The entrance of the cave was blocked with weeds and rocks, making it hard to spot anything from outside.
Ling Zhenfei walked over, cleared away the stones and weeds, revealing a black hole inside.
At this moment, a burst of Northern Spiritual Energy suddenly shot out from within; Ling Zhenfei knew it must have been unleashed by Lan Yan.
Ling Zhenfei swiftly dodged the energy and said, "Lan Yan, it's me."
Upon hearing Ling Zhenfei's voice, a figure emerged from within.
Lan Yan was wearing a blue outfit, looking a bit disheveled as she glanced at Ling Zhenfei.
Once she confirmed it was Ling Zhenfei, the panic in Lan Yan's eyes turned into joy.
Lan Yan ran out of the cave and directly threw herself into Ling Zhenfei's arms.
Ling Zhenfei was taken aback, not expecting Lan Yan to be so excited.
"Big Brother Ling, you finally came. You scared me to death, I thought I was done for."
Ling Zhenfei comforted her, saying, "It's all okay now, everything's fine. I'm here, so it'll be fine."
Lan Yan said, "No, there are foreign races around; I almost got discovered." After saying this, Lan Yan pulled Ling Zhenfei into the cave.
Once inside, Lan Yan cautiously blocked the entrance with ten pieces of weeds.
Inside the cave, it was pitch black; Ling Zhenfei took out a lamp from his Heaven-Dropping Essence Marrow and lit it.
Lan Yan spoke with some worry, "What if someone discovers us because of the light?"
Ling Zhenfei could tell that Lan Yan was frightened, so much so that she didn't dare turn on the light in such darkness.
Ling Zhenfei reassured her, "Don't worry, with me here, there's nothing to be afraid of."
Lan Yan kept holding onto Ling Zhenfei's arm, as if afraid that if she wasn't careful, Ling Zhenfei would disappear again.
As the lamp lit up, everything inside the cave became visible.
Everything in the cave was extraordinarily normal, with no sign of anyone having lived there previously.
Ling Zhenfei asked, "Lady Lan Yan, have you been hiding here all this time? What about Sun Wei?"
Lan Yan replied, "That day, you told me to take Sun Wei and leave. I took Sun Wei and hid outside the east gate for a while, then a huge battle broke out. Luckily, no one noticed us."
After the battle finally ended, I returned to the canyon with Brother Sun, then I put him into the altar's teleportation array and sent him back to Xianling Mountain."
Hearing that Sun Wei was safe, Ling Zhenfei was finally relieved and asked, "Then how did you get back here?"
Lan Yan said, "During the battle, I ran into some cultivators. They too felt that obtaining the Heavenly God Sword was hopeless, so they planned to return together.
My teleportation location was similar to theirs, so I wanted to leave with them. Unexpectedly, we encountered Demon Hunters midway; they all died. Fortunately, I knew about this cave, so under the cover of night, I sneaked in and hid.
It was surprising that the Demon Hunters didn't find me, but I also didn't dare to go out and stayed in the cave for cultivation."
Ling Zhenfei nodded and said, "It must have been hard for you."
Lan Yan said, "I wanted to go out at one point, but there were people of foreign races around, and I was very scared, so I stayed hidden. But last night, a group of foreign races camped nearby; I even heard them talking, I didn't dare move at all. In the morning, I wanted to go out, but unexpectedly, I saw them again in the nearby woods."
Ling Zhenfei said, "You should have contacted me with the walkie-talkie a long time ago."
Lan Yan said, "I did contact you, but it didn't work; no one answered no matter how much I called."
Ling Zhenfei said, "There's no signal in the cave, so naturally, you couldn't contact me."
Ling Zhenfei had bought the most powerful walkie-talkies on the market, which should connect unless there's no signal underground.
Ling Zhenfei said, "It looks like you've suffered during this time."
Lan Yan said, "I was cold and hungry, and didn't dare go out. Today, I really couldn't stand it, so I made a big decision to go out, but ended up being scared back."
Ling Zhenfei said, "Now that I'm here, you don't need to worry about anything. Whatever you want to eat, I'll make it for you."
Lan Yan said, "Anything is fine, don't trouble yourself."
Ling Zhenfei said, "It's no trouble at all. Once upon a time in this earthen cave, four of us drank and ate meat. Now it's just the two of us, but we should still eat. Don't worry about it, just wait here."
Ling Zhenfei rummaged through the Heaven-Dropping Essence Marrow; it contained quite a few things.
There was beef, mutton, and so on. Ling Zhenfei decided to take out all the beef and mutton, and then began to prepare them.
First, he marinated the ingredients, using Northern Spiritual Energy to permeate the marinade into the meat. Then he angrily set up a group of charcoal, and started grilling.
Soon, the aroma of the meat spread out; the seasonings on the meat played a significant role, making it incredibly fragrant.
Lan Yan sat beside, unable to resist swallowing, her eyes fixed intently on the grilled meat, not blinking.
Ling Zhenfei noticed Lan Yan's expression and felt very gratified; only when you've waited can the food taste better when you eat it.
Once the meat was grilled, Ling Zhenfei placed it on a plate and handed it to Lan Yan.
"Go ahead and eat; there's more if it's not enough." Along with it, he handed over a cup of Heart-Talk Fruit juice.
Lan Yan nodded eagerly and began eating the grilled meat, spearing a piece with a fork and placing it in her mouth, her eyes widening—it was too delicious.
This large plate of meat was soon devoured by Lan Yan, who couldn't help but burp, sipping the Heart-Talk Fruit juice embarrassedly.
Ling Zhenfei laughed and said, "I didn't expect you to eat so much."
Lan Yan said, a bit embarrassed, "Big Brother Ling, you're teasing me."
Ling Zhenfei said, "I'm not teasing you. You eating this much is a form of affirmation for me."
Lan Yan laughed and said, "That's good. The things Big Brother Ling makes are so delicious."
Ling Zhenfei said, "No need for flattery; let's talk about the serious business. In a moment, we'll leave, and I'll take you back."
Lan Yan said, "But there are many foreign races outside, it's really dangerous."
Ling Zhenfei said, "Don't be afraid, I'm here with you."
As they were talking, they suddenly heard voices from outside.
"Here, it's here."
Ling Zhenfei and Lan Yan paused upon hearing the voices, and Lan Yan, frightened, leapt into Ling Zhenfei's arms again.
"This is bad, this is bad, it's the foreign races, they've come."
At this moment, they heard someone outside shout, "It's coming from here, the smell is coming from here."
"Boss, there's a hole down here. It looks like there's someone inside."
Ling Zhenfei and Lan Yan exchanged a glance, fear evident in Lan Yan's eyes, clearly already terrified by the foreign races.
Ling Zhenfei said, "Lan Yan, trust me. No one will dare hurt you while I'm here."
Lan Yan nodded, though it was unclear if she truly believed Ling Zhenfei.
Suddenly, with a clatter, the stones and weeds covering the entrance of the earthen cave were cleared away by someone.
It was obvious, the foreign races had discovered them.
Sure enough, as the cave entrance opened, a strangely-shaped foreign race peered inside.