Ban Lan stiffened, walked up to Cen Ji, and asked with concern, "Hey, Cen Qi, are you alright?"
Seeing that she didn't care about her own safety but was only thinking about him, Cen Ji endured the stinging pain and smiled faintly at Ban Lan, "It's just a minor cold poison. We'll go back now and be fine after a short exposure to the scorching sun." After saying that, he took Ban Lan's wrist and turned to go back.
On the eighth day, he sighed, "The blue phoenix cannot enter, the white chess piece will not return."
Cen Ji sneered, "Do you think you can stop me?"
"It's not up to you." Before the words were finished, Chu Ba slammed his hand on the mountain wall, and with a "crack," an iron gate popped out from the ground, blocking the entrance he had come from.
Ban Lan subconsciously took two steps back.
Cen Ji's eyes turned cold, and he reached out to push the door open. Just as his palm touched the iron door, another iron gate popped out from behind him, trapping Cen Ji inside.
Ban Lan was shocked and turned to scold him, but out of the corner of her eye she suddenly saw that a whirlpool was gradually forming in the pool of cold water. The whirlpool was very small at first, but it grew bigger and bigger. Before long, a splashing sound could be heard. Half of the pool of cold water was stirred up as if by an invisible giant hand. The whirlpool swirled rapidly, as if it wanted to suck up everything in the world.
Ban Lan was stunned, and Cen Ji beside her also changed his expression.
Chu Ba asked, "Now that I think about it, how did they die?"
Ban Lan thought Chu Ba was going to throw them into the icy pool, so she glared at Chu Ba and said in a vicious voice, "If you have the guts, jump in and fight fair and square! Stop using these tricks to harm people!"
Chu Ba laughed, "Little girl, don't provoke me. I know my martial arts are inferior to his, so why not use some tricks?"
Cen Ji said, "You are not a member of the Crane Feather Palace, so why do you want to harm us?"
On the eighth day of the lunar month, he shrugged and said, "I guess I'll have to obey orders."
It's "obeying orders" again!
Cen Ji's expression changed, and he felt his intuition being confirmed.
"Actually, there is a way to get away." Chu Ba shifted to a more comfortable position and continued, "The mechanism to open this iron gate is at the bottom of the pool. Just a gentle twist and the gate will open."
Beneath the pool? Ban Lan looked at the icy pool, the enormous whirlpool like the maw of a glutton, sending chills down her spine.
"You...are you telling the truth?" Ban Lan looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.
Cen Ji unconsciously reached out and gripped the iron fence tightly, his gaze slashing at Ban Lan like a sword.
But what met his gaze was Ban Lan's back.
She did not turn around.
Chu Ba tilted his head and looked at Ban Lan, "Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we try."
“But…” Chu Ba leaned forward, “the vortex mechanism has been triggered. If you jump down, it will be difficult to get back up.”
Cen Ji looked at the icy pool. Not to mention the whirlpool, the coldness of the pool water itself was already poisonous, not to mention the water in the pool.
Cen Ji raised his eyes. "This iron gate is locked. I'm afraid you're trapped inside too."
Chu Ba said, "This iron gate will open in an hour, but you two have been poisoned by the cold. If you don't bask in the sunlight within half an hour, even a god or immortal cannot save you."
Ban Lan stirred.
Cen Ji was inexplicably nervous, "Ban Lan!"
"Ban Lan!" Cen Ji's voice was inexplicably hoarse.
Cen Ji realized that this was the first time he had called her, but she did not respond. A sense of foreboding crept into his heart, like a pupa emerging from its cocoon.
Ban Lan suddenly looked up.
She looked at Chuba. Chuba smiled.
She took two steps forward and walked to the edge of the pool.
Cen Ji couldn't see her face, but he could see her slightly trembling body.
She was scared.
She was afraid.
"Ban Lan, come here, be good, okay?" Cen Ji didn't notice that his voice began to tremble along with Ban Lan's back.
"Ban Lan!" Cen Ji called again, his voice unconsciously becoming much louder.
Ban Lan suddenly smiled.
“Cen Qi, for the first eighteen years of my life, I never knew what trouble was. Even when I was a child, I fought with people every day and never had enough to eat, I still felt that I was living a carefree life.”
Cen Ji was stunned, not understanding what she meant.
"To be honest, I regret meeting you." She turned around, her eyes crinkling, "but I don't regret falling in love with you."
Suddenly, she turned around, faced the cold pool, and jumped in.
A figure in red vanished in an instant.
Silent chanting (minor revision)
On the eighth day of the lunar month, it was said that the Palace Master of Crane Feather Palace would be arriving soon.
On the eighth day, he said again, "Cen Ji, can you please answer me?"