Xie Lian thought it was more likely that Eming was being disciplined and Hua Cheng wasn’t allowing it out.
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed above, and a figure dressed in red landed soundlessly at Xie Lian’s side. Hua Cheng leaned down to hold Xie Lian’s hand.
“San Lang, why did you jump down too?” Xie Lian cried when he realized who it was. “Watch out for the spider silk!”
Sure enough, the white silk tendrils were flying at him in an attack, but Hua Cheng didn’t even spare them a glance. He gave a casual wave, and hundreds of silver butterflies shielded his back, forming armor with their wings. They started ruthlessly fighting the silk tendrils.
Hua Cheng tore away the white silk that bound Xie Lian, then held him around the waist and shook out a red umbrella with his free hand.
“Let’s go!”
The other two were dumbfounded when they saw that he had zero intention of saving them. “Did you forget something?”
Xie Lian hadn’t yet spoken, but Hua Cheng looked back.
“Oh, that’s right.”
The heavily bound Fangxin flew straight into Hua Cheng’s hand, and he passed the sword to Xie Lian.
“Gege, your sword.”
“…”
That was what he forgot?!
Feng Xin and Mu Qing both cried, “Hey!”
Hua Cheng hugged Xie Lian closer and flung out his arm to open the red umbrella. “Gege, hold on tight to me!”
With that, the umbrella started flying upward, taking the pair along with it. Xie Lian hugged him tightly as instructed, and the other two began to scream again in earnest when they were about six meters off the ground. Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“I haven’t forgotten you!”
He sent Ruoye out from his wrist, which wrapped itself around the two giant cocoons a few times and began to drag them along behind the umbrella.
When they were halfway out of the pit, Feng Xin cried, “Wait! Wait! I left something behind!”
“What is it?” Xie Lian called back from above.
“A sword!” Feng Xin shouted. “It fell into the corner!”
Xie Lian looked down, and, sure enough, a sword’s hilt was barely visible in all that white silk. He made Ruoye stretch out further to wrap the sword, and he pulled them all out together. Finally, all four made it back onto solid ground.
Ruoye threw the two thick cocoons to the ground and hurriedly wrapped itself back onto Xie Lian’s wrist, trembling slightly. It almost seemed like it was terrified of the white silk webs, which were so much like itself but so aggressive and evil. Xie Lian soothed Ruoye while cutting the webbing on the cocoons with Fangxin. The moment Feng Xin and Mu Qing could move, they both leapt to their feet and ripped off the rest of the webbing. Xie Lian held out the sword Ruoye had helped bring along toward Feng Xin. Finally getting a good look at the blade, he stared at it in amazement.
“This is…Hongjing? Nan Feng, did your general repair that sword?”
It was an offhand comment, but the moment the words left his lips, he realized how bad it sounded. Feng Xin and Mu Qing were still in the forms of “Nan Feng” and “Fu Yao,” and Xie Lian had forgotten that their identities had been exposed and was still subconsciously going along with their act. Although he’d intended to be considerate, that consideration simply led to awkwardness. The two of them fell into a strange silence.
Feng Xin couldn’t mask his expression—discomfort surfaced on his face. He transformed back to his true form and took the sword.
“Yes…it’s fixed. There are plenty of ghosts on Mount Tonglu, after all. Flashing it around makes things easier.”
Xie Lian took a peek at the one who shattered Hongjing, who was standing right beside him. He cleared his throat softly. “Sorry for the trouble.”
After all, it wasn’t easy to repair a sword that had been shattered to pieces.
Mu Qing also transformed back to his true form and brushed off the rest of the silk webbing on his sleeves. “It’s good that it’s fixed. So many of the nefarious creatures here are adept at disguise. If someone’s not good at using their brain, using Hongjing is the only way they’ll see through deception.”
Feng Xin was pissed. “Who are you calling brainless so passive-aggressively? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
And there they went again. Xie Lian shook his head and turned to Hua Cheng. “San Lang, I ran off too quickly before. Sorry for leaving you behind.”
Hua Cheng tucked the umbrella away. “Don’t worry. As long as gege doesn’t run off like that again.”
Xie Lian grinned, but just as he was about to speak, he saw that Mu Qing’s glance at Hua Cheng had turned into a strange, pointed stare.
“Mu Qing? What is it?” Xie Lian asked.
Mu Qing immediately snapped out of it and gave him a look. “Nothing. I’ve just never seen Crimson Rain Sought Flower like this and found it curious, that’s all.”
Xie Lian couldn’t fully believe his explanation. While this likely was the first time Mu Qing had seen Hua Cheng’s true form, he’d certainly seen Hua Cheng in his youthful body, and the two skins weren’t remarkably different. So why that look?
The four left the cave, but after only a few steps, Feng Xin asked in astonishment, “…What is this place?”
Mu Qing was also stunned. “What happened here?”
They had been trapped at the bottom of the silk webbing pit, so they hadn’t had a chance to investigate the situation outside. They were astonished at the sight of innumerable unique divine statues filling cave after cave, and shocked to learn that there was such a mysterious place and such uncanny craftsmanship beneath this great snowy mountain.
“This is a Cave of Ten Thousand Gods,” Xie Lian explained.
Mu Qing scanned their surroundings and mumbled, “Who knows how many years and how much blood and sweat it’d take to build something like this. This is honestly…honestly…”
He seemed at a loss for words to describe it. Xie Lian could understand his feelings. After all, a stone cave like this was meant for cultivation and worship of the divine; his parents had constructed caves like this for him. What heavenly official wouldn’t be astounded by such a massive Cave of Ten Thousand Gods? If one of their own statues was worshipped in a place like this, it would be a huge boon to their divinity.
“What god is worshipped in this cave?” Feng Xin asked, confused. “Why are all the faces covered?”
“Naturally, it’s to prevent future passersby like us from seeing,” Xie Lian replied.
“Now that’s strange,” Mu Qing said. “They could’ve just smashed the statues’ heads; why go through all this trouble? Thin veils like these won’t stop anyone who really wants to see.”
As he spoke, he walked over, intending to peel away the veil of the nearest divine statue. Xie Lian hadn’t had the chance to stop him when there was a chilling flash. The tip of a silver blade loomed mere centimeters away from Mu Qing’s fingers.
Murderous intent made the air between them grow tense.
“What are you doing?” Feng Xin asked in alarm.
Even with that blade so close, Mu Qing didn’t seem scared at all. “Your scimitar looks just fine. Why’d you tell us that it’s ‘not in a good state’?”
Hua Cheng stood directly behind him and said lazily, “Didn’t anyone teach you not to randomly put your hands on things in other people’s territory?”
“It’s not your territory, so whose justice are you upholding?” Mu Qing countered.
“I just don’t want to cause unnecessary trouble,” Hua Cheng said flatly. “This is Mount Tonglu, after all. Who knows what could happen if the veils are removed?”
“I can’t believe there’d come a day when someone as arrogant as Crimson Rain Sought Flower would be afraid to cause unnecessary trouble,” Mu Qing said.
He moved his hand downward to touch the statue’s carved robe. The scimitar Eming followed and pointed at him once more.
“I’m only trying to touch the stone now, not remove the veil. Why is Crimson Rain Sought Flower stopping me again?” Mu Qing questioned.
