Chapter 39: Confinement Part 5

Xiao Kun was thoroughly fatigued, but he couldn’t sleep. As he gazed toward the Tianshan Mountains, the Gem Dragonfly Echoing Voice Insect pinned to his collar lit up.

“Xiao Kun…” Xiang Xian’s voice said.

“Xiang Xian!” Xiao Kun exclaimed in shock. “How are you?”

Wu Yingzong’s eyes snapped open, while Hulü Guang and Chaosheng remained asleep.

“I… I…”

Xiang Xian struggled to activate the Echoing Voice Insect, but every time he used magical power, the collar tightened relentlessly. He knelt on the ground, throttled speechless, scrambling to find something to wedge into the gap between the collar and his neck for a moment’s breath.

Xiao Kun’s anxious voice came from the Phoenix Butterfly: “Xiang Xian! What’s wrong! Where are you! Say something!”

Wu Yingzong: “Master! Master—!”

Hulü Guang jolted awake and lunged forward, shouting, “Master! Where are you! Master!”

In the Abyss Divine Palace:

“I… I…” Xiang Xian couldn’t breathe. He crawled across the floor and awkwardly pressed his neck against the sharp corner of the throne’s armrest to hold the collar back. “I…”

“Speak up!” Xiao Kun shouted anxiously from the Echoing Voice Insect. “What’s happening! Xiang Xian!”

In the desert:

“I… can’t… hold on.” Xiang Xian’s voice came through the Echoing Voice Insect in broken gasps.

“No!” Xiao Kun’s eyes turned bloodshot as he roared, “No—! You can’t! Xiang Xian! You can’t… can’t… I… I… If you die, I… I’ll…”

On the desert expanse, Xiao Kun let out a grief-stricken roar, dropped to his knees, clutched the Echoing Voice Insect tightly. Chaosheng woke in alarm and rushed forward.

Xiao Kun’s anguish reached its peak. Was Xiang Xian dying just like that? In that instant, blue flames erupted from his body. Kneeling in the center of the vast desert, the Heaven-Earth Veins seemed to sense the deepest human sorrow, and the stars in the heavens trembled.

Then A Huang’s voice came from the Echoing Voice Insect.

“He’s fine! He’s just being strangled!” A Huang said rapidly. “We’re still alive! We’re locked in an underground palace!”

Xiang Xian’s voice followed: “Yes… yes…”

“Master! Master!”

“Master—”

In the underground palace:

A Huang stood on Xiang Xian’s head as Xiang Xian held up the Echoing Voice Insect to his face.

“Everyone shut up! Let me talk!” A Huang flapped his wings roughly. “It’s too chaotic—I can’t tell who’s who!”

A Huang’s voice continued: “He’s got a collar locked around his throat. Any magical power makes it tighten, so he can’t speak full sentences right now.”

Xiang Xian gestured frantically, signaling A Huang not to mention the unimportant details.

In the central desert:

The energy around Xiao Kun dissipated completely.

Xiao Kun: “Then don’t use magical power! Can you hear me? Stop using it! I’m on my way to save you!”

Xiang Xian: “I… also… don’t…”

A Huang: “He means he doesn’t know where we are either.”

Xiao Kun: “Stop using the Echoing Voice Insect! Wherever you are, I’ll find you. We’re already on the way!”

Xiang Xian: “Mr. Liu… Mr. Liu…”

Xiang Xian gestured wildly, urging A Huang to tell them Mr. Liu had set out. A Huang got it and said, “Mr. Liu went after you guys. We’re still safe for now.”

“Listen,” Xiao Kun said urgently. “Xiang Xian, hold on! You have to hold on! We’ve figured out what happened! I have so much I want to tell you! Protect yourself!”

The Echoing Voice Insect’s glow flashed and faded as the magical power ceased.

Xiang Xian could finally breathe again and slid limply off the stone throne.

“Couldn’t you say something useful?” Xiang Xian said to A Huang.

“You didn’t tell me what to say,” A Huang replied, utterly baffled.

“Describe the surroundings,” Xiang Xian said, out of patience. “Tell him what happened!”

A Huang: “By the time I finish, your head would be gone. You sure? One more time.”

“No.” Xiang Xian painstakingly adjusted his collar. Blood marks ringed his neck, and controlling the level of magical power was too risky to try again.

In the desert:

Xiao Kun’s surge of grief had nearly exploded him from the inside, only to vanish abruptly, leaving his heart feeling like it would burst. He lay on the ground gasping for air, recovering only after a long while.

Wu Yingzong: “Master must be in the Abyss Divine Palace.”

Hulü Guang: “Master’s still alive, right? As long as he’s okay.”

Xiao Kun raised a hand to silence them. After this round of shock and chaos, the constant chatter from Wu Yingzong and Hulü Guang made him want to vomit.

Chaosheng, having heard the whole ordeal, said, “That scared me to death. Good thing Big Brother’s fine.”

Hulü Guang lay back down in bewilderment.

“Lord Xiao?” Wu Yingzong asked again.

Xiao Kun finally came back to himself. After the Echoing Voice Insect connection broke, his eyes and nose reddened, tears spilling uncontrollably as he gazed at the starry sky, choking with sobs.

He had truly thought Xiang Xian was leaving last words. If Xiang Xian had died then, he would never forgive himself.

Deep in the underground palace:

Xiang Xian’s breathing steadied, and he felt much better.

“What did Xiao Kun just say?” Xiang Xian asked suddenly.

A Huang hopped twice on the armrest and replied, “He said if you died, he wouldn’t live either.”

“Did he say that?” Xiang Xian said.

“Isn’t that what he meant?” A Huang buried his head in his wings and went to sleep.

Hearing this, Xiang Xian felt an inexplicable surge of emotion, his eyes reddening.

“What if Xiao Kun runs into Mr. Liu?” Xiang Xian said anxiously. “No, we need a plan. A Huang, I’m too big to fit down there, but you could dive into that pool and find the waterway exit.”

“No way!! Get lost! I’m exhausted!” A Huang finally snapped, roaring in a breakdown. “Worry about yourself first! Stop giving me more trouble!”