Beside this fire-filled great pit, there were many other doors, some open, some closed, sinister and terrifying. Presumably many passages in Wandering Eyebrow Garden led to this pit. Zhong Chunji’s body trembled slightly. Like ordinary women, she feared darkness, and the darkness of this room—behind half-open, half-closed doors, behind bright leaping flames—was extremely terrifying. Chi Yun focused on that chain bridge. “This bridge is far too narrow—it looks specially made for roasting meat.” Shen Langhun said flatly, “Correct.”

The bridge in the flames was only an arm’s width, at most allowing one person to pass. Iron chains crisscrossed on both sides—not for support, but to intensify the chains’ heat. If someone walked on the bridge, they would surely suffer terrible scorching from the red-hot chains. Before taking ten steps, they’d be roasted until their skin split and flesh tore, or else fall into the fire pit.

On the far shore of the fire pit, a coffin sat quietly—made of crystal, clear and transparent, faintly revealing azure light under the firelight.

“That coffin—” Zhong Chunji exclaimed, “Is that the blue ice coffin?” Chi Yun didn’t pause at all, directly sweeping toward the chain bridge. Before his foot touched the chains, a Moon-Crossing Ring had already struck out, “clanging” against the red-hot iron cables. Just as he was about to borrow the force to leap up, when the silver blade fell and touched the iron cable, it suddenly went soft and couldn’t provide leverage. Chi Yun’s body sank, but with extremely rich combat experience, he did a small flip and kicked the silver blade with a “slap,” borrowing the momentum to return. But that Moon-Crossing Ring, heated and stuck to the iron cable, couldn’t come back and gradually began to melt.

“These iron cables aren’t ordinary objects.” Shen Langhun looked coldly at the ice coffin on the far shore. “It seems we underestimated these iron cables. Many who died foolishly in the fire. But this ice coffin must have been placed there only in recent days. After he seized Fang Zhou’s corpse from the National Uncle’s mansion, knowing you would surely pursue, he used it as bait to lure you into jumping into the fire pit.” Tang Lici returned Little Peach Red to Zhong Chunji. In the scorching air, his robe corners lifted slightly, curling in the firelight. He stared intently at the azure ice coffin on the far shore. For an instant, the expression flashing through his eyes seemed both crying and laughing. “Even if it’s a fire pit, I have no choice but to jump…” He murmured to himself, “He always understood me well. I just don’t understand… why can you understand me so well, yet cannot trust me… Yes, I’ve always gone too far, but… but from childhood to now, I’ve always been this excessive. What have I ever done that wasn’t excessive? You could always tolerate it—why this time… can’t you forgive me?” He looked at that ice coffin. “Big brother… please tell A’Yan for me, this time it’s not me being willful. Though I’m still being excessive, but… I truly want to save you…”

The other three stood aside, watching Tang Lici talking to himself at the ice coffin, not knowing what he said, exchanging glances. Zhong Chunji grabbed Chi Yun’s sleeve and said quietly, “Can’t he not go over? That… those chains…” Chi Yun shook her off and said coldly, “If he wants to go over, can you stop him?” Zhong Chunji said, “But… that’s already a dead person, isn’t it? Even if he goes over from here, he can’t save him anymore. Why go over?” She grabbed Chi Yun’s sleeve again. “I think there will be even more dangerous mechanisms beyond the iron cables. Stop him…” Chi Yun looked coldly at her hand gripping his sleeve. “Let go!” Zhong Chunji released her grip in alarm. Her mind was unsettled. She felt that if Tang Lici stepped onto the iron cables, he would surely encounter dangers more terrible than Iron Armor Million Soldiers. But she was insignificant and powerless to stop him. In her panic, something in her bosom shifted slightly. She reached into her clothes and tightly gripped that bottle of medicine.

“The Blazing Fire Chain Bridge—if you practice cold yin energy and use the method of freezing a bowl of water into ice, you might temporarily resist this high heat,” Shen Langhun pondered. “Or if there’s something that can resist the flames below, build another bridge.” Tang Lici, with his back to Shen Langhun, seemed to turn a deaf ear. His body moved as if to sweep onto the chain bridge. Shen Langhun, quick-eyed and quick-handed, pressed down. “Wait! Don’t be impulsive…” Before he finished speaking, Tang Lici’s hand shot out like lightning. With a “crack,” he counter-gripped his wrist. Shen Langhun shook his hand and retreated rapidly in severe pain—by a hair’s breadth, Tang Lici had nearly dislocated his wrist joint. In that instant, he understood: with the ice coffin placed beside the fire pit, no matter what kind of ice coffin it was, it would surely melt, so… Tang Lici had lost his composure. But Tang Lici was never composed to begin with—he always acted on smiling arrogance, never on composure! Looking up, he saw Tang Lici leap onto the bridge, his foot touching the blazing red-hot iron cables. As he descended, the iron cables swayed slightly, and his clothes and hair immediately caught fire. Zhong Chunji covered her mouth in alarm, her face pale. Chi Yun’s body spun, but Shen Langhun grabbed him, his eyes flashing brilliantly. “Even if you could get on the bridge, what then? Come down!”

While speaking, Tang Lici’s entire body caught fire. In several bounds, he ran across the iron cable bridge and reached the far shore.

On the far shore, the ground was covered with water traces that hadn’t dried even under the blazing flames’ scorching. Fire leaped at his robe corners. Because the time in the fire wasn’t long, the fire on his clothes slowed but didn’t extinguish, still burning quietly. Tang Lici looked at the ice coffin on the ground, motionless.

It was a coffin made of solid ice, crystal clear and transparent, faintly glowing blue. But… beside this high-temperature fire pit, it had melted to only an extremely thin layer. The water traces covering the ground came from this. The water from this melted coffin was different from ordinary clear water—extremely difficult to evaporate and very viscous.

“Fox!”

“Tang Lici!”

“Young Master Tang!”

Ethereal shouts came from the far shore, voices anxious. Chi Yun’s voice was especially loud. “Are you seeking death? Put out the fire! You madman surnamed Tang!”

Inside the blue ice coffin… there was nothing.

“Ha… hehe…” Tang Lici laughed quietly. His always complex and varied expression now clearly showed fervor, joy, anger, and self-admiration. “As expected—”

This blue ice coffin melting beside the blazing fire was not the one Tang Lici had used to place Fang Zhou’s corpse, but a false coffin made of other materials in imitation. Naturally, Fang Zhou wasn’t in this coffin. Fire burned at his shoulders and sleeve corners. Tang Lici shook his robes, and the flames spreading around his body extinguished. Even though Chi Yun’s group was on the far shore, they could smell the scent of burned flesh. Zhong Chunji was covered in cold sweat, her face ghastly pale, her right hand tightly gripping the collar at her chest. She didn’t understand so-called life-and-death friendship or brotherly loyalty, didn’t understand why a living person would brave fire and water for a dead person. But she knew that if this continued, Tang Lici would surely be killed by these various mechanisms set specifically for him. For a corpse that couldn’t possibly revive, was it worth it? Was it worth it?

“Are you badly hurt?” Chi Yun called from afar. “Did you find anyone?” Shen Langhun suddenly shouted loudly, “Careful! Fire snakes! Fire snakes!” Zhong Chunji moaned and swayed unsteadily, staggering back two steps against the earthen wall beside her. Fire snakes—silver ring snakes that hurt and killed people, their bodies coated with deadly poison, their bellies implanted with explosive gunpowder. Such things were only heard of in martial world legends. But on the far shore, scales glittered as dozens of silver-gleaming ring snakes emerged from the earthen walls beside the fire pit, crawling straight toward Tang Lici, whose body still had smoke rising from it.

With a thunderous “boom,” dust suddenly rose on the far shore, water splashed, mixed with scattered firelight. The smell of gunpowder filled the area as if a ball of fierce flame had exploded, then the smoke and flames dispersed. The three stared wide-eyed and saw a large crater blasted in the earthen wall on the far shore. Dozens of fire snakes had vanished without a trace. Tang Lici’s hands were bloody, covered with tiny wounds from poisonous snake bites. Snake after snake had their skulls crushed and were thrown into the fire pit. Despite his lightning-fast hands, one fire snake still exploded upon contact, thrown by him to blast a large hole in the earthen wall. Following the explosion’s violent shaking of the earthen wall, an iron gate suddenly fell from above, with six sharp spear points underneath. It crashed into the ground with a clang, missing injuring anyone by a hair’s breadth. Tang Lici suddenly turned around—covered in blood with disheveled hair, his hands full of poisonous snake fangs, trapped behind the gate. Only his eyes blazed with light like a blood-drinking fierce beast. He slightly raised his head, bit his lip, but smiled faintly, saying lightly to the far shore in a gentle voice, “Little Peach Red.”

Zhong Chunji stood there dazed. Chi Yun snatched Little Peach Red from her hand and threw it across. The blade swept through the air with a “slap” as Tang Lici caught it with an upraised hand. The blade light still hung in mid-air when Little Peach Red’s sharp pink gleam suddenly drew a circle. The iron gate crashed down and fell into the fire pit. With one successful strike, Tang Lici didn’t linger. His form like a wild goose passing floating clouds, he stepped across the still blazingly terrifying iron cable bridge and returned before the three as if nothing had happened.

Shen Langhun’s hand shot out like lightning, instantly sealing six pressure points on both his hands. With a “clang,” Little Peach Red fell to the ground. Chi Yun grabbed Tang Lici’s hands and was horrified to see that the originally snow-white, slender palms had blisters in some places. The backs of his hands were covered with wounds, some still containing poisonous snake fangs, slightly purplish-blue, bleeding everywhere—a terrible sight. “You—” For a moment he didn’t know what to say to him. Anger surged in his chest, but when it reached his heart, it was full of bitterness. “You’re mad.”

Besides his hands and shoulders, Tang Lici’s clothes were burned in many places, suffering fire injuries all over. His legs and feet were most severely injured. Much of his silver hair was burned away, mixed with blood and ash on his shoulders, making it somewhat darker. Though his face was blackened by fire and smoke, it was completely unharmed. Zhong Chunji was completely stunned, tears bursting from her eyes and sliding down her cheeks. She covered her face… Shen Langhun’s hands didn’t stop, taking golden wound medicine powder from his bosom and applying it to clothes and wounds together. But the poisonous wounds on his hands weren’t something he could treat. “Do you feel any discomfort?” he asked in a deep voice.

Tang Lici raised his hands. “It’s nothing.” Chi Yun slightly lifted his collar and saw the skin inside was red and swollen, all fire injuries. “Bitten by dozens of extremely poisonous fire snakes, and you say it’s nothing? What do you think you’re made of? Do you think you’re really an invincible demon or monster that can’t die?” Tang Lici said gently, “Even Scarlet Ghost Nine Heart Pills couldn’t poison me to death. What are mere ring snakes? Don’t worry—the hands are just flesh wounds.”

“Covered in fire wounds, without proper medicine, the consequences could be dire,” Shen Langhun said flatly. “Let’s leave now. We can’t continue searching.” Chi Yun was about to speak when Tang Lici looked at his blood-covered body, his eyes moving slightly, and said calmly, “That’s fine… but before leaving, let me rest here for a moment. Chi Yun, go bring some clothes in.” They each carried bundles on their backs, but had left them outside the door before entering to prevent hindrance, not bringing them along.

“I’ll be right back.” Chi Yun responded and left. Tang Lici sat down where he was, closed his eyes to meditate and circulate energy to expel poison. Zhong Chunji stood to one side, staring blankly at him. Little Peach Red lay nearby, but she didn’t pick it up, just staring intently at Tang Lici. Shen Langhun took an extremely small silver knife from his bosom and slowly cut open the snake wounds on Tang Lici’s hands, removing fangs and squeezing out poisonous blood. Counting roughly, there were twenty-eight fang marks on his hands. If it were anyone else, they would surely have died long ago.

“Fang Zhou wasn’t on the far shore?” he asked flatly while treating his wounds. Tang Lici looked toward the far shore and smiled gently. “No.” After a pause, Shen Langhun said, “Do the wounds on your body hurt?” Tang Lici moved his finger slightly, lightly brushing his hair. Thick blood flowed down his hair, dripping onto his wound-covered chest. “This… could it be that Shen Langhun has never suffered injuries worse than mere fire burns?” Shen Langhun was startled, then smiled faintly. “You’re the National Uncle, who never traveled the martial world in your life. How can you compare with Shen Langhun?” Tang Lici didn’t pay much attention to his wounds, looking faintly at the flames in the fire pit. “Fire burns and snake bites are nothing… I…” His words stopped abruptly. He didn’t continue, changing his words: “When Fang Zhou practiced the Rebirth Manual’s power exchange with me, that exchange pain was truly painful.”

“Young Master Tang,” Zhong Chunji suddenly asked quietly, “you… what kind of person were you in your youth, before becoming National Uncle?” She had long known about Three Sounds Fang Zhou exchanging his power with Tang Lici, but that person said Tang Lici was heartless and unrighteous, trading his friend’s life for supreme martial arts. If he truly were such a person, why would he travel thousands of miles to come here, suffer the torment of mechanisms and poisonous snakes, and insist on finding Fang Zhou’s corpse? He certainly wasn’t the treacherous villain that person described, but… but… but the problem wasn’t that he was heartless and unrighteous, but that he valued relationships and righteousness too much—so much it was nearly killing him… What could be done about this?

Tang Lici looked up at her. “Before? In my youth?” He smiled slightly. “In my youth I was very wealthy, and I still am today.” Zhong Chunji was stunned. No matter how much she thought, she never imagined he would say this—the meaning was that he had no intention of discussing the past with her. What he did needed no explanation to her, much less discussion. She need only follow behind. Even if he jumped into fire pits to die, it had nothing to do with her.

When a man rejects concern, how can he reject it so cruelly? She smiled bitterly. What a line: “In my youth I was very wealthy”—spoken so frankly, so proudly, showing he didn’t put people in his eyes at all…

Just then, Chi Yun returned with a gray robe. Tang Lici put the gray robe over his clothes but showed no intention of standing up. He gently sighed, looking at the broken false coffin on the far shore. “If I just left like this, do you think he would blame me in the future…”

“He’s already dead. If there really are ghosts in the world, he should see how desperately you’ve fought for him and naturally wouldn’t blame you.” Chi Yun rarely said a few comforting words, though they didn’t sound very convincing. Shen Langhun frowned. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to spend the night here. Even if I can’t find Fang Zhou’s corpse, it’s an explanation to myself,” Tang Lici said softly. “Let me keep him company for one night, all right?” Speaking in low, soft tones, this ash-like gentle frailty—did it represent a realization that hope was shattered?

Chi Yun and Shen Langhun exchanged glances. Zhong Chunji stood motionless to one side, her expression wooden. Shen Langhun pondered briefly. “I’ll go outside to the mountain valley to find some medicinal herbs.” Chi Yun stared at Tang Lici and actually sighed for once—unprecedented. “I really can’t do anything with you. Anyway, it’s getting dark. Shen, when you go find medicine, also hunt some game. If we’re spending the night, we’re spending the night, but food and drink can’t be skipped.”

This night passed in silent companionship by the campfire. Tang Lici didn’t speak—seriously injured, it wasn’t strange that he didn’t speak, but everyone knew he didn’t want to speak. When Tang Lici didn’t speak, Chi Yun lay down and slept, and everyone knew he was extremely dissatisfied with Tang Lici’s death-seeking behavior. Shen Langhun used a tree branch to lightly stir the campfire, his peripheral vision watching Zhong Chunji, his gaze indifferent, thinking unknown thoughts. Zhong Chunji stared intently at Tang Lici’s back, not saying a word all night.

After a long time, Chi Yun began snoring. Zhong Chunji closed her eyes and slept. Shen Langhun listened quietly to the surrounding silence, sitting cross-legged in meditation to replace sleep. Soon he entered a state of selflessness. Just as the three fell asleep, Tang Lici opened his eyes and slowly stood up. His slightly swaying figure turned toward those great doors beside the fire pit and silently disappeared into the darkness behind the doors.

After Tang Lici left, Zhong Chunji opened her eyes, tears slowly flowing down.

As expected… he wouldn’t give up.

Without finding what he sought, he absolutely wouldn’t leave.

Was a friend’s corpse really so important—important enough that even adding another corpse didn’t matter? You… do you know how difficult and painful it is for us to see you like this? You’re pursuing something impossible to find. Finding his corpse—would that make you feel better? Would he really come back to life? Actually, in your heart, the guilt over Fang Zhou’s death might be heavier than anyone’s, but no one understands, or perhaps even you don’t understand.

And clearly on this path to finding him, countless mechanisms, hidden weapons, poisons, and bloody blades were scattered everywhere. How could someone as clever and calculating as you not know this clearly? I can’t let you continue like this. They allow your willful recklessness because they think they understand your brotherly loyalty, but I… I only want your life, not your righteousness.

Zhong Chunji reached into her bosom. The bottle of medicine inside suddenly became extremely cold, like a sharp edge within. She gripped that bottle of medicine tightly. In her drifting, confused heart, for the first time in her life, she had a clear, distinct decision.

The night gradually passed. Zhong Chunji sat quietly by the fire, quietly waiting.