Everyone nodded firmly as they reached the entrance of the ruins. There, they quickly went through the door and turned around. They knew that they couldn't get out despite being at the entrance, because somehow it had been sealed off.
Hao Jianyu did come into the ruins last after all...
"Alright, follow my instructions please!" Edward said. He then summoned his Martial Spirit, which took the form of a lengthy and thorny green vine. It was incredibly stretchy, had high durability, and was painful to touch.
Edward sweated and bled profusely as he got Tai Mu and Tian Mei to strike holes into the walls of the ruin. Then, he wrapped his Martial Spirit through the holes and tied it until it formed a well-wrapped barricade!
"This should hold her off, at least if she recently entered the fourth stage of the foundation building realm." Edward was sweating bullets and it became harder and harder for him to breath. Not only had he been injured, but he expended all of his Spirit Qi!
Tai Mu quickly assisted him and brought him to the top of the ruins and began trying to break it open.
KCH-
The sound of vines stretching and a giant object slamming against them entered everyone's ears, startling them despite them being prepared. The vines stretched and contorted to the maximum, but thankfully they didn't snap in the slightest.
Such vines were incredibly reliable!
"Hold on, Edward. Once we get rid of this seal on the door I'll get help immediately." Tai Mu tried his best to keep Edward calm and slow his bleeding. Unfortunately, the strange red Qi that was on the morning star had sunken into Edward's wounds.
His wound glowed bright red from time to time and it looked as if Edward was getting weaker by the second.
"Don't worry, Tai Mu. I shan't perish this easily or else I wouldn't have gotten thus far. I have an ancient technique that will help me heal in due time." Edward reassured Tai Mu that he wouldn't die, he would just be incredibly weak until he recovered his Spirit Qi and expelled the destructive aura in his body.
"Quickly, help me get rid of this seal!" Tai Mu shouted. Everyone quickly ran up to the top of the ruins and used all of their skills to penetrate and break the seal on the ruins. The seal was nothing weak, and it managed to withstand the attacks of multiple people at once!
The expressions on everyone's faces were growing grimmer by the second because of the noises they heard down below. Hao Jianyu's morning star slammed against Edward's Martial Spirit over and over, making his skin turn paler and paler with each hit.
The vines started to stretch less and less and the sounds they released indicated that they were dangerously close to snapping under the terrifying strength.
Just as they felt that the vines were on the precipice of snapping, an earth-shattering roar erupted from down below, where Hao Jianyu was. Khoru could see that her expression turned grim almost immediately and she tried to retreat.
"Everyone, push harder! We're close to destroying this seal!" Khoru shouted as he turned back around. He cast the final move for his sword-art again and used the available yin and yang energies to deal the final hit.
It destroyed the seal once and for all, and the group quickly escaped the ruins...
Meanwhile, Hao Jianyu was still suck down inside the ruins with the 5th stage foundation building magical beast.
"Come on... I released you from your imprisonment and you dare to attack me? To bite the hand that feeds you? Foolish." Hao Jianyu's words may have sounded imposing or arrogant, but there was deep anxiousness within her voice.
She grasped the morning star and swung it bravely at the magical beast, hoping to injure it. Unfortunately, the magical beast, which was a silver and red wolf with white glowing eyes, chomped down on the morning star and crushed it completely!
What the hell?!
Her pupils shrank upon witnessing such a terrifying scene and she subconsciously backed away. The coldness and mercilessness shown within the magical beast's eyes made Hao Jianyu feel incredible fear.
"I released you! Y-You should kneel before me! You belong to us!" Hao Jianyu's words grew more desperate the closer the wolf came to her. Fear welled up inside her heart and she used all her remaining strength to fight the wolf.
AAAAAAH-
An ear-piercing scream ran through the earlobes of the rest of the party and down to the tip of their toes. None of them looked back, instead they kept walking forward until they exited Nighteye forest and reached the path.
It was the next day already, nearly noon, and they hadn't been to sleep at all. The party quickly set up their tents and went to sleep...
...
Khoru grunted lowly and opened his eyes, only to see that it was a little later than noon.
"Did I not sleep for long?" Khoru muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes.
"No, it's already the next day..." Tian Mei's low voice entered Khoru's ears. He left the tent and saw Tian Mei sitting on a log next to a campfire in the middle of all the tents. Her gaze was cold and her mood didn't seem too good.
Khoru didn't say much and sat at another log. The two didn't talk and only waited until the next carriage would come through the Nighteye forest path.
'I wonder if a carriage came by already...'
...
After an hour or two, everybody else woke up and packed up their gear and equipment. They all patiently waited for the next carriage with worn out looks as if they had just been put through a traumatizing situation.
Well, that's indeed what happened.
"I was only in Moon Crest City for a few days, what happened to you guys? And aren't you missing a member, I recall that there was one more member of your party, or perhaps that was just my bad memory..." The coachman was concerned when he saw their condition.
"No no, it was only us that went to explore the Nighteye forest. Let's just say we experienced quite an unfortunate situation..." Khoru butted in to say...