The most desperate thing in this world is not that you lose the opportunity from the beginning, but that when you have walked ninety-nine steps and are only one step away from success, you find that this step is an insurmountable barrier.

This is the situation that Chu Xiaoyang and Qin Wuxian have encountered now.

If you can't get out, you won't be able to get aura, and if you can't get aura, you won't be able to cultivate, and if you can't cultivate, you won't be able to cast the immortal phoenix, and then break through this realm.

It's an endless loop.

Since then, the contents of this bone ring have been rummaged through by them, and apart from obtaining two volumes of high-level exercises, they have not gained anything substantial.

And the only clue to get out was cut off like this.

Chu Xiaoyang closed his eyes and began to call Shen Feng Sword in his heart.

[Insufficient repair, unusable]

But no matter how many times you try, the result is the same every time.

The natal weapon is not something that a monk in the Enlightenment Realm should have. Generally speaking, monks can only refine their natal weapons after they are promoted to the Quenching Star Realm, and Chu Xiaoyang's process of refining the Shen Feng Sword is a special case.

In the normal cultivation system, there is no such situation of refining the natal magic weapon in advance, so even if he refines it, he will not be able to use it normally.

"Bang!"

Not long after, Qin Wuxian fainted on the ground again because he was physically and mentally exhausted.

Chu Xiaoyang hurriedly helped her to rest under a desert palm tree, and then began to look at the surrounding environment.

The entire oasis is located in the middle of a huge canyon, surrounded by thousands of feet of rock walls to protect it from the wind and sand. The diameter of the lake is about 1,000 kilometers, the water is almost crystal clear, there are fish splashing on the surface of the water from time to time, there are many wild camels and other mammals living around, and there are also drought-tolerant trees such as salix, poplar, and desert palm nearby.

He used his sword to cut off many of the fruits of the palm tree, picked them up and looked closely, the fruit of this desert palm tree was as sweet and delicious as red dates, and could be dried for easy storage.

Chu Xiaoyang roughly swept around, and the supply of food and water should not be a problem in a short period of time.

Compared with the vibrant scene in the oasis, the barren desert outside the canyon and the uninhabited Gobi Desert are more like a forbidden area for life.

When Qin Wuxian fell into a coma, Chu Xiaoyang took this opportunity to go around in a circle.

No large creatures were found in the vicinity that could pose a threat to them, nor were there any traces of aura.

In a trance, Chu Xiaoyang gathered some firewood and fruits, boiled some lake water, and began to wait for Qin Wuxian to wake up.

。

The next morning, Qin Wuxian woke up from under the palm tree faintly, looking at the chopped wood around him, as well as the rubbed straw rope, his eyes suddenly felt a little less cold immortal, and a little more dazed and lost.

What is it like for a person to have their long-awaited hopes dashed?

Loneliness, helplessness, or despair?

"Chu Xiaoyang, from now on, are we going to live here all the time?"

She spoke softly.

This was the first time Qin Wuxian had called him by his name.

Hearing this, Chu Xiaoyang turned around and looked at Qin Wuxian's beautiful face, and a faint trace of tears appeared.

The immortal road is slim, the avenue is hopeless, as if the desire of a lifetime has turned into dust at this moment.

Maybe it won't be long before the two of them will live alone in this barren world, like the first Witch King, forgotten by the original world, and finally turned into a dry bone. Until many years later, the historical books of the Ethereal Immortal Palace will record such a sentence:

In the first year of the Tianyang calendar, Qin Wuxian, a disciple of the Ethereal Immortal Palace, disappeared and did not return because of his search for the secret realm.

Chu Xiaoyang turned around and looked at the other party with a complicated expression.

Who would have thought that the cold goddess who was high above the Ethereal Immortal Palace in the past, and the powerful cultivator of the Void Realm, would also have such a lonely and helpless side.

When she lost all her cultivation and became a mortal, she was just an ordinary woman after all.

"No, I will always look for a way out, until I die!"

Chu Xiaoyang glanced at the wood he had chopped yesterday afternoon and replied solemnly.

He still has too many things to complete, so let him stay in this secret realm until he dies of old age, Chu Xiaoyang will not be reconciled!

Let's develop lewdly, adjust the state, stock up enough food and water, and you will definitely find a way out!

As for Qin Wuxian, after listening to Chu Xiaoyang's words, she first looked dazed for a while, then closed her eyes, turned her head away, and stopped talking.

。

"Click!"

Not long after, Chu Xiaoyang raised the bone knife in his hand and began to chop wood.

His idea was to set up a humble dwelling here, and when the two of them had recuperated for a while, completely freed from the fatigue caused by the long journey, healed from their injuries, and had prepared their supplies, they would officially set out to find a new way out along the perimeter of the canyon.

It is impossible to give up, as long as Chu Xiaoyang is alive for a day, he will never choose to give up hope.

In his previous life, he had experienced a long life in the snowfield border army, as well as the scourge of demons, and he knew that the fairy road was bumpy, life was precious, and he could not give up at any time.

Life endures, hope endures.

The next day passed quickly.

Qin Wuxian, who had grown up in the Ethereal Immortal Palace since she was a child, began to collapse for a while because her cultivation was completely lost and she couldn't find a way out of this world.

After realizing that he was trapped and dying here, Qin Wuxian didn't speak or eat, just leaned on the palm tree, looking at the calm lake in a daze.

Chu Xiaoyang took advantage of this time to build a simple wooden shed, and then collected a large number of sweet palm tree fruits, hung them between the two trees in the open space and began to dry them.

A quiet night.

On the morning of the third day, Qin Wuxian woke up quietly and found that a bonfire had been lit in front of him at some point.

Chu Xiaoyang was afraid that the temperature difference between day and night in this sand was too large, and Qin Wuxian's body was weak after losing his cultivation, and he couldn't withstand the low temperature at night, which would then cause the injuries on his body to deteriorate.

"Don't die. ”

He said these three words simply and straightforwardly, and then left.

For a whole day, Chu Xiaoyang's hands never stopped.

In the morning, he cut a lot of wood, made it into a fishing rod, and then kneaded it into a thin rope from palm silk and began fishing by the lake.

In the afternoon, he picked a lot of brown silk from palm trees, and tried to make brown silk into a palm mat while guarding the fishing rod.

In the evening, when Qin Wuxian opened his eyes again, he saw Chu Xiaoyang salting the fish that he had caught during the day.

On the sand beside her, three grilled fish were inserted obliquely with bamboo skewers, and all kinds of spices were available on them, which looked extremely delicious.

"Don't die. ”

Seeing the other party wake up, Chu Xiaoyang pointed to the grilled fish beside her, and said the same three words that he had said to her in the morning.

Not long after, Qin Wuxian couldn't stand the smell of grilled fish, so he propped himself up, and after hesitating for a moment, picked up the grilled fish skewers and ate them.

She was so hungry.

The fish was originally grilled until it was medium-rare, when the meat was at its most tender, and after sitting on the sand for a while, it was just fully cooked. Beneath the charred skin of this grilled fish, there is a strong smell of cumin, chili, pepper, and chives, and a small amount of ginger, garlic, coriander, and millet spicy mixed in the belly of the fish.

While eating grilled fish, she stared at the busy teenager in front of her with a complicated expression.

It's clear that I can't get out,

The road to becoming an immortal has been broken.

Even if the two of them can survive on this food, it will only be a short life.

He...... Why are you still holding on?

。

Day 4.

Qin Wuxian woke up from the wooden shed early in the morning, and at a glance saw that there was another row of pickled salted fish where the palm fruit was hanging yesterday.

If the survival skills shown by Chu Xiaoyang in the first three days made Qin Wuxian feel that it might just be a coincidence, then from this day on, Chu Xiaoyang's series of operations directly refreshed her three views.

Fishing clay from the bottom of the lake, making stoves, and burning bricks and tiles...... At first, Qin Wuxian thought that Chu Xiaoyang was just joking, struggling in a desperate situation. But when she got to the back, when the curved tiles, regular bricks, and pottery that could hold water appeared in front of her, Qin Wuxian was directly stunned.

This...... Is it a skill that a third-year student at Beidou Academy should master?

What had he been through before to make these things?