The Divine Empress snatched up her Messenger Charm and shrieked at Leo Li: "Leo Li! They're getting away! Xiao Chen’s pulling some kind of trick and snatching them out one by one!"
"I see it!" Leo Li snapped back. "I’m restarting the God-Sealing Grand Array right now!"
Just then, Xiao Chen dove in for round two. Quentin tried to get him to grab Ethan Lu, but Ethan shoved Quentin toward him instead—hard and sudden, no hesitation.
Xiao Chen caught Quentin and vanished in a flash.
Now, Ethan Lu was the last one left inside the deadly array.
Suddenly, blue-green light exploded. Ethan Lu’s face went ghostly pale as he crumpled to the ground.
The floor caved in beneath him, and he dropped out of sight—gone from the surveillance feed in an instant.
"Big Brother!" Lucia’s voice cracked with panic. Her world spun, darkness swallowed her, and she collapsed.
When Lucia came to, the very first thing she saw was Ethan—her big brother—right there, battered and close.
He was locked up in the same cage as her, just a breath away.
Blood poured from all seven orifices, his breath thin as a thread.
Lucia scrambled over, half crawling, half stumbling, clutching his wrist to check his pulse.
Thank the heavens—he was still savable.
She sealed his meridians in a flash and poured all her cultivation into driving out the poison. Only when he finally spat out a mouthful of black blood did his eyes flutter open.
"Big Brother!" Lucia called, voice shaking. "How are you feeling? Can you hear me?"
Ethan Lu took in her burned, battered state, his gaze darkening with pain and frustration: "I told you not to go to Drake Abyss, not to play hero, but you just had to charge in! Now look at you—this is what happens when you don’t listen!"
"I'm sorry… I really should've listened to you, big brother."
Ethan Lu frowned, eyes scanning her charred, torn robes. "Did they hit you with Thunderstrikes? You look like you got roasted alive."
Lucia let out a bitter, crooked smile. "Thunderstrikes? Please! Every ancient punishment I ever read about—they went through the whole menu on me. I’m basically a walking torture encyclopedia now."
Ethan Lu’s eyes flashed cold as steel. "So they’re torturing you to squeeze out a confession about the Celestial Emperor?"
"Nope. They want me to say Xiao Chen ordered me to do it. If I stick to their script, they swear they'll let me go."
Ethan Lu snorted. "The Fifth Highness has his own army—he's their biggest headache right now."
Lucia just frowned, lips pressed tight, not saying a word.
After a beat, Ethan Lu asked, "You got any medicine left? Patch yourself up, quick."
"They took everything. Even my Moonlit Flood-Dragon baby and Entwined Heart flute—gone!" Lucia pouted, her voice small and sad.
Ethan Lu just looked at her, then—shockingly—reached out and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, Divine Father will bust us out, and you'll get all your stuff back. Promise."
He'd never been like this before. Lucia felt a rush of warmth and gazed up at him. "Big Brother, you’ve always been super strict with me. Was it 'cause you knew my real identity and were scared someone would find out?"
Ethan Lu said nothing, just kept silent.
Lucia grinned through her pain, leaning into his arm. "I knew it! If we get out of here, I’ll listen to you from now on—no more worrying about me, I swear!"
Ethan Lu’s eyes went red. He let her lean against him, shut his eyes, and quietly started running his cultivation to heal.
With his powerful cultivation, Ethan forced out more and more poison—slowly, steadily, refusing to give in.
—
"Whoa, that’s some fast healing! No wonder you’re a Level Fifteen Spiritual Alchemist—I figured you were toast." Jason Xiao popped up outside the cage, all swagger and snark.
"If you want my life, take it! Just let my big brother go!" Lucia shot back, fierce and unafraid.
"Deal!" Jason Xiao grinned, fiddled with the Celestial Relic cage, and split them apart in a flash.
He yanked Ethan Lu away, dragging him out of the cell like a sack of potatoes.
"Jason Xiao! What the hell are you doing? Where are you taking my big brother?" Lucia shouted, voice cracking.
Jason Xiao just laughed. "Isn’t this what you asked for? We’re ‘letting him go,’ just like you said!"
With that, he strutted off, Ethan Lu in tow.
Leo Li strolled up to Lucia, clutching his heart in fake emotion. "Such touching sibling love! Not blood, but closer than family—how utterly moving!"