Everyone's faces turned grim. They knew that they would not be able to escape easily. They circled the corpse warrior before one of them attacked. He moved with extreme speed and managed to land a hit but before he could retreat, the corpse retaliated and knocked him away. The force was enough to send him crashing to the wall and knocked him out. Taking this chance, the corpse broke out of the enclosure and threw a ball of fire at them.
They chased after it and one of them, who wielded a whip for a weapon, managed to get its left arm and slow it down. In the momentary pause, the remaining 16 rushed forward attacking with all they had. All kinds of weapons flashed towards the corpse. However, the corpse was extremely resilient and all that they left were scratches. These scene left the group speechless. They had done little to no damage to it and that was their fully-powered strike. Even Ming Yue could not deal any more than the others.
"We need to think of a better plan", said Ming Yue.
Everyone agreed and thought quickly while they still had the corpse restrained. Seconds later, someone spoke up.
"Let's stall it for a while and send some people out to help take care of the skeletons. Anyone that is able to restrict the corpse will be in charge of stalling. Everyone else should spread out to help the teams."
There was little time and everyone had no choice but to agree to this plan. Ming Yue and 7 others departed, leaving only 9 to slow it down.
The corpse smiled, "That plan will lead to nothing, you will soon understand that this is your fate."
At this moment, one of the skeletons had fallen and the team rejoiced. However, just as quickly as it fell, it came back to life ready to fight again. The flame in its eyes burned even stronger.
"The skeletons are immortal!" everyone thought.
Hope had started to vanish as they could do nothing. Every time the skeletons went down, they would come back again and get even stronger.
Ming Yue also realized this but unlike the others, she did not lose hope.
"There must be some way to stop these skeletons, perhaps a source of power that they draw from", she thought.
She decided to look through the other areas and find some sort of clue. Everyone saw her move away from them.
"Could she have given up on us?" they thought, however they could not follow her due to the skeletons.
Ming Yue quickly searched with Xiao Yin but there was nothing. It was only the portrait of Tian Xing and some dusty books. She looked at them, trying to find something that could help. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could give her a lead. She felt frustrated and attacked the painting in anger, piercing through it. Was there nothing here that could change the situation?
At that point she realized something. If the painting was hung on a wall, how could she have pierced through it? She immediate cut open a hole and saw a hearth that had been lit up by a blue flame. She smiled in joy, suspecting that this was the source to the flame spirit's power. She quickly tried to extinguish it, breaking the hearth piece by piece. At the main hall, the skeletons and the corpse itself trembled before slowly becoming weaker. The fire in their bodies lowered in intensity and their strikes were no longer as powerful as before.
"No!" said the spirit, "Stop please!"
No one knew what had happened but took this chance to take down the skeletons. This time, they stayed on the ground. Everyone surrounded the corpse and began sending attacks at it. Ming Yue came back with a stick that had a small flame left. This was the remaining piece from the hearth. The spirit saw it and turned towards her, dropping to its knees.
"Please do not destroy that final spark. I will let you go, just do not destroy it. I beg of you", it said.
Ming Yue did not respond, only staring at it. After the silence, she spoke.
"Are you really the spirit of this hall or are you what is left of Tian Xing, The wife-to-be of the Blue Fire Scion?" she asked.
Everyone was shocked by her question and stared at the spirit. Could it really be the soul of Tian Xing, the Blue Fire Scion's wife? The spirit did not answer, evidently she had been right about her hunch. It was strange after all. Not only was there a hair pin that Tian XIng owned, but there was even a portrait of her. Furthermore, The source of the fire spirit's power was hidden behind the portrait. Ming Yue had also remembered that the Blue Fire Scion only needed a body to revive her, meaning that he had created something similar to a soul. The closest thing to it was that fire spirit. Hence, she suspected that the fire spirit was actually Tian Xing's revived soul.
With no other choice, it started talking.
"Indeed, my master created me in hopes that I would revive his lover. He used what was left of her body as a catalyst and spent large amounts of money to find more ingredients. Soon, all of his wealth was gone but he had obtained every item. After getting all that he needed, he dumped it into a cauldron and melted it down before turning it into gas. Afterwards, he spent almost 168 days condensing it and feeding it his inner force. When I was created, he smiled in excitement. But before he could find a suitable body or even reawaken any memories, he collapsed from over exhaustion and died. The last thing he said was the name Tian Xing, before the light in his eyes disappeared. That was several hundred years ago. I've been exploring this entire estate and I still remember nothing. Only names that had no value to me had come back, no memories, no feelings, nothing else. In the end, I am still left with Tian Xing."
The spirit sighed, it had no way of awakening its memories. Nothing in the ruins could do a thing, it could only stay wondering about what memories it had. Everyone felt pity for the couple. After all, even though the Blue Fire Scion was not a great man, he wasn't exactly a demon either. He deserved to be loved but in the end, he lost it. Even with his power, he had no way of reviving his love, that was only a legend. The chances of his plan actually working was almost non-existent.
Then the entrance opened up.
"You may go. There is no point in trying to keep you here. I cannot die just yet, all I ask is to give me that final ember."
As people had begun to exit the area, Ming Yue approached the spirit to give it back its remaining embers. After doing so, she went for the exit.
"That hair pin", said the spirit, "I hope that you treat it well. This was given to Tian Xing when my master professed his love for her."
Ming Yue didn't stop moving, she left the underground hall and finally enjoyed some fresh air. But in her mind, the spirit's words left an impression on her.
She silently muttered, "I will."