Bian Chunchou could not help feeling somewhat dejected, but before he could wallow in it for long, a pair of warm hands rested on his shoulders. Wen Xu-Xu's familiar voice sounded by his ear, very soft, yet he heard it clearly. "This isn't your fault. We chose this ourselves."
In the past, Wen Xu would never have believed that one day he would say such words, but... people truly changed. Even if he died here today, he would not harbor the slightest resentment.
"Besides, coming to Pill Fragrance City was my decision." Wen Xu's earlier silence had not meant that he had resigned himself to fate. He had been considering whether to use the jade slip his master had given him. The power within that jade slip was comparable to a full-force strike from his master. Though it could not destroy the sealing formation from within, blasting open a crack should have been enough.
Back on the sea, he had hesitated for an instant. After all, his master had been on the other side at the time. If he used the jade slip, he could not say for others, but he and his two friends would certainly have been able to escape.
But Wen Xu, who had once walked alone through darkness, could be selfish and despicable. Wen Xu, a Yonglu Mountain disciple now standing beneath the sunlight, could not. He did not want to bring shame upon his sect, nor did he want to disgrace his master's name. He could not keep hiding with his friends beneath his master's protection. After discussing it with Chunchou and Chen Zui, they had unanimously decided not to use it.
And now, they had reached the point where their lives hung by a thread. Yet this was not the open sea, and Wen