The avalanche unleashed by the crumbling mountain and splitting earth buried more than half of Brahma Sound Temple. The foreign monks within suffered the most: many had already died when Liu Yuzhang and Master Xiangyin stormed the temple together, and the avalanche claimed still more innocent lives.
Hu Xiaotian had the Flying Owl set him and Liu Yuzhang down at the foot of the mountain. Before long, Xia Changming and Master Xiangyin came looking for them. The sudden collapse had frightened both men out of their wits, and their search had yielded no sign of Master Yuanmu. Clearly, they could not continue searching under these conditions. They could only come to the agreed meeting place first and reunite with the others, then resume their search once the mountain had settled.
They waited at the foot of the mountain until dark, but Ji Feihua never came to join them. Though Hu Xiaotian felt somewhat disappointed, he was not worried; he believed Ji Feihua would never come to harm. By comparison, Liu Yuzhang was the most frustrated of them all. Everything he had so carefully planned had now spiraled completely out of his control. He was convinced Ji Feihua had obtained an extremely important secret and was avoiding them because he did not want to share it.
Instead, Hu Xiaotian comforted him. "Don't worry. I'll do what I promised you."
Liu Yuzhang sighed and thought of the Seven-Treasure Glazed Pagoda. If they wanted to uncover its secrets, they could not do without him. In the end, they would still have to cooperate with him. Only then did his mood improve a little. Affecting an air of indifference, he said, "What do I have to worry about? Since I chose to work with you, I won't regret it. But if we can't find