and one night shi qingxuan takes one of that bitter spiritual power candies and lies in bed… he doesn’t utter in his mind that password he and the earth master had chosen together out of a book of poetry for his private communication array because he thinks it will work, he utters it because if he knows it will not work… but it works
there is only silence on both sides, but the connection is open… if he speaks, black water will hear it… if black water speaks, he will hear it…
neither speaks, both know… both lie in their bed, on their back, rigid as sticks… the minutes pass
why doesn’t he kick me out of his communication array? shi qingxuan thinks
why did he reach for me? he xuan thinks
they are hopeful and they are terrified
an hour passes and it’s almost as if they were lying next to each other… and they know how it feels to lie next to each other
doesn’t he hate me? does he still care about me?
their hearts are agitated by a myriad of question
the hours pass and eventually shi qingxuan’s spiritual energy terminates… the exhaustion puts him to sleep, the shock keeps he xuan awake