Chapter Nine: The Ingenious Escape Plan (Part One)

Chiyang shook her head. Whatever thought crossed her mind dimmed her pretty face, and her expression flickered with uncertainty before she nodded faintly and said, "Alright."

Seeing her reaction, Shi Jun hesitated for a moment. Ultimately, he did not walk alongside her, choosing instead to lead the way forward.

The two walked in silence through the pitch-black corridor, neither speaking a word.

Shi Jun could not describe the feeling in his heart. Joy? Disappointment? Or perhaps sorrow? Perhaps it was a mixture of all these. But as long as he was with her, everything else seemed insignificant. A bold thought had suddenly flashed through his mind just moments ago: he wanted to take Chiyang’s hand. He remembered that in the Underworld, they had once held hands—a sensation he would never forget, a deeply ingrained, indelible tenderness.

He had secretly told himself that when they met again, he would take the initiative and hold her hand firmly. It was a pity that every time the crucial moment arrived, he found he could not summon the courage. Now that he no longer lacked the courage, he knew clearly that he no longer had the right—she was someone else’s beloved, and in her heart, she surely still loved that person deeply. Even if she was kind to him, or even shed tears for him, it was nothing more than the concern of a friend. As these thoughts crossed his mind, a faint wave of sadness washed over him.

After turning two corners, the voices of Fu Yao and Zi Sheng faded away. Walking along the dark passage, Shi Jun was lost in his own wandering thoughts, oblivious to the fact that Chiyang had been silently following behind him. When he finally realized it, he felt a sudden sense of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I... I was lost in my own thoughts."

"It's fine," Chiyang replied with a low smile. "I was thinking about things, too."

"Oh, I was worried you might be feeling bored!"

Seeing that Chiyang did not reply immediately, an indescribably strange feeling took hold of Shi Jun. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and blurted out, "Have you been following me like this the whole time?"

Chiyang stopped and looked at him, nodding slowly. Her voice was barely audible. In the darkness, her cyan robes and pale, delicate face were difficult to distinguish, save for her eyes, which were shimmering with light.

"Strange! Have I said this to you before?" As the words left his lips, Shi Jun felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu. He couldn't help but scratch his head, asking in confusion.

"Could it be that you have remembered?" Chiyang started, as if stung by something. A flash of unbelievable radiance appeared in her eyes, only to vanish in an instant. After a long moment of hesitation, she asked in a soft, strained voice, as if it took a great effort, "Why... why do you ask?"

Shi Jun tilted his head, seemingly trying his best to recall, his face filled with bewilderment. "Remember what? Have I forgotten something? No, I don't know, but I just had a particularly familiar feeling, as if a long, long time ago, you had always followed me like this, silently, for thousands of years." He chuckled, "Fortunately, this isn't a horror movie, and fortunately, we know each other! Otherwise, walking in this pitch-black place with a stranger following behind would be quite frightening."

"Is that so? Always like this?" Chiyang seemed both relieved and deeply disappointed. The tenderness in her tone vanished, replaced by a cold, hard edge. "Why did we come here? We should go back." With that, she turned and walked away.

"Are you angry? Is it because of the Weak Water Curse?" Shi Jun was baffled.

Without looking back, Chiyang replied, answering a question he hadn't asked: "Your poison will definitely be cured." Her tone was firm, sounding less like a reassurance to Shi Jun and more like a vow to herself.

"Wait, you still haven't told me what that third thing was," Shi Jun called out to stop her.

Chiyang paused, reflecting for a moment before understanding his meaning. She didn't speak, but looked at him deeply, sighed, and said, "That third thing is no longer something I can ask of you." Her footsteps were light, and her slender figure flickered and vanished into the passage.

Once she was out of Shi Jun's sight, Chiyang let out a long breath. Weak and exhausted, she leaned against the wall of the passage and slowly slid to the ground. She bent over, opened her mouth, and spat out a mouthful of blood. She wiped it away hastily but did not immediately stand up, staring blankly into the hollow, silent darkness. She murmured to herself, "Xuan Xian, you are finally about to wake up... and I—I, who have waited and trusted for so many years, have been living a lie..."

***

Shi Jun felt as though he had displeased Chiyang, but after much thought, he still could not understand where he had gone wrong. He stood quietly in the darkness for a while before his feet began to go numb. He couldn't help but sit down, leaning back against the "wall" of the passage. He realized, to his surprise, that the passage was warm. Then it occurred to him: of course, he was inside the belly of the creature known as Luo Jin, a Che Yu; naturally, he would feel its body heat.

Come to think of it, the scenery of the Demon Realm was not much different from the Human Realm. While there were differences—such as blue ice and snow or silver rivers—it was far more normal than the Underworld. Yet, for some reason, even though Shi Jun didn't particularly like the Underworld, he had to admit that its scenery felt more grand and magnificent than that of the Human or Demon Realms. Every time he recalled it, he felt an uncontrollable sense of familiarity.

Lost in these disjointed thoughts, Shi Jun leaned against the soft wall, his eyelids gradually growing heavy...

A pair of feet walked with a steady, swift stride.

The path beneath them was rugged and treacherous, filled with sharp stones, thorny bushes, and steep cliffs...

The sound of footsteps followed behind.

The owner of the feet heard the noise but did not stop, continuing to stride forward as if nothing could halt their wind-like pace.

The footsteps behind seemed somewhat timid, not daring to disturb the one in front, yet despite their lightness, they followed without the slightest hesitation.

Time passed. The feet in front gradually slowed down, and the footsteps behind became even softer, yet they persisted in maintaining the distance.

Finally, one day...

"Have you been following me like this the whole time?" The man's voice was gentle and deep, carrying an indescribable warmth.

"..." After a long silence, a reply, too faint to be heard, finally sounded.

The man was silent for a long time, then slowly said, "Strange. Have I said this to you before?"

...

Confused and drifting gazes, figures appearing near and far, sounds growing loud and soft, laughter, light and darkness, a shifting sky and earth... flashing, chaotic, swift, and eerie, they danced rapidly in his mind like a film reel edited in madness.

Shi Jun jolted awake, gasping, and jumped up. He was drenched in sweat, looking around in a daze, only to see the silent, pitch-black passage.

It was just a dream.

But why would he have such a dream for no reason?

Before Shi Jun could collect his thoughts, a light sound of footsteps echoed behind him. In an instant, his blood rushed to his head. Overjoyed, he turned around without thinking and grasped the warm, smooth hands of the person approaching. "A-Yang, you're back?" His heart was racing, and as he heard his own voice, he felt a strange sensation, as if the voice didn't belong to him, but rather echoed the one he had heard in his dream.

He focused his eyes and froze—the person before him was not Chiyang, but Fu Yao.

Fu Yao looked up at Shi Jun, a faint, shy smile touching her lips after a moment. "Big Brother Shi, let's go. Everyone is waiting to discuss things with you."

Shi Jun was filled with both embarrassment and disappointment. He didn't know what to say, his face flushed red. He muttered an "Oh," and mumbled something incoherent, not daring to look at Fu Yao again as he hurried toward the end of the passage.

After two steps, he stopped abruptly.

Chiyang was standing at the front of the passage, staring at him blankly, her exquisitely beautiful face a mixture of joy and sorrow. His heart trembled.

"Now that everyone is here, let us discuss our next move," Zi Sheng said, maintaining his usual composed demeanor as the three, each with their own complex emotions, returned. "Luo Jin just sent word that Bi Yuan saw it swallow you and is currently in hot pursuit. With Luo Jin's abilities, it is no match for Bi Yuan, so we cannot stay here for long."

He then turned to Shi Jun: "I have forcibly lifted part of the seal; you may now retrieve your physical body from the wooden house."

Shi Jun glanced at Chiyang, thinking to himself: I just promised her I wouldn't use magic casually, and now I have to break my word. I wonder if she will be angry with me again.

Chiyang did not meet Shi Jun's gaze; her long eyelashes remained lowered, lost in her own thoughts.

Seeing Chiyang remain still, Shi Jun felt a guilty conscience, but he couldn't just leave his physical body behind in the Demon Realm, could he? Would he spend the rest of his life wandering the human world as a stray soul? He silently performed the hand seals and incantations. Before long, his physical body, which had been sitting there with closed eyes and a blank expression, teleported to his side. Shi Jun quickly plunged back into it.

Seeing this, Fu Yao murmured, "If only my soul could be as powerful as that."

"A-Yao, you are so clever; you will be able to do it in the future," Zi Sheng said gently. He pulled a scroll of a map from his robes and spread it out on the ground. Chiyang also produced a night-luminescent pearl, and they all gathered around the map in silence.

Zi Sheng explained, "There were originally three passages into and out of the Demon Realm: Jiamu Pass, the Emerald Vortex, and the Magpie Bridge. Brother, you and Miss Chiyang likely entered through the Emerald Vortex, right?"