169: 4.34 The Man We Have To Kill

4.34 The Man We Have To Kill

He closed his eyes and let his senses spread wide. Every nook and corner of the area was gradually maped inside his mind. He could make out a very large source of heat deep inside the cave — definitely the dragon — and a few interspersed spiritual energies that belonged to different people, Shan Duoyin and Ling Chuwei included. How the hell did they end up in front of him, he had no idea. He fumbled deeper in the dark and finally bumped against a ball of dark spiritual energy.2

Demonic energy, he inhaled sharply. He felt a powerful sucking force propelling him forward and when he opened his eyes again, the scenery in front of him had changed. It was as if someone had just wiped the lens in front of him, enabling him to see clearly. One moment he was a formless energy floating in the air and the next second, he was already standing inside the dark cave in his spirit form. The vivid heat of boiling lava blasted his face, and there, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, was Heimo. His hair was a mess, and there were a few splatter of dried blood on his cheek. Not only that, he noticed three — no, five corpses under the man's feet. Lu Yizhou ran his eyes all over him worriedly. "Lan'er—"

He had barely made a step forward when Heimo's eyes snapped open. His amber eyes were nowhere to be seen, replaced with a crimson light that glowed eerily in the dark. He glanced toward the general direction where Lu Yizhou was, pale lips curving into a bloodthirsty smile. "I really hate it when people peep on me, you know."

A force struck Lu Yizhou right on his chest and his eyes snapped open, gasping. He was back in front of the cave. The darkness and heat dissipated into thin air, and cool air caressed his sweaty forehead. Something was wrong, Lu Yizhou's heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Something was really, really wrong with Heimo. Unwilling to waste a second more, Lu Yizhou dashed forward. The temperature abruptly changed inside the cave. It was warm, almost sweltering and he could feel more sweat rolling down his back. His eyes barely adjusted to the dark when a figure barrelled straight to him. Lu Yizhou's hand flew to the hilt of his sword when the figure cried out, "J—Jingxue-Jun!"

He halted in the nick of time. "...Ling-shimei?"

"Oh my goodness, Jingxue-Jun. Where have you been?!" It was indeed Ling Chuwei. After Lu Yizhou's eyes rapidly adjusted to the dark, he could see the disheveled state of the woman. Her robes were tattered and torn in a few places, the sword firmly gripped on her trembling hands and her eyes were wide in panic. She looked like she had just gone through Hell and back. "I have been searching for you two for a long time! It can't be… you have only just arrived? What about Shan-xiong?" She craned her neck and looked behind him but found none of the figure he was searching for. Her face abruptly fell. "Oh, he's not with you. What should I do? Shan-xiong is missing…"

"Ling-shimei." Lu Yizhou said in a firm tone that cut through her flustered rambling. It suceeded. Ling Chuwei snapped her eyes up to him, blinking a few times. "As you can see, I have only gotten out of the mist. Can you tell me what's going on? You aren't together with Shan-shidi?"

"No." Ling Chuwei's crumpled as if she was going to cry soon. Goodness. Lu Yizhou took a step back. "We—We passed through the barrier together but then… but then, I lost sight of him!" She threw her hands up to the air, frustrated. "Shan-xiong suddenly vanished and I couldn't get a hold of you either. I made my way forward, thinking that I could rejoin you inside the cave but—" Colors drained from her face and she hugged herself, shivering despite the rising temperature.

Lu Yizhou couldn't help but lament his fate. If this was the scene where the two protagonists were together, Ling Chuwei would have launched herself into Shan Duoyin's arms and the situation would be perfect for him to offer some comfort all the while adding on to some intimate points. Damn it, Lu Yizhou had definitely read too many plots. He could even come up with an original romantic scene on spot. He turned his focus back to the matter in hand. "But?" He pressed.

"I saw a lot of... corpses. And skeletons. They are all over the cave." Ling Chuwei leaned forward and whispered in a small voice. Her round eyes were filled with dread and unease. "Can't you feel it, Jingxue-Jun? The air… is saturated with a thick demonic energy. It's practically hard to breathe…"

Ah. Lu Yizhou's face turned grim. He hadn't noticed it because he was too distraught with Heimo's condition but now that Ling Chuwei voiced it, he could indeed sense a thick foul qi in the air. Resentful energy. Was that why Heimo looked so different than usual? "We have to hurry." He urged in a low tone.

True to Ling Chuwei's words, the deeper they went inside the cave, the more they found corpses strewn on the ground. Some were still fresh — not more than a few hours ago — and some were already left with only skeletons. The remnants of their belongings varied from the robes that announced their identity — there were even a few skeletons which wore Lingyan's old robes — qiankun pouches, spiritual weapons, talismans. The owner of those belongings had undoubtedly died in pain and grievance and subsequently, the energy had soaked into the ownerless spiritual weapons and condensed into the air, becoming an endless source of demonic energy. 

Ling Chuwei retched a few times until she finally gave up and stuck a few healing talismans to her body. Even someone with a high cultivation such as Jingxue-Jun wasn't excluded from the discomfort.

Lu Yizhou's feet dragged on heavier and heavier and his chest felt as if a weight was pressing on it. The hot air sent sweats that drenched his inner robes and stuck to his skin uncomfortably, and he couldn't get enough oxygen for his lungs. He probed into his golden core to thickened the shield around him and only then did he feel his mind clear up a bit. He turned to Ling Chuwei and helped her do the same.

"What should we do, Jingxue-Jun?" Ling Chuwei despaired as they met more and more corpses. "What if… What if Shan-xiong—"

"Jingxue-Jun! Weiwei!" A shout resounded somewhere in front of them, followed by a messy figure of Shan Duoyin, mussed up in a few places but otherwise still intact. His eyes lit up as soon as he caught sight of them.

"SHAN-XIONG!" Ling Chuwei burst into tears and lunged into Shan Duoyin's embrace. The whole scene was exactly as how Lu Yizhou imagined earlier. Damn it, he cursed inwardly, feeling his eyes burn from the PDA. It was made worse when 666 started to play flowery background music in his mind to increase the dramatic feel from the reunion. Lu Yizhou had no idea whether to be relieved or annoyed that the two protagonists were safe and sound and he certainly didn't want to remain when they were sucking each other's faces either. He huffed a sigh and left the two behind.

"W—Weiwei!" Shan Duoyin tore himself away from the kiss, his breathing laboured. This—This certainly wasn't the first time they had kissed mouth-to-mouth but they had never done it in the presence of others, especially Jingxue-Jun! Shan Duoyin stole a glance to his back, relief and disappointment flooded his chest at the same time when he couldn't find the blue robed man.

Ling Chuwei buried her face into his chest and sobbed. "Shan-xiong, I was so worried about you! You have no idea… when I saw all of those corpses, I thought—" She choked on her tears and cried softly.

Shan Duoyin's heart ached when he saw the woman who wept because of him and he cradled Ling Chuwei's face in his palms to kiss the tears away. "I'm sorry to make you worry. I am okay. The mist was weird. It seemed to transport us to different areas. When I exited, I was already inside the cave and I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Me—Me too! When I came to, I was standing in the middle of the corpses!" Ling Chuwei shuddered with an aggrieved face. "You have no idea how scared I was! Fortunately, I met Jingxue-Jun on the way. Can we go out? I don't want to remain here any longer. I haven't seen such a thick resentful energy in the air before. Let's go out, please, Shan-xiong?" She tugged on Shan Duoyin's arm and started to pull him in the opposite direction. "I swear, I really, really have a bad feeling about this place."

"W—Wait, we can't." Shan Duoyin planted his heels firmly on the ground and when Ling Chuwei turned to protest, she was surprised to find her Shan-xiong's face devoid of any color. In fact, his complexion almost looked sickly blue.

"Shan-xiong?" She asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"We can't go out." Shan Duoyin replied firmly. He shut his eyes and let out a shaky exhale. "Weiwei, I—I was transported into the deeper part of the cave and you can't believe what I was seeing…"

Seeing him like that made Ling Chuwei nervous as well. "W—What did you see?"

"A man in black robes with gold patterns, wearing a striking gold ribbon on his ponytail. Demonic energy swirled around him freely and he commanded the corpses to rise from the dead, making them his faithful soldiers." He slowly opened his eyes and saw the dawning horror in Ling Chuwei's eyes. The corner of Shan Duoyin's lips tugged into a half-smile and half-grimace. "Yeah, isn't it familiar?"

Ling Chuwei's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide in shock. "B—Black Demon Weeping Blood…? No way, what is he doing here?!"

"Yes, I'm sure it's him. I have no idea what he's trying to achieve here." Frown marred his forehead as an absurd guess popped up in his mind. Perhaps… he might be trying to disturb the sleeping dragon." He cursed under his breath. It was outrageous but if it's the Black Demon… Shan Duoyin didn't doubt that he would be able to achieve it. "Weiwei, we can't leave. The man we have to kill is right here."

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