"I'm not entirely sure! I've only heard rumors..."
Chen Jindong propped his chin with his hand. "Outside of the Seven Great Powers, there exist other rather mysterious factions with a limited number of known members... This City of Innocence is one of them..."
"It's said that the City of Innocence existed even before the Great Cataclysm... No one can say for sure how long..."
"Anyone, regardless of any crime committed... as long as they can enter the City of Innocence, they will be protected by it... All previous crimes will be nullified... And I've heard that within the City of Innocence, no matter what you do, whether it's murder, arson, robbery, bombing, or anything else, it's not considered a crime..."
"This is the origin of the 'Innocence' in the City of Innocence..."
Chen Jindong quickly explained to Ye Feng.
"This City of Innocence is practically a haven for criminals... Before the Great Cataclysm, many criminals who mysteriously disappeared from highly secure super-prisons... it's rumored they entered the City of Innocence..."
"But no one knows where the City of Innocence is located..."
Chen Jindong paused and added.
"Yue Yan, do you know where the City of Innocence is?"
Hearing this, Ye Feng turned to look at Yue Yan with a questioning gaze.
"This..."
Yue Yan arched her beautiful eyebrows. "I've heard of the City of Innocence too... Some members of the exploration teams from the City of Arcane Arts have even seen it... I personally went to verify it once, but found nothing... When I reached the location where the City of Innocence was rumored to have appeared, there was nothing but a huge indentation on the ground..."
"There's a rumor that the reason the City of Innocence cannot be found is because it's a mobile city... Although it's probably different from Maple Snow Town, it leaves very few traces... Unlike Maple Snow Town, when it moves, the commotion is significant. If a target the size of a town moves around, there would be many who've seen it..."
"And the City of Innocence seems to have a connection with the Dark Holy Cult..."
Yue Yan quickly explained.
"Is that so..."
Ye Feng was somewhat disappointed. He had originally hoped to find the location of the City of Innocence so he could explore it and perhaps retrieve the Stone of Hope...
After all, the Stone of Hope is the key to the Ark of Doomsday, and there are thirteen pieces in total, with him only having seven so far...
...
Ye Feng and his companions spent a few days in Maple Snow Town with Chen Jindong and his wife, eating, drinking, and experiencing the local customs, before continuing their journey.
...
One noon,
On the edge of a high cliff,
It was supposed to be a sunny day, but the entire sky was overcast. This wasn't due to an impending heavy rain, but because Yue Fei Xue was undergoing the tribulation of E'shui (calamity water).
As the center of the vortex-shaped clouds churned, a gray mist descended. This was E'shui...
Within a few breaths, the sky above Yue Fei Xue's head was enveloped in a gray, fog-like substance. Behind the gray fog, there was more mist, but it was much whiter... Further back were mists resembling water droplets...
Vast amounts of mist from bottom to top, vaguely divided into six layers. The lowest layer was a murky gray mist, which gradually became whiter and denser upwards, finally turning into crystalline water droplets...
"Ugh!"
The murky gray mist landed on Yue Fei Xue, and she let out a muffled groan of pain.
"Huh?"
Ye Feng, standing on the ground, was quite surprised because he noticed that the E'shui didn't corrode Yue Fei Xue's white palace dress as instantly as it had corroded his own clothes earlier...
Yue Fei Xue's white palace dress emitted a faint white light. The E'shui fell upon it, but a large portion of it was blocked.
"Little pervert, don't stare. Yue Fei Xue's palace dress is no ordinary item; it won't be corroded by E'shui in a short time!"
At this moment, Yue Yan spoke to Ye Feng.
"I... I'm not what you think..."
Yue Yan's words made Ye Feng's entire face turn red. "I... I was observing the E'shui..."
"Oh~"
Yue Yan responded with a faint "oh," looking unconvinced.
"I..."
Ye Feng felt a bit speechless. Then, he took a step forward and quickly flew up into the sky, instantly plunging into the E'shui, precisely above Yue Fei Xue...
With Ye Feng blocking it, the amount of E'shui falling on Yue Fei Xue significantly decreased. The frown on Yue Fei Xue's brows slightly eased...
Seeing that Ye Feng was unharmed by the E'shui, she looked astonished. She then sat cross-legged in mid-air, closed her eyes, clearly meditating and cultivating...
Meanwhile, Ye Feng took out his Tang Dao. The E'shui washed over the Tang Dao, and the rust on its surface began to melt away... Ye Feng took a brief look before closing his eyes and carefully sensing the E'shui surging into his body...
...
Time flowed by, and it was unknowingly the next morning.
"Hmm?"
Yue Yan, who was on guard on the ground, feeling quite bored, suddenly froze as she looked at the E'shui continuously falling from the sky not far away. She seemed to have grasped something, yet she hadn't fully...
She walked forward in a daze, and in a short while, she arrived directly beneath the giant vortex-shaped tribulation clouds.
Looking at the crystalline E'shui falling from above her head, Yue Yan's eyes slowly closed, and an ice-blue light began to emanate from her body...
...
In the evening,
The E'shui finally disappeared. Ye Feng and Yue Fei Xue opened their eyes almost simultaneously.
At this moment, the dense, dark tribulation clouds in the sky began to dissipate...
"Crack crack crack!~"
Ye Feng stretched, and a series of cracks sounded from his body. He glanced at the Tang Dao floating beside him and found that much of the rust on it had further diminished.
Subsequently, Ye Feng looked at Yue Fei Xue below. He noticed that her complexion was very pale, and her breathing was rapid, but her expression was quite joyful.
"Hoo!~ Hoo!~"
Soon, Ye Feng and Yue Fei Xue returned to the ground. They exchanged glances, both sensing confusion and surprise in each other's eyes.
Because they saw Yue Yan sitting on the ground, with an ice-blue light emanating from her, forming an ice-blue bubble that enveloped her... Moreover, the light of the ice-blue bubble exuded an aura strikingly similar to E'shui...
"Splash!~"
Suddenly, Yue Yan opened her eyes, and the bubble around her burst, scattering outwards. This startled Yue Fei Xue, who quickly retreated.
As for Ye Feng, he was hit by the ice-blue water splashes, and his entire face was enveloped... The ice-blue water splashes didn't harm him, but they greatly surprised him. For a moment, he felt as if he were sinking... like drowning... The tribulation fire and E'shui within him even slightly stagnated...
"Yue Yan... you... what's going on with you?"
Ye Feng looked at Yue Yan with great curiosity.
"Perhaps... this is Ruo Shui (weak water)?"
Yue Yan looked at the ice-blue water splashes in her hands, equally astonished.
...