VEILED IN DARKNESS, the figure took a step forward. The firelight finally revealed his identity—Mu Qing. His face was dark, and he didn’t say a single word.

Feng Xin grabbed Xie Lian. “I was searching for people in the Heavenly Capital, and I was doing just fine! But then, out of nowhere, someone struck me from behind; why else would I have fallen?”

“He was the one who struck you?” Xie Lian asked, his mind spinning.

“It was him—without a doubt!” Feng Xin said with absolute certainty.

“And you were knocked out instantly?” Xie Lian asked.

“Basically!” Feng Xin replied. “In any case, Your Highness, watch out for him! Don’t let him near you! Or just seize him outright!”

“Bullsh—” Mu Qing swore in spite of himself, but Xie Lian quickly cut in.

“Wait! Feng Xin, there’s a problem here. If he ambushed you from behind and you were knocked out immediately afterward…how do you know that Mu Qing was the one who did it?”

Feng Xin hadn’t expected this question, and he didn’t have an answer. Mu Qing seized the opportunity and scoffed.

“The Heavenly Capital was ablaze and completely chaotic at the time. For all you know, anyone could have hit you. But, as usual, you’re trying to dump your mess on me. Can’t you just admit you’re wrong?”

Feng Xin held on to Xie Lian as he stood up. Tone dark, he insisted, “No, it was definitely you!”

“Do you have any proof to back that up?” Mu Qing demanded.

“It was precisely because the Heavenly Capital was ablaze,” Feng Xin enunciated. “There was fire everywhere, and the person behind me cast a shadow on the ground. Even though I didn’t get a chance to look behind me, I saw the silhouette when I fell and the way it moved when it attacked. That was your shadow!”

As the two exchanged verbal blows, Xie Lian watched intently.

Mu Qing still wouldn’t back down. “All this talk, but you still didn’t see anything clearly. It’s normal for shadows to distort reality. You think you can prove that I attacked you with nothing but a shadow as evidence? There’s no way you saw enough to identify me in the moment before you blacked out!”

“You know that I can identify you with ease,” Feng Xin said. “His Highness knows it too.”

Xie Lian did know that. The three of them grew up and cultivated together; they couldn’t be more familiar with each other’s appearances and attack styles. None of them would need to see the others’ faces to identify them.

“Your Highness, you two came here together?” Feng Xin questioned. “Did he do anything suspicious on the way?”

“Um…” Xie Lian said.

To tell the truth, Mu Qing had been acting extremely suspicious the entire way, visibly nervous and jittery. But at a time like this, it wasn’t easy for Xie Lian to say so in front of Mu Qing.

“No! Think about it. It’s suspicious that he even came to begin with,” Feng Xin continued. “Is he the kind of person who’d put himself in danger to rescue anyone? Is that even Mu Qing?”

Mu Qing’s face grew darker. “Don’t speak in such absolutes. It’s hardly plausible for you to have sired a son, yet here we are.”

“…”

Xie Lian could tell this was headed in a bad direction, so he swiftly intervened. “All right, don’t argue. Keep it up and we’ll have to train idioms to calm down!”

“Besides, if I was the one who knocked you out, why would I go through the trouble of luring them here to find you?” Mu Qing added.

“Because you didn’t think that I could identify you after you struck me from behind!” Feng Xin responded. “And who knows where the hell this place even is! When you lured His Highness and the others here, your goal might not have been to find me. Crimson Rain Sought Flower got separated from you on the way, didn’t he?”

“Are you saying I’m an impostor who deliberately lured His Highness and the others into a trap? Well, sorry, His Highness and Crimson Rain Sought Flower have been with me the entire time; there’s no way they wouldn’t have noticed.”

“That’s true, yes…” Xie Lian said.

But that was only true for Mu Qing en route—what if he’d been switched after they entered the underground Wuyong palace? They couldn’t be sure.

Mu Qing appraised Feng Xin. “Your Highness, I think you’d better stay away from him. After all, he’s been lying there since we came. Crimson Rain Sought Flower is nowhere to be seen, and now he’s trying to tear us apart. Don’t you think he’s the one acting more like an impostor?”

White No-Face had disguised himself as them before. He could certainly do so again.

Xie Lian rubbed his forehead. “How about this—why don’t you two say something that only the three of us would know? That way, we can verify everyone’s identity.”

“Like what?” Mu Qing asked.

After giving it a moment of thought, Xie Lian asked casually, “What were you two screaming about on top of the snowy mountain?”

Their faces froze. Xie Lian tucked his hands into his sleeves.

“If your answers don’t match, it means one of you isn’t the real deal. We can move on after we’ve sorted this out.”

The pair exchanged looks of dismay, and neither said a word. At first Xie Lian hadn’t been all that curious about what they’d said behind his back, but now he couldn’t help wanting to know.

Moments passed, and Feng Xin still didn’t answer the question. “You’re both missing the point,” he said instead. “I never said I think he’s an impostor.”

Mu Qing narrowed his eyes. “So what were you trying to say?”

“From the beginning, I’ve thought he’s the real Mu Qing. He can’t stand either of us, so I’m not surprised he pulled something like this,” Feng Xin said bluntly.

Mu Qing’s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles cracking. Then he raised his open palm, ready to strike! The wounded Feng Xin barely dodged the blow, and the two of them began to brawl in earnest. Although Xie Lian had expected this, his head couldn’t help but throb.

“Calm down… Why don’t we train some idioms, hmm?”

As they traded blows, Xie Lian could sense that the murderous aura surrounding them was intensifying. Several haphazardly thrown fireballs brightened the entire chamber, and only then did Xie Lian see that there were shelves all around that were stacked high with a collection of sabers, spears, swords, and other such weapons. The arms emitted an ominous, chilling air.

This was likely an armory. No wonder the air was choked with a cold, murderous aura.

Xie Lian himself used to own such an armory. It had been very dear to his heart, and he’d often lose track of time while visiting it. But this armory filled him with a strange, intense dread, and he didn’t want to stay here another minute. Still, he didn’t know whose words to trust at the moment, so he didn’t know which side to help—truth be told, they’d both been acting very suspicious!

In the end, Xie Lian had to call out, “Ruoye!”

Well, he’d bind them both first and talk after!

Ruoye had been waiting for an opportunity to show off and leapt at this chance. Yet before the white silk band could shoot forth, Xie Lian sensed another chill from behind him.

The direction of his attack changed in an instant; he caught Ruoye and swung it behind. The moment he felt the white silk band catch on to something, Xie Lian seized it and yanked forcefully. However, whatever it had caught didn’t move. Dread washed over Xie Lian, and the next moment, he was yanked backward by the other end of the silk band. His back crashed solidly into someone’s embrace, and something cold and hard jabbed into his waist.

Xie Lian was stunned into silence. Although his physique didn’t make him look particularly tough, Xie Lian knew he was shockingly strong. So unless his target was some gigantic creature, who could yank him over so easily? Just as he was about to strike back, he felt a hand wind around his waist and heard a voice from above his ear.

“Gege, it’s me.”

“San Lang?” Xie Lian asked.

Sure enough, the arm that circled him was wearing a silver vambrace carved with maple leaves, butterflies, and ferocious beasts. When he whipped his head around, he saw that the one who had caught him was a tall, slender man clad in red. The man was calm and collected, and a silver scimitar hung at his hip. The thing that had jabbed into his waist earlier was most likely the scimitar’s hilt.

Hua Cheng!

Xie Lian instantly understood what had happened—Ruoye had dragged him to Hua Cheng’s side on purpose. He’d essentially been fighting them two-against-one, so of course it had been easy to yank him over.

Steadying himself, he was left speechless as he picked Ruoye up. Eventually, he managed to mutter at it, “You little traitor…”

Ruoye lay unmoving, wisely playing dead. Xie Lian decided scolding it wasn’t worth it. He tossed it aside.

“San Lang, what happened? Weren’t you right behind me? Where’s Master?”

“This place is very strange,” Hua Cheng said. “The path sealed itself when we reached the halfway point, both ahead of us and behind us. Then we bumped into something a little difficult, so taking care of it took some time.”

If even Hua Cheng said it was a little difficult, it really must have been.

Xie Lian was faintly worried. “Are you all right?”

“Of course,” Hua Cheng said. “But I don’t know where the state preceptor is now, so we may have to keep going deeper. By the way, what are those two fighting about? So noisy.”

“Oh.” Xie Lian glanced over. “Them…”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing finally noticed what was going on outside their conflict. They called a temporary truce.

“Hey! Be careful!” Mu Qing shouted. “Don’t casually hang around people who pop out of nowhere!”

“Your Highness,” Feng Xin called out a moment later, “don’t just pounce on him the moment you see him!”

Xie Lian hurried to explain himself. “What?! What do you mean by that?! I’m not the one who tackled him! It was Ruoye’s fault…”

He trailed off, suddenly realizing why they were so nervous. Both Feng Xin and Mu Qing were suspicious of impostors, so…shouldn’t Hua Cheng be subject to that same scrutiny?

Was the one standing before him the real Hua Cheng?

Hua Cheng cocked an eyebrow. “So now you’re all worried whether I’m the real thing, hmm?”

Supporting his elbow with one hand and leaning his cheek against the other, Xie Lian began to inspect him seriously. Hua Cheng noticed his gaze and stared back at him.

“…” Met with that stare, Xie Lian could inspect no longer. After a moment of contemplation, he came to a conclusion. He turned back to his other companions.

“I think he’s real.”

“What you think might not be correct,” Mu Qing snapped. “Don’t forget where we are—this is White No-Face’s old lair. Anything is possible. Figure out a way to test him.”

“Well, that’s easy,” Hua Cheng chuckled. “Gege, come here. I’ll tell you a good way that’ll clear up your doubts immediately.”

Thus, Xie Lian stepped over to Hua Cheng, modestly requesting his guidance as he did. “What good way?”

“Can you please not do everything he tells you to do? He’s under suspicion right now, do you understand?!”

“Recite the first half of the verbal password to my communication array, and I’ll tell you the second half,” Hua Cheng said. “Then you’ll know whether I’m the real thing.”

“…”

The two whispered in each other’s ears, then Xie Lian turned around, lightly clearing his throat. “Well…he’s the real thing,” he told the others.

Feng Xin finally didn’t seem as tense anymore, but Mu Qing was still doubtful. “Are you sure? Don’t lose your marbles the second you look at his face.”

“I just told you he’s definitely real!” Xie Lian argued. “Why do you two always have to act like I’m some—”

“All right, that’s over and done with,” Hua Cheng said. “Back on topic. Gege, why were those two fighting?”

With one hand over his forehead, Xie Lian gave Hua Cheng a brief rundown. “And that’s about it… To be honest, I really don’t know who’s more suspicious.”

“Really? He’s clearly the most suspicious one,” Hua Cheng replied, gesturing in Mu Qing’s direction.

Mu Qing was vexed. “If you’re going to slander me, at least have a reason, all right? Don’t blame me every time something happens.”

“Fine,” Hua Cheng said. “Then let me ask you this—what’s on your wrist?”

At that question, Mu Qing’s face changed color in a flash. He staggered back a few steps, wanting to flee, but Feng Xin was faster and seized him easily.

“Your wrist?”

There, on his wrist, was a cursed shackle.

Veins popping on his forehead, Mu Qing pushed Feng Xin’s hand off him and glared at him furiously.

When Xie Lian saw that thing, he went silent in shock and his arms dropped to his sides. “Mu Qing, your wrist…?”

Mu Qing didn’t reply, and his expression was dark.

“I suggest you respond honestly to the following questions,” Hua Cheng said. “Why did Jun Wu summon you to the Palace of Divine Might? What did he say to you? Why did you receive better treatment than the other heavenly officials, returning unharmed? Why are you behaving so uncharacteristically by volunteering to come to Mount Tonglu to rescue people despite the danger? What is the purpose of that shackle on your wrist? Why did you lure us here?”

“Wait!” Seeing the situation go downhill, Mu Qing backed a step away hastily. “Don’t attack me yet! Let me explain myself!”

Hua Cheng opened his arms. “Please, do go on.”

“Tell me first, were you the one who struck me?” Feng Xin demanded.

After a pause, Mu Qing finally said through gritted teeth, “Technically…yes, I did. But it’s not what you’re thinking!”

Feng Xin was furious, but Xie Lian said, “Let him continue.”

Mu Qing inhaled deeply and admitted, “That’s right…I was the one who hurt Feng Xin.”

“I knew it was you!” Feng Xin yelled.

Mu Qing turned to Xie Lian. “But it was because the Heavenly Capital was done for! He was still wandering around while everyone else was trying to escape; he refused to leave and wouldn’t listen. If he kept meandering around, he would’ve burned to death in the flames of hell sooner or later. That was why I decided to knock him out and pass him off to you!”

“But you didn’t pass him off to me. Feng Xin went missing and ended up here instead,” Xie Lian said.

“Well, there was a little accident on the way,” Mu Qing said.

“What kind of accident?”

“The fetus spirit,” Mu Qing said. “It ambushed me from behind, bit me and wouldn’t let me go. It refused to let me take him. I didn’t get a chance to grab him before the Heavenly Capital started reshaping itself, so…”

So Feng Xin was somehow moved here, along with the piece of land beneath him. If that was the truth, then Mu Qing had meant to do a good deed, but instead made things worse and screwed Feng Xin over. It was a very awkward situation.

“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner…?” Xie Lian asked.

Feng Xin was dubious. “Are you sure your plan wasn’t to let me burn to death in the Heavenly Capital? To just knock me out and leave me there?”

Mu Qing’s face stiffened, and he turned to Xie Lian. “The fetus spirit was crouching on his chest the entire time, and that ghost woman Jian Lan came over eventually too. I figured she would wake Feng Xin or move him instead of just watching him burn to death.”

Now, Xie Lian understood. Mu Qing had likely come to rescue Feng Xin out of guilt; he was the one who knocked his rival out, after all, so his sense of responsibility made him put in some effort. That would explain why he was so jittery the entire way—he was probably worried that Feng Xin had died.

Still, this set of excuses was hard to believe.

Feng Xin pulled at his hair madly. “What a mess you’ve made! Didn’t you already know I was looking for them? If you didn’t knock me out, maybe I would’ve found them!”

“The fetus spirit is White No-Face’s subordinate. White No-Face wouldn’t do anything to harm them,” Mu Qing said calmly. “And they didn’t want to go with you, so staying behind was a waste of time. You could call for them a thousand times and it’d be pointless. Why not escape the Heavenly Capital alive first, then find a chance to look for them later? Why did you insist on recognizing your son when the situation was so dire? I simply made the best possible decision for all parties in the moment.”

Feng Xin wasn’t nearly as calm as Mu Qing. “Best possible decision, my ass! You can only say that because it’s not your family! Wait—so you’re saying you were trying to save me by making me leave?”

“That’s enough nonsense,” Hua Cheng cut in. “Just answer my questions. What did Jun Wu say to you?”

Mu Qing went silent. He clearly didn’t want to answer.

Hua Cheng stared at him. “Are you currently under his command?”

“Not at all!” Mu Qing instantly replied.

“Then please explain that cursed shackle,” Hua Cheng said.

Mu Qing had been arguing for so long that his mouth had gone dry. A moment later, he croaked, “If I told you…you might not believe me.”

“When we asked you earlier, you denied everything left and right. Of course it’s going to be hard to believe you when you admit it now,” Feng Xin said.

“You want to know why I didn’t admit to it earlier?” Mu Qing asked, slightly indignant. “If I’d told you what had happened, you never would’ve believed me anyway! Who’d admit to anything when that’s the attitude they can expect? I wouldn’t be able to explain myself if I did admit to anything, so I might as well not bother!”

Besides, although they were lucky that nothing had happened to Feng Xin, the whole incident was rather embarrassing. Considering Mu Qing’s personality, it made sense that he wouldn’t want to admit to what he’d done.

Xie Lian, who’d been listening patiently the whole time, said, “Just let him finish.”

Mu Qing glanced at Xie Lian, and it took a moment for his words to stagger out with difficulty. “This is…because…he wanted me to harm His Highness. I refused, so…”

At this point, even he felt so uncomfortable that he couldn’t continue.

“So he put a cursed shackle on you in a fit of rage?” Hua Cheng finished for him.

Mu Qing didn’t respond.

“Nothing else?” Feng Xin demanded.

There was nothing particularly notable in Hua Cheng’s expression. “Do you honestly believe what you just said?”

“…”

Mu Qing looked absolutely humiliated. “Believe me if you want,” he spat coldly. “There was a misunderstanding about why I knocked Feng Xin out, but I’m not under anyone’s command.”

“Mu Qing…you’d better just tell the truth,” Feng Xin responded.

When Mu Qing saw his expression, his knuckles cracked. “That is the truth! What did you want to hear? That I surrendered to Jun Wu, and now I’m out to destroy you all? That’s the person everyone thinks I am, right? Your Highness?!”

He gazed at Xie Lian, emotions brimming in his eyes. Xie Lian stared pensively at him for a long time. Just as he was about to speak, Hua Cheng crossed his arms and moved to shield him, staring down Mu Qing.

“There’s no need to glare at His Highness like that,” he said coolly. “After all, you’ve got a bad track record.”

“I didn’t ask you!” Mu Qing countered. “What bad track record?”

Hua Cheng smiled. “What bad track record, you ask? How did your cultivation go after you stole that piece of blessed land from His Highness?”

His smile was laced with frost, and his tone was even nastier. Shocked and mortified, Mu Qing went pale and unintentionally staggered back a few steps.

“You…!”

Mu Qing knew that his behavior hadn’t been great when he fought with Xie Lian over that piece of blessed land, so he was afraid of people bringing it up and pointing fingers. While Hua Cheng’s tone was light, it was tangibly aggressive.

Mu Qing was surprised, but Xie Lian was too. How on earth did Hua Cheng know about that incident?

Neither Xie Lian nor Feng Xin were the gossipy type; they never liked talking behind people’s backs or spreading rumors. While Mu Qing’s departure was a huge shock to them at the time, they never said anything or complained to anyone about it. As for the fight over that piece of blessed land, Xie Lian had never wanted to talk about the incident ever again and had never spoken of it to anyone. He trusted that Feng Xin was the same.

The thirty-some heavenly officials wouldn’t have voluntarily told anyone that they stole someone’s spiritual land for cultivation; they would’ve either kept it completely secret or twisted the truth. And so, Xie Lian had never heard any talk about the incident.

So how had Hua Cheng learned of it?

Even though he had planted countless spies in the Heavenly Court, that incident had truly happened far too long ago. It had been eight hundred years, and most of the ones involved had never said a single word. Did Hua Cheng really manage to dig up information about that ancient mess?

“How do you know about that? Who told you?” Mu Qing questioned.

He looked back and forth between Feng Xin and Xie Lian, and in the end, his eyes stayed on Xie Lian.

“There’s no need to glare at His Highness—he never tells me these things. You were yelling about it at the top of that snowy mountain. Did you forget?” Hua Cheng jeered.

Mu Qing’s face had gone even paler. That lessened Xie Lian’s confusion somewhat, though he couldn’t help but wince. When Feng Xin and Mu Qing started going at each other’s throats, they’d often furiously dig out the skeletons in each other’s closets and stop at nothing to air the other’s dirty laundry. They would definitely seize upon ancient messes like that one, hurling them at each other like bombs.

It did make sense that hearing what had happened had angered Hua Cheng, but Xie Lian still had a nagging suspicion that there was something deeper underneath.

For he had also remembered something else: the tale of the red-clad ghost who set hundreds of civil and martial temples ablaze. Hua Cheng became famous overnight when he defeated thirty-three heavenly officials and obliterated every single one of their temples and shrines across the entirety of the Mortal Realm.

Xie Lian had long forgotten how many heavenly officials had fought him over that blessed land; their titles, their faces, and even the words they said were lost to him. He could only vaguely recall that there were about thirty of them.

How many were there exactly? Could those thirty-some heavenly officials have been the same ones he encountered on that fateful day?

If they were, didn’t that mean Hua Cheng knew of the incident long before he became a supreme?

It was a moment before Mu Qing gritted out, “That was then, this is now! And in either case, I never thought of—”

As Mu Qing argued, Xie Lian suddenly gave him a swift one-legged kick and shouted, “Watch out!”

Caught completely off guard, Mu Qing was knocked straight to the ground. Whoosh, whoosh. Two projectiles whizzed past him, trailing sharp, chilling air, and were nailed into the wall. Mu Qing leapt to his feet and dusted off the footprint on his chest.

“Did you do that on purpose?! Attacking me first?”

“Sorry, sorry—that really wasn’t intentional!” Xie Lian replied, otherwise occupied.

If it had been intentional, Mu Qing would’ve been sent crashing into the wall to form a human-shaped hole.

Everyone turned to see two sharp swords impaled in the wall, the blades still vibrating.

“Who’s there?!” Feng Xin shouted.

“There’s no one,” Xie Lian said. “They moved on their own!”

Clink-clank, chlink-chlunk. A murderous aura exploded from all around them. The weapons hanging on the walls began to shake violently, with so much force that the entire chamber quaked from the clamor.

“Let’s get out of here, quick!” Xie Lian exclaimed.

Yet when he dashed to where the entrance used to be, Feng Xin shouted, “Why are you running that way?! There’s no way out over there! Where’s the door? This chamber can’t not have a door! How do we get out?”

“There was a door here!” Xie Lian exclaimed. “But it’s gone now! What’s going on with those weapons; why did their killing intent explode out of nowhere?”

Using only two fingers, Hua Cheng caught a longsword that came flying at him and easily snapped it into nine pieces. The shards scattered across the ground.

“It’s been too long since anyone’s used them, and they’ve gotten lonely. They get the urge to kill when they sense someone enter. That’s all.”

The other two unconsciously turned to look at Mu Qing, who immediately cried, “It’s got nothing to do with me!”

“But,” Hua Cheng said, “you’re the one who led us here.”

“I only pointed this path out because I saw the fetus spirit!” Mu Qing countered.

“Only you saw it,” Hua Cheng replied.

Mu Qing clenched his fists. He had nothing to say to that.

Feng Xin spoke up. “Well, what do we do now? Can’t these weapons calm themselves down?”

Before Hua Cheng could answer, Xie Lian remembered the methods he’d used in the past to face similar nefarious creatures. “It’s possible!” he mumbled. “But…we must let them kill.”

“There’s no exit right now, though,” Feng Xin said. “And there’s only the four of us locked up in here. How do we let them kill? What can they kill?”

Just as Xie Lian was about to speak, Hua Cheng said, “Three of us.”

“What? Three?” Feng Xin questioned.

“Just correcting you, that’s all,” Hua Cheng said. “There are only three of us locked up in here.”

Xie Lian whipped his head around, and sure enough, Mu Qing—the fourth person—had vanished from the armory! Really and truly! There was nothing but empty air where Mu Qing had stood.

“How can this be?!” Feng Xin asked, dumbfounded. “He was just standing there!”

Hua Cheng wasn’t surprised, since he had already run into something similar. “We’re in White No-Face’s territory right now. Everything follows his command, and he fears nothing; of course he can spirit people away as he wishes.”

“…”

Feng Xin hadn’t wholly believed the things he’d accused Mu Qing of, and the sharp words he’d exchanged with his old rival were mostly uttered out of anger. But now, he really didn’t know what to say. It was a long moment before he finally managed, “Your Highness…Mu Qing, he…could he really have…?”

“Let’s not talk about this right now,” Xie Lian quickly replied. “These weapons are about to riot. We have to think of a way to calm them down—otherwise, we’ll be chopped to mush!”

With that, he pulled Fangxin off his back. However, Hua Cheng resolutely pressed down on his hand.

Taken aback, Xie Lian turned and saw Hua Cheng staring at him intently. Red was slowly spreading around the rim of his eye.

“Gege, what are you planning to do with that sword?” he asked darkly.

XIE LIAN BLINKED. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything…”

“Then why did you draw that weapon?” Hua Cheng demanded.

“To…defend myself?” Xie Lian replied.

Hua Cheng’s expression was terrifyingly dark, and he squeezed Xie Lian’s hand harder. “How do you plan on defending yourself? Put that sword down!”

That was the first time Hua Cheng had ever spoken to him in such a tone or worn that kind of expression. It shocked Xie Lian.

“Who are you to force him to put down his sword?” Feng Xin said, alarmed. “Let him do what he wants!”

A battle axe hurtled straight at them. Xie Lian raised his blade and slashed with one swift motion, sending the axe flying. “How do I plan on defending myself? Like…this!”

Only then did Hua Cheng’s demeanor and tone relax a little. Still, he didn’t let Xie Lian go. “You don’t need to defend yourself. Just stand behind me. Put the sword down.”

While on the move, Feng Xin accidentally stepped on his bow, which was still on the ground. He retrieved it and gripped it in both hands, raising it high to wield like a sword, then batted away a meteor hammer. He glanced their way warily. “What are you doing, grabbing him like that? Are you actually the real thing? Your Highness, are you sure you’re the only one who knows Crimson Rain Sought Flower’s verbal password?”

Xie Lian realized that Hua Cheng’s spiritual communication password wasn’t a secret between the two of them alone. A third person had heard it before.

Jun Wu!

He had heard it very clearly at the Palace of Xianle when he forced Xie Lian to contact Hua Cheng and monitored their conversation.

But Xie Lian still felt that the person standing before him was the real Hua Cheng, without a doubt. It was just…he must have thought of something unpleasant, which was why he was acting this way.

After a moment of contemplation, Xie Lian replied, “All right,” and put Fangxin away.

In the next second, the scimitar was unsheathed with a flash of silver light!

The entire armory shimmered brilliantly the moment Eming emerged. Sparks flew, and the cracking of metal reverberated and echoed nonstop. Xie Lian and Feng Xin stood motionless and trapped at the center of the chaotic light show, hemmed in by chilling glares and killing aura.

After no more than ten blows, Hua Cheng turned around and re-sheathed his scimitar. Xie Lian’s gaze moved from Hua Cheng to the ground beneath him.

Eming had slashed hundreds of weapons to pieces…

Xie Lian crouched, feeling grave pity as he picked up two sword fragments. “Those were all such good, rare swords…”

“Your Highness,” Feng Xin spoke up just then. “The door. A new door appeared!”

Xie Lian dropped the fragments and stood up. “I see. So we can only leave once we’ve dealt with the weapons.”

Opening the doors should’ve required the spilling of blood, but Hua Cheng had forced them open more directly. Just as that thought crossed Xie Lian’s mind, Hua Cheng took his hand and started dragging him out the door.

Seeing that Hua Cheng was boiling with murderous intent, Feng Xin asked them both, “What do you plan on doing next?”

“Find Master and Mu Qing, of course,” Xie Lian replied.

“And then, if Mu Qing really surrendered to Jun Wu, I’ll take his shit life,” Hua Cheng stated calmly.

“…”

The trio exited the armory and walked for a while. Xie Lian hesitated, but in the end, he still asked the question that was nagging at him.

“San Lang, did you think I was going to stab myself earlier?”

Hua Cheng didn’t respond, but his expression was still extremely sour.

“I wouldn’t have,” Xie Lian added.

Hua Cheng gave him a look. “Really?”

That look made Xie Lian feel quite guilty. At one point in his life, perhaps he really would have done that—in a truly dire situation. But now, he never would again.

“Yes! I promised you,” Xie Lian replied. “Besides, there were so many weapons. Sabers, spears, swords—wouldn’t I have been reduced to mush if they all stabbed me? Ha ha ha ha…”

He started to laugh, but the sound died in his throat. Hua Cheng’s head had jerked back to stare at him the moment he said the word “stabbed.” His gaze was hard to describe, but it obliterated all the words Xie Lian had to say.

Without warning, Hua Cheng reached out and wrapped his arms around him, hard.

Feng Xin, bringing up the rear, was shaken at the sight. “What the fuck?! I’m still here, you know!”

Xie Lian blinked and patted Hua Cheng’s back. “What’s wrong?”

“Your Highness, please don’t laugh like that anymore,” Hua Cheng whispered. He hugged Xie Lian tightly. “It’s not funny, really… It’s not funny at all.”

“…”

Recalling how upset Hua Cheng had been when he picked up the skulls coated with corpse poison, Xie Lian was apologetic. “I’m sorry. I won’t joke about that with you again. I just didn’t want you to worry; I didn’t think it’d have the opposite effect.”

The mood startled Feng Xin, and he stood there baffled for a while, unsure how to react. Eventually, he said, “I…agree? Since he’s so serious about it…”

Hua Cheng finally released Xie Lian. “Let’s go,” he said quietly.

Without the state preceptor to lead the way, the three of them had no choice but to continue into the depths of the palace. They hadn’t been walking for long when Xie Lian sensed something unusual in the air.

“Don’t you think…it’s gotten hotter?” Xie Lian said.

When they initially entered the underground palace, a haunting chill had permeated the area. But after walking for a while, the air around them had started to feel warmer and warmer until it was sweltering.

Feng Xin felt it too. He glanced back, then stopped in surprise.

“Your Highness, behind us!” Feng Xin pointed. “There’s a light!”

When the others turned, they also saw a light behind them, slowly moving closer.

It was rather strange to stumble on an unknown light source in the pitch-black underground. Had someone come?

By the time the light revealed its true appearance, Xie Lian finally realized that the suffocating, sweltering heat in the air wasn’t his imagination. The light itself had brought it to them.

A bubbling, scarlet-gold lava stream was rolling down the slope toward them. The lava outside had flowed into the underground palace along the watercourse!

Oh no! Xie Lian cried internally. Suddenly, he sensed someone rapidly approaching from behind, then dashing past. He tossed his hand, and his silk band whipped out in an instant.

“Please wait! We just need to ask for directions!”

The man was barely able to dodge, but it did slow him down for a moment. In the light of the nearby lava stream, they could make out the man’s face.

“Mu Qing!” Feng Xin shouted. “You bastard, stop right there!”

As if Mu Qing would do any such thing. Without another word, he broke into a run.

The others were about to give chase and strike when the ground shook violently. The scarlet-gold lava surged and swelled over the river’s banks, spreading with great speed and rushing straight toward them! They were about to be overtaken, but Xie Lian had already encountered an identical problem before coming here. This time, the difficulty level was just a little bit higher.

“Feng Xin, there are probably many empty-shelled people in the lava,” he said. “They’ll float, so you can step on them to keep from sinking!”

Then he targeted an empty-shelled person vigorously paddling its arms in the lava flow and jumped on!

When he landed, Xie Lian was delighted to discover that these empty-shelled people were larger than the ones he’d previously encountered. Even when he touched down on their backs, they only dipped slightly and kept floating on the surface of the lava stream. As long as the creatures didn’t start anything, they could practically serve as little boats!

Feng Xin targeted one and leapt aboard. He brandished his bow and threatened the empty-shelled person, “Swim properly! Don’t sink!”

The threat of a weapon, naturally, made the empty-shelled person work even harder, not daring to offend him. Meanwhile, Hua Cheng only had to cross his arms and glance down for his empty-shelled person to behave and abandon all thoughts of trying anything wicked. It swam the fastest, going full power the whole way.

As for Xie Lian, he joined his hands together in a prayer and very sincerely negotiated with his empty-shelled person. “Take me for this ride, please take me for this ride! I’ll burn incense for you afterward! You don’t want incense? Then what offerings do you want? Just let me know!”

The empty-shelled person was obviously extremely dissatisfied, and every so often it would swing its arms to try to force him off. But Xie Lian was as sticky as gum, and even as he tumbled, he refused to be bucked. As usual, Xie Lian had found himself in the worst position of them all!

The three of them rode these creatures and flowed with the current. The farther downstream they went on their rafts, the steeper the slope became and the faster they went. Over and over, they had to dodge obstacles jutting up from below the molten rock; it was a journey of endless perils.

After a while, they finally caught up to Mu Qing.

“Mu Qing! Why are you running?!” Feng Xin yelled.

Mu Qing was also using an empty-shelled person as a surfboard, and he shouted his response over his shoulder. “What, should I wait for you all to attack me together?”

There was a bow in Feng Xin’s hand but no arrows, so he could only shout back. “We won’t attack you! First explain how you suddenly disappeared from the armory!”

Mu Qing looked back again, sneering. “You all—”

Before he finished, Xie Lian saw what lay ahead. His pupils shrank rapidly, and he shouted, “Ahead of you!”

Mu Qing whirled around. Only then did he discover that their path was coming to an abrupt end.

Some sort of underground chasm opened up in front of them, with a vertical drop hundreds of meters down. The lava rushed toward it, faster and faster as their sloping path grew steeper, carrying them toward the precipice. Mu Qing was caught by surprise at the sudden drop, and by the time he came to his senses, he was already tumbling through the air.

Mu Qing and the empty-shelled person under his feet disappeared in the blink of an eye. The other three were only a few moments behind him, rushing toward the cliff’s edge.

At the last second, Ruoye flew out far behind them and wound itself a few times around an upturned palace eave, then tied itself into a knot. With one hand gripping Ruoye and the other firmly around Hua Cheng, Xie Lian sent the other end of the silk band toward Feng Xin.

“Catch!”

With the silk band to link them, the three clumsily steadied themselves. They were only six meters away from the drop at most—if they’d been just one step slower, they would have gone over. They had literally saved themselves on the edge of a precipice. But lava was still pouring down nonstop, so Xie Lian gave another order.

“Withdraw!”

Ruoye quickly shortened itself and carried the three of them toward the palace. Soon after, they leapt onto the roof. It was a larger building than the ones surrounding it, so its roof was quite spacious. There was no fear of its stone foundation getting washed away by the lava, so they could relax for now.

After steadying himself for a moment, Feng Xin stared at the cliff’s edge in shock. It was a long moment before he said in disbelief, “Did Mu Qing…fall?”

Xie Lian had just barely managed to steady his pounding heart. Wiping away beads of sweat on his forehead, he panted and replied, “He didn’t!”

Poking his head out to peer over the furthest edge of the palace rooftop, Xie Lian could see a long saber nailed into the rocks at the edge of the cliff—and a pair of hands clutching its hilt tightly. Below the hands was a red, flustered face with vigorously gritted teeth.

Right now, Mu Qing was in a horrifying position. He was hanging parallel to the waterfall of flowing lava. Fiery sparks splashed his face, literally burning his brow.1 If it wasn’t for the sheen of spiritual light protecting his body and blocking most of the searing heat, his whole head would’ve been on fire, burnt beyond recognition. But that protective layer of spiritual light wouldn’t last long, and his bones would still dissolve into nothing if he fell into the pool of lava!

It was nerve-racking just to see him. Feng Xin asked, “What should we do?! Your Highness, can that white silk band of yours reach him?”

Xie Lian had already tried that and was now calling Ruoye back to pat the flames off it. “I can’t! He’s too far! Ruoye caught fire partway!”

Small tongues of flame were singing Mu Qing’s robes, and the hilt of his saber was scorching hot. Yet he still gripped it hard, afraid to let go and afraid to look down.

If he let go, there was nothing but a pool of blazing fire waiting for him below. The countless spirits of the dead wailed, their starving cries echoing all around. It was like they were calling out to the one struggling to hang on for dear life above them, beseeching him to hurry and join their cohort.

Mu Qing held on to the saber’s hilt with a death grip, his pale forehead covered with sweat. When he saw the others in the distance, his mouth moved like he wanted to call for help. But even at a time like this, he was the kind of person who had great difficulty forcing the words “help” or “save me” past his lips.

Besides, no matter how easy it would be for Hua Cheng to save him, he probably wouldn’t. It was hard to tell with Feng Xin too. Xie Lian was the only one who would be willing to rescue him, had the ability to do so, and could persuade the other two to help.

In the end, Mu Qing pulled himself up with enormous effort to shout to Xie Lian, veins bulging slightly on his forehead as he did. “Your Highness!”

Xie Lian was scanning the area rapidly but looked at him when he heard the call. Mu Qing held back for a good while, then sucked in a breath and yelled with a beet-red face.

“…Believe me! Your Highness, you know I’m not lying, right? You know I wouldn’t have really harmed any of you, right?!”

“…”

The way he spoke to Xie Lian, so full of hope, like he was hanging on to the last thread of his life, made Xie Lian remember another scene from another time. A time many, many years ago, when he begged Mu Qing with the same desperate hope as dusk fell overhead, “You know I’m not lying, right?”

How had Mu Qing answered him back then?

He hadn’t thought about that time for centuries, but Mu Qing’s question dragged the memories from the dusty corners where they were sealed away. Countless images and voices broke loose and flashed across his mind. It was only then that Xie Lian realized he remembered every detail incredibly clearly—that he had never forgotten a thing.

Mu Qing didn’t receive an answer. Xie Lian’s unusual silence sent his mind back to the same scene. As he realized that he’d asked for help with the wrong words—and in doing so, reminded Xie Lian of something he shouldn’t have at a time like this—the color of his face slowly changed.

From behind Xie Lian, Hua Cheng spoke quietly. “Gege, before you make your decision, I must remind you of a few things.”

Xie Lian finally snapped out of it. “What is it?”

“First,” Hua Cheng said, “unless the lava stops flowing, rescuing him will mean risking your own life.”

But who knew when it would stop? The saber’s hilt was already red hot; Mu Qing wouldn’t be able to hold it for much longer. How could he possibly hang on until then?

Xie Lian stayed quiet, and Hua Cheng continued. “Second, if Mu Qing has already given himself to Jun Wu, Jun Wu will certainly have a way to extract him from peril. But you, on the other hand—you will definitely be risking your life. And the possibility that he has indeed surrendered is significant; think about the way he acted this entire trip.”

Knocking Feng Xin out, luring them into the armory, refusing to admit he attacked Feng Xin and even making accusations back, disappearing without a word after the armory went berserk, the coincidental timing of the lava stream’s intrusion—all that had brought them to where they were now.

Was he once again attempting to lead Xie Lian to his demise?

Xie Lian’s silence was stretching a bit long. The saber’s hilt was burning hot, and Mu Qing let out a loud shout. He dropped one hand and hung for a while using only the other, but didn’t dare support himself like that for too long and quickly clutched the hilt with both once again. Wisps of white vapor were smoking from both palms, and while there was quite a distance between them, those on the palace roof could almost smell the stench of burning flesh.

Hua Cheng casually let loose a silver butterfly. The silver butterfly fluttered its wings and flew a few hundred paces, but it dissipated into silver smoke and vanished before it got even a third of the way to Mu Qing. Xie Lian understood he was demonstrating that the wraith butterflies couldn’t help—that it was a dead end and not worth dying for.

Mu Qing also saw the silver butterfly vanish, and his expression gradually turned into one of resignation as he understood. No one here could save him, and no one believed him. Thanks to his choice of words triggering unpleasant memories, there was no reason for Xie Lian to help him at the risk of his own life.

Frustration bubbled up at the unfairness of it all. But he refused to give up, even on the brink of despair. Mu Qing gritted his teeth and shouted to them, “If you don’t believe me, that’s fine too. But I will never fall that easily!”

He gripped the hilt hard and attempted a midair spin to stand upon it—yet he had only raised himself a few inches before he sank violently!

Mu Qing’s eyes reflected the countless bloodred vengeful spirits that had merged with the lava below. Their faces and limbs contorted and twisted as they pressed themselves onto his leg and pulled him down!

The vengeful spirits were originally one with the lava, but they popped out without warning, one after another, to hang from his lower body, heavy and boiling hot. It was like adding oil to fire, or frost to snow, and Mu Qing was driven to the verge of madness.

“Get lost!”

It wasn’t like he had never come close to death over the course of centuries, but it had always been when he was heavily wounded in some conflict. A death by drowning in lava was a thousand times more horrifying than death by injury. He imagined himself turning into a wisp of smoke like that wraith butterfly, leaving the world without a trace, and couldn’t stand it.

At last, Mu Qing’s hands reached their limit. His fingers loosened slightly, no longer able to maintain their grip.

The space under the saber emptied—he had fallen! A silhouette plunged downward to the blazing lava pool.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Despite his devastated screams, once he’d plunged for a bit, the drop came to a violent stop. He was suspended in midair!

Head half-numb, Mu Qing hadn’t yet regained his senses. His instinctive reactions were still intact though, and he quickly felt his body—to discover that a white silk band had wrapped itself around his waist.

It was Ruoye, of course. But the palace where Xie Lian perched was nowhere near the cliff where Mu Qing fell. If Ruoye couldn’t reach earlier, how could it have caught him after he had fallen so far?

Mu Qing gazed upward and discovered with considerable shock that Xie Lian wasn’t on the palace roof at all. He was right above his own head.

Earlier, Mu Qing had nailed his long saber into the rocks and managed to hang on to the hilt for some time. And right now, Xie Lian was half crouched upon that very hilt!

Xie Lian was rapidly reeling Ruoye in, and he only breathed in relief when he saw Mu Qing was all right. “Thank goodness, thank goodness, I made it in time.”

“Your…Your Highness?” Mu Qing muttered.

The events of the last few seconds had been too much for his frazzled brain to sort out, leaving him deeply confused. The roof was so far from the cliff’s edge, with no landing points en route within the rolling lava. Xie Lian could’ve only jumped halfway at most. How had he gotten here?

In the distance, Feng Xin’s voice rang out. “Your Highness! Are you both all right?”

When Mu Qing glanced in his direction, he saw Hua Cheng and Feng Xin standing atop the palace roof. Hua Cheng was watching them with his arms crossed, focused solely on ensuring Xie Lian’s safety and indifferent to anything else. At the midpoint between the palace and the cliff where he fell, a frigid, ink-black longsword stood upright in the incessant flow of red-hot lava.

Fangxin!

So that was it! Mu Qing finally understood how Xie Lian had made the crossing.

At most, Xie Lian could only make half the needed jump—he’d never be able to make it all the way from the safety of the palace rooftop to rescue him from the cliff. Thus, Xie Lian had hurled out Fangxin and nailed it into the lava stream to create a landing point. Using Fangxin as a stepping stone, he then leapt onto Mu Qing’s saber and just barely caught him with Ruoye at the last second.

“I was trying to think of a way over. It took some time, since there was nothing helpful lying around,” Xie Lian said. “You were also panicking. Don’t lose your head, otherwise you’ll only fall faster.”

Mu Qing had thought Xie Lian’s silence was him hesitating on whether to save him, but it turned out that Xie Lian was just trying to think of how to save him—and thank goodness that he’d kept such a clear head in such a dire situation.

The beads of sweat on Mu Qing’s forehead rolled thicker as he looked up and saw that Xie Lian had reached down for him, a broad smile on his face.

“In any case, I know it’s a bit overdue, but I’m not extending a hand too late, right?”

“…”

Perhaps it was because he’d been gripping the saber hilt for too long, but Mu Qing’s arms felt impossibly heavy. He couldn’t raise them an inch.

Xie Lian stretched his hand lower. “Come.”

Mu Qing finally took hold. His entire arm trembled, but Xie Lian yanked forcefully and pulled him up. The pair stood together on the hilt of Mu Qing’s long saber, and Xie Lian turned around to wave at the palace roof.

“San Lang, it worked!”

“Very good, gege,” Hua Cheng replied. “Now come back right this instant!”

“Okay, I’ll be right over!” Xie Lian responded and then said to Mu Qing, “Can you still jump? If not, I can take you.”

Mu Qing’s lips moved. “I…”

Xie Lian studied his expression and said decisively, “I’ll take you.”

He grabbed him by the scruff of his robes. In the past, Mu Qing probably would’ve rolled his eyes and protested Xie Lian’s manhandling, griping about the disrespect. But now, Mu Qing couldn’t muster a single word.

Xie Lian was just about to leap when they both unexpectedly felt their feet dip. As if things weren’t bad enough, the long saber driven into the rocks just had to pick that exact time to come loose!

Hua Cheng’s face changed color. “Gege!”

This time, two figures plunged together toward the crimson-red lava pool.

Xie Lian could still think fast in that sort of ass-to-the-fire moment. He shouted, “It’s fine!”

He spun several times in midair and caught the long saber by the hilt with both hands, then wedged it into the rocks once more!

Clang! Sparks flew, brilliant and dazzling like grains of gold flecked across Xie Lian’s protective aura of spiritual light. Without that aura, even a speck of those flames could burn a large hole in someone!

Ruoye pulled Mu Qing up, and Xie Lian said to him solemnly, “This saber won’t be able to take the weight of two grown men for long. This can’t continue. Between the two of us, only one can remain.”

Mu Qing slowly came back to his senses. “Are you saying…?”

“You can go,” Xie Lian said.

“…?”

Flummoxed, Mu Qing’s pupils shrank. Before he could speak, Xie Lian grabbed him and hurled him upward with a shout.

“Watch your landing!”

Mu Qing was thrown away from the cliff and quickly found that he was flying toward where Fangxin stood. Pulling himself together, he flipped in the air and landed on the hilt of the sword.

Only then did he understand why Xie Lian had to throw him.

Perhaps Xie Lian could make the long jump from the saber hilt from its new position several dozen paces down. But he couldn’t make a jump that long. The only way he was going to make it that far was with the help of Xie Lian’s mighty throw!

Feng Xin wiped away his cold sweat. “Thank goodness Your Highness reacts fast!”

Hua Cheng, however, still wore a severe expression. “Gege! If you don’t come back soon, I’m going to have to come and get you!” he called down below.

His voice carried a note of warning, and Xie Lian hurried to reply, “I’m coming back up now! Everything’s fine—I can handle it. I can jump back myself! Don’t come down here.”

Only then did Hua Cheng’s demeanor relax a little, though he still watched Xie Lian with an unblinking gaze.

Feng Xin glanced at him and couldn’t help but say, “…I’m a little surprised.”

“What?” Hua Cheng replied, not turning or showing a single trace of curiosity.

Feng Xin scratched his head. “Since you’re so biased against Mu Qing, I assumed you’d think he wasn’t worth saving and wouldn’t want His Highness rescuing him. I thought you’d prevent him from going.”

Only then did Hua Cheng spare him a glance. “Half-wrong, half-right.”

“Huh?”

“The first part isn’t wrong—I certainly don’t think he’s worth saving,” Hua Cheng said. “I don’t care if he lives or dies.”

“Isn’t that a little too blunt?!” Seeing that apathetic expression made Feng Xin start to sweat; when he realized that this man definitely held the same attitude toward him, he sweat even harder!

Hua Cheng snorted, then after a pause, he added, “But only His Highness can decide what he wants to do. I will never oppose his decisions.”

“…”

Feng Xin had never heard anyone say something like that before—not a man to a woman, and most definitely not one man to another. But he was quite sure that Xie Lian would only get all worked up and flustered again if he’d been here to hear it.

“Ah… I see,” Feng Xin said, not knowing what face to make.

Hua Cheng turned back to stare at Xie Lian, who was studying the fiery lava flow all around and formulating his plan, and gave a smile. “Besides, I already knew he was going to do this.”

On the other side, Xie Lian called out, “Mu Qing, hurry and move to the rooftop. And don’t run away again; we can talk out our problems properly later.”

Only then did Mu Qing realize that if he didn’t leave Fangxin, Xie Lian would have nowhere to land for his next step. Forcing himself to think calmly, Mu Qing was just about to leap to the rooftop when Xie Lian cried out from below.

“Who’s there?!”

As Xie Lian stood on the saber, silently storing energy, the lavafall behind him had suddenly parted. A pair of hands stretched out from the other side of the falls and quickly seized him. The creature had clearly come from within the lava flow, but its hands were frighteningly cold and Xie Lian shuddered at their touch.

He heard Hua Cheng exclaim from above, “Your Highness?!”

The owner of the hands hugged Xie Lian tightly, then threw them both off the saber. Xie Lian was shocked, but those above saw very clearly what had seized him from behind.

It was a man clad in white robes who wore a half-crying, half-smiling mask—as if he was rejoicing, as if he was grieving.

White No-Face!

Sensing danger, Ruoye whipped out on its own, flinging itself upward and casting itself before Mu Qing. Mu Qing grabbed it reflexively, but the power holding the other end was too great. Not only couldn’t he reel it in, it yanked him down with it too.

As he plunged amidst the wild, fiery sparks, Xie Lian heard the creature laughing into his ear.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha… Naive! Too naive, Xianle! Did you really think it would be that easy to achieve a perfect happy ending?”

Scorching waves of heat came from below, but his mind shivered with deadly cold. Awash in conflicting ice and fire, Xie Lian caught a glimpse of the domed ceiling, glowing with firelight. He could vaguely see a shape in silhouette—a red figure, approaching rapidly.

Hua Cheng had jumped down too!

But wait—the lava pool was right below!

XIE LIAN WAS DROWNING—perhaps in mind-blowing fear or perhaps in the scorching-hot lava.

It was a long time before he slowly came to.

The moment he woke, he found he was lying on cold, solid ground. Mu Qing was slumped nearby, staring blankly at him.

Xie Lian’s vision was still faintly red, and he sat up in a flash. “San Lang!”

The moment he sat up, Mu Qing snapped out of it and yelled, “Stay still!”

On reflex, Xie Lian reached out to push himself off the ground, but his hand touched nothing but air; he lost his balance and almost toppled. Only after the surprise wore off did he realize he wasn’t on solid ground at all.

He was lying on a bridge!

He’d found himself in an immense natural cave. Its dome arched into the vast night sky, and a desecrated bridge floated beneath the canopy.

Constructed from wood and stone, the bridge’s body was shattered and scorched a terrifying pitch-black. It had weathered thousands of years of storms and was burdened with ashes from countless blazes. It hung in midair without any pillars of support, and both ends stretched endlessly into infinity—its beginning unknown, its end unforeseeable, and its direction a mystery. In some parts it was as wide as nine meters, but others were so narrow that only one person could cross at a time.

A red-hot lava pool roiled hundreds of meters beneath the broken bridge, like the red basin of hell.

The Heaven-Crossing Bridge?

Those words were the first to pop into Xie Lian’s mind. Two thousand years ago, the Crown Prince of Wuyong built a bridge to the heavens in an attempt to save his people from disaster. Could this bridge be all that remained?

He remembered being yanked into the lava by White No-Face. How had he ended up on this bridge?

Xie Lian crawled to his feet. “San Lang?”

“Don’t bother, he’s not here,” Mu Qing said. He remained seated to the side.

Xie Lian turned to him. “How did we end up here? Did someone activate a Teleportation Array?”

“Probably,” Mu Qing said. “I was falling straight for the lava pool, but I was sent here halfway down.”

Poor Feng Xin. All three of them had fallen, and he was the only one who’d stayed up top. He was probably cursing up a storm again. Still, finding Hua Cheng was the priority—where had he been sent?

Xie Lian spotted Fangxin and the long saber that had been tossed to the side. He picked them up, then walked to Mu Qing. The way he approached, holding a sword and wearing a dark expression, suddenly made Mu Qing nervous, unsure of what he was planning to do.

However, Xie Lian only gave him his saber, then extended a hand to him. “Are you all right? If you’re fine, then get up. We have to get going.”

Mu Qing stared at the hand extended to him. After a long silence, he shook his head. “I can’t. All my limbs are injured.”

Xie Lian crouched and briefly checked him over. Sure enough, both of Mu Qing’s hands were covered in bright red burns, and there were more on his legs. He could probably only shuffle along slowly.

After a moment of contemplation, Xie Lian said, “Let me assist you, then.”

He pulled Mu Qing up and slung his arm over his shoulders. He began to walk, supporting him as he went.

They had only taken a few steps when Mu Qing blurted, “Why?”

“Why what?” Xie Lian replied as he surveyed their surroundings.

“I thought you’d be more suspicious of me after you found out that I was fine,” Mu Qing said.

“Oh,” Xie Lian replied. “Well, no.”

“Why?”

“Because I know.”

“Know what?”

“That you weren’t lying,” Xie Lian replied.

“…”

It was genuinely difficult to describe the expression on Mu Qing’s face. “…”

“Didn’t you ask me to believe you? I believe you. That’s it,” Xie Lian said, quite matter-of-factly.

“…”

“How should I put this…?” Xie Lian continued. “I’ve technically known you for centuries, right? So I know you’re not like that. Haven’t I said it before? You might spit in someone’s cup, but you’d never dump poison in there.”

Mu Qing was almost touched by the first part, but his face turned dark when he heard the second half.

“Enough with the unnecessary example! Seriously, don’t say that again. I wouldn’t spit either! I’d never be so classless!”

Xie Lian waved. “Don’t mind the little details. Besides, even on the one-in-a-million chance that I was unlucky enough to misjudge you, you can’t beat me and San Lang. We’d slap you dead in one blow; you’re not a threat at all. Ha ha ha…”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Mu Qing grumbled. “You’re trying very hard to make me so pissed off I die…”

“Ahem, I’m joking. In any case…” Xie Lian stopped laughing and clutched Mu Qing’s arm as he scanned the path forward. “If Jun Wu really did bind you with a cursed shackle because you refused to do something evil, then I can’t let you pay a terrible price for it,” he stated calmly. “Because you did the right thing.”

Mu Qing glared at him for a long time. At last, he spat through his teeth, “Xie Lian, you really are—”

“Save it,” Xie Lian interrupted before he could continue. “Do you think I don’t know what you think of me? You’re still depending on me to carry you right now, so don’t say anything that’ll make me want to toss you into the lava.”

Mu Qing humphed. “And here you are, saving me even though you know what I think of you.”

“You know, we think the same way. By saving you, I’m just following my own principles. That’s it,” Xie Lian replied. “Your actions have always been mystifying to me, and I definitely wanted to punch you to death for a while back then. But I didn’t manage to do it, and at this point, I’ve lost interest. No matter how incomprehensible you are, and no matter how much I want to punch you, your sins don’t warrant death, you know? If I can save you, of course I’ll do it if I can.”

Mu Qing snorted a few times like he was deflating. After a moment of quiet, he added, “Your Highness, I actually—”

Just then, the ground under them grew unsteady, and their faces changed color.

Mu Qing was wounded and couldn’t react in time, but fortunately Xie Lian moved with godly speed. He pushed off with the tips of his toes, and they landed lightly ten meters ahead. Behind them, the section of the bridge they had just been walking on cracked, broke away, and began falling straight down into the lava.

Rrrumble!

A section of the pitch-black bridge crashed into the hellish scarlet basin. The vengeful spirits roiling in the pool had been waiting for a long time, and they quickly reached for it. Hundreds of pairs of hands fought to grab on, as if they wanted to use it to escape from the sea of suffering, but there were too many of them. The stretch of broken bridge couldn’t support all of them, and it sank quickly. The two above watched, shaking, then they exchanged a look.

“It seems this bridge isn’t very stable!” Xie Lian commented.

Mu Qing opened and closed his mouth. He’d probably planned to say that they might as well turn back—the area of the bridge they had been lying on before was quite stable and spacious. But there was no way back now that the stretch behind them had collapsed, and retreat was no longer an option. The only way for them was forward, but the narrowing path ahead was treacherous; danger hid all around them. Each step they took could potentially send them falling into the lava!

Without another word, Xie Lian hoisted Mu Qing onto his back. “We can’t stay in the same spot for too long. Who knows when this thing will collapse. Hold on tight, I’m going to dash through!”

As promised, Xie Lian leapt forward with flying steps. The farther they traveled, the more suffocatingly tight their footpath along the bridge became—even the most substantial areas were not much wider than a doorway, and the narrowest areas no wider than a person’s waist!

Even in such a perilous situation, not a hair on Xie Lian’s head was ruffled during his flight. His featherlight feet pushed off the moment they made contact with the ground beneath him, like a swallow skimming the water’s surface. Had there been other martial gods present, they would have been stunned by the brilliant and frightening level of control he had over his movement, even down to his very footsteps; none of them could possibly compare. Only one who trained vigorously without spiritual powers, day in and day out, could boast such masterful skill!

A pillar of fire erupted before him without warning, blocking Xie Lian’s path forward. Only his incredible reflexes allowed him to brake in time; they were a hair’s breadth from charging right into the fire and being burnt to a crisp. They looked down and realized that thousands of vengeful spirits the color of molten rock had gathered in the pool below. The spirits screeched and cackled as they reached toward them. These were the ones responsible for the pillar of fire.

Their ears were beginning to ache from the noise. “What are they screaming about?” Mu Qing wondered.

“‘Come down, join us, rot to death here!’” Xie Lian mumbled.

Mu Qing stared at him, terrified. “You understand them? Aren’t they speaking in the Wuyong tongue?”

Xie Lian nodded. “Mmm, they’re…the people of Wuyong who fell into the lava and burned to death after the Heaven-Crossing Bridge collapsed. Careful not to get tangled up with them; they’ll pull everything they see into the pool. Just as I suspected—these are the remains of the Heaven-Crossing Bridge!”

“Will they be absolved if they pull people in?” Mu Qing questioned.

“No,” Xie Lian replied. “That won’t happen, no matter what they do. These vengeful spirits will never receive absolution, but they enjoy seeing others suffer their fate.”

And that was precisely why they would never receive absolution and had to suffer the torment of this basin of hell.

Mu Qing was puzzled. “How do you know so much?”

“I don’t know,” Xie Lian said. “But…he was probably the one who told me.”

The same as how he’d transplanted the memories that let Xie Lian understand the screeching of the corpse-eating rats.

The molten vengeful spirits were quite displeased that they still hadn’t fallen, and they crept together to whisper amongst themselves. Suddenly, they all joined hands, ready to make their next attack. Xie Lian broke out into a run. A pillar of fire burst forth, and the already-damaged bridge was devastated even further.

They couldn’t just keep taking a beating without retaliating. Xie Lian tried sending a blast down below, but he didn’t have much spiritual power left and couldn’t shoot very far. Mu Qing’s spiritual power reserves had more in them and could travel farther, but he still came up just slightly short. The pillars of fire from below kept almost burning their ankles. The enormous crowd of vengeful spirits had banded together, and their energy was immense when consolidated. They cackled and pointed at the two with great excitement, as if they were watching a highly entertaining show. It was incredibly vexing that they couldn’t attack them at all! Mu Qing, still on Xie Lian’s back, cracked his knuckles. He radiated hate and fury.

A moment later, Mu Qing gritted his teeth and panted a few breaths. He’d clearly found the resolve to make a very difficult decision.

“Forget it, Your Highness… Xie Lian, put me down!”

“What are you saying?! You love your life and you’re terrified of death!” Xie Lian replied as he dashed along. “You’d never say something like that!”

Veins bulged violently on Mu Qing’s forehead. “Well, sorry for loving my life and being terrified of death! But I’m going to die either way… So put me down before I change my mind!”

“Stop joking around. Don’t talk anymore; you’ll make me lose focus,” Xie Lian said. “What matters right now is finding the end of this bridge as soon as possible.”

“Who’s joking around?!” Mu Qing exclaimed. “If this really is the Heaven-Crossing Bridge, who the hell knows how much longer you’ll have to run? They’ll throw us off sooner or later. Put me down and go on ahead; I’ll kill all that slippery trash down there!”

Then he lightly pushed off Xie Lian’s shoulder and leapt away, landing behind him. Xie Lian turned and took a step toward him, but Mu Qing warned him otherwise.

“Don’t come back here; the path is narrow. We’ll both fall if you do!”

Xie Lian had no choice but to pause. Mu Qing humphed again.

“You know, we do think the same way. You think I’m incomprehensible? Well, the feeling’s mutual.” He met Xie Lian’s gaze. “At this point, I might as well just tell it to you straight. I’ve got a whole bunch of opinions about you.”

“Uh…well…I knew that already. For ages now,” Xie Lian said.

“Oh really?” Mu Qing said coldly. “Then do you know that I often thought you relied on your status too much—that even though you were His Highness the Crown Prince, even though you had good fortune, your skills weren’t that much better than mine?”

“…”

“I also thought that you probably only liked doing all those good deeds for show, because you wanted all the praise and flattery. And that you only helped me because of that—I was the perfect subject for you to demonstrate your sympathy and kindness on. To be honest, some of my opinions haven’t changed, even now. Maybe they never will. Even if I push these thoughts down, they’ll come back eventually.”

At that point, Xie Lian didn’t know whether to sweat about this or what. “There’s no need to say stuff like that in such detail to the man himself, you know?!”

Unexpectedly, Mu Qing continued with, “But more often than not, I’m still…kind of in awe of you.”

Xie Lian was taken aback.

Mu Qing gathered his courage. As though someone were choking him, forcing him to speak, he stiffly said, “Isn’t that normal? You…are rather amazing. You’re…also…a better person than I am. In short, I…very much wanted…to become your f-f-friend.”

“…”

Xie Lian had never in a million years imagined he’d ever hear that from Mu Qing’s lips. Though they were stuttered, forced, and stiff, they were such honest, sincere, sensible words! His eyes went wide.

“You…”

Mu Qing had finally squeezed the sentence out through the cracks of his gritted teeth, and he let out a long breath. “That incident after Xianle’s fall…no matter if it was right or wrong, no matter if I was in a difficult situation, I still owe you an apology.”

Xie Lian was stumped for a moment. “…It’s all water under the bridge, so let it go. But let’s not worry about it now. We need to get out of here first!”

Mu Qing raised his voice. “He told me that if I fell under suspicion, you would take advantage of the situation and not save me even if you knew I didn’t do it. That you wouldn’t believe me because you hate me.”

“He”? Xie Lian knew exactly who “he” was.

“I didn’t agree to help him, but even so…everything he said, I’ve thought before,” Mu Qing continued. “Deep down, I always thought you hated me, that you despised me, so I… I’ve always… Anyway, you don’t actually think that way. I’m glad.”

Another pillar of fire roared to the skies, and Xie Lian backed away a few steps to dodge it, moving farther from Mu Qing. As for Mu Qing, his rage surged and he flung himself down, slapping his palm violently on the bridge’s surface.

Xie Lian’s pupils shrank. “What are you doing?!”

As expected, the stretch of the bridge caved in and crashed down, taking Mu Qing along with it. “Helping you clear out the trash!” Mu Qing shouted to him in midair.

The broken bridge slammed into the pool and stirred a surge of towering waves. The molten vengeful spirits swarmed over happily, ready to drag him in with them. Yet unexpectedly, a booming blast swept past and dissipated a large field of them. Amidst the wailing of ghosts, Mu Qing stood at the center of the broken bridge and sneered. The spiritual light enveloping him blazed brightly.

“Did it feel good to start those devious fires, you gang of gutter trash? Well, I’ve finally come down here, so don’t run away now!”

Now his blasts could finally reach those molten vengeful spirits!

Mu Qing raised his bloodred palms and swept wildly at the vengeful spirits, killing to his heart’s content. He was so forceful that the vengeful spirits who had been watching the show from further downstream scattered, screaming as they swam away in all directions.

Fire had started to catch on Mu Qing’s sleeves and hems. Xie Lian hung over the bridge’s edge above and called to him, “Mu Qing?! How high can you jump?”

“Why do you have so much garbage to say?! Why haven’t you left?!” Mu Qing shouted.

“It’s not my fault,” Xie Lian argued back. “You finally said something sensible for the first time in your life, and then you jumped off! How could I leave now?!”

Mu Qing was outraged. “What do you mean, ‘finally said something sensible—’”

Before he could finish, the broken piece of bridge under his feet sank a few notches. Both their faces changed. At this rate, he really was going to be engulfed by the lava, his bones dissolving into nothing but air!

Mu Qing’s face was a ghastly shade now, despite his previous high spirits. He closed his eyes and raised his palms, as if he planned to seek a more straightforward death by smashing through his own skull before he burned alive.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, don’t be rash! I-I-I-I-I’ve got a plan!” Xie Lian hastily cried.

Mu Qing opened his eyes again. “What plan?”

Although Ruoye couldn’t reach the very bottom, it could make it halfway. “Jump with everything you’ve got!” Xie Lian shouted as he tossed Ruoye down. “Jump and catch it! I’ll pull you up!”

Mu Qing’s face paled by another shade. “If I could jump, would I need to think of another way out?!” He went back to trying to muster the courage to smack himself dead.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Xie Lian exclaimed. “Really, wait! I’ll think of something soon!”

“Well, out with it, then!”

Something. Something. Quick, think of something!

…He had nothing!

Mu Qing raised his hand again. Yet unexpectedly, amidst their spiraling despair, another hand slapped away his suicidal fist, then grabbed him bodily. With a dazed Mu Qing dangling in his hold, the man leapt!

Suddenly, Xie Lian felt the other end of the white silk band tighten, and he was both surprised and overjoyed to see why.

“Feng Xin?!”

The broken bridge piece on which Mu Qing had stood sank completely into the depths of the lava stream, bubbling as it did. Feng Xin dangled from Ruoye, gripping it with one hand while the other held an ashen-faced Mu Qing.

“Your Highness, quick, pull us up!” Feng Xin yelled at Xie Lian.

There were more empty-shelled people paddling in the lava—Feng Xin had likely ridden them here from upstream. There was no time to ask questions, and Xie Lian hurried over to a section of the bridge that was somewhat wider and sturdier before pulling them up. As the two were steadily lifted, a new band of molten vengeful spirits gathered beneath them, shooting resentful glares upward and grumbling in their huddle. Soon, another pillar of fire shot up!

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were hanging in midair and couldn’t dodge on their own, so Xie Lian gripped Ruoye and hurried several steps away to evade the attack. But there wasn’t anywhere else on the bridge as spacious or stable, so after dodging the blow he could only return to where he’d been.

Feng Xin was almost burned by that pillar of fire, and he shouted in outrage. “What’s wrong with you, you pieces of dog shit?! Attacking people while they’re down—so vile! Fuck your entire family!”

“You sure you want to fuck their families if they all look like that?!” Xie Lian responded.

The vengeful spirits hadn’t given up. Giggling, they appeared ready to continue their ambush. Feng Xin’s temper had peaked, and he pulled Mu Qing up.

“Hold on to this!”

Mu Qing numbly did as he was told and grasped the white silk band. His reaction was a little dull because the shock was just too great—he had truly thought he was about to die. Without the need to hold him, Feng Xin could free up a hand to retrieve the longbow on his back as well as several wooden sticks he’d picked up along the way. Using the sticks as arrows, he held the bow in one hand and used his teeth to bite back the bowstring. He nocked the sticks, pulled the bowstring back steadily, and let fly four arrows at once! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The arrows plunged into the fiery pool, and where they struck, blossoms of waves erupted. The molten vengeful spirits tumbled over themselves in terror and scattered once again. Gratified at last, Feng Xin cussed.

“See that?! I said I’d fuck you up! Fucking pieces of dog shit! This ancestor can blow all of you away with one hand!”

At last, the three stood together upon the Heaven-Crossing Bridge.

Xie Lian wiped at his sweat over and over. His heart was still pounding. “Feng Xin, how did you get here?”

At that question, Feng Xin immediately clutched his head. “How did I get here? All three of you jumped in; what else was I supposed to do? I almost went fucking crazy! I found my way to the bottom of the cliff, then drifted all the way here. I only stumbled on you two because I followed all the rumbling and shouting. What were you doing, jumping into the lava pool?! Madness!”

Mu Qing, who had finally come to his senses, exclaimed, “I was dragged in!”

Imagining Feng Xin in distress and cursing the whole way here, Xie Lian thought it best to say, “All right, all right, all right, calm down. All that aside, you were an absolute godsend—a major help! You know what they say: sometimes, people really…really need a helping hand to get by. Really!”

All three had been scared half to death. They gasped for breath, their faces ashen. But after sorting themselves out and pulling through that mess, they didn’t dare stick around. Feng Xin hoisted Mu Qing onto his back, and they continued leaping along the Heaven-Crossing Bridge. As they went, they exchanged what they knew, and Xie Lian learned that Feng Xin hadn’t seen Hua Cheng either. He couldn’t help but worry. Where was Hua Cheng? They would have to search along the bridge as they went.

“By the way, I overheard a little of what you were screaming about earlier,” Feng Xin said to Mu Qing, who was on his back. “The first bit was infuriating—it made me want to beat you up. But I never imagined you actually thought all that deep down, you little bastard!”

“…”

Mu Qing’s expression had gone completely dark. Feng Xin turned to Xie Lian.

“Didn’t I tell you? This guy’s feelings are more twisted than a resentful concubine’s in the depths of a harem—he’s completely unfathomable!”

“…”

Seeing the stormy look on Mu Qing’s face, Xie Lian gestured for Feng Xin to stop. Feng Xin was entirely oblivious, though, and turned to Mu Qing to continue.

“If you wanted to be friends with His Highness, then you should’ve just said so! I really don’t know what you were thinking, going around making people sick with all that sarcasm just because you thought His Highness despised you so much that you couldn’t be friends.”

Xie Lian gave up and waved dismissively. “He’s been like that since we were young, hasn’t he? Don’t scold him anymore. Look, his face is all red.”

“…”

Unable to bear it a moment longer, Mu Qing yelled, “What the fuck?! What the actual fuck?! Can’t you two just shut up?!”

“You seem to have caught Feng Xin’s vocabulary. It’s not very polite to swear,” Xie Lian reminded him.

Feng Xin piped up. “You said it yourself—you very much wanted to be His Highness’s f-f-friend!”

He even purposely imitated Mu Qing’s teeth-gritted stutter. Mu Qing’s expression had gone savage, and his hand had crept behind his back to seek his saber.

“All right, now we’ve cleared the air. Anyway, just remember this: His Highness never thought you were beneath him,” Feng Xin added. “Other than that time you crossed the line and he got mad, he’s never said a single bad word about you in front of me! So just act like a normal person from now on—talk normally, express yourself normally. I’m gonna yell at you if you get sarcastic again!”

Mu Qing hung his head and quietly listened to the first part, but the latter half had him rolling his eyes. “Haven’t you yelled at me for centuries at this point?”

“Mu Qing, you’re a heavenly official. You have to pay attention to your image, all right?” Xie Lian reminded him. “You can’t roll your eyes so often; your devotees will object if they see.”

“Please,” Mu Qing said. “This guy swears all day in the Upper Court.”

Feng Xin humphed. “That’s because you deserve it.”

Stop bringing up old quarrels with me,” Mu Qing said. “Didn’t you also ditch His Highness to go sire a son?”

Veins were popping on Feng Xin’s forehead too now, and he rolled up his sleeves. “You trying to start a fight?”

Mu Qing sneered. “Fight yourself. If you didn’t shit-talk me to His Highness all day, do you think I would’ve been so convinced that he looked down on me and got all weird about it?”

They’d devolved into that vicious cycle of arguments again, and Xie Lian spoke up.

“Will you two stop airing each other’s dirty laundry at a time like this? What’s the point of hurting each other…?”

Mu Qing rolled his eyes again and scoffed. “Besides, you freaked out so badly back then—so what if he robbed someone? If I were His Highness, at that point I would’ve already robbed eighteen wealthy, prominent households without batting an eye. You’re the one who made such a big deal out of it by relentlessly demanding an explanation from His Highness.”

Sweating over all this back-and-forth, Xie Lian glanced over his shoulder. “Wait a sec, there’s no need to air mine either! Anyway…San Lang! Help me find San Lang! Ha ha ha ha…”