When he reached the valley entrance, he could no longer get back in. Whether or not someone was attending the Divine Fire Pact, once they left, they were forbidden from returning.
At his wits' end, Zhu Xiangxin had no idea where to go. He sat blankly on the slope beside the valley entrance, adrift in a sea of tangled thoughts.
Before long, a familiar voice at the entrance roused him. Looking over, he spotted a familiar figure in the night. It was none other than An Wuzhi, who had also been stopped by the guards and refused reentry. Trying to negotiate was useless. The guards said, "Rules are rules."
In fact, more than one group had broken those rules to get in.
"Brother An," Zhu Xiangxin called, lifting his head.
An Wuzhi looked back and was somewhat startled to see him. He realized he had been so distracted that he had failed to notice the person sitting nearby. He stopped arguing with the guards, walked over, and sat down beside Zhu Xiangxin without a word, looking very subdued.
Zhu Xiangxin ventured a question. "You didn't return to the sect?"
An Wuzhi glanced at him and could not help laughing. "If our sects knew we'd absorbed so many Divine Fires, would we have made it back to this Exit so quickly?"
At those words, Zhu Xiangxin hugged his knees and gazed at the stars.
An Wuzhi also looked up at the sky and sighed. "It really chills the heart! We spent more than half a year in prison, and nobody even asked about us. Yet we still failed to see sense, still clung to a shred of hope. The Chief was right. If people like us went back and truly outshone certain people, they might well have no room for us.