The time Xie Lian had been silent was becoming a bit long. That long saber hilt was burning red hot, and Mu Qing let out a loud shout, a hand dropping, and he hung for a while using only the other hand. He didn't dare support himself up like that for too long and immediately clutched on again. However, the palms of both his hands were smoking strings of white vapour, and while there was a long distance between them, those on the other side could also almost smell the stench of burnt flesh.
Hua Cheng casually let loose a silver butterfly. That silver butterfly fluttered its wings, flying out for a few hundred feet, but before it reached even one third of the way to Mu Qing, it dissipated into silver smoke and vanished in the air.
Xie Lian knew that he was demonstrating that the wraith butterflies could not help; it was a dead end, not worth dying for.
Mu Qing also witnessed the vanishing process of that silver butterfly, his expression gradually turning into one of despair.
He understood. Right now, one, there was no one who had the ability to save him, second, no one believed him, and on the grounds of his triggering, there was no reason at all for Xie Lian to come pull him up at the risk of his own life.
But, while despairing, he still refused to yield, and he was unwilling to give up. Mu Qing gritted his teeth, shouting, "IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME THAT'S FINE TOO, BUT I WILL NEVER FALL THAT EASILY!"
Then, he gripped hard, seeming to attempt a mid air spin to stand on that hilt. Yet unexpectedly, just as his body lifted for a few inches it violently sank!
Mu Qing looked down, and in his eyes reflected countless resentful spirits that were melded into the colour of blood red, their faces and limbs contorted and twisted as they pressed themselves onto his leg, pulling him down!
Those resentful spirits were originally melted into the flowing lava, but they suddenly popped out, hanging off of this lower half body one after the other, heavy and boiling hot, like adding oil to fire, frost upon snow, and Mu Qing was going mad, "GET LOST!!!"
In the past hundreds of years, it wasn't like he had never faced the brink of death, but those were all circumstances where he was heavily wounded. To die buried in lava was a thousand times more horrifying than death by injuries, and the moment he imagined himself turning into a wisp of smoke like that wraith butterfly, leaving the world without a trace, he couldn't stand it.
At last, Mu Qing's hands had reached their limit, and his ten fingers loosened slightly, no longer able to grip on.
The space beneath the sabre turned empty – he had fallen!
The silhouette of a figure was plunging downwards to the blazing fires and lava pool below, "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
However, while his screams were fervent and tormented, after his body had dropped for some distance, the fall came to a violent halt, and he was hung in mid air!
Mu Qing hadn't yet come to his senses, half of his head numb, but because his instinctive reaction was still intact, he quickly felt his body. Turns out, it was a white silk band that wrapped itself around his waist.
It was naturally RuoYe. But, that palace where Xie Lian perched was nowhere near the cliff where he fell, and if RuoYe couldn't reach over earlier, how could it have caught him after he had fallen for a while?
Mu Qing gazed upward and discovered in shock that Xie Lian wasn't on top of the roof of that palace at all – he was right above his own head.
Earlier, Mu Qing nailed the long sabre into the rocks, and gripped onto the hilt of that sabre in order to hang on for some time. Yet right at this moment, Xie Lian was half crouched upon that hilt!
Xie Lian was rapidly withdrawing RuoYe as he looked down, and only letting out a breath of relief when he saw Mu Qing was alright, "Thank goodness, thank goodness, I made it in time."
Mu Qing muttered, "...Your, Your Highness?"
That instant earlier was overly stimulating, so much so that his mind was still mush and confused. In such a far distance with rolling lava en route, without any other landing points, at most Xie Lian could've only jumped halfway, so how had he come over?
In the distance, Feng Xin's voice rang, "Your Highness! ARE YOU BOTH ALRIGHT?"
Mu Qing looked to the sound, and upon the roof of that palace were now only Hua Cheng and Feng Xin who remain. Hua Cheng was watching them with his arms crossed, seeming to be ensuring Xie Lian's safety, uncaring of anything else. And, in the middle between the two points of that palace and the cliffside where he fell, there was an ink black sword, coldly wedged and standing in the centre of incessantly flowing red hot lava.
Fang Xin!
So that was it! Mu Qing finally understood how Xie Lian had come over.
By Xie Lian's ability to jump, he indeed could only jump halfway at most, and would never be able to safely jump all the way to the cliffside where he fell from the rooftop of that palace. Thus, Xie Lian had hurled Fang Xin out first, instilling it in the lava stream to create a landing point, then using Fang Xin as another starting point, he leapt onto his sabre, releasing RuoYe in the last second, and barely just caught him.
"I've been trying to think of a way earlier, there really was nothing here that could be used, so some time was used." Xie Lian said, "You were also panicking too much. Don't lose your head, otherwise you'd fall faster."
Mu Qing had thought Xie Lian's silence was his hesitating in whether or not to save him, but turns out Xie Lian was instead trying to think of how to save him. And thank goodness that Xie Lian could still think with such a clear head in such a dire situation earlier.
The beads of sweat on his forehead was rolling thicker.
The moment he looked up, Xie Lian had extended a hand to him, smiling, "In any case, although a little late, but, this hand isn't extended too late, right?"
"..."
Perhaps it was because he had been gripping the hilt for too long earlier, but Mu Qing suddenly felt his arms incomparably heavy, unable to be raised. Xie Lian then stretched his hand lower, "Come."
Mu Qing finally took hold of his hand.
His entire arm was shaking slightly, but Xie Lian yanked forcefully and pulled him up. The two stood together on the hilt of Mu Qing's long sabre. Xie Lian turned around, and waved towards the roof, "SAN LANG, IT'S A SUCCESS!"
"Very good, gege." Hua Cheng replied, "Now come back, right this instant!"
Xie Lian responded, "Alright, I'll be right back!" Then he looked back to Mu Qing, "Can you still jump? If not I'll take you?"
Mu Qing's lips moved, "I..."
Xie Lian observed his disposition and said resolutely, "I'll take you." Then, he grabbed his back. If this was the past, Mu Qing probably would've rolled his eyes secretly and protested his grip, that he was being disrespectful of others, but now, Mu Qing couldn't utter a single word.
Xie Lian was just about to leap up when unexpectedly, right then, both of them suddenly felt their footings dip at the same time.
As if things weren't unfortunate enough, that long sabre nailed into the rocks just had to pick this time to loosen!
The colours of Hua Cheng's face immediately changed, "GEGE!!!"
This time, it was two figures that were plunging down together towards the crimson red lava pool. In such fire burning ass moments, Xie Lian could still think rapidly, and he shouted, "IT'S FINE!" Then he spun several times in mid air, grabbing onto that a long sabre in the air, and with both hands gripping the hilt, he once again nailed the sabre into the rocks!
CLANG! Beads of sparks few, brilliant and dazzling. Over the surface of Xie Lian's protective spiritual light, those particles of fire were like fragmented grains of gold, but if that layer of protective spiritual light was gone, even a speck of it could burn through a large hole in a person!
RuoYe raised Mu Qing up, and Xie Lian said to him solemnly, "This sabre won't be able to take the weight of two grown men for long. This can't keep up. Between us two, only one can remain here."
Mu Qing slowly came back to his senses, "Are you saying..."
"You can go." Xie Lian said.
"...???"
Mu Qing's pupils slowly shrank, but before he could speak, Xie Lian caught him, and threw him forcefully upwards, shouting, "ON YOUR MARK!"
Mu Qing was thrown over the cliff, and discovered he was flying towards where Fang Xin stood. He steadied himself, flipping in the air, and landed on the hilt of Fang Xin.
After having landed here did he understand why Xie Lian had to throw him up first.
It was because with this distance, perhaps Xie Lian could jump over from the hilt that had migrated several dozens feet down, but, he wouldn't have been able to.
This distance for him was too far. He could only have made it up borrowing Xie Lian's hurling force!
Feng Xin wiped away his cold sweat, "Thank goodness Your Highness reacts fast!"
Hua Cheng however, was looking severe, and he called out down below, "Gege! If you don't come back soon, I'm going to have to come down and get you!"
His voice carried the tone of warning, and Xie Lian quickly replied, "I'm coming up now! Things are alright, not too hard to handle, I can jump over myself, don't come down."
Only then did Hua Cheng's demeanour relax a little, but he still watched with eyes unblinking. Feng Xin looked at him and couldn't help but say, "...I'm a little surprised."
Hua Cheng didn't turn his head, and said without any trace of curiosity, "What."
Feng Xin scratched his head, "I thought, since you're so biased against Mu Qing, you'd think he wasn't worth saving and would be against His Highness rescuing him, prevent him from going."
Only then did Hua Cheng give him a look, "Half wrong, half right."
"Huh?"
Hua Cheng said, "The first part wasn't wrong, I certainly don't think he's worth saving. How he is is none of my business."
Seeing his apathetic expression, Feng Xin sweat dropped, "Aren't you a little too blunt?!"
And when he thought how this man most definitely held the same attitude towards him, more sweat rolled.
Hua Cheng "pfft"-ed and snorted, then after a pause, he added, "But, only His Highness can decide on whatever he chooses. I will never oppose his decisions."
"..."
Feng Xin had never heard anyone say anything like this before. Not from men to women, and most definitely not from one man to another man, and he could only think that if Xie Lian heard this it was gonna be another big deal. Not knowing what face to make, Feng Xin could only reply, "...Ah. I see."
Hua Cheng turned his head back, staring at Xie Lian who was peering at the lava flow in observation, thinking and making up plans, and smiled, "Besides, I already knew he was going to do this."
On the other end, Xie Lian called out, "Mu Qing, hurry and move to the rooftop, stop running. If there's really anything we can talk afterwards."
Only then did Mu Qing realize that if he didn't leave Fang Xin, then Xie Lian had nowhere to land for his next step. Forcing himself to think calmly, Mu Qing was just about to return to the rooftop when unexpectedly, just as he leapt up, down below Xie Lian suddenly cried out, "WHO'S THERE?!"
Xie Lian was standing on the sabre, silently storing energy when suddenly, the lava falls behind him parted, and from the falls a pair of hands stretched out, seizing him abruptly.
That creature clearly came from within the lava falls, but those hands were horrifyingly cold. Xie Lian shuddered, and heard Hua Cheng exclaim from above, "Your Highness??"
Those hands hugged Xie Lian tightly, and fell off the saber taking him along. Xie Lian was completely dumbfounded, and those above saw clearly what it was that seized him from behind.
That man was clad in white robes, a half crying-half smiling mask on his face, as if he was rejoicing; as if he was grieving.
White No-Face!
RuoYe sensed danger and came whipping out on its own, flinging itself upwards and casted itself before Mu Qing. Mu Qing grabbed it unconsciously, but the power from the other end of the white silk band was too great, and not only did he not manage to hold it down, it yanked him down too.
Xie Lian was rapidly plunging down amidst fiery sparks, and heard that creature laugh by his ears, "Hahahahahaha... Naive! Too naive, Xian Le! Did you think it was that easy to achieve a perfect, happy ending?"
Down below was the scorching waves of steam, but the mind was filled with chilling cold. Within the conflicting ice and fire, Xie Lian looked up, and above in the air enveloped in fire and light, there was a looming red silhouette that was fast approaching.
Hua Cheng had jumped down too!
But it's the lava pool down below, hey!