Chapter 32: Surprise
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The darkness called to them. With no source of light, the trio ventured blindly into the endless tunnel. Luckily for them, the tunnel only went in one direction, so they had nothing to fear. 

Yuelong ran his hand against the smooth walls as he journeyed further and further, helping him with his sense of direction. The walls were cool and damp, and he could feel something moving on the other side. Considering that Huajing Shuizhuang was underwater, he assumed that it was the flow of the river that he felt from the other side. But he wasn’t entirely certain. 

“This tunnel is awfully long,” Mengjun whispered, hoping to break the silence without accidentally signaling unwanted attention.

“Yeah…” Xiao-Kai agreed. “It’s a bit hard to breathe down here too.” 

Yuelong also realized that, but because he has been a practitioner of the Dao since a young age, he was accustomed to many different types of breathing, so he was almost unaffected by this.

Yuelong suddenly felt something on his shoulder. Out of reflexes, he twisted his body just so he could avoid the “attack”.

“Who?” Yuelong barked.

“Sorry! That was my hand!” Mengjun apologized. “I was just trying to see if you were doing okay. Since Xiao-Kai said that it was hard to breathe.”

“Oh…” Yuelong wasn’t expecting this. While he dodged Mengjun’s hand, a million thoughts flashed through his mind. From hidden traps to mysterious monsters lurking in the dark, he had never expected someone to pat their hand on his shoulder and ask him if he was okay. Uncertain about what he should do next, Yuelong replied, “I’m doing alright, no need to worry about me.”

“Okay.”

After what felt like ages, Yuelong’s hand had felt the wall coming to an end and immediately stopped his footsteps. Yuelong and his two companions finally came to the end of the tunnel. 

“Halt! This is the end,” Yuelong said, continuing to feel around for any signs of a door.

“So how do we get out?” Xiao-Kai asked. During his time walking through the tunnel, he felt anxious and dizzy. He continuously recalled the darkest moments of his life in the darkness. Ever since he could remember, he lived in constant fear with his family. His father constantly complained about their financial situation and would often take out his anger on him. His mother would always try to protect him and get hurt in the process. The beatings often took place at night, when the neighbors were all sleeping. This took a big toll on Xiao-Kai’s young mind as he saw his most beloved person beaten in front of him. Though he didn’t know what exactly caused the constant anger of his father, it was nonetheless a scar on his mind.

In the darkness of the tunnel, images and scenes of his father would float in and out of his vision, taunting him. Then they would transform into his mother falling to the ground from his father’s hand. Xiao-Kai felt extremely uncomfortable in the dark.

“Can you guys stand back for a second?” Yuelong requested.

“What are you going to do?” Asked Mengjun. “You’re not going to try the water thingy like Murong gu-niang, right?”

“I don’t know the spell to do that, but since these walls have some connection with water, I think I can try to evaporate it,” Yuelong explained.

“Evaporate?” Mengjun questioned. “We don’t even have a fire here, how are you going to do it?”

“Haven’t you seen enough today to know that I’m not an ordinary person?”

Mengjun stayed silent. “Alright, do what you must. Come, Xiao-Kai, let’s give Yiheng some space.”

Yuelong could hear sounds of shuffling feet behind him. Once they stopped at a safe distance, Yuelong summoned the power of fire. He felt his palms slowly heat up, the flow of energy in his body flowed into his arms. In an instant, he released the flames from his palms onto the wall in front of him. 

His fiery power instantly lit up the tunnel and the three could finally see. The walls around them were still the same blueish bricks from their prison except for the ones that the flames touched. Since both the flames and the bricks were enhanced or morphed by supernatural abilities, they would react differently with each other. The bricks that the flames burned turned transparent and clear as crystals.

Xiao-Kai's eyes widened at the sight. From inside the tunnel he could see what was happening outside. The entire tunnel was underneath the river. From below, Xiao-Kai could see the faint silver hook of the new moon, shining its dim light into the waters. A shape of a boat floated above them, gently rising and falling with the river current.

Yuelong, upon seeing the position they were in, immediately stopped the flow of fire. 

"Oh thank the Heavens and Earth. I thought you were going to drown us if you had melted the entire tunnel!" Mengjun said, panickly.

“Hmph,” Yuelong replied. 

Taking in the fact that they might drown if the entire wall were to melt, the only choice left for Yuelong was to cut a small enough opening so that they could escape and prevent drowning.

“Stand back, I will summon Cangming to break a hole,” Yuelong explained.

Following his words, a thousand glowing particles slipped out from his right sleeve. Lit by the thousand dots of light, Yuelong could feel the stares of awe from his two companions. Gathering together, the glow dimmed and materialized into a sword. Completely encased in darkness, Yuelong struck at the roof above. 

The instant Cangming struck, it had pierced through the bricks like tofu. A steady flow of water gushed out from the hole. Hastening his speed, Yuelong followed up with three consecutive strikes. Each strike rendering the hole bigger. 

“Okay! Let’s go!” Yuelong called out over the sound of gushing water. 

“Take Xiao-Kai first!” Mengjun called back, pushing Xiao-Kai up against the water flow.

Yuelong reached out and tightly grabbed Xiao-Kai’s hand. With a tug and a single leap, he pulled Xiao-Kai out from the tunnel and into the water. No longer concealed behind bricks, he could clearly make out a boat right above them. He pointed Cangming up towards the surface and the sword launched upwards, bringing both Yuelong and Xiao-Kai out from the water.

They landed with a loud thud onto the deck of the boat. Xiao-Kai gasped for breath, wiping away the water from his face. Instantly, he was met with a cold breeze that chilled right down to his bone. Luckily, the boat they had landed on was one of the few boats that had a conscience. Sensing that people had arrived on deck, the boat’s lantern flared alive and radiated heat to its wet, freezing clients.

“Quick, Xiao-Kai, head on inside,” Yuelong said through chattering teeth. He was also affected by the cold breeze, but suppress his shaking body with the Sanmei Pure fire from his body.

Shaking from head to toe, Xiao-Kai crawled into the little room on the boat and nestled himself on a cushion. Through chattering teeth, the teen asked, “Wh-where i-is M-Mengjun?”

“He should be here soon,” Yuelong replied, looking over the boat for any signal of Mengjun. His mind raced. Something wasn’t quite right here…

Remembering how Mengjun panicked when he said Yuelong might flood the place, Yuelong came to realize that Mengjun, possibly, doesn’t know how to swim.

Supported by the Sanmei Pure fires, Yuelong jumped back into the water, searching for signs of Mengjun. He felt himself panicking at the sight of only water around him. Then, he felt a rough vibration in his right hand.

A signal from Cangming!

The sword slightly pointed downwards into the depths of the deep. Slightly lit by the silver glow of the moon, Yuelong noticed bubbles of air coming from directly below him. In an attempt to light up the darkness of the waters, Yuelong released a ball of fire. But it was instantly extinguished in the freezing waters. Fortunately, the small flash of light was enough for Yuelong to make out the position of Mengjun.

He immediately dived deeper into the water. Led by Cangming’s vibrations, Yuelong grabbed hold of Mengjun’s collar and pulled him up towards the surface. Realizing that Mengjun had lost his breath in the river, Yuelong pulled him up towards his face without hesitation. He pressed his lips against Mengjun and passed on half of his remaining air to him. 

Awakened by the sudden flow of warm air, Mengjun's eyes widened. His heart raced from the soft, warm cloud his lips kissed. If it weren’t for the cold river, his cheeks would have evaporated the surrounding water. He patted Yuelong’s shoulder, signalling him that he was doing alright. 

The two, pulled by Cangming, were launched from the waters and onto the wooden deck with a loud thud. Mengjun coughed and gasped for air. He sucked in an icy breath and choked, coughing even more. Yuelong took deep intakes of breath and leaned on the edge of the boat, feeling drained of stamina.

Yuelong looked at Mengjun, wondering if he was okay, but was met with an unexpected sight. Mengjun’s white, smooth chest was exposed in the autumn night. His chest heaved up and down with his breathing. 

When Yuelong had pulled Mengjun up towards his face, he had tugged too hard on his collar, and nearly stripped him topless. 

The first thought that appeared in Yuelong’s mind was, “That’s so… pretty.” Yuelong felt a rush of blood into his head. Not only that, but he felt a reaction down below. He forced himself to look away but his body resisted his mind. 

“What am I doing!?” Yuelong thought to himself. 

Mengjun noticed Yuelong staring at him. He smiled and said, between intakes of air, “Don’t worry, I’m alright.”

Yuelong blushed even more. He looked down on the wooden deck. “What am I thinking!? More than twenty years of suppressing my emotions, this is what will be my undoing!?” He unsuccessfully tried to wipe away the images of Mengjun’s smooth chest and neat nipples.

“Ge! Mengjun!” Xiao-Kai's cute voice called out. “You’re alright!”

Mengjun smirked at the teen. “What? Did you think I was going to die?”

Xiao-Kai’s smile slightly faded. “Well…I was just…umm worried.”

“Mengjun laughed and embraced the teen. “It’s alright, I was only joking.”

“Mengjun! You’re cold and wet!” Xiao-Kai complained.

Mengjun pulled away from Xiao-Kai and looked down. That’s when he realized that his entire chest was exposed. He quickly glanced at Yuelong, who was still staring down at the deck, and covered his chest with his soaked robes. He crawled in the small room of the boat and sat down on one of the cushions. His cheeks were visibly flushed red under the boat’s lantern. 

“Are you alright?” Xiao-Kai asked, noticing the red blush.

“Huh?” Mengjun looked up at Xiao-Kai. “Oh! I’m alright! Just a little stuffy in here, that’s all.”

He quickly covered his cheeks with his freezing, white hands in an attempt to cool it down.

Outside of the room, Yuelong finally looked up from the floor as Mengjun went inside the room. He slapped himself on the cheeks. What am I thinking!? When has my cultivation come to this?

With a swipe of Cangming, the sword dissipated into specks of glowing particles and vanished into his sleeve. He pulled his legs together and sat in a meditative posture, clearing his mind of all unclean thoughts. 

Just when he was able to suppress his mind, Mengjun’s voice called out. 

“Yiheng? What are you doing out there? Why don’t you come in? It’s warm inside.”

The smooth, heaving chest flashed into his mind again.

“Give me a moment, I don’t want to… wet the flooring with my soaked clothes,” Yuelong lied. It had been a very long time since a lie had left his mouth. And he felt extremely uncomfortable saying it.

“Oh, alright…” Mengjun said.

After a few minutes of suppressing his unclean thoughts, Yuelong stood up with a sigh. I better not let this happen again. Heavens! What was I thinking?

Just as he was about to walk inside the little room, he noticed two flashes of black across the skies.

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