I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress

Chapter 228: Falling

The eye, which had been discreetly observing everything from the beginning, materialised in the floorless hall the next instant.

With its gaze directed at the two falling figures, it muttered to itself.

"With his talent...it will take two weeks at most. I should consolidate my remaining strength for the inheritance transfer until then..."

With those words, it once again faded into nothingness.

Meanwhile, several feet below, both Yi Chen and Gao Zhen’s figures kept plummeting into the abyss, the bottom of which could not be seen.

AHHHHH!

They both screamed in fright at the top of their lungs, thinking that they might crash onto the ground at any instant now.

However, all of a sudden, the darkness around them dissipated as, several hundred feet below, a passage of light suddenly opened.

’This...is this another domain gate?’ the sudden thought entered Yi Chen’s mind.

He was about to open its status to confirm, but before he could do so, he felt a strong pull, and the next instant, both he and Gao Zhen were sucked in by the gate.

’This...’

Yi Chen closed his eyes because of how strong the light was, but before the strain in his eyes could dissipate, his face was slammed with a cold burst of air, which started roaring past his ears.

It was the same with Gao Zhen.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself several thousand feet in the air, free-falling at breakneck speed as a white landmass far below entered her blurry vision.

Seeing the changes in their environment and noticing that she was still plummeting but now at an even greater rate, with the ground clearly visible to her, the panic in her heart shot up, and she started screaming in horror.

WHAAAAAAA!

’THIS?!’

Gao Zhen’s ear-piercing shrieks rang in Yi Chen’s ears as well, making Yi Chen forcefully open his eyes while resisting the strong wind currents.

His attention was immediately grabbed by the ice-covered landmass several thousand feet below.

’Isn’t it the same as that time?’ he was reminded of how he entered the Neverending Forest back then.

The fear and anxiety from that time were still vivid in his mind. It was because of that experience that he didn’t panic at all.

He noticed a subtle glimmer around his body. It was a transparent barrier. Unlike last time, since he wasn’t in a panicked state, he was easily able to sense it.

’Just like before, the barrier would protect me during the crash...’ he thought while shifting his attention to the terrain below.

Unlike the Neverending forest, where only lush green trees stretched for several hundred kilometres, the landmass below him was quite small.

It was an island of icy terrain with a size of roughly two thousand square kilometres. It was neither too small nor too big.

It was surrounded by a water body which was dark blue in colour. Just by looking at it, one could tell how cold the water was.

’So, it was indeed a domain gate...’

He thought to himself and finally turned his head towards Gao Zhen, who was a few meters away from him and was screaming at the top of her lungs.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~

Even with the wind blasting past his ears, her piercing screams were still able to reach his eardrums.

’Wasn’t I in the same state at that time?’ he couldn’t help but feel a little amused when he saw her in this state.

AHHHHHHH!

Not noticing Yi Chen, Gao Zhen kept screaming while trying out several martial techniques one after the other, all in an attempt to slow her descent.

However, none of that worked, and it even seemed that her speed had somewhat increased.

Being the gentleman he was, Yi Chen finally decided to call her out in an attempt to make her realise that there was really no need to panic, and they would be alright.

However, unlike her piercing voice, his voice failed to penetrate the roaring winds and reach her eardrums.

At this, Yi Chen could only purse his lips with a bitter smile while observing Gao Zhen’s state.

Suddenly, a thought rang in his mind.

’Now that I think about it...it’s my first time seeing her this scared’

An expression of amusement formed on his face as he observed the frightful expression that was plastered on Gao Zhen’s face as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

The powerful and untouchable image of Gao Zhen, which he had formed in his mind shattered as a result.

’To think even Madam Gao was capable of making such expressions...’ he inwardly chuckled before turning his head back towards the approaching land.

’Oh? So, it’s going to be water, huh...’

He thought as he determined the place they would be landing, it seemed to be a few kilometres away from the island’s coastline.

As the dark blue water came closer and closer, Gao Zhen’s screams began to die out.

By now, she had emptied her entire Qi Pool, but still her speed had not decreased at all.

Sensing her approaching death, several intense emotions flooded her mind as she began reliving her lifetime’s memories.

Meanwhile, the dark blue waters were just a few meters away from them.

Rushing closer and closer with each millisecond.

CRASH!

An enormous wall of water rose high in the air as their bodies plunged deep into the bone-chilling water because of the impact.

’Fuck! It’s cold!’

Yi Chen exclaimed the moment the barrier around him dissipated and his entire body was engulfed by water.

Gritting his teeth, he resisted the cold chill, especially inside his head and started swimming towards the surface as fast as possible.

However, at that moment, his gaze fell on Gao Zhen’s figure at the side, several meters below.

Although the visibility was low, he was still able to see her blurry figure from there.

She seemed to be in a panicked state and was haphazardly paddling her limbs all around while reaching her hand towards the surface above.

’Wait...does she not know how to swim?!’

Realising this, Yi Chen clenched his jaws and, without wasting a single second, started swimming towards her.

Noticing an approaching figure, Gao Zhen realised that it was Yi Chen as a wave of relief passed through her being. She immediately reached her arm towards him.

Grabbing her arm, Yi Chen pulled it around his waist and gestured for her to tightly hold onto him.

Gao Zhen nodded and tightly wrapped her arms around his waist. A few moments later, the two of them successfully made it to the surface.

GASP!

They gasped loudly, taking as many deep breaths as possible to steady themselves.

"M-Madam Gao, are you alright..." Yi Chen asked as his breathing started to stabilise.

"Y-Yes...T-Thank you..." She answered, still gasping for air.

Yi Chen nodded, seeing that her state wasn’t very bad and soon started craning his neck above the water’s surface so that he could get a proper view.

"It’s there!" his eyes brightened the next instant.

"W-What is there?" Gao Zhen asked in a confused manner.

"The island! Let’s go, or else we’ll freeze from the cold." Yi Chen explained the next moment while shivering from the cold wind blowing above the water’s surface.

"Y-yes." Gao Zhen nodded as her teeth had begun to clatter by now.

The next moment, she wrapped one of her arms around Yi Chen’s back and started swimming alongside him.

Normally, she would have been embarrassed because of this close physical contact, but right now, the only thing on her mind was the bone-chilling cold.

With that in mind, the subtle warmth which Yi Chen’s body was exuding felt very comforting rather than embarrassing as she kept paddling her other arm in the water.

Yi Chen also shared similar feelings as the cold had started to seep into his bones as well.

’It’s much farther than I thought...’ he thought while clattering his teeth.

From above, the distance looked manageable to him, but now that he was in the water, he had started to think otherwise.

Even with his high strength and Qi, he was still affected by this bone-chilling water. With each movement of his arms, he was losing his body’s heat at a much greater rate, and the coldness seeped deeper and deeper into his body.

However, before things could take a turn for the worse, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.

’Wait...can I use the Bursting Fire Steps in water as well?’ he suddenly thought to himself and decided to give it a try.

The next second, he circulated his Qi towards his right foot and...

BURST!

A soft popping sound came from behind him, the next instant accompanied by a soft push forward.

’This is it!’ Yi Chen’s expression immediately brightened the next instant as he glanced towards Gao Zhen in excitement and said, "Madam Gao! I’ll be using the Bursting Fire Steps starting now, tightly grab onto my back, alright?"

"Alright." She nodded while shivering as her eyes glimmered in realisation.

"Let’s go then!" Yi Chen exclaimed and soon circulated the Bursting Fire Steps, eager to escape the freezing waters as quickly as possible.