Chapter 29
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The filthy room receded and the dark space returned.
Qinghe's angelic and childish figure turned back to his current self. Before he could do anything, Wei Xiang had already come up to him and hugged him.
"What's wrong?" Qinghe asked concernedly.
Wei Xiang asked a question in return. "Are you alright?"
Confused, Qinghe replied, "Why wouldn't I be?"
The others had wanted to walk over and offer their congratulations, but seeing the Sentinel stuck to him like dog plaster, they decided to let it be.
"So, did I pass?" Qinghe asked.
Wei Xiang let him go finally and nodded. "Of course, it should be so."
"Then we can go through?" Qinghe confirmed.
"Yes, the both of us can go to the dimension now."
Seeing that they'd ended their display of affection, the others also walked up and offered their congratulations on passing the trial.
An YaLing finally asked, "Brother Feng, was that Yan Lin your friend?" He remembered long ago that a boy named Yan Lin had been taken away from a village or something like that, which was why he asked.
But to the surprise of all those present, Qinghe shook his head and said, "Who is that? I don't think I've heard of them."
Everyone had clearly heard Qinghe call out to the thin boy being dragged away in the nightmare trial. The name he'd called was undoubtedly 'Yan Lin'. Why was he pretending to not know? But looking at his expression, he really didn't seem to be lying?
Wei Xiang suddenly said to Qinghe, "Don't mind it, he must have been mistaken." Qinghe nodded placidly. Then Wei Xiang shot a look at An YaLing that told him not to bring up this matter again.
Though he was puzzled at first, An YaLing soon understood. He shook his head in pity. The others also showed expressions of realization. Xiao Ran remembered how Qinghe had suggested he might have buried and forgotten his painful memory of being chased and bitten by dogs and also understood.
The memory of this Yan Lin must be tragic enough for Qinghe to have buried it. If that was the case, then this Yan Lin's end might not have been good. If he had already died, then there was no use in bringing him up now.
Qinghe found the others looking at him with strange, meaningful gazes and was confused. Was it because he passed the test?
Lei Zihua was the first to break this awkward silence. "Brother Feng, I wish to discuss something with you. If you manage to kill this beast, I'd like you to bottle some of its venom if you could…"
Seeing that Qinghe was busy discussing with her, Wei Xiang beckoned to Jing Shui and An YaLing. They stepped a bit further away to avoid being overheard.
"What is it?" Jing Shui asked immediately.
"Is this about that Yan Lin?" An YaLing was a bit more perceptive.
Wei Xiang nodded. "It seems you know something about this person?" he asked.
Nodding, An YaLing explained, "I do, but it's not much. I only know that a young boy named Yan Lin disappeared from one of the villages. Many other children had also been disappearing from the area, so our sect took a look. It turned out to be an evil spirit. We were able to save the other kids, but we couldn't find this Yan Lin. It was assumed that he had been taken away by someone else during the confusion so that we'd blame his disappearance on the evil spirit. That's why the name stayed with me."
Wei Xing looked thoughtful. He instructed Jing Shui, "Use your network to find out about this Yan Lin. I want to confirm if he's truly dead, and if he is, where his body lies."
Jing Shui bristled. "Why should I listen to your orders?!"
"Aren't you Qinghe's friend? Finding out what happened to that kid might help untangle his memory. So shouldn't you want to help him?" Wei Xiang threw back while grinning, making Jing Shui angry enough to throw up blood.
"Fine! But I'm doing it for him and not you!" he snarled.
With a straight face, Wei Xiang said, "Helping my lover means helping me. So you are helping me."
"Argh!"
An YaLing just looked on and smiled amusedly at their childish arguing.
"What happened with these two?" Qinghe asked, done with his discussion with Lei Zihua.
Shaking his head, An YaLing just kept smiling while thinking it was good that Qinghe seemed to have such devoted people looking out for him.
The dark surroundings suddenly wavered.
Everyone became vigilant.
As the darkness began to fade, so did the four people who couldn't pass the trial. Qinghe presumed that they would be returning to the clearing with the tree guardian.
When the dark space completely disappeared along with the others, Qinghe and Wei Xiang found themselves in a forest. Unlike the forest outside the dimension, the forest here was filled with bright sunshine that playfully dappled the dry ground. The trees and plants all looked normal and there were no strange animals lurking about.
Only, there was no sound of wildlife at all.
Wei Xiang looked around and found a patch of flattened vegetation. He gestured to it and speculated, "This must be made by that beast when it entered the dimension." A trail of broken branches and trampled ground led from the flattened area. "That is the path it must have taken."
Qinghe smiled at Wei Xiang. "Are we still not talking about it?" he asked.
"Talk about what?"
"About how this beast was able to get in. I don't think it needed to pass any trials. Maybe, just like you, the beast had the right to freely enter," Qinghe deduced.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Wei Xiang pretended to not understand.
Sighing, Qinghe said, "Doesn't that mean you and this beast are both of the same species, maybe even related?"
Wei Xiang looked at him and expressed vehemently, "Maybe we are, but I am definitely not like those things!"
Qinghe raised an eyebrow. It seemed he felt strongly about this subject.
Sighing, Wei Xiang spoke, "I will tell you about it later if you want to know. We shouldn't be standing and chatting around with danger so close."
Deciding to let him have his reprieve, Qinghe set the matter aside for now.
They followed the trail left behind by the beast and walked in silence. Dry leaves crunched underfoot. The rustling of the leaves sounded melancholic. The wind brought with it the smell of crushed leaves and desiccated earth. If there were any birds or beasts, they chose to keep their silence.
Wei Xiang was frowning murderously. He was obviously very displeased at the thought of meeting someone of the same species. Though Qinghe didn't understand his reasons, he would still be by his side.
Sidling up to him, Qinghe reached out and intertwined their fingers. His frown forgotten, Wei Xiang looked down at their joined hands.
"No need to be all bent out of shape over this. If you don't like that beast so much then I'll just kill it for you," Qinghe reassured.
Though his doubts remained, Wei Xiang couldn't help smiling a bit. "Alright then," he said, his mood a lot lighter. It was not just because of the reassurance, since he was confident he could take out a puny lizard or two with ease on his own. What gladdened him was that Qinghe had taken the initiative to offer comfort.
Leaning over, Wei Xiang rubbed his cheek against Qinghe's affectionately. Disentangling his hand, he looped it over his lover's slim waist and held him close. Qinghe let him do whatever he wanted. It was good as long as he wasn't gloomy anymore.
With this harmonious ambiance between them, they finally reached the end of the trail. It led to a rock face housing the huge mouth of a cave. A strong scent of blood, cooked flesh, and festering wounds emanated from within.
"Do you think the beast is inside?" Qinghe asked.
Wei Xiang opened his mouth slightly and sucked in the air, using both his sense of taste and smell to parse through the various scents.
"Yes, it's inside," he finally concluded.
Without having to say anything else, they both stepped inside the cave. Though the floor here was rocky and uneven, neither of them faced any problems as they steadily and cautiously made their way forward.
As they moved further inside, the air grew stagnant and dank. The amount of light dimmed and seeing soon became difficult for Qinghe, but since Wei Xiang's vision was far better, he led them forward.
The walls of the cave progressively widened. They soon reached a large cavern whose high ceiling opened up to the sky. Beams of light gently floated down from the opening and fell on the curled up form of the serpent beast resting in the center, setting its faded copper-colored scales aglow.
Large patches of its scales were burned off, revealing raw red and pink meat underneath, with the blackened edges of the wounds oozing pus. It seemed that its injuries were causing its cultivation to constantly drop, for it had already descended to the lower level of eighth realm.
As Qinghe was already at the peak of seventh realm, he reckoned that since the gap wasn't that big, he could take it on and win.
Sensing intruders, the serpent lifted its great head from within its coils, its nostrils flaring. Slitted pupils contracted within vigilant metallic brown eyes. Its maw opened, revealing bloody and yellowed teeth as it sucked in the air much like Wei Xiang had done, trying to taste the air.
Something like surprise and rage flitted across its brutally scarred face, mixing with a healthy dose of fear.
The lines of its sleek head flared at the back of the skull to form a wide crest that looked like a fully opened fan. It slowly uncoiled, its body at least twenty meters in length, long and smooth like a gigantic snake. The end of its spiked tail waved hypnotically in the air.
Standing up like a cobra ready to strike, the serpent beast growled, "Xiang, you bastard! You betrayer! Murderer! So you've returned!"
Its hoarse voice was undoubtedly that of a female's.
Wei Xiang was unmoved, his expression casual and mocking. "Cousin, I'm glad to see that you've not been well."
A thundering roar ripped out of the serpent's damaged throat. The roar was magnified in the limited space of the cavern and echoed long after the serpent ceased.
"Are you trying to intimidate me? How funny," Wei Xiang sneered. "You cheap things are all the same."
The serpent was visibly more furious as she spat, "What has become of you then? Didn't you run off to become a wretched human's pet? Tell me, how does that feel like?"
Wei Xiang chuckled mirthlessly. "You keep your filthy mouth shut about my master. You don't have the right to even think of him."
The serpent threw back her head and laughed in her gravelly voice. "Master?! You call a human your master? How hilarious that is! The greatest among the descendants of serpents and true dragons, the most powerful prodigy in a hundred thousand years, the sovereign of our clan, and you call a mere human your master!"
But Wei Xiang's calm did not even crack. "Of course I do. You can only blame your own eyes for being so covered with your own shit that you cannot see the eminence of my master. I pity your ignorance."
The laughter abruptly stopped. "YOU―!" The serpent seemed so angry that she choked on her own words. Unable to vent her anger on him, the serpent's attention suddenly shifted to Qinghe, who Wei Xiang still held closely by the waist.
The intimacy between them was obvious.
Eyes narrowing in malicious glee, the serpent opened wide its jaws and unleashed a torrent of yellow-green liquid in Qinghe's direction. Qinghe swiftly put up a barrier, but the liquid dissolved it and continued towards him. Wei Xiang quickly blocked it in time with his sleeve and the fluid splattered on the ground. With a hissing sound, it dissolved the rocky floor, only leaving behind smoking pits.
What venom, this was clearly very strong acid! Qinghe exclaimed to himself before hurriedly checking Wei Xiang's arm for damage.
The acid had corroded away most of Wei Xiang's sleeve and his vambrace, revealing the golden wire coiled neatly around his completely undamaged arm. Qinghe sighed in relief.
Wei Xiang, on the other hand, was beyond furious that she'd aimed for his beloved.
The golden wires wrapped around both his arms smoothly and swiftly unwound before shooting downwards, their sharp tips easily piercing into the ground. Wei Xiang sent the wires quickly through the stone floor and out the cave walls. The wires erupted out of either side of the serpent, and despite her struggles, wrapped completely around her.
She was bound from neck to tail wholly and securely by the golden strings that extended from the rocky walls, barely able to move a muscle.
For the female serpent, it brought back memories of the time she had gotten these grievous injuries ten thousand years ago. She remembered with fear the devilish appearance of this cousin of hers that she and her friends had once mercilessly bullied.
Wei Xiang had always been raised high up to the heavens with praises and coddled with care, for he was the first child to be born in their clan after close to seven thousand years, and he was a peerless prodigy to boot. They had all been so jealous of him.
And then he'd showed them all just how cruel he could be…
Injured severely, she had barely managed to get out with her life, but her wounds had never healed. She remembered how she'd anxiously waited, hiding outside the dimension while terrified that her cousin would maybe cease conversing with his human companion, the man he now called master, and turn around to spot her hiding so pathetically. She remembered the humiliation of losing to a brat and the resulting fear and pain.
No, she couldn't face that again. She couldn't let him kill her!
Seeing that she was in dire straits, the female serpent's tune abruptly changed.
She purred throatily, "Cousin Xiang, don't be like this. We are the only two of our kind left. I'm sure I'll be more useful to you alive and whole."
"Oh?" Wei Xiang quirked an eyebrow mirthlessly. "Can something like you even be useful?"
Gritting her teeth, the female serpent continued ingratiatingly, "Of course. I would be very useful in repopulating our kind by birthing your children! I'm the only one who can do this. I'm the only female left of the heavenly wyverns, the last one remaining!"
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The filthy room receded and the dark space returned.
Qinghe's angelic and childish figure turned back to his current self. Before he could do anything, Wei Xiang had already come up to him and hugged him.
"What's wrong?" Qinghe asked concernedly.
Wei Xiang asked a question in return. "Are you alright?"
Confused, Qinghe replied, "Why wouldn't I be?"
The others had wanted to walk over and offer their congratulations, but seeing the Sentinel stuck to him like dog plaster, they decided to let it be.
"So, did I pass?" Qinghe asked.
Wei Xiang let him go finally and nodded. "Of course, it should be so."
"Then we can go through?" Qinghe confirmed.
"Yes, the both of us can go to the dimension now."
Seeing that they'd ended their display of affection, the others also walked up and offered their congratulations on passing the trial.
An YaLing finally asked, "Brother Feng, was that Yan Lin your friend?" He remembered long ago that a boy named Yan Lin had been taken away from a village or something like that, which was why he asked.
But to the surprise of all those present, Qinghe shook his head and said, "Who is that? I don't think I've heard of them."
Everyone had clearly heard Qinghe call out to the thin boy being dragged away in the nightmare trial. The name he'd called was undoubtedly 'Yan Lin'. Why was he pretending to not know? But looking at his expression, he really didn't seem to be lying?
Wei Xiang suddenly said to Qinghe, "Don't mind it, he must have been mistaken." Qinghe nodded placidly. Then Wei Xiang shot a look at An YaLing that told him not to bring up this matter again.
Though he was puzzled at first, An YaLing soon understood. He shook his head in pity. The others also showed expressions of realization. Xiao Ran remembered how Qinghe had suggested he might have buried and forgotten his painful memory of being chased and bitten by dogs and also understood.
The memory of this Yan Lin must be tragic enough for Qinghe to have buried it. If that was the case, then this Yan Lin's end might not have been good. If he had already died, then there was no use in bringing him up now.
Qinghe found the others looking at him with strange, meaningful gazes and was confused. Was it because he passed the test?
Lei Zihua was the first to break this awkward silence. "Brother Feng, I wish to discuss something with you. If you manage to kill this beast, I'd like you to bottle some of its venom if you could…"
Seeing that Qinghe was busy discussing with her, Wei Xiang beckoned to Jing Shui and An YaLing. They stepped a bit further away to avoid being overheard.
"What is it?" Jing Shui asked immediately.
"Is this about that Yan Lin?" An YaLing was a bit more perceptive.
Wei Xiang nodded. "It seems you know something about this person?" he asked.
Nodding, An YaLing explained, "I do, but it's not much. I only know that a young boy named Yan Lin disappeared from one of the villages. Many other children had also been disappearing from the area, so our sect took a look. It turned out to be an evil spirit. We were able to save the other kids, but we couldn't find this Yan Lin. It was assumed that he had been taken away by someone else during the confusion so that we'd blame his disappearance on the evil spirit. That's why the name stayed with me."
Wei Xing looked thoughtful. He instructed Jing Shui, "Use your network to find out about this Yan Lin. I want to confirm if he's truly dead, and if he is, where his body lies."
Jing Shui bristled. "Why should I listen to your orders?!"
"Aren't you Qinghe's friend? Finding out what happened to that kid might help untangle his memory. So shouldn't you want to help him?" Wei Xiang threw back while grinning, making Jing Shui angry enough to throw up blood.
"Fine! But I'm doing it for him and not you!" he snarled.
With a straight face, Wei Xiang said, "Helping my lover means helping me. So you are helping me."
"Argh!"
An YaLing just looked on and smiled amusedly at their childish arguing.
"What happened with these two?" Qinghe asked, done with his discussion with Lei Zihua.
Shaking his head, An YaLing just kept smiling while thinking it was good that Qinghe seemed to have such devoted people looking out for him.
The dark surroundings suddenly wavered.
Everyone became vigilant.
As the darkness began to fade, so did the four people who couldn't pass the trial. Qinghe presumed that they would be returning to the clearing with the tree guardian.
When the dark space completely disappeared along with the others, Qinghe and Wei Xiang found themselves in a forest. Unlike the forest outside the dimension, the forest here was filled with bright sunshine that playfully dappled the dry ground. The trees and plants all looked normal and there were no strange animals lurking about.
Only, there was no sound of wildlife at all.
Wei Xiang looked around and found a patch of flattened vegetation. He gestured to it and speculated, "This must be made by that beast when it entered the dimension." A trail of broken branches and trampled ground led from the flattened area. "That is the path it must have taken."
Qinghe smiled at Wei Xiang. "Are we still not talking about it?" he asked.
"Talk about what?"
"About how this beast was able to get in. I don't think it needed to pass any trials. Maybe, just like you, the beast had the right to freely enter," Qinghe deduced.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Wei Xiang pretended to not understand.
Sighing, Qinghe said, "Doesn't that mean you and this beast are both of the same species, maybe even related?"
Wei Xiang looked at him and expressed vehemently, "Maybe we are, but I am definitely not like those things!"
Qinghe raised an eyebrow. It seemed he felt strongly about this subject.
Sighing, Wei Xiang spoke, "I will tell you about it later if you want to know. We shouldn't be standing and chatting around with danger so close."
Deciding to let him have his reprieve, Qinghe set the matter aside for now.
They followed the trail left behind by the beast and walked in silence. Dry leaves crunched underfoot. The rustling of the leaves sounded melancholic. The wind brought with it the smell of crushed leaves and desiccated earth. If there were any birds or beasts, they chose to keep their silence.
Wei Xiang was frowning murderously. He was obviously very displeased at the thought of meeting someone of the same species. Though Qinghe didn't understand his reasons, he would still be by his side.
Sidling up to him, Qinghe reached out and intertwined their fingers. His frown forgotten, Wei Xiang looked down at their joined hands.
"No need to be all bent out of shape over this. If you don't like that beast so much then I'll just kill it for you," Qinghe reassured.
Though his doubts remained, Wei Xiang couldn't help smiling a bit. "Alright then," he said, his mood a lot lighter. It was not just because of the reassurance, since he was confident he could take out a puny lizard or two with ease on his own. What gladdened him was that Qinghe had taken the initiative to offer comfort.
Leaning over, Wei Xiang rubbed his cheek against Qinghe's affectionately. Disentangling his hand, he looped it over his lover's slim waist and held him close. Qinghe let him do whatever he wanted. It was good as long as he wasn't gloomy anymore.
With this harmonious ambiance between them, they finally reached the end of the trail. It led to a rock face housing the huge mouth of a cave. A strong scent of blood, cooked flesh, and festering wounds emanated from within.
"Do you think the beast is inside?" Qinghe asked.
Wei Xiang opened his mouth slightly and sucked in the air, using both his sense of taste and smell to parse through the various scents.
"Yes, it's inside," he finally concluded.
Without having to say anything else, they both stepped inside the cave. Though the floor here was rocky and uneven, neither of them faced any problems as they steadily and cautiously made their way forward.
As they moved further inside, the air grew stagnant and dank. The amount of light dimmed and seeing soon became difficult for Qinghe, but since Wei Xiang's vision was far better, he led them forward.
The walls of the cave progressively widened. They soon reached a large cavern whose high ceiling opened up to the sky. Beams of light gently floated down from the opening and fell on the curled up form of the serpent beast resting in the center, setting its faded copper-colored scales aglow.
Large patches of its scales were burned off, revealing raw red and pink meat underneath, with the blackened edges of the wounds oozing pus. It seemed that its injuries were causing its cultivation to constantly drop, for it had already descended to the lower level of eighth realm.
As Qinghe was already at the peak of seventh realm, he reckoned that since the gap wasn't that big, he could take it on and win.
Sensing intruders, the serpent lifted its great head from within its coils, its nostrils flaring. Slitted pupils contracted within vigilant metallic brown eyes. Its maw opened, revealing bloody and yellowed teeth as it sucked in the air much like Wei Xiang had done, trying to taste the air.
Something like surprise and rage flitted across its brutally scarred face, mixing with a healthy dose of fear.
The lines of its sleek head flared at the back of the skull to form a wide crest that looked like a fully opened fan. It slowly uncoiled, its body at least twenty meters in length, long and smooth like a gigantic snake. The end of its spiked tail waved hypnotically in the air.
Standing up like a cobra ready to strike, the serpent beast growled, "Xiang, you bastard! You betrayer! Murderer! So you've returned!"
Its hoarse voice was undoubtedly that of a female's.
Wei Xiang was unmoved, his expression casual and mocking. "Cousin, I'm glad to see that you've not been well."
A thundering roar ripped out of the serpent's damaged throat. The roar was magnified in the limited space of the cavern and echoed long after the serpent ceased.
"Are you trying to intimidate me? How funny," Wei Xiang sneered. "You cheap things are all the same."
The serpent was visibly more furious as she spat, "What has become of you then? Didn't you run off to become a wretched human's pet? Tell me, how does that feel like?"
Wei Xiang chuckled mirthlessly. "You keep your filthy mouth shut about my master. You don't have the right to even think of him."
The serpent threw back her head and laughed in her gravelly voice. "Master?! You call a human your master? How hilarious that is! The greatest among the descendants of serpents and true dragons, the most powerful prodigy in a hundred thousand years, the sovereign of our clan, and you call a mere human your master!"
But Wei Xiang's calm did not even crack. "Of course I do. You can only blame your own eyes for being so covered with your own shit that you cannot see the eminence of my master. I pity your ignorance."
The laughter abruptly stopped. "YOU―!" The serpent seemed so angry that she choked on her own words. Unable to vent her anger on him, the serpent's attention suddenly shifted to Qinghe, who Wei Xiang still held closely by the waist.
The intimacy between them was obvious.
Eyes narrowing in malicious glee, the serpent opened wide its jaws and unleashed a torrent of yellow-green liquid in Qinghe's direction. Qinghe swiftly put up a barrier, but the liquid dissolved it and continued towards him. Wei Xiang quickly blocked it in time with his sleeve and the fluid splattered on the ground. With a hissing sound, it dissolved the rocky floor, only leaving behind smoking pits.
What venom, this was clearly very strong acid! Qinghe exclaimed to himself before hurriedly checking Wei Xiang's arm for damage.
The acid had corroded away most of Wei Xiang's sleeve and his vambrace, revealing the golden wire coiled neatly around his completely undamaged arm. Qinghe sighed in relief.
Wei Xiang, on the other hand, was beyond furious that she'd aimed for his beloved.
The golden wires wrapped around both his arms smoothly and swiftly unwound before shooting downwards, their sharp tips easily piercing into the ground. Wei Xiang sent the wires quickly through the stone floor and out the cave walls. The wires erupted out of either side of the serpent, and despite her struggles, wrapped completely around her.
She was bound from neck to tail wholly and securely by the golden strings that extended from the rocky walls, barely able to move a muscle.
For the female serpent, it brought back memories of the time she had gotten these grievous injuries ten thousand years ago. She remembered with fear the devilish appearance of this cousin of hers that she and her friends had once mercilessly bullied.
Wei Xiang had always been raised high up to the heavens with praises and coddled with care, for he was the first child to be born in their clan after close to seven thousand years, and he was a peerless prodigy to boot. They had all been so jealous of him.
And then he'd showed them all just how cruel he could be…
Injured severely, she had barely managed to get out with her life, but her wounds had never healed. She remembered how she'd anxiously waited, hiding outside the dimension while terrified that her cousin would maybe cease conversing with his human companion, the man he now called master, and turn around to spot her hiding so pathetically. She remembered the humiliation of losing to a brat and the resulting fear and pain.
No, she couldn't face that again. She couldn't let him kill her!
Seeing that she was in dire straits, the female serpent's tune abruptly changed.
She purred throatily, "Cousin Xiang, don't be like this. We are the only two of our kind left. I'm sure I'll be more useful to you alive and whole."
"Oh?" Wei Xiang quirked an eyebrow mirthlessly. "Can something like you even be useful?"
Gritting her teeth, the female serpent continued ingratiatingly, "Of course. I would be very useful in repopulating our kind by birthing your children! I'm the only one who can do this. I'm the only female left of the heavenly wyverns, the last one remaining!"
The filthy room receded and the dark space returned.Qinghe's angelic and childish figure turned back to his current self. Before he could do anything, Wei Xiang had already come up to him and hugged him."What's wrong?" Qinghe asked concernedly.Wei Xiang asked a question in return. "Are you alright?"Confused, Qinghe replied, "Why wouldn't I be?"The others had wanted to walk over and offer their congratulations, but seeing the Sentinel stuck to him like dog plaster, they decided to let it be."So, did I pass?" Qinghe asked.Wei Xiang let him go finally and nodded. "Of course, it should be so.""Then we can go through?" Qinghe confirmed."Yes, the both of us can go to the dimension now."Seeing that they'd ended their display of affection, the others also walked up and offered their congratulations on passing the trial.An YaLing finally asked, "Brother Feng, was that Yan Lin your friend?" He remembered long ago that a boy named Yan Lin had been taken away from a village or something like that, which was why he asked.But to the surprise of all those present, Qinghe shook his head and said, "Who is that? I don't think I've heard of them."Everyone had clearly heard Qinghe call out to the thin boy being dragged away in the nightmare trial. The name he'd called was undoubtedly 'Yan Lin'. Why was he pretending to not know? But looking at his expression, he really didn't seem to be lying?Wei Xiang suddenly said to Qinghe, "Don't mind it, he must have been mistaken." Qinghe nodded placidly. Then Wei Xiang shot a look at An YaLing that told him not to bring up this matter again.Though he was puzzled at first, An YaLing soon understood. He shook his head in pity. The others also showed expressions of realization. Xiao Ran remembered how Qinghe had suggested he might have buried and forgotten his painful memory of being chased and bitten by dogs and also understood.The memory of this Yan Lin must be tragic enough for Qinghe to have buried it. If that was the case, then this Yan Lin's end might not have been good. If he had already died, then there was no use in bringing him up now.Qinghe found the others looking at him with strange, meaningful gazes and was confused. Was it because he passed the test?Lei Zihua was the first to break this awkward silence. "Brother Feng, I wish to discuss something with you. If you manage to kill this beast, I'd like you to bottle some of its venom if you could"Seeing that Qinghe was busy discussing with her, Wei Xiang beckoned to Jing Shui and An YaLing. They stepped a bit further away to avoid being overheard."What is it?" Jing Shui asked immediately."Is this about that Yan Lin?" An YaLing was a bit more perceptive.Wei Xiang nodded. "It seems you know something about this person?" he asked.Nodding, An YaLing explained, "I do, but it's not much. I only know that a young boy named Yan Lin disappeared from one of the villages. Many other children had also been disappearing from the area, so our sect took a look. It turned out to be an evil spirit. We were able to save the other kids, but we couldn't find this Yan Lin. It was assumed that he had been taken away by someone else during the confusion so that we'd blame his disappearance on the evil spirit. That's why the name stayed with me."Wei Xing looked thoughtful. He instructed Jing Shui, "Use your network to find out about this Yan Lin. I want to confirm if he's truly dead, and if he is, where his body lies."Jing Shui bristled. "Why should I listen to your orders?!""Aren't you Qinghe's friend? Finding out what happened to that kid might help untangle his memory. So shouldn't you want to help him?" Wei Xiang threw back while grinning, making Jing Shui angry enough to throw up blood."Fine! But I'm doing it for him and not you!" he snarled.With a straight face, Wei Xiang said, "Helping my lover means helping me. So you are helping me.""Argh!"An YaLing just looked on and smiled amusedly at their childish arguing."What happened with these two?" Qinghe asked, done with his discussion with Lei Zihua.Shaking his head, An YaLing just kept smiling while thinking it was good that Qinghe seemed to have such devoted people looking out for him.The dark surroundings suddenly wavered.Everyone became vigilant.As the darkness began to fade, so did the four people who couldn't pass the trial. Qinghe presumed that they would be returning to the clearing with the tree guardian.When the dark space completely disappeared along with the others, Qinghe and Wei Xiang found themselves in a forest. Unlike the forest outside the dimension, the forest here was filled with bright sunshine that playfully dappled the dry ground. The trees and plants all looked normal and there were no strange animals lurking about.Only, there was no sound of wildlife at all.Wei Xiang looked around and found a patch of flattened vegetation. He gestured to it and speculated, "This must be made by that beast when it entered the dimension." A trail of broken branches and trampled ground led from the flattened area. "That is the path it must have taken."Qinghe smiled at Wei Xiang. "Are we still not talking about it?" he asked."Talk about what?""About how this beast was able to get in. I don't think it needed to pass any trials. Maybe, just like you, the beast had the right to freely enter," Qinghe deduced."What does that have to do with anything?" Wei Xiang pretended to not understand.Sighing, Qinghe said, "Doesn't that mean you and this beast are both of the same species, maybe even related?"Wei Xiang looked at him and expressed vehemently, "Maybe we are, but I am definitely not like those things!"Qinghe raised an eyebrow. It seemed he felt strongly about this subject.Sighing, Wei Xiang spoke, "I will tell you about it later if you want to know. We shouldn't be standing and chatting around with danger so close."Deciding to let him have his reprieve, Qinghe set the matter aside for now.They followed the trail left behind by the beast and walked in silence. Dry leaves crunched underfoot. The rustling of the leaves sounded melancholic. The wind brought with it the smell of crushed leaves and desiccated earth. If there were any birds or beasts, they chose to keep their silence.Wei Xiang was frowning murderously. He was obviously very displeased at the thought of meeting someone of the same species. Though Qinghe didn't understand his reasons, he would still be by his side.Sidling up to him, Qinghe reached out and intertwined their fingers. His frown forgotten, Wei Xiang looked down at their joined hands."No need to be all bent out of shape over this. If you don't like that beast so much then I'll just kill it for you," Qinghe reassured.Though his doubts remained, Wei Xiang couldn't help smiling a bit. "Alright then," he said, his mood a lot lighter. It was not just because of the reassurance, since he was confident he could take out a puny lizard or two with ease on his own. What gladdened him was that Qinghe had taken the initiative to offer comfort.Leaning over, Wei Xiang rubbed his cheek against Qinghe's affectionately. Disentangling his hand, he looped it over his lover's slim waist and held him close. Qinghe let him do whatever he wanted. It was good as long as he wasn't gloomy anymore.With this harmonious ambiance between them, they finally reached the end of the trail. It led to a rock face housing the huge mouth of a cave. A strong scent of blood, cooked flesh, and festering wounds emanated from within."Do you think the beast is inside?" Qinghe asked.Wei Xiang opened his mouth slightly and sucked in the air, using both his sense of taste and smell to parse through the various scents."Yes, it's inside," he finally concluded.Without having to say anything else, they both stepped inside the cave. Though the floor here was rocky and uneven, neither of them faced any problems as they steadily and cautiously made their way forward.As they moved further inside, the air grew stagnant and dank. The amount of light dimmed and seeing soon became difficult for Qinghe, but since Wei Xiang's vision was far better, he led them forward.The walls of the cave progressively widened. They soon reached a large cavern whose high ceiling opened up to the sky. Beams of light gently floated down from the opening and fell on the curled up form of the serpent beast resting in the center, setting its faded copper-colored scales aglow.Large patches of its scales were burned off, revealing raw red and pink meat underneath, with the blackened edges of the wounds oozing pus. It seemed that its injuries were causing its cultivation to constantly drop, for it had already descended to the lower level of eighth realm.As Qinghe was already at the peak of seventh realm, he reckoned that since the gap wasn't that big, he could take it on and win.Sensing intruders, the serpent lifted its great head from within its coils, its nostrils flaring. Slitted pupils contracted within vigilant metallic brown eyes. Its maw opened, revealing bloody and yellowed teeth as it sucked in the air much like Wei Xiang had done, trying to taste the air.Something like surprise and rage flitted across its brutally scarred face, mixing with a healthy dose of fear.The lines of its sleek head flared at the back of the skull to form a wide crest that looked like a fully opened fan. It slowly uncoiled, its body at least twenty meters in length, long and smooth like a gigantic snake. The end of its spiked tail waved hypnotically in the air.Standing up like a cobra ready to strike, the serpent beast growled, "Xiang, you bastard! You betrayer! Murderer! So you've returned!"Its hoarse voice was undoubtedly that of a female's.Wei Xiang was unmoved, his expression casual and mocking. "Cousin, I'm glad to see that you've not been well."A thundering roar ripped out of the serpent's damaged throat. The roar was magnified in the limited space of the cavern and echoed long after the serpent ceased."Are you trying to intimidate me? How funny," Wei Xiang sneered. "You cheap things are all the same."The serpent was visibly more furious as she spat, "What has become of you then? Didn't you run off to become a wretched human's pet? Tell me, how does that feel like?"Wei Xiang chuckled mirthlessly. "You keep your filthy mouth shut about my master. You don't have the right to even think of him."The serpent threw back her head and laughed in her gravelly voice. "Master?! You call a human your master? How hilarious that is! The greatest among the descendants of serpents and true dragons, the most powerful prodigy in a hundred thousand years, the sovereign of our clan, and you call a mere human your master!"But Wei Xiang's calm did not even crack. "Of course I do. You can only blame your own eyes for being so covered with your own shit that you cannot see the eminence of my master. I pity your ignorance."The laughter abruptly stopped. "YOU!" The serpent seemed so angry that she choked on her own words. Unable to vent her anger on him, the serpent's attention suddenly shifted to Qinghe, who Wei Xiang still held closely by the waist.The intimacy between them was obvious.Eyes narrowing in malicious glee, the serpent opened wide its jaws and unleashed a torrent of yellow-green liquid in Qinghe's direction. Qinghe swiftly put up a barrier, but the liquid dissolved it and continued towards him. Wei Xiang quickly blocked it in time with his sleeve and the fluid splattered on the ground. With a hissing sound, it dissolved the rocky floor, only leaving behind smoking pits.What venom, this was clearly very strong acid! Qinghe exclaimed to himself before hurriedly checking Wei Xiang's arm for damage.The acid had corroded away most of Wei Xiang's sleeve and his vambrace, revealing the golden wire coiled neatly around his completely undamaged arm. Qinghe sighed in relief.Wei Xiang, on the other hand, was beyond furious that she'd aimed for his beloved.The golden wires wrapped around both his arms smoothly and swiftly unwound before shooting downwards, their sharp tips easily piercing into the ground. Wei Xiang sent the wires quickly through the stone floor and out the cave walls. The wires erupted out of either side of the serpent, and despite her struggles, wrapped completely around her.She was bound from neck to tail wholly and securely by the golden strings that extended from the rocky walls, barely able to move a muscle.For the female serpent, it brought back memories of the time she had gotten these grievous injuries ten thousand years ago. She remembered with fear the devilish appearance of this cousin of hers that she and her friends had once mercilessly bullied.Wei Xiang had always been raised high up to the heavens with praises and coddled with care, for he was the first child to be born in their clan after close to seven thousand years, and he was a peerless prodigy to boot. They had all been so jealous of him.And then he'd showed them all just how cruel he could beInjured severely, she had barely managed to get out with her life, but her wounds had never healed. She remembered how she'd anxiously waited, hiding outside the dimension while terrified that her cousin would maybe cease conversing with his human companion, the man he now called master, and turn around to spot her hiding so pathetically. She remembered the humiliation of losing to a brat and the resulting fear and pain.No, she couldn't face that again. She couldn't let him kill her!Seeing that she was in dire straits, the female serpent's tune abruptly changed.She purred throatily, "Cousin Xiang, don't be like this. We are the only two of our kind left. I'm sure I'll be more useful to you alive and whole.""Oh?" Wei Xiang quirked an eyebrow mirthlessly. "Can something like you even be useful?"Gritting her teeth, the female serpent continued ingratiatingly, "Of course. I would be very useful in repopulating our kind by birthing your children! I'm the only one who can do this. I'm the only female left of the heavenly wyverns, the last one remaining!"
