Nearing the Black Fog Valley, the fog dispelling orb suddenly emitted a gentle glow. The thin fog on the outer perimeter of Black Fog Valley had been spread apart by that mysterious glow, as though it had been spread apart by an invisible hand.
That scene caused Ling Xuan to have felt excited. "Little Black, you can come back now. Thank you for testing the orb in my place. You can leave the rest to me."
However, the scene that happened the very next instant caused Ling Xuan to be dumbstruck.
At the start, the orb's mysterious light revolved and had seemingly held the black fog at bay, having made it unable to pass. However when the eaglet flew in deeper, before reaching the 20 feet mark, the mysterious glow around the orb dissipated instantly like a balloon under pressure. The endless black fog rushed in immediately and swallowed up Chu Chen in an instant.
Ling Xuan, who watched the scene from behind had immediately been stunned, her face drained of color!
'How could it be? Wasn't that fog dispelling orb the real thing? Why didn't it work?'
'Little Black...did it know? Did it know the orb was useless and took it from me to show me? It...saved me?'
Black Fog Valley's magical fog would have killed any who touched it!
Ling Xuan's eyes turned red immediately. A great wave of sorrow welled up from within her like a tsunami, having flooded her thoughts.
Tears flowed out of her eyes. She thought she would have never cried for anyone again after killing everything in Nether Sect. She thought she would not have developed feelings for anything in the world other than her master.
She thought that from that moment forward, she would have only been a cold hearted killing machine.
However, the sudden passing of the black eagle caused her world to turn into a void. She had been unable to accept the departure of the black eagle that spent so much time with her!
She could have never imagined the scene on the other side of Black Fog Valley.
"Ouch...it seems to have grown quite a bit stronger."
Within the black fog, Chu Chen focused on sensing the pressure coming at him from all directions.
Last time, he could have only crawled for around 10 feet in the Black Fog Valley after all his struggles and was forced back by the terrifying pressure.
This time, he managed to go about 20 feet before having felt slightly pressured. This eaglet clone's body had grown obviously stronger than before.
One should know that the pressure exerted by the magical fog in the Black Fog Valley had not increased a little by little over the increased distance. Instead, it increased exponentially. A distance of 20 feet would have exerted the pressure several times compared to 10 feet.
This eaglet clone of his had just been too monstrous. It had only slept for a few days, yet the growth of it had been astonishing. It had been much stronger than his years of cultivation!
Chu Chen could not have helped but felt the excitement well up within him. Judging by the eaglet's growth, the 1000 feet distance would not have been too far off.
Suddenly, Chu Chen sensed the jade-like fog dispelling orb in his beak had given off a delicious aroma.
When that scent drifted into Chu Chen's nose, it triggered a deep insatiable appetite from the depths of his soul. He felt something within the orb that would have benefited him greatly. It had been a rare delicacy.
'Is this edible?'
'Uhm, if iron ores were edible, then an orb would not be too surprising. Moreover, this orb can't spread the magical fog. It's of no use to Ling Xuan anyway. Should I try?'
At that thought, he could have no longer curbed that appetite welling up within him. Chu Chen raised his head slightly, opened his mouth and let the orb slide into his stomach.
Chu Chen's expression changed the very next instant. He had no idea what the fog dispelling orb had been made from. The moment it entered his stomach, it felt like a piece of burning coal. A surge of heat exploded within his stomach, spreading across his body, causing it to have shuddered. He opened his little eagle beak and spat out a long stretch of flames.
'OMG, it's on fire!'
Chu Chen was startled. He felt as though his entire body had been on fire, being tempered continuously by the terrifying heat. That feeling had been surprisingly similar to his attempt to have broken the cultivation stage barrier after having taken elixirs.
He felt as if a tiny sun had burned within his body and needed to think of a way to absorb the energy. The eaglet could not have cultivated, but based on Chu Chen's experience, going to sleep had been the best cultivation method for it. As long as there had been sufficient energy, it would have grown continuously in its slumber.
After having digested the fog dispelling orb and a good slumber, the eaglet may have very well just evolved!
Feeling uncomfortable from the burning energy, he planned to grab a stalk of spiritual herbs while he had still been in control of the body before he went to sleep.
He quickly scanned around him and noticed a stalk of dull blue spiritual herbs nearby. Without any hesitation, Chu Chen quickly approached the spiritual herb and grabbed it with his beak.
Right then, a sorrowful voice filled with pain, regret, and heartache called out outside of Black Fog Valley, "Little Black!"
That voice had been filled with absolute misery. Just the sound of it would have elicited a feeling of anguish in the listener.
'It's Ling Xuan! Oh no, she must've thought I died trying to save her after such a long time. She might just give up living and rush in here to die with me!'
Having panicked, Chu Chen quickly made a bright sonorous call and sped out at full speed to the entrance of Black Fog Valley with the spiritual herbs in his mouth.
When Chu Chen cleared the entrance of the Black Fog Valley, herbs in its mouth, he was embraced by a black figure in midair.
The strong scent came at him from all around. Ling Xuan held Chu Chen tightly in her arms, fearing that he would have disappeared at any moment. Her tear-stained face had been filled with inexplicable surprise.
Ever since Chu Chen had met Ling Xuan, she had always put on a cold, emotionless front, as though nothing in the world would have moved her. Never had he seen her lose her composure before. Chu Chen's heart had been moved by an incredibly warm feeling.
'She cares about me. She's not emotionless. She really cares about me!'
"Little Black, how are you? Are you hurt?"
Ling Xuan examined Chu Chen's body carefully and finally let out a sigh of relief after having found no injuries. Noticing the herbs he carried in his beak, she had been quite surprised. "What herbs are these? I've never seen them before." With that, she wanted to take it but Chu Chen moved his head out of the way.
'Lady, I've gone through all the trouble to get this herb and you're trying to take it away from me?!'
"Stingy!"
Seeing Chu Chen's unwillingness to have let her examine the herbs in his beak, Ling Xuan laughed and gently patted his head. Seeing the eaglet exhausted and in a daze, she thought to herself, 'It seems that it's still affected by Black Fog Valley. I should send it back to its nest to rest.'