A piece of Japanese incense

The sleeping queen insect seemed to be disturbed by the strange breath of life. Its huge body trembled very slightly, and the light of the moon flowers surrounding it suddenly became brighter, and then quickly converged.

Zhi Yihe's hand froze in mid-air. She didn't know what this meant. Was it a sign of awakening? Or a warning?

The queen insect resumed her slow breathing rhythm.

What should I do next? How should I feed it? How can I wake it up to lay eggs?

Yu Nian had been drinking her blood all this time. Could he also be endowed with the Nine Revolutions Pill's medicinal properties? Since she was unharmed in the fog, even briefly regaining her sight, then Yu Nian...could it be possible too?!

With this idea in mind, Zhi Yihe decided to take Yu Nian into the mountains. She walked back again relying on her memory, but the closer she got to the exit, the blurrier her vision became, until her vision disappeared again and she was back in darkness. She knew she had reached the edge of the foggy area.

Feng Jinqi's face was pale. He had just woken up from a coma. When he saw Zhi Yihe walking out of the fog safely, his tense nerves relaxed a little, and there was undisguised fear and worry in his eyes.

Agu also came over.

"Ah He! Are you okay?" Feng Jinqi asked anxiously, wanting to reach out to help her.

"I'm fine!" Zhi Yihe pulled his hand out of his grasp: "Please carry Yu Nian over here, I want to take him in!"

"Go in?"

"Go in?"

Feng Jinqi and Agu exclaimed at the same time.

Agu immediately shook his head: "No, no! Miss Zhi, that poisonous fog is really serious! Master Yu is hanging on by a thread and can't bear it at all! Going in is like going to die!"

Zhi Yihe replied, "I can do it, and Yu Nian... he should be able to do it too. We're all going to die anyway, so let's give it a try!"

Feng Jinqi gritted his teeth and made up his mind: "Okay! I'll listen to you! Agu, you prepare the antidote first. Pei Fanzhou, come with me to carry Yu Nian! Let's go in!"

Everyone swallowed the pills, covered their mouths and noses with cloth soaked in the medicine, lifted Yu Nian's stretcher, and followed Zhi Yihe into the thick fog without hesitation.

The deeper they went, the thicker the fog became, and the more toxic it became. After reaching less than half the distance Zhiyi and Duxing had previously covered, some members of the team couldn't hold on any longer.

"Ugh..." One of the guards carrying the stretcher loosened his grip and fell to the ground, his face quickly turning blue.

Immediately afterwards, another guard also started coughing violently and soon lost consciousness.

Pei Fanzhou also felt dizzy and his legs were weak. He relied entirely on his willpower to support one corner of the stretcher.

Cold sweat broke out on Agu's forehead and his breathing became rapid.

Zhi Yihe was walking in front. She saw her companions falling to the ground one after another behind her, and she was extremely anxious.

"Stop!" Feng Jinqi shouted hoarsely, "We can't go any further! We... can't hold on any longer!" He looked at the thick white fog in front of him and knew that if he forced his way in, everyone would die here.

"Leave Yu Nian... to me." Zhi Yihe said.

"what?!"

"Ah He, you're crazy! How can you..."

"If I can come in, I can take him in!" Zhi Yihe said in an unquestionable tone: "You guys go out and wait for me!"

She stopped explaining and tied Yu Nian tightly to the stretcher.

Pei Fanzhou looked at her unusually determined face and placed the rope on the stretcher on Zhi Yihe's back.

"Ah He..." Feng Jinqi struggled to stop him, but was stopped by Pei Fanzhou. He could only watch Zhi Yihe disappear from his sight.

Finally, when she once again passed through the thin barrier of mist and stepped onto the circular platform emitting a soft moon-white halo, the Black Jade Queen was still crawling in the center of the sea of flowers, like a sleeping mountain. The clear fragrance was so rich that it was intoxicating.

And this time, she is not alone.

Zhi Yihe was breathing heavily as he stood in front of the mother insect's body. He put Yu Nian down and let him lie flat next to the cool and smooth black jade shell.

Zhi Yihe knelt beside him. This time, without hesitation, her fingers touched the queen insect.

"Om..."

With a humming sound, the entire sea of flowers came alive. The moon-white haloes on the countless Luna flower petals surrounding the queen insect grew brighter and more vibrant. Threads of light were no longer simply emitted naturally, but like summoned fireflies, they fluttered from the petals, converging into visible rays that flowed towards the queen insect's massive body, greedily absorbed by the dark purple light flowing on its carapace.

The mother insect's carapace began to emit a brighter, deeper purple-black light, and its massive body began to rise and fall, contract, and expand more violently at a visible amplitude. It was as if something was awakening within it, brewing, about to break out of its cocoon.

Cracks began to appear on the queen insect's head, and a slender, crystal-clear purple light flew out from the crack in its head, piercing into Zhiyi and the wrist that touched its shell.

"Ah--!" Zhi Yihe screamed, and the tearing pain swept through his body, as if something most fundamental was being forcibly pulled out.

Her vision began to flicker and distort violently, and she felt that her blood was being madly sucked away by the flying purple creature, along with her vitality and spirit.

The purple-black light on the queen insect's body suddenly increased, and the cracks on its shell expanded and spread visibly to the naked eye.

"Crack...knock..."

A teeth-grinding cracking sound was heard, and a big hole appeared in the shell on the queen insect's back. A creature trembled and struggled out from the broken shell. It was... a butterfly!

Its wings were a translucent, flowing moon-white, with dark purple halos flowing around the edges, outlining ancient and complex totemic patterns. Every slight flutter of the wings scattered tiny specks of moon-white dust.

Is this... the Wanling Butterfly?

The newly born Wanling Butterfly hovered above the broken body of the mother insect. It seemed a little confused, but soon, it locked onto the dying Yu Nian on the ground.

Yu Nian's weak breath was like a candle in the wind, and the remaining breath of death on his body formed a sharp contrast with the majestic breath of life given off by the Wanling Butterfly.

As if driven by some instinct, the Wanling Butterfly gave up absorbing the energy of the Moon Goddess Flower and gracefully flapped its radiant wings, floating down towards Yu Nian.

It landed on Yu Nian's chest, its wings covering his heart.

Zhi Yihe fell to the side, vaguely seeing the wounds in Yu Nian's internal organs, which were torn apart by old injuries and new poisons, forcibly healing and repairing...

Yu Nian's complexion gradually regained its healthy rosy glow. His chest rose and fell steadily. Beside him, Zhi Yihe collapsed to the ground, like a hollow shell drained of life.

I don’t know how long it took, maybe a long time, maybe just a moment.

Yu Nian's eyelashes trembled a few times, and what came into view was a soft moon-white halo and countless transparent flowers with strange shapes that exuded a cool and subtle fragrance.

"This is where?"

Memories before he fell into a coma flooded back into his mind—the poison arrow, the severe pain, the endless darkness… He sat up suddenly.

He saw Zhi Yihe lying not far from him. Her face was frighteningly pale, her lips were dry and bloodless, and what frightened him even more was that her once beautiful face was covered with hideous dark red scabs.

“Ah He!” Yu Nian practically rolled and crawled to her side, cupping her cheeks and calling her, “Ah He! Wake up! What’s going on?! What on earth happened?! Where are we?!”

Zhi Yihe felt a familiar breath, without opening his eyes, lying in Yu Nian's arms, his lips moving upwards: "You're awake..."

"Tell me! What happened?! What should I do?" Yu Nian held her cold hand in his warm palm, trying to give her some warmth.

Zhi Yihe closed his eyes and briefly told him what happened next.

Yu Nian hugged Zhi Yihe's cold body, and hot tears burst out uncontrollably, dripping onto her scarred cheeks: "Ah He...you shouldn't have saved me...I hurt you...I'm useless..."

Zhi Yihe raised her hand to wipe away his tears, smiling with relief. The two of them snuggled together for a long time, and Zhi Yihe's breathing finally stabilized a little. Although it was still weak, it no longer felt like it would stop at any time.

Zhi Yihe pointed to the road ahead: "The map... the map of the Pearl Mirror Palace... points here. It's not over yet... I want to finish it."

Yu Nian immediately understood what she meant. He picked up Zhi Yihe and let her lean against him. He looked around the sea of flowers and, as Zhi Yihe had said, walked towards the path higher up the mountain wall behind the platform...