The blood wafting in the air made Zhulong thirsty for the crimson liquid to coat his tongue and he subconsciously ran his tongue over his pointy incisors in a daunting manner.
"Vampire instincts?" Xuan's voice echoed in the windy night.
"Wanna lend me your neck? I'll try not to drain you dry, don't want to get to you before the monsters do." Zhulong said with a twisted smirk pulling up on his lips as his golden eyes stared lazily at Xuan.
"Let's head out." Weng spoke out interrupting their silent death stares as he started moving away from the bloodied path in which decapitated bodies were dispersed unevenly.
"What about the bodies?" Zhulong queried as he screened his eyes on the corpses.
Weng stared at him before averting his gaze to stop on Gai.
"Gai will bury them." Weng stated in a blank tone before moving along with the rest of them while Gai outstretched his hand toward the bodies.
A strong gust of wind whipped across the ground carrying with it a heavy sandstorm to encompass the bodies and conceal the vicious massacres from the world.
"All done. Let's go." Gai said to him as he motioned for them to leave as they were behind the others.
"Your powers are remarkable, I can comprehend why the monsters are after the four of you." Zhulong remarked and a sheepish grin appeared on Gai's lips.
"Our powers merged as one has the essence to create a power beyond our wildest imagination. The only way to prevent the merge is getting rid of one....or all of us." Gai said with a stern expression.
"The Mage bandits. They were particularly suspicious." Zhulong noted with creased brows thoughtfully.
Gail tilted his head to the side to look at him with narrowed grey eyes as he tucked the loose white strip of hair running from the front line behind his ears.
"Suspicious? There's nothing suspicious about Mage bandits robbing foreign travellers in a desolate forest." Gai remarked with a nonchalant expression.
"It didn't come across like a robbery, their numbers surpassed normal bandits and their powers, it was strong for mere bandits robbing travellers. Even after their failure was prominent, they still persisted in killing us and to top it all, they asked for nothing and resolved to killing us instead." Zhulong implied with a grim look on his face as he pressed his thoughts on it.
"Logically, you're right and not the only one who noticed. I figured it was weird when they asked for nothing and instead started attacking us." Gai commented as they strode down the dark path of the forest.
"They appeared mindless, as if they were being manipulated by something...or someone." Zhulong remarked.
The Mage bandits attacked them with no sort of logic whatsoever. He couldn't sense any fear or emotion emanating from them when they fought like mind controlled beings similar to the creatures that attacked them recently.
"So, what are you implying Lord Zhulong?" Gai queried with raised brows.
"There's a prospect that someone in the mortal realm is behind all of this. Maybe the Mages?" Zhulong insinuated with squinted eyes as he pondered on the possibilities that the Mages could be the culprit behind the devious scheme to get rid of the four guardian clans.
Although, it seemed too easy for the Mages to be the culprits, they were his suspects for now.
"The mortal realm prospect seems probable but the Mages... Why would they want us dead? It doesn't have a motive." Gai reasoned out leaving Zhulong thoughtful for a moment as they strolled along the dark path with leaves flailing beside them as the calm gust of wind blew past them making their hairs scatter behind them with the wind.
"Motive..." Zhulong whispered beneath his breath thoughtfully.
"They need a motive if they're attacking us, and right now we are lost in the path of obscurity on what their aims or who the culprits are." Gai remarked with a rather serene expression as he spoke.
"We have no idea who the culprit or what their goal is, but one thing is certain, their attacks are not going to cease until the four clans lay dead. Although, I won't let that occur." Zhulong said in a dark voice that rolled off with melancholy coating his words as his golden eyes glinted with malignance.
"Of course you won't, Azure is a part of the clan." Gai said teasingly with a mischievous glint in his eyes as his lips curved up to a lopsided smirk.
Zhulong's gaze narrowed to Azure as she walked beside Phoenix along the dark path with the dim moonlight stretching its light on them the broad leaves didn't stave off.
Her robe flowed behind her as she walked and her ridiculously long hair danced with the wind behind her in a serene manner.
"Azure should be the least of my concerns. Right now, we have a major problem. I'll fret about her later...and take care of Weng." Zhulong stated in a rather stern expression with darkened golden eyes as he averted his gaze from her to look into the forest where thick darkness resided.
"Right. You're finally taking on real commitments and putting your personal desires aside." Gai said with a short chuckle.
"When you mean take care of Weng..." Gai added in with raised brows and narrowed eyes at him.
"I'll take care of him in any way necessary." Zhulong said firmly with ticked jaws and a hardened expression on his face.
"Precisely how?" Gai queried again with curiosity gleaming in his grey eyes that seemed almost black in the darkness.
"Precisely, I'll do anything necessary." Zhulong replied, not wanting to delve deeper that he would do anything necessary even though he had to murder him in cold blood. Weng to him, was a straight up asshole and killing him wouldn't prick his conscience in even the tiniest bit, not that he had one.
He was barely human now and he found himself getting drawn to the darkness that resided within him.
He wanted to fight the darkness at first when it felt foreign but now, he could feel it surging within him as he merged with his demons.
Gai didn't respond anymore and only nodded thoughtfully and silence ensued afterward until they emerged from the mouth of the forest leading to a vast river which rippled softly from the wind blowing on it and glimmered underneath the dim moonlight.
"The yellow river." Zhulong muttered in a low tune as he stared at it, while sating the fresh ocean breeze wafting into his nose. The water stretched vastly, it was impossible to see a hint of land across the river.
"How are we going to go over it?" Phoenix complained as she exhaled heavily in exhaustion from walking, making white puffs of mist emit from her nostrils.
"We swim." Weng replied stiffly while scrutinizing the water.
"Swim? I cannot swim." Phoenix exclaimed with creased brows in frustration.
"I forgot. Water is the natural rival of fire." Weng started blankly while peering his black eyes into the water.
"It has nothing to do with rivalry. I just can't." Phoenix pouted but Weng didn't reply anymore as his gaze fixated on the water.
Zhulong's golden eyes squinted as he bore his gaze into the water. He could hear a faint rippling sound reverberate underneath the water. It was definitely not the wind or a fish, he could sense the movement of whatever creature made the water ripple heavily.
The rippling of the water elevated making it obvious to them all that an enigmatic creature lurked beneath the water.
Their heads whipped to the direction of the water in alert as their gazes fell on it and the place immediately fell silent with only the heavy rippling movement heard.
"What's that?" Phoenix queried with widened eyes.