Chapter 252: Hope
By the time Lu Yun stood up with the Saintess’s support, the dust had already settled in the arena. The two saw a hole the size of a water bucket appear on that one-foot-thick stone door.
“About time to come out, right?” The grandmasters were quite satisfied with the effect of their combined efforts.
“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come out!” Lu Xian urged anxiously from outside.
“Uh,” Lu Yun brushed the dust off his body and rubbed his nose, saying: “Better for everyone to come in instead.”
“You brat, what do you mean?!” Perhaps due to being trapped for so long, the grandmasters were clearly more irritable and immediately became greatly displeased.
“Because we found water, food, and hope of escaping…” Su Yingxiu answered for Lu Yun.
“What?!” The grandmasters’ attitudes changed instantly upon hearing this.
Lu Yun and the other felt a blur before their eyes as a figure passed through the hole and appeared before them.
That person was tall and slender with perfect lines, exuding a mature and cold allure from head to toe. Standing next to the Saintess, she made her look like a green and immature little girl.
She was naturally the only female grandmaster in the cave at this moment, Mei Yu.
As soon as Mei Yu came over, Wei Yang naturally followed like a shadow. The two stood before Lu Yun and the other; the former stared intently at Su Yingxiu and asked in a deep voice: “Speak quickly, what do you mean?”
“This isn’t the attitude for asking for help.” Su Yingxiu still put on airs, smiling indifferently at Lu Yun.
“You!” Mei Yu’s face immediately darkened. The Mei Clan had never schemed for the Imperial Seal, so she naturally had no friendship with the Saintess and could not tolerate such rudeness from this junior.
“Mei, calm down. Let’s hear the details first.” Wei Yang quickly soothed Mei Yu, then turned to Su Yingxiu with a pleasant expression and said: “This… Saintess, everyone has been trapped in this cave for many days and can’t help being a bit short-tempered. Just tell us what you know, no need to keep us in suspense.”
“That’s more like it.” Su Yingxiu smiled and nodded, then asked: “Where is my master?”
“Uh…” Wei Yang was immediately at a loss for words, realizing this demoness hadn’t heard a thing.
“Don’t worry, how could a scourge like your master have any trouble?” At this point, Lu Xian also crawled in through the hole. The cave entrance looked barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through with difficulty. But the grandmasters passed through as if there were a large door, moving with composed elegance without the slightest embarrassment, and appeared inside the stone door.
“That day, he and I fought for hundreds of rounds, gradually moving farther apart in battle, and ended up accidentally triggering a mechanism, both falling into a trap.” Lu Xian felt no shame, but rather pride, saying: “Seeing that continuing the fight would leave neither side unscathed, we temporarily made peace and worked together to escape the trap.”
“Then where is my master now?” Su Yingxiu pressed.
“Once out of the trap, the grandmasters arrived unexpectedly. Sect Leader Sun fought us again, but outnumbered, we could only fight while retreating.” Lu Xian’s tone grew somewhat uneasy here, as if he felt it improper to gang up on one. But the situation at the time left no choice; those grandmasters swarmed to capture Sun Yuanlang. He couldn’t very well help Sun Yuanlang against them, could he?
“These past days, we’ve been playing cat-and-mouse with Sect Leader Sun in this underground palace.” Xie Ding took over bitterly, saying to Su Yingxiu: “Who would’ve thought your master’s escape skills were so otherworldly; so many of us couldn’t catch him!”
“Seeing we couldn’t catch Sun Yuanlang no matter what, Lu Xian persuaded us to first rescue his disciple. But after arriving, no matter how we called, there was no response from inside. If not for Lu Xian’s insistence, we would’ve continued searching for Sun Yuanlang long ago.” Mei Yu impatiently summarized the follow-up, then coldly looked at Su Yingxiu and said: “You’d better not be deceiving us, or we might have to take you hostage to force Sun Yuanlang to show himself!”
In this desperate situation, everything was stark and unadorned.
Su Yingxiu didn’t care at all about the grandmasters’ threats. Instead, she glanced at Lu Yun and saw his expressionless face, standing there without any intention to speak. The Saintess felt a sweetness in her heart, became fully assured, and said: “Even if I ate bear’s heart and leopard’s gall, I wouldn’t dare deceive you grandmasters. As long as you promise not to attack my master and me anymore, I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“…” The grandmasters’ faces were calm upon hearing this, and they all looked toward Lu Yun in unison.
“She knows it, so you should know it too, right?” The grandmasters asked Lu Yun in deep voices.
“This junior does know, but we must all work together on this. If you’re still set on dealing with Sect Leader Sun, we definitely won’t get out.” Lu Yun looked earnest and spoke humbly, but his words did not go along with the grandmasters’ wishes.
“It’s not your place to decide for us! Just spill everything you know!” Pei Yuqiu snorted coldly and roughly ordered Lu Yun.
“…” Lu Yun expressionlessly glanced at Pei Yuqiu, then looked toward his master.
“Everyone, though my disciple is young, he considers matters very thoroughly.” Lu Xian glanced at Lu Yun and said calmly to the group: “Since he says so, he naturally has his reasons. In this crisis, there’s no need to put on senior airs; escaping alive is what matters most.”
Pei Yuqiu snorted coldly; Lu Xian’s words were practically slapping his face. But before he could speak, Wei Yang, Cui Dingzhi, and the others all chimed in: “Of course, getting out of this hellhole is top priority right now; Sect Leader Sun’s matter can wait.”
Even Mei Yu and Xie Ding expressed agreement, while the two old eunuchs stood silently to the side but nodded slightly in approval.
The higher the position and power, the greater the fear of death—this is an eternal, unbreakable truth. Though these grandmasters mostly ignored mundane affairs, they were highly revered in their clans, enjoying utmost honors. Yet trapped in this cave these days, unable to escape despite every effort, facing thirst and hunger, they realized they were still far from transcending life, death, glory, and wealth. Their longing to survive and return to familiar life grew ever more intense day by day.
.
“If it’s to be put off, then it’s put off.” Seeing no one wanted to dwell on Sun Yuanlang anymore, the Pei Clan uncle and nephew couldn’t insist further. Pei Yuqiu coldly glanced at Lu Yun and said: “If she dares deceive us, brat, you’ll keep her company in the grave!”
“No need for you to threaten my disciple!” Lu Xian’s brows shot up in dissatisfaction toward Pei Yuqiu upon hearing this.
Pei Yuqiu snorted coldly but said no more. Though arrogant, he truly feared Lu Xian somewhat; after all, not just anyone could battle Sun Yuanlang for eight hundred rounds without a victor. Probably not even Xiahou Bubai or Xiahou Bumie had that ability, let alone him…
“Everyone, follow me.” Su Yingxiu knew that once these people made a public promise, they would certainly keep it. Seeing they agreed not to pursue her master and her, she felt relieved and led the group into the main control room.
As the grandmasters followed Su Yingxiu inside, they saw a hole over a foot wide broken open in the floor of the main control room.
“Below is an underground river.” Su Yingxiu stood at the edge of the hole and said calmly.
“Oh?!” The grandmasters’ eyes lit up upon hearing there was a river underground. Though they could already abstain from food, they still couldn’t go without water for long. These days without a drop, they were all severely dehydrated, or they wouldn’t be so irritable.
Wei Yang leaned down to look into the hole and immediately said joyfully: “There’s indeed water below!”
