The snapping willow tree was clearly looking to impale him and even with his bronze body, Zou Yi felt it wouldn't be difficult for the willow tree to do so. He couldn't help but wonder why the snapping willow tree was called that way when piercing moves seemed to be its forte. Zou Yi couldn't help but think maybe the name had something to do with its temperament.
Ever since his parent's death, as a means of coping with uncomfortable and scary situations, he started thinking about inane things which slowly evolved over the past five years into an unconscious habit because of how much he did it.
Boom!!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A sand explosion formed at Zou Yi's former position. Clouds of dust and leaves filled the area along with a strong gust of wind that almost made Zou Liqin and Yu Mei trip.
"ZOU YI!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Zou Liqin as she forgot herself and ran in that direction, she saw Zou Yi get flung too, dragging Yu Mei along who seemed to struggle to match her pace no matter how fast she tried to run.
Microseconds after the explosions, Zou Liqin felt a sharp wind brush up against her, and immediately after she saw something orange flash past her at an alarming speed like a broken kite.
She instinctively knew that orange flash was Zou Yi being flung from the attack by the snapping willow and the direction he was thrown to, was the same direction they were running towards.
Trees shattered like thin dried branches everywhere that orange blur passed through.
He Shan who was close to twenty meters away from the Zou Liqin, grimaced when he saw those snapping trees. He had been running in a straight line, and the direction that Zou Yi seemed to have been flung to, seemed to deviate from his path by a few inches.
He seemed to hesitate for a bit before finally, he headed in the direction of the shattered trees.
The three members all rushed in the direction that was filled with a cacophony of noises. The booming sound a few seconds earlier, the crashing trees had destroyed the tranquil setting of the area, and with it came different cries from the resident of the area. The cries were of fear, and some were laced with threat.
He Shan's look turned grim when he heard this. While chaos would have been their best friend in certain circumstances, in this instant when they had a teammate potentially heavily injured, it was the worst possible outcome.
He wasn't in good shape either. While it seemed like he had effortlessly handled the scarlet-crowned hummingbird, only he knew how much of a strain his body was in. He had pushed his body to its limits and even over-exerted his arms, eyes, and every other sense of his body to ensure he kept the hummingbird at bay.
Every tendon in his body felt like it was being boiled in magma and his bones were molded of the heaviest of metals. His eyes felt like they had knives poking his eyelids. It took all he had to keep running and he wasn't sure he had any energy left to handle even a weak opponent.
The only people who looked to have some energy left for fighting were Zou Liqin and Yu Mei, however He Shan couldn't bank his safety on them, especially in their current state. Zou Liqin looked to be delirious. In her current state, she couldn't react rationally and was no different than a ravenous beast. With the way she was, He Shan would rather entrust their safety to Yu Mei even though she was the weakest with no cultivation base.
Despite everything that had happened, her eyes were clear even when she was being dragged like a rag doll. He Shan could tell that her breathing was shallow and ragged, while her legs were filled with shallow cuts everywhere because of the reckless force with which Zou Liqin dragged her with.
"Zou Liqin calm down, while we don't know the state in which we will find your brother, we can at least tell he is alive. Had the attack put him at risk of losing his life, the leaves we were given would have instantly reacted and the fact that it didn't means he is okay," said Yu Mei as she struggled to talk under the severe shortness of breath.
Zou Liqin who seemed like a crazed beast, had some clarity return to her eyes when she heard Yu Mei's words.
"You're right, we are on a test," said Zou Liqin in a tone that seemed like she only realized it, and was saying those words as a form of reassurance for herself.
Yu Mei had a gaze of pity as she looked at her from the back. In the realm created by the heart-cleansing waterfall, she could see the illusions formed by Zou Yi, Zou Liqin, and He Shan as she walked around there, and it wasn't only them, she came across the illusions of other participants.
She was a spectator in its test while others had their deepest desires dug out by the waterfall, therefore she saw how much Zou Liqin suffered and what her deepest fear was. Her greatest fear was losing Zou Yi and within that realm, she had indeed lived with that loss for a couple of years. Even if the realm was an illusion, the loss she felt was real and very fresh, and Zou Yi getting hurt right now more than likely dug up those four years she was in there.
…
With some clarity returning to her, Zou Liqin controlled her pace as she looked apologetically at Yu Mei when she saw her disheveled appearance, especially her robes that were torn at the bottom, and her feet that were filled with bruises.
With her running controlled, Yu Mei was able to get some relief, albeit only a tiny little bit. The damage was already done, and that short burst had likely pushed her body beyond its limits. He Shan was even surprised at how much will she had to still keep up and still have the presence of mind to think rationally and help Zou Liqin calm down.
However, he knew no matter how much willpower she had, the rules governing her body could not be undone, when they stopped, her body would immediately crush, and at that point, they would have two members incapacitated in just the first few minutes of them stepping into the mountain.
He couldn't help but lament their luck and think maybe they should have chosen the north-northeast direction that Yu Mei had earlier chosen.
He had no way of knowing that that direction had already caused the elimination of 50 participants, and of those participants, one of them was a legacy.
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