Instructor Hong's pupils suddenly contracted. He lunged forward and grabbed Baili Pangpang, who was about to fall into the passage. With his other hand, he drew the straight blade from his waist and viciously drove it into the nearby rock wall, stopping his descent.
Shen Qingzhu likewise drew his blade and stabbed it into the rock wall, but his body was too weak. The blade sank only a third of the way in, and he gradually tilted downward, seeming unable to hold on much longer.
Ma Yitian, one arm severed and covered in blood, stood vertically against the rock wall, sneering at the three of them. Then he suddenly froze.
"Where's that brat?"
He looked up and down again, confirming that Lin Qiye was nowhere in this passage. Confusion filled his heart.
Before the Blazing Vein Earth Dragon had spat out its fireballs, he had used his ability to leave the cavern. After speeding forward underground for quite a while and discovering that no explosion had occurred, he had turned back in confusion and flown back into the cavern.
Only then had he discovered that the Blazing Vein Earth Dragon and everyone else were gone!
Still dazed, he had no idea what had happened here. But he soon noticed a passage that had suddenly appeared overhead. Guessing that they might have used it to reach the surface, he had swiftly chased upward, intending to hunt down Lin Qiye.
Yet when he arrived here, he discovered that Lin Qiye was not here at all. He was instantly dumbfounded.
Shen Qingzhu frowned, about to say something when Baili Pangpang's eyes darted about and he spoke first.
"Qiye... died."
"Died?!" Ma Yitian froze. "How did he die?"
"He was knocked into the magma by the Blazing Vein Earth Dragon... burned to death." Baili