Lian Qiu continued flying despite the pain and exhaustion he was feeling. Behind him, the group kept chasing but they didn't rush for some reason, the commander seemed to be very cautious.
Lian Qiu felt his Qi slowly run low as the terrain around them began changing, the mountains grew darker and the air hotter. They were entering the depth of the dungeon. This part was not part of the war at all...
Loud roars shook the world far away signaling the monsters that lurked there... No Cultivator entered the depth unless in massive groups to explore and search for treasures.
Lian Qiu saw Lava slowly pouring out of the new mountains he passed by, suggesting inferno's and such were close. Smoke filled the air slowly as time passed causing his figure to grow vague in the clouds of smoke.
The group chased despite all that even though they felt fear, their leader was determined and stubborn, 'I will not let a Dao scion live!' he thought to himself.
Ling Tian's blood Qi slowly recovered but it was so slow that it didn't help much, it closed the wound completely and with the help of the pill, stabilized his condition, and yet, he was too exhausted to move.
He managed to slowly open his eyes after much difficulty, mountains covered in lava, air filled with smoke, and tears flowing down Lian Qiu's face, the latter seemed to be scared but he still pushed on.
He coughed as he barely managed to say, "Drop me and go. I am fine."
Lian Qiu was startled as he hurriedly shook his head, "NO!"
Ling Tian smiled, "It's okay, either I die or we both die. It only logical to leave me behind, you have done enough..."
Lian Qiu suddenly turned around and headbutted Ling Tian with anger, "Shut up! You are the only true friend I have ever had. I will not leave you to die, if we are to die, then we do it together as friends; Until the very end..."
Ling Tian's forehead ached as his head fell on Lian Qiu's shoulder in exhaustion, "You fool..." he said as tears ran down his face. Emotions running wild in his heart.
Lian Qiu continued talking as his Qi ran so low that the fan they were on began slowly falling to the ground, "Brother Ling, you don't know... I always lived in the sect in the shadow of my siblings... I was born with the worst talent in my family and my mother looked down on me. My father was very strict with me and no one in the sect approached me... As I grew up in loneliness, some tried to befriend me and use me to gain status. I humored them and acted as though I was fine, I pretended to be intimidated to get away from my siblings but deep inside, I felt truly sad. I never left the sect, many thought I had a good life there but I was miserable..."
He coughed blood as they reached the ground, he was out of Qi and couldn't fly anymore. The ground was so hot that Lian Qiu's feet sizzled upon contact. He flinched but he didn't stop, he began walking, his face contorted in extreme pain. The weight of Ling Tian added to the pain. His feet were burning...
He talked but it seemed as if he was murmuring to himself, "I pretended so much, I forgot the real me... I became what I pretended to be... Mask over mask... so many that I forgot what the real me looked like. One day, I had enough and I escaped the sect to see the world outside. I was tired of the prison that kept me sad..."
Cold sweat covered his body due to the pain as the scent of burnt flesh could be felt, Ling Tian was too weak to even talk properly so he could only listen, his heart in pain.
Lian Qiu smiled despite the situation, his voice slowly growing hoarse due to the smoke, heat, and fumes in the air, "I felt some dark Qi nearby when I was moving and followed it to a village and there I met you, a body cultivator, the rarest of the rarest type of cultivators, in a backwater village... I was curious and asked you to help me to see what a body cultivator could do..."
He chuckled, "To think I was so weak compared to someone so much lower in Cultivation compared to me... I was not jealous, rather, I wanted to learn why and improve so that I would no longer be the weakest of my family. The disgrace of my father and mother... I was also afraid to return and an excuse was not so bad, right?"
He dropped to his knee and the sizzling sound of it burning reached Ling Tian's ears as Lian Qiu's robes caught fire, "I followed you around and you never looked down on me, you didn't befriend me because of status, you were true without a mask and I wanted that, to be true once again... You slaughtered an entire city in sorrow, I wondered if I would have been able to do that... You were so calm when you saw the demons, so calm when you saw a mountain of corpses... You grew stronger miraculously and I knew that you were a son of heaven... I followed you to learn and explore the world but somehow, you became the only one who I could call friend."
Ling Tian felt his legs on the ground and Lian Qiu grew weaker, Ling Tian felt his legs burning but he didn't pay much attention; Lian Qiu weekly continued as he burned, "I learned to be calmer, to be smarter and think more, to be ruthless at times, and sometimes to act for others... Today I learned that only in hardship will even the closest relatives show their true face, today I found my true self, one I had lost long ago behind masks..."
Lian Qiu's eyes grew blank as he began falling and yet he pulled Ling Tian so he would remain a blanket for him even in death; He said as he fell, "I see what it means now... To die like this is not so bad..."
"It was a short time, but thank you for being my friend..." were his last words as he fell.
With a thud, Lian Qiu began burning and Ling Tian's body was resting on his, tears and tears flowed from his eyes.
'Why? Why can't I move?! WHY AM I SO WEAK?!!!!' screamed Ling Tian inwardly.
He tried anything, he opened the system many times but he could do nothing with the points he had, he felt truly helpless and useless.
He managed to barely open his eyes only to see the burning face of Lian Qiu who was slowly approaching death, half his face on fire and the other half still smiling with tears... He watched with wide eyes, his mind turned silent...
Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder violently lifting him up and throwing him away. He fell harshly on the ground a few feet away on his back, his head on the side so he could see Lian Qiu burning. He felt his back began burning in extreme pain...
The one who had lifted him up was the leader of the group that was chasing them, a heavily scarred man who was protecting his body with Qi. He had a sneer as he stomped his feet on Lian Qiu's back, "Finally, I wondered when he would grow tired. I was afraid of an ambush but they were truly spent huh?"
The group arrived beside the man, he looked at Ling Tian and said while laughing, "So one of them is a Dao scion?! How pathetic. All I see is trash burning on the ground, where they belong."
Ling Tian's watched blankly as the man stomped his feet on Lian Qiu's head and spat on him.
"HAHAHA!"
The group laughed as they spat on Lian Qiu and Ling Tian.
Ling Tian suddenly looked up to the sky of the dungeon which was not visible due to the smoke and red haze, the silence in his mind was broken as he entered a trance...
Lian Qiu's life was slowly coming to an end as a strange glow seemed to rise from his ring...
Ling Tian muttered hoarsely suddenly out of nowhere, "I see now... Life is Heartless... Death is Heartless... Heaven is Heartless... So My Dao must also be Heartless..."
The crescent moon realm began trembling as a Dao began to descend, a Dao so sinister that it turned the sky pitch black, only two crimson eyes of indescribable malice gazing upon the lands and oceans like two suns.
All manner of creatures howled in terror as men and women cried in fright. Cultivators fleed in horror and the world seemed to cry as had come the eternal night.
Divine kings and Immortals ascension realms masters flew to the heavens only to be swallowed in the darkness...
What Dao was descending upon Ling Tian?