Several hours had passed since Ling Feng and Keqing had gone missing at the Liyue Qixing's mountain cave.
In front of the camp, Gan Yu paced back and forth, her gaze frequently drifting towards the cave.
However, only the Millelith, transporting stones, entered and exited, not the figures she longed to see.
She had been here for a while.
Upon learning that Ling Feng and Keqing were in trouble, she had immediately put down her work and rushed over in a flurry.
But after a thousand years, she had been solely focused on her duties, and had never learned any celestial arts for moving mountains or filling seas. After all, during the Archon War, she had been a healer.
Willing to help, but unable to, she could only wait anxiously.
"Ling Feng, Keqing, please, you must not be harmed."
Looking at the cave, Gan Yu murmured with eyes full of worry.
"An intruder! Stop her!"
Suddenly, she heard a clamor of shouts.
An intruder?
Gan Yu turned her head and saw a familiar figure surrounded by the Millelith, three layers deep.
"Shenhe? Why is she here?"
A hint of confusion flickered in Gan Yu's beautiful eyes.
Shenhe shouldn't have come here, unless she knew Ling Feng had met with an accident here.
"Let her through!"
Shenhe, surrounded by the Millelith, had a cold glint in her indifferent eyes.
The calamity had already appeared in her hand, and she was struggling to suppress the killing intent within her.
Ever since Ling Feng had left, Shenhe had noticed that the killing intent within her had become difficult to control again.
She always remembered her promise with Ling Feng and tried hard to suppress it, and the effect was evident.
Her control over her killing intent grew stronger.
But today, after learning from her master that Ling Feng was in danger, though not life-threatening, she had been sent to check on the situation.
Shenhe had agreed without hesitation, and even felt a flicker of joy in her heart.
But as she neared, the Millelith's repeated obstruction had pushed her patience to the limit.
If it were her in the past, she would have made them taste it the first time they tried to stop her.
The kiss of the earth.
Instead of now, choosing to yield.
Gan Yu also sensed that Shenhe was on the verge of an outburst, and immediately called out.
"Stop, she's one of us... let her through."
The Millelith surrounding Shenhe immediately halted their steps toward the gates of hell and dispersed, resuming their patrol to guard against demonic attacks.
Gan Yu strode to Shenhe and asked.
"Shenhe, why are you here? Did you also know Ling Feng was in trouble?"
"Hoo ~~~"
Shenhe first put away the calamity, calmed herself, and regained her usual distant and indifferent demeanor.
"Master said that the life-saving feather she gave Ling Feng had been activated. Originally, Master intended to come herself."
"But later, she sensed that the protective feather had only exerted a small amount of power, indicating that Ling Feng had escaped danger. So, she sent me to investigate."
Gan Yu nodded.
As she had expected.
However, she only now remembered that Ling Feng had a life-saving feather from the True Lord of Cloud Retainer.
Once Ling Feng was in danger, the True Lord of Cloud Retainer would sense it immediately.
With the True Lord of Cloud Retainer's protective nature towards her disciples, how could she allow her disciple to be harmed?
At first, she hadn't known Ling Feng and Keqing's situation. Now, learning from Shenhe that Ling Feng had escaped danger, she could finally feel a little more at ease.
But only a little more at ease.
After all, without seeing the person with her own eyes, no one would truly feel at peace.
There was always a chance of something going wrong.
Otherwise, the True Lord of Cloud Retainer wouldn't have sent Shenhe to investigate.
"Gan Yu, why are you here?"
"I also heard that Ling Feng and the others were in trouble, their whereabouts unknown, so I rushed over."
"According to the news, Ling Feng and the others were tracking an Abyss Mage into ruins, and the ruins collapsed afterwards, with Ling Feng and the others not coming out."
"So, Ling Feng and the others are likely trapped inside the ruins, and we'll have to dig them out slowly."
In response to Shenhe's question, Gan Yu recounted all that she knew.
"I'll help."
Hearing that Ling Feng was trapped in the ruins, Shenhe immediately prepared to join the rescue team.
"Rumble!"
Before Shenhe could move, the ground suddenly trembled.
There was hurried footsteps from the cave, and Millelith soldiers rushed out of the cave in a panic, accompanied by the sound of rolling stones.
Until the last Millelith soldier ran out, the cave collapsed.
"What's going on? Could it be another Ley Line energy tide?"
This change happened too suddenly.
"What happened?"
Gan Yu and Shenhe hurried to the Millelith leader in charge of excavation and asked.
"Lord Gan Yu, the excavation was halfway through when a deafening roar came from the depths of the ruins."
"Then, the ruins we had just excavated collapsed again."
The Millelith soldier reported breathlessly.
"What about the ruins?"
The Millelith soldier shook his head helplessly.
"It's almost completely collapsed. To excavate again will not only be more difficult but will also have to start from scratch."
"However, we haven't found the bodies of Lady Yuheng and Lord Ling Feng so far. Coupled with our environmental detection, it's highly likely that this ruin has an underground river."
After hearing the Millelith soldier's words, Gan Yu fell silent.
The loud noise in the mountains might have been caused by Keqing and Ling Feng, but with the ruins having collapsed to this extent, the two of them were likely in danger as well.
"I'll go."
Shenhe took a few steps forward, about to use her celestial arts.
"Bang!"
With a world-shattering roar, a red light burst forth from the wreckage of the collapsed cave.
Everyone looked up and saw a woman with fox ears floating in mid-air.
Gan Yu exclaimed in surprise, "A Fox Immortal?"
Bang!
With another loud noise.
A streak of light shot out, finally stopping in mid-air. It was a giant sword, the Lion's Roar.
Two familiar figures stood upon it.
"Ling Feng, Keqing!" Gan Yu shouted.
In the air, Ling Feng stepped on the sword, glanced at the collapsed cave, and let out a sigh of relief, saying with lingering fear.
"Thrilling."
"So damn thrilling."
"My first attempt at 'Monkey King's Emergence'."
Keqing, who was sitting beside him on the sword, kept breathing in and out.
Clearly, she had been scared by the falling rocks as they shuttled through the collapsed ruins.
"Ling Feng, Keqing."
Hearing someone call their names, the two looked down and saw Gan Yu, Shenhe, and a group of Millelith soldiers.
"Our people, let's go down."
Ling Feng glanced at Tu Shan Honghong beside him and said.
"Mm."
Tu Shan Honghong responded, but her gaze kept flitting between Gan Yu and Shenhe.
Under Ling Feng's command, the sword slowly landed on the ground. The incident had thus come to an end.