Route had already unwrapped itself from his wrist and was waiting at the ready, but it calmed and retreated after Xie Lian saw who had come.
"You… Yin Yu?" Xie Lian said.
A giant hole had appeared in the room, big enough for two people.
Poking halfway out of the hole was Yin Yu with a sharp shovel in his hands.
He huffed a breath and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Your Highness, it's me. Thank goodness I didn't dig in the wrong spot. Let's get out of here!"
He had forgotten there was a holy spiritual device in Yin Yu's possession—the Earth Master Shovel! It was a blessing from the heavens that the device hadn't been confiscated! Apparently, not having much presence could be a good thing sometimes. Enemies wouldn't target him in the chaos of battle…though of course, his fellow soldiers might injure him by accident.
Just as Xie Lian was about to go over and help pull Yin Yu out of the hole, his feet involuntarily took a step back.
Yin Yu was puzzled. "Your Highness? What is it?"
Xie Lian was confused as well. Why would he back away? But soon he realized that he wasn't the one backing away—it was Shi Qingxuan, who was still a guest in his body. The Earth Master Shovel was very familiar, and it was hard not to think of the ones who had used it in the past. An inexplicable wave of terror filled Xie Lian—that was probably Shi Qingxuan's subconscious reaction. Fortunately, the reaction wasn't too extreme, and he quickly managed to return the body's control to Xie Lian.
Completely forgetting to ask Hua Cheng about whose help they would have to enlist to ascend to the heavens, Xie Lian rushed to jump into the hole with Yin Yu and dropped into the Heavenly Capital's underground.
The hole above them was quickly closed. As they crawled down the dark tunnel for a short stretch, a thought struck Xie Lian.
"Yin Yu, can the Earth Master Shovel dig through the barrier sealing off the Heavenly Capital?"
"I…don't think so?" Yin Yu replied.
"Huh?"
"Although that shovel is a spiritual device, you'll still be stuck in the Heavenly Capital no matter how much you dig," Shi Qingxuan explained.
"Doesn't that mean it's useless?"
Yin Yu scratched his head. "It's not entirely useless… Barrier arrays have been set up outside every martial heavenly official's palace to stop their injuries from healing quickly; they probably won't recover their fighting power for years if they remain confined. So I thought, why not use the Earth Master Shovel to dig out a secret room in the underground somewhere, then move all the martial gods there—we can try to break out after everyone's mostly recovered."
"Wait!" Shi Qingxuan called out. "Hua-chengzhu says that you should tell those usel—those martial gods to just hide and heal—you'll be seeking your own deaths if you try to break out under Jun Wu's watch."
Yin Yu was shocked. "Your Highness, you…can communicate with Chengzhu? I thought that was impossible."
"No, no, no," Xie Lian said. "The one talking to you just now wasn't me."
"It's me! It's me, Your Highness Yin Yu!" Shi Qingxuan said.
But no matter how they spoke, the words were coming from one mouth, and Yin Yu was confused. "It's not you, but it's you. Doesn't that make it you, Your Highness?"
"Gah, it's me, me, the Wind Master! Wait, now you should call me the Former Wind Master. I'm using the Soul-Shifting Spell." Shi Qingxuan sighed. "Relaying messages is such a pain."
Shi Qingxuan kept entering his body to listen and watch, then returning to his own body to relay everything to Hua Cheng, going back and forth, over and over—just thinking about it was tiresome.
"Oh, oh, that sounds like such hard work. So that's what was happening!" Yin Yu quickly replied before he returned to digging with renewed vigor. The two crept forward for a while before Yin Yu spoke again.
"Here…should be good! Your Highness, please remain hidden for now. I'll go pick up the next heavenly official."
The tunnel they had entered at the beginning was gradually closing, and Xie Lian said, "Huh? By yourself? I'll go with you."
"No, it's all right," Yin Yu said. "Truth be told, Your Highness, the larger the hole, the more power the Earth Master Shovel uses. It'll probably be faster if I go alone. The closest martial god palace to here is…" He thought for a moment before continuing, "In any case, I'll be right back."
Shi Qingxuan had used the Soul-Shifting Spell so many times, and the exhaustion from the immense drain of spiritual power was affecting Xie Lian.
He sat on the ground, nodding tiredly, his head and body heavy. He propped up his head with one hand.
"All right…" Yin Yu opened a new hole and dug onward while Xie Lian lay on the ground and closed his eyes.
Some time later, he jolted awake.
"Yin Yu?"
It was pitch-black all around him, and deathly silent. Yin Yu still hadn't returned.
"Your Highness, you're awake? You must be tired. Yin Yu hasn't gotten back yet," Shi Qingxuan verified.
The short rest had replenished Xie Lian's energy. "How long has he been gone? Why hasn't he returned?"
"It's been almost two incense time," Shi Qingxuan said. "He couldn't have gotten lost, could he?"
Xie Lian sensed that something was wrong. "I'll go look for him."
He rolled over and crawled toward the tunnel through which Yin Yu had left. Since Yin Yu still needed to use this tunnel to return, it hadn't automatically filled itself in after the Earth Master Shovel burrowed through.
As Xie Lian made his careful way forward, Shi Qingxuan spoke.
"Crimson Rain Sought Flower says, 'Gege, you shouldn't go.'" Xie Lian stopped moving. "Something's probably not right, I suspect?"
"Yeah," Shi Qingxuan replied. "Hua-chengzhu's tone sounded pretty serious."
"But it's precisely because it doesn't seem right that I have to go find him," Xie Lian said. "If Yin Yu ran into trouble—" A chill ran down his spine. Startled, Xie Lian whipped his head around.
Shi Qingxuan also sensed the chill and exclaimed, "My god, what was that? That sudden shudder!"
There was only the empty, pitch-black tunnel behind him and nothing more. However, Xie Lian stared at it for a long while before he replied, "It's nothing."
Shi Qingxuan instantly shut his mouth and held his breath, because right after Xie Lian said the words "It's nothing" out loud, he then soundlessly mouthed, "Don't make a sound—something's here!"
Someone else was in the tunnel. They had been right behind Xie Lian but disappeared the moment he looked back.
Xie Lian's gut instinct for danger was never wrong. He couldn't allow the one behind him to know he had already noticed them, so he pretended he'd sensed nothing amiss.
Shi Qingxuan hated situations like these more than anything, and goosebumps rose across his arms.
"Is it His Highness Yin Yu?" Shi Qingxuan mouthed back.
Yin Yu wouldn't need to sneak around. After a moment's silence, Xie Lian asked soundlessly, "Has San Lang said anything?"
"Uhh, umm, that San Lang of yours looks really scary right now…" Shi Qingxuan replied. "He says, 'Gege, if the situation calls for it, use the Soul-Shifting Spell to move into the Wind Master's body.'" Never mind that he didn't have enough spiritual power right now to use the Soul-Shifting Spell; even if he had plenty, Xie Lian couldn't possibly just up and leave all by himself, abandoning the mess in the Heavenly Capital.
"Don't worry, San Lang," Xie Lian replied.
He hadn't even specified what not to worry about when his head shot up. Something was coming from ahead!
The first sense of danger had come from behind, but now it was in front of him. It was still pitch-black when he looked; he couldn't see anything.
"Your Highness, what did you notice now?" Shi Qingxuan mouthed.
"What should we do? Does this mean we should go forward or back?"
For a moment, he strained his senses. Then, Xie Lian replied, "It means forward or back makes no difference, so who cares?"
He crawled forward. He crawled and crawled until he suddenly stopped in surprise.
"How can this be?" Shi Qingxuan said despite himself.
A fork in the road stood before them. There were two tunnels!
"Um… Could Yin Yu have dug a path and discovered he was going the wrong way, so he dug another one?" Shi Qingxuan wondered.
Yin Yu must be very familiar with the Heavenly Capital's layout. How could he make a mistake like that? Xie Lian thought. This is probably something worse.
He didn't say this out loud, though. He only said, "Qingxuan, can you help me ask San Lang to pick a path? Left or right?"
A moment later, Shi Qingxuan said, "Crimson Rain Sought Flower says…he doesn't recommend either one. 'Don't pick either.'" Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. While he figured there was probably something bad waiting for him at the end of both paths, he couldn't just stay where he was.
After some contemplation, he said, "Qingxuan, you pick one."
"Huh? Me?" Shi Qingxuan asked.
"Yeah. If you pick, there's still a fifty percent chance you'll pick the better route. If I pick, then…" "All right, I get it."
He struggled with this internal dilemma for a moment, then turned his head to the left. Xie Lian nodded and crawled over.
The deeper they crawled, the narrower the tunnel became; it was almost suffocating but still passable. They turned and wound and crawled for a long while before the burrow opened into a much larger space. Thankfully, although they remained on high alert the entire way, they hadn't run into any real danger. Xie Lian examined their surroundings for a moment.
"What is this place?"
"I don't know, I can't see clearly," Shi Qingxuan said, uncertain. "But why does it feel a little familiar—huh?!"
He wasn't the only one who noticed; Xie Lian had as well.
It was very familiar—wasn't this the secret room where Xie Lian had slept awaiting Yin Yu's return? He was certain. There was another tunnel in the chamber—it was the one Yin Yu had dug with the Earth Master Shovel when he left, the same one Xie Lian had used to go find him!
Shi Qingxuan shuddered. "How did we end up back here? Was there… Was this path here before?!"
Of course not! There was only one tunnel leading out when they left.
The path they used to return had appeared from nowhere. When they ran into that fork in the road, the left path detoured in a big circle and brought them back to the start!
Yin Yu couldn't have dug this—he wouldn't have wasted so much effort to secretly do something this pointless. He had probably encountered this bizarre detour as well. Xie Lian knew he should've gone with him.
Without another word, he crawled into the tunnel he had initially used to leave and quickly came to the fork in the road once more. This time, he chose the path on the right. As he crawled, Shi Qingxuan spoke.
"I think… It looks like my luck wasn't that great this time. I picked the wrong path. I should've chosen the right fork from the beginning!"
"No, I think your luck is still really good," Xie Lian said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Shi Qingxuan asked.
Xie Lian tried to word this delicately. "Hmm, how do I put this… The path on the right might be even scarier than the one on the left."
Then, they heard it. From behind came the scratching sounds of something rapidly closing in on their position.
Xie Lian unwrapped Ruoye and threw it behind him. "Ruoye! Help block it for a moment!"
He started madly crawling forward, almost three meters per push. Shi Qingxuan was losing his mind in panic.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, how exciting, exciting!
Excitingexcitingexciting!"
"The most exciting part hasn't come yet!" Xie Lian called out. "Come!
Take a look—!"
"What's that now?!" Shi Qingxuan exclaimed.
Xie Lian stopped his frantic crawling and gave a long exhale. Before them was another fork in the road!
"Right!" Shi Qingxuan cried without thinking.
Xie Lian turned right resolutely and kept crawling, but endless forks in the road presented themselves.
"Left! Right! Left! Right!" Shi Qingxuan cried.
He no longer even knew what he was yelling. Under such dire circumstances, with the situation changing at a moment's notice, he couldn't leave Xie Lian's body to ask Hua Cheng for advice—the situation might change completely on the next turn. The thing behind them had been blocked by Ruoye for a little while, but it was still closing in on them. The tunnels were also growing narrower and narrower, tighter and tighter. Finally, they reached the point where they couldn't move their arms at all!
"I can't crawl any further!" Xie Lian exclaimed, his shoulders already stuck.
"Then what should we do?" Shi Qingxuan cried. "Do we have to backtrack?!"
The thing pursuing them was going to catch up any second!
"No fear!" Xie Lian exclaimed. "A man can both charge and withdraw;
when moving forward is impossible, we'll take a step back! If that's our only option, then so be it! Come on!"
He took two steps backward, freeing a hand in the process. He was just about to grab for Fangxin and fight the thing behind him to his heart's content when a sudden chill ran through his body. Xie Lian's heart sank to the pit of his stomach. When he looked up, someone chuckled in the darkness—though he couldn't see who it was. A hand reached out and settled on Xie Lian's head. His eyes went wide, and the next moment, he lost consciousness.
Some time later, Xie Lian slowly came to.
Upon regaining consciousness, Xie Lian found himself sitting on a chair. His entire body was firmly and securely bound. As he struggled a bit, he discovered it was Ruoye that was binding him.
Xie Lian was perplexed. "Ruoye, what are you doing?"
Ruoye was clearly distressed, and it drooped, nuzzling him. Xie Lian looked closer and discovered that Ruoye had been tied into a series of complicated snarls. No wonder it couldn't fight back; being tied into knots like this was its greatest fear. Before it had grown wiser, it used to like to mindlessly wind around in play, and it'd invariably tangle itself into a mess of complicated knots as it did. Every time, Xie Lian would exasperatedly work the knots loose. It became smarter in time and learned to behave itself, and never knotted itself up again.
Feeling helpless, Xie Lian tried to see if he could break the chair apart instead, but unfortunately, it wouldn't move at all. It seemed to be affixed to the floor by extremely strong spiritual power.
Since he couldn't move, he decided to simply observe his surroundings. Xie Lian scanned the room. He was likely inside a palace—and a rather new and glamorous one at that—but he didn't know which one. In any case, it wasn't the Palace of Divine Might.
His thoughts were interrupted by a hand suddenly settling on his shoulder. A gentle voice came from over his head.
"Xianle, my dear Xianle. You really are too naughty."
Chills spiked up Xie Lian's spine at the sound of that voice. A man with one hand resting behind his back stepped forward from where he stood behind the chair. Jun Wu.
His other hand remained on Xie Lian's shoulder, and as he walked into view, he continued to speak.
"In the six months since your return, the Heavenly Capital has been smashed and broken, wrecked all over. You are quite naughty indeed, wouldn't you say? What were you doing, sneaking and scurrying about underground? Are you a little mouse? Was it fun?"
He spoke with a kind, gentle voice, like a father watching his beloved child mess around. Xie Lian found it intensely creepy and unnerving, and he had no idea how to respond. He felt a sudden gust of cold at his feet, and when he looked down, he saw a bundle of something white hugging his boots and watching him with a fiercely malicious stare—the fetus spirit.
Xie Lian lifted his gaze. He had pretty much figured out what had happened. Yin Yu was captured by Jun Wu while digging around with the Earth Master shovel. Jun Wu had then sent some things to stop Xie Lian underground, which was why he had gone through that terrifying experience.
After a moment struck speechless, Xie Lian finally knew what to say.
"…You have such awful hobbies."
That chase in the tunnels reminded him of the days he spent consumed by panic and anxiety due to White No-Face's suffocating pursuit. If Jun Wu had wanted to capture him, he should have just done it—why terrorize him like that?
However, Jun Wu seemed quite cheerful, and he smiled. "But Xianle is now much braver than before."
Xie Lian couldn't continue that line of conversation. Instead, he asked, "Where's Yin Yu?"
Jun Wu placed his hands on the back of the chair and turned Xie Lian around. "There is no rush. You will see. And there's not just him."
He was now facing a mirror. However, he didn't see his own reflection —rather, it showed a pale-faced Yin Yu. By Yin Yu's feet lay an unconscious person, head soaked with blood and face black and blue. From the curly hair, Xie Lian could tell it was Quan Yizhen.
Xie Lian asked in alarm, "What are you up to?"