We fell to silence as we made our way to the center of this tunnel system. Well, the three of us in the back remained silent, the kids were anything but.
They regaled the tales of how they fought against the same shadows back in the realm to Han Yimu who seemed eager to learn more and more, while I wondered just how difficult the upcoming fight would be. We've faced two Sages thus far--well, actually, only one for sure. The man I killed in the realm... I'm not sure whether he was a Sage or just someone who belonged to the order.
Regardless, neither of the fights were easy. They were anything but, really. And from the sounds of it, this one might be the toughest one yet despite the fact we'd only be facing an Avatar. From my understanding of cultivation, one could make an Avatar as early as Inner World Realm, though most cultivators waited until reaching the True God Realm to make theirs.
Now, considering that the Avatar itself was at that realm, I can only imagine the actual person's realm. No, I probably shouldn't; the only reason we're down here in the first place was because it's an opportunity, and if I wring my pretty little head over the implications of that opportunity, I might just get cold feet.
We walked for about two hours before the light emerged at the end of the tunnel, literally. It was quite blinding and if I weren't shielding my eyes with Qi, it would have probably taken quite some time to get used to it.
It was a massive cavity in the ground, a somewhat dome-shaped cave spanning close to half a mile in every direction that I could see. It had fancy, white-tile flooring of some sort, walls coated with almost facade-like surface, and just shy of a hundred white-tinted gems embedded into the walls that were blaring light like they were goddamn custom-installed beams on a car.
The entire hall was filled with strange, metal lanterns, sizes varying from that of a small child to that of a house. There were also pagoda-like structures, bronze and iron-cast, spiraling around the edges of the hall.
It all corralled toward the center where dark-twilight hue jutted from the ground in the shape of a massive, towering vine. It twisted and writhed, colored shadows and smoke jutting from its body; it started wide, almost like a tree, with roots undulating visibly. Stem-like parts broke away from the main body and floated in a concentric spiral around the vine, almost like broken-off stairways aiming up toward the tip.
The vine tangled and untangled as it grew upward, its tip touching and penetrating the ceiling where a massive, circular web of energy lines was visible to the naked eye--the core of the grand formation, I imagine. There were literal tens of thousands of lines and nodules and strange runes, and even trying to untangle it all for a second gave me a headache.
Dark smoke broke away from the tip of the vine and, like thin and lightning-like clouds, it spread out, gently shuddering like flags in the wind.
Beautiful purple hue would pulse frequently within the vine's body, giving light through the slightly transparent and thin surface; unlike the other vines, it wasn't taking things, but rather sending some kind of an energy out. And each time the vine would pulse, so would the array above.
Most of the energy lines shared the same color as the vine, dark and purple, while the very edges, as the vine corrupted from inside the circle towards its edges, remained of bright-cyan color, though clearly dulling in real time.
"... it's beautiful," Lao Shun said and I couldn't disagree. Honestly, the way it all twisted and tangled and curled and dissolved and diffused... it didn't quite seem real.
It was like concept art of some fantasy landscape, where the artist added the brush strokes that kind of, sort of resembled a shape, but zooming in would reveal... nothing. The vine and the shadows and the smoke around it were kind of like that; like strokes of a brush, lacking in fine detail, merely resembling a shape that's meant to convey an idea rather than being that idea.
"Some new children come," a voice broke the low sound of the hum that echoed throughout the entire hall. "You have interrupted a meeting I have been looking forward to for a long time, lowly things."
The source of the voice was the figure sitting in a lotus position at the base of the vine, facing away from us. His back was narrow and lanky, his shoulders almost seeming pinched toward his neck; his head was bald and wrinkly, even from the back, and his voice had a strange rasp to it that kind of annoyed me. Like when you have a knot stuck in your throat and refuse to cough it out, so your voice gets that odd rasp for a little bit.
"How will you repay me?"
Energy around him was... pressing. A small distinction I realized almost immediately and also recognized that he was by far the strongest person we'd ever met (excluding those unmentionable things I'd encounter on occasion) simply because not a single iota of Qi leaked out of him.
The only person I've known to be able to do that... was Long Tao, actually. For every other one (again, excluding the unmentionables), I could at least sense some Qi leakage. With him? There was nothing. He was like a dense star, sturdy and unmoving.
I tried using my Creator's Eye--or, well, Dao Sight--but it asked me to spend good 15,000 points to view it partially. There's a good chance that the person behind the Avatar is an Emperor, or at least a realm adjacent to an Emperor.
Now that I've met the 'man', I truly did not want the kids to fight. I believed in them more than I've ever believed in anyone, but... I don't think that they can contend, even in the slightest.
"Many, many, many years have passed since someone dared not to respond to a question I asked; at the very least, I must acquiesce to your courage. No... perhaps it is stupidity. That child you've sent away, though she would have failed, at least she would have entertained me. You? A heap of brainless, talentless children? Do you even understand what you have gotten yourself into?"
"Master, he's another yapper, it looks like," Dai Xiu said, taking out the gauntlets and putting them on her fists. "I--" she twisted her neck to the side just in time to dodge a needle made out of shadows that sped away and lodged itself into a wall behind us.
"Oh? You--"
"--you stealth-attacked, what did you call us? Brainless, talentless children?" Dai Xiu grinned. "Wow. I've met many pathetic old men in my life, and you could compete with just about any one of them."
"Ho ho, a child has a tongue on her. Very well; in return, I give you one attack. Any one of you can attack me, and I won't defend."
"..." everyone suddenly fell silent, looking at the man oddly. "Uh, are you sure?" Dai Xiu asked.
"You should hurry before I change my mind and flatten you all into a paste."
"... hey, it's your life," Dai Xiu shrugged, pulling back. "Go easy on him." she said to Xi Zhao who stepped in her place, hand on the handle of the sword, eyes flashing with brilliant light.
... uh, dude. Won't you destroy the entire damn cave and bury us in here?!