Xiao Simeng fell together with the collapsing ground into the chasm that the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider had climbed out from earlier.
Feeling her body continue to plummet, she muttered to herself.
“Sigh, I still don’t want to die.”
With that, she desperately mobilized the little spiritual power she had left, forming a thin layer of protective spiritual light around her body.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Her frail body slammed repeatedly against the jagged rock walls, but thanks to the protective spiritual light, Xiao Simeng was not killed by the impacts.
“Cough, cough. Damn it, I need to recover my spiritual power.”
Having fallen to the bottom of the valley, Xiao Simeng coughed up a mouthful of blood. She looked at the faintly blue-glowing rock walls around her and murmured.
Suddenly, several more falling rocks dropped down in front of her. Although the spot where Xiao Simeng lay was slightly recessed into the wall, so the rocks didn’t hit her directly, they still buried her underneath.
The little remaining light was blocked out. Inside the small space within the rock wall, Xiao Simeng couldn’t help but tremble.
“Ah, ah, it’s so dark… I can’t move my body.”
Xiao Simeng fought down her fear and kept trying to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy, but her terror of the darkness constantly disturbed her mind, making it difficult to focus. Her physical injuries were also quite severe. Although the medicinal power of the pill was still working and slowly healing her wounds, it was far from enough.
“The spiritual power I recover should be used for healing first. I forgot to ask Shucao to put the pills back… This is troublesome.”
Leaning against the stone wall, Xiao Simeng barely circulated the Qi Induction Technique, recovering the spiritual power in her body extremely slowly.
“It looks like I’ll need to recover for quite some time before I can get out. But… will this young miss die before then?”
Carefully sensing the condition of her body, Xiao Simeng spoke somewhat pessimistically. The current situation was dire. Without a large amount of spiritual power or pills, it would be very difficult to fully recover from her injuries.
“As expected… I really want someone to come save me.”
Another wave of exhaustion surged over her, causing Xiao Simeng to fall unconscious.
Meanwhile, at the entrance where Shucao had been carried to by the net.
“Damn it!”
Watching Xiao Simeng fall into the chasm along with the collapsing ground, Shucao, still wrapped in the silk net, couldn’t help but shout.
She tried to tear through the net, but the excessive magic power consumption from earlier left her barely able to move. She could only watch helplessly as Xiao Simeng fell.
After the flying needles and net delivered Shucao to the entrance tunnel, she collapsed onto the ground, teeth clenched, staring fixedly at the spot where Xiao Simeng had fallen.
“Shucao, you overexerted your magic power too much earlier. This body probably won’t be able to move properly right now,” An Qianhua said.
Although a magical girl’s body was formed from magic power, Shucao had drawn far too much from the Heart Seed, exceeding the limits of her current level. This left her current body immobilized.
“But I have to go save her!”
Even as she spoke, she continued forcing herself through the intense fatigue, trying to stand up from the ground, but it was futile.
An Qianhua sighed helplessly.
“Then dispel the transformation. After all, it’s ‘this body’ that can’t move, right?”
Hearing An Qianhua’s words, Shucao had a sudden realization. She immediately canceled the transformation and returned to Mo Yao’s appearance.
A powerful wave of exhaustion flooded Mo Yao’s mind, making him dazed for a moment. However, he gritted his teeth and forcefully endured the fatigue. He moved his body and desperately ran toward the place where Xiao Simeng had fallen.
Mo Yao arrived at the edge of the cliff where Xiao Simeng had dropped. He stared fixedly into the bottomless chasm, then leaped straight down without hesitation.
“Eh?! Xiao Yao, are you serious?! No matter how you look at it, that height is not something you can jump down from safely!”
An Qianhua exclaimed in the Heart Realm, but Mo Yao simply replied.
“It’s fine.”
Then, right before he would have slammed into the bottom, he transformed once more. Using the magic power that materialized his body during the transformation, he negated the falling damage.
At the same time, in the instant he transformed, he took advantage of the brief moment of refreshed mobility to retrieve the pills and some materials he had previously stored in the storage pouch. After landing on the ground, he dispelled the transformation again and began searching for Xiao Simeng’s traces.
Borrowing the faint blue light, Mo Yao observed the valley floor, trying to find Xiao Simeng in the dim darkness. However, after looking around, he couldn’t see any sign of a person.
Suddenly, he noticed the pile of rubble against the rock wall. Considering there were no footprints or signs of movement around, he guessed that Xiao Simeng might have been buried under those stones.
He took the wooden stick and crystal stone he had just taken from the storage pouch and tied them together with a cloth strip. After sprinkling some phosphorus powder on the crystal, the stone immediately began to glow, illuminating the surroundings.
“Anyone there!”
Mo Yao shouted loudly. His voice echoed in the silent mine tunnel, but received no reply.
“Never mind. I’ll dig you out even if I have to use every last bit of strength!”
He walked over to the pile of rubble and began moving the stones aside one by one with his strong arms. The broken rocks were heavy and rough. Although Mo Yao’s body had been tempered by years of farm work, he quickly grew tired. His palms were soon scraped open in several places, and dust mixed with blood stained his hands.
But Mo Yao did not stop digging. He only wanted to find the girl buried beneath this pile—his first friend in Ningzhou City, the girl who had still been thinking of letting him escape first even at the very end. Even if his palms were covered in wounds, even if his body was exhausted, he wanted to rescue that girl from the buried darkness.
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
In her unconscious state, Xiao Simeng suddenly heard repeated sounds, like stones being moved and falling. She opened her hazy eyes and weakly shifted her body in the cramped space, looking toward the pile of rocks burying her. The sounds were coming from the other side of the rubble.
“Is someone… coming to save me?”
Gradually, a small gap appeared in the stone pile in front of her. Through that gap, she saw light.
As time passed, the gap grew larger until it was big enough for a person to squeeze through with some effort. Harsh light shone in.
Xiao Simeng looked toward the light. She seemed to see a small pink figure, but upon closer look, it appeared to be a young boy.
“Why would there be someone else here?”
Through the light, Xiao Simeng vaguely felt that she had seen that face somewhere before.
“Grab my hand!”
The other party shouted. Xiao Simeng instinctively did not doubt him. Mustering all her remaining strength, she grabbed the hand that reached out from the light.
The palm was not delicate. It was covered in dirt and some sticky substance, making it quite dirty. Yet she felt no disgust and desperately held onto this hand that brought her hope.
“This grip feels somewhat familiar… Haven’t I seen this person in that mortal merchant caravan before?”
As her body was pulled out from under the pile of stones, her consciousness cut off once again.
After pulling Xiao Simeng out of the rubble, Mo Yao’s body suddenly relaxed, and he lay down on the stone pile. Then, he crawled with effort to Xiao Simeng’s side and once again poured out an emerald-green pill, placing it into her mouth.
“It’s finally over.”
Mo Yao lay on the rubble, gazing up at the faintly glowing ores above, and let out a long breath.
He then looked at the medicine bottle in his hand, poured out one pill for himself, and swallowed it.
“I worked so hard to save her. It shouldn’t be too big a deal to eat one of her pills, right? I can just tell her about it later.”
The gentle medicinal power flowed through his body, steadily relieving his physical exhaustion and healing the wounds on his palms.
“Xiao Yao, you really need to rest properly now. Both of your bodies have been severely overexerted. Frankly, it’s already a miracle that you managed to hold on until now and even transform one more time,” An Qianhua said earnestly, repeatedly urging Mo Yao to rest.
“I know, I know. But Sister Qianhua, don’t you think this is what a magical girl who delivers miracles should be like?”
“Before delivering miracles next time, please take better care of your own body first!”
Listening to An Qianhua’s continuous nagging in the Heart Realm, Mo Yao smiled and fell into a deep sleep.
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