"So how do we enter the alchemist hall", Long Yu asked the entrance of the hall was barred by a heavy door and a strong array was used preventing them from entering.
Bashista just smirked as he replied, "Well there is an indirect route just follow me.", as he led the group around the hall, as they were almost near the back of the Alchemy hall Ruth pointed towards a building just adjacent to the alchemist hall, "See that building over their it is the herbarium."
Long Yu watched in awe as he looked towards the herbarium, he also noticed that a big tower had broken and had fallen on top of the alchemist hall.
Ruth: "That tower when it had fallen, it had destroyed the alchemist's roof and that is our entrance point."
Long Yu: "Woah how did the tower fall down most of the place is intact well as much as possible after suffering from the adventurers hands, and does anyone know the purpose of the tower."
Ryofu: "Well no one knows it has been there like that since who knows how long and as for the tower well every respectable sect has at least one of those they are dubbed as 'Meditation tower', my sect has one such tower it gathers ki from surrounding area, it has multiple rooms in it each with varying amount of ki, as it is the prime location which enable the cultivators to cultivate at a faster pace, people like to book a room in the tower by paying appropriate prices in other words the point the acquire while doing missions for the sect can be utilized here."
Long Yu was amazed at hearing such an amazing thing, he was really glad his sisters arranged for him to go on such an adventure.
They went towards the tower as they reached it Long Yu was disappointed to see tower up close specially the inside of the tower, if the outside looked like as if it was casted out of gold and then gilded with precious gems the inside was another matter it looked bland compared to it, there was just a reception area with a dozen of token lying around, Long Yu also noticed that the inside was also dark as the lights were off in this place, 'well the damage might have destroyed the array used to light this place', Long Yu mused idly.
They climbed up to the part where the cylindrical tower broke off, and Long Yu was right when he said the interior was bland at first he thought maybe it was because of low light but now he was certain such a thing was not the only case it really was bland and it kind of reminded him about those people he had the misfortune of making acquaintance with, looking vaunted and important but lacked any substance to back it up, they place did follow the look to a t, it felt as if it tried to tell others if you are just gilded on the outside but from the inside you do not have either the physical or mental strength to back it up you will fall.
Bashista: "Everyone when we will be now entering the 'Death Corridor', there will be cultivators concealed her waiting to strike so keep your eyes opened and ears peeled for anything unusual."
Long Yu gulped as he mentally prepared for the descend down the tower into the darkness, he tried to use his skills 'Divine Eyes' and 'Buddha's Mind', but unfortunately the tower itself was interfering whatever material was used clearly was interfering with his skills, he sighed with disappointment as he stopped using those skills.
They were moving through the fallen section of the tower when all of a sudden, there was a small 'swish' and Ayesha suddenly gave out a sought of pain, she was struck by an arrow from behind and before they could react they were completely surrounded by cultivators who had attacked them.
Bashista quickly barked out orders, "Everyone try to stick together fall a circle keep the enemies outward, range attackers and wounded in the middle.", but it was easier said than done these people were adept at using short swords, daggers and some only their fists, any weapons bigger than above mentioned ones had become useless which included Long Yu's sword, as the area was small any bigger weapon would get stuck and friendly fire was easy.
Although Bashista had ordered them to gather in a circle it was easier said than done currently they had to not only dodge the rain of arrows but had to protect themselves from the hit and run tactics employed by their attackers.
Long Yu was in a disadvantageous position he was a little further from his team and currently he was having a fist fight against an opponent who was many time bigger in size than him so big he could give Han the tallest of his team the run for money on top of that the person was agile, the darkness which inhibited Long Yu's vision was doing nothing to hinder this person. Long Yu knew he was fighting a losing battle and this person was pushing him further away from his team. Long Yu tried to put an array on him but the man dodged every time, on the other hand Long Yu was being beaten like a dog, suddenly Long Yu found an opening he went for his infamous Nut Cracker on this person, but unfortunately he fell into the ruse, the man not only dodged but slammed his left leg hard on Long Yu's outstretch right leg and with a sickening crunch his leg was snapped into two.
Long Yu gave a howl of pain, hearing him his teammates were worried but they did not have time to come to his help as they themselves were stuck in duel of life and death.
The broken leg caused Long Yu to fall down and the attacker then quickly took this opportunity produced a hidden dagger as he stomped again on Long Yu's leg breaking it further before thrusting the dagger towards Long Yu's brain. Long Yu sensing the attack on his person quickly raised his left hand which took the full brunt of the attack as the dagger stabbed through his palm stopping a few centimeters from his face as warm blood dripped on his face from the daggers tip.
By then the man had given up on the dagger as he jumped on Long Yu as he rained a barrage of punches on his face, suddenly the wall of the tower on which Long Yu was getting his beat down gave out, causing both the man and Long Yu to plummet down, the last Long Yu heard was Ryofu shouting out his name as he left the dark tower and continued falling down. Long Yu did not waste any time as he was falling as he no longer inside the tower he quickly unsheathed his sword as he used the strongest attack possible by him, 'Joyous Rain', with all of his strength , he watched in both fascination and horror as the man dodged the attack but it still took out the right hand of the person because of close proximity, before hitting the tower which broke in many places and looked as if it would fall any moment now, the man was now furious and shouted out in anger, "You pipsqueak how dare you cut my right hand off I will skill you alive then cut your head off and use it as bedpan."
The man suddenly took out a whip which he used to completely ensnare Long Yu as he pulled him towards him, before he brought his knees towards his as he delivered a powerful kick to Long Yu, who rocketed towards the ground but he instead crashed against the roof of a building breaking it and falling down to the floor of the said building, then man landed gracefully a few feet away from him, glaring at him with intense anger and hate.
Long Yu felt his head was throbbing in pain as warm blood dripped from his head, he puked out blood because of internal injury his left hand was badly injured as dagger went through his the palm of his hand, and his right leg was mangled broken in various places.
As Long Yu's vision cleared he was frozen stiff as because in front of him was his enemy who was standing perfectly well as perfect as someone with a single arm looking at him with all the hatred in the world, as he gulped trying to locate the nearest exist or way to turn the fight in his favor as he cursed his luck as he was currently not in any shape to fight the enemy but the next thing made his blood freeze in horror as he realized the place where he and his opponent have landed after breaking through the roof, 'Well it is confirmed now that I have the worst luck', he thought fearfully.
The place where he had fallen into was none other than the infamous Herbarium and the monster residing in their was none other than 'árbol que chupa sangre' tree, it was infamous for attacking creatures in order to get nourishment from them every part of the victim, including the soul of its victim.
The man did not even realize that he was being attacked, a branch suddenly moved before coiling around his legs before lifting him up and smashing him repeatedly on the floor hard so hard that even Long Yu was wincing at the sight, before the branch dragged the person and deposited it inside a flower like structure which closed after receiving its prey.
The branches then moved towards Long Yu trying to capture him, who by now had somehow managed to stand using his sword as a crutch blood dripping from his head and mouth, yet he stood tall favoring his left leg as the right was broken before he pointed his sword towards the 'árbol que chupa sangre' as way of showing his defiance, he knew there was no way he could escape this but that does not mean he would make it easy for the tree to eat him as he will fight till his last breath, he closed his eyes as his life till now flashed before his eyes his mother, aunt, his teachers, his sisters even all the people he came in contact during his short life bringing a smile to his face he had a wonderful life without any regrets, he opened his eyes which lacked any form of fear but was filled with calm and serenity a small smile etched on his face. 'So this is where I fall huh, oh well if this is my Final Stand I will not go down with a fight.', he took a weird sword stance where he held the sword in reverse grip, as the branches moved to capture him.
Long Yu whispered faintly, "Sorry Mama", before he quickly activated his Divine body's power, which he had somehow learned to activate after a couple of times it activated because of his anger, then he went on to activate his real trump card.
Normally a skill is divided into 11 levels from Level 0 to Level 10, but there 3 more types that it can be divide into,
1) Forbidden Technique: This type of skills are such that they are generally classified as dangerous as such they should not be used careless or without proper knowledge regarding it as the backlash generated from failure to utilize the skill will either causing crippling injuries to even death sometimes they even caused the destruction of soul.
2) Inherited Skills: These types of skills are mostly found among beasts or any people who have the blood of beast flowing through their veins. These skills are mostly recorded within the DNA of the beast which awakens when certain conditions are fulfilled which may range from cultivation level to cultivation type, when the conditions are fulfilled the descendant instinctively knows how to use the skill, they can range from simple to forbidden to even a taboo skill.
3) Taboo skills: These types of skills were treated as a trump card that a person uses as a last desperate move. After using it death is the least of worries as some can even erase the very existence of a person, a fate worse than death.
Ryuu aka Long Yu's own aunt Zhu Zhu herself had used taboo skill in a desperate gamble to kill the people who had tried to kill Xiao Xiao and Ryuu all those years ago by using a taboo skill detonating her soul which burned the entire continent to ash, now after couple of years later Long Yu followed his aunt's footsteps.
Long Yu since birth was a curious fellow it might be because he wasn't allowed to venture out of his home until recent years, he always had a thirst to know beyond the known boundaries as such one day when his 3rd mistress Celestia had been distracted he got a chance to glimpse at a worn out parchment that was on top of his teacher's desk, he was bored and a tad bit curious as such he took a peek to see what was written inside it, being a cultivator he was able to memorize everything written inside it as such he was able to get his hands on a taboo skill.
The smile on Long Yu's face turned into a smirk as he announced the skill he was about to execute with voice filled with conviction, "Taboo Skill: Cremation of Final Sword", he knew even with the skill he might not be able to kill the tree as it was many realms above him but he would make sure that as long as it lived it would never be able t forget about Long Yu.
Before the skill could be fully activated aloud crash was heard as the tower collapsed on top of the herbarium exactly on top of the main trunk of the tree. The impact was so hard that Long Yu was thrown violently towards the wall which soon gave way because of the falling tower, as the herbarium itself was destroyed. Long Yu did not waste any time as he quickly grabbed the nearest big piece of debris that was lying near him, he quickly drew an array with the help of his blood on top of the debris. Normally he could place an array with just a touch but he now was placing a few special pieces of array, which he had little to know experience with, they array was meant to simply carry him out. He just needs it to work temporarily because the array needs special ink but blood was a poor man's substitute which won't work for a long time. As such he quickly activated the array and fled from the place as the tree struggled to move the tower which had fallen on it damaging it greatly as greenish blood bled from it profusely.
Meanwhile Long Yu was having trouble in maintaining balance as the big debris piece which might have been part of the wall surrounding the herbarium, sped out carrying Long Yu with it, the array for 'Levitation', Wind Burst', had worked their magic but he had no way to stop the debris neither did he have any way to stop it spinning. After Long Yu managed to get a few hundred meters away from the tree he let the debris go as due to blood loss and the all the spinning motion of the debris he could not take it anymore as he crashed hard on the ground as he bounced before he went a few more meters before finally stopping while the debris flew away to who knows where. The entire world seemed to be spinning to Long Yu and soon he lost his consciousness.
Jeden came and kneeled down beside Long Yu as emergency treatment was carried out by
Dwa, who quickly fed various pills to him which included 'Blood Formation pill', 'Bone Formation Pill', among others and soon Trzy and Cztery joined by their side. Who then began helping to heal any internal injuries as the assailant who kicked Long Yu used a huge amount of Ki along with special technique which had greatly harmed Long Yu. After sometime they left him as he was lying on the ground unconscious.
For the Shadow Wolves this experience was less than stellar, the attack on them was devastating, they were able to fend off the attack but they were all grievously injured Han even lost one of his eyes, but the most pain loss was Long Yu, they did not know whether he was alive or not, logically the way he was being overwhelmed it seemed to be that the child which had won their hearts was no more the girls who later on joined them were in much worse shape than the, Ayesha had been hit by poison arrow on her shoulder. As if lady luck was totally miffed with them, the tower they were using to move started to collapse which they barely survived now they somehow made out of the tower as they watched with horror that it had collapsed over herbarium. They made their way to towards it to find their missing member as long as they had hope they would not stop until they found him.
They stopped as they saw the bleeding unconscious form of Long Yu lying on the floor. As they neared him a huge explosion knocked them off their feet as big flame rose from the herbarium reaching the sky, the fire was so intense that it scared them of their wits. They quickly decided to grab Long Yu and get far away from here as far as possible, this raid was a complete failure and the injuries they received indicates that they will have no other chance as they will never be able to heal in time.
Ruth pointed towards what seemed like a small house barely visible through the dense growth of foliage, "Hey is that a house there let us that house and hid there while we recuperate."
Everyone well at least those who were conscious agreed as they made their way to the house, while Ruth and Jack led the rear as they erased any kind of track that led towards them, as soon as they entered the house, Bashista quickly used the talisman that Long Yu gave him which allowed him to erect the same type of barrier that surrounded their previous hideout.
Back in Ayindril,
It was complete chaos, Xiao Xiao almost fainted as she saw her child's near death experience, the same child for whom he gave way the life of luxuries, the same child for whom all her and her sister in all but blood Zhu Zhu's hopes and dreams revolved around and she almost fainted when Long Yu revealed his trump card.
A taboo skill which activated by igniting the users soul and body, once activated there was no way to stop it until the user was completely turned to ash. Fortunately for Long Yu the array which the member of Wojownik Cienia placed on him so that he carelessly does not activate the skill which he got from the library prevented his death.
As for his teachers they were horrified none more than Nuwa who for a moment saw the figure of her son Pangu overlap Long Yu aka Ryuu as he tried activating the taboo skill, the ghastly memory of her own son's death because of a taboo skill replayed in her mind, even Ryuu's elder sisters were shocked they got so close to losing another brother of theirs.
Celestia spoke lowly but everyone could hear the sorrow and anger in her voice, "Who taught him that taboo skill?"
When no one answered her, she finally lost her patience as her aura flared up as she asked in anger, "I asked you all a question so answer me, who thought it would be a great idea to teach Ryuu a taboo skill."
Veena as she shielded Xiao Xiao from Celestia's aura spoke out, "Calm down sister you are hurting our youngest sister, but you are right I also want to know who taught him that skill", as her eyes roamed on everyone present there.
Nobody spoke in that room it was a pin drop silence, even Maheswara looked clearly troubled at that as he pinched his now hard, "It seems that no one in this room taught him we will have to wait for Ryuu to arrive before we can get bottom of this, but I would love to have a chat with on Ryuu about what kind of skill he should learn and he should not."
Nuwa: "Get in line dear husband, we will have to educate him about such etiquettes. We would spank him hard this time, we tolerate his mischievousness but this is too much.", although she sounded stern her voice was cracking from sadness.
Xiao Xiao meanwhile was overwhelmed by grief every moment she spend with her child flashed in front of her eyes, he was the only thing left of her in this world the only legacy of her and Zhu Zhu that still existed, she would never let her child away from her anymore no matter who says what, yes yes he would keep her child safe until he was as strong as her when she was in her prime no matter how many millennia it would take.