Chapter 78 - 77: You three brats!!!

Chapter 78: Chapter 77: You three brats!!!

Yichen continued along the passage, keeping his steps careful as he carried Xiaoyu.

The weak light in his hand trembled against the walls, stretching their shadows ahead of them.

"Do you remember what you said back in the village?" he asked softly. "About how people should be remembered for more than the way they died?"

There was no answer, but Yichen continued as though the silence itself were enough.

"I didn’t understand it very well at the time. I thought you were simply being kind to those people. But now..." His voice faltered, and he took another slow step. "I think I understand a little."

He walked on, listening to the sound of his own footsteps.

"You know, I never asked you much about your mother. You mentioned her when you were talking about the dance, but I never asked what she was like. Was she strict? I imagine she must have been, if she taught you something so difficult."

A faint smile touched his face.

"Actually, you might have been the strict one. You always looked so quiet, but somehow you had a way of making the rest of us do things without even asking."

He let out a quiet laugh. But the laugh quickly faded, leaving only the sound of his footsteps, "I should have asked you more about yourself during the journey. We spent nearly a month together, yet there are still so many things I don’t know about you."

His smile became weaker. The tears continued slipping down his cheek. But he did not notice it, "We can try different food later. If you don’t like something, we’ll order something else. You don’t have to eat anything you don’t like."

Another tear followed.

"And when we’re done eating, maybe we can find somewhere quiet. You can sit under a tree and complain about how noisy the rest of us are."

He laughed again, but the sound came out strained, almost forced, "I’ll probably annoy you anyway."

His breathing became uneven.

"You can tell me to be quiet."

He wiped at his face with his shoulder, but the tears continued to fall, "I’ll pretend to listen."

"I’d like to see you dance again too. Somewhere peaceful this time. Somewhere without monsters chasing us."

"Maybe we could stay there until the sun came up."

His foot landed unsteadily. Yichen’s knee buckled for a moment, and he caught himself against the wall with his shoulder while keeping Xiaoyu firmly in his arms.

"Sorry," he whispered.

He waited until his legs steadied before continuing.

"I almost stumbled. I won’t drop you, I promise... Hahaha."

The tears kept coming.

Sometimes he managed a faint laugh when he remembered something from the journey, and sometimes his voice broke so badly that he needed several seconds before he could continue, but he never stopped talking to her.

"You can take your time," he whispered eventually. "I’ll wait... I’ll wait... "

The passage bent sharply to the left, and Yichen slowed when he heard voices somewhere beyond the stone.

"Yichen?!"

He stopped.

"Yichen! Is that you?"

The voice came again, and evidently, it was Minghao’s voice.

"Over here!" Yichen immediately called in a hoarse voice, "Minghao! Yuexin! We are here!"

"Where are you?"

"Just ahead!"

He quickened his steps, following their voices until the passage finally opened into a wider junction.

Minghao emerged from the opposite corridor with Yuexin close behind him, both of them dusty and injured from their own encounter with the maze.

For a moment, relief appeared on Minghao’s face as he finally saw Yichen’s face. But then, his gaze slowly lowered onto Xiaoyu’s body in his grasp.

Yuexin stopped at the same time, "Xiaoyu..."

Yichen smiled faintly. "We found each other. I knew you two would. I was worried about you two... "

Minghao’s eyes moved over Xiaoyu without a word. Her silver hair rested against Yichen’s arm, her face was peaceful, and there was no movement in her chest.

His expression slowly tightened as he began realizing something, "What happened?"

"The creature caught us when the floor collapsed. Her legs were badly injured after the fall," Yichen adjusted his hold carefully. "I stopped the bleeding, but I don’t have a second-grade healing pill. We need to get her outside and find a physician."

Yuexin heard his words and stepped closer.

"Let me see her."

"Be careful. Her legs are broken."

"I won’t touch them."

She crouched slightly, but her eyes quickly moved from Xiaoyu to Yichen as she realized it...

"Yichen..."

"She’ll be fine."

The answer came too quickly. Minghao took another step from the side, "Give her to me."

Yichen shook his head.

"You’re injured."

"So are you, Yichen."

"I’m fine."

Minghao looked at his trembling arms, "You’ve been carrying her for too long, let me share the burden with you."

Yichen smiled faintly.

"Xiaoyu told me to keep talking. It’s fine. I’m not tired."

Minghao’s expression changed when he heard the response.

"She asked me to talk while we were resting," Yichen continued. "I promised her I would. I haven’t finished talking yet... "

He turned and started walking again. Minghao and Yuexin exchanged glances with each other and silently followed.

For a while, neither said anything.

Yichen continued speaking quietly to Xiaoyu, filling the corridor with ordinary memories and small plans for what they would do after returning.

He spoke as though nothing fundamental had changed, and that was what gradually unsettled the other two.

Minghao watched him carefully, and his gaze returned back onto Xiaoyu’s still smiling face in Chen Yichen’s grasp.

"Yichen..."

"What are you doing?"

And after hesitating for a moment. Finally, Minghao stepped in front of him, "Yichen."

Yichen stopped, and turned his gaze. Minghao looked directly at him, "Look at me."

Yichen did.

Minghao reached out and gently placed two fingers against Xiaoyu’s wrist.

And after a second, there was nothing. He left them there for several seconds before slowly withdrawing his hand.

"She has no pulse."

Yichen stared at him, chuckled, and hurriedly explained, "S-she used too much spiritual energy."

"Yichen..."

"She’ll recover once we get outside."

Minghao’s voice softened, "You know that’s not what happened."

Yichen shook his head.

"You’ve already realized it."

"No."

"You’re just refusing to say it."

Yichen’s breathing became uneven. Minghao stepped closer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yichen, she’s gone."

For several seconds, Yichen remained completely still. Then his eyes dropped toward Xiaoyu. His lips moved, but no words came.

Minghao gave his shoulder a firm squeeze.

"Yichen."

That finally seemed to reach him as his face crumpled in an instant, "I..."

His heart felt as if it was being crushed, but on the outside, he continued, "I shouldn’t have brought her here."

His knees gave way, and Minghao caught him before he fell completely. Yichen sank to the ground, still holding Xiaoyu tightly against himself.

"I knew this place was dangerous," he whispered. "I knew it, and I still brought her."

Minghao knelt beside him.

"It wasn’t only your decision."

"But I suggested it."

Yuexin crouched down as well, tears already running down her cheeks, "You couldn’t have known this would happen."

Yichen shook his head.

"I should have."

His voice broke.

"I should have protected her."

He pressed his forehead against Xiaoyu’s.

"Why did it have to be her?"

Neither could answer. Yichen’s shoulders began shaking as he finally broke down, "Why is heaven so cruel?"

Yuexin covered her mouth, unable to stop herself from crying.

"It hurts..."

Yichen held Xiaoyu tighter.

"It hurts so much."

Minghao remained beside him, his face pale and his eyes reddened, but he did not cry.

He simply kept one hand on Yichen’s shoulder, giving him something solid to hold onto while Yichen’s grief finally overwhelmed him.

And then, as though the sorrow filling the underground chamber had awakened something buried within it, a cold notification sounded inside the mind of a certain someone.

[High Emotional Stimulation detected.]

[Story’s Credibility has increased.]

[Credibility: 0% → 50%.]

For the briefest instant, Xiaoyu’s amber eyes brightened. Though none of the three noticed it. And in the next instant, a miracle happened.

The ground beneath them suddenly shook. Not a gentle vibration this time, but a violent tremor that sent cracks racing across the stone floor.

"What’s happening?" Yuexin cried.

Minghao immediately grabbed her arm.

"Stay steady!"

The ground lurched again.

Yichen nearly lost his balance, but his arms instinctively tightened around Xiaoyu, shielding her with his own body.

The walls groaned.

Dust poured from the ceiling.

Then came a deeper sound, one that seemed to travel through the entire underground structure.

Rumble—

The passage ahead shifted.

Minghao stared.

The wall that had once stood directly before them slowly sank into the earth, revealing a corridor that had never existed before.

"That’s..."

Yuexin looked behind them. The passage they had just walked through was changing as well. Its walls were moving outward, the narrow corridor becoming wider before their eyes.

"No," Minghao murmured.

He turned slowly, looking at the maze around them.

"The maze is changing."

The realization left all three stunned. Another corridor split open and then another.

Paths rearranged themselves, walls withdrawing and reconnecting in unfamiliar patterns. The maze they had spent so long struggling to understand was no longer the same maze.

Along the cracks in the stone, tiny green shoots began emerging. Flowers bloomed across the walls.

One after another, their petals opened and released a soft glow that spread through the newly formed passages, illuminating routes that had previously been swallowed by darkness.

Yuexin stared in disbelief.

"Those paths weren’t there."

Minghao looked around, trying to memorize the changes, but even as he watched, another section shifted.

"How can an entire structure change like this?"

Yichen didn’t answer. He barely seemed to hear them and he was still holding Xiaoyu. Then before they could understand what was happening, a powerful spiritual pressure descended from above.

The three of them froze.

The pressure was immense, yet strangely gentle. It did not crush them. Instead, a warm, soft spiritual energy wrapped around their bodies, lifting them from the ground before any of them could react.

"What—"

The ceiling above them exploded open. Stone shattered and fell away as a massive opening appeared overhead. A familiar voice thundered through the ruined chamber.

"You three brats!"

Before Minghao or Yuexin could even respond, the gentle spiritual energy carried them upward. The underground maze vanished beneath them.

A moment later, they were standing high above the desolate plain. Yichen remained suspended in the air, still hugging Xiaoyu’s lifeless body against his chest.

He looked down.

The enormous hole that had opened in the earth was already rapidly closing. Stone moved back into place with frightening speed until the entrance disappeared completely, leaving only the desolate plain beneath them.

"Wait..."

Yuexin stared downward.

Something else was happening. The barren grey earth around the sealed tomb was changing. Green spread across the wasteland, and then flowers began appearing.

Thousands of them.

They erupted from the ground in waves, spreading farther and farther across the plain until the once-desolate landscape became an enormous field of flowers.

Yichen stared at the sight.

For a moment, he forgot to breathe. The flowers swayed gently in the wind, and it was the same kind of flowers Xiaoyu had created beneath the moonlight.

The same flowers she had danced among.

His arms tightened around her.

"She..."

His voice trembled.

"She liked flowers."

Chen Feng’s expression changed slightly as he looked down at the three younger cultivators.

His gaze lingered on Chen Xiaoyu’s peaceful face, still resting lifelessly in Yichen’s arms. For a brief moment, the anger in his eyes faded, replaced by something far more complicated.

’Chen Yuan...’

’I hope you understand what you are doing.’

His gaze remained on Xiaoyu for another moment before he finally looked toward the vast field of flowers spreading across the desolate plain.

Then his expression hardened again.

"What have you done?!"

His voice thundered across the sky.

"You three idiots! Why couldn’t you have just followed the mission?!"