Chapter 114 - Ethereal Blade

They went in the stone mine. General Lofey was up front with Tyriece and the other Chiangdas. The Goding soldiers brought torches inside and Lofey lighted them. It comforted everyone with the thought a strong and powerful man like him led them.

"Stay alert! We don't know what lies ahead of us," he shouted and they were all very keen to listen. 

Everything inside seemed normal, nothing special, just an ordinary old mine. They found cobwebs on the ceiling and long rusty steel rails in the middle. Plain rocks, no sign of any life form but the weird thing was, none of them saw any critters inside. 

They relaxed a bit with the thought nothing disrupted their march so far. However, when they went deeper, they saw human skeletons. Their eyes widened as their minds were on alert again. But General Lofey remained composed, ready to strike with his fiery balls when needed.

Tyriece walked to one and pulled a necklace, cutting the spine with the pull. A lot of Goding soldiers did the same, looting the jewelries from the dead.

"Hey! Stop disturbing the dead," yelled a middle-aged Youshi man.

"Ah, sorry" Tyriece gasped, understanding he made a mistake. He forgot the customs and beliefs of the Youshians. Yet, he kept the necklace. General Lofey looked back with a stern face and the soldiers went back in line, mumbling 'sorry' but hid the loot in their pockets. 

Tyriece wiped the dull pendant and surprised to see the blue stone. He rubbed his sleeve on the chain and a yellowish color came out. Gold? He thought, but unsure with the yellow light on Lofey's hand. He observed every skeleton they passed.

No swords or any weapons found. The dead wore ornaments, not common to workers and soldiers alike. He guessed these people were wealthy men in their days.

Later, they reached a part where everything seemed to get colder and the cave seemed to lighten up. Their torches were getting smaller, but the light was getting brighter. 

"What in the world?" General Lofey saw he believed was a spectre. And it looked mad and somewhat mourning. The ghosts looked back after he spoke and their eyes went red to see more men coming.

"Men! Get ready to fight," he shouted. They all unsheathed their swords and got into a battle stance, preparing for any attacks. The ghosts shrieked and charged toward them. 

Lofey at the front formed a wall of fire to slow them down, unsure if this might keep them from coming. Some of them got through. The smaller ones stayed behind the wall of fire. 

Tyriece used the rocks to form into tiny fragments and shot them one by one towards the apparitions, but it didn't seem to work. It just went through to his dismay. 

The wind Chiangda sent wind swords, but it only blew the apparitions. Once he paused, it came right back. Lofey and the other fire Chiangda fought with fire and held some ghosts off, but the others got past them.

As the ghosts charged right through the none magic wielders, the latter's bodies fell to the ground, lifeless and cold. The others started to panic and eyes widened in terror. This was their first time encountering something as terrifying as this. 

Some of them retreated in terror and started running towards the back, even those considered brave in the army cowered with what they witnessed. They would rather fight with their swords against flesh and blood than these ghosts to whom they couldn't touch. 

Ming and Xinyi heard the screams. "Retreat, my Lord," shouted the men, running past them. Nianshi's first action was to stay in front of Xinyi to protect her. 

"Nianshi, stay with Xinyi. Don't let her go." He was about to run off when Xinyi grabbed his hand.

"Where are you going?" She seemed to worry about him running off without her. She didn't understand but felt didn't want him off her sight. Ming's cry in the Cave of Truth haunted her. Ever since that experience, she realized how important he was to her. Xinyi couldn't say it, but her actions spoke aloud.

"I can't leave my man to the hands of someone they barely know. Neither can I just let them be in this time of danger." He shook his hand off from hers and looked at Nianshi. The brave lion-dragon nodded in assurance. 

Seeing his back running off didn't sit well with her. Being the hard-headed person, she followed right after. Nianshi knew her too well to hold her back, so he silently followed her. The latter wanted to transform into a dragon so much but afraid he might injure the people running inside with his huge body obstructing the whole passage. 

Suddenly, above them appeared one apparition and screamed to Xinyi. Nianshi had to do something. But surprisingly Xinyi did not run nor froze in fear. Instead, she stood with her eyes toward the ghost. Nianshi understood she was commanding the Hutyuns into action. 

The Hutyuns were unsure with what they were fighting against since they could not see it, but trusted their queen would never put them in harm's way. Xinyi focused her heart to the task and saw Lofey's fire hurt the apparitions.

Thus, she thought of the Hutyuns to turn into balls of fire but before a word came out her mouth; the Hutyuns transformed. Her eyes gleamed to see this and focused her heart and mind to make the Hutyuns fight. At that moment, the queen and the minions became one. The wee beings were now perfectly in sync with her.

The apparition yelled in pain when the fire hit them. At first, they moved back to the walls and find other ways to attack her. But Xinyi made a whirlwind of fire around her, scaring the ghosts away. Most of all, her fire was potent enough to burn half of their transparent bodies. Yet, they wouldn't die. 

Seeing them crying in horror, she let the Hutyuns turned into fire arrows. However, they didn't retreat and angrily charged at her by gliding in swift moves to avoid her fires. She didn't hold back and waved her hand, sending long horizontal fire, striking the ghosts' chests.

"Awooh!" the apparitions howled in pain.

Nianshi also did his part. He let his talons appear and tried to cut the apparitions' bellies. But he frowned for it didn't connect. It even touched him. He let out his hidden magic sword and it connected. This relieved him.

The sword was not ordinary because it was carved with emerald stones. Most of all, it was blessed by the late Sorceress by naming it Ethereal Blade. The ghosts' arms turned into dust and the being wailed in pain as it dispersed. 

That shout was a warning to the rest, turning their heads toward Nianshi. Suddenly a large group of apparitions flew through the walls and didn't come out again. Nianshi kept swinging his sword, running after them, until there was nothing left in sight.