"How the hell do we open the door if the handles are alive?" Lei queried rhetorically with a frustrated sigh and a frown etched on his face.
"And why did that strange Mage leave us out here?" Gai added in thoughtfully.
"Any ideas on how to open this door without getting bitten?" Xuan questioned and they all exchanged looks.
"We're vampires and a little poison won't hurt us." Zhurong suggested as he looked at his brothers.
"We don't know that, it's no ordinary snake." Weng chipped in with his gaze falling on the snake handles which remained stiff in a coiled position.
"We can't just stand around here. The monsters could attack at any moment." Ying implied.
"I'll do it." Zhurong said and moved toward the door, but the snake handles didn't come alive. He extended both arms and grasped both snake handles as he anticipated the bite, but nothing occurred.
He pushed the door open to reveal thick darkness residing in the innards of the palace.
"That was strange. The snake tried to bite me, but not you?" Gai remarked in a tone of disbelief.
"I grabbed the two handles and you grabbed only one. It must have been the reason it tried to bite you." Zhurong noted out and he nodded his head thoughtfully.
Their eyes scrutinized the dark hall that was dimly lit with green torches flickering on the wall. It was spacious and empty with only a vast exquisite staircase elongating very high to reach the top floor.
"Follow me. The Mage queen awaits you." The slender man in a black cloak from earlier informed them from the top of the stairs and they all followed after him.
They emerged from the stairs into an expansive hallway with green torches burning lustrously on the walls to light up their path. Even with the light enacted from the torches, the darkness encompassing the place overpowered the light.
The cloaked man halted in front of towering double doors with engraved daunting arts on it. The man disappeared from their sight after leading the way.
Weng hovered his clenched fist above the door but it abruptly shot open gradually with a creaking noise. The door opened wide to reveal an expansive dimly lit room.
Pillars stretching from the high rooftop were planted to the ground firmly, green burning torches were placed randomly in the room. Their eyes narrowed to the figure seated on a throne seat with spikes shooting out of every corner of it.
Two humongous man like creatures stood behind her throne with black mist of smoke engulfing them, their eyes were fully black with not a hint of white, the creatures undoubtedly seemed like her guards.
The woman with a grim look on her face had an impeccable but precarious beauty which warned beings of the darkness beneath it. Her dark green eyes sufficed with malignance, as she peered it at them with a hard unwavering gaze.
Her long black hair flowed loosely down her shoulders to pool on her crossed legs.
"What brings you all here? Or wait. Should I guess?" She drawled with a melodious voice and dread coating it as she spoke.
"Monsters from the underworld in the monster realm are invading the mortal realm to eradicate the four guardian clans." She stated with a drawled voice as she tapped on the arm rest of her throne with her long talon like nails.
"And we need your help to figure out who is behind it." Weng remarked immediately. A sarcastic smirk pulled the sides of her lip up.
"I don't offer help. I offer exchange, so what are you willing to trade for my help?" She queried with a sly smile as her green eyes glinted darkly.
"Name your price." Ying stated out firmly. The creatures behind the mage queen growled lowly.
Silence ensued for a moment and the entourage awaited the mage queen's response.
"My price is pricey. Many have failed, what makes you think you'll succeed?" The mage queen remarked with a scoff.
"Leave it to us and name your price." Weng spoke firmly as he retained his gaze on her.
"My price is the peach of immortality." She declared out and their brows lifted up in stupefaction.
"The peach of immortality?" Azure blurted out with a shriek as her jade eyes widened in disbelief.
"But it's in the immortal realm and off limit!" Weng exclaimed and the mage queen let out a deep sigh.
"Don't you have another price? This one seems impossible. We do not belong in the immortal realm." Ying proclaimed with a serene composure, but his words didn't seem to budge her in the tiniest bit.
"You can leave then if it's an impossible feat to carry out." She said with a bored tone as she averted her gaze from them with distaste. The creatures behind her started moving forward, with slow daunting steps that made the ground underneath them rumble with every step they took.
"Wait! We'll do it." Weng stated with a hard tone and all eyes dropped on him. The mage queen raised her hand up and the creatures stopped moving and retreated back to their former position.
"Even if we wanted to, how do we go into the immortal realm?" Phoenix queried with creased brows and the mage queen let out a hysterical laughter that echoed in the room.
"A portal of course. What a ridiculous question." The mage queen uttered with a slightly irritated tone and Phoenix pressed her lips in a thin line.
"And how do we create this portal?" Ying queried with a hint of uneasiness in his voice.
"Through magic. I'll create the portal." The mage queen enunciated with a sly smile creeping through her lips.
"How long will it take to create it? We don't have the luxury of time on our side." Ying queried again.
"It won't take long, only a few minutes will do." The mage queen replied and Ying's expression turned into a puzzled one.
"What do you mean only a few minutes to create a portal to the immortal realm?" Ying queried with impatience coating his tone as he peered his hazel eyes at the mage queen demanding for answers.
"The stronger the mage, the faster the result. A lesser mage would take hours but since I wield greater powers, it'll take me minutes to send you all to the immortal realm." The queen mage explained with pride in her words and he nodded thoughtfully.
"About the peach of immortality...Are you trying to make yourself immortal?" Weng drawled with a dark look in his eyes as he squinted them suspiciously at her.
"What else would I need the peach of immortality for?" The mage queen replied with a wide grin tearing across her lips as dark excitement swirled into her eyes.
"As you are aware, the goddess of life and death won't willingly give us the peach of immortality." Lei added in.
"Bring me the peach of immortality, employ force if you must." The mage queen growled between gritted teeth.
"You want us to fight against immortal gods? When you haven't even fulfilled your side of the deal. We would be endangering our lives, so if we die we lose, but you on the other hand has nothing to lose." Ying stated out in a logical sense.
"Unfortunately, you're right. But I can't give you any liable information until you've acquired the peach of immortality, so I'll convey a bit of knowledge to help unravel a piece of the mystery." The mage queen stated thoughtfully with a soft sigh as she scrutinized them all.
They waited eagerly for the knowledge she wanted to convey that would hopefully help solve a part of the enigmatic mystery.
"The monsters attacking the four guardians are known as anima feeders from the underworld. They feed on the souls of powerful creatures and convey it to their master, the king of hell to make him more powerful." The mage queen informed and their faces twisted with wary and shock.
"Diyu, the king of hell wants to feed on our souls, why now? It doesn't make any sense. The mortal realm has no business with the realm of monsters in the underworld." Gai stated out with confusion etched on his face.
"That's where the interesting part is. You're right, the mortal realm has no business with the underworld, not until someone made a deal with him. The main culprit behind this devious scheme made a deal in exchange for giving him your souls, so that he'll be able to harness the power of the four guardian clans." The mage queen explained.
"I don't understand. How does giving Diyu our souls makes the culprit gain our powers?" Azure queried with a slight frown etched on her face.
"Diyu gets the souls, the culprit gains the powers. Apparently, it'll be unattainable for the culprit to single handedly gain your powers without help from a powerful creature like Diyu, the god of death and king of hell." The mage queen explained.
"Who is the culprit?" Ying demanded and a sly smile tore through her lips.
"That mystery is left for you to unravel." The mage queen remarked.