"Is that right?" Weng drawled as he peered his black eyes into his with a dreary grin cutting through his lips.
He took dauntingly slow steps towards Zhurong who stood on his feet unwaveringly with chin raised high. He couldn't be intimidated by him, no matter how much he tried to make him feel intimidated.
"You tried to get rid of me for her, but I must have been hallucinating since I was poisoned, right?" Weng said sarcastically with a dark chuckle beneath his breath.
"Unfortunately, you weren't hallucinating, but you have no evidence to incriminate me of attempted murder. I'll see you in the morning brother, you should have some rest, you almost died." Zhurong remarked with a dark tone as a menacing lopsided smirk made the corner of his lips curve up dauntingly.
Weng scoffed but didn't say a word as he watched Zhurong's retreating figure as he emerged out of the room.
"Little bastard." Weng muttered beneath his breath.
------
A new dawn arrived, but it felt menacing to watch the sun rise as it peeked out beneath the misty white clouds to enact its light on them. He wondered if it was being in the creepy old woman's house or her inauspicious words she uttered the day before that impacted on the new dawn.
The old woman was up early and she served them breakfast. She gave the vampire brothers a bowl of soup with a red hue and the others, typical human meals.
Zhurong stared at the bowl of soup in front of him as well as the others. Although, the meals weren't bad, they were only suspicious of the old woman who had rendered aid to strangers.
"It is not poisoned, your deaths haven't been carved out by the universe yet." The old woman spoke as if she could see them even when she was blind.
"For the blood suckers, the soup is made with deer blood, so go on and eat. You need energy to travel." The old woman said with a crooked smile as she took out her smoking pipe.
They all exchanged glances before eating with prudence. Zhurong took a spoon of the blood soup and his golden eyes dilated with sparks flying in his veins as he savoured the soup coating his tongue.
It was hard to believe it was deer blood as humans blood were presumed to taste better than animals, but at that moment, it felt different. His eyes narrowed at the strange woman suspiciously.
"Don't look at me like that. It is deer blood mixed with my special ingredients." The Mage shaman's hoarse voice floated across the table and Zhurong's thick brows creased. Although, it didn't seem strange that the woman was aware of him staring as she seemed to have knowledge about things others didn't, after all she was a Mage shaman.
They all got ready to leave as they proceeded for the Mage domain. Ying gave the old woman a heavy pouch filled with gold coins but she refused and started speaking gibberish which made less sense than the other day.
"She gave me the creeps." Gai remarked as they hauled away from the Mage shaman's abode and toward a rocky path.
"She gave us all the creeps. Remember she spoke of death and blood around us if we persisted with this journey, but we have no choice anyway even though it's a suicide mission according to the shaman." Phoenix chipped in with a worried expression on her face.
"She said there was blood and death around us, doesn't mean we would die. It's only rational that they will be, since monsters are after us, it doesn't have to be necessarily ours." Azure said with as soft voice.
"We don't know what she meant. She was apparently speaking in riddles. I heard her in my unconscious state so you all should stop being paranoid. I need your full focus or else I won't be liable for what ensues if one of you truly dies." Weng remarked with a hard voice as he clambered down a rock.
"Our apologies Lord Weng." Phoenix said with slightly bowed head and silence ensued throughout the rest of the journey.
The journey persisted for a short duration and they finally arrived at the Mage domain which made a sigh of relief escape some few persons lips.
They stood atop a cliff and gazed at the Mage domain below them, but their destination was the Mage palace, so they proceeded towards it instead.
They strode down a forest path and soon, they stopped in front of the palace which was located inside the forest. There was no gate and no guard present at the vicinity which was odd.
Only a towering double door leading into the Gothic palace with a menacing aura could be seen. Black thick vines intersected over each other on the door and Serpents head were carved as the handles on the door.
A strong gust of wind blew past them, making dry leaves spray in the air. They all noticed that the trees in the desolate forest were all snuffed out of life as only the dried up branches were visible.
Although, there were no canopies of leaves to stave off the rays of the sunlight, the place still felt shady as though a veil of darkness wore itself over the land.
"Do you hear that?" Zhurong asked and they all stopped their gazes on him.
"Hear what? I don't hear anything." Gai queried with lifted brows.
"Exactly, we can't hear anything. The forest is too silent." Zhurong pointed out and confusion was etched on their faces as they scrutinized their eyes around the desolate area. Not a single bird could be seen soaring above them in the sky nor the chirping of insects could be heard.
"It's not entirely strange. We're in the Mage domain, expect to see the strangest things."Ying noted nonchalantly.
"What are waiting for then, lets go." Lei said with a sheepish grin and without waiting for a reply, he strode forward. Immediately he was approximately three meters away from the double doors, hard clangor of metal could be heard along with Lei's grunts of pain reverberating in the forest.
A teeth like metal clamped on Lei's right foot, leaving him stuck and the metal teeth pierced into his flesh, making blood pour out ont the ground.
"Fuck! They're traps!" Lei growled as he gnashed his teeth in pain while trying to unclamp the trap but the more he moved, it made the metal teeth pierce deeper and he could hear his bones rupture and flesh tear.
"Of course you moron. With no guards or gates, its evidently obvious that they will most likely be traps and defence system against intruders." Ying stated out with a scoff as he stared at Lei in his plight with an unfeeling expression.
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Lei snapped as he shot Ying a distasteful glare.
"Why didn't you use your brains?" Ying retorted and a chuckle erupted from Weng's lips.
Lei ignored them and crouched down to release his foot from the trap. He grasped the metal trap even though it pierced into his palms. He pulled it apart with a swift movement and the breaking of metal could be heard as he freed himself.
He dragged his feet toward them with blood pouring out of it. He hissed in anger and his brown eyes peered into Ying's hazel ones as he shot him a death stare.
"Bastard!" He cussed loudly before taking a seat on a broken branch and leaned his head against the trunk as he waited for his wound to heal.
"How do we get in now when they are traps?" Xuan queried, directing his question to Ying.
"I have no idea, although we could ask the inhabitants but I doubt we'll obtain any valid information from them." Ying replied with a flat tone and they all stood still, watching the double doors as if it would swing open all of a sudden.
"We cannot.." Weng's sentence was abruptly disrupted as their eyes narrowed to the vines gradually dispersing from the door to reveal engravings on it.
After the vines disappeared, the doors shut open with a creaking sound to reveal a tall slender figure in a black cloak with the hood over its head.
"My apologies for keeping you all waiting. Do come in. To avoid the traps, move in the pattern of the snake constellation sign." A male voice erupted from the figure who's face was hidden beneath the cloak.
After he spoke, he retreated back inside without waiting for their replies and the doors closed shut with a loud echo. They all exchanged confused glances at each other until a heavy gust of wind blew across the ground and the dry leaves scattered on the floor whisked away to reveal a confusing patterned layout on the ground.
"He said to move in the snake constellation pattern. Lei moved wrongly that's how he fell victim to the trap." Weng uttered before they all started moving in a snake like pattern until they reached the door.
Gai reached out to one of the snake handle in attempt to open the door but it immediately came alive and moved. Before they could process what was happening, the snake uncoiled itself and speared at Gai with a venomous hiss, which made Gai withdraw his hands as he jumped backward to avoid getting bitten, its slit tongue slithering at him.
"Why do the Mage domain have to be so strange? A little normality won't hurt." Gai remarked with an exasperated sigh as the snake coiled itself back to position as the door's handle and became stiff.