Wu Xie
Even if they run toward the door as fast as they could, they still were too late to escape and thus they were trapped inside the chamber, all thanks to the idiot that was warned of stop playing with the amber stone and didn't listen.
"Did you really came here to help? You doom us all, you fool!!" Pangzi yelled to Mop, who was already cowering under the pressure of been trapped, not to mention by his own doings.
"I... It wasn't my inten..." But Mop could not finish his apology, because as he speak, something else happen that made their blood run cold with shock. Out of nowhere, the perhaps hundreds of jade servants in the room came to life all at once and begin to slowly move toward them.
Instantly Zhang Qiling was in front of Wu Xie, ready to protect him at all cost and so he did for the first wave of jade servants that attack them. He was skilled enough to keep those servants away if nothing else worked, because as Pangzi discover, the jade armor of the servants was well made and as hard as steel.
"Damn it!! That thing is too hard!!!" Pangzi despaired after punching one straight in the chest and having a pained fist as a result.
"Take their weapons away!" Xiaoge yelled and so they did when they had the chance, but as more and more soldiers came to fend whatever secrets that chamber had, it became more difficult for Qiling to stay close to Wu Xie.
"Xiaoge! Why does this jade servants don't die?" Pangzi yelled as he fought another one.
"They are not alive to begin with!" Wu Xie responded for Qiling, as he too try his best to take down the one that had come for him.
"Then how do we get out of this mess? They are too many?" Pan Zi asked as he did his owns.
"I... I will fix this thing now!" Mop yelled as he ran toward the round table. The true was that he was not only repenting his previous actions, but also looking for a safer place to hide. He crossed the small distance to the stone table in a flash and try to put back the amber stone he stole before, but well...
"What the hell?!! Don't, you idiot!!" Wu Xie yelled as another tremor shake the chamber and Wu Xie lose his footing, falling into the floor at the same moment a jade servant came to him and was about to strike him down, when Xiaoge kicked it with as much force as his leg muster, sending the servant flaying and crashing into another armored servant that was giving problems to Pangzi, saving two men with only one strike.
"Ah, that was too awesome, thank you Xiaoge!!" Pangzi yelled happily, but Qiling was too busy pulling Wu Xie back to his feet and moving him around in order to keep him from been strike by one of those long swords of them. However, as the jade servant he had kicked previously collapsed into the floor, something unexpected came out of it. A black slithering snake that although it wasn't a keelback, it was not less dangerous than them.
"Snakes, watch out!" Xiaoge yelled and just in time for Pangzi to avoid been bitten again, as he manage to dodge the coming snake and kill it before he could end up half dead a second time that day.
"Damn snakes! Are those things controlling the armor?" Pangzi asked.
"Yes." Wenjin said, as she strike one of the very few that came after her.
"And why are you not been surrounded like the rest of us? Are they gentleman's to top it all?" Pangzi shouted to Wenjin.
"It must be the smell! They most know I had been given the shibi pill!" She yelled back.
"Wow, you did? That's dangerous stuff!" Pangzi told her.
"Never mind that, we are in troubles here! Outnumbered by both jade servants and snakes, it's not on our odds!" Wu Xie exclaimed, as Qiling killed one snake after the other.
"All be damn, I will blast that door for good with a kiss from the explosives I happen to carry!!" Pangzi yelled, kicking one jade servant away.
"What, you still have explosives with you?!" Pan Zi shouted.
"Not mine! I got them from Master San Xing! ... Oh, I mean Master Xie Lian..." Pangzi rectify himself, but at that point Wu Xie had his hands too full with saving his own life to mind that slip, although he did mind the bombing intention.
"Wait! Using explosives can be suicide!" Wu Xie protested.
"Yeah, but a huge one at that!" Pangzi shouted.
"We don't really have more options..." Pan Zi said as he keep up the fight.
"Xiaoge?" Wu Xie looked for his lover's approval or denial.
"No other way." Xiaoge said and thus that make it for Wu Xie. If Xiaoge was fine with it, then he trusted his judgment.
"Alright... let's give it a try!" Wu Xie yelled.
"Then give me some cover, will you? I only got four, so let's hope is enough to blast this thing off before those servants or snakes kill us all." Pangzi said as he ran toward the door, while the rest take the task of keeping the jade servants as far as they could from Pangzi.
The first blast was heard by the two men that had just walked away from the entrance they could not open, as they came down to find the others. Xiao Hua stopped in his track when the place shake by the impact, but as far as they could see, there was no damage in the door, not even a small crack.
"That must be Pangzi..." Xiazi whisper to Xiao Hua.
"Yes, I bet he is... but this time his explosives seems to have no effects." Xiao Hua said.
"That's not an ordinary door. They better find another way out, because blasting it will not do them any good."
"What's so special about that door?"
"Didn't you notice? It seem to be made of the same indestructible materials of the Bronze door in the Cloud Palace." Xiazi responded as Xiao Hua looked at him.
"So, you were there?" Xiao Hua asked, but Xiazi simply smiled charmingly to him.
"Maybe?" He eluded the point.
"Maybe? That's not an answer." Xiao Hua insisted.
"Come on, Master Hua, you certainly had your secrets and so I have mine, it's a fair trait, right?" Xiazi asked as he passed an arm over Xiao Hua's shoulder. He liked to do that and he was glad that lately, Xiao Hua did not resist his touch or hold on him anymore.
"Alright... let's go find another way in... they seems to need one out quite badly." Xiao Hua said.
"Of course... let's check the walls and see if we can find a way in to help them as soon as possible." Xiazi conceded as he let go of his beautiful flower to go look for another way in.
"Get down!!!" Pangzi yelled at the other side of the door, as he was about to throw another bomb to the it. Xiaoge pushed Wu Xie down besides the round celestial map table and they waited for the blast to come. However, the impact was not enough to destroy the persistent door. Then there was the last two noisy bombs in a row, making the chamber tremble more than it did before the trap was trigger.
"Run now!!" Pangzi yelled and so they run toward the entrance, even as the dust from the impact was still clouding the exit.
"That's..." Pan Zi whisper as he could had a clearer view.
"Didn't worked?" Mop said with disbelief.
"It must be made of the same materials as the Bronze door... we are trapped here for good." Wu Xie said as he gave a step back, crushing with Xiaoge's body that was behind him, which embrace him to support him.
"Tianzhen, if that's really true, then this is our end." Pangzi said.
"There must be another way out of this place." Pan Zi, whisper, not really liking the prospect of dying there.
"Xiaoge... do you remember if there is another entrance? You had been here before, right,?" Wu Xie asked, although he wasn't all that hopeful with the coming answer.
"I don't remember." Xiaoge whisper into Wu Xie's ear, which of course was not a surprise, but then, there was a metallic snapping sound coming from above and all those who were still alive at that moment looked up at the same time to see that the furnace was about to crash down on them at any second.
The reaction was the same for all, as soon as they notice that the huge thing was going to fall on them, they scattered around to try to avoid been squashed or hurt by whatever damage the thing may done on its downfall. Xiaoge took Wu Xie's hand and pull him away as fast as he could. When the thing snapped for good, he throw himself over Wu Xie's body to protect him from whatever danger came next.
The sudden fall, along with Xiaoge's weight over him, almost took away all the air from his lungs, but he recover from the impact faster than he thought possible, as adrenaline was pumping on his veins, making him more resilient than on any other time. Also, Xiaoge was conscious of his weight over Wu Xie and as soon as the thing crashed, he lifted himself a few inches from Wu Xie, by balancing his weight on both his left arm and his right leg he had in between the young Wu family heir.
"Wu Xie..." Xiaoge's word were so close to his ear that it make Wu Xie tremble for a second by plain instinct, but before he could recollect himself, Xiaoge was turning him to see if he was injured in any way, which only make his heart race faster as he love Zhang Qiling even more.
"I'm fine..." Wu Xie whisper, but Xiaoge had apparently see a wound he had not notice, because he caressed his forehead for a second, as if tenderly whipping out some blood. Perhaps when he had fell, he had been cut by something in the ground, but as he didn't feel any pain it was probably something minimal like a scratch.
"Does it hurt?" Xiaoge asked and Wu Xie shook his head.
"No... it's nothing..." Wu Xie said as he then focus pass Xiaoge, to the broken table just a bit further from where they were.
The celestial map was broken and it revealed a space that was below it from the start. As they looked closer, they notice that there was a kind of door inside the hollow space bellow the stone table. If they were to had enough time to explore the place as they usually did, Xiaoge himself probably would has notice a hidden door somewhere and they could go on into the next chamber without facing a jade army.
"That's the way in!" Pangzi yelled, but then, some snakes that went out the armor of the jade servant, where not going to give them any chances to escape that easily and slither their way and Xiaoge decided that for them to go on ahead, it was better to make himself a bait for a short while. Thus in a rush, he cut his hand and jumped away to make the snakes follow the sent of his blood.
"Wait Xiage! Xiaoge!!" Wu Xie was of course, going to go after him, but Pangzi stop him before he could give more than two steps.
"You idiot, don't follow him when Xiaoge is using himself as bait to give you time to escape." Pangzi told him as he grabbed Wu Xie by his shoulder.
"I can help him be bait." Wu Xie said as he struggle to get free from Pangzi strong hold on him.
"No can do, Tianzhen, he is fine on his own.... A few snakes are nothing for his skills and you know that."
"Ah, yeah... Xiaoge is so valiant and powerful..." Mop added, which only infuriated both Wu Xie and Pangzi at the same time.
"If it wasn't for you playing around, we wouldn't be in this mess!!!" Wu Xie exploded.
"I'm sorry Master Xie... I was just curious...."
"Curious?! We told you not to touch anything, damn you!" Pangzi shouted at him in anger.
"I... I will scout ahead then...." Mop said as he moved to go down, but before he did, Mop notice that more jade servants were coming from another direction, quite the opposite from where Zhang Qiling was baiting the snakes and other servants.
"Oh this is bad..." Pangzi cursed.
"Xiaoge! Come back, we need to go now!" Wu Xie called and Zhang Qiling was instantly on his way to meet with Wu Xie.
"Let's go down." Wu Xie urged him and Xiaoge assented. Soon they were all inside the hollow space and in front of another mark left by Qiling in what seems to be the only way in.
"Xiaoge... do you remember leaving this mark here?" Wu Xie asked, but after Xiaoge stared at it for a few seconds, he shook his head.
"No."
"Well, it doesn't really matter if he remembers it or not, it's our only way now..." Pangzi said and Wu Xie looked at Xiaoge.
"Agree... can you open this door?" Wu Xie asked and Xiaoge give him a smirk. Well, when had he failed to open a door inside a tomb?
"That was a stupid question Tianzhen... all doors are basically made for him to open them." Pangzi pointed out for Qiling.
"Yeah, yeah... let's move to give him space." Wu Xie said, as he tapped Qiling's shoulder and let him pass to do what he do best and soon, they were looking into the narrow space of another tunnel that was now their only way out and into the hands and danger of the unknown. It was time to get closer to their final destination for either doom or salvation.
AN: +Thanks for reading and take care until next time. đź’–đź’–đź’–