92 Up the stairs

"Shut up, don't say my name." Li Zheng bristled at the girl that stood before him.

The tension was thick enough to cut and Yuan Xuelan decided he wanted to step in. Though he had no personal animosity toward her, he didn't want to be taking any chances. Who knew what kind of threat she could pose to his Sumeg?

"No offense, but I'm not taking my chances here," Yuan Xuelan pointed his sword at Xiao Hao, "You got anything to say for yourself?"

Xiao Hao observed the three cultivators. Slowly she let out a long sigh and looked aside. "It's not like you're going to believe anything I say." She pouted.

"It is better than staying silent," Liu Sumeng pointed out.

"Hui Moxiang."

"...?"

"That's my name. My real name," she said. Her dark eyes were overtaken by gold and black hair turned gray.

Liu Sumeng frowned. Hui Moxiang? Where was Hui Moxiang in his previous life? Why couldn't he remember this particular Hui.

"I damned knew it!" Li Zheng cursed. His hand was still shaky but he drew his sword anyway and pointed it at her.

This Hui Moxiang shuffled on her feet and frowned, "I know it's not like you guys will believe me, but I'm not your enemy." She bent down and reached for the tattered robes of the corpse they had been fighting earlier and pulled out a bloodstained pouch.

"Let's meet up later," she hummed, "I'll be going to the top."

Her body shifted and transformed into a raven with gray plumage. With the pouch in her beak, and flew toward the ceiling.

Li Zheng cursed, "We have to go after her!"

Yuan Xuelan ripped off the nearest talisman and shot at the soaring raven. But the bird was no ordinary bird and flew as fast as a falcon dove. He set it off and the explosion set off bits of debris that tumbled down. While it didn't hit any of the building's important structures, the explosion hadn't caught Hui Moxiang either.

The young cultivator clicked his tongue. Well, it was worth a try.

"Hm, since when did the Hui Clan become such a prominent group?" A small voice came out From Liu Sumeng's robes.

He looked down at the little phoenix and explained, "They rule over demons."

"Do they now? Times sure have changed. In the past they were but a cute little gang of shapeshifting foxes."

"Shapeshifting?"

"To put simply," Huo Tang explained, "Their abilities center around transformation and illusion."

Li Zheng was shaking and rattled and tried to go toward the nearest staircase, only to stumble.

"Be careful," Liu Sumeng's voice was strict as he went over to the injured Wayward Wind disciple. "Rush in and you will die. What happened here?"

Li Zheng gave the Ivory Sword Saint a haunted look. He didn't really understand either and shook his head, "We- I-- I don't know. It was just another day. These things always happen so quickly. I didn't see much, was out in the back tending to the gardens. I only heard screaming and shouting at first and thought it was just the Elders arguing about something. And then the alarm sounded…There were these corpses that came, stronger and any I've faced. And our fallen brothers and sisters rose again too quickly to be normal. I'm sure there was a Devil Path cultivator nearby but I'm not entirely sure where."

Something lit up in his eyes as realization dawned, "That's right I was with Weiwei…! Dammit, I don't even know what happened later…is she safe? How am I still alive…?"

Liu Sumeng and Yuan Xuelan shared a look. There wasn't much information but so far, there seemed to be no evidence of Hui Ziwang and the tiangou. Was the Hui Moxiang girl they saw earlier who they sent instead? It all seemed a little strange.

"Let's move," Liu Sumeng said bluntly, to which Yuan Xuelan elaborated.

"We'll tell you what we know while climbing the stairs. Who knows what could be up there on higher levels?" Yuan Xuelan motioned toward the stairs with a nudge before turning his attention to the Ivory Sword Saint, "How's your arm?"

"...?" Liu Sumeng, who was leading the group up the stairs, looked to his side as Yuan Xuelan caught up to him. He had almost forgotten about his arm and flexed his fingers to feel how his nerves cried in protest. His strength still hadn't completely returned. "It's fine."

"Ah, I'm never going to believe you again!" Yuan Xuelan reached over and inspected the arm for himself tracing the strained and bruised muscles beneath his fingers.

"..." Liu Sumeng schooled his expression, refusing to show any signs of discomfort.

"Here, please take this." Yuan Xuelan fished out a restorative pill from his pouch and placed it in Liu Sumeng's palm.

The Ivory Sword Saint frowned, "No, you take it."

And like this, they bickered their way up the winding staircase. From within the tower, the ceiling appeared to command an even greater height than physically possible. Li Zheng was the only one that was familiar with the way the spiraling wooden rails dipped and folded and led to the next floor. But he also stayed behind, his head still throbbing from headache and limbs feeling weak.

He looked at the two cultivators in front of him and thought about them carefully. They had introduced themselves to him and Li Zheng would be living under a rock not to have heard their names before.

The Ivory Sword Saint's fame was one critically acclaimed and beheld a unique martial talent only seen once in several centuries. It was strange that he didn't appear at the Supreme Hunting Tournament but he definitely would have been a crowd favorite if he came.

Yuan Xuelan was quite famous himself, and it was no secret that the Sect Leader of the Ascending Dawn Sect had lucked out when he picked up the boy off the streets. His prowess with crafting and tinkering with magical tools was a well sought after skill and Li Zheng hadn't known that this Yuan Xuelan was a skilled martial artist as well.

But it still didn't quite sate his question, "What are you two doing here?"

The two glanced over their shoulders before continuing on. The next level was close now and so was the stench of resentful energy.

"We were following our enemy," Liu Sumeng answered plainly.

"Yeah, well. In case you were wondering who the villain is in this entire fucking mess you can blame it on my cousin, Peng Jipei. That Devil Path cultivator you were suspecting? Definitely him."

Li Zheng paled, "Peng Jipei? Of the Hidden Mist Sect? How in the world…"

"I honestly wish I could tell you but I suppose all you need to know right now is that that fucker is involved with the Demon King and whatever evil they're up to," Yuan Xuelan's voice was low and angry and Li Zheng couldn't blame him.

His heart was also filled with simmering rage and the desire to right the wrongs that have come to his home. He was terrified to see his brothers and sisters dead, their corpses crudely used for whatever evil purpose.

And worse, he didn't know if anyone but himself had come out of this attack alive…

After that tragedy years ago…and now this again…

Despair was heavy in Li Zheng's mind but he did his best to keep his composure in front of these two strangers. For now, the only thing he could do was follow their lead.

The second floor was unlike the first and was instead divided into several smaller chambers, connected by a very narrow U-shaped hallway that led to a wider room at the end and more stairs circling up to the top of the tower.

There were some private rooms here, Li Zheng explained and studies that the Elders liked to occupy for their alchemy practices.

This floor only had two animated corpses that stood in their way with nowhere near the terrifying power of the beast they encountered in the first floor hall.

Yuan Xuelan veered his gaze toward the ceiling, knowing that there were even more floors above this one. "Just what is up there away?"

Li Zheng frowned, he wasn't entirely sure but he also had a vague idea. But it involved a secret that Zhao Fanyu had entrusted with him years ago and he had promised to disclose to no one.

Luckily, he did not have to mention it because Liu Sumeng was already aware, "It is likely where the Ten Thousand Eternal Star Bead is hidden."

Li Zheng froze in his tracks and stared at the Ivory Sword Saint with wide goldfish eyes, "How do you know?"

Liu Sumeng's expression was calm and gave away nothing, "It is what they are here to steal. It only makes sense."

"Ah," Yuan Xuelan nodded knowingly, "No wonder. But what was that pouch that Xiao Hao went and picked up earlier from the corpse?"

But no, things still didn't make sense to Li Zheng. After the first massacre suffered at the Wayward Wind's hands, it should have been made known that the Ten Thousand Eternal Star Bead was in fact not here! They suffered so much because of that one terrible treasure… Why in the world did that demon return after all these years of silence?

The answers to those questions could not be so easily uncovered. The young Wayward Wind disciple had no choice but to follow these two strangers in hopes they could help him solve some of those mysteries.

Li Zheng said, "The upper levels are protected by powerful complex barriers. You need a key to enter without triggering a series of traps. That's probably what it was."

He turned his gaze downwards, refusing to watch Yuan Xuelan cleave the corpse ahead of them in two. To the Ascending Dawn disciple, it may have been nothing more than a monster grappling for a bite of their flesh but to Li Zheng…that was Elder Shi who would tell him stories about her travels to distant places and patiently watch him make mistakes before gently guiding him in the right direction.

"..." Li Zheng clenched his teeth, the terrible feeling inside him made his body go numb.

There was still a ways up to climb and each floor more of Li Zheng's precious few people in his life were being cut down. He didn't know if he could last till the top but he had no choice.

…

Zhao Fanyu as well, was not given much of a choice.

For the first time in days his consciousness was blinking back to the front of his mind but his body still felt terribly heavy and slow.

The room he was in was dark and damp and his arms and his feet were bound with some kind of enchanted rope.

How silly it wasn't like he could put up much of a fight in the state that he was in anyway.

His eyelids were as heavy as steel but he forcefully peeled them open to get a better look at his surroundings. All he could really register was how much it smelt like rot and piss. He wanted to sigh but didn't have enough energy to do even that.

Someone was holding him up by the hair and while he could feel that his scalp was straining in protest, the pain was numb and distant.

"You're awake," there was that familiar voice again that he'd been hearing…except now Zhao Fanyu's mind was a little bit more aware. He turned his tired eyes toward the speaker.

"So…it's you," he said with a sigh.His voice hadn't been used in so long it came out terribly hoarse. Why wasn't he surprised at seeing Peng Jipei? When he looked up, he saw it was Peng Jipei's dead mother holding him up by the hair. 'Ah, just great,' he thought sarcastically.

Peng Jipei on the other hand, could not claim to have the same level of calmness as the Wayward Sect leader. He growled in response and shuffled his feet nervously, only to remember the leverage he currently had on this man.

"You will hand the Ten Thousand Eternal Star Bead to me," Peng Jipei said, trying to mask the nervous tremor in his voice with a vile hiss.

Zhao Fanyu sighed again, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep, "I…don't think so."

"Oh, you will." Peng Jipei replied venomously.

And perhaps it was the delayed return of his awareness that only allowed Zhao Fanyu to hear the additional whimpering and sobbing voices that accompanied Peng Jipei.

He forced his eyes to stay open and looked around the dark moldy room.

Next to Peng Jipei were a row of kneeling figures all bound similarly to him.

For the first time, dread curled in Zhao Fanyu's heart, loud and visceral.

These were all people close and dear to him.

\u003cscript type="text/javascript" async="" src="//joyshoul.com/22bd1a92d57466cd6c.js"\u003e\u003c/script\u003e