Chapter 397 - Mysteries of Mysterious Maze (part-1)

"Please forgive me, Plea....aaAAAHHHHh.", Chasing winds screamed as blood flowed from her nose, and drool fell from her mouth, the pain was so great that she could no longer control her bladder.

The person torturing her gave a disgusted grunt upon seeing that.

"Pathetic, simply pathetic a cultivator like you, losing their bowels simply pathetic, then you bungle up your task, make a mockery of yourself. I took you because I appreciated your intelligence then how did you not notice that you were being played, like a puppet?"

"I am so s…"

A loud slap resounded the area as the already writhing Chasing Winds not only sported a red handprint over her cheeks, but blood ran down from the corner of her lips, as the pain intensified she found face to face with her tormentor who held Chasing Winds by her hair.

"I should kill you, but unfortunately the Heavens itself seems to be looking out for you as I have still useful for you."

"Now you will cease any attempts on anyone until I say otherwise. Ryuu and his group is keeping a close eye on you and would deal with you swiftly, and you are only allowed to die upon my order, do you understand."

Chasing Winds shook with fear as she somehow managed to speak, "Yesh"

"Good girl now than clean yourself, and then entertain me, I am frustrated as of late."

Meanwhile, in another part of the maze Ryuu stared at a face of the statue eyes wide, the person had a haughty smirk on his face as it seemed that he was looking down on all that was attacking him, like a God looking down at some unwanted plebeians.

The person's sword was held on his right hand with its tip touching the ground and with a left, he held a spear that rested over his shoulder, but what drew his attention was his face, it was otherworldly handsome and Ryuu knew that face, after all, he had seen it every time he looked into the mirror as it stared back to him only many times more handsome.

"Why is my over-glorified statue here? That sword is 'Requiem', I can spot my sword from over a thousand miles away, and he even has 'Genesis' by his shoulder."

Ryuu's eyes widen as his head whipped towards the spear, 'How do I know its name? I have never seen, held or dreamt about it, so how do I know it.'

He stared at the spear, which was a Dao spear slightly longer than his sword with carvings of a dragon on it, he did not know how or why, but he knew it as if he had held it his whole life and that made him feel scared.

He shook his head trying to clear his mind, 'This is must be because of the maze, it trying to confuse me.'

As he decided to leave his attention as drawing to another that stood just behind her back to back with his lookalike, with a similar haughty look on her face and from where he was standing it seemed both of them were fighting against enemies that had them surrounded but what made his eyebrows move past his hairline was the person, it was none other than the insane woman who claimed to be his Dao Companion from his previous life, 'Empress'.

Bile rose in his throat as he ran as fast as he could, fear, anxiety and confusion were written in his face, 'I have to get out of this place fast, or it would drive me crazy.'

"Sister Frozen Ocean", a teary-eyed Zywia embraced her into a tight hug as another voice came to their ears, "It seems we are finally back together again."

They turned to see Frost Flames standing in front of them as the door behind her closed while the ceiling of the circular room opened this time.

"I was so scared alone in the dark, but now I am back with you all."

Frost Flames nodded at that as she spoke, "It was scary we all got separated so fast after Ryuu got separated from us."

"Well sisters let us move on otherwise it might decide to separate us again."

With that, the other two agreed with Frozen Ocean's suggestion and quickly left the room.

"Did any of you come across any other cultivators?"

Both Zywia and Frost Flames shook their head as Frost Flames replied to her with a solemn look on her face, "No I have not, though I hope we do, having to navigate through this dark and depressing place is scary."

"Do you think others are okay?"

Zywia pursued her lips at Frozen Ocean's question as she spoke with a sigh, "I hope they would be, this maze has yet to show its true colours after all since unlike the other previous levels it has not tried to kill us yet."

Frozen Ocean's shoulder shagged a bit as she spoke, "Please I would like not to face life and death situation for a very long time, wish we could get a short vacation or something like that."

"I kind of miss Ryuu's lake, at least the water was cool."

"Me too sister, me too. It was a nice change in the hot desert."

"Hey, if we all came together then is there a chance that the next person we meet is Ryuu?"

Frozen Ocean deadpanned at Frost Flames as she spoke, "Really now, I thought you liked my company already missing him, but I cannot fault you while Zywia is wishing for some alone time with True-Spear."

"You all are incorrigible!", with that a blushing Zywia moved forward with incredible speed.

"Zywia wait do not move so fast stick with the group.", as that the duo chased after Zywia.

"Finally, you were dashing forward like some mad woman we could have gotten separated again.", Frost Flames send a mock glare at that while Frozen Ocean was planning to tease her, she finally understood why Ryuu liked to tease Zywia like that it was so easy to get under her skin, but whatever she was about to say stopped in her throat as she looked forward and finally noticed what had stopped Zywia in her tracks.

"What are those small statues lining up the walls? They looked to be made up of gold and is the ceiling and flooring made up of mercury?"

"Girls let us move forward and check this place since we can no longer turn back."

Hearing Frost Flames words they quickly turned to look back at the direction they came in and groaned seeing their way in had closed again.

"The statues are creepy, are you sure they are statues?"

"No Zywia, I am not. They feel so alive that I fear they might jump and attack us as soon as we turn our backs on them not to mention the feeling of dread, helplessness and fear that I am getting just be looking at them."

The trio glanced at the statues monetarily for a moment before Frost Flames spoke with barely concealed fear in her voice, "Whatever you do, do not look at them but keep your guard up.", the duo agreed as they soon began to move at breakneck speed.

They took a turn and came face to face with pair of life-sized statues standing back to back, with weapons in their hands, a pair of male and female who had haughty look on their face as they stood on a pedestal that was made up of bones and skulls.

For a moment the trio felt as if they were in an ancient battlefield standing by the side of a Heavenly duo, while they were surrounded by various enemies, even the sky was blotted out by their sheer number their killing intent was so suffocating and mind-numbing to the point they simply wanted to kill themselves to save them from the torture, only for the feeling to disappear.

Facing such formidable opponents anyone would be scared but not the people whose statues were present, instead of being scared they looked not only amused but were looking down like an Emperor would look towards the dirtiest beggar that had made the offence of appearing within the Emperor's eyesight.

But what blew their mind was the face of the male, it was so enchanting and otherworldly handsome that it should be made illegal. They were rooted to the spot as they blushed profusely as if they had fallen in love with the statue itself.

Zywia was suddenly snapped out of her thought as True-Spear's voice, her face popped up in her mind, she shook her clearing up her thoughts then she froze, 'This, this is Ryuu's face why is there a statue of Ryuu? The eyes, the hair colour everything is just like Ryuu, even the sword that was in statue's hands was the same as Ryuu.

"Why does this statue look like Ryuu?"

Her words finally snapped their blushing companions out of their daydream as they were able to finally recognize the figure in front of them.

"It is Ryuu, why is his statue here and the woman who is she do you know her?"

Zywia shook her head negatively at her question, 'The woman simply made her feel inferior at the same time made her want to worship her.'

"That sword is the same as Ryuu."

Frost Flames made a casual observation before her eyes widen in alarm, "Did he turn into a statue?"

Frozen Ocean narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "No I do not think so, I have never seen the spear in his hands nor have I seen such a look on his face, and his looks..", she trailed off at the end with a blush on her face.

Zywia squirmed a bit at that as Frost Flames rounded up as she spoke, "What are you hiding Zywia? You know him better than us so what are you hiding."

Under the narrowed eyes of the duo, Zywia spoke with a sigh, "Ryuu is incredibly handsome, he is better looking than any other that we are travelling, but because of his looks he draws unwanted attention as such he uses arrays and various methods to hide his true face making him look less attractive, but he is by no means as handsome as this statue."

"There is a chance that this is his ancestor."

But before anyone could say anything the walls began to move as such they were forced to leave the statue and its mysteries behind and move forward.

"Damn it, this is annoying we are forced to move again.", as they moved Frost Flames cast one last glance towards the mysterious statue before it disappeared behind the walls.