Chapter 1185

Hu Xiaotian and Yan Nujiao had no idea that such an earth‑shaking change had taken place outside; Hu Xiaotian carried Yan Nujiao and finally walked out of the maze, arriving at the exit, only to find the cave mouth collapsed and sealed by fallen rocks. He set Yan Nujiao down, pressed his ear to the cliff wall and listened, but even with his keen hearing he could sense no change outside—it seemed the collapsed stretch was long, and the air still smelled of gunpowder, suggesting it had been blown up deliberately. His mood grew heavy, and he whispered, "That Tang Jingyu is truly vicious—he actually sealed the entrance."

Yan Nujiao said, "There must be another exit; I once heard my uncle say that this Crystal Palace is directly connected to the seabed, so he wouldn't lie to me—there definitely is a passage leading down to the sea inside."

Hu Xiaotian replied, "We're currently on the summit of Flying Dragon Peak; finding that passage would mean we have to keep going down all the way to the seabed, wouldn't it?"

Yan Nujiao said, "This maze couldn't have been set up in a short time; it looks like Tang Jingyu has been hiding on the island for quite a while."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Perhaps there's an insider on the island helping him; the scale of this maze is far beyond what one person could build." He thought of Luo Qianfu—the Crystal Palace falls under Luo Qianfu's jurisdiction, and hiding such a maze here, Luo Qianfu couldn't possibly be unaware of it. If the maze was built by Luo Qianfu, what is his purpose? Is he colluding with Tang Jingyu? And why would they want to harm the Yan siblings? Who is the real target?

Yan Nujiao had Hu Xiaotian carry her back into the maze, believing it had more than one exit; if they found another outlet perhaps they could locate the passage to the seabed. Their efforts paid off—after two hours of searching, Yan Nujiao finally discovered another exit. Following it, they entered a different branch of the crystal cave, walked a level stretch, then began a clear descent, went on a bit farther, and the light ahead grew dimmer and dimmer until it was pitch‑black, a darkness that of course posed no problem for Hu Xiaotian, who could see in the night.

Yan Nujiao, however, clung tighter to Hu Xiaotian's shoulder because of the darkness, perhaps realizing she was overly tense, and whispered, "Are you tired?"

Hu Xiaotian laughed, "Not tired!" He already heard a faint sound of waves in his ears; his hearing was sharp, while Yan Nujiao had not yet noticed. He stopped, listened carefully, and said, "It's right ahead!" He strode forward, turning several bends, and saw that the mountain cavern ended ahead. Lowering his head, he saw a pitch‑black opening in the ground, from which the wave noise was coming.

Yan Nujiao had also heard it by then, and she whispered, "This opening must be the place that leads straight down to the seabed."

Hu Xiaotian said, "I'll carry you down!"

Yan Nujiao replied, "Let's rest a bit first!"

Hu Xiaotian set her down, then took a Night Pearl from his bosom; its light illuminated the surroundings, revealing Yan Nujiao's lovely, moon‑hiding face, filled with worry—her elder brother had been seized by Tang Jingyu, his fate unknown. How could she be at ease?

Hu Xiaotian lay at the edge of the cavern and peered down; even with his keen eyesight he could not see the bottom. Their position was likely still on the mid‑slope of Flying Dragon Peak, meaning the distance below could be as great as a hundred zhang.

Yan Nujiao said, "This shaft goes straight up and down; carrying me down would be difficult. Better you go alone—once you're free, find people to break open the entrance and rescue me."

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said, "I won't leave you here alone."

Hearing that, Yan Nujiao felt a warm glow in her heart, but she said aloud, "You don't need to worry about me—we aren't even ordinary friends."

Hu Xiaotian laughed at her words, and Yan Nujiao, blushing and annoyed, asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Hu Xiaotian crouched beside her and said, "We've already shared the intimacy of husband and wife—how could we still be considered mere ordinary friends?"

Upon hearing him bring this up, Yan Nujiao's heart fluttered with shame and anxiety; she raised her dainty fist and punched him in the back, saying, "You promised you wouldn't tell…"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Let's talk about that later; we should get out of here as fast as we can, otherwise if Tang Jingyu has already taken your elder brother captive, where would we go to find him?"

Yan Nujiao, hearing this, couldn't help but grow nervous again, her hands resting on Hu Xiaotian's shoulders; Hu Xiaotian had already taken off his outer robe, torn it into strips, twisted them into a rope, and tightly bound Yan Nujiao to himself. As Hu Xiaotian tightened the binding, their bodies became inseparably close; Yan Nujiao blushed furiously, but fortunately Hu Xiaotian had his back to her and didn't see her embarrassment.

Hu Xiaotian handed the Night Pearl to Yan Nujiao to hold, then suddenly asked, 'If we manage to rescue your brother safely, how do you plan to thank me?'

Yan Nujiao was startled by his question: 'What?'

Hu Xiaotian had already reached the edge of the cavern and began to descend using the Golden Spider Eight Steps; Yan Nujiao saw that they had left the mouth's edge behind—the shaft was essentially a straight vertical drop, but fortunately the walls had many fissures and protruding uneven rocks, making it easy to cling to; for a master like Hu Xiaotian, this posed no great challenge.

Yan Nujiao said, 'How much silver do you want?'

Hu Xiaotian was amused by her answer, bursting into laughter; then he leapt, soaring over a zhang or more in midair amid Yan Nujiao's startled cry, and seized a protruding rock on the right. He teased her, saying, 'You're truly a bandit's daughter—always talking about money, but I suppose your Tianlang Mountain also has its share of not robbing wealth but abducting beauty, right?'

Perhaps because of the special environment, the distance between them quickly closed; Yan Nujiao leaned close to Hu Xiaotian's ear and whispered softly, 'What do you want? Dare you abduct beauty?'

Hu Xiaotian continued his descent, laughing, 'I'm helping you rescue someone; you ought to repay the kindness—how about giving yourself to me?'

Yan Nujiao, feeling a bit embarrassed, wrinkled her nose and after a moment said, 'Wasn't I already repaid you last time...' Although she is naturally open and generous, saying such things is still extremely embarrassing for her.

Hu Xiaotian laughed, 'Last time I was the one who helped you.'

Yan Nujiao, overcome with shyness, suddenly opened her mouth and lightly bit Hu Xiaotian's shoulder; fearing she might hurt him, she immediately let go, but Hu Xiaotian exaggeratedly shouted, his hands loosening as if he had slipped from the cavern wall, and Yan Nujiao screamed along with him—yet Hu Xiaotian quickly grabbed the lower rock, and she realized he was just trying to scare her; she pouted, 'You're so bad, I'm ignoring you.'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'A man who isn't bad won't be loved by women; I know what's on your mind!' No wonder they say men and women working together don't get tired—in this situation we didn't feel bored at all, but rather felt a different kind of charm.

The sound of the waves grew louder; Hu Xiaotian judged from the noise that they were not far from the sea surface. Yan Nujiao illuminated the area with the Night Pearl, and Hu Xiaotian saw that they were less than ten zhang above the water—close enough to jump down—but he recalled an important matter: 'Can you swim?'

Yan Nujiao shook her head: 'No! I grew up in the mountains and don't know how to swim.'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'That's fine; I'll carry you on my back while you lie on me, and we'll swim out—but we must first find the exit.'

Yan Nujiao replied, 'Just swim against the direction the wind is blowing and you'll find the exit.'

'Smart!' Hu Xiaotian praised her. Having reached above the sea surface, Yan Nujiao undid the silk ribbon binding her hair, held it aloft to gauge the wind direction, determined where the sea wind was coming from, pointed ahead, and said, 'That should be the exit.'

Hu Xiaotian nodded, reminding Yan Nujiao to hold her breath first, then led her into the seawater; although the waves inside the cavern were smaller than outside, they were still tumultuous, with ripples over a foot high. Hu Xiaotian, going against the waves while also carrying a person, had to expend several times the usual effort to swim. Yan Nujiao knew nothing about water skills, so Hu Xiaotian instructed her on breathing: hold her breath when a wave hits, then breathe as soon as the tide passes.

This underwater cavern was extremely wide; Hu Xiaotian swam about three hundred zhang and saw a faint glimmer ahead, but the flickering light was clearly not daylight from outside—it resembled firelight—and he quietly told Yan Nujiao of his discovery.

Yan Nujiao also sensed the change, and inwardly marveled, 'Could there be someone living in this subterranean water cavern beneath the mountain?'

Hu Xiaotian swam forward cautiously; the waves seemed calmer than before, but as he began to accelerate, he faintly sensed a subtle shift in the water flow. Turning his head, he saw a shark's dorsal fin, about the height of a chair, rapidly darting toward him from five zhang behind. Hu Xiaotian's heart leapt—good heavens, could it be that unlucky to run into a shark here? Recalling Luo Qianfu feeding corpses to sharks in the Flying Fish Cave, goosebumps rose all over him; even with high martial prowess, facing a shark in water makes it hard to employ techniques, especially when encountering a school of sharks.

Often, thinking of something summons it; around them the sea surface resembled a whack-a-mole game, with one dorsal fin after another popping up.

Yan Nujiao, belatedly realizing, cried out, 'Sharks!'

At that moment, a shark behind them darted like lightning to within less than five feet, opening its blood‑filled maw ready to deliver a fatal blow to its prey.

Hu Xiaotian, drawing strength from somewhere, felt his internal energy swell in the Dantian Qi Sea; his body thrust upward, breaking free of the water and launching into the air. A shark leapt after him, its huge jaws snapping at his feet—only half a foot shy of biting him. Missing by a hair's breadth, the shark's body crashed heavily back onto the sea surface, while Hu Xiaotian, using that upward thrust, glided five zhang across the water. Just as he seemed about to fall back in, a shark from the depths burst through the waves, jaws wide open, waiting for its prey to drop into its maw.

Hu Xiaotian aimed and delivered a fierce punch to the evil shark's nose; rebounding from the impact, he rose again, and in midair employed the Art of Soaring to climb three zhang higher, then dove down. Above the sea surface, one evil shark after another leapt up—visible as far as the eye could see, numbering in the hundreds—while white waves rolled on like a boiling pot. (To be continued~^~)