis, traversed dozens of large and small towns, climbed over the Red White Jade Mountains, crossed the Wujing River, and traveled through mountains and ridges, crossing half of the dusty sky to arrive at Xiangcao Gorge.

  This is the border of Red Dust Heaven, the closest place to Demon Slaughter Heaven! I stand at the entrance of the valley, looking up at the towering and beautiful mountain peaks on both sides. The mountains are emerald green, with a layer of red glow dyed by the crimson sunset. The entrance of the valley is very narrow, with thick vines hanging down from all sides, almost sealing off the entrance. According to Hai Ji and Gan Ningzhen, the Heavenly Chasm that separates Demon Slaughter Heaven and Red Dust Heaven is inside Xiang Cao Valley. At the other end of the valley is the world of demons - Demon Slaughter Heaven.

  "Tomorrow is the night of the full moon, and by then the Heavenly Rift will be gone. Don't worry too much, Ji Danmei is very clever, even if she's captured, she'll take care of herself." Haiji walked over to my side and comforted me in a soft voice.

  "She must have gone to Mo Ye Tian to find me, I'll get her out!" I clenched my fists in self-reproach, gazing at Gongzi Sakura and Lei Meng in the distance as they bid farewell to Gan Ningzhen. Upon learning of Ju Danmei's capture, Hai Ji, Gan Ningzhen, and I decided to rush to Mo Ye Tian without any dissent to rescue Ju Danmei. Gongzi Sakura and Lei Meng stuck to us like flies, saying they were worried and wanted to escort Gan Ningzhen for a while, and ended up sending her all the way here.

  "Really, don't you need me to accompany you to Mo Xian Tian? It's very dangerous there." Gongzi Sakura asked in a low voice, leaning against the emerald green stone wall, his wide feathered cloak fluttering in the evening wind, making a soft rustling sound like fallen leaves.

  Gan Ning shook his head: "There are still many things for the Master to deal with, how can we waste time on me alone when the Demon Lord is invading and the situation is turbulent? Please return, Master and Uncle Lei."

  "What's the point of risking our lives for a demon?"

  Gongzi Sakura waved his hand: "Lei Shu, don't say anything more. Ning Zhen has been like this since she was a child. Once she makes up her mind, no one can persuade her."

  Gan Ning smiled and said, "Still, Master Shifu understands me the most. From childhood to adulthood, you have always indulged my temper. You all leave now, this is my personal matter, it has nothing to do with Bi Luo Fu."

  The young master Sakura seemed to have let out a soft sigh, his beautiful eyelashes falling down like fallen and withered feathers.

  "I said with a sarcastic tone: 'A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single farewell. Are you guys done yet?'"

  Lei Meng glared at me, paused for a moment, and then Gongzi Sakura raised his head. With a flourish of his sleeve, he smiled: "Ning Zhen, be careful on your way. Hai Wu Shen, Lin Fei, you two take care as well."

  He turned around, and Gongzi Sakura left without looking back. In the evening glow, his shadow on the ground was so slender and elegant. Lei Meng followed closely behind Gongzi Sakura, like a loyal large wolf dog.

  From afar, the sound of a pipa drifted over, "ding ding dong", it was that familiar tune of A Green Plum and a Bamboo Horse. I stole a glance at Gan Zhen. Her beautiful eyes were hazy, staring blankly in the direction where Gongzi Sakura had left.

  "Finally, I can hear myself think. Well, it's time to go." I stretched out my hand, waved it a few times in front of Gan Zhen, pushed aside the vines and headed into the gorge.

  All the way, it's all winding paths and overgrown with weeds. Normally, people with a normal mind wouldn't come to such a desolate place, so the canyon is very deserted, not even a shadow of a person can be seen.

  I wielded the Armed Aegis Technique. My arms transformed into steel blades, and with a single horse, I led the way, cutting through the vines and thorns that blocked my path, leaving them in shreds. I wished to charge straight to the other end of the gorge. As we proceeded further, the light grew darker, and the green mountains and rocky cliffs on both sides jutted out towards the center, as if they were about to collapse, gradually closing in from above, leaving only a small patch of deep purple sky.

  In front of me, patches of grassland appeared one after another, in a variety of colors. Like blocks of vibrant carpets. I found that the soil here is also multicolored, with red soil growing red grass and blue soil growing blue grass. The surroundings had already become an endless ocean of grass, dense as velvet, emitting a rich fragrance in the night breeze.

  "The grass here grows in strange shapes." I looked around, and in the dense sea of grass, there were small sparkling ponds scattered all over. What's weird is that when I spoke, the nearby grass would twist and turn, jumping up to dance. I stopped talking, and they also stopped moving.

  "There are tens of thousands of rare grasses in Xiangcao Gorge, such as this one called Dance Grass. When it hears people talking or singing, it will dance." Haiji pulled out a yellow-green, semi-transparent blade of grass and fiddled with its three leaves. The Dance Grass quivered and seemed to be very afraid. As soon as Haiji let go,

  It slipped out of his palm and, amazingly, like a living creature, it burrowed into the ground for a while before emerging again.

  I casually picked up a bunch of pink grass from the grass, with dozens of small seeds in the core, smelling fragrant. Just as I was about to put it in my mouth to taste, I heard Gan Ning's voice in my ear: "Don't you put it down? This is dream grass, eating it will make you sleep, and once you sleep, it will be for more than half a year."

  I hastily threw it away, and Haiji teased: "Your mouth is really greedy, you want to eat everything."

  I grinned mischievously: "Gluttony and lust are a man's nature, but what I want to eat most is the beautiful Haewon, hmm, it must be tender and fragrant when eaten."

  "This is super big shameless." Hai Ji's face turned red, she glanced around and pointed out the names of various grasses to me, as well as which ones should not be eaten randomly. For example, a deep yellow-colored grass with two stems tightly intertwined was called "Longing Grass", eating it would lead to poisoning and death. The round one was called "Flying Empty Grass", blowing it forcefully would make it fly high into the air, and it could also be used as a laxative. The flat grass was called "Wailing Grass", legend had it that it was transformed from the corpse of a widow, once eaten, one would cry uncontrollably.

  I listened with great interest, and Haixi stared at a several-foot-tall grass that looked like a banana plant, furrowing her brow as if she didn't know the name either.

  "This is called Variable Night Grass." Gan Zhen suddenly swept near, flattened the leaves of the Variable Night Grass, and stood the stem upright. Within a hundred steps, it immediately lit up, and the Variable Night Grass was like a candle, emitting white light. As soon as Gan Zhen loosened his hand, the stem of the Variable Night Grass softened and drooped down, and the light went out.

  "When I was young, I played hide-and-seek with my uncle at midnight and often used the Night Blooming Flower to light our way." A nostalgic look appeared on Gan Zhen's face, and I suddenly felt uninterested. I changed the subject and asked: "Where is the Heavenly Chasm?"

  "It should be in front." Along the direction of Gan Zhen's gaze, deep in the canyon, there was a very deep and long lake ditch, with misty vapor rising and spreading deeply, blocking the view of the opposite scenery.

  "Previously, I heard Ji Danmei mention that there is a Dragon Gate on Lake Gou, which is Tianxia. " Gan Ning said: "Each layer of the sky and earth is different from each other, and Haiji and I have never been to Mozhe Heaven, so we don't know what the Dragon Gate looks like."

  "Let's hurry up! Right, I'll take you flying, it'll be faster." I anxiously blew out a gust of wind and took Haixi, Gan Ningzhen to fly towards the lake valley.

  Flying over the lake ditch, all around is a vast expanse of whiteness. Even using the Mirror Pupil Secret Technique, it's still hard to see clearly. I flew forward again, and with a loud "boom", I violently collided with a massive object. My head spun and my eyes blurred as I plummeted straight down. I wanted to control the Blowing Wind to stabilize myself, but it had no effect. The Blowing Wind mysteriously lost its power.

  Just as I was about to fall into the lake, "splash", a dark green strange fish jumped out of the lake, swept its tail and knocked me flying, throwing me into the grass thicket by the lake.

  "What's going on?" I scrambled up, looking at Gan Zhen and Hai Ji who had also fallen to the ground, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. Normally they were elegant and beautiful, but now their disheveled appearance was no different from mine.

  "It's all because of your rotten wind magic!" Hai Ji glared at me, and she and Gan Ning exchanged a glance. The two beauties couldn't help but laugh too. Gan Ning brushed off the weeds stuck to her body and said, "The Heavenly Chasm is impassable, and one's magical powers will be rendered useless near it. What we bumped into earlier should have been the Dragon Gate."

  I muttered dejectedly: "I didn't even get a good look at the Dragon Gate." I leaned forward, peering into the lake's surface, trying to find that dark green fish again - what kind of monster was it, with such strength? The night grew darker, and the mist on the lake grew thicker, so much so that even the water's color was indistinct, only the sound of lapping water could be heard.

  Gan Ning shook his head: "Don't waste your energy, you won't be able to get through the Tianhe until tomorrow night." With a light tap of his finger, a huge snow lotus burst forth from his fingertips. Gan Ning leaned against the lotus flower and glanced at me: "You have new clothes now, it's time to return my Lotus Robe."

  I thickened my skin and said: "Lianyi, I'm wearing it close to my body, if you want it, take it off yourself." I stretched out my arm, revealing the snow-white sleeve of Lianyi inside.

  The sweet lemon didn't speak anymore, I lazily lay down, looking up at the bright moon in the night sky. From the grassy sea all around, came the quiet chirping of autumn insects. As it got to the second half of the night, I felt something was off, the insect sounds getting louder and louder, like a grand chorus, as if from all directions, turning into an ocean of insects.