77 A rain of death

In the courtyard, there weren't as many corpses littered on the ground compared to inside the manor. But there were still a few.

"Don't let it eat," Liu Sumeng warned, watching as the tiangou inched towards a body.

Yuan Xuelan understood. Though this was the first time he's seen a tiangou up close, he knew from texts and lectures that these beasts could heal and gain power through the act of devouring.

The lowered muzzle followed the scent of rot, putrid saliva dribbled from its furry chin. Right as its black nose came upon one of the fallen corpses, Liu Sumeng rushed forward with Mingshui pointed forth.

The tiangou snarled and bore its fangs, refusing to leave its boon as it snapped at him. But Liu Sumeng pivoted easily, slicing a deep cup into the beast's lip.

It yowled and flinched its large head away, ready to bolt. But Yuan Xuelan was there to meet it with Silei's sizzling electric roar.

Together, they kept the beast on the defensive. The tiangou was clearly enraged as its large black body became littered with cuts and slices. But even with Silei's mighty strength, it was difficult to pierce through its disgustingly thick hide.

And in a match of pure endurance, the cultivators weren't sure they were going to win like this with their spiritual energy slowly depleting. And if the tiangou were to devour even a single body, it would put them at too great a disadvantage to overcome.

Yuan Xuelan rummaged through his mind for a plan.

He reached into his robes and took out a small round item, looking suspiciously like a spirit stone. He filled it with spiritual energy and then shot it up. "Shield your ears!" He shouted. And it was only because Liu Sumeng had seen such a thing in his previous life that he knew to press his hands against his ears as soon as he saw it in Yuan Xuelan's hands.

But neither Nan Chang nor Peng Jipei were as lucky, reacting too slowly. The small ball exploded next to the tiangou's ear. A shattering sound boomed in the cavern, quaking the ground.

The dog yield and stumbled from the force of the booming sound, blood trickled out of its ear.

Nan Chang was crying in protest but even Liu Sumeng's eardrums were ringing from the blast even though he had covered his ears.

The sound bomb hadn't actually done that much damage to the tiangou. The beast roared, furious. It opened its large maw in protest, snapping at Yuan Xuelan. Silei was enough to fend off the creature. However what was truly alarming was not the tiangou, but how the entire cavern was rumbling. The trembling only got worse and worse. Little flicks of rocks and dust trickled down.

"Uh, might want to run!" Yuan Xuelan's voice sounded filtered and distant through the thicket of white noise but Liu Sumeng could easily read the movements of his lips. He nodded and began to run towards the exit of the cave. The two that were hiding behind the rock slowly became aware of the situation and began to run towards the cave mouth as well.

Nan Chang tripped over her own two feet and Peng Jipei didn't so much give him a second glance as he continued to flee. She screamed after him, but Nan Chang, with burst eardrums, couldn't even hear her own voice.

She startled when strong arms holstered her up by the waist and for a second time, she found herself in the Ivory Sword Saint's arms. "What luck!" She squealed, not realizing that he could actually hear her. And perhaps it was really an inappropriate time to laugh but she couldn't help herself as her arms snaked around his neck.

Sorry, Xuelan! Nan Chang knows he's off-limits but it's not exactly her fault if fate kept dumping her in his arms, right!?

Behind them, Yuan Xuelan was not far behind and the tiangou was no idiot as well. They were all rushing towards the exit as the cavern continued to tremble, larger pieces of stone and stalactite broke off from above and came crashing down. The tiangou was fast and nipped at Yuan Xuelan's heels.

Yuan Xuelan wasn't done yet. Three more of those little bombs rolled into his palm and he shot them at the beast chasing him. Even though they were small, barely bigger than an insect, the tiangou saw them coming and was able to dodge out of the way. The explosion was even louder this time and everything was flooded with a deafening white silence.

Uh. Whoops. Maybe Yuan Xuelan got a little carried away there. But it had done what he wanted. A huge piece of cavern ceiling fell. The tiangou dodged out of the way but even more rock was thundering down. In a single instant, the cavern bulked beneath itself. The entire earth shook. Yuan Xuelan bolted, barely making it out before the whole cave collapsed in on itself. Adrenaline was singing through his bloodstream and he couldn't contain his own laughter any longer.

The cave crumbled behind him, debris and rock chased him and the narrow rocky path quivered beneath his feet, threatening to give as well. In a split-second decision, he leaped into the pool below him and watched as more rocks fell into the spring.

When he resurfaced, he saw that the whole waterfall had shank into a lopsided and deformed state.

Huh. Well, he didn't expect it to be that dramatic.

Yuan Xuelan looked up and saw that beyond the canopy there was a glimmer of twilight still in the night sky but he couldn't tell if it was because it was early into night and nearing daytime.

A small stream of water shot at his face and when he turned around he saw Nan Chang with her hands dipped into the pool shooting a string of water at him. Nan Chang was yelling something but Yuan Xuelan heard nothing and only saw that her mouth of flapping open and closed. The Ivory Sword Saint was standing next to her but wasn't looking in his direction.

Yuan Xuelan was suddenly struck with a pang of hurt and sobered up from the adrenaline. Was Liu Sumeng still upset with him? Even after they fought side by side.

He swam to the shore and climbed out. He still couldn't hear a thing so he pulled out a low leveled healing pill and tossed it in his mouth. That should be enough to repair his hearing.

Sound returned to the world slowly.

"Xuelan! Xuelan! Can you hear me yet?" Even though Nan Chang was standing right next to him, she still sounded rather distant. He looked around, suddenly noticing something awry. "Where's Peng-ge?"

Nan Chang tilted her head. "Not sure, but he ran out the cave ahead of us, so he's probably safe. I bet he kept running out of fear for his life," she snickered as if the thought was funny to her.

But Yuan Xuelan felt his heart sinking, his eyes immediately veering around to look for clues.

He didn't want to admit it, but it was no longer worry that incited his alarm.

No…He didn't want Liu Sumeng to be right about his cousin.

But even Yuan Xuelan could no longer pretend to be the fool.

And on queue came the cry of a familiar voice, "I-Is it over? Oh heavens, is it over?"

The three of them looked behind. Peng Jipei was panting, sweat matting his hair against his brow. He had a hand against the length of a tree to support himself. The boy was more out of breath than any of them. "I-I kept running and didn't look back. Wait no, I did look back, and then I realized it was all over."

Nan Chang laughed, "I was right!"

Yuan Xuelan blinked, his muscles were still tense. "It's good to see that you're safe," he said.

Slowly, his cousin smiled, "Y-yeah! It's over right? We're safe?" He inched slowing towards the spring, eyes glancing up at the waterfall, now half-collapsed.

The Ivory Sword Saint nodded and Peng Jipei let out a long sigh of relief, "Oh, thank goodness."

But it was apparently too early to make any declarations. Because just at that moment, the ground rumbled again and Nan Chang's eyes went wide with alarm, "What's going on!? Isn't it over already!?"

A crash! And a black paw parted the waterfall, the only warning given before the tiangou pounced down from the cliffside, roaring and swiping with sharpened claws. Liu Sumeng pulled Nan Chang out of the way, while Peng Jipei cried and stumbled backward, only dodging the swooping teeth by pure luck. He scrambled up to his feet with surprising speed even as his body was quacking and bolted off.

The tiangou growled and dashed after the fleeing boy.

Yuan Xuelan cursed under his tongue and drew Silei again to follow suit. But Liu Sumeng had taken notice of something else. The sound of raven calls.

An arrow shot down from the sky with energy to ripe and terrible it was more like a spear. Liu Sumeng pulled Yuan Xuelan out of the way before the spearhead could ripe through his body.

Tiangou and Peng Jipei were already dots in the distance.

Black feathers fluttered down like rain. Liu Sumeng turned his gaze upwards. Hui Ziwang's eyes glowed like two golden disks suspended against the night sky. His hair, colored gray, swayed in the wind. The Demon King wore a cloak of feathers as black as midnight. The branches seem to part around him, saturated black with the bodies of looming ravens. He stood floating with an air of noble elegance.

But the words that came out of those lips betrayed the image of nobility, "So some fuckers decided to show up at my doorsteps and mess things up huh? Did you really think I'd let you get away with this shit?"

Slowly, he raised a loose fist. One by one, claw fingers unfurled. A black circular shape danced above his palm, warping any light around it. The ravens began to glow with dark energy.

One of the raven's body stretched and deformed, dropping from its perch. A large, black spear descended upon Liu Sumeng at frightening speeds. Even the Ivory Sword Saint wasn't fast enough for stepping away in time to save every fiber on his robes. A large tear in his sleeve allowed the wind to tickle his arm.

More of the ravens vibrated with power and one by one they shot towards the ground like a rain of death.