Author: 哔哔 (Bi Bi) / Jin Gang Quan
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 85
They left the horses outside the valley of Luofeng Ridge and went in together. They found the cave Wen Heyi had brought them to before. The entrance was still covered by an enormous boulder. If you didn’t walk right up to it, it was hard to even notice.
Su Zeyang went in first. He’d come here before with Huo Fenghua and knew the paths inside. Feng Tianzong brought up the rear, letting Huo Fenghua and the others enter ahead of him.
Inside, it was pitch-black. When Huo Fenghua stepped in, Wen Heyi clutched his arm tightly and trembled as he called, “Dad… Yi’er’s scared.”
Huo Fenghua patted the back of his hand, soothing him. “Don’t be scared. Just stay close to Dad.”
Up ahead, Gu Guangji gave a low snort. “Little bastard.”
Huo Fenghua ignored him. Something occurred to him, and he asked Wen Heyi, “Yi’er, are you familiar with this place? Does it feel like you’ve been here before?”
Wen Heyi answered, “Yi’er doesn’t know.”
They kept walking forward. They didn’t run into any obstacles, and they didn’t meet anyone else. Then, faintly ahead, they saw a pale yellow glow. They’d reached that circular cavern where the birth characters of Huo Fenghua and the Feng brothers had been buried, and where the curse formation had been laid.
They all lightened their steps and held their breath. No one spoke. Su Zeyang gripped his sword tightly. Only after he could see the whole cavern clearly did he loosen his hold on the hilt and walk in slowly.
The candle stands in the cavern had been lit, but there wasn’t a single person there.
Gu Guangji darted ahead of Su Zeyang, circled the cavern once, and said in confusion, “Where is he?”
Su Zeyang went to the candles and examined them. “They were lit not long ago. Someone was here, but they left.”
Huo Fenghua frowned. “There’s only one way in. If he left the same way, we should’ve run into him.”
Feng Tianzong walked to the center of the cavern and looked at the small pit that had been dug in the ground. “Then there’s another hidden passage.” He turned to Su Zeyang. “This is where the formation was set?”
Su Zeyang went to stand beside him and said softly, “Yes. The wooden box was buried right here in the middle.”
Gu Guangji glanced around anxiously. “Let’s find the hidden passage.”
Huo Fenghua looked around too. The cavern seemed like a single solid piece. It didn’t look like it had any secret way out at all. The ground and the walls were tightly joined with not a crack in sight.
Maybe the hidden passage was outside this circular cavern, in the darker tunnel. In dim light, it would be easy to miss.
Thinking that, he headed back the way they’d come, leaving the circular cavern and returning to the pitch-black corridor.
Wen Heyi still had a death grip on his hand and followed him out into the corridor. He even tried to tug him back, muttering, “So dark. So scary.”
Huo Fenghua didn’t indulge him. He reached into his clothes, took out a fire striker, and blew it to life. He raised the small flame and carefully examined the corridor wall. After sweeping the light around once, he spotted a stone protrusion with a very regular shape. He pressed it, but it didn’t move.
He found it odd. Unwilling to give up, he pressed again with much more force. This time the stone block suddenly sank backward, and the section of rock wall in front of him slid back as well, revealing a hollow opening. But he’d pushed too hard. When the support vanished, his body pitched forward uncontrollably.
There was nothing ahead. Huo Fenghua shouted as he fell onto a smooth, slanted surface, then began sliding rapidly forward. He hurriedly braced a hand, trying to stabilize himself with inner strength, but Wen Heyi, still clinging to his arm, tumbled in after him and slammed into his back. That impact ruined what little control he had. The two of them rolled together, bumping and tumbling down the slick, steep passage.
They rolled for a long time. Then, one after the other, they hit the ground. Wen Heyi landed on top of Huo Fenghua. Huo Fenghua yelped in pain, but after Wen Heyi let out a muffled groan, he went still.
Huo Fenghua struggled upright and pushed at Wen Heyi. Wen Heyi lay sprawled on him, his head pressed to the ground, not moving at all.
The fire striker had flown from his hand during the fall. Everything was black. He couldn’t see anything. He could only reach out and feel for Wen Heyi, until his fingers found his face. Wen Heyi’s eyes were shut tight.
Huo Fenghua’s heart lurched. “Yi’er?”
No response.
He lifted Wen Heyi’s head and felt a stone under it. He must’ve knocked his head on it when they landed. Panic rose in Huo Fenghua’s chest. He touched Wen Heyi’s forehead but didn’t feel any blood. He could only call again, “Yi’er, wake up!”
He grabbed Wen Heyi by the collar and shook him lightly. This time he heard a faint hum. Wen Heyi seemed to be waking.
Huo Fenghua finally breathed a little easier. “You’re awake?”
After a moment, Wen Heyi gave a very soft “Mm.”
Huo Fenghua eased him down onto the ground. “Rest for a bit. I’ll find a way out.” Then he stood and shouted up toward the passage they’d fallen from. “Senior Brother! General!”
No one answered. After a while he shouted again, “Master!”
Still nothing.
So Huo Fenghua began feeling along the cavern wall. The passage they’d rolled down was long, steep, and smooth. It was basically impossible to climb back up. He could only look for another route out.
Very soon, he found another passage, extremely similar to the one they’d come down, also a slick slanted corridor. He had no idea where it led.
He went back to Wen Heyi. “Yi’er, get up. Dad will take you out.”
In the darkness, Wen Heyi seemed to sit up. After a brief silence, he said, “What did you call me?”
“Yi’er…” Huo Fenghua hadn’t finished the word before he suddenly sensed something was wrong. Wen Heyi’s voice was low and heavy, nothing like his usual innocent tone. A bad feeling slammed into him.
Wen Heyi didn’t speak.
The surroundings were completely dark. Huo Fenghua couldn’t see Wen Heyi’s expression. He edged back a little nervously. Wen Heyi suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist. The grip wasn’t very strong, but Huo Fenghua heard him murmur, “Huo Fenghua?”
Huo Fenghua’s heart jumped. He forced his voice steady. “Martial Uncle, are you dizzy?” At the same time, he kept inching backward. He easily broke free of Wen Heyi’s hand and pressed his back to the cavern wall.
Maybe Wen Heyi wasn’t fully awake yet. He didn’t move in the darkness.
Huo Fenghua didn’t really need to be that afraid. He didn’t know if Wen Heyi had truly recovered. Even if he had, with Huo Fenghua’s current skill, Wen Heyi might not even be his match.
But since the day they’d met, Huo Fenghua had suffered at Wen Heyi’s hands again and again. The fear ran deep. His first instinct was simply to get away.
Wen Heyi’s breathing was heavy. He sat on the ground without moving.
Huo Fenghua slid along the wall until he reached the passage he’d found. Then he abruptly dove into it.
Just like before, it was a steep, slick chute you couldn’t stand on. Huo Fenghua slid down, his whole body dropping. This time, at least he’d jumped in deliberately. He managed to keep his balance and didn’t go rolling head over heels.
He slid for a long distance. He didn’t hear Wen Heyi chasing after him. Then he reached the end of the passage. The ground vanished beneath his feet, and with a soft squelch, his boots sank into something soft, plunging down to his knees in an instant.
It was still a pitch-black cavern. He couldn’t see anything. He tried to pull his feet out, but the moment he moved, his body sank further, swallowing past his knees. He froze, not daring to struggle. He reached down and felt beneath him.
Soft mud.
He was in a bog. The more he struggled, the deeper he’d sink.
Huo Fenghua went blank with horror. He lifted his head, hesitating whether to call Wen Heyi for help. Even if Wen Heyi could hear him, Huo Fenghua couldn’t tell whether calling him over would bring rescue… or death.
That thought made him feel wronged. A moment ago Wen Heyi had been clinging to his arm and calling him Dad like a good kid. Now he was turning around and calling him “Huo Fenghua.” After all that effort, he’d raised a little ungrateful brat.
Huo Fenghua took a slow breath and tried to think through how to handle the situation. Before he could, he heard light, careful footsteps.
With the footsteps came a faint cluster of flame. Someone was walking over with a candle stand, lighting up the space in front of Huo Fenghua. Sure enough, he was in a large mud bog inside a cavern, and he was sinking at an extremely slow pace.
The person who entered with the candle was a stranger, a young man in pale gray clothes. His cheeks were lean, and his eyes tilted slightly upward at the corners. He stood at the edge of the bog and looked at Huo Fenghua. After a moment, his expression showed mild surprise.
“Huo Fenghua?”
Huo Fenghua froze. He was still wondering who this man was when a name surfaced in his mind: Bai Huan.
The person who had entered the cave before them and still hadn’t left could only be Bai Huan. But Huo Fenghua had never met Bai Huan. Why did Bai Huan recognize him?
Then, in a flash, Huo Fenghua understood. Bai Huan had set the curse formation at Luofeng Ridge on Wang Anzhi’s orders. The formation’s focal point used Huo Fenghua’s birth data. It was very possible that, back before this Huo Fenghua married into the General’s Manor, the two of them had met through Wang Anzhi’s connections. Huo Fenghua didn’t recognize Bai Huan, but Bai Huan recognized him.
While Huo Fenghua was still unsettled, Bai Huan frowned slightly, as if confused as well. “Weren’t you dead?”
Everyone in Yujing City thought he was dead. The Wang family did too. It seemed Bai Huan had heard the news of his death from the Wangs.
Huo Fenghua licked his lips. “I’m not dead. I faked it so I could get out of the General’s Manor. Bai Huan, pull me up.”
Bai Huan didn’t move right away. He kept staring at him. “Why are you here?”
Huo Fenghua said, “I’m a prince of Xichou. Why wouldn’t I be here?”
Bai Huan studied him for a while. “You came for the Flying Phoenix* Scroll?”
*This is part of the title of the novel, Fei Fang.
Huo Fenghua had no idea what that was. He didn’t confirm it or deny it. He only said, “Get me out first. Then I’ll tell you what I’m here for.”
Bai Huan hesitated briefly. Then he set the candle stand down, uncoiled a long rope from his back, and threw it into the middle of the mud bog. Huo Fenghua quickly grabbed it. He felt Bai Huan taking hold and hauling him toward the edge.
Once Huo Fenghua could hook both hands over the stone rim of the bog, he let out a breath. As he climbed up, he said, “You and Wang Anzhi used me as the formation’s focal point to curse the Feng brothers. You were trying to get me killed!”
Bai Huan reeled the rope back in, coiled it, and slung it over his back again. “So Feng Tianzong really did discover the curse formation at Luofeng Ridge. He wanted to kill you?”
Huo Fenghua shook mud off his legs and decided not to expose himself for now. He told Bai Huan, “If I hadn’t bribed a maid in the General’s Manor and faked my death to escape, I’d have been killed by Feng Tianzong and Su Zeyang already so they could break the curse.”
Bai Huan’s brows drew together. “That was Wang Anzhi’s intention, not mine. I didn’t want to harm you, Second Prince.”
Huo Fenghua hadn’t heard that form of address in a long time. And since Bai Huan was Xichou as well, it tracked. He said, “Yet you, a Xichou man, colluded with the Wang family to harm me, a prince!”
Bai Huan shook his head. “I didn’t expect anyone would discover the formation here. I thought no one would ever find it.”
Huo Fenghua said, “But they did find it. Luckily, they think I’m dead. Otherwise, they’d be hunting you too while they hunted me. Do you believe me?”
Bai Huan didn’t answer.
Seeing Bai Huan had accepted his story, Huo Fenghua asked, “Then why are you here now?”
Bai Huan looked at him. “Wang Anzhi thinks you’re dead, and that the Feng brothers’ curse has been broken. He wants me to set up a new formation for him. This time, he wants Feng Tianzong’s life.”
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