Chapter 54: In the Temple of Wind and Water, Night Chatter to Discern Truth

Hua Cheng turned around upon hearing this, and hisgaze fell on Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi, who were strangling each other behind them. He gestured at one of the two.

"Him?"

Xie Lian nodded.

"How do you want to test this?" Hua Cheng asked.

"Many years ago, I encountered two Venerables of Empty Words, and one even clung on to me for over half a year," Xie Lian replied. "During that period, I tried worming information out of them and discovered a unique quirk they have. They didn't realize they were doing it, so they can be easily identified with just a bit of effort."

Xie Lian then passed on the secret. Once Hua Cheng heard, he said, "That's easy. Let's do it like this…"

Just as the pair finished their discussion, they arrived at the broken-down Temple of Wind and Water. The autumn air was slightly chilly, and the skies were dim. Shi Qingxuan searched all over for the head of his brother's divine statue and secured it back in place. He righted the two statues and placed them properly on the altar anew. Meanwhile, Xie Lian started a small campfire using rotten logs he collected from around the temple, and the four sat around the fire.

Shi Qingxuan's ears remained plugged. He petulantly drank a few swigs from his wine jug, then he finally couldn't sit still anymore.

"We can't possibly sit around like this just waiting for that thing to show up. Is there anything we can do for entertainment?"

He brought it up first—just as Xie Lian wanted.

Ming Yi poked at the fire. "You can still think of entertainment at a time like this?"

"It's important!" Shi Qingxuan spat. "That thing wants me scared? Well, I ain't scared! This Wind Master will play as happily as he pleases, happier than ever before. It'll be like New Year's! I hope it dies from frustration."

In the communication array, Xie Lian suggested, "Why don't we roll some dice?"

Shi Qingxuan pulled a long face. "Dice? Betting on whose roll will be lower or higher again? Your Highness, you're not addicted, are you?"

"What? No…" Xie Lian denied.

"Never mind, there's nothing else around anyway. Dice it is. But there's four of us here, won't things get a little confusing?"

"It won't. Here," Xie Lian said.

He opened his palm and revealed two small, exquisite dice.

"The four of us can split into two teams," Xie Lian explained. "San Lang and I will be one team, My Lords can be the other. We'll compete to see who has better luck. With two dice, each team gets one turn, and each person rolls one die. Then we add up the rolls of that turn. If a team's roll is bigger, they win, and they can ask any question that the losing team must answer. Or they can have them do something instead."

"I have a question," Shi Qingxuan said.

"Go ahead," Xie Lian replied.

Shi Qingxuan jiggled his leg impatiently as he spoke. "Why are the two of you so naturally paired together? Did you take our feelings into consideration when you divided the teams?"

Xie Lian softly cleared his throat. "Um, well, if you want to switch up the teams, that's fine too. It makes no difference." Shi Qingxuan stuffed his whisk into the back collar of his

outer robe. "It's fine. I don't actually have any complaints about the team split, but Crimson Rain Sought Flower has such good luck—won't my team be at a disadvantage?"

Xie Lian cheerfully smiled at him. "That's not entirely true. San Lang might be extremely lucky, but my luck is extremely bad. With the two of us together, one good and one bad, don't we cancel each other out?"

That did make sense when Shi Qingxuan thought about it, so he smacked his thigh and exclaimed, "Good! Let's have at it!" Then he elbowed Ming Yi. "Ming-xiong, did you hear the rules? Don't drag me down, all right?"

Ming Yi gave him a look, and his callous voice came through the spiritual communication array. "Forgive me, but I won't be joining you."

Shi Qingxuan hastily backtracked. "I-I-It's okay if you drag me down! Never mind, never mind, come, come, come! Just play. It'll be too sad for me to be on a team all by myself!"

Thus, the four swore a simple oath to follow the rules and started playing. In the first round, Shi Qingxuan rolled a five, Ming Yi rolled a four, Hua Cheng rolled a six, and Xie Lianrolled a one.

Shi Qingxuan was overjoyed and dissolved into laughter. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Your Highness, your luck really is bad; so bad! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…."

Xie Lian rubbed his forehead and said gently, "Although what Lord Wind Master says is true, can you not say it with such glee?"

"Ahem! Fine. So our team won. This Wind Master will ask you two to do something," Shi Qingxuan said. "So. Your Highness and Crimson Rain Sought Flower! I order you to…to strip off each other's clothing!"

Xie Lian was first speechless, then alarmed. "...Lord Wind Master?!"

Ming Yi turned around with obvious disgust, and his hand covered his face like he wanted to shield himself from having to witness this terrible joke. Shi Qingxuan, on the other hand, was hollering.

"Come, come, come! Don't be sore losers! An esteemed heavenly official and an esteemed ghost king, you won't back out now, right? Your audience is seated, so please start the show!"

"..."

Xie Lian looked at Hua Cheng, and Hua Cheng shrugged helplessly, mouthing the words, "Gege, it's not my fault."

Feeling helpless as well, Xie Lian could only ask, "How much do we strip?"

Shi Qingxuan was only playing around—he wasn't actually trying to embarrass them. He laughed and gleefully jiggled his legs.

"Just one layer is fine. Keep a few on for later! Hee hee hee hee hee."

He actually wanted to keep this going… Xie Lian hesitated and secretly whispered into their private array.

"San Lang…"

Hua Cheng's face showed no reaction, but his voice next to Xie Lian's ear comforted him, sounding earnest.

"Don't worry. Didn't we agree to let them win a few rounds? They'll lose eventually."

That was indeed something they had agreed upon. But

Xie Lian hadn't expected Shi Qingxuan to play like this, and he felt like he was shooting himself in the foot. He reluctantly shuffled over to untie Hua Cheng's belt, and it took him a while to remove Hua Cheng's black outer robe and reveal the snow-white inner tunic. Hua Cheng also helped him out of his outer robe, looking as calm as he always did. His hands were slow and gentle, and he carefully avoided touching any part of Xie Lian's body. The two of them only removed their outer robes; it was nothing extraordinary and nothing unseemly, but Xie Lian still felt extremely weird.

After assuming a proper sitting position, he stammered, "A-again."

The second round, Shi Qingxuan rolled a three, Ming Yi a six, Hua Cheng rolled a six once again, and Xie Lian still rolled a one.

Shi Qingxuan pounded the ground, laughing uproariously. Xie Lian looked to Hua Cheng again and spoke through their private communication array.

"...San Lang!"

This was not what they had agreed on!

Hua Cheng apologized profusely. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot. Don't be mad, gege. It's my fault this time."

Shi Qingxuan cheered once more, rolling up his sleeves. "All right! This round, I order you to…"

"Stop!" Xie Lian hurriedly cut in. "Last round was a request. We did it and stripped. This round should be questions."

Shi Qingxuan laughed heartily. "Ask questions? That's fine too. Then here's my first question: Crimson Rain Sought Flower, to you, what's the worst suffering in the world?"

Hua Cheng's smile suddenly faded, and silence settled in the Temple of Wind and Water.

"Don't misunderstand," Shi Qingxuan added. "I don't mean anything by it—I'm honestly just curious. Is there really anything that can cause pain to someone who's made it to the position of a ghost king like you, Crimson Rain Sought Flower? Maybe there isn't anything…?"

"What do you think?" Hua Cheng asked back.

Shi Qingxuan pondered for a moment before making his guess. "The City of Gu at Mount Tonglu?"

There were many who'd suggest that answer when they considered the question. However, Hua Cheng only smiled faintly.

"That's nothing to fear."

Shi Qingxuan was amazed. "That's not it? Then what is it?"

Hua Cheng's lips curled, but the curve soon disappeared.

"I'll tell you what it is," he said softly. "Watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it. You understand that you are nothing, that you can do nothing. That's the worst suffering in the world."

Xie Lian's breathing stopped as he listened with rapt attention. Not a single soul spoke in the rundown Temple of Wind and Water.

Shi Qingxuan couldn't think of anything to say for the longest time, until he finally managed to squeeze out, "...Oh."

Ming Yi's face remained sullen as he poked at the fire. "Continue."

Shi Qingxuan scratched his head and waved. "I'm done. Ming-xiong, you ask something."

Ming Yi glanced up and stared at Xie Lian. "Your Highness."

Xie Lian snapped out of it. "Hm?"

"What's the biggest regret of your life?" Ming Yi asked.

Ming Yi was usually quiet and spoke little, but when he finally opened his mouth, he unexpectedly asked a question of such weight. Xie Lian was floored.

Was it his disregard of advice and warnings, and his insistent and illegal descent to the Mortal Realm? Was it his hubris in thinking himself powerful enough to create rain for Yong'an? Was it his wishful thinking that he could save Xianle? Or was it his reluctance to kill certain people?

He knew it was none of that.

It took a moment for Xie Lian to answer.

"My second ascension."

The other three in the temple looked at him, unspeaking. Xie Lian seemed lost in his thoughts, and it was a while before he came back to himself.

"What is it? Everyone, I've answered the question."

"It's nothing. Let's continue," Hua Cheng said quietly.

The third round, Shi Qingxuan rolled a two, Ming Yi a two, Hua Cheng rolled a six, and Xie Lian a one.

Seeing this, Xie Lian let out a huge sigh of relief. By the heaven official's blessings, they'd finally won!

It was now the other team's turn to be punished, but Shi Qingxuan was eager and clearly afraid of nothing.

"Come at me! Hit me with your best shot!"

Xie Lian smiled. "Then I will. Lord Earth Master, you first." He turned to Ming Yi. "My Lord, please answer the questions I'm about to ask properly, and please don't lie."

Ming Yi didn't say anything, and Shi Qingxuan waved dismissively.

"Don't worry. Ming-xiong doesn't even know how to lie."

Xie Lian grinned. "Very well. First question: Who am I?"

Shi Qingxuan was flabbergasted. "Your Highness, what kind of question is that? Aren't you…you? Who else could you be?!"

Ming Yi slowly raised his head and met Xie Lian's eyes. "The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Xianle, Xie Lian."

Xie Lian nodded, then asked, "Second question. Who's the one sitting next to me?"

Ming Yi paused briefly, then answered, "The lord of Ghost City, Crimson Rain Sought Flower."

Xie Lian then asked, "The last question—who's the one sitting next to you?"

Shi Qingxuan was growing more and more puzzled. "Your Highness, what are you two playing at? Who am I? I'm the Wind Master!"

"Lord Earth Master, please answer," Xie Lian pressed.

This time, Ming Yi didn't reply as quickly.

Because he had run into Venerables of Empty Words on several occasions, Xie Lian had discovered a fascinating quirk of their kind. When Venerables of Empty Words spoke, at least one of every three sentences would be a lie.

This unique quirk could be compared to how a normalhuman being needs to drink water lest they die from dehydration, no matter how healthy or strong they are otherwise. It was an unchangeable truth regardless of one's ability, unless they ascended and left their humanity behind.

The teleportation array had been drawn by Ming Yi, and he was also the last one out the door. If meddling was afoot, he had the most chances to do it; of course Xie Lian suspected him from the start. But Shi Qingxuan was upset atthe time, and if Xie Lian voiced his suspicion, it would no

doubt distress Shi Qingxuan even further. This would allow the Reverend of Empty Words to suck more negative emotions from him, fueling its own power. And so, at the time, Xie Lian quickly came up with other possibilities…but he had never given up on the most straightforward one.

The Wind Master and Earth Master had a very good relationship, so it'd be impossible for the Wind Master not to notice if the Reverend of Empty Words was impersonating the Earth Master. But what if the Reverend had covertly possessed Ming Yi?

This was why he'd wanted Hua Cheng to work with him to worm out Ming Yi's words by way of an ordinary conversation. But Hua Cheng had pointed out that it'd be unnatural for the two of them to try to rope Ming Yi in like that, since they'd never really conversed in the past. Why notuse the pretense of a game to create an opportunity? They could make Ming Yi talk and see if they could observe anything of interest without the Wind Master or Earth Master noticing.

But Ming Yi had always been a man of few words; even in a high-energy atmosphere, he spoke sparingly. Xie Lian paid close attention to everything he said earlier in the game, but it was all vague, nothing that could be pinned down as true or false. In the end, he had to use his trump card; he borrowed Hua Cheng's power and secretly controlled the dice to make Ming Yi lose. Presented with those three questions, Ming Yi would have no choice but to answer on the spot.

Because they were playing a game, Shi Qingxuan wouldn't realize anything was amiss; he would assume they were still joking around. Thus, the Reverend of Empty Words couldn't use the opportunity to sneak in and suck out his power. And should Ming Yi answer wrong, Xie Lian would seize him the moment he slipped.

A creature like the Venerable of Empty Words would always lie within three sentences, and Xie Lian had just asked two questions that Ming Yi had answered honestly. If Ming Yi was the Reverend of Empty Words, he would no doubt answer the last question with a lie.

Should he choose, Ming Yi could easily answer vaguely or pretend he was making a joke. However, he'd answered the first two questions simply and succinctly without any such tricks, so the last answer had to be the same—it would otherwise be out of character, which would also prove he was suspect.

Xie Lian and Ming Yi calmly stared at each other. A moment later, Ming Yi finally spoke. His tone was no different from his last two answers.

"One of the five elemental masters, the younger brother of the Water Master Wudu, the Wind Master Qingxuan."

Shi Qingxuan shook his head and sighed. "Why the hell didn't you say 'my best friend'?"

Ming Yi glanced at him. "Who's that?"

Xie Lian silently blew out a breath.

Although the Reverend of Empty Words was called "Reverend," it wasn't a real man of the cloth with any holy spirituality. As long as it remained classified as a nefarious creature, it would never be able to escape the unique quirks of its kind. Three sentences had been spoken, and all three were undoubtedly true. It seemed there was nothing amiss with Ming Yi…unless Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan weren't real blood brothers, but such an unbelievably shocking turn of events shouldn't be possible.

Before he fully exhaled, Ming Yi's hand shot out, grabbing straight for Xie Lian's throat!

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng both moved to fend off his hand at the same time; three hands flew as fast as lightning, and the energy was so intense it made Shi Qingxuan leap to his feet.

"Ming-xiong! What are you doing?!"

Ming Yi glared at Xie Lian intently, his voice dark. "You asked three questions, but in the last round I only asked one."

Xie Lian smiled. "Lord Earth Master, please think back on the rules carefully. I never said you could only ask one question per round."

"Very well," Ming Yi said. "Then I'll add to my question. Who are you?"

"Didn't you already answer that question yourself?" Xie Lian asked.

"Perhaps I answered wrong," Ming Yi replied. "If not, will His Highness please explain why he set up this game so suddenly and his reason for asking such strange questions? Lord Ghost King is skilled in the art of luck manipulation, but it seems unnecessary to waste such talent on petty entertainment."

Hua Cheng laughed. "Well, now. If I feel like it, I'll use it however I want."

It must be understood that while Xie Lian and HuaCheng saw Ming Yi as suspicious, Ming Yi thought them equally suspicious. From the moment Ming Yi struck, they had been speaking aloud rather than using the communication array. Shi Qingxuan didn't know what they were arguing about, but he didn't dare remove his earplugs rashly and could only attempt to intervene.

"Stop, stop, stop, I order you all to stop right now and tell me what happened. Or else…or else I'm gonna butt in too!"

He flashed open his Wind Master fan. Ming Yi shoved him aside.

"Move! Stop adding to the trouble!"

Just then, a blast of sinister wind blew from out of nowhere. The flames of the small campfire they were gathered around quivered and danced wildly with the gust. Silhouettes and shadows twisted and contorted with the firelight, making the two divine statues on the altar appear extremely unsettling: smiling but not, crying but not. Ming Yi pulled Shi Qingxuan up. "Something's here," he

said warily.

He had shoved Shi Qingxuan to the ground without warning, and had pulled him up just as quickly. Shi Qingxuan was dizzy and seeing stars.

"Ming-xiong! Can you please be nicer to me?!"

"No time!" Ming Yi said.

Xie Lian had been watching the two statues and urged the others, "Look at their eyes!"

The four looked over and saw that the smiling faces of the two divine statues were streaked with vivid red lines. Their clay eyes streamed bloody tears.

Divine statues which had been sanctified in ceremonies and worshipped by believers possessed a certain power to deter evil. Even if said evil didn't completely retreat, the statues still typically couldn't be defiled by inhuman hands.

The Reverend of Empty Words was certainly powerful—Shi Qingxuan was here in the flesh, yet it made the statue of the Wind Master weep bloody tears before the god himself. The tears of blood streamed thicker and heavier, dripping to the ground and gathering into a twisted, complex form.

Shi Qingxuan was bewildered. "What is that thing? Is it… drawing a picture?"

He couldn't figure out what shape was forming no matter how he looked at it. He didn't move closer, but he tried to look at it from various angles to discern the image. Xie Lian snapped out of his shock to realize that it wasn't a drawing—it was an upside-down word!

"Don't look!" he barked. "It's written for you!"

Ming Yi struck out with his palm. Boom! The blood streaked ground and two divine statues were blasted to pieces. Shi Qingxuan's jaw dropped.

"Ming-xiong! You…you, you, you…you can't let my brother know about this, or he'll never forgive you!"

To destroy a heavenly official's divine statue was an act of extreme disrespect. And today, Ming Yi had snapped an establishment plaque in half and then blasted two statues to bits. This was no different than crashing someone's restaurant, smashing their signage, and then soundly slapping the owner in the face. If this got out—specifically, if the person in question found out—they wouldn't sit back and do nothing. Who knew what kind of bloody storm would rise from it?

As Xie Lian idly turned his head, he noticed that the broken plaque they had set aside earlier in the day didn't seem quite right. The establishment plaque was painted blue and had proper golden characters spelling the words "Temple of Wind and Water." But now, the strokes of the characters were twisting into bloody red shapes that appeared to be the beginning of the word "death."

In a flash, he covered Shi Qingxuan's eyes and yelled in the communication array, "Close your eyes!"

"What now?!" Shi Qingxuan shouted back.

"Nothing. It's just that the words on your establishment plaque have changed. The creature knows you can't hear it, so it's trying to write," Xie Lian explained.

"Damn!" Shi Qingxuan exclaimed. "If I can't let myself hear or see anything, then aren't I both deaf and blind?!"

Xie Lian dropped his hands. "Don't worry, just calm down. We're here for you."

Ming Yi grabbed hold of Shi Qingxuan's back collar and dragged him aside. Shi Qingxuan still had his eyes closed, and he put his palms together as if in prayer.

"How reassuring!"

Just as he spoke, an enormously noisy commotion came from outside the rundown temple. Dark blurs darted across Xie Lian's vision, and in the next moment, there was a huge, rowdy crowd of people howling like devils and pouring inside like a pitch-black tide.

It was a mob populated by all kinds of bizarre forms and monstrous shapes. Some had decapitated heads, some were hanged, some had large sabers piercing their skulls, some had their bellies cut open… There were all sorts of violent curiosities. Shi Qingxuan couldn't hear and couldn't see, but he could feel the disorderly, chaotic footsteps all around him; he was even pushed around in the ruckus.

"What's going on?" he asked in the communication array, bewildered. "What's gotten inside? Why are there so many people?!"

"It's nothing major," Xie Lian said. "It's the night parade of the Bloody Fire Social. Let's just get out of here."

In some places, Bloody Fire Socials would hold further entertainment well into the night after the day's parades had ended. Not only did the performers want to get their fill of scaring people, many common folks also had the urge to do the same. And so, they would imitate the Bloody Fire Social's terrifying makeup and use the dark of night to head out and look for people to scare. Unfortunately, the four of them seemed to have run into such a group of night cruisers.

The rowdy crowd of common folk didn't have the same level of realism in their makeup as the proper parade troupes, but they were nevertheless formidable due to sheer numbers and terrifyingly obscured by the darkness of the night—quite the sight to behold. In towns that had such after-hours entertainment during Bloody Fire Socials, locals would lock up their homes tightly and stay indoors. These night cruisers had been wandering around for some time, and they were quite excited when they saw there were people inside the broken shrine, as if they'd spotted prey. Over fifty of them had charged in, overcrowding the small temple.

The four of them were drowned in the pandemonium. Xie Lian kept looking back, but he could only see Hua Cheng, who was still next to him and never more than two steps out of reach. The other two were pushed several meters away.

"Everyone, let's get outside now!" he shouted.

But while some of the night cruisers were purely there for fun, others were small-time merchants there specifically to scam petty change from tourists who had come to watch the Bloody Fire Social. They blocked them inside, not letting them leave, and began to pester and cajole them.

"Young masters, give us a tip!"

"We worked so hard to dress up! If you had fun tonight, then give us a tip!"

"Yeah, it ain't easy, and this is only a once-a-year thing!"

"If you don't tip us, watch out for the Ol' Ghost Lord who'll come haunt you!"

Since the whole affair had nothing to do with him, HuaCheng only watched from the sidelines and wasn't the least bit anxious. When he heard them, he laughed out loud.

"I'd like to see what kind of ghost dares come knocking on my door."

As Xie Lian swept a look over the crowd, he saw a pale faced hanged ghost near the edge of the crowd. It was wrapping a rope around someone's neck while wearing an eerie grin.

It was chaos all around. Everyone was covered in blood, their faces contorted, endlessly playing out games of "you kill me, I kill you, now you're dead, now I'm dead." People were constantly howling and falling over. It was hard to differentiate the real from the fake, but Xie Lian's instincts told him that "person" wasn't right, and he threw out his arm. Ruoye flew forth and struck the hanged ghost squarely on the head.

Sure enough, the hanged ghost wailed and turned into a wisp of black smoke, fleeing through a small crack in the ground. No one else noticed, but Xie Lian saw everything clearly.

"Everyone, be careful! Something wicked is mixed in with the crowd!" he warned in the communication array.

There now seemed to be a faint ghost qi wafting within the Temple of Wind and Water. It wasn't from the Reverend of Empty Words, of course, but more likely some little minions that had snuck into the crowd at some point. When people play around and pretend to be ghosts, it doesn't take long to attract real ones. But for them to show up right now really was adding frost to snow. There were too many people and too much chaos in the temple; heads knocked heads, feet stepped on feet, and it was too difficult to determine the exact source of the ghost qi. Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng and ran out of the Temple of Wind and Water. He was about to ask after the others but found he couldn't. His spiritual power was almost depleted, and with no power, he couldn't enter the communication array.

In that moment of urgency, he turned to Hua Cheng. "San Lang, lend me a bit of spiritual power—I'll pay you back later!"

Of course, the promise of later payment was nonsense. He was never able to pay back any of the power he borrowed.

"All right," Hua Cheng said, then reached out to hold Xie Lian's hand.

Xie Lian felt a burst of warmth pass into his palm. At that moment, a few bloody individuals came rushing out of the temple in hot pursuit. The one straggling behind that group was dropping innards as he ran and had skin that crawled with livor mortis; he also gave off a faint aura of ghost qi. Without thinking, Xie Lian shot a blast from his palm.

A booming sound like an explosion was heard, and a blinding white light flashed. It took a while before Xie Lian realized what had happened.

In the place where the ghost with the cut belly once stood, only a mound of black ash-like residue remained. As for the Temple of Wind and Water, the entire rooftop hadbeen blown away. The rioting night cruisers in the temple had gone still, frozen in shock from the booming sound and blinding light.

"..."

Xie Lian raised his head to look at the Temple of Wind and Water, now missing its roof, then looked down at his own hand. Finally, he slowly turned to look at Hua Cheng, who stood behind him.

Hua Cheng smiled. "Was that enough?"

"...It was," Xie Lian said. "Actually…really, just a little bit would've been fine."

"That was a little bit," Hua Cheng assured him. "Do you want more? You can have as much as you want."

Xie Lian quickly shook his head. In the past, he had also borrowed spiritual power from Shi Qingxuan, Nan Feng, and others. They lent very generously, but Xie Lian had never experienced a feeling like this, as if all the blood in his veins had turned into an electrical current that charged through his body. The powers he'd borrowed before had to be economized and saved, only one bite taken at a time for fear of wasting them. Right now, he felt like he could eat a full bowl and dump out ten without a care.

The power Hua Cheng had passed to him was too great; it filled his entire body to bursting. It was to the point where Xie Lian was almost afraid to move, scared that with just a wave of his hand, something else nearby would explode.

Now that their surroundings were temporarily calm, he hurriedly entered the communication array. "Lord Wind Master, where are you? I left the temple, but I don't see you."

"Oh god…" Shi Qingxuan groaned inside the communication array. "Your Highness, why is your voice so loud all of a sudden? I left the Temple of Wind and Water too."

Xie Lian reined in his spiritual powers, then replied, "Sorry, I'm having some trouble controlling this. How did you leave? Are you all right?"

After all, right now Shi Qingxuan had his ears plugged and his eyes closed.

"Pfft, how else could I have left? Ming-xiong pulled me out. Thank goodness I wasn't trampled to death by that crowd," Shi Qingxuan said.

A moment later, Ming Yi's voice also sounded in the spiritual communication array. However, his words froze the smile that was just beginning to form on Xie Lian's face.

"That wasn't me!" Ming Yi said.

It wasn't?!

Xie Lian snapped his head around. Oh no!

"Lord Wind Master! Just who was it that pulled you away?!"