Chapter 369: Twists And Turns
400 feet...
300 feet...
200 feet...
Their eyes gazed at the stones that loomed before them as they drew nearer to a dead end. Could they still survive in such a desperate situation?
The atmosphere grew more tense as their uncertainty increased. If it was a common dead end, they had no choice but to die.
“Colors! They have different colors!” Zen suddenly shouted. He was the first one who noticed the difference in color. He found that there were rows of runes on the stone pillars' surfaces at the dead end.
“March!” Rocher said and rushed forward. His eyes glinted as he charged with gritted teeth. Although he didn't know what the runes meant, he saw a silver lining. Besides, they had no way back.
The lava tide surged again. The stone pillars would be soon submerged in it, since only the tops of the pillars were visible now.
There were ten stone pillars in the dead end, and every pillar was circled by runes. When Zen stepped on them, the runes lit up.
He swiftly moved past ten pillars, and each one of them lit up.
Finally, Zen came to the end. Suddenly, a vortex appeared.
The dark bluish-grey vortex was similar to the vortex that they had encountered under the arched gateway of the Cloud Road.
“A road!” Zen exclaimed. His eyes brightened and a smile found its way to his face. It turned out that he was right in the gamble.
At the same time, Rocher had followed and caught up to him. When he reached the last pillar and stepped on it, a vortex appeared in front of him as well.
Did that mean everyone had a vortex?
At that moment, another person rushed to the scene. Lewis looked like he fell into the waters but was able to grasp at a lifesaving straw. When he saw the vortex, he raced so fast that he was even quicker than Zen and Rocher had been. He even jumped into the air with his unique bodily movement skills which he took much pride in, and landed steadily on the last pillar.
“Ah?”
But he didn't see a third vortex appear in front of him.
'What happened?' he wondered. Lewis blanched. The lava tide surged higher and had already reached the pillars' surface. Why wasn't there a vortex for him? “Dang it! I don't care. I'll just jump in any of the vortexes.”
As soon as he finished his words, he jumped into one of the vortexes. However, when he got in halfway, a huge repelling force pushed him back.
“This is not the vortex you have triggered. You can't go in. Did you miss any pillar just now?” Zen asked in a heavy tone. Meanwhile, the lava rose higher and higher.
“Ummm...it seems like so...”
Lewis' nerves were on edge. He got too excited when he saw the vortexes that he jumped over the fourth pillar and missed it.
“Go back to step on it!” Zen said. “But... but...”
The fourth pillar was almost submerged by the lava tide already. The runes flickered in the view as the orange glow of the lahar rose continuously.
“Okay. But we don't care if you die or not,” Rocher said coldly and then he turned to Zen, “It's time we went inside. Let's go, Zen!”
After Rocher spoke, Lewis flew into the air with gritted teeth. He hovered above for a while, then landed effortlessly on the fourth pillar. It wasn't a surprise for him to make it as he was skilled at bodily movement himself. He was like a giant bird that soared in the air as he lit the runes on the pillar with his tiptoe, then he swiftly came back.
All the pillars were now submerged by the lava. Zen and Rocher already jumped into the vortexes. Unfortunately, Lewis had nowhere to stand on now.
"I'll step!
Step!
Step!"
Luckily, Lewis had mastered extraordinary bodily movement skill. If it were Zen or Rocher who was in the same situation, they probably would not succeed. Lewis could gain momentum and fly into the air. He was able to maintain the height he reached in the air with the help of his cloak.
He looked like a hen that struggled to flap its wings when he performed his special method. Unfortunately, he fell down despite his great efforts to maintain balance.
In the end, Lewis fell into the vortex and left a downward parabola-like trace in the air.
After he fell into the vortex, he fell heavily on the ground with a resounding thud.
He clutched his right foot in his hands and groaned in pain. Apparently, his foot was hurt.
The lava already covered the pillars when he fled the place, and the molten liquid was extremely hot. Even Lewis only touched the pillar with his tiptoe, some lava was splashed on his foot.
Not everyone had an indestructible body like Zen. It was extremely painful to be burned by the lava.
Suddenly, there was a clattering sound.
Rocher threw Lewis a small bottle. “Take it. It is Ice Pill for treating wounds from empyrosis.”
Lewis looked at him gratefully. He took the pill and put it into his mouth.
As Lewis swallowed the pill, Zen and Rocher looked around to check the surroundings.
The road they had chosen was the Death Road, but the test they had gone through just now wasn't as difficult as they had imagined. They could easily conquer it as long as they were firm enough. Since they picked the Death Road, then the real test lay ahead.
They seemed to have entered a separate space after they went through the vortexes. The space was dim and the sky was grey, with only a few flashes of light in it. The surroundings had a depressing effect. It was like a cramped place where daylight would never come.
There was a jungle in the distance. The darkness in the jungle was even more frightening, as no one knew what mysterious and powerful beings would lurk in there.
“Let's go!” Zen announced. Rocher followed him closely. Lewis hurriedly stood up and hobbled along behind. Although cultivators usually recovered rapidly and Lewis took an Ice Pill from Rocher, it still took some time for the wound to heal completely.
Now, Lewis regretted that he hadn't obtained the blue treasure box. If he had gone all out to take it and had sucked the nine-headed dragon's blood vigor, his small wound would've healed immediately.
They had reached the dark jungle, but they barely saw anything except the tiny glimmers of light. They only moved forward by instinct.
Lewis had shut up this time. It was a critical moment and he wasn't dumb, otherwise he wouldn't have had such a high strength level. He would be headed towards an early grave if he dared to rant or even speak in such place.
They had only walked in the dark and quiet jungle for a short while before they suddenly heard something swish in the air and shoot towards them.
Whoosh!
The sound was faint but Zen had heard it.
“Be careful!” Lewis reminded. Fortunately, Zen had reacted quickly.
He reached out his hand and pulled Rocher back. Then, they saw a small, dark narrow shadow brush past them. However, it grazed past Rocher and hurt his arm.
The fabric that covered Rocher's arm was cut open and revealed a small scratch on the skin.
“What's that?”
Rocher held his Blood-corroding Sword in his hand and cautiously looked around.
The small black shadow didn't seem to be a hidden weapon like a dart, since they all saw it swerve its direction after it hit Rocher, and disappeared into the jungle again. It was more like some kind of creature.
Meanwhile, Lewis sniffed the air and his eyes widened. “I saw it. It is a kind of a tiny bat. It has very thin, sharp wings like a blade. This kind of blade bat has hurt Rocher,” he suddenly blurted out.
“How did you see that?” Zen asked curiously. A giggle escaped Lewis' lips.
“I have a special talent to see things in the dark. As long as there is a glimmer of light, I can see everything clearly without difficulty. Even if it's so dim here, I can still see clearly as if we were in broad daylight,” he said.
It turned out that he had an inborn night vision.
It wasn't until then that Zen noticed that Lewis' eyes had a blue flash of light. His eyes were similar to those of cats, which could see things in low-light conditions.
“Be careful, dudes. There are a lot of them around...”
As soon as Lewis' words sank in, they heard a wave of rustling sounds. It looked like the bats came in groups as the swishing sounds engulfed the air.
A large number of black shadows rushed towards them in the dark. They had extremely sharp wings, which left long and narrow cuts on anything they hit.
At that moment, sword intent appeared and circled around Zen and Rocher to protect them. It formed a cyclone which firmly wrapped them up within its shield of protection.
Any blade that came to attack them would be instantly smashed into pieces by the consummate sword intent.
Although the blade bats had sharp wings and were numerous in number, they were actually quite weak individually. Zen's and Rocher's shields of sword intent were the bane of the bats and it killed all of them that tried to attack.
“Ah...”
However, Lewis didn't have the tough sword intent that Zen and Rocher possessed. He had no choice but to wrap his body within his cloak. That way, he completely hid his scent.
Those bats didn't have eyes. They sensed the existence of humans in a very special way. Lewis' magical cloak prevented his scent from being detected.
Even though the three men all had their own ways to protect themselves, they were still on high alert. The Death Road was not an empty name. It wasn't that easy for them to get through.
They headed forward and there appeared a vortex not far away.
“Still leading us to another place?”
Zen's face darkened.
“Where will we be led to?” Rocher had a hunch that it was not a good sign. They were headed deeper to a dead end that would eventually lead them to death.
What humans feared the most was not a monster or a ghost, but uncertainty.
If they discovered a ghost, they wouldn't be so scared as they saw what it looked like.
Before they embarked on the Cloud Road, they were aware that there would be a path that led them to the finish line. Although they knew they would face many difficulties along the way, at least they knew where the road headed to.
But now, the road they trod on was the Death Road. They had no idea where it would bring them to.
Then again, there were no other better choices. They went through the vortex. An explosive sound was heard when they landed, followed by blazing flames that rose up in the air.
“It is the Karma Fire!” Zen screamed. He had recognized it at first sight. The flames were the Green Lotus Karma Fire from Patrick.
But, who was he fighting against? This trick was Patrick's trump card that he usually didn't utilize until someone forced him to do so. When Patrick had initiated his Acalanatha shadow, this technique was only usable again after several days. Moreover, he usually didn't employ it unless he was in great danger. It was clear that Patrick was in a tough situation.
“Who is Patrick fighting against?” Zen asked as he looked at the direction where the flames came from. “I don't know. Let's go check!”
Zen strode forward and moved quickly to where the flames were from. They were rivals in Cloud Sect back then, but they were all now in Cloud Road.
They were in the same team now since they all came from Cloud Sect. Thus, Zen naturally thought that he must help Patrick at this critical moment.