223 For The Sake of Fun

Initially, both Se Lang and Jia Ying thought that the yellow candy path would be filled with treacherous candy monsters especially when they were crossing through the Candy forest. But it seemed that Boss Jin was playing with their feelings once again.

The sounds of the forest caused them to be on edge, but nothing pounced out of the forest to ambush them. To the relief of their fruitless worries, they managed to reach the top of the Island of Halloween Candies which was their supposed ultimate destination to save Shi Hui.

Despite being alerted throughout the entire yellow candy path, Jia Ying did get a chance to experience the wonders of the island as she secretly picked up a few candies from the forest and tasted them. The forest was made out of liquorice trees, and cotton candy bushes were widespread. Se Lang, on the other hand, was still cautious towards the island since he did not know what kind of poisons he could end up eating.

Both Jia Ying and Shi Hui did not seem to have the slightest worry in that regard and enjoyed each and every piece of candy they could nibble on. Besides, they did not have the luxury to taste such sweet stuff most of the time aside from Boss Jin's cheesecake and fried Oreo pies. Those oreo pies were a sin, Shi Hui had to do an extra work out each time to burn the calories after eating that particular pie, but it was worth it in her opinion.

Upon reaching the top of the island, what stood between them and Shi Hui was yet another candy made castle. To their surprise, there was a couch at the front of the castle's gate with Pyro Jack sitting and waiting for them.

"So slow! I have finished eating an entire box of popcorn waiting for you guys! Don't you guys even have a sense of time!?" Pyro Jack shouted at them.

"Return Shi Hui to us, or we will not hesitate to use force to get her back!" Se Lang was a policeman through and through which caused Pyro Jack to laugh. With a snap of his finger, Shi Hui suddenly appeared from mid-air, and she landed right beside Pyro Jack. The couch was soft yet sturdy enough to soften her landing.

"Off you go now little one, your friends are waiting for you." Pyro Jack said as he shoo-ed Shi Hui to her friends. With some doubts in her mind, Shi Hui slowly walked towards them and hugged Jia Ying. Se Lang was also expecting a hug but instead Shi Hui used the non-lethal side of her war fan to beat Se Lang's head.

"Slow!!! And why didn't you save me but my friend instead!" Shi Hui pouted at Se Lang, and before he could say a word, Pyro Jack cut into their conversation.

"See! I gave your friend back! Now you have to accede to my request too!" Pyro Jack clapped his hands, and suddenly three heavily armoured knights came flying from the castle walls. If Jia Ying identified them accurately, it seemed that the knights were wearing gingerbread armour wielding Lollipop swords, axes and lances while using chocolate chip cookies as their shields.

The Lance Gingerbread Knight was even mounted on a gummy bear as his ride and the gummy bear growled lowly at the cultivators. Without any hesitation, the cultivators pulled their weapons out ready to face the Gingerbread Knights, but Pyro Jack stopped them.

"Woah Woah Woah! I did not say they were the ones you had to fight!" Pyro Jack stood up and stopped them.

"But did you not send the Rainbow Deep Ones to fight us and even imprisoned our friend?" Jia Ying spoke out as she maintained her stance and her spear was raised against Pyro Jack's throat. However, Pyro Jack was unfazed by the threat of the spear blade right beside its pumpkin head. He even walked nearer and caused the edge of the blade to scrap some of the pumpkin away.

"It was all for the sake of fun. You are unharmed, and I have returned you your friend. Had you succumbed to those creatures, there would be no way for you to help me anyway. If you decide not to listen to me by all means, then kill me... if you can." Pyro Jack's fiery eyes turned from bright orange to a deep blue one.

Shi Hui decided to intervene and asked Jia Ying to put the spear down. "Babe, he did not do anything to me. He was the one who rescued me from the Fish Men and placed me in the prison cage to stop them from catching me. I guessed it's his own sick twisted way to save a person." Shi Hui explained.

"Then why did you place her in a cage and not in this castle that you are in?" Se Lang questioned, and that was when Pyro Jack's face lit up with bright orange flame once more.

"Ah ha! Now you are asking the right questions!" Pyro Jack opened the gates of the candy bricked castle and the cultivators realised that there was no pretty candy life inner courtyard. But it was a dark chocolate sludge and it made the castle interior cold and dull.

"You see, the evil liquor chocolate witches from a faraway kingdom had placed a hex onto my castle and even created a chimeara to guard my rightful throne. An amalgamation of different sweets, which I have no idea how to fight! I mean, I have used my fire to melt candies if they were bad but this time around it's different."

"The chimaera was able to spew liquor on the castle so if I were to fight with my fire powers, my entire castle would end up in flames! Why should I have to burn down, my precious candy castle because of this chimaera!? Hence, I implore you to kill this monster! You will be rewarded by yours truly if you can defeat this chimaera!" Pyro Jack was extremely dramatic as he even had placards to show the sequence of events that had happened as if the cultivators were a bunch of kids.

"Then…are the gingerbread knights here to help us as well?" Se Lang asked.

"Oh no, they are here to show their faces and prove the legitimacy of my rule on this island." Pyro Jack said sarcastically but Se Lang did not get the meaning behind which made Pyro Jack sigh. "No you dumb fool. Of course they are here to help you since my castle is sort of a candy maze to prevent outsiders from stealing my treasures."

"Unfortunately, the knights are but a guide. They shall not risk themselves to protect any of you because they have no obligation to do so." Pyro Jack did not explain much as he returned to his seat to eat his sweet and cheese popcorn.

The cultivators were left with more questions than answers, but the Jack O Lantern did not entertain them much. "Please." The Gingerbread Knights raised their hand towards the direction of the castle gates as if to welcome them into the castle.

Somehow Se Lang felt that this should be the second stage of the Halloween Instance since beating the chimaera would most probably be the last stage of the dungeon. He checked his inventory once more before he continued with the two girls that did not care much and walked into the castle.

However, little did they know that they had activated the hidden extra stage of the Halloween Stage. Most of the cultivators that managed to reach this stage were not patient enough to listen to this well-known folktale ghost that caused more troubles and deception. The majority perceived him as an enemy after he powered up the Deep Ones, so they decided to fight rather than listen to him, most often ending the Halloween Instance there and then.

Only a small percentage managed to activate the hidden instance, but those who did… They were in for an experience they would likely be unable to forget for the upcoming days.