As soon as Xie Lian opened the door, the person outside leapt in, which was indeed Shi Qingxuan in the female form. He fell to the floor and reverted to the male form as soon as he entered, and said while holding his chest, “Suffocating! Suffocating! My goodness, I’m about to be strangled to death by this thing!” Xie Lian shut the door behind him, and when he turned around, the scene he saw was a man in the revealing gauze outfit of the pink skeletons lying on the ground and tearing at his chest and waist bindings, unbearable for him to look straight at. “Lord Wind Master! Couldn’t you first change back to your original clothes?”

Shi Qingxuan said, “Am I stupid? Wearing a bright white Taoist robe in the dark night and be a target for people?” Covering his eyes, Xie Lian said, “No… you dressing like this, from certain respects, makes you an even more eye-catching, more desirable target!”

Shi Qingxuan complained, “What can I do! On my way, I saw ghosts running around and gossiping with each other, saying that you were sent to Paradise Manor by Hua Cheng. What kind of place was this Paradise Manor anyway? Just the name itself didn’t sound proper. Looking at it from a distance, I felt this place full of frivolous demonic aura, must be a complete whorehouse! I was worried about your safety, so I went to great lengths to sneak in. Who knew who knew, Your Royal Highness, you had beautiful ghost girls chasing after you all over the place, and Crimson Rain Sought Flower accompanying you here there everywhere. I figure this Supreme Ghost King has gotta have mountains of business to take care of everyday, but he actually dropped everything and went to have a night chat with you on the lake; the way he treated you, there’s really nothing more that could be asked for. And look at me, I was either dragged to do facials by the ghost aunts and sisters, or had to put up with the humiliation and dress like this; I honestly have never made such a huge sacrifice before!”

Xie Lian thought that you were obviously enjoying yourself dressed like this, “We didn’t go for a night chat on the lake. I was just borrowing something… Okay, we did have a night chat on the lake. Where is Qianqiu?” Don’t tell him that Lang Qianqiu also turned into a ghost girl!

Shi Qingxuan finally regained his breath after tearing off the chest binding; sitting slumped on the ground, he said, “Don’t worry, look at this.” He rummaged around and pulled out a talisman. The yellow talisman depicted a blood-red compass, emanating an evil aura, and the compass pointer actually turned as he rotated the talisman. Xie Lian asked, “Something from the Ghost Realm?”

Shi Qingxuan said, “That’s right! Spiritual weapons from the Heavenly Realm don’t work well here, so I spent a little money on local specialties in Ghost City – Echoing Compass Talismans! Qianqiu has one and we have one, and we can use this at any time to check on where he is and how far he is from us. I asked him to wait for me outside. Look, he is here, very safe! In an emergency, you can tear up this talisman and be transferred instantly to his side.”

Xie Lian was only then relieved. Shi Qingxuan added, “But it’s very strange, he seems very concerned about the sword that Crimson Rain Sought Flower obtained today, and even asked me afterwards if I had gotten a good look. Your Royal Highness, you had held that sword today, was there anything wrong with it?”

Xie Lian said, “Probably he was just fooled by the Camouflage Spell. Let’s not worry about this. Lord Wind Master, you came just in time, come with me, please.”

After two incenses’ time, they arrived at the statue of a lady. Xie Lian took out the two dice Hua Cheng gave him and gently rolled them. With the sound of “Clink clank”, sure enough, only one roll produced two bright red “sixes”.

Shi Qingxuanqi was amazed, “It really worked!”

Xie Lian breathed a sigh of relief, but when he remembered that the luck was lent to him earlier from Hua Cheng’s own hands, and now he was on the way to pry into Hua Cheng’s secrets, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. But there were too many suspicious things about Hua Cheng, so he only hoped that reality would slap him in the face, allowing him the chance to quickly admit his mistakes and apologize to Hua Cheng.

They pushed the door open, and it turned out to be a dark underground cave behind the door, with steps leading into the depths of the underground, and a cold wind whooshing up from beneath.

Shi Qingxuan snapped his fingers, holding up a palm flame to illuminate the stone steps under his feet. Xie Lian closed the door and guarded the rear. As he walked down the steps, he recalled something else. “Lord Wind Master, have any other officials from the Upper Court been banished in recent years? I mean besides me.”

Shi Qingxuan said, “Yes. A Martial God of the West has indeed been banished in recent years, and at the time there was even quite a big fuss.”

Xie Lian said, “I heard that the Martial God of the West is called Quan Yizhen?”

Shi Qingxuan said, “No, no, it’s the one before Quan Yizhen, his senior brother-in-arms.”

Xie Lian said, “Why was he banished?”

Shi Qingxuan said, “This was too complicated! Why are you suddenly asking about this, Your Highness?”

Xie Lian said, “Because the ghost messenger who led me here has a cursed shackle on his hand.”

Shi Qingxuan was shocked, “What? A Cursed Shackle? This… … impossible, after being banished, he came to run errands for the Ghost King?”

Blood Rain Sought Flower dared keep him; how arrogant!

This was as unacceptable to him as princes and nobles in the Human Realm falling from grace and then becoming bandits. Xie Lian said, “It’s not exactly arrogant. Since he no longer belonged to the Heavenly Realm, wasn’t it his personal choice about where to go?”

After descending more than a hundred stone steps, the two of them finally reached the ground.

This was a one-way tunnel that could accommodate five or six people walking side by side. It was pitch black ahead, with thick walls on both sides; there was no need to worry about which way to go, because they could only go forward.

Except, after two hundred steps, a cold stone wall blocked their path.

Shi Qingxuan held up the flame with one hand and groped on the wall with the other, then casted a few spells for removing Camouflage Spells, but the wall remained still, showing no signs of hidden mechanisms. At his wits end, he said, “Shall I punch it through?”

Xie Lian said, “Too much noise. And you won’t be able to punch it through; the wall is probably at least ten meters thick.”

Shi Qingxuan said, “But you saw the ghost messenger enter with your own eyes, right? He couldn’t be so sneaky just to come into a dead end like this to meditate, right?

Xie Lian examined the surroundings, and before long, he pointed to the ground, “Lord Wind Master, look.”

Shi Qingxuan immediately lowered the palm flame, and the two crouched down together.

Underneath their feet was a square brick. It might be called a square brick, but it was in fact as big as a door and had a pattern painted on it.

The pattern wasn’t big, depicting a small person rolling dice.

Shi Qingxuan raised his head, “Could this be the same as the door outside, and you have to roll the right number to find the way out?

Xie Lian said, “It seems to be the case, but I don’t know which number we need to clear the level here.”

Shi Qingxuan said, “Let’s just roll them randomly first and see if we get lucky. Come on!”

Xie Lian took out the dice, “Lord Wind Master, why don’t you do it. I don’t know how many rounds the borrowed luck can last. If it’s all gone, my rolling them could… bring us to some very scary place.”

Shi Qingxuan didn’t decline, smoothly took the dice and gave them a toss, “What is it?”

He rolled a “two” and a “five”. The two waited briefly, but when there was no movement, Xie Lian said, “No. Wrong.”

Yet Shi Qingxuan said, “Your Royal Highness, look under your feet, the pattern has changed!”

Xie Lian immediately lowered his head. Indeed, the pattern on the ground was originally a small person rolling dice, but now it was gradually transforming into another image, looking like a long, dark, and twisted thing.

Shi Qingxuan was baffled, “What is this? A rope?”

Xie Lian guessed, “Leech? Earth dragon? They look very similar. There are many of them in the fields, and I have seen plenty.”

Shi Qingxuan said, “What on earth did you do before to have seen plenty of such things?”

Before he finished speaking, he vanished completely.

Not only him, but Xie Lian also vanished. Just as they reached “such things”, the two of them simultaneously lost their footing and fell into a hole.

As it turned out, the stone wall was not a door after all, it was a genuine stone wall, and the square brick they were standing on was the real door. Following the dice roll, the door abruptly swung open then shut, swallowing Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan, and the two fell heavily to the ground.

Fortunately, the ground was extremely soft; despite them forming two deep human-shaped pits, they did not feel much pain and quickly tried to stand up. Unexpectedly, when they stood up, both their heads bumped against the ceiling, eliciting simultaneous “Ah”s. Xie Lian covered his head with one hand and groped above with the other, and felt the same soft and moist soil as the ground under his feet.

There was no stone slab. The stone door was gone.

The palm flame in Shi Qingxuan’s hand had extinguished. Now he rekindled it and illuminated the surroundings, and only then did the two realize that they were actually in a tunnel.

The entrance to the tunnel was circular, and its walls were entirely made of soil, showing no trace of manual excavation. Shi Qingxuan rubbed his forehead, “What kind of place is this? Is it because I got the wrong number that we were thrown here?”

Xie Lian said, “I’m afraid so. The stone door is gone, which means we are not given the chance to go back. Let’s find a way out first.”

After a brief discussion, the two of them proceeded along the tunnel. The tunnel wound and twisted; it could be a bit difficult for adults to stand up straight in it, and they could only walk with the waist bent or crawl in the tunnel, making progress slow and quite arduous.

The air in the tunnel was humid and warm, the soil unusually difficult to contend with as well; they would get stuck in the mud with every step, and occasionally stumble upon small animals or plants rotting in the soil. Shi Qingxuan had goosebumps all over his body, and although Xie Lian did maintain his composure, the further he walked, the more he felt something was off, “Lord Wind Master, we have to walk faster. This place seems to be a…”

Before he could finish the sentence, a strange loud rumbling noise propagated over.

The whole tunnel trembled with it, and the soil above came plopping off. The two looked at each other and, without a word, took off sprinting.

However, the loud noises and tremors were rampaging at a much higher speed, and fast approaching. The two of them tumbled and crawled in the winding tunnel with one step deep and one step shallow, but they never saw an exit and there was not a speck of light. Not only that, but the same loud noises and tremors as behind also rumbled from the front!

With both the front and back tracks blocked, the two had no choice but to stop. Accompanied by the booming, rumbling noise of huge and heavy bodies being dragged through the soil, two gigantic worms emerged wriggling in front of them.

These two worms were beyond massive and bloated, their bodies purple-black and the skin faintly translucent, the bodies were sectioned, with neither eyes nor legs, and the two heads were just two fleshy tips. What else could they be if not two extremely long earth dragons?

Xie Lian slapped his own forehead: it was indeed the lair of Earth Dragon Monsters.

These were two huge earthworms!

Shi Qingxuan was so disgusted that he swished open the Wind Master’s Fan, but unfortunately, it’s impossible to generate a gale in such a narrow underground area, rendering even a high-grade spiritual weapon ineffective. Xie Lian hurriedly said, “Lord Wind Master, earth dragons are afraid of heat and light. Please lend me some spiritual energy and make the palm flame bigger!”

Following his advice, Shi Qingxuan gave him a crisp clap with his left hand, and in his right hand the flame leaped several feet high. Xie Lian also promptly lit a bright palm flame. Indeed, the two earth dragons felt the burning heat and shrank back, opening a three-meter distance between them. Thus, by the power of the flames, the two continued to walk slowly while forcing the two earth dragons to keep their distance, hoping to find an exit.

However, the entrance to the tunnel was narrow, and with the fires burning like this, not only were the two earth dragon monsters afraid of the heat, but over time, Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan also got so hot that they sweated profusely, as if being baked in an oven. What’s even more frightening was that while Shi Qingxuan tried his best to maintain the flames with spiritual energy, the palm flames still grew smaller and smaller. Having noticed this, the two earth dragons no longer avoided them as much.

Xie Lian walked a few more steps and felt his breathing mildly constricted, “Lord Wind Master, I’m afraid that the palm flames won’t last much longer. Although the soil here is loose, it is still deep underground, so in a little while, with the airflow being restricted, the fires will extinguish, and we will faint, too.”

Shi Qingxuan gritted his teeth, “But we can’t get around to draw a Distance Shrinking Array!”

Right then, Xie Lian happened to step on a piece of ground that was not so wet, and felt like a stone slab. His heart jumped and he immediately bent over. Sure enough, this was another stone door!

There was also a small person rolling dice painted on this stone door. As soon as Shi Qingxuan stepped on it, he was overjoyed, grabbed the dice and threw them. Clickity-clank, clickity-clank, this time, it was a “three” and a “four”.

The palm flames above their hands shrank further, and the two earth dragons were eager to strike. Xie Lian put away the dice and stared at the picture, which was gradually transforming into another picture, a forest, with several small persons in strange outfits seemingly dancing around a person in the center.

At this point, finally unable to hold back any longer, an earth dragon opened its mouth a slit and, dragging its heavy body, charged!

Fortunately, just when it was merely three feet away from the two of them, the stone door burst open!

The two of them once again fell into a narrow hole. Except that, this time the ground was rock-hard. The two collided into a heap; Xie Lian, used to handling pain, kept quiet, but Shi Qingxuan roared. Xie Lian’s ears hurt from his shouting, and he was worried that something had happened to him. “Lord Wind Master, are you okay?”

Shi Qingxuan, with his head down and feet up, said, “I don’t know if I’m okay, since I’ve never taken a fall like this before. Your Royal Highness, going on an official trip with you is really too thrilling.”

Hearing this, Xie Lian let out a bitter chuckle, and then realized that the two of them had fallen into a tree hollow. He clambered out of the hollow first, then reached his hand out to Shi Qingxuan, “Thank you so much for your hard work.”

Shi Qingxuan said, “You’re welcome!”

He took Xie Lian’s hand and emerged from the tree hollow, his face gray from dirt and the gauze outfit in tatters. Once out, he was blinded by the sunlight outside and covered his brow with one hand, “Where is this?”

Xie Lian said, “As you can see, deep in the mountains and woods.” Looking around, he added, “I think that the stone door is actually a spiritual device specially for casting Distance Shrinking Spells. If you roll different numbers, you will be sent to corresponding different places. I wonder if the number we got just now was correct.”

With his arms bare, Shi Qingxuan crossed them and remarked seriously, “It takes a great deal of spiritual energy to perform Distance Shrinking just once. In order to prevent others from prying into his secrets, Crimson Rain Sought Flower actually made such a stone door spiritual device, which goes to show how powerful his spiritual energy is, and how far his scheming goes.”

Despite his expression being solemn, he was in such miserable shape, with his feet and arms bare, that he looked rather hilarious. Xie Lian struggled to suppress his laughter, yet Hua Cheng’s slightly raised corners of lips appeared in his mind, and he shook his head, thinking, “It’s not so much that he is scheming, but rather… he’s just naughty.” In the end, Xie Lian burst out laughing anyway.

The two of them had barely taken a few steps when a group of naked people leapt out from behind the surrounding bushes and pranced around them, shouting loudly, “Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!”

The two were both astonished. Shi Qingxuan said, “What is it this time!”

Xie Lian raised his hand. “Calm down, please! Let’s take a look first and see.”

As he took a closer look, he realized that these people were not actually naked, but rather, they wore merely animal skins and leaves, seemingly accustomed to eating raw meat; they held spears made from tree branches, with sharp stones attached to the tips; their mouths were full of sharp teeth, all with jagged points.

Without a word, the two took to their heels.

Shi Qingxuan said as he ran, “My brother used to tell me! There are many savages in the southern mountains who live by eating people! Told me not to come to such a place by myself! Could that be what we’ve run into now?”

Plenty experienced with escapes, Xie Lian appeared much more at ease than him in both posture and demeanor. He said imperturbably, “Maybe! Don’t worry, it’s okay at this level.”

Yelling and screaming, the group of savages persisted in pursuing them. Originally, the two of Xie and Shi could only run and not fight back, but the savages threw sharp stones and branches at them from time to time, and unexpectedly, a branch brushed against Shi Qingxuan’s cheek.

This time, they pushed the wrong button. Shi Qingxuan touched his face, found a faint trace of blood, and instantly flew into a rage, “Even my brother wouldn’t dare to hit me in the face!”

With a “Hey”, he stopped in his tracks and turned around, “You group of ignorant mountain savages, not only are you not impressed when you see this Wind Master, but you also dare to mess with my appearance! Truly outrageous!”

Done with the shouting, he yanked out the Wind Master’s Fan, swished it open, and gave it a swooshing swing - the group of savages directly took off from the ground, and were swung some ten meters away and hung in a tree, howling and screaming. The two of them could finally stop and take a deep breath. Shi Qingxuan said to Xie Lian, “Your Royal Highness, you saw that, they asked for it! It wasn’t me abusing my spiritual power to bully others.”

Xie Lian said, “Yes, I saw that! It was truly unacceptable. We should keep looking for the door.”

He watched as Shi Qingxuan straightened his clothes and tidied his hair, looking really dapper. Unfortunately, given what he wore was a tattered gauze outfit, this dapper style was inevitably mixed with a very peculiar flavor, making it truly unforgettable. Xie Lian was filled with mixed feelings: thinking back to their first meeting at Banyue Pass, the Wind Master had such a divine appearance, and he thought this was absolutely an enigmatic figure, either a peerless demonic cultivator or a peerless master. Who knew, only after getting familiar with him would he realize that this was entirely his misconception…

The two of them wandered in big circles through the forest several times, and eventually, they found a stone door next to another tree hollow. This time, however, Shi Qingxuan refused to throw the dice. He scratched his head, “I don’t know what’s going on. I used to have pretty good luck, but today it’s like I’m possessed, both throws ended up with such bad luck, and who knows what else we will get next.”

Xie Lian felt a little guilty, “Maybe it’s because I’m next to you and have brought your luck down…”

Shi Qingxuan said, “What are you talking about! How can this Wind Master’s luck be brought down by others? It has nothing to do with you. Well, how about you do it this time? I’m no good anyway. Maybe the luck from that San Lang of yours still has a little bit left.”

Hearing “that San Lang of yours”, Xie Lian inexplicably felt a little embarrassed, and wanted to explain something. But on second thought, what’s there to explain? Any explanation would instead seem like a coverup, so he said nothing, took the dice, and gently rolled them – two “sixes”.

Holding his breath, Xie Lian watched intently for any change in the pattern on the stone door, so he could be mentally prepared for what would come next; yet this time, the pattern didn’t change, and the stone door slowly clunked open.

Behind the door was another set of dark stone steps leading to the depths of the underground, with cold air swooshing out.

The two glanced at each other and both thought to themselves, “Have we gone out of our way to make a big circle and return to the original place?”

Even if they had returned to the original place, it was preferable to encountering more curious dangers. They had had enough. So the two decisively descended the stone steps. The stone door closed heavily behind them, they reached out to push it, but touched a smooth stone wall.

Xie Lian said, “We can only keep going down then.”

Shi Qingxuan also said, “Alas, well, let’s take a breath, and keep on playing with the obnoxious Crimson Rain Sought Flower!”

The two of them again walked forward along this well-formed underground stone path. After taking more than two hundred steps, Xie Lian said, “Good news, Lord Wind Master, this is not the tunnel we went through the first time. Even though it looks very similar.”

Shi Qingxuan noticed it as well, “Yeah. Earlier we walked two hundred steps and were stopped by the wall.”

Xie Lian whispered, “By the looks of it, this time, we are on the right track.”

As soon as the words fell, the two of them simultaneously paused their steps.

In the darkness ahead, the smell of blood permeated the air.

Accompanying this, was the sound of a man’s heavy breathing.

The two of them remained still and silent. There was no light or fire, but the other party had already sensed their arrival, because after they stopped, cold words were thrown from the opposite side.

“No comment.” said a man in a low voice.

Hearing this voice, Shi Qingxuan immediately lit up a palm flame.

Xie Lian didn’t expect that he would suddenly light the fire and was too late to stop it. The fire was extremely bright, revealing the figure of a man in black.

The man in black leaned against the stone wall with his head down at the end of the path, his black hair disheveled and his face pale as paper, but his eyes amidst the tangled locks were clear and lustrous, as if two pieces of burning ice. The thick smell of blood in the air showed that he was seriously injured, clearly being held here. The words “no comment” just now probably meant that he assumed they were interrogators.

Shi Qingxuan made out the man’s face, “It’s you!”

The man also didn’t seem to have expected the newcomers. He paused for a moment, as if he too wanted to say “It’s you”, but eventually held back. Xie Lian put away Ruoye, who had secretly been gathering strength, and asked, “So you two know each other?”

Finally finding the person here after several twists and turns, Shi Qingxuan looked pleased and was about to answer, but the man said categorically, “I don’t know him.”

Outraged upon hearing this, Shi Qingxuan pointed at him with the folding fan, “Is it so embarrassing to know me? It’s really not cool for you to say that, Ming Xiong, I am your best friend!”

Just as Xie Lian thought that someone would in fact use “someone’s best friend” to define themselves, a characteristic likely unique to Shi Qingxuan, the man flatly rejected, “I don’t have any friend who would run around dressed like this.”

Shi Qingxuan was still in the tattered gauze outfit, which was truly unsightly! Nevertheless, he still tried to argue, “I did this all to save you!”

“Ming Xiong”? Xie Lian vaguely remembered that among the Five Masters, the Earth Master’s name was Ming Yi, “Could this be the Earth Master?”

Shi Qingxuan said, “That’s him! You’ve met, too.”

Xie Lian studied Ming Yi, “Have I met him?” He couldn’t remember such a person. Shi Qingxuan said, “You’ve met.”

Yet Ming Yi said, “We haven’t met.”

Shi Qingxuan yelled “Hey” and said, “You have absolutely met before. Last time when we were at Banyue Pass; you guys can’t have forgotten so quickly, can you?”

Seeing Ming Yi’s face turn ashen, Xie Lian finally remembered. Last time when they met at Banyue Pass, next to Shi Qingxuan, wasn’t there also a girl in black!

At the time, Hua Cheng had told him that this person was not the Water Master, but must still be one of the five Wind, Water, Rain, Earth, and Thunder Masters. So that’s it! Shi Qingxuan was not only keen on transforming into the female form himself, but also keen on dragging others into transforming into female forms with him. No wonder at that time the girl in black had a dreadful countenance, as if disgusted; recalling that before entering Ghost City this time, Shi Qingxuan had also encouraged him in every possible way… Xie Lian said inwardly so close, thank goodness I held firm. He asked, “Did you send the Ascending Fire Dragon to ask for help?”

Ming Yi said, “Yes, it was me.”

Found the right person. Xie Lian nodded, “Lord Earth Master is seriously injured. Let’s leave right now and save the talking for later.”

Shi Qingxuan carried Ming Yi. “Okay, let’s go!”

The three of them returned along the original path. Shi Qingxuan said as they walked, “Ming Xing, didn’t you say that you were very good at fighting? You were doing fine when we separated at Banyue Pass, and it’s only been a few days, how could you have been so beat up? How did you get on Crimson Rain Sought Flower’s nerves? I really didn’t expect that the person we worked so hard to rescue was you, shouldn’t it be your turn to treat me now?”

He also enjoyed a little schadenfreude; Xie Lian thought that this way of speaking without fear of being beaten indeed indicated the best of friends, when Ming Yi bursted out with three words, “You shut up!”

These three words seemed to have exhausted all his strength; he closed his eyes after finishing speaking, apparently he had been beaten pretty badly. Shi Qingxuan could only shut up and stop bothering him. The three of them ran up the steps, and Xie Lian took out the dice and gave them another throw. They didn’t know what number was thrown in the darkness, just heard a soft “click” from up ahead, a crack opened, and light spilled from the crack. As soon as Xie Lian pushed the door open, he stepped on thin air and shouted, “Don’t come out!”

He rolled over in the air and landed on something hard. He was just happy that the landing spot was not a mountain of swords or a sea of fire, but when he looked up, he felt that a mountain of swords or a sea of fire might have been a little better. He saw Hua Cheng’s exceptionally handsome face merely inches away, staring straight at him.

This time, the destination of the stone door turned out to be Hua Cheng!

It’s truly hard to tell whether this was good luck or bad luck now. At this moment, Hua Cheng was sitting at the head of the armory, unhurriedly wiping the scimitar Eming. Even if someone had dropped out of the sky onto his lap, he simply moved his hands away and stopped wiping. He was not particularly surprised and looked calmly at Xie Lian, as if waiting for him to offer an explanation. Of course Xie Lian couldn’t offer any explanation, he could only drape over his legs and, with a drop of cold sweat on his forehead, return the stare.

At another glimpse, a white boot had stepped halfway out from above. In his desperation, Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng’s shoulders, “Pardon me!”

Having said that, he swooped Hua Cheng down.

As such, he swooped Hua Cheng over three meters away, rolled over a few times upon landing, then sprang to his feet, while Shi Qingxuan had jumped down with Ming Yi in tow, falling on the spot where Hua Cheng was originally seated. Xie Lian immediately leapt back and backed up until he had no more room to retreat, and only then did he say, “San Lang, please let me explain.”

He dared not look at Hua Cheng. Shi Qingxuan rushed to the door with Ming Yi on his back, and the beasts on the armory doors saw that it was not the owner and roared at him with fury. Shi Qingxuan’s hand almost got bitten off, so he hastily returned to Xie Lian, “Wait, isn’t it the opposite? He should offer you an explanation. Your Royal Highness don’t need to fear him, fight him!”

Xie Lian said, “I don’t want to fight.”

Shi Qingxuan thought about it and also felt unsure of winning, so he settled for the next best thing, “Then… … then you tell him off!”

It had truly turned into the worst possible situation. Xie Lian didn’t know what to say. After a long while, he finally said, “San Lang, please let us leave.”

Hua Cheng tilted his head, “Why?”

Xie Lian looked back at him, “To privately imprison and torture a heavenly official, the Upper Court of Heaven will not let that pass. But no major mistake has been committed yet, if you let us leave, there will still be some leeway.”

Hua Cheng said, “How can I believe that there will still be any leeway?”

Xie Lian said, “If you are willing to stop here, I promise to plead with His Heavenly Majesty not to pursue this matter.”

Hua Cheng said, “Really? Will gege really plead for me in front of Jun Wu?”

Xie Lian nodded; raising three fingers, he said, “I can swear it.”

Hua Cheng sighed with a smile, “Gege o gege, how shall I tell you off?”

Xie Lian blinked, and Hua Cheng said, “Are you going to swear to help me without even asking for any details? What if I’m planning something heinous, will you also plead for me? Gege is too trusting of other people.”

These words didn’t sound like questioning, but more like worrying. Xie Lian was stunned, “But, I’m not trusting others. I’m trusting you.”

He said it without hesitation, and this time, it was Hua Cheng’s turn to be stunned.

For an instant, Xie Lian felt that he was about to throw away the scimitar in his hand. But after a good while, he still said, “Although gege’s saying this makes me very happy, and I also really want to let you…”

Shi Qingxuan braced himself and drew out the Wind Master’s Fan, “I know! You’re about to follow up with a ‘but’!”

Once facing him, Hua Cheng grinned, “Wrong. What I was about to follow up with was ‘watch out’.”

“Watch out for… …” Before he could finish speaking, a gust of wind rushed at him with several sparks of silver. Shi Qingxuan ducked and heard a burst of rattling like a violent storm, and when he looked back, he saw a row of arrows nailed to the wall where he had been leaning.

Hua Cheng didn’t move at all. Who shot the arrows?

Xie Lian said, “It’s a painting!”

There were many paintings hanging on the armory walls, and the one facing them was a “Painting of the Art of Archery”, within which a lively and handsome youth had his bow raised in their direction.

The bowstring was still vibrating slightly, but he had already reached into the quiver behind his back for new arrows, and took out eight at a time, swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Shi Qingxuan dodged again with Ming Yi on his back, horrified, “So close! I almost got hit!”

Xie Lian pulled out an arrow from the grim-faced Ming Yi’s back, “It’s not almost got hit, but did get hit. Excellent marksmanship!”

“Now is not the time to praise this!”

Right then, the arrows came again, and Xie Lian said, “Watch out!” He lifted the two up and threw them aside. The ferocious beasts guarding the doors refused to open them, so the three of them could only duck and dodge between the weaponry racks, leading to nonstop perilous moments. The youth in the painting had superb archery skills; while all the arrows perfectly avoided Xie Lian’s trajectory, sooner or later the other two would be shot by him into pieces. Xie Lian rushed before the painting, and when the youth saw that it was him, he lowered the arrows that had been nocked to the bowstring. The painting was firmly stuck to the wall, Xie Lian couldn’t pull it off, so he resorted to biting his finger.

Hua Cheng had sat leisurely at the head of the table, but now all of a sudden his body moved a fraction, like he wanted to stand up. Xie Lian lifted the bloody finger and daubed randomly. He should have daubed out the archery boy, but Xie Lian saw that he was lovely and excellent at archery, he couldn’t bear to daub him out, so he only daubed out the quiver on his back. As the youth in the painting watched the arrows morph into a bloody mess, his hand smeared full of blood upon touching them, he was startled, and paced around in panic. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he waved to the right side of the scroll. Xie Lian thought, “Who is he beckoning? There is no one else in the painting.”

Surprisingly, the person he beckoned was not someone in his own painting, but the person in the painting next to it. To the right of the archery art piece was a “Painting of a Woodcutter”, in which an old woodcutter climbed the lush ink mountains with a basket and an ax on his back. He seemed to have heard someone shouting on the left and turned his head to look. The young sharp shooter shouted a few more words, and the old woodcutter nodded, climbed along the steep mountain path to the far left of the scroll, sat down, took out a dagger, chopped several times at the firewood in the basket on his back, and with a strong hurl, a bundle of wood sticks crossed the dividing line between the two paintings and fell in the archery painting.

The youth used wood sticks in place of arrows, and this time with twelve at a time, started another round of fierce attack!

The old woodcutter kept cutting firewood to make arrows for the youth, and it was never-ending. Shi Qingxuan was frustrated beyond description, “What kind of wicked spell did this Crimson Rain Sought Flower come up with this time!”

Xie Lian pressed his shoulders down, barely dodging an incoming arrow. “This must be the so-called ‘while the green hills last, there will be wood to burn’!”

But speaking of this, he got another idea. There was still a “Painting of Children on New Year’s Eve” on the right side of the “Painting of a Woodcutter”. Several children sat in a circle, one hand covering their ears and the other lighting fireworks. Xie Lian leapt over, “Little ones, please lend me a fire!”

But how could he borrow it? These children didn’t look like they wanted to play in other people’s paintings. Luckily, on the right side of the New Year’s Eve painting, there was also a “Painting of Wolf Hunting”, in which was a vigorous black wolf. Xie Lian poked his finger into that painting, the wolf smelled the blood on his finger, and his eyes suddenly glinted with a faint green glow. Xie Lian pressed his finger and dragged it in one stroke across the edge of the painting, into the New Year’s Eve painting on the left. The black wolf chased the bloody streak he drew into the New Year’s Eve painting, licking all the bloody stains on the painting clean. When the group of children saw a big furry wolf jumping in from the right, they were so frightened that they fled to the left without tossing the fire in their hands. Thus they fled into the “Painting of a Woodcutter”, and the entire ink mountain caught fire and immediately started burning!

The sharp shooter was caught by surprise, and the woodcutter led the group of yelping children into the “Painting of the Art of Archery”. Now, everyone huddled together in a miserable pile. Xie Lian put his hands together in namaste before them, “I’m really sorry!”

This series of events happened so fast that others had no time to think. Shi Qingxuan said, “Your Royal Highness you’re really quite something! City Lord Hua, got any more moves?”

Yet Hua Cheng only stared at Xie Lian’s hand, looking rather grim. Shi Qingxuan whispered, “He he he… why does he look so gloomy?”

Xie Lian said, “Lord Wind Master, please don’t treat it lightly. Up to now, City Lord Hua hasn’t gotten serious with us.”

“What!”

At this time, all three of them heard a crashing sound. Ming Yi asked, “Where did the sound of water come from?” Xie Lian pointed to the distance, “It’s that…”

On that wall hung a “Painting of a Dashing Waterfall” with ‘its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high’*, crashing and splashing, and at this moment, it had crashed out of the scroll – a massive current rushed towards the three of them!

Hua Cheng walked with hands behind his back over to the “Painting of a Dashing Waterfall”, beside which was a “Painting of a Moored Boat”, with a small boat moored on a tranquil river. Without him having to give any order, the boat steered itself into the “Painting of a Dashing Waterfall”, then rushed along the current out of the painting.

The three of them had already been caught in giant waves and flung upside down several times. While Shi Qingxuan’s brother was the Water Master, he himself was rather poor at swimming, and Ming Yi didn’t seem that much better. Xie Lian struggled to support the two of them by himself, and suddenly felt someone holding up his shoulder. When he looked up, Hua Cheng leaned over a small boat, stretched out a pale and slender hand to him, and sighed, “Gege.”

Xie Lian took a breath, “San Lang.”

With one hand, he carried the two colleagues who were spewing out bubbles furiously, and with the other, he grasped the hand Hua Cheng had stretched out to him, “San Lang, if anything from what I said earlier sounded offensive, that’s my fault, but I didn’t mean it.”

Supreme Ghost Kings were all very proud, and Xie Lian assumed the word “plead” had rubbed him the wrong way. But Hua Cheng said, “Gege, it’s not your fault. Please come up first.”

Xie Lian went up a little, but still didn’t get in the boat, “This matter, can we end it here?”

Pulling him firmly with one hand, Hua Cheng said calmly, “Your Highness, there are certain things, it’s better for you not to get too involved.” Xie Lian said, “It’s not good for you to have a fall-out with the Heavenly Realm now.”

Hua Cheng said, “It isn’t me who wants a fall-out. Gege, do you know who the person on the Wind Master’s back is?” “Isn’t it the Earth Master?”

But Hua Cheng said, “No. That’s a worthless subordinate of mine, the Waxing Moon Messenger.”

Shi Qingxuan, who’s in the water, said while paddling hard, “Huh? He is clearly the Earth Master of our Upper Court of Heaven, Earth Master Yi! City Lord Hua, why do you call a deer a horse!”

Hua Cheng said, “If you don’t believe it, ask him yourself.”

Shi Qingxuan turned around to ask, “Ming Xiong, what’s going on here?”

It’s unclear whether Ming Yi was feigning or genuinely passed out from the water, he simply closed his eyes and ignored everything, leaving Shi Qingxuan confused, yet Xie Lian’s mind raced with lightning speed.

So that’s why!

Hua Cheng scoffed, “How honorable of the Upper Court of Heaven, which hasn’t done anything useful, but did plot to have someone undercover at my place. Even though I often felt that something was amiss about him, I truly hadn’t guessed that this was the enigmatic Earth Master.”

Shi Qingxuan was astonished, “Ming Xiong, you you you, no wonder you have always been elusive, it turns out that you have been undercover in Ghost City! How did you end up exposed?”

Ming Yi’s veins popped out, and he opened his eyes, “Shut up! It’s all your fault!”

Xie Lian reminded him in a low voice as well, “Because the four of us happened to bump into each other at the Banyue Pass…”

Shi Qingxuan said sheepishly, “Heh heh, that really is my fault. Heh heh, I’m sorry.”

Although at the time the Earth Master had transformed into the female form, Hua Cheng of course had seen through it at a glance. He left Puqi Shrine as soon as the Banyue Pass incident was over, presumably to settle the score with Ming Yi. It was probably while being pursued by Hua Cheng that Ming Yi cast the Ascending Fire Dragon Spell for help. Then Jun Wu found Xie Lian and asked him to do the rescue.

While everyone had done things like sticking undercover agents to each other, whoever got caught would have to own the scandal. Xie Lian almost fainted.

Your Heavenly Majesty, why didn’t you tell me earlier that there’s still this thing!

Then there was nothing to be said about Hua Cheng cleaning up an undercover agent, and Xie Lian only felt that his situation had become very embarrassing. The dashing waterfall having caused the water level to rise up to three-quarters of the armory, Hua Cheng said, “Gege, you come up first…”

Suddenly, Hua Cheng frowned, then Xie Lian heard a loud noise, and the water level dropped rapidly, making him accidentally break away from Hua Cheng’s grip. When he dove into the water and looked, he saw that the corner of the armory had somehow acquired a giant hole.

Someone outside had broken through the wall of the armory, releasing the water!

Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan, and Ming Yi were flushed out of the armory by the overwhelming current, plop plop plop! It was like three dead fish being thrown ashore. The person outside obviously didn’t expect that they would appear in such a manner, and was dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Shi Qingxuan spit out a mouthful of water and gave him a thumbs up, “Qianqiu, you came just in time!”

The newcomer was none other than Lang Qianqiu. He took out his Echoing Compass Talisman, “I saw the talisman showing powerful unusual movements on your side, so I rushed here to take a look. Why are you… … like this?”

The beasts on the armory doors roared in unison, the two doors flung open to both sides, and Hua Cheng stepped out with hands behind his back.

He glanced at the debris covering the ground, all kinds of exceptional weapons and scrolls of spells lay in muddled messes in water, and here and there were clusters of large or small flames, which were thrown out of the paintings by the frightened children on New Year’s Eve. He narrowed his eyes, “You people from the Upper Court truly excel at wreaking havoc in other people’s houses.”

Upon hearing this sentence, Xie Lian, who had just straightened up, couldn’t help but feel guilty. In truth, most of these damages were caused by him, but Hua Cheng obviously didn’t count them against him. Thinking of this… he felt even more guilty.

Lang Qianqiu didn’t know what had transpired, only saw that they had indeed found the person, “You held the person first, how are you still in the right?”

The three dead fish on the ground stayed silent.

On this thing, he was actually in the right!

Then, Lang Qianqiu saw something on the ground and his expression changed at once. Xie Lian saw it, too, which was Fangxin.

Lang Qianqiu went to pick it up without thinking, but Hua Cheng said coldly, “Put it down.”

Lang Qianqiu paused, “Because why?”

Hua Cheng said, “Because this sword doesn’t belong to you.”

Lang Qianqiu said, “Then this sword doesn’t belong to you either.”

Xie Lian groaned inwardly that this was no good. The thing beneath Hua Cheng’s smile was seriously dangerous, and he said, “Since it doesn’t belong to anyone, then let’s see who in the world can get their hands on it.”

Lang Qianqiu withdrew the sword from his waist, “Agreed!”

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Xie Lian shouted, “Don’t fight him!”

But it was already too late; the sword had already been swung. Holding the scimitar in one hand, Hua Cheng flashed a silvery figure eight, and calmly raised the scimitar to counterattack. Xie Lian again shouted, “Don’t take it directly! You will die!”

But the arrow was on the bowstring, hanging by a thread, how could it be stopped with just a shout?

Steeling himself, Xie Lian rolled over, grabbed Fangxin from the ground, poked the slender sword between the two and gave it a light lift.

The lift looked effortless, but instantly the expressions of the two that were fighting drastically changed!

The next moment, the weapons made contact, and a white glare exploded, dazzling the eyes. Everyone’s vision was temporarily disabled. Xie Lian gripped the sword in his right hand, seized Lang Qianqiu with his left and shouted, “Lord Wind Master, please start a wind and let’s rise!”

Though Shi Qingxuan couldn’t yet open his eyes, he reacted swiftly, grabbing Ming Yi while responding, “Okay!” He gave the fan a forceful lift, and a tornado rose from the ground, propelling the four of them straight into the sky!

Finally escaped. Shi Qingxuan didn’t regain his vision until mid-air. Seeing fire burning far below, afraid that Hua Cheng would pursue them, he gave the fan a backhanded wave. A gale instantly caused the fire to swell, flames jumped over to other houses, and most of Paradise Manor burned bright red. Now, it was truly “fanning the flames”!

Xie Lian finally managed to get a hold on Shi Qingxuan who was desperately waving the fan, “Stop fanning, my Lord! It’s about to burn up!”

Having been caught by him, Shi Qingxuan hastily calmed the wind, “Okay Okay Okay I’m stopping I’m stopping, Your Royal Highness, your grip is too strong! … Wait, what’s wrong with your hand?”

Shi Qingxuan felt his hand get wet, gave it a look, and turned pale from fright. Xie Lian’s whole right arm was somehow covered in blood!

Xie Lian didn’t even look at himself. “It’s okay. Just leave it alone and it’ll be fine.”

Shi Qingxuan’s face wrinkled up, “How can it be fine just left alone? Your hand is all mangled!” Thinking back on just now that moment of hanging by a thread, he felt his heart palpitating from the lingering fear, “You were too wild, you dared one-handedly take the blow from Hua Cheng!”

The Flower-Crowned Martial God, a sword in one hand, and flowers in the other. He had only remembered holding the flowers, but forgot that Xie Lian’s ascension was because of the sword.

Xie Lian only gazed down, however. Amongst the red flames, the red figure remained bright and vivid. He was flying too high to see clearly, but he had a feeling that Hua Cheng must be standing there now, gazing up at him.

But Hua Cheng neither gave chase nor put out the flames, just stood there and watched him leave.

Screams erupted on the streets of Ghost City outside Paradise Manor, and ghosts scurried and fled. For a while Xie Lian had difficulty breathing, and his voice turned hoarse, “How did it come to this?”

Although they had just been fighting, he still felt that Hua Cheng in fact didn’t intend to make it difficult for them and wanted to let them go. This made it even harder for him to accept, “I somehow burned Paradise Manor?”

Shi Qingxuan hurriedly said, “No matter how you slice it, it wasn’t you that burned it, it was obviously me!”

But Xie Lian shook his head, “The children in the painting were frightened by me and tossed out the fires, and it was also me who said to start the wind and rise.”

He never expected that the fires would spread so violently. Even if Hua Cheng didn’t consider here “home”, he remembered that not long ago he leaned against the armory door, half joking and half serious about giving him this armory, but now it had all turned into a sea of fire. It was true that many spiritual weapons were true gold tested in fire, but there were also spiritual weapons that by nature needed to avoid fire, and as such, would probably be burned to ashes.

Shi Qingxuan was embarrassed, “How can this be all your fault, Your Royal Highness! If Crimson Rain Sought Flower wants to settle the score with you, just blame it on me. Don’t worry, I will pay however much it is, whatever I may fear, it won’t be running out of money.”

But he also knew, how could this be an issue of paying up with money!

As they drifted further and further away, in the end, Xie Lian let out a long sigh, “Nevermind…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* This is a line from the poem “Cataract on Mount Lu” by Li Bai (701–762). Here’s the full poem as translated by Xu Yuanchong (1921–2021):

The sunlit Censer perk exhales a wreath of cloud;

Like an upended stream the cataract sounds loud.

Its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high;

As if the Silver River fell from azure sky.