章 17: Waterlogged
Xue Xiangsi followed the sound of the water, it was getting nearer, but he still couldn't see it.
"Maybe the sound is coming from under the rock?" offered Zui Chunlai, touching the dark rock of the cave wall.
He was going to say something else when his next step went straight through the ground. Not just his step, his entire body disappeared through otherwise solid rock. Since he was attached to him by the ribbon, Xue Xiangsi was pulled after him.
He closed his eyes against a possible impact, but the next thing he felt was the cold caress of water against his skin, and a pair of arms hauling him up to the surface.
Xue Xiangsi sputtered and blinked water out of his eyes, and came to the unfortunate realization that they were in a large wooden tank, reinforced with steel hoops, one zheng tall and and half a zheng wide. It resembled an oversize cask, and it was quickly filling with water. The water had already filled two thirds of it.
"This is a very efficient trap, we have to admit the Blood Moon disciples thought ahead." Zui Chunlai said, trying to push against the wood staves with little success.
"Yes, it will be even more efficient at drowning us." Xue Xiangsi unsheathed Heavenly Frost with great effort and tried to slice it against the wood, but his movements underwater lacked the necessary momentum to do any real damage.
Trying to raise his arms above his head and strike the exposed staves proved no more successful, as his waterlogged robes weighted down his arms, and the amount of qi he had already expended made him reconsider wasting any more on possibly fruitless attempts.
"I must admit that drowning in freezing cold water wasn't how I envisioned my death, but I'm glad I can at least have Xiangsi at my side." Zui Chunlai said solemnly. "I hope that in our next life Xiangsi can remember our first meeting in this one."
"I don't remember our first meeting in this life, how am I going to remember it in the next?" Xue Xiangsi was beginning to believe that just as the poison challenge in the inter sect competition had damaged his memory, it had made Zui Chunlai hallucinate a meeting that had never happened.
"No one is dying here, I haven't seen anything of Jianghu yet, and I'm sure, there's still a lot you want to see and do."
Zui Chunlai's penetrating eyes bore into Xue Xiangsi, as he said softly, but with feeling, "Yes, there is."
It was a good thing that the coldness of the water prevented Xue Xiangsi's ears to heat up under the intensity of Zui Chunlai's gaze.
"I have an idea, but I don't know how to prevent the water from freezing with us in it," Xue Xiangsi said, changing the subject.
"What is Xiangsi thinking?" Zui Chunlai asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I could use Heavenly Frost to freeze the tank, the wood and the metal. If it froze over, it would be brittle and easier to break. But that would freeze the water as well, it would only kill us in another way."
The water lever was raising rapidly, and Xue Xiangsi had no other ideas, of how they could get out of the thank. Even so, he was determined not to die in this miserable place, especially without finding his shizun and shijie.
"I could keep the water warm with Firewalker to prevent it from freezing," Zui Chunlai suggested.
Xue Xiangsi clung on to his shoulders in excitement, almost making him sink under the water. "That's a great idea, not only because it will keep the water from freezing, but because the temperature differential between the water and the frozen tank will make it burst and release us!"
"Let me start freezing the tank first, then warm up the water," said Xue Xiangsi, focusing his qi on freezing over Heavenly Frost's blade.
He pressed the crystallized blade against the nearest iron hoop, and channeled qi from his body into the sword, calling upon it to freeze the surface it was in contact with.
The already freezing temperature of the water plummeted even further, as the ice spread in white tendrils from Heavenly Frost into the metal hoop, and up into the wooden staves. The tank crackled with the extra mass of the ice, but it remained unmoving, not even a gap opened.
With his teeth chattering from the cold, Xue Xiangsi turned his head to Zui Chunlai and said. "Now!"
Zui Chunlai unfurled Firewalker and it lit up underwater, fueled by his qi. The inside of the tank glowed orange with the heat of the fire, and the water started warming up in response. Zui Chunlai's brows were drown with the effort to feed the fire when its natural response was to go out underwater.
As soon as the tank was fully frozen, Xue Xiangsi moved away from it, and paddled to its centre, pulling Zui Chunlai with him.
"Keep heating up the water, it's going to burst soon."
Zui Chunlai could barely nod, but he sustained the fire over the whip, making it burn as bright as an inferno. The water was now dangerously warm, they could barely breathe. If the tank didn't burst soon they would be boiled alive.
Xue Xiangsi heard the sound of ice cracking, loud as thunderclap. He gripped Zui Chunlai's hand underwater.
"Hold on, it's working."
The next thing he heard was the deafening sound of the tank bursting outward, sending ice shards flying in every direction. The water spilled like a broken dam and they were dragged down to the ground with the sudden current.
Xue Xiangsi coughed out the water in his mouth and nose, trying to make himself stand on shaking legs. He had used up so much qi that his vision was starting to blur, and every step cost him. Zui Chunlai wasn't faring any better, he groaned on the floor, clutching Firewalker limply in his hand.
They were standing in a small room, with rough stone walls and a cobbled floor. It wasn't much taller than the water thank had been when it was intact. Xue Xiangsi helped Zui Chunlai to his feet, and then kept holding on to his arm for support as they left the room.
He was dreading being stuck in another labyrinth formation, because neither of them was strong enough to get out of it this time.
The room led to a large chamber with a tall ceiling, on the centre of the room an array was drawn. On the center of the array Bai Yunkai, Liu Zhuyu, and Yan Huaxing were tied back to back, seemingly unconscious.
Xue Xiangsi's first instinct was to run to them, but he was too drained to do even that.
With the help of an equally exhausted Zui Chunlai he managed to walk to the center of the room. He collapsed to his knees in front of Liu Zhuyu and immediately checked her pulse. She was still alive, but something was blocking her qi, he had no healing abilities so he couldn't make any guesses about what exactly.
Bai Yunkai and Yan Huaxing were in the exact same state.
"We need to move them out of the array," Xue Xiangsi said.
He was about to use Heavenly Frost to free them of their bindings when a flying dagger cut through the air and lodged itself in his hand.
Xue Xiangsi dropped Heavenly Frost on impact, and clutched his bleeding hand with a pained groan. At his side Zui Chunlai hissed at the damage done when he tried to remove the thin blade piercing Xue Xiangsi's hand straight through. Blood gushed profusely from the wound.
Xue Xiangsi focused his remaining bit of energy on making the white ribbon release Zui Chunlai and wrap itself tightly around the ruin of his hand. The white silk was immediately stained crimson.
"It's bleeding a lot, I think it was poisoned," Zui Chunlai said. He held Xue Xiangsi's hand carefully in his, and turned it around, the blood was pooling beneath the bandages, and running down his arm in a steady stream.
"Xiangsi should hold up his arm, that might slow down the bleeding," he said, wrapping Xue Xiangsi's wounded hand over his shoulder, keeping it elevated.
Xue Xiangsi was sure the blade had been poisoned because the searing pain he felt running from the wound all the way down to his arm couldn't be the result of a regular wound.
The pain made it hard to breathe but he still pushed himself to say, "As long as it hurts I know I haven't lost feeling in my sword-hand, that means there's still hope of recovery."
A dry chuckle echoed like an omen through the room. "That's very unlikely, you'll never hold a sword with that hand again. Least of all because you aren't leaving here alive."
The man in the red veil stood in a corner of the room, hidden in shadows. His red veil was still cut where the ice shard had sliced it the previous day.
"Ji Shuren." Zui Chunlai spat out the name, holding tighter to Xue Xiangsi.
"You've always been a disgrace as a sect heir, but I won't harm you for the good of Golden Crane, you can leave unharmed."
Zui Chunlai cracked his whip at him. Ji Shuren dodged it easily with a laugh.
"What? You can't even set it ablaze? And you still think you can stop me?" Ji Shuren jumped up in the air, and drew two more flying daggers from his leg bracers.
Xue Xiangsi knew what was coming, and threw himself over Zui Chunlai, pushing them both to the ground just as the daggers flew over their heads with a sharp zing.
He couldn't use Heavenly Frost because of his injury, and even if he could, he didn't have enough qi to hold himself up let alone fight. If he didn't think of anything, he, his shizun, and shijie would all die here.
He rolled on his stomach and felt something sharp digging into his ribs. That was when he remembered he still had the Whirlwind Fan. It was a desperate attempt, he had never used the fan before, but if it was as powerful as everyone said maybe even the small amount of qi he had left would be enough.
Taking advantage of his supine position which hid his movements from Ji Shuren's view, he used his uninjured hand to get the Whirlwind fan out of its box.
He raised himself on an elbow, and using the last of his strength to direct his remaining qi to the fan, he waved it in Ji Shuren's direction.
The effect was instantaneous, a strong wind rose up from the fan and hit Ji Shuren in the chest like an invisible fist. He cracked his head against the stone wall with a sickening thud, and fell to the floor, unconscious.
Xue Xiangsi's vision was beginning to dim, like a dark veil was coming down in front of his eyes. He clung to Zui Chunlai's robe, trying to keep his head up.
"I told Zui Chunlai no one was dying here." As soon as the words left his cracked lips, he was enveloped in a world of darkness, bringing with it a bone-deep fatigue he was powerless to fight. He surrendered to it, and closed his eyes.
クリエイターの想い 
ThirtyTyrants
ThirtyTyrants Xue Xiangsi got his first maiming, I'm so proud of him.
In other news, I'm also writing another story if you want to check it out, it's also bl, with a mostly lgbt cast, but way more xianxia, it's about a fox and dragon trying to kill god, fun stuff.
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