“Papa!”

“Xu Lan!”

Everyone was shouting Xu Lan’s name.

“Pft…”

Xu Lan spat another mouthful of blood, dyeing his shirt, the chime-bells, and the wooden mallet red. Even then, he continued ringing the chime-bells according to the arrangement in the codex. All souls, with the exception of the ones whose body had fallen into the subsurface stream earlier, returned into their respective bodies. They walked onto the platform and looked at Xu Lan worriedly.

Bai Wu floated toward Xu Lan and screamed for him to stop. Even when Bai Wu’s voice was hoarse from all the screaming, Xu Lan remained unmoved. Xu Lan’s handsome face gradually lost its form and he looked weaker and thinner. He seemed to be shouldering an unbearable weight; his straight back arched under the weight, the scar on his brow lost its vigor and rested weakly like a caterpillar in fall.

“Papa!” By then, Xu Lan had played the soul-summoning tune thrice. Bai Wu was still circling around Xu Lan and shouting anxiously.

“Heck! Why aren’t you coming back to life yet? Cough…” Xu Lan cursed with a pair of red eyes. He spat another mouthful of fresh blood on the chime-bells. The businessman walked over with Fang Lingzi. They tried to offer consolation but was halted by Xu Lan’s sad moan.

“Bai Wu, don’t you have anything that you miss about this world?” Sheng Ya lowered Bai Wu’s body on the ground and sat next to him. She watched as his soul floated in mid-air.

Xu Lan stopped ringing the chime-bells. He looked at Bai Wu with a gaping mouth as he realized he had yet to ask if Bai Wu was willing to come back to life!

“What are you babbling about? I have something I love dearly in this world!” Initially, Bai Wu could not comprehend the rationale behind Sheng Ya’s question. When he saw Xu Lan’s empty gaze, he was shaken to his core and his heart ached. His floating soul flickered delicately; the body next to Sheng Ya woke up in shock.

Bai Wu got up and sprinted toward Xu Lan, “Papa…”

“As long as you’re back!” Xu Lan looked at Bai Wu without blinking his eyes. He patted Bai Wu’s shoulder before making his way toward the businessman and the others.

“Papa!” Before Xu Lan managed to take a step, he collapsed onto the ground. Bai Wu caught him and cried out loudly.

The catacomb was shaking from the dragon’s might and the walls clattered loudly. The connecting chamber became unstable. The exquisite murals and the vault began to crumble. Xu Lan’s companions did not have time to care about Xu Lan who fainted due to excessive bleeding; instead, they roamed around the chamber in search of an exit.

“Follow me!” Xu Lan rescued these people. Bai Wu wondered if Xu Lan would be angry at him for not taking care of them? When that crossed his mind, Bai Wu calmed down immediately and ordered for everyone to follow him.

Bai Wu was shrouded amidst the thick white mist when he reappeared before everyone in the form of a giant dragon. With a sweep of his thick tail, he created a crack that spanned across one meter in the chamber.

“Ow, get up!” The leader of the dragon clan glanced at the fragile humans beneath him as he exhaled white smoke from his nostril. Bai Wu carried Xu Lan and offered his tail to the rest of the group.

“Hold on tight!” He extended his giant wings and propelled himself upward before soaring into the sky.

“Ow…” His sharp shriek sent the rocks in the catacomb flying down. He dodged the flying rocks and charged forward.

“Light! There’s light! The catacomb is about to collapse! We’ve found our way out!” the crew-cut man shouted in excitement.