Xiu'er was afraid they were going to crash and die at the bottom when they land. She had her eyes closed the entire time, hugging one arm tightly around his waist and one arm on A'Li. Her face was pressed firmly against his chest. She didn't see the platform land but she did feel the impact as it knocked them off their feet. Kun Shang quickly collected himself and helped her up. He asked her for injuries and they both checked A'Li for wounds.
When they were finished recollecting themselves, they saw that there was a passageway in front of them. Kun Shang used his fireball to scour the area first. This passageway was made of stone, not ice, and this was a good sign.
"This means we're getting closer to the foot of the mountain." Kun Shang stated with confidence. "Come on, let's look for the others."
They continued to follow the passageway, but it soon became clear that it was a maze with countless possibilities, including a room with ten possible entryways. They chose the one all the way on the right and entered. Another hour of walking in this new passageway brought down Xiu'er's spirits significantly until she didn't want to walk anymore. They weren't making any new discoveries in the last hour. She slouched down and leaned against the wall of the tunnel. Kun Shang was ahead of her and turned back when he realized that she was no longer progressing. He returned to her side to find that she was feeling melancholy.
"Xiu'er, I know that I hadn't been the best of friend to you, but I'm starting to change. I know your brother is not here but I promise you whatever happens in the future, I will protect you and A'Li. If you can let me take the place of your brother, you'll start to believe we can get out of here."
She didn't understand what he was trying to say. Her brother by her side? Needing his protection? Xiu'er told Kun Shang that she was not crying because Silang wasn't here. She was crying because her brother was a bigger idiot than she was. There was no way he could get out of a maze like this with directions as terrible as he had. What would he ever do if she was not there to assist him? He needed her!
Kun Shang felt a bit dumbfounded that she was upset for the opposite reason. The relationship between these two siblings was unusual and interesting, maybe even a little off. He reassured her that Xiaogua, Yu Yue and Chun Yi were all with Silang. So let's stay focused. It's always better to deal with things at hand than worry about something out of her reach.
"Easy for you to say," Xiu'er put A'Li back on her shoulders and secured him. "You don't have siblings so you don't know how it feels like if you were to lose one. I cannot imagine losing Silang or A'Li in any of this."
"Come on, let me help you up." Kun Shang got up and extended a hand out to her.
She took the hand and dusted herself off. They continued walking until they circled back to that room with 10 doorways.
"Now what?" Xiu'er scratched her head. "This reminds me of my brother, taking us in circles and coming back to the same place."
Kun Shang went to the opposite side of what they picked. "I should've done this earlier," he said before snapping his fingers and opening his palm, to which a small flame of fire sat on top. He stuck his hand with the flame into the passageway for three full seconds before pulling it back out, and going on to the next passageway.
"What are you doing?" Xiu'er asked him.
"There are too many options for us to explore them all, but the one leading out of here will have air ways flowing through. If I put this candle flame in here and it doesn't flicker, it means it's not the way out." Kun Shang finished testing the second one and went onto the third one. "If the flame flickers, it means that passageway is the one leading out--"
At that moment, the fire in his palm flickered. He turned back to her and nodded his head. They both entered the third passageway from the right and walked for what seemed like hours. Kun Shang led the way with his floating balls of fire.
At one point, the passageway turned into brick tiles. And it was because of this, Kun Shang stepped into a brick which triggered some traps. Arrows suddenly came shooting at them from the front. They were coming in fast and in waves. Kun Shang was able to block off the first eight arrows with his sheathed sword, but it looked like they wouldn't be ending any time soon.
If he doesn't do anything or get them out of the tunnels quickly, there's a chance any one of the arrows could hit Xiu'er or A'Li.
Kun Shang grabbed Xiu'er by the hand and ran her back down the passageway. Another wave of arrows came at them. He stopped and pushed her to crouch down. Then, stomping one foot forward and holding out a palm to the arrows, he created a reddish-orange energy barrier, protecting them. The arrows hit the barrier and fell to the ground.
Kun Shang's body was turned sideways during this time and right in front of him, he faintly saw the outline of a door on the wall that was similar to the door they entered through in the first place. He placed his free hand on the wall and searched for the circular dial. As soon as he felt it, the third wave of arrows came. He turned the dial and the door cracked open.
"Xiu'er, get in there!"
Xiu'er waited for the slow door to open big enough for her to squeeze through then she went in. Kun Shang followed her and left the door open behind him.
The new room they stepped into was sadly made of ice once more. The walls were covered in a layer of ice, so was the floor and the ceiling. The room was simply decorated with an ice squat table at the end that was on a two step platform. The sides of the room had a thin ice divider with lots of holes in it. Upon closer inspection, the holes were actually different shapes of snowflakes. The room was rather mundane and lacked any other sorts of furniture.
Kun Shang approached the squat table carefully, looking out for any booby traps from all directions.
Xiu'er inexplicably stepped ahead of Kun Shang and he held out his arm to stop her. If she wasn't careful, she might step into a trap.
"There's no trap in here, " Xiu'er suddenly stated.
He turned his head to her. "How do you know?"
She looked at him and smiled. "I just know. It's a hunch. But there is a barrier near the table. Come on."
She suddenly ran up to the squat table and realized there really was a barrier. The barrier became visible only when she was close enough to trigger it. It covered the entire section of the room that had the table. Kun Shang followed her and put his hand on the light blue energy barrier. It tickled his palm but it was actually giving him little shocks, telling them the barrier meant no harm but only to keep others out.
"I wonder what they're trying to hide here."
Xiu'er looked at the end of the room. Other than the empty squat table, there was literally nothing else that was extraordinary. There was nothing on the walls, nothing around the table, nothing on the table, and nothing on the ground.
"Stand back," he told her.
He loosened his arms out with a loud flap of air, then circled them around, put one feet back and went into stance. One hand was faced out in front of him and one fist back at his hip, ready to burst at any moment. He lifted his head, looked straight at the barrier, then thrust his fist forward with a soft grunt. His knuckles collided with the barrier in one powerful impact. The barrier vibrated throughout, then shattered and disappeared into thin air.
As soon as it did so, a wisp of blue energy floated out of nowhere, circled above the table before settling on it and took away the invisible barrier that was on the item on the table. The room barrier must be connected to the invisible barrier; when the room barrier was punctured the invisible barrier was also broken.
On top of the table sat a splendid white zither. The length was standard size but it was impressively made. Using a whole white jade piece, it was carved out and all seven strings firmly strengthened on top. The sides of the zither were elegantly wavy, the ends were carved with flowers and birds and it carried an aura of pureness.
Xiu'er's eyes went large as soon as she recognized the zither. Other than how it was impressively made, it was also incredibly powerful. A powerful weapon of martial arts and she knows exactly who's been looking for this.
Big Brother is going to kill me if I don't tell him, Xiu'er smiled from the corner of her lips.
"What is it?" Kun Shang came up and was about to pluck a string with his finger.
"Don't!" Xiu'er held out her hand. He stopped his finger just above the instrument and asked her 'why' with his face expression.
"There's a reason why it was locked away. Don't just go around touching things."
He chuckled and retrieved his hand. He wasn't interested in the zither anyways, but somehow string instruments laying around were always beckoning to be plucked.
"What now?" Xiu'er scratched her head. "Do you think we should try to find an escape route from here?"
"Not necessary," Kun Shang walked back to the door. "There's only so many arrows to go around. Eventually, the trap will run out of arrows."
Just as he finished his sentence, the arrows stopped shooting. Xiu'er scooted A'Li higher on her back before running to the door. They cautiously poked their heads out of the room before stepping into the passageway once more.
Xiu'er told Kun Shang to close the door to the hidden room behind them. Since the Western Sect never did anything but gave them a place to rest, they should at least conduct themselves accordingly and leave the room as it was.
Xiu'er and Kun Shang followed the passageway to its end where they could see the holes where the arrows would've come out. They made a right turn and continued that direction for many hours.
Xiu'er had lost count of how many turns they made or how many hours had passed. They've probably been inside the mountain the whole day now and it was the whole day that they hadn't eaten. Xiu'er didn't want to be a whiny kid for Kun Shang, but she couldn't hold it any longer. Her stomach was burning, she was shaking and they had left the water canteen with Xiaogua. Unable to take another step, she stooped to the ground and leaned her shoulder against the wall.
Kun Shang noticed the sounds of her walking had stopped and turned around. Anxious of her deteriorating health, he rushed over and placed a hand over her cheek, which startled her. Their eyes suddenly met and sparked, flowing with emotions from one to another.
At that moment, they heard words coming from the other side of the wall where Xiu'er was leaning against.
"Little Sister, is that you?"