“We are fucked,” William said with resignation when the tunnel collapsed far behind them, blocking off his original escape path. Luckily, his lucky compass gave him another option.

“Wei Liang, go through the second tunnel on the left!”

William grunted in acknowledgment as he hopped to the side to avoid being crushed by a particularly large piece of solidified dirt falling from the ceiling. They might as well be rocks at this point.

“Princess, do you know how to get out of this level?” William asked as he sped to the target tunnel. It would have usually taken him a few seconds, but the chamber crumbling around them caused a significant slowdown. He weaved in and out, jumping to avoid the large boulder-sized clumps of dirt blocking his way.

“No,” Princess Jin said quickly, “Left!”

William’s feet left a small groove in the ground at the force he used to jump left, a massive spike-shaped piece of dirt crashing where he just was with lethal force.

“We’re not going to make it out of here.”

He didn’t respond to Princess Jin’s hopeless statement as he circulated his Qi to do something that he never tried before. Given that he was moving more side to side instead of making progress toward the tunnel, something drastic needed to be attempted.

[Martial Skill Created]

[-200 Spiritual Energy]

The princess yelped when she was suddenly staring at someone who was surrounded by blazing Qi, flickering like flames around every inch of his body.

William’s body blurred as his almost suicidal attempt to infuse his entire body in Qi actually succeeded. Every step caused cracks to appear on the ground, each casual push with his free hand put craters in the clumps of dirt that solidified into rock, and with a little more effort, it shattered them into sand.

The painfully slow progress was quickly turned into nothing of consequence, with William reaching the tunnel even quicker than it normally would have been possible without any obstacles.

Princess Jin gasped just as he escaped into the tunnel, the rumble of the collapsing structures suddenly becoming muted when the entrance was packed shut by the falling debris.

“Wei Liang!”

He turned quickly, expecting her to be warning him about the collapse spreading to this area too, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

“It hurts!”

William's eyes snapped to the girl he was carrying, eyeing the purpling skin where he held her to his body with one arm.

“Fuck,” William cursed as he let go immediately, “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt!”

Princess Jin held her damaged arm gingerly as she stumbled on her feet before hissing, “I'd rather have my arms squeezed off than deal with what was going to come out of that portal!”

“What?” William was stunned. He had been about to use Observe to see the damage he had caused, but being made aware of the cause of the collapse infuriated him. The turtle was at fault.

It should have been obvious with the last message received from Lord Paddlington, but he didn’t think it was the direct cause of this.

“Did you see anything else?” William asked as he stopped her from moving the damaged arm and used Observe and focused only on her health.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Name: Princess Jin

Health: 987/1300 (1% per hour)

William felt a bit of jealousy flare at seeing that she naturally recovered her health. However, it was far too slow to leave her unattended.

“Do you have anything to help me recover in that stone?” Princess Jin asked while wincing as she tried to flex the hand on her damaged arm, “I promise I’ll pay you back when we return.”

“… That’s not necessary,” William wondered how long she knew about the spatial stone, but since she made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, he would act the same way, “I caused it, so it’s only right for me to help.”

He pulled a Vitality Restoration Pill out of the dwindling supply in the spatial stone and offered it to the princess. When she stared at it with wide eyes, as if she didn't have an arm that needed healing, he wondered if he had made a mistake.

“Does the Jade Healing Sect give such high-quality pills to all its disciples?” Princess Jin asked with wonder.

“I doubt it,” William was relieved that this was the cause of her surprise, “A Senior Sister in the sect is close to me, and she has a master who is an excellent alchemist. I was freely given plenty of these due to that.”

“A master that gives out pills of the third grade?” Princess Jin’s eyebrows were raised higher.

It took William a moment to realize what that meant. He had taken the pills he had for granted, especially since they were so readily available. No wonder they restored so much of his health. The pills were made for cultivators in the Core Formation realm.

“I suppose,” William shrugged, acting unfazed, “Are we going to keep discussing how good the pill is, or do you want to use it?”

He nodded when she snatched the pill like he would take it back.

“Thank you,” Princess Jin said quickly before taking a seat as if she was about to cultivate.

William wasn’t sure what she was doing. Still, he wasn’t about to interrupt since he suspected this was something else he took for granted. She took a deep breath before gently placing the pill on her tongue and closed her mouth.

When her previously pale skin quickly turned a bright red, combined with the increased rate of breath as if she wasn’t getting enough air, it confirmed to William that even how his body reacted to the pills was strange. It made him question why nobody had mentioned this before.

He had taken these pills before in front of Elder Huang, and while they might have been of a lower grade, it should have still raised some eyebrows.

William shook his head and put another unanswered question to the back of his mind as he looked away from Princess Jin. It seemed that she would take some time to process the pill. Time that he could use to see what was ahead.

He hadn’t had the opportunity to take in what was ahead of them in the tunnel since he blindly followed Princess Jin’s choice. Now that he did, he decided that he didn’t like what could be seen.

Not at all.

The previous tunnel they had traversed had similar roots growing out of the walls, but this was different. There seemed to be life in them, and it was in the creepiest way possible.

It seemed as if the thinnest parts of the exposed roots, the size of fine hairs, were swaying as if a soft breeze made them do so. Given that there was no such breeze, it meant that they were moving under their own volition.

William shivered, glancing back at the sealed-off entrance as if it would open up another option to go. Since he could still hear the muffled rumbles, digging through the dirt would not end well, even if it could be done in the first place.

He mentally pumped himself up to move forward. It was almost near the end… probably. Besides, he had gained a new martial skill that was truly overpowered, even more so when considering how easily he had been wrecking spirit beasts well above his level while using the most basic martial skills.

Speaking of the new martial skill. William finally had time to see what it was and why it required a massive two hundred spiritual energy to activate.

Martial Skills (4):

. Unnamed Martial Skill (100%)

. Thunderous Palm (40%)

. Thunderous Kick (40%)

. Earth-Shaking Stomp (30%)

[Please name the newly created martial skill]

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