Chapter 127: Upon the Heaven-Crossing Bridge, Three Idiots Return to Olden Times

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…”

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