In response to Jiu Baiyun’s question, Su Zhiyun didn’t say much.
After all, she was also about to confirm.
But as soon as Su Zhiyun’s gaze fell on the system panel, her expression, which had been indifferent a second ago, became extremely solemn in the next.
The harsh red on the system panel almost burned her eyes, and a huge skull mark flashed wildly on the panel.
“Run!!!”
Su Zhiyun’s voice suddenly rose, unprecedented panic in her shout toward Jiu Baiyun.
“The danger level has reached Lethal!!!”
Xiao Mu and A Ran were startled by the sudden shout, completely at a loss.
Xiao Mu subconsciously tightened her arm around Jiu Baiyun’s neck, causing him to choke.
A Ran looked blankly at Su Zhiyun’s pale face.
But Jiu Baiyun immediately understood!
Not to mention anything else, as a fellow countryman, Jiu Baiyun trusted Su Zhiyun’s golden finger very much.
This meant that their current situation could not be considered safe—it was only at Extreme Danger…
Jiu Baiyun’s face suddenly darkened, and his sharp eyes swept across the seemingly calm mountain forest around them.
He hesitated no longer, not even having time to explain!
“Hold tight!”
He growled at Xiao Mu on his back, and at the same time, the remaining spiritual energy in his body exploded without reservation!
A faint golden airflow suddenly emerged around him, but this light was far less dazzling than when he had used it earlier.
Instead, it appeared weak and thin, like a candle in the wind, flickering unevenly, as if it might go out at any moment.
This thin airflow had barely managed to take shape when, without waiting for Su Zhiyun and A Ran to react, it rapidly swept toward them.
“Ah!”
Su Zhiyun felt a soft force instantly wrap around her, her body lightening as her feet left the ground.
She let out an involuntary cry, and the scene before her began to change rapidly.
A Ran was completely dumbfounded.
Before she could make sense of her previous confusion, she only managed a short query: “Big Brother Jiu?!”
Then she was gently lifted by the faint golden airflow.
The power of the airflow was extremely weak—more like barely sticking them to Jiu Baiyun’s side rather than lifting them.
They could clearly feel its fragility and instability, as if it might collapse at any moment, leaving them uncertain, worried, and tense.
Jiu Baiyun gritted his teeth, and fine cold sweat immediately formed on his forehead.
Forcibly using this last bit of spiritual energy to envelop the three and fly was a huge burden on his current state.
The weakness of spiritual energy depletion surged over him like a tide.
“Hey, Jiu Baiyun, are you alright?”
Feeling herself rising and falling unsteadily, it was impossible not to be nervous.
It felt like she might fall at any moment, with no sense of security, so Su Zhiyun couldn’t help but speak up.
“Your spiritual energy… feels like it’s about to fall apart! Or…”
“No… problem!”
Jiu Baiyun’s voice came, squeezed out from between his teeth, heavy with panting and a tension from forcibly pushing himself.
“Even… if there is… a problem… this… is still… faster… than walking!”
He didn’t dare to divert his attention to look at Su Zhiyun.
All his will was focused on maintaining that wisp of spiritual energy that was about to dissipate.
The edges of his vision were turning black, and an empty, gnawing pain surged from inside his body.
If it weren’t for Su Zhiyun’s words about Lethal Danger, Jiu Baiyun wouldn’t have been willing to travel like this.
Xiao Mu, clinging to Jiu Baiyun’s back, was still stiff, but Su Zhiyun’s panicked shout of “Lethal Danger” and Jiu Baiyun’s heavy, labored breathing made her realize something.
She subconsciously loosened the arm around his neck.
Although she still tightly gripped the clothes on his shoulders, the nearly suffocating pressure finally eased.
This allowed Jiu Baiyun to catch a couple of breaths.
Su Zhiyun, upon hearing this, just sighed deeply and said nothing else to dissuade him.
She knew Jiu Baiyun was right.
In the face of danger that the system had judged as “Lethal,” this flight speed was their only chance of survival, even at the cost of Jiu Baiyun’s extreme overexertion.
At the same time, her full mind was locked on the wildly flashing system panel in her mind.
The symbol representing [Area Danger Index], like a thermometer thrown into boiling water, its numbers and warning indicators jumped and flashed violently between blood-red “Extreme Danger” and the more glaring, heart-stopping “Lethal Danger.”
Each jump toward “Lethal” felt like a heavy hammer smashing against her heart.
Her heart was in her throat, every breath burning with tension, her palms sore from being dug into by her nails.
She stared at the constantly changing danger level, not daring to relax in the slightest.
At least this meant they were heading in a direction away from danger.
If they had still been running on the ground, they would likely have been completely engulfed in that danger rated as “Lethal.”
And then Jiu Baiyun suddenly accelerated, and a faint trace of deep blue began to leak out.
Even without Su Zhiyun’s reminder, Jiu Baiyun could feel the imminent crisis.
Forced by circumstances, he used a small amount of the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demon power.
“Use more if you have to! Don’t be so stingy! Life or demon power, which is more important—I can tell!”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable, who was also extremely nervous at the moment, said irritably.
That sense of crisis was genuinely making her fur stand on end!
Hearing the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s words, Jiu Baiyun couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“Are you speaking from a position of comfort? If I use too much, I’ll instantly undergo the Fox Demon Transformation—won’t that expose us?”
“Not about that! I really don’t understand you! At a time like this, you’re still worried about that? Don’t you know how dangerous those things behind you are?!”
Those things!?
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable hadn’t shared her perception with him, and since he had been focusing on traveling without looking back, Jiu Baiyun really didn’t know what was behind them.
After hearing her words, Jiu Baiyun did want to turn around and look, but considering his current state, he gritted his teeth and resisted the urge.
But while Jiu Baiyun resisted, Su Zhiyun couldn’t.
Because Jiu Baiyun’s sudden burst of speed had successfully turned the Lethal Danger on the system panel in front of Su Zhiyun into Extreme Danger, and it remained stable.
This gave her a moment of relief and also allowed her the leisure to look back.
But the instant she looked back, Su Zhiyun’s pupils contracted to the size of pinholes.
The relief on her face instantly froze and shattered, replaced by extreme horror.
On the distant horizon, at the very edge of sight that almost filled her entire field of vision.
A colossal entity, too grand and eerie to be described in words, was moving slowly—seemingly slow but with a crushing pressure of despair—toward the area they had just left… or rather, toward the entire world.
It was a palace.
A palace built purely from “black.”