Tang Huan simply hummed in response and then fell silent, but her movements as she applied the medicine were very gentle.
Mo Xi said, "I can only move underwater now. You should be able to do it in a few days. Then we can practice a few more times to avoid accidents when we go underwater to find the maze." After a moment of contemplation, she continued, "I just don't know where the entrance is."
Tang Huan said, "The Zang Pavilion has stood for a hundred years, but its earliest design drawings have been lost. However, we can start with its base and try to find it."
Mo Xi nodded and pondered, "Since all the clues are currently hidden, I feel that any hints left by predecessors should also be hidden." Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she said, "Let's go take another look at Senior Tang Xin's white marble relief. Maybe we can find something there."
Tang Huan coaxed, "Even if you find the entrance today, you're not allowed to go into the water, understand? Your wound needs to rest for at least three days, otherwise, even if it scabs over, it will only get worse after being soaked in water."
Mo Xi nodded and replied, "Okay, I won't touch the water."
Tang Huan was pleased to see her agree so readily and couldn't help but reach out to stroke her loose, dark hair, unsure how to express his tenderness. Realizing his mistake, he abruptly withdrew his hand as if electrocuted, lowered his head, and after a moment whispered, "You suffered this undeserved misfortune, it's all my fault." He paused, then continued, "When I learned that your right hand was injured because of Mu Fengting, I felt a mix of emotions. Knowing it was wrong, I still thought how wonderful it would be if you were willing to suffer for me. Now I understand, that feeling is not good at all, it's extremely painful."
Before he could finish his self-pity, Mo Xi smiled and teased, "Of course it's your fault! Why are you so handsome all of a sudden?" She thought to herself: This guy isn't attracting any peach blossoms, but rather poisonous oleanders. If every flower wanted to cut me, my life-saving mission would have a new and arduous task added—fighting off peach blossom disasters. Getting involved with good-looking people is a burden my life can't bear…
This was the first time Tang Huan had heard her praise her appearance, so she relaxed her brows and asked softly, "Do you really think I'm pretty?"
Mo Xi almost called him "Brother Tang" too, but that's not the point...
After a moment, she asked again, "Can you find out what kind of poison the Ouyang sisters used?"
Tang Huan shook his head and said, "The Jade Pearl will immediately dissolve when it encounters poison. There will be no abnormalities on your body, so it is impossible to detect."
Mo Xi nodded without saying a word.
As usual, the two went to Tibet before dusk and watched the lanterns again.
After Tang Huan finished the last stroke, Mo Xi held the completed draft paper in front of him and said with satisfaction, "Now the drawing is finally complete. However, we still have no clue where the entrance is. Let's go and look at the relief first."
The two arrived in front of Tang Xin's relief sculpture, stared at it intently for a long time, but still couldn't make out a single flower.
Mo Xi felt something was off, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She could only imagine herself as the figure in the painting and mimic Tang Xin's dance steps, twirling twice. She suddenly stopped and said, "I've got it! Look, Tang Xin's dance involves twirling, her skirt billowing, and her flowing sleeves should also curve in an arc. But the relief carving doesn't show it like that. Her left sleeve hangs straight down, while her right sleeve is jiggling straight, parallel to the ground. Don't you think this is a sign indicating the entrance?" After a moment, not hearing a reply from Tang Huan, she turned to look at him suspiciously. Seeing his slightly flushed face, she was puzzled for a moment, then realized that in her excitement, she had pulled Tang Huan's hand and dragged him towards her.
Mo Xi suddenly felt like teasing him and asked curiously, "Why didn't you blush when you held my hand?"
Tang Huan said softly, "This time you took the initiative."
"But I checked your palm before and saw if the injury had healed, so why doesn't that count?"
"That's the same as a doctor seeing a patient, but a doctor seeing a patient doesn't count."
Mo Xi nodded and said, "I see. So, does that count as you treating other girls in the future?"
"I don't treat other girls."
"..."
Author's Note: You might have expected a heart-wrenching chapter, but I turned it into this. Okay, my mischievous streak is kicking in again...
Preliminary Exploration of the Underground Palace
( ) Mo Xi said, "Every time we come to Tibet, there is no one there. Did you order it to be temporarily closed?" Tang Huan said that he had come to Tibet before he became the sect leader, so it can be seen that Tibet should be open to the public of Tang Sect.
Tang Huan said, "Yes, I've sealed off the entire surrounding water area."
Four words popped into Mo Xi's mind—abuse of power.
The two descended to the ground floor hall, and Mo Xi noticed that the temperature had suddenly risen considerably, so she asked, "Is the water heating system located in the raised platform at the base?"
Tang Huan nodded and said, "Yes, there is a boiler downstairs."
"Could we go check out the boiler room?"
"Yes, but the boiler room isn't inside, so we have to come in from the outside."
Tang Huan led Mo Xi around to the back. It turned out that the entrance door to the boiler room was made to blend seamlessly with the wall. However, the wall itself was made of bricks, and the boiler room door was just a small section of brick used as a deceptive veneer.
Stepping inside, a wave of steaming heat immediately hits you. However, the visibility is still fairly clear.
Facing you is a row of metal boilers, with fires burning underneath and pipes of varying sizes connected to them.
Mo Xi said, "Let's start from the edge. If Tang Xin's drooping sleeves indicate going downwards, then could the parallel sleeves indicate going to the right?"
The two went to the far right corner and examined it carefully, but found nothing. Undeterred, they walked to the opposite corner, but still found nothing.
Tang Huan said, "Let's just search all four corners."
In the end, nothing was gained.
Tang Huan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, "Perhaps we should start with 'water'."
He stared blankly at the intricate network of water inlets and outlets connecting the various boilers for a long while, then suddenly said, "I'll go take a look over there." As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped onto a pipe that was about two people thick.
Standing on it, one could hear the sound of flowing water inside. The entire pipe was covered in dust. Tang Huan noticed a protrusion and gently brushed it away, revealing a small, rotatable valve. Brushing away the surrounding dust, he discovered the valve was connected to a single, round piece of metal. Turning the valve open and lifting the metal cap, he saw that the water level in the pipe was indeed about eight-tenths full.
The water inside the pipe wasn't emitting any steam, indicating that the temperature wasn't high. Tang Huan put her hand into the water to test it; it was almost cold, only slightly warmer than the water in the Yaohe River outside.
At this moment, Mo Xi had already leaped to his side and asked, "Did you find anything?"
Tang Huan said, "Yes. I just looked closely. The water from the Yaohe River introduced here is heated by the boiler and then flows through the Tibetan area through the pipes before returning to the boiler room, forming an internal circulation loop. Even though the heated water loses heat as it flows through the Tibetan area, it is still much warmer than the water that was just introduced. Therefore, reuse is the best way to provide heating. Many of the pipes here are indeed arranged in this way. However, this one pipe, which seems to be connected to the entire water pipe system and is an outlet, is actually a drainage outlet connected to the Yaohe River."
Mo Xi said, "So that means it's very likely that the inside of this pipe is actually separated from the entire plumbing system. The designer just used a visual illusion to confuse people. In fact, it's the entrance to the maze?"
Tang Huan nodded and said, "Very likely."
Mo Xi thought to herself: This pipe is exactly parallel to Tang Xin's water sleeve in terms of orientation. If we follow her directions, we should walk in the direction her water sleeve was waving. Tang Huan is indeed an expert in this area. I, this girl, am completely clueless about the intricacies of this heating system.
The two walked around the boiler room twice, but found nothing more.
Mo Xi said, "Let's go back for now. We'll come back when your breathing exercises are good enough to go into the water."