Wang Pangzi
It was beginning to really getting on his nerves the way the young Wu Xie never failed to get into troubles. That was one of the reason his father forbid him from tomb raiding for so long despite the kid wishes to join his uncle in the underground adventures. Now, he had manage to trigger a trap that had pretty much swallow both him and Zhan Qiling, which thankfully was awesome enough to go down along with him.
"Damn it! What now?" Pangzi cursed as he try to find a way to open the door that Wu Xie had accidently open.
"Don't bother looking for the trigger. Only Wu Xie can pull off that stunt without even trying." Xiazi said to Pangzi from behind him.
"We need to find him. If something happen to him..."
"He is down with the best of us, so he will be fine. Zhang Qiling had never failed to fulfil his job no matter the danger, you already know that." Xiazi reassured him.
"There is always a first time for everything. Xiazi, what make you so sure he is not in danger down there? You know Wu Xie is family to me, so what kind of secrets are Zhang Qiling and you hiding from us?" This time, it was Xiao Hua who asked.
"Master Hua, I assure you that even if we keep some secrets, the same way you keep yours, we don't mean any harm to Wu Xie and specially Zhang Qiling. He is capable enough to keep Wu Xie safe, us however, may not be so lucky. For now we are stuck here by the fog and the lightings. Don't get impatient, good things will come to those who wait." Xiazi said as he sat down on the floor, patting a spot at his side for Xiao Hua to sit by him.
"Do you trust him enough to believe his words?" Pangzi asked to Xiao Hua, who looked at the man with dark glasses and sighed.
"I do. Let's wait for the storm to dispel, then we can head out and search for them if they had not return by then." Xiao Hua admitted honestly, sitting by Xiazi while ignoring the smile that showed in Glasses handsome face.
"See? Just rest until then, they may show up soon enough." Xiazi whisper, quite content with hearing his Master Hua said he trusted him. He was definitely getting somewhere now, it was just matter of time to fully win his heart.
"Just hurry up, Yaba Zhang... I can't afford to lose Xiao Hua's trust now." Xiazi said to himself internally, wondering why the Qilin wanted Wu Xie. That there was a lighting storm in the outer ring was an indication that the heavenly beast wanted Wu Xie for something they could not interfere... yet.
Wu Xie
As the Qilin had clear the way for them, Wu Xie was determined to keep up to the remaining door that the Qilin had chosen for them to enter. Perhaps there was a reason behind it and as Zhang Qiling could not answer much of what he wanted to know, maybe he could still find some answer out of that place if he was lucky enough.
"Wu Xie, I will go first." Xiaoge said to him, as he pass him, giving him no room to protest, even when he was not going to object to his guidance, been so green to tomb raiding. Before, he had acted on impulse trying to get away from that phantom of a thunder Qilin, but it was kind of embarrassing now, how he acted so foolishly, almost putting the both of them in unnecessary danger if the Qilin itself had not save him from his own stupidity.
Thus to distract himself from his fall from grace, he took a better look at the place they had fall in, noticing for the first time that the stone floor was cover with a blackened sand that was once cover with blood, lots of it. The walls also had some carvings on it, but it was made in a language he didn't recognize from those he had study so far.
"Xiaoge... can you read this?" Wu Xie asked, but the man ahead of him simply shock his head in negative without looking back. Of course, he wasn't expecting much anyways, so he just concentrate on what he could take out of their surroundings.
Judging by the bones, the temple above had been probably a façade hiding the darkness below. Broken bones, skulls with holes, visibly scars on the aged bones only indicted that this was a place of torture for an unknown reason. If what Zhang Qiling had just told him about a Qilin not harming without a reason, then he understood perfectly why this city was doomed to destruction and called Demon City afterwards.
The place was indeed one of sins and in a great scale if the bones were any indication of the victims. Zhang Qiling stopped in front of the door and after giving it a closer look and touch it here and there, he inserted his two long fingers on a particular hole and the heavy door slide open.
The next room was completely dark, so Wu Xie used a flashlight to illuminate it, but Qiling moved in the darkness as he was walking under the bright sun. It was him who lighted the oil touches that trigger the rest of the torches to light as well, making the room shine in deep orange, revealing just how big that chamber really was.
To his excitement, in all four walls, there were paintings that remained from the past. Maybe that was the reason the Qilin choose that door for them, so he could come to know what he was against in that place. So, he did as he was supposed to and walked toward the closer mural and study it.
Qiling watched him as he moved from one wall to the next like a kid that had been given his favorite toy. He smiled slightly as Wu Xie begin to tell him the story engraved in the walls. Most of it he already know, but he said nothing and was a bit surprised that the Qilin in Tamutuo wanted for Wu Xie to know about half of their secret.
"Long ago there was a Queen that was favored by the gods and as she grew old, she pleaded for something that could give her a longer life. Then a meteor fell from the sky onto the gardens of her palace. The small meteor was made of green jade that had a black substance inside. Taking it as a sign that the gods had hear her plea, she drank the liquid, gaining longevity."
"However, as the years passes, the Queen became conceited and stopped caring about the people she was spouse to protect and the reason the gods favored her. Her heart became twisted and cruel, as she became paranoiac that her subjects will steal her secret of immortality from her, thus loathing her people."
"Wicked energy begin to gather in the city, also changing the citizens, until they become as corrupted and without redemption than her. Then one day, a Qilin that already wander the earth came to the city to judge it. He disguised as an old man and walked in in ragged robes, to see if anyone pity him and offer him help. However, as far as he walked in each direction, he only encounter mistreatment and was even taken in for torture."
"Seen that the city was now fully consumed by the darkness of the world, the Qilin then dimed the city as a demon den, thus destroying it by heaven tribulation with the fifth thunder, the black storm. The city was consumed by back thunders, leaving behind a sea of fire that burned for seven days, leaving only charred ruins behind."
"Thus, the ruins of the city were called Demon City by the people of the desert that had stayed away when the Queen first begin to show signs of madness, because once it had become exactly that." Wu Xie ended saying as he study the last drawing, frowning. Qiling saw that and wonder...
"What is it?" Qiling asked.
"That's odd. I thought that the tomb burry inside the desert was that of the so called Queen Mother, but if her palace was destroyed along with the rest of her city, then what's down if not her resting place. A Qilin judgment, granted by the gods should have punish the wicked Queen first of all, so even if she make a tomb for herself in the time she was favored by the gods, she never use it... thus the tomb should be completely empty, right?" Qiling smiled.
"Yes." He admitted. The young man was smart indeed.
"But a place that have so many dangers, than even my grandfather could not unravel them, as well as so many tomb raiders coming to breach it... there must be a reason of weight behind it." Wu Xie turned to look at him.
"Yes." Qiling reply again.
"Then, what the hell is burry underground? If is not a tomb, then what?" Wu Xie asked.
"It's up to you to find out." Qiling said softly.
"Do you know the answer?" Wu Xie tried to press him.
"Find your uncle and you will know too." Qiling said, as he moved away toward one wall, then he pressed a stone and another door was revealed, showing a long stair that probably leaded to the first level.
"Let's go back." Qiling said as he started walking up the stairs.
Behind him, Wu Xie was beginning to analyses all the clues both his grandfather and uncle had left behind about the cursed place. His family was that of antique dealers, thus becoming tomb raiders, but he doubted that his cunning uncle third will go raid an empty tomb that offer only dangers and no benefits. He was too skilled and careful to make such a mistake... then what was his uncle searching for in the Demon City? Why did he travel so far from home for? Just what was bellow that desert and how it was connected to the thunder Qilin, his grandfather (which was probably the reason his uncle third went there) and Zhang Qiling?
What was the story behind the mysterious man walking ahead of him that apparently even involved the gods? Why there were heavenly beasts even walking the earth on that time and age? What were they protecting and what was his own role on that? For what was he and his family had been chosen?
Ahead of him, Qiling whisper to himself inwardly.
"Soon enough, Wu Xie... we both will find the reason you were chosen." And shortly after, they joined the rest of the team upstairs, as the fog reseeded and the thunder storm vanished, as if telling them it was time to keep on moving. No matter what, Wu Xie was determined to find out what was behind the mystery.
AN: Thanks for reading and sorry for the wait.
