Kang Ce subconsciously opened his mouth to speak, but found that there was no voice that came out of his mouth. His eyes widened and he instinctively closed his mouth and felt his throat, fearing he truly lost his voice.

Gong Xian walked towards Xi Ming and Xi Xing who were heavily panting as they caught they breath, momentarily been given a chance to breathe by the creature lurking underneath the surface and is chasing them.

Xi Ming and Xi Xing are full of scratches and there was a deep wound on Xi Ming's leg. The wound was open and is bleeding. So that's why they saw that there was something strange with Xi Ming and Xi Xing before. Both have a high cultivation, so they should've ran faster than they did earlier. Yet, it was because Xi Ming has a wound and so, they have run slower to accommodate Xi Ming.

Xi Xing wouldn't abandon Xi Ming, since it was Xi Ming who raised him when he was adopted to the Xi family. He would catch the sword intended for Xi Ming, and if he just could, he would transfer all the wounds Xi Ming has to himself.

So, why it was Xi Ming who is wounded instead of Xi Xing? Gong Xian, who is Xi Xing's friend, turned to look at Xi Xing and saw the guilt on Xi Xing's deadpan face. He is biting his lower lip hard it was bleeding, but he didn't care. His fists are clenched and his nails dug deep in his palm as he stared at Xi Ming's bleeding wound.

Gong Xian knew, that although Xi Xing would brave the dangers for Xi Ming, but Xi Ming, as Xi Xing's older brother, naturally wouldn't let Xi Xing do it, or have the chance to do it, thus he would push Xi Xing out of the harm's way and face the danger alone.

He slowly turned and saw Xi Ming was smiling at Xi Xing as he patted Xi Xing's head to comfort him. Even though a bystander, but he has been watching the Xi siblings, especially these two since Xi Xing is his 'follower', while Xi Ming is a worrywart towards Xi Xing like a mother hen to her chick. Thus, he could guess what had transpired earlier.

As the two ran away from the monster, the monster must have hidden itself deeply and pounced on the two when it saw the chance as the two have lowered their guard. Xi Ming and Xi Xing was caught off-guard. Since picking the weak persimmons comes first by the nature, the monster pounced on Xi Xing. However, Xi Ming pushed Xi Xing to save Xi Xing, thus Xi Ming was wounded. Xi Xing who knew the attack was intended for him felt very guilty, and even guiltier since he indirectly caused Xi Ming to get hurt.

He gave Xi Ming and Xi Xing magic pills and potions for them to heal their wounds. An injured teammate not only would lessen their attack and defense, but also would need to be protected. They will inconvenience them by making them cut their attention in half, one half for the enemy while the other half for themselves. So, they will definitely drag them down.

Worse, a visible enemy is easier to fight than an invisible one. And, even though Xi Ming and Xi Xing are aware of their disadvantageous situation as the injured, but they could protect themselves and so they do not need to worry about them since they naturally wouldn't ask them to protect them, so they could ditch them two. But of course, they wouldn't do that. They wouldn't ditch them since one, because of their conscience and they are morally upright. And two, because they are friends.

While Xi Ming and Xi Xing recuperate and the others are vigilantly on the lookout, suddenly, something shone in the darkness.

"You were injured, so you must have at least seen what does the monster look like, even just a glimpse?"

It was a Thought Talisman. They have seen Wu Xi carrying it, since he is a mute and Cheng Sheng especially made it for him as a gift and a token of friendship. Thus, they thought Wu Xi appeared. And Wu Xi might be together with the missing Huakai Sect, and so they looked around.

However, neither Wu Xi nor the Huakai Sect is present. So, who has the Thought Talisman? Naturally, it would be someone from Cheng Sheng's group. And so, it's –

"You want to ask why I have this? It was because I thought it is interesting, and so I asked one from Cheng-shidi. I didn't know it'd be this convenient in our current situation." Sun Yi grinned at them as he raised the Thought Talisman.

Everyone. "…" why is Cheng Sheng's group so prepared?! How can they be so prepared?! And Sun Yi, how can you be so carefree always?!

However, they can't deny the fact that Sun Yi's carefreeness saved them this time. If Sun Yi wasn't interested in novel things, making him amused, like Cheng Sheng's Thought Talisman, how can they communicate now? Communication is very important, since they can not only share information with the others, but they could also avoid misunderstanding in case one arise between them, since they came from different groups.

Sun Yi saw their speechlessness and he gave the Thought Talisman to Xi Ming. Xi Ming gratefully took it and the moment he touched it, his thoughts appeared on the Thought Talisman.

"Indeed, xiao Xing and I caught a glimpse of the monster when it pounced at us. The monster has a gleaming, colorful scales and underneath it is a coarse, dark skin. It has whiskers, and thick and sharp nails with pointy teeth enough to tear our flesh and bones. It also has a tail long and thick, enough to slap us to our death. However, it is false to say it travels underneath the surface."

Xi Ming saw they have a bewildered look on their face.

"The monster doesn't travel through a medium, which is underneath a surface. It was on the surface all along. Its scales act like its coat, copying the surface's appearance to deceive our eyes, giving us the impression it was underneath the surface to lower our guard."