Earth Elemental Demons' Territory

Mu Yu flew behind the maiden for roughly four hours. They avoided confrontations with earth demons when they were ambushed because it wasn't going to get them anywhere besides death. The earth demons weren't much slower than them, could hold their own weight in duels, could jump as high as the duo could fly and possessed some sort of power that allowed that hindered the duo from flying any higher at a certain point. Trying to soar at that height would expend more than desirable energy.

"This way."

The maiden made a turn. Ostensibly, she knew where she was going. If Mr. No Sense of Direction, Mu Yu, was navigating, they'd have ended up in an earth elemental demon's den soon enough. They finally left the rocky area and came to a cliff. The scenery below went from rocky to green trees.

"Stop here!"

"Why are you stopping? They're going to catch up to us," exclaimed Mu Yu, flying past the cliff a tad.

"Hey, don't go too far!"

She was too late. An unstoppable force dragged Mu Yu down once he passed the end of the cliff.

"Whoa! What the devil is this?!" Mu Yu desperately churned up spiritual energy to brake, but the force suppressed his spiritual energy. "I have a phobia of heights for crying out loud!"

The memory of Mu Yu falling off a cliff flitted into his mind. He got over his fear of heights under Uncle An's tutelage, but the force pulling him down and identical scenery dragged his phobia to the surface.

"What a drag!" the maiden exclaimed from above, before leaping down.

The maiden stepped on her blue ribbon. Owing to the speed of her descent, the wind billowed her hair vertically. Mu Yu blanked out as he watched her descend.

"If only she was wearing a dress," Xiaoshuai remarked.

"You lecher," reprimanded Mu Yu.

"Stop pretending you wouldn't like that."

"I'm not."

Mu Yu never took his gaze off the maiden. Upon reaching his side, she stretched her ribbon out and wreathed it around his rear ankle. She looped another ribbon around a protruding rock along the cliff face, stopping their fall, albeit Mu Yu hanging upside down. Because of the pain from his leg, he couldn't resist looking up.

"Grab onto a rock."

Mu Yu snapped out of his gaze and grabbed onto the cliff face with both hands so that he could position himself in a sturdier position. He tried to sport a neutral expression to conceal his pain and stuttered, "C-Could you release my leg."

"I heard a crack. I think your leg is fractured," replied the maiden, releasing the loop around Mu Yu's leg.

Mu Yu tried to set his leg onto the cliff face, but the absence of strength in the leg led to him slipping and smashing his leg into the cliff face.

"Mm!" Mu Yu grunted in a stifled voice, desperately trying to save appearances. He carefully moved and, accompanying heavy nose breathing, questioned, "Why can't we fly here?"

"The earth demon's rule the area and cast their gravity ability over a certain area. We're lucky these ones are weak. Else, we wouldn't have been able to escape."

"You sure know a lot, Miss."

The maiden was able to effortlessly balance herself, while Mu Yu was embarrassed he struggled.

"Why did you come here when you're uneducated? I can't tell if you're brave or silly."

"I never thought I'd bump into elemental demons here even though they informed me elemental demons had invaded Second Heaven. Man, my luck stinks. May I ask what your name is?"

"Qiao Xue."

"If I wasn't aware others had travelled here, I would've thought you were a resident of Second Heaven. I am Mu Yu, a disciple of Pill Cauldron Sect, hehe."

"I'm from Secular World Sect."

"You must know Tian Ran, then. You sure are from one of the eight great sects. You know this place as well as the back of your hand."

"Hmph."

"What's below? What happens if we fall?" Mu Yu glanced down then shut his eyes and turned away.

"I don't know myself. If we don't die, we'll be close to dying." Qiao Xue surveyed Mu Yu and continued, "I can't see you being Pill Cauldron Sect's disciple. I know them as weak people. They shouldn't be as nimble as you are."

"I'm rather special." Lazy to elaborate, he demanded of sleeping Xiaoshuai, "Xiaoshuai, give me a hand if you aren't dead."

"We safe yet?" inquired Xiaoshuai, poking his head out. He looked up at Qiao Xue and scratched his head. "Those rock monsters gone yet?"

"Yeah, they beat our behinds off the cliff, and my leg is fractured. How about some help?"

Mu Yu scrubbed Xiaoshuai's head with his chin. The little fellow brushed his fur and climbed onto Mu Yu's shoulder. He bowed and stated, "Esteemed Maiden, my name is Xiaoshuai, Xiao as in Xiaoshuai's Xiao and Shuai as in Xiaoshuai's Xiao. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, shut up and fix my leg, or we're both going to fall to our deaths."

"We need not concern ourselves with this brute here, Miss. I smell a familiar aroma on you. Do you have some food on you? Judging from your pure appearance, may I ask for your distinguished n-."

"Any more useless drivel out of that mouth and you can kiss drumsticks goodbye."

Xiaoshuai sped back down to check on Mu Yu's leg. "It's just a small fracture. You're a cultivator, for crying out loud, embarrassing. Give me a sec."

Hovering in mid-air, Xiaoshuai grabbed Mu Yu's right leg and yanked it up.Crack!Mu Yu groaned. Xiaoshuai dusted his hands and flew back up to Mu Yu's shoulder.

"Couldn't you be any gentler? That hurt, you jerk. Wait, you're flying!"

"Big deal. You two can fly. By the way, what is with your peculiar postures. Oh, you two can't fly! Why can't we fly here? What's with those looks…? No, I'm not carrying you."

"Drumsticks, yes or no?"

"Fine."

Mu Yu tugged Xiaoshuai's tail. Xiaoshuai groaned and drawled as he effortlessly picking Mu Yu up. Mu Yu extended a hand to Qiao Xue, "Want a free ride, Pretty?"

Qiao Xue was hesitant to accept the offer. It was unreasonable to expect anyone to imagine Xiaoshuai carrying two people multiple times larger than he was. Nonetheless, she eventually nodded. That said, she tied her ribbon around Mu Yu's waist and the other end around her own, leaving his hand hanging. And so, the trio shakily descended to the marsh below.