His head tilted to one side, and he seemed to have lost consciousness. When he saw that it was Lang Ying, Xie Lian subconsciously wanted to save her, but he quickly stopped and realized: Bai Wuxiang was the only one here just now, so how could Lang Ying suddenly appear?

　　Seeing that the originally pure and holy statue of Prince Yue was stained beyond recognition by the dripping blood, Hua Cheng was obviously very angry, his face was gloomy, and the scimitar in his hand was emitting cold air.

　　He said word by word: "Get down."

　　"Lang Ying's" tilted head finally came back, he opened his eyes, slowly "pulled" himself off the sword, and fell to the ground.

　　Just now, after he shattered the wave of silver butterflies that were attacking him, he took advantage of the flash of silver light to hide under the white gauze of the statue and transformed into the appearance of Lang Ying.

　　Since he could transform into Lang Ying’s appearance, he must have seen Lang Ying somewhere. Xie Lian asked, “Where is the real Lang Ying?”

　　Hua Cheng said, "Perhaps, there is no such thing as 'real Lang Ying'."

　　If, from the beginning, "Lang Ying" did not exist, and Bai Wuxiang was just in a state of incomplete recovery, the matter would be easy to explain. However, Xie Lian thought of the little Ying who died on Yujun Mountain, and he would rather this explanation did not work. He quickly thought of another possibility and said slowly: "Or maybe... he ate Lang Ying."

　　The body of "Lang Ying" opposite was gradually stretching and rising, and the bandage on his face slowly fell off, revealing the sad and happy face inside. Hearing this, he raised his head slightly, seemed to be smiling, and said, "You guessed it right."

　　It is true.

　　After Bai Wuxiang was defeated by Jun Wu, a remnant soul was left wandering in the human world. No one knew how long he had been wandering there, and no one knew when he found Lang Ying, who was also a ghost.

　　He must have used some method to bewitch or deceive Lang Ying, making her agree to let him live in her body. Otherwise, with his remaining weak soul, he might not be able to devour Lang Ying.

　　After he stuck to Lang Ying, he slowly recovered. The final result was what Xie Lian and Hua Cheng saw right now. The ghost ate the ghost, and Bai Wuxiang devoured Lang Ying, the host. Just like He Xuan ate Bai Hua Zhenxian, Lang Ying became his vassal.

　　In a short while, "Lang Ying" had completely transformed into Bai Wuxiang's appearance. Hua Cheng stared at him and asked, "Why did Lang Ying agree to let you borrow his spirit body?"

　　You know, this is just like a stranger asking "Open your door and let me in to eat and live with you." Lang Ying is a ghost who has lived for hundreds of years. Although he is timid, he is not stupid enough to do this. Bai Wuxiang said gently: "Of course I can answer you. But are you sure the person next to you wants me to say it here?"

　　Hua Cheng looked to the side. Xie Lian had a slightly strange expression on his face, and he didn't notice his gaze at all. Bai Wuxiang said again: "The surname is Lang, the name is Yong'an, and the name is Human-Faced Blight. Why did you agree to let me eat him? Don't you know why?"

　　Xie Lian’s face turned pale instantly, veins popped out on the back of his hand, he slashed with his sword and shouted, “Shut up!”

　　Bai Wuxiang dodged, and the sword made a "clang" sound and cut off the long sword in the hand of his own statue.

　　Now, the prince liked the statue, the prince's sword became a broken sword, and the statue became a remnant. Xie Lian came back to his senses immediately, as if a bucket of cold water was poured on him. The dead butterflies seemed to be enraged and swarmed over. Bai Wuxiang laughed indifferently, calmly covered his face with his sleeves, stopped entangled, and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Xie Lian looked at the broken stone sword on the ground and subconsciously said to Hua Cheng: "I'm sorry..."

　　Hua Cheng interrupted him and said, "Isn't it funny that His Highness said sorry to me? He left, so what?"

　　Xie Lian calmed down a little and said, “Did he escape? We can’t let him enter the bronze furnace!”

　　The two of them chased out of the Ten Thousand Gods Cave and climbed up the snowy mountain again. As soon as they emerged from the sky, they felt the ground shaking. Looking up, there were waves of snow avalanches, even more severe than before. It seemed that something buried under the snow had awakened and was roaring, trying to shake off the thousand-year-old snow on its body. Xie Lian said, "Can we still climb up like this?!"

　　Hua Cheng tightly grasped Xie Lian’s hand and said, “Just follow me!”

　　The two of them went up against the torrent of snow and ice avalanches. Although it was extremely difficult and dangerous, and they took three steps back for every one step forward, they still avoided the most violent snow and rock flows and countless pits, and rushed out a way up the mountain.

　　Finally they reached the highest point, the top of the mountain was frozen, with thick layers of ice. Xie Lian felt that if he walked a little faster, he would slip, but Hua Cheng led him steadily, not afraid at all. The two of them came to the crater, which looked like a huge mouth roaring to the sky, quite spectacular. Looking down, it was pitch black. Not sure if it was an illusion, but there were bursts of terrifying red light in the deepest part, appearing and disappearing from time to time. Xie Lian felt a little palpitation, and held down the bamboo hat on his head to prevent it from being blown away by the wind and snow, and asked, "Has he already gone in?"

　　Hua Cheng only took a glance, then he concentrated and said, "He has already gone in."

　　"How do you know?"

　　"The copper furnace is closing."

　　Xie Lian was shocked and felt caught off guard: "What's going on? It's closed so quickly? Shouldn't we let a few ghosts in and start a fight?"

　　Hua Cheng said: "That is the general situation. But if the Copper Furnace believes that the person entering has great potential to break through the Copper Furnace, and the ghost asks it to close the mountain, it will also close it." After a pause, he said, "That's what I did at the beginning."

　　Xie Lian asked, “Is he Jue? What would happen if a ghost king who has already become Jue entered the bronze furnace again?”

　　Hua Cheng said: "It's the same as what would happen if a priest who has already ascended wanted to experience another heavenly tribulation."

　　In other words, the stronger you become, the stronger you become!

　　If Bai Wuxiang were allowed to break through this barrier, the consequences would be unimaginable.

　　And when he breaks out of the copper furnace and leaves the mountain, the first person he will look for will definitely be Xie Lian!

　　After staring at the bottomless, endless abyss for a while, Xie Lian said slowly, “Sanlang, I…may have to go down and put an end to this.”

　　Hua Cheng said calmly: "Go ahead. I'll accompany you."

　　Xie Lian looked up at him, and Hua Cheng also looked up, meeting his gaze, raised an eyebrow, and said with a smile, “It’s nothing more than going down to kill one of the people in the way and breaking through the copper furnace once more. It’s not necessarily a difficult task.”

　　Seeing him so relaxed, Xie Lian's originally tense mood couldn't help but relax a little, and he smiled slightly. Then, Hua Cheng said: "But, there is one thing."

　　Xie Lian: “?”

　　He tilted his head slightly, and Hua Cheng suddenly put one arm around his waist, bringing him into his arms, and with the other hand gently lifted his chin and kissed his lips.

　　After kissing for a long time in the snow, their lips slowly parted. Xie Lian was stunned for a long time, and finally woke up with a start. His face flushed, he opened his eyes and said, "...w-why are you doing this so suddenly?!"

　　Although it was not the first time they had done this, they had used high-sounding excuses such as "borrowing magic power", "passing the qi", "carelessness" and so on. But now that something was revealed, these excuses were exposed for their hypocrisy, and the significance of this matter became very significant. He simply did not know where to put his hands, should he grab Hua Cheng's arm, push Hua Cheng's chest, or cover Hua Cheng's face?

　　Hua Cheng seemed to take a breath in his ear and whispered, "...I will lend some of my magic power to Your Highness for emergency use...will you accept it?"

　　Xie Lian swallowed unconsciously and stammered, “Is this just a little? It seems like too much… I haven’t paid off the previous debt yet…”

　　Hua Cheng said: "Not much. Don't worry. I will pay it back slowly when I have time, and I will pay it back eventually."

　　Xie Lian made a few random “hmmmm” sounds and was about to run away when Hua Cheng stopped him again and reminded him, “Your Highness! Where are you running to? You’re going in the wrong direction.”

　　Xie Lian then realized that he had actually run back. He immediately walked back, his feet slipping on the ice. He quickly held up his hat and said, “No, no. I, I’m just a little cold. I want to walk around a few times to warm myself up…”

　　He put on the hat again and again, and finally, he grabbed Hua Cheng's hand and held it tightly. The two stood side by side, looking at the huge abyss below.

　　Hua Cheng said casually, "After we solve this, I'll show you the statue I'm most satisfied with."

　　Xie Lian said, “Okay.”

　　After saying that, the two of them jumped down together.

　　The whistling wind blew past their ears, and the strong impact was like a huge wave hitting their faces, but the two people's hands were not blown away, but instead held each other even tighter.

　　Unexpectedly, in mid-air, Xie Lian’s hand suddenly grabbed nothing.

　　It wasn't that his hand slipped, or that Hua Cheng pushed it away, but that suddenly, the hand in his palm disappeared and had no substance.

　　Xie Lian’s heart tightened, and he shouted, “San Lang?!”

　　He was falling rapidly. He had just shouted, and the next moment the voice was more than ten feet above his head. It sounded unreal. After an unknown amount of time, Xie Lian finally landed steadily. He immediately stood up and said, "Sanlang?"

　　No one answered. Only the empty echo told him how vast and empty the space he was in was.

　　It was pitch black in all directions, except for the top. Xie Lian looked up. Above him, there was a white sky that was gradually shrinking. That was the crater of the copper furnace, which was slowly closing.

　　But where did Huacheng go?

　　With a "boom", Xie Lian raised a palm flame, trying to see what was going on underneath. However, the darkness was unfathomable, and the flame could not illuminate anything at all. The flame seemed to be absorbed by the darkness indifferently. Moreover, he was not careful and failed to control his magic power. The flame was too high and almost burned his hair. He quickly threw the flame to the ground. As luck would have it, the flame just reflected a faint white silhouette not far away. Xie Lian immediately became alert and asked, "Who!"

　　The white figure turned around and replied calmly: "You know who I am."

　　Although he answered, the muscles on that person's face did not move at all.

　　Because, that was not a human face at all, but a mask that was half crying and half smiling.

　　Xie Lian blurted out, “San Lang!”

　　Although he couldn't help but feel creepy and his back shivered when he saw that face, he was calling out not because he was scared, but because he was worried. Naturally, no one answered, and the sad and happy face came closer to him and said, "No need to call. The copper furnace has been sealed. Here, there are only you and me, no third person."

　　Xie Lian subconsciously looked up at the sky again.

　　Before, there was still a small piece of white sky above, but now, that small piece of light has been completely swallowed up by the darkness all around.

　　This means that Tonglu Mountain is really closed.

　　Xie Lian had never expected that the situation would turn out like this.

　　He and Bai Wuxiang were locked in a copper furnace?

　　The two of them? Why the two of them?!

　　Xie Lian held his heart in his hand, pointed his sword at the white shadow, and said, "What the hell is going on? Is this you who did this again? Where is he? Where is he now?"

　　Bai Wuxiang held the sword with two fingers of one hand, and flicked the blade with his other hand. With a crisp "clang" sound, he said, "Let's go."

　　Xie Lian saw his action, his eyes turned cold, his joints creaked, and he said, “… Explain clearly, what do you mean by leaving?”

　　Bai Wuxiang said leisurely: "I don't want to follow you anymore, leave, or die. Choose one."

　　“…”

　　Xie Lian felt a chill in his heart at first, and then a surge of rage surged up, and he slashed with his sword: “Stop talking nonsense!”

　　Bai Wuxiang caught the sword again easily and said, "Okay, okay. I was indeed talking nonsense. Don't worry, he has been sent outside the copper furnace. Even if you rush over now, it's too late."

　　Xie Lian wasn’t worried about whether he could make it in time or not, as long as Hua Cheng was okay, he breathed a sigh of relief.

　　Bai Wuxiang added: "However, it is better for him not to come in. Otherwise, even if he doesn't have that idea now, it is hard to say whether he will still want to follow you after seeing your appearance later."

　　“…”

　　Xie Lian could no longer bear it, so he struck with his sword again and shouted, “Shut up!”

　　Bai Wuxiang dodged each of his swords calmly. Xie Lian shouted angrily, “I’ve had enough of you. What do you want? What on earth do you want? How long are you going to pester me? Why haven’t you died yet? Why did you come to Tonglu?”

　　Bai Wuxiang said: "Because of you!"

　　Xie Lian paused for a moment, took a breath, and asked, “What do you mean?”

　　Bai Wuxiang calmly replied: "Because you came, so, I came too."

　　Hearing this answer, Xie Lian’s face was distorted.

　　However, no matter how furious he was, or how strong his killing intent was, Bai Wuxiang always seemed to be able to predict what his next strike would be, and would avoid it by a hair's breadth. The more Xie Lian struck with his sword, the more he understood a cruel fact:

　　Can't win!

　　"Yes." As if he could see into his heart, Bai Wuxiang said, "You can't win."

　　As soon as he finished speaking, he slashed at Xie Lian's wrist with his knife. A sharp pain spread throughout his body, and Xie Lian involuntarily let go of the sword. Then he was grabbed by the hair and slammed into the ground!

　　There was a buzzing in my ears, blood in my nose and mouth, and my brain was shaking.

　　After a while, Xie Lian finally felt a hand lifting his head out of the broken ground. A voice said from above, “Poor, poor.”

　　Xie Lian choked out a mouthful of blood, his vision blurred by blood and darkness. Bai Wuxiang said, "Every time I see His Royal Highness, you always look like this. It makes me sad, but also makes me happy."

　　Xie Lian bit down a mouthful of blood to prevent it from choking out, and said in a hoarse voice: "...Don't be too proud. I can't defeat you now, but...someone can. Even if you can get out of the copper furnace, Jun Wu may be able to kill you again."

　　What’s more, there is Huacheng!

　　Unexpectedly, Bai Wuxiang said, "Who said that it would be me who came out of the copper furnace?"

　　Hearing this, Xie Lian was stunned.

　　If not him, who else could it be?

　　Bai Wuxiang lifted his face, looked him in the eye, and said gently, "Your Highness, I think you may have misunderstood. There will indeed be someone who escapes from this copper furnace, but it's not me. It's you."

　　Xie Lian was extremely shocked: "...What did you say? I'm not..."

　　Before he finished speaking, he came to his senses and broke out in a cold sweat.

　　Bai Wuxiang said: "That's right. Congratulations, you finally understand my real purpose. Isn't this your favorite 'third way'?"

　　Now, there was only one ghost and one priest in the copper furnace. It seemed that there were only two options. Either Bai Wuxiang killed him and broke out of the copper furnace, or both of them could not get out and were locked in the copper furnace forever.

　　But, in fact, there is a third way.

　　As long as Xie Lian commits suicide here immediately, turns into a ghost, and kills Bai Wuxiang, he can become a dead man on the spot and break through the bronze furnace!

　　Xie Lian finally recovered from his shock and said, “…What on earth do you want to do? You don’t have to think about it! Why do you want to go to this extent?! Just to make me become a master? I’m not as crazy as you! Even if you want me to kill you, I can’t beat you! If you lose to me on purpose, Tonglu may not admit it!”

　　Bai Wuxiang said, "Really? You can't beat me? That's not necessarily true."

　　As he spoke, he stretched out his other hand. In the light of the fire not far away, Xie Lian saw clearly that a mask appeared on that hand, exactly the same as the one on Bai Wuxiang’s face.

　　Bai Wuxiang said: "Remember this sad and happy face? It suits you very well."

　　Xie Lian’s eyes widened immediately.

　　Fear was like a swarm of insects, crawling densely into his heart. He reluctantly said, "...Take it away, take it away...Take it away!"

　　Bai Wuxiang laughed and said, "It seems that your Highness the Crown Prince has a bad memory. In this case, let me help you think about it, okay?"

　　After he finished speaking, without further ado, he merged that pale face of sorrow and joy with the boundless darkness and pressed heavily towards Xie Lian’s face.