Shu He fell on to his behind, he felt breathless as he watched the figure of Chao Shi walk steadily into the cavern, his silver sword at the ready by his side.
After everything that has happened, after all this time, he was saved. He didn't know how to feel.
Relieved that he wouldn't be in danger now?
Angry that he took so long to get here?
Sad because of the death of his mother… and…?
All of it?
He couldn't process it all, merely shaking as he watched that figure step by step.
Shu He could feel a force pressing against his skin, threatening to gouge his eyes, a sharp feeling saturating the air around him, yet there was nothing hurting him.
He could feel it, a powerful emotion surging through this force, one that wants to annihilate its enemy.
He saw Chao Shi's eyes and felt a chill pierce his skin to the bones.
A silverly glow that could pierce even the darkest of nights, a primal fear that sunk deep into ones being, his eyes were full to the brim with power.
Shu He could only watch with shortened breath.
…
Chao Shi strolled into the cavern with the casualness of someone visiting a friends home, there was no worry or fear in his figure, merely a rock-solid confidence.
He looked around, taking in the surroundings, the rock walls of the cavern seemed to shimmer with a strange light making him narrow his eyes.
He already knew Shu He would be here; he knew his parents would be here as well; He had noticed they were absent when he returned to the village earlier, he just didn't know what state they would be in.
He saw Shu An's body driven through, cold and bloody on the stone floor.
He saw Shu Li on the last strings of his life, collapsed and barely moving.
He saw Shu He, frozen in fear, tattered and at his wits end, fallen next to him.
His grip on his blade tightened and the sharp aura intensified.
He was angry.
But his anger wasn't directed at Tai Min, no, why would he be angry at someone who would be dead soon?
He was angry at himself, his failure had led to the death of his protégé and the deaths of these people, he had underestimated the enemy.
He had information on him, he had informed his allies and assumed it was accurate enough that he could rely on it.
He had learned Tai Min's connection to the Shu family, to Shu Li, so he had expected them to be targeted, that's why he got Yun Hua to stay behind, so she could catch him off guard.
Yet Tai Min's growth and abilities far exceeded what was expected, he could tell that now simply by looking at the shadow cloaked man standing stock still opposite him.
This was his failure, and he had to deal with it.
…
"…" Tai Min stared at the man who had intruded on the cavern, his eyes cold and calm, shadowy shapes writhing below his feet.
He waited slowly for the man to approach him, watching his every step and motion to capture the essence of the one before him.
"Chao Shi, you're finally here" He said, his voice monotone.
Chao Shi stopped in his tracks, tilting his head slightly.
"You were waiting for me? Even though you know who I mean?" He asked, his words filled with meaning.
"Yeah, I've waited oh so long now, so, so long" He spoke without a hint of emotion, and yet his mouth steadily creeped up with a smile that would cause children to have nightmares if they saw it.
Without hesitation, Tai Min pulled something out of his robe, it was a small glowing orb with a set of complicated 'runes' inscribed into it.
Chao Shi merely frowned, he knew what that was, yet he made no attempt to stop it.
Tai Min squeezed the orb in his hand.
*Shatter*
The orb broke into a bright light, the runes flying everywhere, sinking into the nearby rocks.
All of a sudden the cavern lit up like a Christmas tree, complicated lines seemingly drew themselves across the rock faces and pillars, creating a complex pattern that eventually engulfed the entire place.
Chao Shi glanced behind him, the entrance had been covered by a white veil of runes and lines, it was blocked off.
'Is that it?' he thought to himself.
But of course, that wasn't it.
A heavy pressure descended on those in the cavern, Chao Shi felt as if he had been lumbered with a large rock, his body felt slightly sluggish.
But that wasn't all, he could feel the Qi in his body shifting, it wasn't flowing as it should, it was like two magnets with the same poles pushing against one another, an invisible hand stirring the flow.
It was an unpleasant feeling, Chao Shi stumbled slightly.
His 'core' inside of him began to slow down the emission of Qi, like a flame doused with water, he was being cut off from a key source of power for a cultivator.
And yet he still wasn't too flustered, a mere look of annoyance grew on his face.
"You set up a formation here, so I was your target from the start?"
Tai Min's face merely held the creepy smile, he no longer spoke, yet the expression clearly gave away the answer.
"So, you want my heart? Was Yun Hua's not good enough for you?!" A hint of rage grew in Chao Shi's voice before calming itself.
"Fine then." Chao Shi took stance; an invisible pressure began exhorting from his blade.
"Come get it". A clash between sword and shadows began.
…
The cavern was alit with flashes that sunk into darkness, like day itself was fighting the night, the silver moon fighting the pitch-black darkness.
A barrage of slashes flew out, cutting through tendrils of shadows that had aimed for the vital points and impacting on the wall of rocks making the formation glow bright.
From the darkness Tai Min's figure shot out, his arm flexing and extending like a whip at it aimed to gouge out Chao Shi's organs, yet with a simple swipe the arm was dissected, it then fell to the floor and melted away into the shadows.
Many figures grew out of the cavern's darkness, each moving independently and attacking viciously, their shapes no longer human as they became something between man and beast.
Chao Shi's stance shifted to something akin to 'Iai', his sword in a sheathed position to the side, his muscles bulged as they recalled the movement.
<
*SWISH*
His body and sword rotation in a precise and trained manner, as if he had repeated this actions thousands of times before.
The figures had had surrounded him paused before their figures fell apart, bisected at the mid-point falling into the mud like puddle of shadows on the ground.
The fight kept going on and on, Tai Min kept forming shadows of all sizes and shapes, striking at Chao Shi's weak spots or his blind spots, yet no matter what he did, Chao Shi responded with easy, fending off the attack and countering in return.
It was a full twenty minutes before the attacks begun to lull, Chao Shi took dominantly, barely having moved from his starting point at the looked through the squirming shadows in the distance.
And then he suddenly swung his blade, a light streak flew across the cavern before impacting a noteless shadow on the ground.
"AAAAAAAGH" Tai Min's scream sounded out as he burst from the shadows like a child being birthed from a sack of black flesh.
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Chao Shi.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU CAN'T USE YOUR QI! HOW ARE YOU FIGHTING!" He screamed gutturally as black blood dripped from his mouth.
Chao Shi stared with dismissal, almost finding it above him to answer this pathetic man, but he thought for a second and answered.
"You know nothing, you're being used like a little child greedy for power, is this all you can do?" He taunted.
"Child?! Used? I'm not being used! I know what I'm doing! That bastard is a fool! I'm using him! I can kill you! I WILL KILL YOU!" He seemed to have hit a sore point as Tai Min began to rage, the shadows in the cavern shifted, swiftly moving across the floor towards him, entering his body and piling on to him.
A sick watery sound was made as they seemed to seep into his skin and his veins, forcing themselves into circulation, snapping and stretching bones echoed out and his form shifted and grew, his body was taller, he grew and extra pair of arms and eyes, an extra one also grew on his forehead.
"Metamorphosis…" Chao Shi whispered as he watched everything happen.
A rare technique, born out of a certain subset of cultivators that didn't follow the normal path.
'I had a feeling, but this might be a little troublesome'.
The man in front of him was no longer human at this point, before it was already debatable, but he had crossed the line fully now.
He pointed the tip of his blade at the point where the monster's heart would be.
<
A straight line of sharp aura pierced Tai Min's monstrous form from front to back.
Yet nothing seemed to happen, the hole created on Tai Min's chest merely shifted and closed up without so much as bleeding.
'His core is likely shifting around… I don't have a way of pinpointing it, I can't use Paradigm Lotus without Qi to back it up, and it'd cause this place to collapse as well…'
He sighed.
'I just have to keep cutting then!'
…
While the two were fighting Shu He had awoken from his stupor.
He was sitting down off to the side in a daze, looking down before him.
"Father…"
Shu Li was in front of him, eyes barely open, breathing light and next to him was the body of Shu An, Shu He had brought her over to be next to his father.
"Thank you… Shu He…"
Shu He couldn't help but begin to cry again, the tears just began to fall before he even noticed, he had been relieved of the pressure of surviving, yet the pain in his heart just grew larger.
He could tell using his eyes, his father's body wasn't in a state to survive, it was a miracle he was even holding on now.
"Please don't die…" He pleaded, even though he knew it was impossible.
Yet his father didn't even hear him, his ear drums were ruptured, his ears were full of blood, his other orifices were dripping as well.
Shu Li struggled, moving his hand he clasped Shu An's in his as he glanced at her face with his fading vision, his eyes dripped with blood.
He looked over to Shu He, he looked over to his son.
He held his hand up, and Shu He grabbed it tightly as if to not let him pass on.
"Shu He… I couldn't do anything for you…. I'm sorry…"
Shu Li struggled to lift his hand, placing it on Shu He's head.
"No! Don't apologise… please… don't apologise… you're all I wanted to have for a father… I love you please don't go…."
"Please…. Live well… my son.."
"Dad!!!" He screeched among the sounds of battle unnoticed.
Silence settled on them, the echoing of bangs and slashes filling the void of silence.
Shu He placed his Father's hand on to his chest, he reluctantly let go.
"Live.. well.."
He repeated the words.
"I wanted to live well… I was given this second life, with a healthy body and amazing parents, I loved it from the day I was born here, every day I learned new things, spoke to new people, had new experiences; I was truly happy, I thought that it was meant to be, that it was my reward for suffering".
Something in him flipped, he began talking about his past life out loud that he never had before, yet there was no one there to listen to him.
"But I was wrong, wasn't i? I have to be… after all, I've lost everything, how can I live happily now? Even though I did my best… What's the point?"
He voices began to become monotone, as if his emotions were subsiding in his mind.
"I lost it all… no it was taken from me…"
His head which laid back, staring upwards jittered towards another part of the cavern.
There, a large black figure with extra arms and eyes was locked in close combat with Chao Shi.
"He took everything from me".
The golden flame inside him pulsed.