But it wasn’t just me.

  Hua’s gentle smile thinned out, and something sharper flickered in his eyes. He snapped his folding fan shut and jabbed it into the ground with a sharp crack. “If you’re that fed up, you can walk away right now.”

  Lian’s brows drew together. Even his normally unreadable expression carried a chill. “Are you two done?”

  I froze, the breath caught in my throat. My chest tightened as if I’d just been wronged by heaven itself. “You’re yelling at me? You— you’re actually yelling at me?!”

  The next second I reached into my robe, ready to throw something— anything.

  “Stop.” Lian’s voice cracked like frost.

  Hua flicked open the fan bones and barred my arm. “Are you out of your mind?!”

  It turned into a full brawl. I whipped out the damned tortoise shell and started swatting, Hua blocked with the fan bones, and Lian grabbed my wrist barehanded—cold, precise, and sharp enough to make my heart skip a beat.

  Just as our breathing turned ragged and the air felt ready to explode—

  A soft “crack, crack, crack” echoed around us.

  The seven emotion statues were trembling. As if silently enjoying the show.

  I froze mid-swing, a chill sweeping through me. “Hold on… are these things messing with our heads?!”

  Lian’s fingers tightened briefly before he forced himself to let go. “Mm.”

  Hua’s face darkened. “This place must be built to stir people up. Anger. Fear. Whatever it can.”

  Silence settled for a beat.

  My nose stung. And then— I started crying again.

  “I—I can’t do this… I’m gonna die down here… and they won’t even give me a good-looking tombstone…”

  Hua blinked, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Hahaha— gods, you cry louder than a coffin lid slamming shut!”

  “You—!” I smeared a sleeve across his face. “You’re enjoying this!”

  Lian pressed a hand to his forehead, the other gripping his sword hilt so tightly the veins stood out. “Enough—”

  Except his voice was trembling— like he was holding back a laugh, a snarl, or a breakdown.

  “So what do we do now?!” I hiccupped.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Lian forced a deep breath. His inner force surged outward like a thunderclap, blasting toward the statues.

  Nothing happened. They didn’t so much as twitch— except their expressions seemed even more exaggerated, as if they were staring straight at us.

  A shiver ran down my spine. My throat clenched. “Uh… I think… we made them mad.”

  “Mad? Hahaha—” Hua doubled over laughing again. “Lian, did you just fan the flames for them!?”

  “Shut up!” I stomped, temper flaring like oil on fire. “If you hadn’t jumped in after me—”

  “And if you hadn’t slipped—” Hua shot back.

  Lian suddenly cracked his whip onto the ground, voice low and lethal. “Enough.”

  The word hung in the air like a blade.

  I finally noticed— even Lian’s hands were shaking.

  “Are we… getting worse?” I whispered.

  But the moment the words left my lips, a surge of cold terror punched through my chest. Suddenly both of them looked terrifying. Hua’s grin warped into a demon’s leer, and Lian’s face twisted like something ready to devour me.

  I screamed and hurled the tortoise shell. “Don’t come closer!!”

  Lian dodged. Hua got smacked and yelled, “You really are insane!”

  I ignored him, frantically rummaging through my robes until my fingers hit something hard.

  I looked down— the silver box I stole from the stone bed corpse.

  The second I touched it, my palm burned like fire. I yelped and threw it away on instinct.

  Clang—

  It hit the base of a statue with the sorrowful expression.

  A burst of prismatic light exploded outward— waves spreading like ripples across water, bathing the entire statue hall in shimmering color.

  The three of us froze.

  The frantic emotions flooding our minds drained away like a sudden ebb tide. Thought returned. Breath steadied. Hua stared blankly for a moment before clutching his chest. “I think… I really wanted to kill you.”

  “You don’t… want to now?” I asked, trembling.

  He nodded solemnly. “Not now. Not today.”

  I scrambled over and picked up the silver box— only to hiss again as the heat bit into my hand. “What the hell is this thing?!”

  Lian approached, finally back to his usual icy calm. He took the box from me and paused, fingertips lingering. His gaze deepened. “So… it was here.”

  I blinked. “It? What’s ‘it’? You came down here for this?!”

  He didn’t answer immediately. Turning the box over, he studied it as if confirming something. “I’ve looked for it for a long time. I didn’t expect it to be sealed inside this place.”

  “Then open it! Don’t leave me hanging!”

  Lian shook his head. “I can’t. Not yet.”

  We stared at the box until the last glow dissolved, leaving it dull and silent again.

  Around us, the statues dimmed as well— still vivid in expression, but merely carvings now, no longer clawing at our hearts.

  “…Is it over?” I asked carefully.

  Lian tucked the box away. “For now.”

  I collapsed onto the ground, exhaling hard. “I never want to see another statue again.”

  But forward was the only direction left.

  Behind the statue hall lay a narrow passageway leading into darkness so deep it felt like a throat waiting to swallow us whole.

  A shiver ran down my spine. “What floor underground is this already…? Feels worse than the Eighteen Hells. When does it end?”

  “I’d say,” Hua answered lightly, “we’re about to get out.”

  “Huh? How do you know?”

  He gestured with his fan. “Look.”

  At the far end of the darkness glowed a small, round light— like a lonely moon hanging low.

  We stared. Its glow was cold, steady, too sharp to be fire, too still to be moonlight. It had clear edges. Whatever it was, it was far away. The corridor must be absurdly long.

  “Heaven’s light!” I nearly jumped. “Go, go, go—!”

  We climbed the uneven stone steps as fast as we could.

  Halfway up, a sudden unease twisted in my chest. I halted abruptly. “Wait. Hold on. Aren’t we… missing something?”

  Hua stopped too. “Missing what?”

  “I don’t know!” I clutched my head. “Just feels like something’s… off.”

  Lian paused as well, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

  But he didn’t say a word.