"If you've got a death wish, then go on down." Bing Wushuang shot him a speechless glance. Truly, the ignorant know no fear—the River of Divine Consciousness was so perilous that even a consummate Golden Core expert like Xue Jianming had been scared half out of his wits, and the mighty Wei Zhao had gone to his grave in that river alongside Duanmu Yu. If a specimen like Fei Yangnian dared set foot in the water, he would die a most miserable death in the blink of an eye.

"Uh..." Fei Yangnian had already stretched one foot out in eager anticipation, but something in Bing Wushuang's tone made him hurriedly pull it back. Ignorant he might be, but a fool he was not.

Bing Wushuang could not be bothered with him. The Spirit-Consciousness Grass was already in hand, and his journey here had been a complete success. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and walked away.

"Un–Uncle Bing, wait for me!" Fei Yangnian cast one last reluctant look at the River of Divine Consciousness, but in the end hurried after Bing Wushuang. Tempering the spirit-consciousness was tempting enough, but weighed against his own life it amounted to nothing. Greed in a place like this could get a man killed.

One after another, the people on the riverbank departed. But Wei Zhao and Duanmu Yu, who had just been swept into the River of Divine Consciousness by the giant wave, did not perish on the spot as everyone had imagined. Even so, their present circumstances were hardly favorable—more danger than hope by far.

The water of the River of Divine Consciousness was not murky at all; it was in fact remarkably clear, so transparent one could see straight to the bottom. Yet once the two of them were swallowed by the giant wave, everything before their eyes turned pitch-black—not a single ray of light remained.

That was not all. The crucial thing was that the river water possessed an immense suction, like a bottomless whirlpool. Even with Duanmu Yu's strength, she could not struggle in the slightest; no matter how desperately she fought, it was all in vain. She could only feel her body sinking rapidly, and for a long, long time it did not reach the riverbed.

As for the already-weak Wei Zhao, he had even less strength left to struggle. True, he might be able to escape by transforming into his primordial-spirit form, but the risk of doing so was enormous. Judging by that earlier intuition of danger, there was at least a fifty-fifty chance the result would be the annihilation of both body and spirit.

Besides, Duanmu Yu was here as well. Even if he truly could flee, given Wei Zhao's temperament he would never leave her behind.

The situation before them was utterly baffling. Wei Zhao instinctively tightened his hold on Duanmu Yu—at a moment of life and death there was no room for thoughts of man and woman. His only thought now was that the two of them must not be separated, or else everything would go to hell.

Duanmu Yu felt the same. Driven by the instinct to survive, she turned around and clung tightly to Wei Zhao. She did not know what situation they were in, but just as last time Wei Zhao had been able to lead her through the Water Lily Guardian's illusions of mirrors and flowers, if there was still a thread of hope now, it too could only be Wei Zhao who led her out of death's door.

Unconsciously, Wei Zhao's standing in Duanmu Yu's heart had grown so reliable—had she not been plunged into such a life-or-death crisis, even she herself could never have imagined it.

At a time like this, neither Wei Zhao nor Duanmu Yu entertained the slightest romantic notion. Both were doing their utmost to sense everything around them. No light—that did not matter; both could perceive with their spirit-consciousness. Whatever they could sense, even a fragment here and there, every bit more they came to understand was one more chance at survival.

But under the river's powerful suction, what the two of them could sense was extremely limited: only endless darkness and icy-cold water, and nothing else besides.

After a long while, the powerful suction that had been gripping them both suddenly vanished. To their surprise, however, the two did not sink to the bottom; even the river water had become highly abnormal, for not the slightest buoyancy could be felt. And yet they could breathe freely in the water, as though they had entered some indescribable void.

"This place seems to be a realm of illusion," Wei Zhao said thoughtfully. He could not be entirely certain, but the place did indeed give him a hallucinatory feeling—though it was vastly different from the Water Lily Guardian's mirror-and-flower illusion. This place felt like a strange space suspended between reality and fantasy. Oddest of all, despite sensing no buoyancy whatsoever, the two of them floated weightlessly, as though adrift in space beyond gravity's reach.

At that moment, Duanmu Yu's expression was one of utter shock. She even forgot to push Wei Zhao away, and said in profound despair, "This is the end. We can't get back."

"What do you mean, we can't get back?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. They had only just been drawn into this strange space—they had not even had time to explore it properly. How could she jump to such a conclusion so lightly, and a death sentence at that? From what he knew of her, Duanmu Yu was not someone who gave up so easily.

"Before I came out, my master specifically warned me that under no circumstances whatsoever was I to fall into the River of Divine Consciousness. In all of history, not one person who fell into that river has ever come out alive—certain death, beyond any doubt," Duanmu Yu said with a bitter smile.

"Truly?" Wei Zhao was visibly moved.

"I had my doubts about those words before, but since the Spirit-Consciousness Grass proved real, and what just happened to us is indisputably true, there is nothing left to doubt. I have to believe it—we really are trapped here with no way out," Duanmu Yu said, exhaling a long, heavy breath.

This was a different matter entirely from being trapped in the world of mirrors. Back then, at least, they had known it was the Water Lily Guardian's doing, and once they found the Guardian's true body the trap would naturally resolve itself. Now, however, they were trapped in the River of Divine Consciousness—not some artifice wrought by human hands, but a fantastic phenomenon of nature itself. Unless it had an exit of its own, there was simply no way to break out.

And if this place truly did have an exit, then surely at least a few of those who had fallen in before would have managed to escape—it could hardly be that not a single one ever got out. Following that line of thought, things did indeed look grim.

"That's not necessarily so. Don't lose heart just yet—let's first explore this place thoroughly, and once we understand it, we'll find a way," Wei Zhao said. He himself was not especially worried; the worst case for him was simply ending this primordial-spirit projection early. Since he could still clearly sense that subtle connection to his true body, he believed that even in an environment like this, nothing could stop him from returning to Cloud Terrace Island.

But Duanmu Yu could not. If Wei Zhao turned tail and went back to Cloud Terrace Island, then left all alone, she truly would face certain death.

"Then... let's take a look first?" Duanmu Yu finally regained her composure. Her earlier loss of control had been mainly because that rumor had frightened her. Now that she had come to her senses, even if they really were in a desperate strait, there was no need to panic. (To be continued.)