Who knows if it was the fear of obliteration or the scorching hot lava, but Xie Lian's entire person was submerged.
It was a long while before Xie Lian slowly came to.
The moment he woke he found he was lying on cold, solid ground, and Mu Qing was slumped down next to him, staring at him in a daze.
Xie Lian's vision was still faintly red, and he instantly sat up, "SAN LANG!"
Yet unexpectedly, the moment he sat up, Mu Qing snapped out of it and yelled, "DON'T MOVE AROUND!"
Xie Lian subconsciously extended hand to support himself off the ground, but the support fell empty, and Xie Lian lost his balance, his entire person almost toppling down. Surprised, Xie Lian finally discovered he wasn't lying on the ground at all.
He was lying atop a bridge!
This place was an underground rock cave with immense space, its dome penetrating into the vast night sky, and within the cave 'floated' a desecrated bridge.
The body of the bridge was crippled, terrifyingly pitch black, seeming like wood but also stone, looking as if it had experienced thousands of years of rain and storms, sealed away in its burning. Without any pillars to support it, it hung in mid air, endlessly stretching from both ends into infinity; its beginning unknown, its end unforeseeable, and its direction a mystery. Some places were as wide as thirty feet, some places were so narrow only one person could cross through.
Thousands of feet beneath this broken bridge was the burning and rolling red hot lava pool, like the red basin of hell.
The Heaven Crossing Bridge?
Those three words were the first to pop into Xie Lian's mind. Two thousand years ago, in order to overcome disaster, the Crown Prince of WuYong built a bridge to cross to the heavens. Could this bridge be its remains?
He remembered he was forcibly pulled down by White No-Face, so how had he ended up on this bridge?
Xie Lian crawled to his feet, "San Lang?"
Mu Qing still sat on the side, "Don't bother calling, he's not here."
Xie Lian turned to him, "How did we end up here? Was a Distance Shortening Array activated halfway?"
"Probably." Mu Qing said, "I was falling straight for the lava pool, but halfway in the air, I was sent here."
Poor Feng Xin; all three of them had fallen and he was the only one who stayed up there. He would probably curse the streets again. But, finding Hua Cheng was priority; where had he been moved to?
Xie Lian spotted the Fang Xin and the long sabre that had been tossed to the side and picked them up, then walked to Mu Qing. Mu Qing saw him dangling the sword, approaching with a dark expression, and without knowing what Xie Lian was thinking of doing, his expression suddenly turned nervous.
However, Xie Lian handed him his sabre then extended a hand to him, "Are you alright? If you're fine then get up, we have to get going."
Mu Qing looked at the hand that was extended to him, and after a long silence, he shook his head, "I can't go. My hands and feet are all injured."
Xie Lian crouched down and checked him over for a moment, and sure enough, both of Mu Qing's hands were red, and there were burns on his legs too, so he could probably only walk slowly. After a moment of contemplation, Xie Lian said, "Let me assist you then."
He pulled Mu Qing up, resting an arm over his shoulders, then walked while supporting him thus. After a few steps, Mu Qing suddenly blurted, "Why?"
Xie Lian was scanning their surroundings calculatively as he replied, "Why what?"
"I thought after you found out that I was fine too, you'd be more suspicious of me." Mu Qing said.
"Oh, no?" Xie Lian replied.
"Why?"
"Because I know."
"Know what?"
"That you weren't lying." Xie Lian replied.
"..."
Just what was Mu Qing's expression was truly hard to describe.
Xie Lian said quite matter of factly, "Didn't you ask me to believe you? I believe you. That's it."
"..."
"How do I say this..." Xie Lian started, "I suppose I can say I've known you for many years now, so I'm still fairly certain on this. You're not someone like that. Haven't I said this before? You might spit in people's cups, but you would never do something like poisoning said cups."
After hearing the first part, it almost seemed like Mu Qing was touched, but after hearing the latter half, half of his face was turning dark, "That example is unnecessary, seriously, don't bring it up anymore. I won't do anything like spitting either, it's too classless!"
Xie Lian waved his hand, "Don't mind those little details. Besides, even if in one in a million chance that I was unlucky enough to have misjudged you, you can't beat me and San Lang either, we'll have smacked you dead in one blow, so you're not a threat at all, hahahaha..."
"..." Mu Qing mumbled, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You're trying very hard to piss me off to death..."
"Ahem, I'm joking. In any case," Xie Lian stopped laughing, clutching Mu Qing's arm as he looked forward, "If you really did turn down doing a malicious deed and Jun Wu trapped you with a cursed shackle, then I can't have you pay a bad price for it."
He stated calmly, "Because what you did was the right thing."
Mu Qing stared at him for a good while, then finally, he gritted his teeth, "Xie Lian, you're really someone..."
Xie Lian instantly butted, "Drop it. Don't think I don't know what you think of me? You're still depending on me to support you here, don't say anything that'll make me want to throw you down into the lava pool."
Mu Qing humphed, "And here you are saving me even though you knew what I think of you?"
"Likewise. Me saving you is just me following my own principles, that's all." Xie Lian replied, "Besides, while you're someone who's curiously odd in all aspects, and there really was a time in the past when I really wanted to punch you to death, I didn't succeed back then, and after so long, I've lost interest too. But no matter how weird you are, and how much I want to punch you, your sins don't warrant death? If I can save you of course I'll save you."
Mu Qing deflated and humphed a few snorts, and after a moment of quiet, he added, "Your Highness, I actually..."
Right then, both their feet dipped and both their faces abruptly changed colours.
Mu Qing was wounded and couldn't react in time, but fortunately Xie Lian still moved with godly speed, and his toes tipped, pushing off forward, and lightly landed thirty feet ahead. When they looked back, the body of the bridge where they were just stepping over had cracked and broken off, plunging straight down!
RUMBLE!
A stretch of that pitch black body of the bridge had crashed into the scarlet hell basin, and the resentful spirits that had been waiting for a long time rolling in the pool rapidly reached out, and hundreds of pairs of hands fought to make grab, as if they wanted to use it as a vehicle to break away from this sea of suffering. However, their numbers were too great. That stretch of a crippled bridge couldn't support them at all, and it soon sank. The two above watched shakily, and exchanged a look. Xie Lian commented, "It appears this bridge isn't too stable!"
Mu Qing opened and closed his mouth, probably meaning to say they might as well turn back, that the surface of the bridge where they were lying before was considerably spacious and shouldn't cave in, but with that stretch collapsing, there was no more path, and they could no longer retreat. The only way for the two was forward, but the surface of the bridge ahead was alternatingly wide and narrow, like it was filled with traps, danger hiding in every corner, and who knows where a step would have them fall!
Without another word, Xie Lian threw Mu Qing onto his back, "We can't stay in the same place for too long, otherwise who knows if it'll collapse too. Hold on tight, I'm going to quickly dash through this!"
As promised, Xie Lian indeed dashed out in flying steps. The further they went, the more suffocatingly narrow the bridge became, and even the widest area was not that much bigger than a door, the narrowest area no wider than a person's waist!
However, even in such a perilous situation, wherever Xie Lian had passed, nothing moved in the slightest. The bottom of his feet only tipped lightly every time, and each time was like a swallow lightly skimming the surface of water, withdrawing the moment there was contact. If there were other martial gods present, they would all be stunned by these steps that were so brilliantly controlled to the point it was horrifying, since, there was no second martial god who could do the same. This was the masterful skills that could only come from one who didn't depend on spiritual powers, and had trained vigorously day in and day out!
Suddenly, a pillar of fire rushed to the skies, blocking in front of Xie Lian. If it wasn't for his incredible reaction and braked in time, they would've charged right into the fire and burnt to a crisp. The two looked down. Since who knows when, millions of resentful spirits the same colour as molten rocks had gathered down below, screeching and cackling, reaching their hands out towards the two, and that pillar of fire was the blow sent forth by them. Their ears were all vaguely hurting, and Mu Qing wondered, "What are they screaming about?"
Xie Lian mumbled, "...'Come down, join us, rot to death here!'"
Mu Qing looked at him in fright, "You understand them? They should be speaking in WuYong tongue."
Xie Lian nodded, "En, they're... the people of WuYong who had fallen into the lava and burned to death after the Heaven Crossing Bridge had collapsed. Careful not to get tangled up with them; they'll pull everything they see into the lava. I knew this was the remnant body of the Heaven Crossing Bridge!"
"Can they be absolved if they pull people down?" Mu Qing questioned.
"No." Xie Lian replied, "They can't be absolved even if they pull others down. Those resentful spirits will never be able to receive absolution. But, they enjoy seeing others suffer the same fate."
This was precisely why they shall never receive absolution, and must suffer the torment of this basin of hell. Mu Qing was puzzled, "How do you know so much?"
"I don't know either." Xie Lian said, "But it was probably... him who told me."
Just as how he transplanted the memories of those Corpse-Eating Rats screeching.
Those molten resentful spirits seemed to be quite displeased that they still hadn't fallen, and they snuck around, gathering together whispering, hands holding hands, ready to send forth another blow of attack, and Xie Lian broke out into a run. The pillar of fire instantly appeared, and what was already a bridge full of potholes became even more devastated.
They couldn't just keep taking on beatings without retaliation, and Xie Lian also tried blasting down below, but he didn't have much spiritual powers left so he couldn't blast very far. Mu Qing's spiritual powers were more sufficient and could blast further, but he still just missed them by a bit. There were many times when the pillar of fire from below almost burnt their ankles, and that crowd of resentful spirits banded into a large group, their energy immense, and they giggled and laughed, pointing at them, exceedingly excited, as if they were watching some spectacle on escape. The two couldn't do anything to them at all, incredibly humiliating, so much so Mu Qing's knuckles cracked!
A moment later, Mu Qing, who was leaning on top of Xie Lian's back, gritted his teeth and panted a few breaths, like he had resolved to make a very difficult decision, "Forget it, Your Highness... Xie Lian, let me down!"
Xie Lian was dashing as he answered, "What are you saying! You love your life and you're terrified of death! You're not someone who'd say something like that!"
Veins instantly popped violently on Mu Qing's forehead, "Well sorry for loving my life and being terrified of death! Since I'm going to die either way... before I change my mind, hurry and put me down!"
"Stop messing around, don't talk anymore, you'll make me lose focus." Xie Lian said, "What matters right now is finding the end to this bridge as soon as possible."
"WHO'S MESSING AROUND?" Mu Qing exclaimed, "If this bridge really is the Heaven Crossing Bridge, who the hell knows how much more you'll have to run? We'll be toppled by them sooner or later. Put me down, I'll go put away those shady trash, you go on ahead!"
Then, he lightly tapped Xie Lian's shoulder, and flew off, landing behind. Xie Lian looked back, and walked a step towards him, but Mu Qing spoke up, "Don't come over, the bridge here is narrow. If you come over both of us will fall!"