The speed of the pursuers on their heels was much slower than what Ji Bai anticipated. He had originally estimated they would inevitably be intercepted by the other party in the middle of their journey. After all, he was sprinting at human speed while carrying a wounded person. He reckoned the delay was caused by the narrow and twisty topography of this place hindering the enormous griffin from unleashing its full speed.
“Those persistent curs have caught up. Hold on tight.” For some reason, upon seeing traces of regret appearing on the face of the girl who was in his embrace, Ji Bai’s mischievous side was greatly aroused and he suddenly felt the urge to tease her. “Let’s go, Parasite!”
Before she could shift her sight away from the weathered murals, the scenery in Lin’s vision speedily flitted past her. This was accompanied by her hair swaying in the wind and the sound of echoes gradually growing louder behind her.
“Rumble!!” The ear-deafening explosion of rocks and earth crumbling seemed capable of freezing the heavens. An enormous dark silhouette burst through the floating screen of dust formed by tiny fragments of sandstone and gravel, revealing its massive eagle-like head in the process.
“Cough, cough… Are you sure this is the place, old fogey?” The black-gowned elder on top of the griffin clenched his chest as he broke into an uncontrollable series of dry coughs from the excessive dust.
“What? Are you questioning the [Lord of the Sin]’s order?” The purple-gowned elder didn’t pay any attention to the black-gowned priest’s disgruntled frown which was directed at him. His grizzled beard was slightly curled up as he looked at the fiery light in the cave.
“Seems like we have already arrived at our goal, the burial ground of the heretic’s leader as described in the [Lord of the Sin]’s tale.” The purple-gowned elder stroked his beard, a pleasant smile plastered all over his face.
“The burial ground of the heretic’s leader? And what are we here for? Can those folks that were buried deep into the ground so long ago even pose a challenge to us?” Upset at the purple-gowned elder due to his earlier actions, the priest snorted.
“The [Lord of the Sin] is the only true god of this world. To have him personally kill these filthy infidels would dirty his hands. His [Edict] clearly states that an inauspicious object is buried in these grounds and requires us to obliterate it before our [Lord] can bless us with his miracles and send his avatar down. Is the priest intending to disobey his order?” The purple-gowned elder coldly harrumphed.
“Why didn’t this old set of bones receive that edict?”
“Oh, that’s actually normal. After all, confidential matters regarding the cult can’t be revealed to non-core members.”
“You…!”
“Hehe.” The purple-robed elder showed a sarcastic smile and no longer bothered with the priest, whose beard almost stood erect from anger. With his head held high, he issued a command to the griffin. “Smash on through.”
……………
“Perhaps you really hit the mark.”
“Hmm?” The cold voice coming from inside his embrace attracted Ji Bai’s attention. He cast a slight glance at the silver-haired girl and realized that she was, at this moment, completely focused on the objects surrounding her on both sides: Bottles and crockery which laid covered in dust for an unknown amount of years, as well as swords and spears whose neat arrangements couldn’t betray the fact that they had long been corroded by the passage of time.
“This place might actually be a grand ancient tomb.”
“You studied archaeology?”
“I know a thing or two.” Lin said softly. “These jars should be burial gifts. There’s also these neatly arranged weapons, which makes me think that this is the burial place of an accomplished general.”
“Are you able to confirm which dynasty and era they belong to?” Asked Ji Bai as he surveyed the corridor that seemed to stretch into infinity.
“At the least, I’m certain they’re not from a civilization of this epoch.” Stated Lin with confidence after closely examining the carved patterns on the jars.
“So basically nothing.” Ji Bai shook his head.
“…Boom!!” The heavy, muffled sound of a distant collapse traveled through the long corridor and assaulted the pair’s back, bringing along it a breeze which whipped through Lin’s hair.
“That was probably less than a hundred meters away.” Out of nowhere, Lin let out a brief and vague sentence after shooting a glance behind their back.
“Got it.” Ji Bai tacitly understood what she meant and responded without turning his head around.
“Less than 50 meters.”
Loud destruction noises reverberated in Ji Bai’s ears.
“Mhm.” Responded Ji Bai in an indifferent tone.
“Less than 10 meters.”
Ji Bai didn’t respond. Having reached the end of the corridor, he angled his body forward, gathered all his strength in his heels and released it all at once.
The impact created by Ji Bai shattered the wooden door obstructing their way into a cloud of sawdust.
The first action Ji Bai performed upon charging in was to roll to the side. As he still had someone in his arms, the process was extremely awkward, leaving them both sprawled onto the ground the next instant. The pair were so close to each other that they could sense each other’s breaths.
“Boom!!…” Before the two could even react, the wooden fenced door, which now had a human-shaped hole from the collision earlier, was successfully breached once more. This time, the damage was certainly more destructive, as the entire door got demolished along with its sill and the wall surrounding it. Its wood split into fragments mid-air which fell to the ground as a pile of sawdusts.
“As expected of vampires who are known for their tenacious vitality, you’re still alive even after being burned by the ‘flames of sealing’ twice. You’re truly no easy opponent.” Forcefully forcing his way inside, the purple-gowned elder instantly narrowed his wizened eyes after noticing Ji Bai and Lin.
Ji Bai took this opportunity to get away from Lin and free himself from the awkward posture before speedily picking up his torch that had fallen to the ground. Surveilling his surroundings made him discover that stone candles, which seemed to serve the same purpose as the ones in the previous corridor, had been set up around this area as well. However, their flames were all on the verge of dying out, so he barely had visibility outside of the small area illuminated by his torch. He could only make a rough estimation on the walls surrounding him, which made him realize that this extremely spacious room was a dead end.
“I didn’t think you would actually enter this place. However, this is where it ends.” The purple-gowned elder coldly harrumphed.
“Hurry and finish them up. Last thing we need are any troubling loose ends.” Said the priest who was unhappy with the elder’s blabbering.
“There’s no need for your warning, Revered Priest. I’m aware.” The purple-gowned elder coldly harrumphed and pointed his snake-headed staff at the two below him.
“Griffin, finish them off.”
“Roar!!” Its sinister eagle-like head turned towards the pair. Its vertical pupils, which were as big as a clock, swiveled about before turning wide round upon locking onto Ji Bai.
Ji Bai took out his fang-shaped longsword and placed himself in front of Lin. In the process, the oppressive body difference between him and his opponent was revealed.
Powerlessly lying on the ground, Lin propped her body up and sat down. Her panting grew uncontrollably hurried as she stared at the unequal standoff between the sword-wielding Ji Bai before her and the gigantic griffin.
If things went as she expected, another fierce battle would soon begin…
Ji Bai had no experiences he could refer to when it came to this creature which only existed in fictitious legends. He did not hold much chance of victory in his grasp.
“Clack…” Just as everyone was gearing up for combat and the atmosphere had grown extremely tense, a tooth-aching sound similar to an opening door rang out of nowhere.
The sound of the howling wind subsequently changed. Faster than everyone on the scene could react, a warped ‘metal block’ emerged from the shadows like lightning.
“Boom!!” The following impact didn’t last a minute, as the ‘block of metal’ flying out of nowhere accurately struck the griffin and sent its massive body flying away, ferociously smashing it into a wall on the side.
“…” It wasn’t just Ji Bai; Even Lin was shocked at the sudden change of events.
“This…” At this moment, the six massive stone candles which should have been extinguished suddenly re-ignited, completely bathing the spacious room in bright light.