"Hiss!"
Another sharp cry rang out. Qian Wanyu's eardrums ached, but irritation outweighed the pain. Whenever she thought the Soul-Severing Mirror was almost within reach, something intervened, sending the cooked duck flying away. A sense of helplessness welled up inside her.
Before she could think of a better solution, a cool sensation suddenly touched one hand. The texture felt just like-a mirror!
She looked down. An ancient mirror, still bearing cracks, had indeed appeared in her hand. When she looked back at the crevice in the cliff, it was gone. The gap that had held the mirror had closed at some unknown point, and she was now... suspended in midair.
"Yuchi Shou."
Ever since touching the Soul-Severing Mirror, Yuchi Shou had been falling, falling, as though he had lost his soul. He seemed to see his ancestor standing beside the Dragon God, as imposing as ever, going into battle alongside him...
Qian Wanyu's whip scored a shallow mark down the cliff as she slid. She shouted Yuchi Shou's name all the way down, trying both to save herself and to find out whether that foolish dragon had already died.
While Qian Wanyu and Yuchi Shou faced danger, Dongfang Minghui was scrambling too. The obedient, white-haired Little Hui beside her had inexplicably fainted and rolled toward the precipice. Little Lecher's vines caught Little Hui just in time, wrapping the little creature into a ball and fastening it to the iron archway.
"Little Hui?"
Dongfang Minghui carefully checked the white-haired Little Hui's breathing. It came and went, terribly weak. A trickle of blood seeped from beneath the little creature's lower body, bright red drops growing steadily more plentiful, as though they would never stop. Mixed with the water underneath, they dripped down the cliff. Little Hui's legs kept trembling, and each