Drip-drop...
Drip-drop...
Water slid from the stalactites and fell into the deep pool. A dim yellow flame gradually appeared on the rippling surface, followed by the reflections of a man and a woman.
Hua Qingzhi lay on the man's back, holding a torch, faint tear tracks still at the corners of her eyes. Only after they had moved far from the Shatuo Tribe's fleeing soldiers did she raise her hand and lightly thump Ye Jingtang on the back.
Thump.
Ye Jingtang stood beside the pool with his Sabre at his waist. He turned his head slightly.
"What are you hitting me for?"
"Look what you did to my father!"
Though Hua Qingzhi's gentle, delicate disposition kept her from looking fierce, clear worry and annoyance filled her eyes. After all, she had just watched her father get slapped over a hundred feet away, his clothes bursting apart. If he hadn't still been moving, she would have thought he had been killed outright.
Ye Jingtang continued surveying the labyrinthine cavern and replied helplessly:
"Uncle Hua would have had trouble accounting for things when he got back. We had to put on a show together. That blow wasn't heavy. A few days in bed and he'll be fine."
Hua Qingzhi certainly didn't think that blow had been light, but she wasn't a martial artist and couldn't discern the finer points. Hearing Ye Jingtang say so, she temporarily set aside her tangled thoughts and raised her eyes to look around.
"Where did Huang Liansheng go?"
After leaving the cavern where they had fought, Ye Jingtang had followed Huang Liansheng at a distance.
With Perfected Person Xuanji "hunting down" Li Si and the others, Huang Liansheng hadn't dared flee along the military passage. Instead, relying on his familiarity with the caverns, he had ducked into