Though things were not the same for Meiyi. Her hands were cold, slightly trembling from what she had done and her face was very pale. It seems it was her fist time watching a fight with so many deaths, but in this cultivation world, where the strong prey on the weak, it was a common sight that she would soon have to get used to.
The worst part for Meiyi though, was that she had no actual combat experience. At these times, not knowing what to do is what made things more dangerous.
Seth approached her slowly and held her hands with care.
"Don't worry Meiyi, everything is all right now."
She slowly turned her head to look at him and said: "Yeah... I'm all right, it's just that..."
Meiyi stopped talking, since she didn't want to bother Seth with her internal problems.
"What is it? You can tell me."
"I was so useless. The only thing I did was to run away. All this time, while you were fighting, I could only hide in a distant corner and..."
"You're totally wrong, Meiyi. Look at him..." Seth pointed at Tao Yong. The man was lying down on his own face.
"It was you who defeated him. You put him to sleep so comfortably... I bet he must be having a nice and beautiful dream right now."
After hearing Seth's joke, Meiyi kind of felt the environment getting lighter.
"Hehehe... Forget it... I'm getting better now." She said while laughing, but inwardly, she was still thinking about her uselessness. That thought kept coming inside her head, mostly because she felt inferior to other practitioners that could use their elements properly.
"Since you are better now..." Seth quickly approached her face and softly kissed her on the cheek.
Meiyi's brain went blank and it took her three seconds to realize what was happening, but that time was more than enough for him to move his face and give her a peck on her lips. He kissed her with more innocence than desire, since his intention was to change her mood.
"Ouch!" Seth felt his lips being bit all of a sudden.
"Y-Y-You!!!" She pushed him away lightly, out of reflex. What had happened left her at a loss, making her even forget the intense fight that had just ended. Her mind moved away from that gloomy feeling, to one of total embarassement.
Her cheeks were totally red at that moment, her hands were moving restless and she could not think about depressive things anymore. And as soon as Seth stared back at her, she ran away as fast as lightning. In a matter of seconds, she was already at the outside.
"So fast! Whew... at least she is back to normal..."
"Humph... Is this how you gonna help her overcoming her fears?" A voice resounded inside his head, full of indignation.
"Hey Lexi, what do you think about her? Is she alright now?"
"I could feel that she was not on her proper state of mind before, there was even a bit of distress. That girl might not have it so easy as she appears to be."
"Hm... Sigh... I can only help her out, if she does want to. Guess it will take some time for her to accept herself and the nature of her powers."
"There is another thing... You have noticed that, didn't you?" Lexi suddenly said.
Seth already knew what she was talking about, since he was the one that was besides Meiyi everytime.
"I guess so. A normal smoke wouldn't suppress people's perceptions like that. It was even able to weaken her own energy signals to such an extent, that even I felt the changes. I can tell you for sure, that it is not a common technique."
"What will you do about it then?"
"There is nothing to be done now. Hmmm... We could try to strengthen her skills and discover what happens next."
"Since there is nothing more to be done, let's leave here then. I want to go to a better place, this burnt cave is not beautiful anymore."
Lexi loved to travel and sometimes, even urging Seth to visit new places and go on new adventures.
"All right then. Let's clean up this mess and leave."
Just as Seth approached the unconscious Tao Yong, already raising his hand in order to finish him off, Lexi felt something and stopped him.
"Wait!!!"
"What is it now?"
"I can feel an object leaking a weak aura somewhere around his body. Check out his left pocket."
Seth decided to do as she told and gave it a quick check, finding a circular object. Looking a bit closer it was a ring.
Ding!
The ring dropped on the floor after Seth got disoriented when he saw its design.
There was the head of a hound right in the middle and it was entirely made of silver.
"Hey, what is happening?" Lexi asked confused.
"Huff! Huff!" Seth's breathing got rougher and his heartbeat accelerated. At some point in time, abnormal red lines even strated to appear at the white parts of his eyes.
"Calm down! Seth! What's happening?"
When he looked at that ring, some unpleasant memories resurfaced from inside his mind.
"If you don't calm down the seed might get out of control!"
Seth started to breathe deeply, trying to control his emotions. A minute later, he got a bit calmer. All the abnormal signs began to vanish slowly.
Now that he had controlled himself, he checked the ring once again, finally letting those memories flow.
Through those memories, there was one that was closely related to the design he saw in that silver ring, betraying his own expectations of it only being a coincidence.
'One single head! Not three! Maybe there is no relationship.'
His mind was racing, trying to find a way to deny the facts. But as he remembered, he knew it was impossible to not connect things together.
.
.
.
Desolate... It was the definition of what that place was. Brownish orange terrain; weather so hot that it could be considered a desert; fire occasionally blowing through the cracks on the rocks and huge rocky mountains.
In such a forsaken land there was a hidden cave so large, that it took an entire twenty-five kilometers area inside a solid-rock mountain, as its constitution.
On the outer layers of that cave, there were many empty cages, ready to receive more prisoners.
"Throw them in! Ten on each cage." One of the demons ordered his underlings to put the new prisoners inside their cells. On his right hand, there was a Cerberus Hound ring with two heads.
That imprint was the proof of his high status inside that clan.
After they were done with their job, one of them said: "Let's head back."
Quickly a bunch of light armored demons came rushing to the door after they decided to leave.
"Keep watching over them! I don't want a single mistake here, or you are all as good as dead! Understood?"
"Understood!" They strongly answered to their superior.
Some seconds later, only those normal guards were left behind.
Seth was locked together with nine more people. They were all shocked and feeling at a loss, afraid of what would be done to them. There were desperate cries everywhere and many were calling for some help.
It was already late at night and within a few minutes, light would start to dim and they would be locked there with no answers to their pledges.
As darkness was arriving, Seth caught a glimpse of the ring a guard was wearing. That ring had the same imprint the ring he had found on Tao Yong's body. A symbol of a hound with a single head.
.
.
.
"Lexi, this ring... It is definitely from them! A lower ranking ring of that demon clan!" Seth grabbed it once again.
He continued: "It is a symbol of status within the Cerberus Demon Clan. Finally! This ring may be the first clue to find them!"
"What actually happened with you back then? I mean... Before we met each other."
"Sigh... It's complicated, I would rather not talk about it for now. I need to find some answers first."
Lexi understood that it might be something unpleasant for him and didn't delve deeper into that.
"Ok… Then how are you going to get those answers?"
"I don't know either, but... He may be the beginning." Seth pointed at Tao Yong, that was still unconscious on the floor.
He quickly approached him and crouched down.
Slap! Slap!
"You know you shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, right? You could get a cold." After slapping Tao Yong's face twice, Seth quickly added.
That man woke up scared and at a loss, but just as he had realized what was happening, Tao Yong's stinking mouth opened up to threaten Seth.
"You better not touch or do anything with me, else. you are a dead man!"
'What a shitty personality, not even one second passed after he woke up and he is already threatening people.' Seth got fed up, from that kind of attitude and decided to do something.
"Ahaha, you really have some courage." Reaching out to a bracelet that he wore on his left wrist and channeling his Qi inside of it, a clicking sound happened. Right after that, the environment suddenly got gloomier.
Swirl! Boom!
The Qi surrounding Seth rapidly raised, leaving the Qi Gathering Realm scope.
Crack!
Thin lines appeared on the floor underneath their feet, since the energy coming from Seth's body had exerted pressure on the ground.
"What!?" Tao Yong got completely paralyzed and his sense of fear multiplied.
"How about threatening me now?" Seth smiled and asked.
"I…"
"Answer me one thing and I can let you depart from here safely..." The one threatening now was Seth.
"Wh-What is it?" Tao Yong had to muster all his strength just to barely say those words.
"Tell me, where did you get this ring?" Seth showed him the silver ring.
"I… I found it on the-the forest." He was trembling all over and clearly, his courage had already faded away from his being.
"You still have the guts to lie, huh?" Darkness started circulating around the whole cave, making the environment a lot heavier.
"W-W-What?! You! Who are you!!!?" Tao Yong got frightened.
Seth pointed a finger and the darkness started enveloping Tao Yong legs, like there were two long snakes coiling around his body.
SSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The skin around Tao Yong legs started to corrode.
"Arghhh!!!" "AAAAAAAA!!!" "It was... Argh! My brother. My brother gave me!"
"What a fast reply, huh?! I tought you would handle it a bit longer, but I guess I was wrong. Now tell me... Who is you brother?"
"T-Tao Zhong."
"Where can I find him?"
"He... He is a core disciple at this sect! Please release me! Argh!"
"Alright you can go now, have a safe trip!" Darkness acted more violently and enveloped him whole.
"NOOOOOOO!"
Within a few seconds, his voice faded and Seth retracted his power just after that. There was nothing left of him anymore, not even a single bone. He vanished while leaving no traces behind.