The Hollow in the Earth

Chapter 366: An Awkward Mistake

Han Li held the masked woman in his arms, his Divine Wind Boat hovering motionless in mid-air. Dong Xuan’er stood before him, her body wreathed in a shimmering multicolored glow.

“Junior Disciple Dong, must we fight?” Han Li asked with a light sigh, a hint of helplessness in his voice.

“Han Li, if you want to pass, you’ll have to defeat me. I’ve always been curious—what abilities do you possess that made my master, Redfoam, so insistent that I marry you?” Dong Xuan’er’s expression was cold. A glint of frost flickered in her eyes as she glanced at the masked woman in Han Li’s arms, who seemed to have fallen unconscious at some unknown point.

“Besides, this person is a Core Formation cultivator from the Moon-Masking Sect. Do you truly think I’ll let you take her away so easily?” Dong Xuan’er’s elegantly arched brows slowly slanted upward as a murderous aura spread across her face.

She had said her piece. Han Li, seeing no point in dwelling on past acquaintance or empty words, made up his mind.

The simple illusion formation he had hastily set up with his array flags wouldn’t trap the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Young Master and his companion for long.

With that thought, Han Li’s face darkened as he declared, “Since that’s the case, Miss Dong, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

As he finished speaking, he let out a sharp shout. With a flick of his hand, two streaks of black light and five streaks of white light shot out simultaneously. A tortoiseshell-shaped magical artifact appeared before him as a shield. Then, four puppet beasts emerged at his sides, opening their maws to blast out four thick, bowl-shaped beams of light.

From the very start, he was using his full strength, showing not a shred of chivalrous restraint toward a woman.

Dong Xuan’er’s expression shifted dramatically at the ferocity of Han Li’s assault. But with a grit of her teeth, she raised a jade hand and tossed out a pink silk scarf. Reddish rays continuously emerged from both her hands, merging with the scarf to form a massive, glowing red barrier that shielded her within.

She was confident that no matter how fierce Han Li’s attack, it could never break the powerful shield formed by the fusion of her “Fire Phoenix Scarf” and her demonic arts.

But just as Dong Xuan’er’s confidence peaked, the Divine Wind Boat beneath Han Li’s feet flashed with white light. With a whoosh, he and his vessel darted past her flank in an instant.

The aggressive magical tools, having only feinted, immediately reversed course and followed the white streak as it fled.

Without exchanging a single blow, Han Li had simply escaped.

This turn of events caught Dong Xuan’er completely off guard. She stood frozen for a moment, then flushed red with fury.

But just as her anger surged and she prepared to give chase, the four beams from the puppet beasts struck her barrier. She was forced to stay and endure the assault before hurriedly dismissing her shield. By then, Han Li, riding his Divine Wind Boat, had already shrunk to a black dot on the horizon, about to vanish entirely.

Naturally, Dong Xuan’er was unwilling to be so thoroughly toyed with. Relying on her excellent flight technique, she ignored the four puppet beasts and charged after him.

But in just a few moments, the black dot flickered a couple of times before disappearing without a trace. Fuming, Dong Xuan’er searched the vicinity for a while but found no clues.

Left with no other choice, she had to admit she had lost Han Li and, dejected, turned back the way she came.

…

Meanwhile, Han Li, clutching the masked woman tightly, was hiding inside a pile of loose earth. A yellow light shield surrounded him, keeping all the soil at bay. Strangely, he felt no sense of suffocation—truly a marvelous effect.

Han Li himself hadn’t expected that this low-grade talisman he had crafted, the “Burrowing Talisman,” would ever come in handy. It seemed carrying all his talismans with him had been the right decision.

After a moment, sensing Dong Xuan’er depart through the sky, he didn’t emerge immediately. He cautiously confirmed it with his spiritual sense once more before finally leaping out of the mound and flying away without hesitation.

…

Several hours later, Han Li appeared inside a dry tree hollow, the masked woman still in his arms. The hollow’s original occupant, a massive gray bear, lay dismembered outside, a casualty of Han Li’s unceremonious eviction.

Setting the woman down on the ground, Han Li anxiously reached out and grasped her jade wrist, gently channeling his spiritual power into her to take her pulse and assess her injuries.

He would soon deeply regret this rash action.

The moment his spiritual energy entered her body, a powerful suction force erupted from within her, causing his energy to gush out like a broken dam.

Alarmed, Han Li tried to let go, but his hand seemed glued to hers. He couldn’t break free. In desperation, he reached out with his other hand to help, but the moment it touched her body, it too was seized. Now, the drain of his magical power doubled.

His heart pounding with terror, he felt his cultivation base and hard-earned true essence being forcibly drawn away by the masked woman, the suction growing stronger by the second.

Panic seized him.

With both hands firmly locked, and too wary to use his feet after his previous experience, he was utterly helpless.

He could only watch helplessly as his cultivation dropped from mid Foundation Establishment to early Foundation Establishment, then from early Foundation Establishment all the way down to the Qi Condensation level…

His heart ached. He could no longer hold on. His vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness, his body collapsing onto the woman.

So fragrant… so soft… were the fleeting thoughts that crossed his mind just before he blacked out.

And so, in the silent cave, a man and a woman were intimately entangled, both completely still and unaware of the world. Yet the spiritual power within Han Li’s body continued to flow into her at a steady pace.

…

After an unknown period, Han Li finally drifted back to consciousness.

The moment he opened his hazy eyes, he saw a graceful figure standing at the entrance of the tree hollow, her back to him, gazing outward.

He blinked in confusion, then grimaced as a sharp pain shot through his head. Suppressing a groan, he recalled the events before he had passed out. With a jolt of alarm, he hurriedly used his spiritual sense to check his own body.

His heart sank to its deepest depths.

His cultivation had not only fallen back to the Qi Condensation stage, but was now only at the third or fourth layer. This realization struck him like a thunderbolt, leaving him utterly stunned.

“You’re awake?” the graceful figure asked softly, without turning around.

“Nan Gong Wan, what is the meaning of this? I saved you out of kindness, so why did you drain my magic power?” Han Li snapped back to reality, his expression turning extremely grim as he blurted out in anger.

“Nan Gong Wan? Do you know my elder cousin?” The woman finally turned around. The hood was gone, revealing a beautiful, delicate face that Han Li could now see clearly.

He was stunned.

Though her face was sixty to seventy percent similar to Nan Gong Wan’s youthful appearance, this woman had a more delicate, oval face with gently curved brows, giving her a sweet and beautiful look. She was clearly a stranger.

“Who are you? How is this possible? I clearly heard the demonic cultivators address you as Senior Nan!” Han Li murmured blankly, utterly losing his composure.

His face instantly turned deathly pale, and he could no longer speak.

Because he finally noticed that her voice was slightly different from Nan Gong Wan’s; it was a bit huskier. Earlier, he had assumed Nan Gong Wan’s voice was just strained from her severe injuries.

But this one oversight had led him into a colossal blunder. Not only had he rescued the wrong person, but all his cultivation had been drained dry by this woman.

More than ten years of bitter cultivation, all gone in an instant!

The more he thought about it, the more he felt a wave of bad luck and frustration wash over him. His face flushed red and then turned pale.

“Are you Han Li from Yellow Maple Valley?”

This self-proclaimed younger cousin of Nan Gong Wan, seeing Han Li in such a state, let out a faint smile and said something that stunned him once again.

“Senior, how do you know my name?” Since things had already come to this, Han Li had to steel himself and ask slowly.

He could already tell that she didn’t seem intent on killing him. Slightly relieved, he thought of the cultivation method of the “Three Revolutions Heavy Origin Art,” which helped him regain his composure.

“My elder cousin and I are like sisters; there are no secrets between us. She has told me everything about you,” the woman said with a flat expression, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Han Li remained silent.

“Do you know? My first thought upon learning of it was to rush to Yellow Maple Valley, cut you into eight pieces, and feed your corpse to the dogs!” A cold light suddenly shot from her eyes, and her voice was filled with killing intent, making Han Li’s expression flicker.