Senior Brother Ling asked the others to search for the rest of their sect members.
However, after searching for one whole round and questioning the children in the palace, they didnât find the rest of the people.
âOne of them was thrown into the pond.â Ming Shu changed her position and was currently sitting on the wall.
The person beside Senior Brother Ling looked at her intently. âHow do you know?â
âI saw it.â
âYou saw it... why didnât you stop him?â
Ming Shu wanted to laugh at him. âAre you joking with me? What is my relationship with you? Why must I stop him?â
â...â
The disciple must have been too agitated so his words didnât make sense at all.
âLet me go down and take a look.â Someone volunteered himself.
âNo.â Senior Brother Ling stopped the person. âWe do not know what is underneath the pond.â
âThen... what if Junior Sister Fang Wan and the rest of them were thrown inside too?â The disciple panicked.
Senior Brother Ling frowned. He calmed them down and woke the man up.
When the man realized he was tied up, he started cursing violently.
âWhat is this place? Where are the other people that you caught?â Senior Brother Ling waited for him to finish cursing before asking his questions.
âAll of you are here already.â The man looked at Senior Brother Ling with an honest expression.
There were eight of them. Besides the one that was thrown into the pond, there were still three other people missing. One of them was Fang Wan.
âIf they were not brought here, they must be dead.â The man gave a sinister laugh. âDo you think that everyone will stay alive after they fall down?â
One of the disciples grabbed his clothes and punched him. âDonât bullshit me. Where are they? Where did you hide them? Bring them out!â
âPfft!â
The disciple punched him a few more times but the man just said the same thing. It must be the truth.
âStop hitting him.â Senior Brother Ling stopped the disciple and asked the man, who was panting heavily, âHow do we get out of here?â
They tried to find a way out before they came to this courtyard, but the children said that there was no way out.
âGet out of here?â The man suddenly laughed. Then, he shouted crazily, âIf I knew how to get out, I would not be refining this sword!â
The sword: â...â I shall just continue swimming.
The man said that he fell down here too. When he fell, the palace, the pond, and the sword were already here.
Ming Shu admired this person.
She thought that he was the owner, but he turned out to be a victim too.
Senior Brother Ling asked, âArenât you the owner of this place?â
The man looked as though he heard some funny joke.
He didnât know who owned this place.
The man couldnât remember when he fell. It was a long time ago.
The children were demons that he caught around the area. There were many such demons around the palace and they ate humans too. Even if the people that fell down were not brought over, they would probably be killed too.
âHave you heard of the spiritual pool?â
The man saw their expressions and knew that they had never heard of it before.
âThe place which produced the purest liquid form of reiki in the entire world.â
The man looked behind him. The girl in red was sitting on top of the wall. She was smiling at them.
He gritted his teeth as he recalled how she threw things down on him. âYou seem to know a lot.â
âIâm flattered.â
â...â Who is flattering you? Shameless!
He looked at the pond. âThis is the spiritual pool. All the things here exists because of the spiritual pool. If that sword doesnât recognize an owner, none of us can get out.â
This was what he found out after staying here for so long.
âWhat sword is that?â
The man hated the sword. âI donât know.â
He wanted to coax it to recognize an owner but it didnât want to. Also, at the start, he couldnât get near the pool at all.
He took a long time to break the array around the pool.
After that, he wanted to refine it forcefully, but the results were even more infuriating.
âSo after it recognizes its owner, we can get out?â
âShould be so,â the man said. âThis is just my guess. Even if the sword canât bring us out, its owner can.â
Senior Brother Ling looked at the pool.
The sword suddenly lifted itself up straight and moved to the side of the pool.
Senior Brother Ling already had his sword of fate, the Lingxiao sword. This was the sword that the Yi Xie sword defeated in legend.
âYou two, go and have a try,â Senior Brother Ling said to the two disciples of Wuji Sword Sect.
The two people hesitated. The sword didnât seem to like them... it was rejecting them from head to toe.
However, they still went to try. The sword just ignored them mercilessly.
Although swords had no emotions, everyone felt its contempt.
âThere is really no way out of here?â Ming Shu asked the child beside her.
âIndeed.â The little child nodded. âWe have stayed here for a long time and didnât find any way out.â
âWhy did you lie that you can take me out then?â
The child lowered his head and whispered, âYou already said that I lied to you... it was to lower your guard.â
â...â The little demons are quite smart. âWe canât go back up from the place that we fell down?â
The child reminded her tactfully, âWhy did you... fall down?â
Ming Shu had nothing to say.
The child was right. Even if they could climb up, they might not be able to get out of this place. Those magical beast that could fly tried to fly their way out after they fell into this place, but they were stopped halfway by some invisible wall. There was no way out at all.
The people in the courtyard were still discussing their plan. They didnât know if the man was speaking the truth so they went out and searched for an exit again.
In the end, they confirmed that there was no way out. If they kept walking straight, they would just end up at the white jade palace again.
âWe canât contact our sect, either.â
âWhat shall we do? We canât find Junior Sister Fang Wan and the rest. Did something happen to them?â
âSenior Brother Ling...â
Senior Brother Ling suddenly looked at Ming Shu.
Ming Shu raised her eyebrows. âWhat?â
Senior Brother Ling said, âI remember that demonic cultivators have a special way of communicating with one another. Can you try to communicate with the outside world? We are all stuck here. No one can get out.â
The last two sentences was to explain why he asked for her help. He just wanted to get everyone out of here first.
âWe do.â Ming Shu thought for a while. âHowever, this is an enclosed space. Even our communication method canât be used here.â
She tried to call for Little Beastie, but there was no reply from it. If even Little Beastie couldnât hear her, there was no way she could contact anyone else.
âDo you have any good suggestion?â
Ming Shu suggested sincerely, âEat and wait for death.â
Senior Brother Ling: â...â
âDo you want to try and see if the sword will recognize you?â Senior Brother Ling pointed at the pool.
Ming Shu glanced at the sword. The sword sized her up too.
Ming Shu said with disdain, âI donât want to.â
Pa!
The sword got angry.
No one had ever given it the cold-shoulder! Only it could dislike other people!
âLook at how bad its temper is. I donât want it,â Ming Shu added on.