"Yaaaaaaargh!" A man yelled as he used all his body weight to drive a spear through the skull of an approaching beast, making it drop to the floor cold and dead.
It had been only half an hour since the dynamite had been set off, the sky was still thick with ash and dirt that had lingered in the air after being launched sky high albeit it was thinner than before, and invisibility was improving rapidly.
The entire area was far quieter than it had been during the main attack, only a few yells and snarls every couple minutes or so as a straggler from the pack had made its way to them, even then they were either injured or just lacked the amount of aggressiveness that could be found in them before.
'How odd' Shu Li thought as he sent an arrow flying through a boar's forehead.
*DOOOOM* A smaller explosion sounded a short distance away as a bear was engulfed by heat, scorching its exposed skin and blasting its flesh away, Shu He's explosive vials were coming in use during this second defence.
'It's like there's something wrong with the beasts now, they're attacking slower like they've regained the reluctance they were lacking before, something has happened' Shu Li thought as he analysed the beasts that attacked since the explosion.
This wasn't a bad thing of course, rather it's the opposite; They hadn't had any casualties since the they set off the dynamite and retreated, and the beasts had been attacking alone instead of packs and droves, he still wasn't sure how many remained, but this was manageable.
"If it keeps going like this, we'll survive fine" He mumbled to himself with a bit of joy, they had lost a lot of people and the village suffered a lot of damage, especially from the explosives they set off, but at least they were still alive in the end.
As if reading his thoughts, the doors to the hall they were protecting burst open and an ashen faced man almost jumped out, stumbling and trying to yell, yet he couldn't gather enough air in his lungs to speak due to his panic.
"T---- T---- Te----" He stuttered while darting his eyes around him looking for someone.
Shu Li recognised him as the person who went to check up on those taking shelter a couple minutes ago, a dark feeling creeped up his spine.
"Calm yourself, then speak" Shu Li walked up to the man and spoke while holding him still like he'd shoot off if he didn't.
The man stopped trying to talk and breathed deeply for a second, letting his face regain some of the peachy colour before trying to speak again.
"IT'S TERRIBLE, THE HALL WAS ATTACKED! DEAD- SO MANY DEAD!" He yelled out, letting everyone hear it clearly, many froze in their place as they heard the words echo in their mind.
Shu Li felt a chill run down his spine.
"ALL OF YOU KEEP YOUR POSTS! A FEW OF YOU COME WITH ME!" He yelled, drowning out the thoughts of those about to throw away their weapons and charge into the hall.
Even Shu Li himself, his heart was beating heavily as his head felt like it would begin to spin if he didn't keep a grip on it.
A small group formed around him as they headed inside, heading into the maw of despair.
'An'er, Shu He, Please be fine!' He hoped, despite his gut screaming at him otherwise.
---
Drip drip drip drip drip.
A sound echoed again and again in his ears, slowly stirring his conscious awake, it felt heavy like it was shackled in chains, a prisoner in its own head.
Sh- --
Shu –
Shu h-
SHU HE!
His eyes darted open, startled awake.
His vision was blurry, but he could make out the environment, grey with bright lights littering it, he couldn't recognise this place.
His mind was full of fog like he'd had a long sleep and had awoken from a long lucid dream.
'Where am i? What was I doing?' He began to try shift himself to stand up, then he realised he could feel the sense of cold metal clamped around his wrists.
The chill from the shackles seemed to blast his consciousness awake as his head quickly replayed his experiences until now, then he began to sweat as his heart palpitated.
'I was captured?! Why?!' He didn't understand one bit, who was it that captured him in the first place?
'That man, I've never seen him before' The chilling sight of the creepy man's scarlet red eyes stuck in his mind.
"Shu He!" A voice sounded out near him, one that was incredibly familiar to him.
He turned in his shackles that kept his hands behind him, his eyes searching for the source of the voice in the dim environment.
And then he found it, his eyes almost teared up, the sight of the brunette-haired woman in front of him set aside one worry he had.
"Mother!" His mother, Shu An was shackled similar to him only a few meters away, both she and him were shackled to two different but thick stalagmites.
They were in a large cave, one Shu He had never entered before, he didn't know where they were, and not just that he looked around and noticed the small light sources he now recognised.
They were Shinestones, or rather the ore that they were made out of.
"Shu He, are you okay?" She asked with concern while trying to make out her son's face.
"I'm fine mother, I'm more worried about you? Are you hurt?!" He asked in return, when he couldn't find his mother among the bodies of the hall he felt the worse might have happened, so he felt relieved, yet he had more questions than answers still.
'Why are both me AND my mother here? And unharmed at that…'
"I'm fine too, not hurt at least; Your mother isn't fragile you know?" She said with a slight smirk.
Shu He could only force himself to laugh at that one.
He looked around some more, but couldn't see anything else of interest, it was just a nondescript cave without any outstanding features, he couldn't even see the man who had brought him here.
His brows furrowed as he looked back at his mom.
"Mother, do you remember what the one who brought you here looked like?" He asked out of curiosity.
Yet she only shook her head.
"I don't remember anything… I was just calming down some of the others that were scared from all the noise and all of sudden everything went black… then I woke up here next to you" She said with a pained look on her face "Everyone… how is everyone, did you check on them?"
Shu He's heart clenched along with his teeth.
He remembered the scene in the hall, the bodies of young and old strewn everywhere like a forest of felled trees.
"They're… I'm not sure" He didn't have the heart to tell her.
Yet tears began to fall from her face as she watched him speak.
"Shu He… my little He… it's okay I can tell when you're struggling… they're not fine, are they?"
Shu He's face betrayed his feelings as soon as she pointed them out, he paused for a second then shook his head.
"I went to the hall to on my short rest to check on them, to go see you… but when I entered everyone was collapsed on the floor… I don't know who was alive or…" He paused while he looked into his mother's face, tears were falling from her eyes, yet she was calmly listening to him.
"I was panicked so I looked for you, yet I couldn't find you at all, other than that… I didn't get to do much, it was then that man attacked me, knocking me out and bringing me here".
He gave her the abridged version, not explaining Yun Hua or the actual attack.
"Little He… you're still so young you shouldn't have to see things like this and yet…" She shook her head as her heart throbbed in pain, she didn't want her child to have to suffer like this.
"Mother…" His mind began to calm, just having her here let him push down the feelings of panic that were rising in the back of his mind.
Right now, he felt she was the splitting image of his other life's mom, the one person that had supported him through his life of pain, he was once more grateful for their place in his lives.
"We need to get out of here" He said, looking at the shackles that were tied around the stalagmite, it was thick and sturdy, while the shackles were made of iron.
'It's possible for me to break them if I really try…' He hadn't tried breaking iron chains with his Qi reinforcement before, but it wasn't entirely out of the realms of possibility even if he suffered slight injuries.
He focused, trying to manipulate his Qi; His core flame sprung to life, and he tried to control it and cycle it around his body but-
"Ouch!" He squinted in pain, a feeling akin to a punch in the gut appeared when he tried to do so.
"Shu He! What's wrong?" Shu An asked, confused because he exclaimed in pain out of nowhere.
'What the hell?' Shu He himself was confused; this hadn't happened before.
He tried again, only to suffer the same result.
'I can't use my Qi?!' His only way of escape was cut off immediately.
He focused, sensing his core flame; At first it seemed fine, yet as he observed he slowly made out a thin black net surrounding it like a spiders web with interwoven patterns completely trapping any qi inside.
Suddenly Shu He's memory was jogged; he remembered the man making hand signs before dealing the finishing blow to him.
"Back then?!..." He blurted out due to surprise.
"Worked it out, Little He?" An unfamiliar voice spoke a familiar name yet all Shu He felt was chills, the voice was flat and contained little emotion other than ridicule.
"Who are you?!" Shu An yelled out.
A tall figure seemed to walk out of the darkness, eventually standing before them.
Of course, Shu He recognised this figure as the one who had put him down earlier.
A long black cloak covered his body like shadows, bone white hair cascaded from his head, his skin was a pale white lacking in flaws like wrinkles or marks, his sclera a pure abyss black and iris, pupils a deep crimson red.
The man didn't look human at all, he looked to Shu An with a lack of interest.
"You don't know?"
"Should I?!" She yelled back, before her brows furrowed slightly.
"Why did you capture us, take us here?" Shu He asked, realising he had no way of escape in any such sense now.
"That's a great question, but you'll have to wait for a bit until you get the answer" He shook his head, glancing at Shu An who seemed to be in thought.
A few seconds later, a hint of uncertainty grew in Shu An's eyes as she spoke.
"Are you… Tai Min?" She asked, seemingly reluctant.
The man smirked.
"What makes you think that?"
"Shu Li mentioned before… that if I ever met someone named 'Tai Min' or a creepy man with long black hair and red eyes that approached me, to run away and get him immediately" She said, looking at the mans figure, becoming increasingly sure she was right.
"And- if you captured his son and wife, you aim is surely Shu Li himself!" She concluded.
'Of course… Is this someone with a grudge against father?' Shu He was sure his mother was right about this.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
The man clapped oh so lightly as he nodded.
"Yes, I am Tai Min; I'm glad that Shu Li married someone that was smart at least, truly, I'm so very happy" A creepy smile crept up on Tai Min's face as he walked closer to the two, before he sat down cross legged just in front of him.
"Now that it's come to this, we have some time; Let's have a chat shall we?"