Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

A prickling, dangerous sensation seeped down Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's bodies. Their Spirit Senses went frantic, trying to find any source of energy that exuded this immense feeling of death.

However, there still wasn't any energy trickling in the atmosphere besides that treasure Qi energy. 

On instinct, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's eyes stared intently at the seemingly harmless leaf. Before they could even question if this was the case, the leaf had suddenly writhed like it was a living being!

Without any words needed, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami flashed back over ten feet at swift speeds. A burst of cold sweat poured down their brows as they legitimately felt as if death had almost reaped their bodies.

'Chi!' 

A bursting noise boomed into their ears as they had touched the ground. 

From up ahead, that seemingly harmless leaf exploded into putrid white liquidity fluids. The horrid liquids expanded for about two meters far and would've caught the trio if they didn't jump.

With no targets in its grasp, the putrid white fluids simply sizzled right through the ground. And the whole of the fluids made wasn't shallow at all. The fluids easily tore through the earth like hot butter, reaching farther down than what Darcel, Aniela, and Masami can possibly sense.

As they stared at the putrid white fluids, the trio had taken a quick whiff of the air. And almost immediately, Aniela and Masami scrunched up their faces in apparent disgust. 

"Peh!!" Aniela spat out a bit of bile as a horrendously foul stench assaulted her nostrils.

"I never felt something so-so disgusting! Not even blood or guts smell as bad as tha!" Aniela had to pinch the bridge of noise just to lessen that horrible foul stench. 

And it wasn't like Aniela was a soft person who can't handle a bad smell. Like she said, she could indifferently smell a scene filled with death, blood, and guts. 

But those white fluids were on a boundary of stench she never thought was possible. 

Masami was in heavy agreement with Aniela as one of her foxtails covered her nose. "Ech….seriously. This place only gets weirder with every second. I nearly hurled just from that stench." 

It was boggling Masami's mind that she was even heavily affected by a stench like this. Being in the Innate Core realm transforms her senses to an unfathomable high degree. No mere ordinary putrid stench could ever make her feel sick. 

But whatever that white fluid has somehow achieved that feat.

All the while the girls showed their evident disgust, Darcel more so focused on the sizable holes in the ground. 

His face was also warped with disgust over the stench, but he was entirely focused on the abilities of that fluid. If they were just a second slower, then their bodies would've been burned like they were hit with acid. 

Just from the sense of death, they all felt before, Darcel knew they wouldn't be able to so casually tank an attack like that.

And even if they were to use their bloodline state, Darcel doubted they could even resist it then. 

Darcel had then trailed his eyes around his general area. He still couldn't see much, but because of Masami's fox flames, he did spot numerous leaves just nearby them.

And going by what happened with the first leaf, he wasn't so eager to do any more exploring around. 

Darcel began to furrow his eyebrows, trying to come up with a suitable plan. While he did so, he grasped Aniela and Masami's shoulders, telling them,

"I don't think this needs to be said, but still, let's not get close to any of those leaves. Less we want something permanently gone from our body." 

Masami raised her fox flaming hand in the air again as slight frustrations morphed onto her face.

"Tch! Since we can't get close, now what? Even if we wanted to go back, I'm not sure what path we took to get here because of this damn mist. And I don't want to accidentally step close to another damn leaf."

Darcel narrowed his eyes as his mind went to rapid overdrive. He was about to come up with some sort of half-decent plan, but right then, he, Aniela, and Masami felt danger spike from all around them!

'Pa~!' 

Sounds of things popping like they were balloons blared into the trio's ears. 

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami quickly looked around their area, and their pupils dilated a bit. Completely out of nowhere, the random white leaves on the ground were all combusting into that same putrid white liquidity fluid!

The ground began to sizzle like acid as the leaves' white fluids easily tore through the dirt, just like with the first leaf. 

Now, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami felt their situation got ten times worse.

Where they stood, there wasn't any leaf close to them. But with how many leaves they heard combusting into white fluids, the trio knew it won't be long until those fluids spill over to their spot!

Moreover, the stench was getting increasingly unbearable. Even Darcel, who was the least affected by the foul smell, was feeling nauseated. He, Aniela, and Masami's chest began to slowly heave as this area smelled like literal hell.

While still covering her nose with her fox tail, Masami whipped around to Darcel and Aniela and swiftly told them, "At worst, I can just pick us up and hover above the ground. Though….something telling me that won't help us escape these disgusting fluids.

Darcel blinked his eyes, and a half idea spawned into his mind. He didn't think it was the best one, but it was the only one he could think of in their situation. 

But, before Darcel could say it, Aniela, who was surprisingly quiet, suddenly shouted.

"Ah! I got it!" 

Her shout made both Darcel and Masami curiously look over to her. 

Aniela didn't even notice their stares as her eyes brightly shimmered in a radiant white light. Her expression was as if she had just solved a complex puzzle.

After she had shouted, Aniela had then strut her right palm forward and instantly coated it in her Light energy. She had then shut her eyes tight, immediately falling into a deep concentration.

Darcel and Masami briefly looked over at each other in slight puzzlement. 

"Ok….any idea on what she's doing? No matter what, I still can't figure out every little quirk of her." Masami asked as she scratched her twitching fox ears.

Darcel wanted to say he was sure, but he couldn't precisely predict this action. Only one idea came into his mind as he said, "Not completely sure….but I fathom she's probably using her telekinesis ability."

"Oh….oh! I always forget she has that ability." Masami's eyes flashed in realization before a curious expression dawned on her face next. "But….why no-well, let's just wait and see what she does."

Darcel was in agreement though he was ready to act on a moment's notice if Aniela was too slow. 

However, Darcel and Masami didn't have to wait long at all. 

Aniela made no movement for three seconds.  And right when three seconds passed, her eyes flung right back open. A harsher white glow swirled in both of her eyes as her lips were curving up into a smirk. 

"There!" 

Aniela excitedly shouted as she clenched her Light energy-coated hand.

Darcel and Masami actually didn't feel much of Aniela's power leaking out from her. But right then, a shimmering white glow from within the hazy mist caught their attention. 

Both of their eyes snapped towards the white glow, being surprised they could even see it within the mist.

Whatever that white glow extended past the range of Masami's fox flames and should've been impossible for any of them to notice. But apparently, in some way, Aniela achieved picking whatever object this was up.

With that mysterious object within her grasp, Aniela made a grasping motion with her Light energy hand. Immediately that white glow soared through the air and entered within Darcel and Masami's sights.

"Ah?" 

Both Darcel and Masami couldn't contain their surprise grunts from what they saw. 

The mysterious white glowing object was actually one of the white leaves!

On instinct, Darce and Masami felt it in their guts to get as far away from the white leaf.

However, they both had then promptly remembered this is Aniela's doing, and she wouldn't do anything to hurt either of them. It's why their reactions were pretty mild since they had absolute faith in Aniela's action.

Right as Darcel and Masami spotted the white leaf, it quickly flew into Aniela's palm like metal pulled by a magnet. And like Darcel and Masami expected, that white leaf didn't combust into any putrid white fluids.

Aniela held the leaf out for Darcel and Masami to upon while telling them, "You see? This is the right leaf out of them all!" 

Neither Darcel and Masami could possibly guess what she even means.

When they stared into the leaf, it looked completely the same as all the other leaves they saw. But right then, the putrid stench that was causing their stomachs to churn suddenly vanished in a snap.

"Eh?" Darcel and Masami nearly tripped over themselves as it was so abrupt and instantaneous. 

Aniela was smirking at their reactions, but before she could talk, the hazy white mist suddenly became blindingly thick.

Darcel, Masami, and Aniela once again prepared themselves for an ambush attack. Though, at this point, they were beginning to doubt anything will happen when the mist becomes so thick like this.

The trio blinked their eyes, and in just a mere second, their whole scenery changed. Compared to other times, the thick mist didn't last long at all. 

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were curiously gazing at their new scenery, noticing it was much easier to see now.

The hazy white mist became incredibly light in this new area, allowing them to see far ahead of them. This would've been a relief for the trio. 

But as they gazed around their new scenery, worry began to fill their minds.

All around them were a massive plethora of trees. The trees themselves didn't raise a huge flag for the trio. But, it was the fact on every side they looked, everything was blocked by a tree.

No matter where they looked, all paths they could've potentially taken were blocked by a tree, essentially trapping all three of them.