Wu Xie

A stone door open at the end of the stairs they were climbing, but Wu Xie only notice when crashed against Zhang Qiling's back. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts about the mysteries of that place that he simply follow Qiling up the stairs without really seen ahead, just down to his feet.

"Wu Xie... are you okay? We are back up now." Xiaoge whisper, looking back at him. His expression was as serious as always, yet he could swear that there was a hint of worry in those dark and mysterious eyes of his.

"Hum, yeah... we should keep going now. I think we got permission to keep up, right?" Wu Xie asked, referring to the Qilin that had guide them bellow and sure enough, Xiaoge assented, moving ahead to be greeted by Hei Xiazi, who had come to find them as soon as the stone wall had open to reveal Zhang Qiling standing in the other side with Wu Xie closely behind him.

As soon as Wu Xie was out, Pangzi came to hug him with all his strength, almost taking all the air from his lungs, but Wu Xie didn't mind.

"When we go home, I will make sure to cleanse you out of all that bad luck you carry with you..." Pangzi said as he hugged him and Wu Xie smiled.

"Do that and I will owe you my life." Wu Xie told him in return.

"Don't offer your life when you already owe it to someone else. You should thank Zhang Qiling instead, he is the reason you are still alive after all." Xiao Hua said from behind Xiazi. Wu Xie could tell he was angry, probably for disappearing on them so suddenly.

"I'm sorry to worry you, Xiao Hua, it was not my intention, but I'm fine. We should keep going now, had the fog cleared?" Wu Xie asked.

"Yeah, just before you showed up here, which is weird enough. What was down there?" Pangzi asked curiously.

"Blood and bones... a place of sin." Wu Xie said, giving Xiaoge a glance. The secrets of that city was not his to tell anyways. There was something beyond humanity moving the strings there and he was going to play along... for now. He didn't have an idea of why he was been involved, nor his family for that matter, but he was almost sure that going down the tomb on that place was going to give him some answers.

They headed out after they agree into another route to the next circle of the city. Now that the fog had cleared they didn't have anything to keep them from reaching their next target, however as they walked, they found other kinds of troubles that had nothing to do with oversized lizards nor dangerous man eating ants, but a huge field of quicksand that cover almost all the sand they needed to walk on to go further.

"Now what?" Ning asked as she looked at the distances that was full of moving holes, sucking out sand all over it.

"You let the experts do their job." Xiazi responded as he look at Zhang Qiling who assented in agreement.

"First thing, we use ropes to tie us together in case someone accidently make a wrong step, it's a lifesaving line. Second all of you are to follow our lead, only stepping where we do, otherwise we may be in big troubles and lastly, no matter what, no one is allowed to questions the decisions we made for your own good." Xiazi warned.

"Why would we want to question you?" Mop asked curiously.

"We need to cross this in small groups. Four from the numbers we currently had and I'm experienced enough to know everyone will want to go with Zhang Qiling, which is not possible." Xiazi explained.

"But he is the best! Why not cross in a single line?" Another man asked.

"Idiot, a longer line means more risk that one will step the wrong place and drag down the whole group. Separate groups will ensure help in case that is needed from someone not bonded to them. Got it?" Pangzi said and protests immediately raised as Xiazi predicted.

"Hey! I just told you not to question things!" Xiazi shouted back.

"How will you choose? We all know that Zhang Qiling is the best tomb raider in the business. Anyone who goes with him will more likely survive and that's something we all want." Another man said.

"Choosing will be done the same way as ever, by lottery. Five members on each group with Zhan Qiling, Xie Yuchen, Wang Pangzi and myself as leaders of the teams." Xiazi said.

"Wu Xie goes with me." Qiling said in a kind of tone that gave no room to question him about his choice.

"Well, there is one less to choose..." Xiazi whisper to Xiao Hua and Wu Xie tensed as he hear it.

"I never said I will agree." Wu Xie defied Qiling.

"Will you not?" Qiling asked while staring at him. Wu Xie stared back, but considering his luck, he truly had better chances with Xioge that with anyone else, even when he was currently mad at him. However...

"Of course he will! Don't worry Xioage, he is all yours, been a danger magnet and all, no one will argue with you about that..." Pangzi joked as he pushed Wu Xie to Qiling, which stumble forward so easily it was almost painful to see it. Still Xiaoge reacted on instinct and catch him in a second, grabbing both Wu Xie's arms as he crashed on his chest, quite embarrassed.

"Why you, Pangzi! What was that for?" Wu Xie asked.

"Tianzhen, this is all for the greater good. No hard feelings on it, okay." Tianzhen said as he half turned and simply raised his hands to point at the pair still unconsciously hugging and look at the others.

"Did you guys, watch how easily dear Tianzhen falls? Just one touch and he is down like paper drifting in a gentle wind. He gets like that all the time not to mention lady danger is quite fond of him, to a point Zhang Qiling had his hands busy with just keeping him safe. Now, tell me if all of you really want to go with the godly Master Zhang Qiling while tied to Tianzhen right behind him at the same time? Will he had time to save the rest of you if he falls into one of those holes?" Pangzi asked with a dramatic air and after seen Wu Xie fall so easily, most of the men closer to them backed off, like they were carrying a plague. Xiazi laughed giving Pangzi a thumbs up, while Xiao Hua sighed.

Thus, it end up been harder to be on the other teams than on Zhang Qiling's, which ended only having Wu Xie on it, most to Wu Xie's despair. Damn Pangzi! Yes, he was cursed, yes, he could fall quite easily, yes, he was bad luck, yes, Zhang Qiling had his hands full with him, but still... that didn't mean he will kill everyone around him.

Once the groups were formed, they tied themselves to a rope and Qiling leaded the way with Wu Xie right behind him as his only companion. Because the quicksand was treacherous and sometimes undetectable, Zhang Qiling was extra careful, using just a hint of his given gifts on each step to secure their path. Sensing the sand movements as he walked, knowing when it was loose enough to become a deadly trap and avoid it before a disaster could happen.

The last thing he wanted was for Wu Xie to really give a false step while stumbling out of nowhere and fall in one of the obvious visible holes. So he guided Wu Xie and the rest of the teams into the safest path he could sense. To his relief, Wu Xie closely follow his every step while in silence, making sure not to step away from his footprints left in the sand.

Occasionally looking back at him, Qiling was glad to know that Wu Xie's silence was more of concentration on stepping only on the trail of his footprints, than out of anger for his lack of answers. He was not the kind of man to push others on doing something they could not, so he relaxed as he guided them to safety. However, after hours of walking around the quicksand under the scorching sun, they found another problem ahead of them.

"What is it, Xiaoge?" Wu Xie asked when Qiling stopped for good, yet it was not necessary for Xiaoge to explain, when the potent sound of thunders was heard coming from the distance and a larger pit of sand in their way.

"That's the dragon roar my father wrote on his notebook." Wu Xie said and Qiling assented.

"Is still far." Qiling whisper.

"But the storm really sounds ferocious. Can we truly cross it?" Wu Xie asked.

"I'm sure we can, but before that..." Qiling pointed ahead to the deadly wide sand pit, that seems to mark the end of the quicksand territory to a more stable ground.

"Can it be jumped? It's more like a very wide crack of the sand, but not too long. Perhaps we can really jump it." Wu Xie asked, as the others came closer.

"Perhaps... Wu Xie..." Qiling whisper as he look at him.

"Yeah?" Wu Xie asked.

"Get on my back. I'm sure I can manage the distance..."

"But you are not sure about me... really Xiaoge, do you think me to be completely useless?" Wu Xie asked seriously.

"Not useless, just not good with physical work." Wu Xie wanted to face palm himself.

"Xiaoge..."

"I'm not risking you."

"We are tied together, if I fall you can pull me up."

"No chance for that."

"Xiaoge, with my extra weight we can really fall in instead of out."

"We are not falling in."

"How can you be so sure? It's not an impossible jump, but is still a hard one, around three to four meters and even more so with someone else on your back."

"I'm strong enough."

"I know you are but..."

"Wu Xie, we are not falling. Trust me."

"This had nothing to do with trust."

"Then what?"

"Damn it you are not a god! As awesome as you are, you tend to forget you can bleed, get hurt, feel pain and overextend yourself for someone else sake!" Wu Xie exploded.

"You are not someone else."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm your chosen one, still... I'm jumping on my own!" Wu Xie exclaimed as he reached for the knot on their rope to untie himself from it, but Xiaoge put his hand over his, just when Hei Xiazi stopped behind them.

"Kids... is this the time to have a heated lovers quarrel?" Xiazi asked with amusement.

"What lover?" Wu Xie asked as he stared at Xiaoge with frustration, still with the other man holding his hand in placer over the rope.

"Ah, you are not only naïve, but also blind. So cute... I wonder how can you manage..." Xiazi said to Qiling.

"I'm not..."

"You are Wu Xie. From that distance probably only Yaba Zhang and I can do the jump with a high chance to succeed. Even Master Hua will be carry this time, so get on Yaba Zhang's back and let this be over with." Xiazi told him and Wu Xie retrieved his hand from the rope.

"Hey! If you are not doing it, then I am." Ning said from a short distance behind Xiazi and Wu Xie turned to look at Qiling.

"Alright..." He whisper and Qiling throw his sword and both their backpacks as far as he could on the other side, so his back will be cleared for Wu Xie to climb it and Wu Xie with less weigh on him.

"Come on." Qiling said and Wu Xie slightly jumped into Xiaoge's back, grabbing his neck to keep himself in place as their bodies merged into one.

"Hold on tight." Qiling whisper as he grabbed Wu Xie's legs closer to his tights and Wu Xie hold tighter into his neck. He could feel the heat coming from Qiling's body and Wu Xie felt yet again embarrass as his heart leaped out of nowhere inside his chest and he was doubting it was because of fear.

"You can close your eyes if you want."

"It's okay."

"Then ready?"

"Just don't hurt yourself when landing."

"No need to worry." Qiling said and without anything else to say, he run around a meter or two of solid sand for impulse and then jumped with as much strength as he could into the other side. The momentum of the action get them across just fine, but he did fall forward because of Wu Xie's weight on his back, but been sand, there was no harm done to any of them.

Wu Xie let go of Xiaoge's neck and lay on his own back over the hot sand by Qiling, which look at him with a faint smile, like telling him a silent 'I told you so' which make Wu Xie smile back.

"I wonder if you break a world record just now." Wu Xie said as he looked at the distance they had landed from the border. Qiling didn't care for records, but he was happy to see Wu Xie smile.

"Alright! That was an awesome jump! It's our turn now, Master Hua!" Hei Xiazi yelled from the other side.

"Wait what?" Xiao Hua asked from a little at the back line.

"You are next! Come here, I'm only carrying you for free!" Xiazi yelled and after another odd exchange between the two men, they jumped too. With four men safely on the other side, they decide it will be better if the rest try their jump on their own, as Pangzi was heavier to be carry and Xiazi was offering his service to cross, but as usual, his charges were too expensive, which only leaded to the individuals jumps and pulls from the other side.

Luckily, after a while all of them were safely across and they resumed their walk over safer ground into other ruins. As it was getting darker, they set camp on the ruins, from which they could hear the rampaging of the storm that awaited them with huge dark clouds constantly illuminated by lightings, yet the sound was that of a rampaging dragon.

That was the beginning of the second ring, the roaring dragon his grandfather had write about. A hellish storm that could kill you in any moment as you resign your life to fate... yeah fate... a single world that controlled every moment of your life like a game you don't have control over.

"Wu Xie..." The voice came from behind him, as he was watching the lighting storm from the top of a ruin, while the others rested close to the campfire after eating. He turned to be face to face with Qiling.

"You need to rest too, come down." Qiling whisper.

"There is no point on laying down on a sleeping bag, I will not be able to sleep tonight." Wu Xie said turning his attention back to watch the storm.

"Why?" Qiling asked.

"My mind wonders about the mysteries of this place, about myself and you..." Wu Xie answer as he give him such a deep stare that make Qiling's heart skip a beat.

"Why me?" Qiling asked.

"Aren't you the one at the center of all the mysteries? We were connected by dreams, then I'm been tested to be chosen for who knows what... and it's all connected with you, which in return are connected with whatever strange thing is happening in this world and this place." Wu Xie said.

"I still can't give you answers, but I can keep you company." Qiling offered and Wu Xie smiled.

"What about your rest? I'm sure you must be tired." Wu Xie whisper.

"I don't need as much rest." Qiling told him and Wu Xie sighed.

"Not too long ago I just told you to see yourself as human. You really need to rest more." Wu Xie said.

"Then join me." Qiling said boldly, which almost make Pangzi shock with his own saliva, down the stairs from where he was overhearing. Xiaoge, you are too bold, don't scare Tianzhen like that, he is too green in love. Pangzi thought.

"Will you rest if I comply?" Wu Xie asked and Pangzi this time was hit too hard with the revelation his young friend was in fact as bold as the older one, so he moved away, before he truly hear something he rather forget.

"Yes." Qiling answer, don't minding their fleeing guest.

"Then let's rest here, out of sight." Wu Xie said as he seriously stared at Qiling, which came closer like pulled by a magnetic attraction he could not resist. Wu Xie smiled faintly and sat on the floor, then lay down on it on his back. Qiling soon join him in silence and they stared at the flashing clouds for a while before Qiling wrapped Wu Xie on his arms to keep him from the cold if the night and closed his eyes.

Surrounded by Xiaoge's heat and protection, Wu Xie also closed his and despite what he had said before, he end up falling asleep like a log, while once again dreaming with a strange boy dressed in black that suddenly transformed into a man with a stoic handsome face.

It had been a while since he dreamed with him, but now that he could see Xiaoge clearly, he extended his hand to him, which Qiling accepted as he whisper his name.

"Wu Xie... I choose you..." Xiaoge hushed and Wu Xie try to press an answer.

"For what?" He asked, but at that moment, Xiaoge figure vanished and he end up staring at another Qilin in front of huge bronze door.

Then his mind blackened and he was left in darkness.

AN: Sorry for the wait, I hope this is a good chapter. Thanks for reading and until next time, take care.❤❤