The sound of the flames fell suddenly silent at the edges of her hearing. The back of her throat filled with a sweet, metallic taste. He Bang stood stunned for a moment, then slowly stepped back. She pressed her hand over the wound in her chest. Blood seeped between her fingers, vivid and striking. “Chunyu Lin.” She called to him softly. Every word carried pain. In the end, she said nothing more.
Chunyu Lin stood with his head bowed, still and composed as the deep sea. “Have you tasted what it is to be overlooked?” He was smiling, his eyes veiled behind what seemed like a layer of water — bright and yet sorrowful. “We have been together for over three hundred years, and yet in your eyes, I am nothing more than a reserve supply. For the sake of celestial flesh and blood, you would give yourself to another man — or even take his life! For the sake of distracting the Minghe Serpent, you would let me share a bed with another woman! He Pan — have you ever loved me?” His water-colored eyes were utterly adrift. “No… perhaps I should ask: do you even know what love is?”
Liu Qinfang stood behind Chunyu Lin, short knife in hand. The flames the Minghe Serpent had breathed lit up her face — that young face, already consumed by greed. “Chunyu Lin, why waste words on her? Extracting the Celestial Water Essence is what matters!”
Chunyu Lin slowly raised the Sun Wheel in his hand. His lip was bitten to the point of bleeding. “If thousands of years of time were still not enough to teach you how to love — then learn to hate.”
He gripped He Bang by the shoulder. The wheel hovered and tested the air a few times. A shadow of dark anguish flashed through his eyes. Then his right arm tensed, and he shoved He Bang out of the northern corner. He Bang’s long hair was swept up by the heat of the flames. Firelight reflected in her eyes, shimmering and luminous. Blood was thick in her throat. She could not say a single word.
From their corners, those standing in formation could only see her suddenly emerge from the northern corner. Rong Chen Zi and Zhuang Shaoqin were still fending off the mother serpent’s flames. The serpent was gravely wounded — if they could exhaust it, it would at least reduce casualties on their side. But seeing He Bang suddenly burst out, they couldn’t help but feel confused. In the end it was Rong Chen Zi who stared and said coldly: “She’s wounded?”
Before Zhuang Shaoqin could even respond, the mother serpent in the formation had already taken notice of the figure that had suddenly appeared. The distance was too short. The mother serpent summoned every last measure of her strength and unleashed a jet of blue-green flame.
He Bang had nowhere to go. She met it head-on.
As the flames touched that graceful body, Rong Chen Zi felt a sharp pang in his chest. He suddenly recalled whispered words and tender closeness, and the black hair that used to drape across half his shoulder in the stillness of midnight dreams. He reached out and pulled a talisman at random — he didn’t even check what color it was.
Too late… His palms were drenched in cold sweat. A voice inside him said again and again that he was too late. For a moment he didn’t know what to do.
A sound like shattering glass. Rong Chen Zi flung himself nearly on top of He Bang. He Bang’s skirt was soaked with blood, her face white as snow. She seemed frightened too, clinging to Rong Chen Zi’s collar with both hands and not speaking for a long time. The talisman in Rong Chen Zi’s hand had blocked the mother serpent’s venom. He swiftly carried He Bang to one side. He Bang touched the space at her neck — the protective talisman there had shattered into pieces. That had been what Rong Chen Zi fastened around her neck the last time they were at Changgang Mountain.
She buried her face in Rong Chen Zi’s chest. After a long while she raised her head. Rong Chen Zi met her gaze — they were close enough that he could see himself reflected in He Bang’s pupils. The shock and pain in He Bang’s eyes gradually receded. She leaned against Rong Chen Zi and struggled to sit upright, her gaze fixed on Chunyu Lin in the northern corner. Then a faint fragrance drifted past — half medicinal, half floral. She looked up at Rong Chen Zi. He drew a cut across his wrist and fed the blood to her lips. His tone was as remote as it could be: “Don’t look at me like that. This poor Daoist has no wish to be entangled with you any further. But you are here today only because this poor Daoist invited you.” He applied a hemostasis incantation to seal the wound on He Bang’s chest, his voice indifferent. “This poor Daoist has no place interfering in what lies between you and Chunyu Lin. But I cannot simply watch and let a person die before my eyes.”
He Bang’s chest was no longer bleeding, though the pain had not diminished in the slightest. Zhuang Shaoqin and Xingzhi Zhenren held the mother serpent at bay. Ye Tian came rushing over. When she saw the wound on He Bang’s chest, she only let out a cold snort: “Heaven’s justice turns in its own time — you deserve exactly this.”
The mother serpent was nearly at her limit. Everyone’s guard began to relax. Rong Chen Zi patted Ye Tian on the arm and said softly, “That’s enough.”
He Bang hung her head. Chunyu Lin and Liu Qinfang certainly would not let her go now. Rong Chen Zi had been nearly killed by her scheming — and by extension, Ye Tian and Zhuang Shaoqin also held at least some degree of hostility toward her. Xingzhi and Yuyang had never exchanged more than three sentences with her. Even the sea creatures stored outside were ordinarily managed by Chunyu Lin. Every connection she had to anyone had been made through Chunyu Lin as the intermediary. She had cultivated for a thousand years and had not made a single friend. She looked at Rong Chen Zi with glistening eyes, then at Xingzhi Zhenren, and quickly made her assessment: her only hope of survival was to cling to Rong Chen Zi. So even though she was in fierce pain, she still held on to Rong Chen Zi and would not let go. Rong Chen Zi gently pushed her: “The Minghe Serpent isn’t dead yet. Let go first.”
He Bang pressed against him insistently. Her face was white as snow, yet she still managed to coax out a thread of sultry charm in her smile: “Zhiguan~~” She called his name in a pleading, coaxing tone, the end note bending through three curves. Rong Chen Zi’s mouth twitched. He turned away to go. She wrapped herself around his leg and would not release him, her chest heaving with labored breaths, yet her expression only grew more wheedling and ingratiating: “Brother Rong! Generous Uncle Rong, save me — wuu wuu wuu!!”
This left not only Chunyu Lin with an iron-dark expression, but even Rong Chen Zi somewhere between laughter and exasperation. “This poor Daoist has not refused. Let go first.”
He Bang looked up at him with bright, glittering eyes: “You won’t let them kill me?”
Rong Chen Zi shook his head. “I won’t.”
Only then did He Bang release her grip. Rong Chen Zi glanced over at Chunyu Lin. A sharp, piercing edge came into his eyes as well: “Whoever dares to harm someone in this poor Daoist’s presence today — do not blame me for showing no mercy.”
He put out that warning. Only then did He Bang let go of her small hands. Rong Chen Zi, seeing that her chest wound seemed severe, couldn’t help but ask: “Are you all right?”
He Bang lifted her face. Her eyes shimmered with the light of tears: “I’m fine.”
Rong Chen Zi released her, then went with Zhuang Shaoqin and Xingzhi Zhenren to slay the mother serpent. Ye Tian stood guard beside He Bang, delivering a cold parting remark: “When someone has no shame to this degree, she truly is unmatched under heaven.”
He Bang crouched on the ground. She heard Ye Tian’s words and opened her mouth, but said nothing. Her water-colored skirt had become shades of red in varying depths, like a silk ribbon dissolving and billowing in a translucent layer of water — beautiful, and yet cruel. Liu Qinfang was still unwilling to accept the outcome. Chunyu Lin stared blankly at He Bang, his spirit utterly absent.
Ye Tian stood guard beside He Bang, and when she caught sight of Liu Qinfang, her anger erupted: “Since my Senior Brother has agreed to spare her life, I will protect her safety. Whoever wants her life will have to step over my corpse first!” She looked at Chunyu Lin, her gaze brimming with contempt: “The two of you really are a perfect match — neither of you is anything good. A pair of wretched, shameless creatures!”
Chunyu Lin offered no defense. He stared fixedly at He Bang in a daze, as if Ye Tian’s words hadn’t reached him at all.
The temperature at the base of the ravine climbed again, and everyone began to sweat. Rong Chen Zi turned back to see He Bang sitting quietly and kneeling on the ground, appearing relatively undamaged. He called out: “Use the ice-condensing technique. Bring the temperature down.”
He Bang tilted her face up to look at him. Firelight reflected in her eyes, making her seem like something from a dream: “If I bring the temperature down — will you treat my wounds?”
Her tone carried not the faintest trace of vulnerability. Rong Chen Zi answered without the slightest hesitation: “Yes.”
He Bang formed her hand seal. The technique took longer to cast than usual, but no one noticed. The temperature dropped again. The mother serpent in the formation was now so weak she could no longer lift her head. The firelight was growing dim. Just as everyone believed victory was within their grasp, an immense and overwhelming pressure crashed down from all directions — and from beneath the mother serpent’s body, another serpent’s head was revealed.
Rong Chen Zi’s realization struck like lightning: the relief carvings on the white jade pillars had been duplicated because the formation had always contained two Minghe Serpents. He deeply regretted not having read the full relief carvings on the white jade pillars — but at a moment between life and death, regret was useless. Everyone fell back without being told and began running for the way out. The seal had been in two layers: the mother serpent must have shed one layer first, then used the force of everyone’s attacks to break the seal on the male serpent. No one dared to fight any further. Their only hope now was to flee while the male serpent had not yet fully broken free of the second seal.
But He Bang could not keep up. Her constitution was weak at the best of times — and now she carried serious wounds on top of it. She tried several times to crawl to her feet, and in the end could only lie prone on the ground.
Rong Chen Zi held Ye Tian’s hand with his right. He saw the water filling He Bang’s eyes and the wound on her chest, and felt his resolve waver. A wave of flame spread outward; the temperature in the ravine surged violently. Rong Chen Zi could spare no more thought for anything else. He turned back and ran toward her. His left arm swung outward and gathered her into his embrace. Fire tongues licked at his back. The air filled with a thick, rich fragrance. His sweat fell onto He Bang’s face, but he bit down hard and made not a sound. Ye Tian’s eyes filled with tears: “Senior Brother!”
Rong Chen Zi held He Bang, led Ye Tian, and ran forward. He shook his head and said nothing.
The Minghe Serpent howled in furious protest. Venom blazed with a crackling ferocity. Where the flames had eaten, thin curls of green smoke rose from the scorched earth. He Bang soaked the shark-silk she was clutching with water and raised it. Rong Chen Zi felt a coolness against his face as He Bang used the shark-silk to cover his mouth and nose. After a few more moments, the exit of the crevice was right before them.
The group was almost free. But the two serpents in the formation were hardly willing to let them go. The mother serpent let out a roar, and a ball of flame drenched in venom was spat forward, landing squarely over the exit. Flame and venom piled up endlessly at the mouth of the crevice. The temperature inside the ravine climbed higher and higher. Everyone was desperate.
He Bang steadied herself against Rong Chen Zi and stood. Her voice had gone hoarse: “Zhiguan, I’ll get you all out. You will treat my wounds, yes?”
Rong Chen Zi nodded again: “Yes.”
He Bang formed her right hand into a seal. While everyone’s attention was on her fingertips, an ice spike drove straight through Chunyu Lin’s chest. Chunyu Lin let out a muffled sound as the spike passed clean through him. Liu Qinfang screamed and flung herself toward him. The ice spike pulled Chunyu Lin forcibly toward the exit of the crevice. A transparent stream of water began to flow toward He Bang in an unbroken current. He Bang pressed her lips together. There was nothing in her eyes — no ripple, no feeling. She drained every last drop of the water stored within Chunyu Lin’s body. Amid Liu Qinfang’s sobbing cries, she seized Chunyu Lin and flung him toward the mouth of the crevice. The group felt a tremendous force take hold of them, darkness rushed over their eyes — and they were inside the crevice.
Below the ravine, the earth began to shake. Inside the crevice, rock and dirt began to rain down. Rong Chen Zi covered the rear. He directed Xingzhi Zhenren to lead the way forward, with Zhuang Shaoqin following behind, then Qingxuan, Qingsu, Yuyang Zhenren, and Ye Tian in succession. He Bang was ahead of Rong Chen Zi, who took the rear. As for Chunyu Lin and Liu Qinfang — no one asked, and Rong Chen Zi did not think of them.
Everywhere He Bang had crawled, the earth was wet and muddy and slick. Rong Chen Zi followed for some time behind her, and at last asked again: “Are you all right?”
In the darkness he could not see He Bang’s expression. He only heard her voice, which sounded as if it took considerable effort: “Mm.”
The rocks falling around them grew heavier and heavier. The crevice showed signs of collapse. Everyone was fighting for their lives to get forward. Ye Tian was terrified that He Bang would slow Rong Chen Zi down; she pulled at He Bang with all her strength, heedless of whether the jutting rocks might scrape her. He Bang made not a single sound and let herself be dragged.
Chunyu Lin only loves Liu Qinfang now. No one loves me anymore. She wrinkled her small nose and pressed forward with every ounce of strength she had. Her arms and legs were scored with cuts of varying depths, but compared to the wound at her chest, those could barely be called pain at all.
The stone and earth fell ever faster, but the exit was almost within reach. Xingzhi Zhenren was the first to make it out. He pulled Zhuang Shaoqin out after him, his voice urgent: “The passage is collapsing fast — hurry!”
More and more debris came crashing down. In many places they had to clear away piled rock just to pass through. He Bang couldn’t shift the stones. She tried several times. Every one of her ten fingers was bleeding. Ye Tian was so frantic her voice cracked with the edge of tears: “You wretched river clam, if you want to die then get out of the way and let my Senior Brother through! You worthless creature — Senior Brother will be dragged to his death by you sooner or later!”
He Bang bit her lip. After a brief pause she went back to clawing at the rock and earth. In a moment Rong Chen Zi had crawled up alongside her. The two of them wedged into the crevice together with no room to move at all. His physical strength far exceeded hers. In no time at all he had cleared the debris. He Bang was about to climb through — when suddenly her ankle was seized. She let out a single cry, and was dragged down into the crevice. Her hands were covered in blood and mud. Rong Chen Zi’s grip failed. His hand came up empty. Then his chest went empty too — as though his heart had been wrenched away.
Ye Tian shoved her arm into the crevice and grabbed blindly. She finally pulled someone out — and found it was Liu Qinfang. She spat in disgust, then shoved her head back in: “Senior Brother? Senior Brother, where are you?”
Liu Qinfang had dissolved into tears: “Chunyu Lin!” She threw herself at the entrance of the hole. Zhuang Shaoqin kicked her away and dove into the passage himself. He crawled forward for over a zhang and ran into Rong Chen Zi, who had already turned back to find He Bang. Without any hesitation, Zhuang Shaoqin seized Rong Chen Zi and dragged him toward the exit: “Senior Brother — life and death are ordained by fate. You of all people, as someone who has walked the path of cultivation, you know this!”
Rong Chen Zi didn’t understand what had happened to him. His chest heaved in wave after wave of pain, as if it were splitting open: “I promised I would get her out and treat her wounds. How can I break my word to her?”
Zhuang Shaoqin hauled him all the way to the exit with brute force. Ye Tian grabbed hold of him too. The two of them together dragged him out of the passage. The mountain shuddered with a violent tremor. The crevice collapsed.