The skeleton was propped upright against the stony wall, bones obsidian. The figure was slight, the leftover shambles of what was a dress haphazardly wrapped around the corpse. The fabric was rusted, stained with the same resentful energy that seeped out from the old skeleton, preventing it from fully eroding away.
There was a clattering sound, and even Princess Ariunbayar stumbled backward a little when she realized that the jaw bone was shaking, like maniacal laughter that couldn't quite be heard.
"What the heck!" Ariunbayar was without words and held a hand to her mouth, "It's so disgusting."
"So this is the source of corruption," Yu Yanlin hummed in observation. "This is how Su-…How the snake lost its sanity. Perhaps why the worm turned so infamous and aggressive as well."
A cackling female voice echoed around them as the black light-engulfing shroud became thicker. The air became scarce, darkness clawing at them.
Ariunbayar cursed, a strange feeling began to cloud her mind. Aggression, hatred and an almost irresistible urge to cry. A vision flashed across her eyes of a dainty village girl in a pink floral dress, waiting patiently at her doorsteps as the nightly chill howled outside. The next scene the same girl was lying in what looked to be a bedroom, beaten black and blue. A man, her husband, took her to the North Blue Peaks to bury her in the earth. She was still alive.
A terrible wave of sadness and disgust was swelling in her chest but the Princess of the Steppes was not so willing to give her sympathy out so easily, especially not when the ghost was obviously trying to trap them into some sort of cage of despair and rage.
Quelling the trembling in her fingertips, she forced the images out of her mind. Ariunbayar spent a few points in [ Mental Resistance ] so it better come in handy! Drawing an arrow she took aim, but the strange cloud of darkness was clouding her judgement and senses. The sounds of bones creaking and clattering alerted her that the evil devil had stood but she couldn't even tell from which direction the sounds came!
With a curse, she channeled her spiritual energy and selected an AOE [ Area of Effect ] spell from her repertoire-
All for naught.
Because Yu Yanlin simply surged forward, too quickly for the eyes to follow, too quickly for even Ariunbayar to realize what had happened. The blindfolded man caught the mysterious skull in his grasps; a terrible screeching sound surrounded them.
"Why!? How are you immune to my power!?"
Yu Yanlin tilted his head, "I'm not immune," his voice was even and casual, "I watched your entire little show from beginning to end. Granted it was not so interesting."
"You heartless piece of--!"
The strange dark power that surrounded the skeleton was attacking the skin of his palm, to no avail, failing to leave behind even the slightest of mark. Yu Yanlin sighed and flicked his arm, sending the bones barreling into the nearest wall.
A loud crash and a shattering sound.
Stone and debris fell free, rumbling.
The screeching yell faded along with the darkness.
Ah, Yu Yanlin thought absently, he might have overdone it a little.
The Princess of the Steppes blinked, absolutely stunned, "What was that even!? What just happened!?"
"Nothing important," Yu Yanlin answered as he turned around to inspect the collapsed parts of the cavern, trying to find a clue as to where the Immortal of a Thousand Blossoms went, "Let's find Zhang Wang."
"...That's all you have to say!?" Ariunbayar jumped, frustration thrumming about her body as she chased after the mysterious Bai Hu, poking him with a finger until she realized that it might not be safe to do so. How he could just defeat a miniboss like that with a single hit!? Was he holding back his power when they were fighting the snake?!! If so, why!?
She had so many questions she didn't even know where to begin!
But first she would have to get him to pay attention to her in the first place, "Stop ignoring me!"
Yu Yanlin continued to do just that. He came to a giant fallen piece of rock and told Ariunbayar an unceremonious, "Please move aside." That was all the warning he gave before picking it up and tossing it aside.
Ariunbayar let out an embarrassing shriek, stepping over to avoid being crushed. "Hey!"
The cavern rumbled, bits of stone came free as things were moved around. Dust fell from above. Ariunbayar's head snapped upward in alarm, "Shouldn't you be more careful? Didn't you say earlier that the cave might collapse?"
Yu Yanlin did say such a thing earlier, didn't he? It was still true and he should probably care to be a bit more sensible about his movements and moving around big pieces of stone. However he was in a bit of a rush.
His power was quickly reaching its limit; and not only would he be reduced to nothing more than a scrub, Yu Yanlin would also no longer be able to maintain his appearance. He needed to hurry.
"Zhang Wang! Are you there?" He called and listened intently for a response.
…
Still trapped inside one of the tunnels, Zhang Wang had actually fallen asleep.
That's right.
Under the stress of indecision, for some reason his body decided it was a great time to just shut down and sleep. To his defense, it was technically the middle of the night and it was all nice and dark.
…Okay, Zhang Wang would admit that it wasn't normal. And when he heard the roaring sounds of things crashing and rocks tumbling, he had jolted awake. Zhang Wang cursed, crawling to his feet as he glared at the giant pieces of stone that blocked his entrance back into the open cavern hall.
A part of him was hopeful, hopeful that Yu Yanlin had found his way back and was there to be his knight in shining armor. But another part of him considered the possibility that it was something else. Perhaps that giant snake had returned or maybe it was whatever evil thing that he woke earlier with his arrow.
He couldn't be too sure.
With uncertainty abound in his heart, Zhang Wang bit his lips and he squinted against the darkness. Hesitantly, he walked toward the rock and closed his eyes again to hone his senses and put his palm against the stone.
It was cold against his palm at first before he started to feel the throb of evil power singing behind it. His heart shuddered at it but he resisted and kept trying to pry into the scene that was happening beyond the boundary of stone.
He searched and he searched. And within the sea of darkness and evil pressure he felt a faint glimmer of something else. A silver magnificence that reminded him of the moon. Something that wasn't quite pure, but uncorrupt as well. Zhang Wang's eyes flew open as relief overflowed in his heart, robbing him of breath.
"Yu Yanlin…!"
Hope was so visceral that tears threatened to prick his eyes. He sank into a squatted position and exhaled long, expelling the fear and despair that was clouding his mind earlier.
He waited there patiently, feeling the way the stone rumbled beyond his little tunnel. There was something like a loud bang, and then the darkness suddenly dissipated, allowing him to breathe easy once more.
Seriously…this demon king was so reliable! A fluttering warmth seeped into Zhang Wang's heart, pulling his lips into a smile. He thought about his handsome demon king defeating whatever stupid piece of shit in all but a single punch. How fitting.
Soon the sounds neared him and he could hear that lovely voice calling out to him from beyond his heavy stone wall. "Zhang Wang! Are you there?"
"Yes! I'm here! Come get me already!" He yelled, the excitement so engulfing that he almost called out 'Yanlin'. Woops. But Zhang Wang wasn't about to make that rookie mistake so soon or so easily.
"At once." And just like that, the stone wall was rolled aside as it didn't weigh some crazy absurd amount. Behind it, he could see the outline of Yu Yanlin's figure. A spirit light floated behind him, undoubtedly Ariunbayar's. Debris was settling with a cloud of dust and the cavern walls were rumbling again, with protest of rocks being moved around. There were pebbles coming free and the sounds of cracks.
Perhaps Zhang Wang should have been alarmed but he really wasn't. Like an idiot, he ran into Yu Yanlin's arms, who scooped him up and kissed him right on the lips. He was completely unresisting, allowing the demon king to slip his tongue past his lips.
Rocks fell around them and stones creaked free from their places along the walls and ceiling. Somewhere behind them, the Princess of the Steppes was frantic and screaming, "What are you fools doing! Hurry!"
Yu Yanlin was in no hurry, at least not in his perspective.
He simply scooped the Immortal of a Thousand Blossoms in his arms and back stepped, perfectly avoiding the falling rubble. He even used a free arm to grab the Princess's collar along the way.
A little helpless cry echoed in the underground caves. Ariunbayar couldn't fathom how a random side character was this ridiculously OP!