"Look, there it is!"
The frantic shouting of a lone hunter alerted several people nearby, who quickly rushed over to where the person pointed.
There, set before them in the open field, was a pile of rubble. Broken rocks and trees littered the area.
Meanwhile several dozen more people began to appear from the surrounding shrubbery.
Until finally one large man taller than any other stepped forward.
It was the guild master and he did not look happy.
"This is the place?" His rough voice grated within everyone's ears. And to his side was one of the cultivators who had accompanied Xue Chang within the cavern just a few hours ago.
"This is the place sir! But when we were here it wasn't in this condition. I don't know exactly what happened!"
"This is bad, Yong Heng might still be down there!"
Yet another one of the cultivators stepped up and said in a panic. Unlike the first cultivator who spoke, this one was one of the few who stayed behind in an attempt to assist Xue Chang.
After seeing how he not saved them but how they basically became a burden for him, a sense of guilt began to overtake the man.
If he was the reason for his savior's death, then he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
The guild master, who had a better grasp of Xue Chang's strength, had his frown plastered across his face.
He still remembered the directives he gave Xue Chang before sending him on this expedition. All the while promising how with his strength he would be completely safe.
"This is partially my fault. I knew something was wrong when I first saw the reports. But what is going on!" The guild master thought this to himself silently as he approached the ruined cave.
Then suddenly he felt a slight trembling of the ground as stones began to roll off in different directions.
And to no ones surprise, a large serpent bursted from the ground and bared its sharp fang toward everyone present.
The cultivators at the side got into a fighting stance and prepared themselves for battle, but the guild master brought his hand up.
"Hold it, I'll handle this. I have some steam to blow off."
And without another word, he launched into the air and gave a single right punch striking it directly in its face.
And to the shock of all present, the two glaringly sharp fangs that hung from its mouth, broke in half and plopped onto the ground with two loud thuds.
That wasn't all however.
Giving off a single swift uppercut motion, the guild master unleashed a brutal display of power as he immediately bashed the beast's head in causing its death to almost occur instantly.
This frightened everyone present as they couldn't imagine how someone within the third level of Qi refinement was able to kill a demonic beast with four markings so quickly.
"Umm congratulations on your breakthrough guild master?"
"Huh? What breakthrough are you talking about? I'm still in the third level you know."
Although they all wanted an explanation, none of them dared to question the guild master at this moment.
Instead they all began to dig through the rubble in search of something.
Eventually someone dug far enough down that they'd found the condensed earth fire lake deep within the cavern originally.
"Good job, not only will quote a few sects be willing to pay a fortune for this thing, but it can boost the battle prowess of many people in our city as well. Be sure to use the sandstone jugs to collect this stuff. Anything else will melt in your hands."
And while they worked hard to gather the lake, the hunters still did it stop digging. They had not yet found what they were looking for.
Eventually though, they reached their goal.
An opened field, cleared of dirt and stone, had been set out in front of the large group of people. And lying there at the center of it all was a masked man who was clutching at his abdomen with a freakishly large amount of red fluid flowing between his fingers.
They finally found him.
While the guild could be considered many things, it was definitely not heartless. Although his service had been sharped, 'Yong Heng' had sacrificed much for the guild. Keeping hold of his duty till the very end.
"Sir, he is not dead yet. He's still breathing but it's faint. He seems to want to talk to you."
The guild master looked down sadly at the young man before him. Although they hadn't known each other for long, he felt a sense of gratitude for the help Yong Heng provided in protecting his people.
"You worked so hard to protect people who you barely knew, yet we couldn't even rush here quick enough to save you..."
Giving off a sigh, he stepped forward over to where Xue Chang lord and got into one knee.
He could tell the wound was serious as the puddle of blood continued to grow even passed his feet.
The mask that covered the man's face was cracked and covered in blood. Oddly enough it even seemed like some parts of it had melted off.
Lowering his ear to the hunter's parched dried lips, he spoke softly.
"What is it you want to say?"
"...did...they...live?"
"Yes, they lived thanks to your effort. And thanks to their warning, we were able to rush over here and deal with the beast before anything untoward could've occurred to the city."
"That's good... that's good."
After saying this Xue Chang coughed out several mouthfuls of blood as he reached an arm out, "Please help me with one last thing."
At this point the guild master couldn't help but take note that blood was still flowing out. At this point it had reached an absurd amount that shouldn't have been possible for humans.
Yet looking at the weak shaky hands of the hunter, the guild master removed any excess thoughts from his mind as he planned to listen to a fallen soldier's last request.
"Before we do anything with the earth fire...please, I have some friends who I wish to train here. They are working hard to be cultivators and if I'm not there to support them..."
"No need to say more. Any friend of yours will be a friend of mine. Of course I'll allow them to use the earth fire before we deal with it."
"...do you promise?"
"You have my word as the guild master of Water Cloud City!"
"Great then!"
Suddenly Xue Chang hopped into his feet with a yelp.
Stretching his arms out toward the sky, he felt his spine crack in a few uncomfortable places as he let out a satisfied moan.
And with a tiny smirk on his face, he looked over toward the guild master whose jaw looked like it was about to hit the ground.
"You promised right?"
Everyone was too shocked to retort his statement.
________
"And that's the summary of my report."
Xue Chang was currently flipping a gold coin into the air and letting it fall into his palm continuously.
After dealing with the situation at the ruins of the cave, the guild master had dragged Xue Chang back to meet with some of the elders of the guild to give a report.
Once everything was settled, the meeting was adjourned and Xue Chang was left alone with the guild master.
"That was quite the trick you pulled back there."
"Well if not then I would've just been compensated with a couple of gold coins right? I almost died in there, and I'm not joking about that either. I think I deserved more than just some cash."
As he turned around in preparation to leave, a loud snort could be heard behind his back.
"Do you really think the guild is that stingy. We would've compensated you properly, don't worry... but thanks. Although you might've done it for the reward or something, you still saved a lot of your peers in the guild. And although we seem heartless, we do care about our people."
Xue Chang didn't turn around as he brought his arm up in a waving fashion, "I'll come and make use of the lava pit tomorrow. I'll see you then... guild master."
Xue Chang left the scene as he thought silently to himself.
Meanwhile within the inner depths of his mind, Yong Heng's silent mumbling repeated over and over again unbeknownst to Xue Chang.
"A body semi-impervious to heat. I can't believe he was able to obtain it already... it's so early. But now I'm one step closer to my freedom..."