"Uh… can we control this ball of strings?" Qian Jue asked as he held the still unconscious Qian Meng.
Su Mi scratched her head as she helped her younger brother Su Yi lie down inside the ball to rest. "I don't know. I also didn't expect for our bracelets to turn like this." She answered.
Chen Su nodded in agreement. "I was also surprised! I thought that they are really just charm bracelets!" he said.
Qian Jue's brow twitched. "…" okay. I won't say anything else like giving us a fake bracelet, scamming us, since these bracelets saved our lives. He thought and sighed, feeling that the Xinfaxian Sect and Youxiwang Sect are benevolent, they are also sometimes unreliable.
But, he can't also blame them since, based from their expressions, Cheng Sheng shouldn't have told them the main purpose of the bracelet – to save their life in the nick of time. So, by logic, Cheng Sheng is the unreliable one here.
But, like he said earlier, he wouldn't complain since his and Qian Meng's lives were saved. In short, since such a fortunate thing has happened, then, Qian Jue doesn't have the right to complain, and instead be grateful, which he feels right now.
Qian Jue hugged Qian Meng tight in his embrace. God knows how frightened he was when Qian Meng collapsed right in front of him. he thought that his world was about to fall apart, and he almost gave up right then and there and wanted to die, too. Fortunately, his friends woke him up in time and told him that Qian Meng just fainted due to blood loss, and that he has to raise his sword and avenge Qian Meng!
And he did. But, now, he felt utterly exhausted and couldn't even feel his limbs. Chen Su and Su Mi felt the same, as well as Chen Wu and the others in the other, smaller ball not far from them.
"FCK! That made me almost pee in fright!" Jing De loudly exclaimed with his face pale in horror.
Seeing him still lively, they all finally can't help but sigh in relief and smile. That they are still actually alive and didn't die when they failed to break through the demons' siege earlier. Even Chen Wu and Wu Lian lied listlessly inside the ball.
Jing Yu was clutching his chest since even he wouldn't think that they would still be alive right now. He really thought that it was the end earlier! "This…" he muttered as he looked at the ball of strings with a complicated gaze.
Chen Wu grimaced. "Don't ask me… I also don't know." He said and whined in pain.
After their tensed body relaxed, their wounds finally bit them back. Now, they don't even have the energy to move their limbs or talk for a longer.
"Zhu Xi should be alright, too?" Wu Lian asked.
"En." Chen Wu answered as he looked at the last ball not far from them. "We can't go on like this. Who knows until when will the ball of strings will protect us?" he asked with a sigh.
The others also tensed. Although they finally feel relaxed, they don't dare refute what Chen Wu said. Chen Wu is right. This ball of strings might not protect them forever, and even if it did, they are still in the territory of the demons. In a battle of attrition, they, humans, would be the one to lose since not only are they injured, they also don't have provisions brought with them.
Just as they are feeling depressed again, they suddenly heard Zhu Xi's loud voice yell.
"Hey! Everyone! Look what I discovered!" Zhu Xi said with laughter in his voice.
They all immediately turned. Then, their eyes widened when they saw that Zhu Xi waved his sword, and his sword glare came out of his sword's blade!
"You idiot! What are you – ?!" they asked, shocked, since they thought that Zhu Xi wants to cut the ball of strings protecting him.
But, suddenly, their mouths fell open and their eyes widened in disbelief when the sword glare actually smoothly passed through the ball of strings and hit the nearby demons, killing them!
"What the hell…!" they exclaimed, stunned. But, the corners of their lips curled up. "This is… this can also be done?!" they exclaimed, unable to hide the joy in their voices.
Even the audience who are watching were also gob smacked, not to mention the sect leaders and elders. Simultaneously, they turned to look at Cheng Sheng whose brow twitched in annoyance.
"Zhu Xi's discovery was an accident. I also don't know that this could happen… alright, I know." Cheng Sheng said as his lip twitched. "Isn't it good for the young ones to discover wondrous things by themselves?" he asked.
Everyone. "…" fine. We won't quibble with you! They thought as they finally retracted their gazes. After all, what happened is a good thing, so they will let Cheng Sheng off from deceiving their feelings.
Cheng Sheng sighed, feeling more tired than the participants.
"You rest first." Fei Yin told him.
Cheng Sheng didn't refuse him. "En." He answered as he burrowed into Fei Yin's embrace and closed his eyes to sleep.
The others saw him sleeping again and knew that Cheng Sheng is still recuperating due to his cultivation method still restructuring his body. So, they lowered their voices and resumed watching the competition.
…
"Have you now recovered?" Tang Li asked Fei Yinzi as they fly faster to the direction that Fei Yinzi pointed where Zhu Xi flew, as well as the others were.
"En…" Fei Yinzi nodded as he suppressed the urge to cough blood.
Because of the distance, as well as the dense demonic qi, he used more qi to locate where the others were. After eating magic pills, his strength recovered only seventy percent. If they have to fight despairingly, he fears that he is the one to die first among them four.
"How far?" Wen Yan asked Fei Yinzi.
"In five minutes, we will finally reach them." Fei Yinzi answered.
Li Yan looked at him, then Wen Yan. Even though he knows that due to the situation that is urgent that they can't stop to let Fei Yinzi rest first after using a talisman earlier to locate the others, Li Yan feels that there is another reason why Wen Yan is treating Fei Yinzi harshly today. Even though he wanted to ask something, he doesn't know what to ask and thus he can't speak for Fei Yinzi. Also, this isn't the right time to resolve conflicts, which is surprisingly the first time he saw between the usually loving Xinfaxian Sect family. So, Li Yan fought the urge to ask.
Although Wen Yan noticed Li Yan's inquiring gaze, he ignored it. And he feels gratified that Li Yan, in the end, didn't ask. Or else, he had to tell them about him disliking Fei Yinzi being liked by his younger brother Wen Wen. Even if Wen Yan doesn't need to tell them this, if he will be asked, then he will honestly answer, since he never liked lying to others.
As they say, 'don't let one's own fertile water flow into others' field'. But, to Wen Yan, even if it is to his fellow disciple, he doesn't want Wen Wen to be with Fei Yinzi! This closeted brother complex elder brother, he wanted his younger brother all to himself! Wen Yan has to graduate from his brother complex like Chen Han.
Tang Li suspiciously looked at Wen Yan, Fei Yinzi, then Li Yan. No matter how stupid he is, he can still sense that there is a problem between Wen Yan and Fei Yinzi, which is surprising for Xinfaxian Sect disciples as their sect is a big family and always act together. Then, when he looked at Li Yan, he knew that Li Yan, with how perceptive he is to others' changes in expressions and mood, he definitely has already noticed this matter.
Tang Li wanted to ask him, but then he saw that Li Yan didn't act. So, Tang Li guessed that Li Yan must have thought of other considerations, aside from the current urgent and dangerous situation. So, he didn't speak.
"There!" Fei Yinzi exclaimed when he finally saw a sword glare, followed by more others, flashed out in the distance.
Wen Yan didn't speak and flew faster. Tang Li and Li Yan immediately followed with Fei Yinzi behind them. They know that Fei Yinzi suffered an internal injury with him forcefully locating the others. So, they didn't urge him and left him behind until he manages to catch up to them.
It was already commendable of him to have flown this far with them.
"What was that?!" Tang Li exclaimed and suddenly halted in the air when he saw a ball of light.
"It must be Zhu Xi!" Wen Yan shouted and immediately flew towards the ball of light surrounded by countless demons that continuously attacked it.
But, the ball of light not only torn the demons to pieces using its strings, but it also spat out sword glares coming from Zhu Xi!