Xiao Nanhui opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back at the bottom of a flight of stone stairs.
Flames burned behind the huge stone door. The flames were like the tentacles of a monster constantly testing, occasionally rolling into the door and then quickly retracting.
She stared blankly for a while before she regained consciousness and struggled to get up.
A few steps behind him, Ding Weixiang had already helped Su Wei to her feet. She rushed over, grabbed his hand, and examined the wound on his palm.
In the remaining bloodstains, the black spot in the palm of the hand can be vaguely seen, like a scratch embedded in jade.
Xiao Nanhui looked at him nervously, his voice even more nervous than his expression.
"How do you feel? Are you feeling any discomfort? Are you in pain? Are you..."
He looked at her quietly, with a childish teasing look in his eyes, and waited until she was at a loss for words before speaking slowly.
"No."
"But, but why?" She stammered, still holding his hand and turning it over and over. "Didn't you say that the mechanism was poisonous? But what about the poison in Zou Sifang?"
Ding Weixiang on the side didn't say anything, but she felt that it was not that he had nothing to say, but that she had asked him everything he wanted to say.
Su Wei pondered for a moment, then answered seriously.
"Perhaps it's because the mechanism is very old and the poison has lost its effectiveness."
Ineffective? The box containing the secret seal had been soaking in the northern swamp for who knows how long, and when it was fished out, it still didn't lose its effectiveness, and Zou Sifang still lay half-dead for half a month?
Xiao Nanhui felt that the other party was just trying to fool him, but he had no evidence and didn't know how to argue. For a moment, he felt angry and aggrieved.
Her mood was clearly visible on her face, and the other party could see it clearly, but he deliberately did not mention it again, and only signaled Ding Weixiang to investigate the surrounding situation.
"We can't stay here for long. Once we place the sunken stone as a sky lantern and light it, the Shen family won't let us off easily. Once the fire is out, they'll gather all their men and rush in. It'll be a fierce battle then."
Ding Weixiang knew that asking more questions was pointless, so he tore a piece of his clothes and tied it to a wooden stick to make a torch to illuminate the surroundings.
This was a dark secret passage with damp and stuffy air. The torch in Ding Weixiang's hand dimmed and turned into a weak dark red.
The flames outside the stone gate were still devouring the air in the cave, and the temperature around him continued to rise. Xiao Nanhui rubbed his sore knees, and the joy of escaping death in his heart gradually cooled.
"This doesn't look like a good place. It looks like it hasn't been opened in a long time. Could it be the Shen family's ancestral tomb?"
"There's some moisture here. This shouldn't be a dead end in the mountain. If we follow this path, we'll definitely be able to..."
Ding Weixiang stopped talking suddenly before he finished speaking.
"What's wrong?"
She moved closer in confusion, then stopped.
In the dim light of the torch, she clearly saw that the secret passage split into two after a few feet.
Xiao Nanhui took a deep breath and spoke to Ding Weixiang first during this brief silence.
"You take him this way, and I'll lead them to the other side."
Before Ding Weixiang could speak, the man quickly made a conclusion.
"No." He said those two words quickly, his voice not loud but full of determination that left no room for debate. "If we have to separate, it can only be me and her."
After a long time, she heard Ding Weixiang's voice coming word by word.
"I'm sorry I can't obey your order."
Xiao Nanhui sighed deeply.
This is back to the scene when they first went down into the cave. The three people each have their own persistence, just like the three halves of an orange that can never be separated. They keep pulling and pulling until all three halves of the orange fall apart.
She doesn't want this.
"Maybe we can go together..."
Ding Weixiang glanced at her.
"Even if this road connects to the outside world, it hasn't been used for many years, so it might not be completely accessible. If we encounter any obstacles and delay, we'll be pursued by the Shen family."
She was unwilling to accept it.
"Then I'll go check it out first..."
This time Su Wei didn't look at her.
"How do you know if this path will branch off further down? And how do you know how long it will take to reach the end?"
She finally stopped talking, and the secret passage fell into silence again.
After a long time, Ding Weixiang took a step forward.
The torch in his hand illuminated his face, and she had never seen such an expression on Ding Weixiang's face before. It was as if he had gambled all his honor as a swordsman, and as if he had lost all his skills and pride in an instant.
"I swore an oath to stay by your majesty's side, through thick and thin, and never betray you. How can I break my promise?"
"If you follow me, she will die. If she dies, I will not live either."
Xiao Nanhui was stunned.
She had imagined the circumstances under which she would hear his inner voice, but when she actually heard it, she felt no joy at all.
Ding Weixiang was speechless and could only stare blankly at the man with bleeding palms and an indifferent expression.
After a long time, Su Wei's voice sounded softly in the secret passage again, and his tone was the same as before.
"You and I have been master and servant for many years, inseparable. You understand my character best. I will definitely accomplish what I set my mind to, and I will never regret anything I've already done. Life and death, reunion and separation, are only a matter of time. All choices ultimately lead to the same destination. As a warrior, you must maintain your sharp spirit and do not let me hinder you from drawing your sword."
Ding Weixiang lowered his head, his eyes falling on the scabbard in his left hand.
He still remembered what the man in front of him said to him on the day he gave him the sword and the name.
A bird of prey is most alert when it is about to fly, and a sword is sharpest when it is about to be drawn.
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