Chapter 688: Chapter 688: Departure

Under such circumstances, acting recklessly and shamelessly would only lead to bad consequences.

Zen did not even turn around as he strode forward. Lavender, on the other hand, held her spear in her hand and took a glance at Margaret.

As she was being stared at in such an outrageous way, Margaret looked as if she had been bitten by a venomous snake. Her face was contorted by pain and embarrassment. She quickly curled up and grabbed some clothes to hide her body from the prying stares. Even her servants had never seen her bosom before.

With a cold laugh, Lavender quickly caught up with Zen.

Despite them being in an underground palace, a sudden cold wind blew. It scared Margaret and so she hurried to put on Zen's spare clothes, which were the wrong size for her slender body.

The clothes were loosely wrapped around her waist and legs, but they fit her bosom tightly, which made her highly uncomfortable.

Lamenting the state of her clothes, it suddenly occurred to her that she had some spare clothes in her space ring. It was something that she had forgotten because of the panic that she had felt a while back. As she was about to get into those, however, she saw that both Zen and Lavender were leaving without waiting for her. They were already a long way from her, and so she clenched her teeth, ran forward, and tried to catch up with them instead of getting her clothes.

Zen didn't look back. He walked forward, along the paths in the underground palace. Lavender glanced at Zen, unbothered by Margaret. She had a mysterious smile on her face.

“What's wrong?” Zen asked out of curiosity.

“How are you feeling right now?” Lavender asked and smiled.

Zen hesitated for a moment and then replied, “I feel that my energy is flowing more smoothly in my belly. Also, my life vitality seems to have become much purer.”

Lavender once again smiled strangely. This wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Since Zen had just deflowered Margaret and had taken her virginity energy, his cultivation base was supposed to be greatly improved. As much as Lavender wanted to pry even more, she realized that Zen would be embarrassed if she kept asking questions. And with that, she decided to drop the topic and continue in silence.

This was how Lavender differed from Margaret. Having been a queen in the Upper World, Lavender had never been spoiled. She knew how to ask questions without embarrassing others.

She then shifted the conversation to Zen's body refinement and enhancement. “Two seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world,” she started. “As for female and male, if one of them is missing, then no life form will exist. In fact, there are some really powerful, effective and secretive female-male dual cultivation methods in the Upper World.”

“Dual cultivation methods? I was once told that they were dangerous and prohibited by the law.” Zen asked with furrowed brows.

Lavender smiled faintly and replied, “You people from Central Region have created some laughable and different standards to judge those things you people consider dangerous and illegal, although they're not. But you know, right, wrong, legal, illegal, they make no difference in the universe. Moreover, this dual cultivation method encourages males and females to practice their martial arts together, and to blend the seemingly opposite forces. In that way, the practitioners can reach the original and core power of this universe. So, now, tell me, what's wrong and what's right?”

Zen just nodded agreement. At that moment, Margaret had already caught up with Zen and was standing behind them quietly.

She kept her mouth shut and did nothing, except stand behind the two figures deep in conversation.

Margaret had never been treated like an outsider, like a fool. But despite that, her past experiences had deeply affected her and her character, and it made her a hateful person.

Now, she was starting to realize that Zen might choose to leave her behind.

Zen had already taken her virginity energy. If she was left in this underground palace and got captured by Eddie, there would literally be no difference to Zen. He wouldn't be bothered by her captivity.

After Margaret understood her situation, she felt that their positions had suddenly changed. Now, it was Margaret who would have to beg Zen to take her away. Otherwise, her lacking strength and power wouldn't be able to get her out of the underground palace. Or, even if she somehow was able to leave the palace, the whole Dreamy Swampland was waiting for her, ready to kill her as soon as it could.

Being under such disadvantageous circumstance, Margaret decided that she would do nothing stupid that would further annoy Zen.

Soon enough, Zen had finally had good luck in the underground palace.

This underground palace was extremely complicated and treacherous. When Simon, the Poison King, lived here in seclusion, he nearly died during his initial exploration. That meant that even warriors of Life and Death Realm could easily die here if they became lax and not vigilant.

Luckily, Zen had been proceeding in exploring the palace successfully and smoothly, confronting nothing dangerous or abnormal.

On the contrary, when Eddie and Simon entered the underground palace, they quickly ran into many troubles and immediately had to confront a wide variety of dangers that killed the three warriors of Virtual Tribulation Realm. Despite being able to survive, Eddie and Simon came out of their battles injured. After a while, Zen was still nowhere to be seen. Eddie's temper was getting worse and worse. When his bad temper couldn't be curbed any longer, he channeled his anger on the infrastructure around him. To his great surprise, however, a formidable beast was disturbed. ⱤАＮ𝐎ᛒÊṣ

A few years ago, Simon had fought that beast and was nearly killed by it. Despite having the advantage of being in a rage, Eddie was still no match for it. Some warriors of the Virtual Tribulation Realm and two warriors of Life and Death Realm had been chased by this beast for a long time until they were finally able to escape from the underground palace.

Around this time, Zen had already found another exit. Catching the light ahead of him, Zen moved quickly and rushed towards it.

Margaret pursed her lips and followed Zen out of the palace.

After exiting the underground palace, Zen decided to leave as soon as possible. Being in such a hopeless situation, he had taken Simon's advice - in order to get rid of Eddie, he needed to travel in the complicated underground palace. Both strength and luck saved him.

Before Zen could fly away, Margaret, following closely behind him, finally opened her mouth. “Zen, will you leave me here?” she said warily. Her proud and stubborn eyes now looked dim and hopeless. After all, she was begging Zen not to leave her there, alone.

“What was that? Does the little whiny princess still want to follow us?” Lavender sneered, “Weren't you just pestering Zen to let you go? Didn't you repeatedly tell us that you're not afraid of death?”

In the depths of the Dreamy Swampland, regular warriors of Internal Elixir Realm wouldn't be able to survive the dangers that it concealed. Not to mention, Margaret's cultivation base was still very low. She definitely lacked the abilities and strength to walk out of the Dreamy Swampland alive on her own. Zen didn't show any kind of emotion towards what Margaret was saying. Margaret, on the other hand, tried her best to convince him just by looking at him.

The sneer on Lavender's face was starting to annoy Margaret. With her teeth clenched, she shouted, “Zen, if you leave me here, I'll be dead very soon!”

Zen thought for a moment. After what seemed like an eternity, he grabbed Margaret by her arm and muttered, “Don't worry. I'll take you out of this Dreamy Swampland.”

Zen had never been a stone-hearted person. If Margaret hadn't forced him ruthlessly, he wouldn't have treated her the way he did.

Zen and Margaret flew with high speed. Two hours later, they were already outside of the Dreamy Swampland. During their flight, they met some ferocious beasts, such as a murderous bird hiding itself behind the clouds, and a boa with the length of over a hundred meters. However, Zen didn't stop and successfully avoided drawing their attention. Although he would get some precious materials by killing those beasts, he was more concerned about their safety at the moment, and he wouldn't waste any time fighting insignificant beasts.

The three of them had entered the Dreamy Swampland from its east side. Now, they left through the west. They were already getting closer to Cloudy City.

By nightfall, Zen had already reached Fire City, another medium-sized city.

Fire City was much smaller than Cloudy City, Oracle City, Ethereal City and other large-sized cities. Only a few second-grade sects were active in it. As the Heavenly Evil Sect gradually and aggressively expanded its influence, each and every warrior living in the Fire City was worrying about their career and safety. Because of that, those sects started to move to the south, and so did half of the warriors in the city. Even some regular citizens moved with them, seeking shelters and protection.

Flying above the Fire City, Zen released Margaret's hand and said lightly, “We have to say goodbye here. Turn south, bypass the Dreamy Swampland and you'll get to Ethereal City.”

During the high-speed flight, Margaret had been lying on Zen's back comfortably. Hearing Zen say goodbye to her, she was dumbfounded.

The war between Ethereal City and Heavenly Evil Sect wouldn't end easily. If Eddie failed to catch Zen, he would lead his warriors to attack Ethereal Spirit Sect again. The Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit were already killed. Although many warriors of the Virtual Tribulation Realm and Xander were still protecting the Ethereal Spirit Sect, the Sect-protecting Array wouldn't be good enough to resist the enemy attacks.

Would she be able to help anyone if she returned to the Ethereal Spirit Sect?

“I...” Margaret wanted to say something, but she stumbled over her words.

Zen cast a glance at her but kept silent. If Eddie had sensed that he had already left Dreamy Swampland, he might already be pursuing them right now. The way to Cloudy City was long and treacherous, and it would be inconvenient if he travelled with Margaret.

Amidst all these thoughts, Zen still said nothing. He just turned around and walked away from Margaret.

Margaret, floating in the air, looked at Zen's disappearing figure. She bit her lip so hard that it bled. However, she could feel nothing except her resentment towards Zen's coldness and ruthlessness. Finally, she got emotional, and an idea started to materialize in her mind.

She floated in the air for 5 minutes before she felt a fire burning in her stomach.

Boom!

In mere seconds, some purple flames shot from her stomach and wrapped her inside.

Those purple flames didn't come from her life vitality, since her cultivation base had no fire attributes.

It turned out that those flames were from the Purple Power World.