"Mm... Have I reached the Underworld?"
Xia Zhiqiu opened his eyes groggily. A gloomy sky filled his vision, and the smell of decay hung all around him.
Was this the legendary Underworld?
"With me here, the Underworld doesn't get to claim you."
A familiar voice sounded beside him. Then Zhang Xuan's familiar face came into view.
"How do you feel? Do you still know who I am? Don't tell me you've gone stupid."
Zhang Xuan held up two fingers and waved them in front of Xia Zhiqiu's eyes.
"How many is this?"
Xia Zhiqiu said, "That's you."
Zhang Xuan: ...
Xia Zhiqiu shot upright. His head spun a little, but it was nothing serious.
A dark sky. Shattered ground.
Right. This wasn't the Underworld. This was the Burial God Graveyard!
And...
"Oh, right. Where's A'Su?"
Before he passed out, he thought he'd seen Su Ye.
"Stop looking. Su Ye—no, we need to be consistent here. Call him Long Aotian or Brother Long."
Zhang Xuan gave Xia Zhiqiu a warning look.
"You have no idea what a tempting morsel you are here. Especially when you're bleeding. To those monster spirits, you're like bread fresh from the oven, with the smell drifting everywhere."
"In just this short while, your scent has drawn over a dozen monster spirits. Brother Long is patrolling nearby, taking care of the ones following it."
Zhang Xuan offered the explanation.
"Shen Mo went with him, too."
"Oh. So I did see him earlier. It really was A'... Brother Long."
Xia Zhiqiu nodded in relief.
A'Su was the best after all. He'd shown up just in time and saved him.
"What about Stelace?"
"He dared attack you, so Brother Long killed him on the spot. I recorded the whole thing. Even if the King demands an explanation, Feng Ying's