Wu Xie
With the help of Mop's team, they lifted the stone door that revealed another passage with a long tunnel submerged in darkness. Pangzi lay down over his stomach and have a look to the new tunnel underground, illuminating as far as he could with his flashlight.
"It's an underground chamber for what I can see from here." Pangzi said as he stood back.
"Then, we must be getting closer to the Queen Mother's Palace right?" Mop asked, as he imagine all kinds of treasures he could loot in his mind.
"Don't get smart now, I bet you only want the treasure." Pangzi added.
"Well, who don't?" He asked back.
"Alright then, since you are so eager to have treasures, go in first, but be aware that it may be full of booby-traps, so make sure not to put us in danger along with you. Oh and remember to notify the government of what you found, got it?" Pangzi added and Wu Xie simply threw a rope inside the hole, not having the patience for small bickering.
"I'm going in." Wu Xie announced and was going to jump inside when Xiaoge stop him.
"I will go." He whisper to Wu Xie and jumped inside the hole before Wu Xie could stop him. In the state Wu Xie was in right now, he was bound to put himself into mortal danger, so he better make sure to clean the way for him if he found any kind of traps along the way, because he was not risking Wu Xie's life if he could prevent it.
Thus, Qiling walked a short distance inside the tunnel that leaded into a bigger chamber, finding nothing out of ordinary as he explored, so he signal for Wu Xie to go down next. Which he did along with Pangzi and Pan Zi, whose primordial task on that trip was to keep Wu Xie safe. That was what Wu San Xing had ask him to do and he was going to keep it that way. He may had been deceived by Xie Lian Huan as well as the rest of the Wu and Xie family, but Wu Xie was his responsibility nevertheless.
"Boss... they are all gone, what do we do now? Find Master San or go after them?" One of Mop's men asked.
"I say we follow them. Master Hua'er is around, so Wu San Xing should be fine with him and Black, but we can't said the same by standing here on our own. Also, there is bound to be a treasure down there too." Mop said.
"As expected from you, Boss, then down we go." The man said.
"Wait, you go back to Master San and tell him we are going down with Master Xie's team."
"Wha... why me?" The man protested, but with a glance from Mop, he turned and leaved them behind. Then Mop asked for another of his team members to go down to check if everything was fine and then he jumped as well to join Wu Xie's team, a short distance away.
"Master Wu Xie, we came down too, wait for us!!!" Mop yelled and Wu Xie stopped in his track to meet the man.
"Hey, why are you here too? You were supposed to look after Master San." Pangzi asked a bit annoyed.
"Master San is in good hands with both some of my team members and Master Hua'er. You can certainly count on them." Mop said eagerly.
"Then let's go." Wu Xie said as he focus back on the path. This time, the initial tunnel became wider as they walked, until they found a huge round chamber that was also a dead end, but they finally seems to be making progress, as they saw several jade servants standing guard in the chamber and also a round stone table that indicates there was some activity there. Finally, they were inside the Queen Mother's Palace at some point.
"Now we are finally talking business... there are even relics in this chamber, but I can honestly do with less jade servants." Pangzi said loudly.
"What's a jade servant?" Mop asked while confused.
"Have you never been into the tombs business before this?" Pangzi asked with incredulity.
"Those statues are the jade servants and they are crafted in the likeness of any servants, in this case, they guard this chamber and the secrets and treasure in it, so be careful not to touch them." Wu Xie explained for Pangzi.
"Got it? Don't go around touching anything like an amateur." Pangzi also warned him as well.
"There are so many of them, it's best to be careful." Pan Zi said as he illuminated the chamber.
"Yeah... you know this is not so bad for the Queen Mother. Birdman's from the Cloud Palace and now jade servants from the Seven Stars Palace, she was definitely well connected in her time, but why so many jade servants for just a few play things?" Pangzi asked as he couldn't see any extraordinary treasures to be guarded in there.
"This is the Queen Mother's sanctum." Wenjin said from behind them and they turned to look at her.
"Chen Wenjin..." Wu Xie whisper as she came to meet him.
"I leave him with Xiao Hua and Shades..." She said.
"That's no longer my concern." Wu Xie said to her and turned away and Pangzi went after him to distract Wu Xie from his pain.
"Tell me Tianzhen, do you believe the legend that said that she had the longevity pill?" Pangzi asked.
"I can't said for sure, but others believed she did have the secret of immortality, for which the whole basin was full of dangers and traps to keep outsiders and enemies from it." Wu Xie said as he looked around.
"Wouldn't it be awesome to find the longevity pill? That way you can be with Xiaoge for an eternity." Pangzi said and Wu Xie looked at Xiaoge, which was focus on what looked like an unlighted lantern.
"Yeah... he had been alone for far too long." Wu Xie whisper.
"Do you know how old he really is?" Pangzi asked curiously.
"It's hard to say, as we don't have enough information of him and its worse with his loss of memories. The only thing we know is that he was young when he went to the Parcel Islands expeditions, but I think before that he was around for quite a while too. I think he is old enough to experience a disconnection with this world... and I'm doing my best to bring him back to humanity, to feel cared..."
"So if you were given the chance to have the real thing longevity pill, will you take it?" Pangzi asked and Wu Xie looked at his lover with affection.
"For him, I will do anything... move heaven and earth and even risk becoming a monster like Huo Ling." Wu Xie said unconsciously, yet he realize he had open himself a little bit too much and blushed.
"You are so damn in love... I hope it ends well for the both of you." Pangzi said, as they moved closer to Xiaoge.
"I hope so too, because I don't want him hurt anymore. Xiaoge..." Wu Xie called him, but in that moment, Xiaoge touched the lantern in front of him with his hand, which make the lantern come to life in such a magical way, they were all dumbfounded by the birds of fire that fly from one pillar torch to another, completely illuminating the chamber in such an extraordinary way.
"Damn it, are you kidding me? How did she manage to do that trick?" Pangzi voiced, still in awe.
"Who knows how, but Xiaoge must had activate it somehow." Wu Xie whisper.
"That's too awesome." Pangzi said quite excited.
"Look, that's the Queen's alchemy crucible, the floating furnace!" Wenjin yelled and they look up to see the huge furnace hanging from big chains that sustained it there, floating in midair.
"By remaining up there, is must absorb the full energy directly from the dragon vein bellow us..." Wu Xie concluded.
"Still awesome..." Pangzi added, but as they looked in wonder, Mop was focus on the amber stones over the celestial map table and before they notice, Mop was already crawling into the table.
"Hey! Don't touch it!" Wu Xie yelled, as soon as he notice the stupid man on his way to grab one stone over a point on a constellation.
"Relax, I'm not going to eat it, just have a closer look." Mop said casually.
"You fool! Hands off, moving the stones could trigger a trap!" Pan Zi shouted.
"I don't see any trap." Mop refuted.
"Get off, now! Don't go causing us troubles when you are supposed to be helping, get back!" Pangzi yelled and was about to drag him out when Mop lifted the amber stone and then... there was a small tremor that make them all stumble, when suddenly thrown out of balance. Xiaoge instinctively grabbed Wu Xi and pull him closer, fully knowing that what was about to come next was nothing good at all and he was of course, right.
Soon, the previously stone still jade servants were now brought back to life to do what they had been left there, to protect the secrets of the Queen Mother and so as they remained stunned by the jade servants coming to life, the door leading to the only way out fall from the top to trap them all in.
Hei Xiazi
Once the second kiss ended, Xiazi moved away in order to give Xiao Hua some space to recover and decide on what to do next without his pressure. Xiao Hua looked at him in a daze for a moment before he end up sighing, visibly less stressed than before, which was a good sign that the kisses had help him at least to calm his inner turmoil.
"So... did you feel better?" Xiazi asked a few seconds later.
"Surprisingly, yes." Xiao Hua admitted.
"Want another round before heading back?" Xiazi couldn't resist the tease.
"No, I don't want to drawn myself in dangerous waters on top of what happen." Xiao Hua said, but that only made Xiazi smile quite pleased.
"Come on Master Hua, it's not dangerous waters, but healing ones... but that's alright. Patience is a virtue and I am in no hurry. Let's go back before San Xing can escape from us like he does with Wu Xie..." Xiazi said out of habit, but...
"He is not San Xing... he is Xie Lian Huan..." Xiao Hua corrected him.
"Of course, just old habits dying hard, my bad." Xiazi apologize and taking Xiao Hua off guard, he pull his kissing partner by his hand and walk him back to where Xie Lian and Mpo's man were resting. As soon as they were close to the entrance, Xiazi let go of Xiao Hua's hand, which make the man smile behind him.
Xie Lian was still resting in the same place, while the other man was sat on the ground not too far from him. Xaizi then sat down as well a little bit away from Xie Lian and Xiao Hua follow his example by sitting at his left, closer to his uncle.
"Want something to eat? You look a little pale in the light of the fire." Xiazi offered.
"I told you I will not buy anything else from you right now." Xiao Hua whisper as he looked at Xiazi.
"Did I said I was going to sell it to you? It's a complete free this round." Xiazi explained.
"I don't want to." Xiao Hua insisted.
"What about me telling you a fun story about the past? You just had to eat it while you listen." Xiazi pushed and Xiao Hua give up on his denial to take the bag Xiazi offer, although he didn't open it.
"Long ago, I hear of a pill that contains Shibie and is supposed to grant immortality and youth, called the Shibie pill."
"I had seen it."
"You did? Such a rare pill? How? When?"
"I found a yellow silk bound book among Xie Lian Huan's belongings when he was thought dead. It named several locations and out of curiosity I went to one of them choose randomly... and it almost cost my life. The Shibie pill was there."
"Did you take it? Swallow one?"
"No." At that Xiazi sighed with relief.
"Good thing you didn't. That stuff would have kill you sooner than later."
"I guessed as much."
"Yeah... but the thing is that just like those pills, it was said that the Queen Mother could produce the real thing. Back in that fake palace we were before, those painting showed one, but I wonder if it was the Shibie pill or whatever was used on Chen Wenjin."
"The silk book pointed at Tamutuo too... but if the real longevity pill is here or not... we may never know for sure. What I know is that Chen Wenjin believes her salvation is here and perhaps so does he..." Xiao Hua said as he looked at his uncle for a few seconds.
"You know... Wu Xie went to all the tombs in the dragon vein and so did you for most of them, but with one difference, Wu Xie had his 'uncle' and Xiaoge on his adventures, you however were on your own for half of them... which make me think that even if you are capable of do so with your own resources, it will still be a bit hard to accomplish without a little bit of help... so maybe, the man resting at your right give you a hand in secret after all." Xiazi suggested and Xiao Hua smiled sadly.
"True or not is not really important now, he should had told me the secrets of the Mystic Nine instead of asking me over and over to protect the Xie family. How can I protect my family from enemies I don't know off?" Xiao Hua asked more to himself than to his uncle.
"Well... if that's what you need..." Xiazi said while he stood. "Then I can give you a hand. I may be a kind man most of the time, but I know how to get information. Want me to try it?" Xiazi asked Xiao Hua, who simply signal him with his finger down for him to sit again.
"Stay put, don't mess around." Xiao Hua whisper and Xiazi smiled.
"I'm just proving that I am a reliable man at your service."
"I know, no need to prove it." Xiao Hua said, slightly smiling back, most of it in thanks for the support Shades was giving him, however, out of nowhere, suddenly, the ground tremble for a moment, shaking things were they were.
"Something must have gone wrong underground. I need to leave." Xiao Hua said and Xiazi halted him for a second.
"Not alone, I will go down with you. Hey you there! Take care of Master San for us for a little while, we are going to find out what happen underground." Xiazi said to the man, now in charge of taking care of Xie Lian.
"Gather the backpacks..." Xiao Hua asked Xiazi as he cover his uncle with a jacket, before leading the way down, closely followed by Xiazi.
AN: Okay, another chapter is done. It's raining a lot here, but thankfully not strong winds for now. Hope this one was better than the previous, take care my darlings and see you next time, probably next weekend. Thanks for reading. 🥰💖💖