"That's the answer to your question, I guess," Mu Rong Shu remarked dryly as she watched the nine fire dragons come to life. I sighed and shook my head, not at all surprised at the form the tomb guardians took.
"Nine Yang Dragons. Of course."
Nine yang dragons could be translated as nine solar dragons, by the way, so it kind of matched the whole theme of "Tomb of Nine Suns." They were a ferocious breed, but they weren't exactly living creatures. They were created out of a formation known as the Nine Yang Coiling Dragon Array.
This wasn't good.
"Lu Bu!"
My war spirit was already moving to engage one of the nine dragons. Meanwhile, I called Xiao Hei back. He would immediately get slaughtered if he tried to fight beings of such strength. Even so, I didn't dismiss him completely. Working together with me, there were still things he could do. The both of us coordinated, flanking one of the nine yang dragons that had turned to devote its attention to us. While it charged at me, Xiao Hei pounced on its back, sinking his teeth into its fiery scales before unleashing his hellfire at pointblank range.
Unfortunately, such a tiny attack had little effect on the massive behemoth.
It didn't matter. Every damage counted.
The yang dragon ignored Xiao Hei and hurtled toward me. Standing firmly, I moved my hands in a circular motion, forming the yin-yang symbol behind me. I didn't stop the dragon's charge directly, but I subtly shifted to the side and allowed it to barrel past me before I deflected its strike and altered its trajectory. Using its colossal momentum against itself, I sent the yang dragon crashing into another of its brethren, the two of them entangled with each other and falling to the ground with frustrated roars. Before they hit the ground, Xiao Hei jumped off and landed safely, but not before leaving one last blast of hellfire in their direction.
While I dealt with my opponent, Mu Rong Shu was busily countering another yang dragon with her Eight Trigrams palm. She was activating several trigrams, calling forth a combination of elements to deal with the near divine beast. Calling forth heavenly power and thunder from the Qian and Zhen Trigrams, she fought as best as she could, pounding the yang dragon with immense bursts of qi. The dragon staggered from the blows, but didn't fall. Snarling, it retaliated with a stream of flames that Mu Rong Shu countered with a geyser of water from the Kan Trigram.
"This is going to be tough," I muttered when I caught sight of the two fire dragons untangling themselves and turning to glare at me and Xiao Hei. Well, just me. Xiao Hei didn't even register in their eyes.
They charged once more. I stepped in between them, which turned out to be a cunning move, for they couldn't get too close or they would collide with each other. Placing a palm on the side of one of them, I then diverted it to the side, sending it knocking its brethren over. The two of them crashed against the wall once more.
Meanwhile, Lu Bu continued to duel with the other dragons, his deadly spear keeping them at bay. Even though the dragons were tough and tenacious, their immense size making their much smaller opponent seem like a joke, it appeared that he could actually hurt them badly with his spear.
Pushing my glasses up my nose as I jumped over a tail that one of my dragon opponents lashed out at me in retaliation for knocking them aside, I thought of a quick strategy. Then I smiled.
"Shu! Over here!"
Mu Rong Shu was being driven back, but she nodded and retreated gratefully at my words. The both of us met up and began to back away to the entrance to the chamber. At my mental commands, both Xiao Hei and Lu Bu began to withdraw too.
"You are not giving up, are you?" Mu Rong Shu asked in disbelief. Despite the adrenaline surge she experienced when fighting the yang dragon, I could tell that she was exhausted. The heat was taking a toll on us. I smiled at my wife.
"You know me better than that."
"Ah. A strategy then." She nodded, trusting in me fully. She glanced back at the dragons, her eyes narrowed. "What do we do?"
"Mop up the survivors."
"Huh? Survivors?"
I nodded, my eyes already on Lu Bu. At my order, he stopped right at the entrance, holding his spear up. The nine yang dragons didn't seem to care, all of them hurtling toward him in a unified charge, their jaws wide open as if to swallow him whole.
Lu Bu swung his spear, bellowing defiantly at them.
"Fang Tian Hua Ji (Heaven Piercer)!"
The entire chamber vanished in a shower of golden light, Lu Bu's signature spear and his ultimate attack overwhelming the nine yang dragons and annihilating them from existence. Mu Rong Shu and I shielded our eyes, momentarily blinded by the massive attack.
"Uh…wouldn't you accidentally destroy all the divine treasures and the coffin inside the burial chamber as well?" Mu Rong Shu asked me. I smirked.
"Perhaps…but it's their duty to protect the tomb."
As the light died away, we could see the nine yang dragons – or what remained of them. Only a couple of them survived, the remnants of their bodies smoking. That were tattered holes in their fiery forms, and even though they appeared mostly intangible, it was clear that they were grievously hurt.
Lu Bu bowed his head before he slowly disappeared. I winced and took a deep breath. Using Fang Tian Hua Ji (Heaven Piercer) was normally a last resort. It consumed too much of my qi, to the extent that I was now exhausted…far too exhausted to even maintain Lu Bu's existence. And the heat was making it worse.
But I had no choice. The nine yang dragons were way too powerful. If I didn't unlash something as powerful as Lu Bu's ultimate attack, then I had no way of defeating them. Especially not under such harsh circumstances.
"They absorbed most of the impact…sacrificing their lives to protect the tomb!"
Mu Rong Shu was amazed and impressed. Unlike me, she wasn't exhausted. She was still in fairly good shape. I glanced at her and shook my head.
"In such a close, confined place, they have nowhere to run anyway. They wouldn't have escaped Lu Bu's Divine Treasure either way."
"Oh, I'm not accusing you of using a cowardly or despicable method," Mu Rong Shu assured me. She then smiled and stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. As always, she was wearing the gauntlets and boots that she had obtained from the Tomb of God of War. "You've done well, dear. Now leave the rest to me!"
"Actually…" I raised a hand and stopped her. "You can leave them to Xiao Hei."
"Huh?"
Before Mu Rong Shu could demand an explanation, Xiao Hei was already leaping forward. He bounded across the chamber, leaping over dusty crypts and pouncing on the first of the yang dragons. Even though it was fatally wounded, it was still dangerous. Snarling, it slashed at Xiao Hei, but the hellhound flipped himself in midair to avoid the blow before landing on the outstretched fiery claw. Running along the length of the limb, he propelled himself upward before biting the dragon's neck and tearing it out.
The fire dragon roared, its throat half-gone and bleeding fading embers. It thrashed about wildly, but Xiao Hei was already moving. Landing on its head, he sank his teeth in and bit down hard. Black hellfire erupted from his maw and bathed the yang dragon.
Perhaps, if the yang dragon was at its peak, such an attack wouldn't faze it. But it was horribly weakened from Lu Bu's Divine Treasure earlier and now it toppled over, consumed from within by the black flames.
Its brethren bellowed in rage and dove at Xiao Hei, but he was already leaping away. In a single stride, he twisted around and seized one of the dragon's claws with his teeth. Fiery scales came loose and vanished in a flicker of sparks. The dragon howled in anger and pain, frantically slashing about in order to get rid of Xiao Hei, but the hellhound was deftly bouncing from one area to another, avoiding the yang dragon's attacks.
Realizing that it was unable to land a solid hit on the elusive hellhound, the yang dragon turned to glare at me. It must have recognized that I was the summoner, and thus if it eliminated me, Xiao Hei would naturally disappear too.
Without any hesitation, it unleashed a huge fireball at us. I was too exhausted to move, but I stood my ground. Knowing I didn't have the energy to dodge, I sought to deflect the fireball with Tai Ji fist.
Fortunately, my wife was here. Mu Rong Shu was already moving, putting herself in front of me and activating her Kan Trigram. A barrier of water enveloped us, absorbing the full blast of the huge fireball. There was a huge explosion and a fountain of steam shot out, the scalding moisture splashing against the chamber, but otherwise neither of us was hurt.
Then Xiao Hei finished off the yang dragon, also tearing out its throat and slipping his hellfire into its body, destroying it from the inside out. As the last yang dragon crashed onto the ground, Xiao Hei jumped off and landed gracefully on the ground.
He then turned around and began feeding on the disappearing bodies of the dragons. Not exactly eating them but absorbing the incredible amount of fiery yang qi that was left behind by their demise.
"I see. So that's why you wanted Xiao Hei to be the one to defeat them." Mu Rong Shu nodded in understanding. I grinned.
"Yeah. I expect him to…uh, level up after this."
"Cool story, dear."
I wasn't sure if my wife was being sarcastic or cracking a joke. Knowing her, it was probably the latter, so I decided to brush it off with a grin. She was smiling at me anyway, so I didn't have the heart to be mad at her. Instead, I focused on what was in front of us.
"Let's go and see what's waiting in the tomb for us."
As you would expect from a tomb that was named Nine Suns, there was plenty of stuff lying in wait, including a Solar Amulet that formed a protective barrier of unyielding yang qi around its wearer. Mu Rong Shu didn't want it, though.
"The yang qi will be disruptive to my Eight Trigrams, which emphasizes balance between yin and yang," she explained. "We'll sell it instead."
"Good idea." I was exploring the tomb, and even though we found many other similar relics and treasures, none of them seemed to be fit for summoning.
Was Mu Rong Lao mistaken then?
No, he wasn't. I could feel something burning inside me. The Nine Yang Divine Flame manual was calling to something…something that wasn't among the treasures I found. The bow and arrows that I brought along were resonating very strongly. Placing a hand on them, I closed my eyes and tried to sense the connection.
Eh? There was a long thread of yang qi connecting these treasures to…the coffin.
Opening my eyes, I ventured toward the coffin with bated breath. Exchanging a glance with my wife, I took a deep breath before grabbing hold of the lid of the coffin and flinging it open. A shower of dust rose into the air, causing me to cough and back away. Waving the dusty particles away, I peered at the interior of the coffin, squinting through my smudged lenses.
At first, I was expecting to see a desiccated corpse within the interior of the coffin, just like every other tomb I had been to.
However, what I saw instead took me entirely by surprise.