Seeing that Qingxiao had yet to catch up, Mahito couldn't keep his mouth shut again and shouted through the earth:
"Guyue Qingxiao! Is that all you've got?
That's hardly any skill at all! Come up here and fight if you're so capable!"
The words had barely left his mouth when an even louder boom erupted behind them.
Qingxiao had successfully landed a Black Flash and was picking up speed.
"Are you kidding me?! This guy can land Black Flashes on inorganic matter now?!"
Qingxiao's leisurely voice drifted through the earth:
"You know how to burrow underground? What a coincidence. Old Beijing locals like us take tunnels whenever we go out."
"..."
Mahito's face turned green, and he frantically slapped Kenjaku's arm. "Faster! Go faster! He's catching up!"
"Stop rushing me." Kenjaku increased his speed again, his eyes narrowing as his gaze swept across a fork in the underground river ahead.
Now.
He plunged into the underground river with Mahito, passed through a rock wall, then followed the rushing current around seven or eight bends.
Mahito flung out several Transfigured Humans, while Kenjaku split off a few decoys to confuse their pursuer.
The maze of passages gave Qingxiao a headache too, so he simply picked a pair of Mahito and Kenjaku at random and chased after them.
Only after erasing all traces of cursed energy farther downstream did they find a weak spot and break through to the surface.
The two tumbled into the woods on the outskirts, covered in muddy water and utterly bedraggled.
Mahito braced himself against the ground, panting hard. He glanced back, confirmed that their pursuer hadn't caught up, then slumped onto the ground:
"Hahahaha! Guyue Qingxiao, you've got some nerve calling yourself an old Beijing local!
I'd say you're just one seriously clingy kid from Langfang!"