Yang Changtian and the others walked towards the light and at the end of the natural corridor they found themselves looking at a grand lake , the roof of the cave had collapsed forming a Karst Window , the sunlight illuminated the lake which had a blue-grey hue. The walls of the cave had multiple jagged and sharp rocks , if a person or animal were to fall from the top they would inevitably get impaled on the rocks , hence why it was necessary to reach the lake from another cave.
Yang Changtian studied the surrounding area, and on the opposite shore , he spotted some small caves , some were likely feeding the water paths on the surface .
The air around the lake was heavy , and it smelled like decay.
Yang Changtian turned to the group , " Let's split up and investigate the shore first , then we can move onto the lake. Mo Ling ,take Zhang Anying and investigate those caves there , Da Xiong , you bring some disciples and check out the rest of the caves there. "
Everyone nodded before splitting up to finish their tasks , Yang Changtian pulled out the map and sat down on a rock , he studied the map for a while and Wang Jinlong's men had marked the place they found the tiger token , it was nearby. He stood up and walked closer to a cave and loaded his crossbow , just in case before entering .
The cave was small so he had to crouch down to enter it, soon it gave way into a bigger area that held the natural spring that fed the lake . Yang Changtian was hit with an incredibly gut wrenching odor of decomposing flesh , he scanned the area but he didn't see anything.
He walked around the small cave , and determined that the token was found right on the edge of the spring. He crouched down and observed the ground , he discovered some marks , they looked like footsteps. He had no way of confirming that the footprint belonged to the culprit and the scouts were down here too , but he quickly took out a small bottle of ink and a brush , he carefully applied the ink along the foot mark and pressed it onto his robe , effectively creating a copy of the footprint. He then took out a small bag , and collected some soil and rock from around the spring .He then pulled out the bottle Liu Ying gave him , he had to collect some samples for her.
As he approached the spring , he noticed that the stench got worse. Then he noticed something weird , while the water was murky due to its blue-grey coloration , he could spot something vague in the water , he immediately became alert , but he had to get the water sample . He quickly activated his all-seeing eye technique , which enabled him to see through the murky water , what he saw made his blood run cold , in the water there was a man . The man's lips, eyes and hands were black , he was decaying. 'A Crazy ! ' Yang Changtian thought to himself , he observed the crazy for a while. The crazy wasn't moving , it was like he was sleeping. Then Liu Ying's words flashed before his eyes , they are calm when they're near the origin source.
So as long as he did not disturb the crazy he should be okay.
Yang Changtian inched his way closer and slowly filled the bottle with water, he constantly kept an eye on the crazy. He finally managed to fill the bottle without waking the Crazy up. He quickly rushed out of the cave and signaled for everyone to gather.
Everyone gathered , but when he looked around , Yang Changtian couldnt find Mo Ling and Zhang Anying. He turned to the group assigned to those two and asked them where they were.
" Senior brother Zhang and Senior Brother Mo , decided to check out a smaller cave over there ," a disciple said, pointing at a cave on the other side of the lake.
" Okay . I'll go look for them now , but this area is teeming with Crazies , Ms. Liu was right , I need all of you to immediately evacuate the area . We will rejoin you soon."
The others quickly began to evacuate , Da Xiong approached Yang Changtian , " Mr. Yang, I'll come along." Yang Changtian nodded.
Da Xiong loaded his crossbow and the both of them rushed towards the cave , the cave likely fed into a stream outside , as a thin stream of water was rushing through the middle.
Yang Changtian instructed Da Xiong to avoid the water. And the both of them lit their torches before going in slowly. The cave was long , and it got narrower , soon the two of them had to crouch down. Suddenly they heard yelling from ahead, it sounded like Zhang Anying. Yang Changtian and Da Xiong looked at each other before rushing towards the voice , the cave soon gave way into another smaller cavern and with the measly light their torches provided , they spotted Mo Ling and Zhang Anying surrounded by a group of Crazies.
Zhang Anying was yelling , and his yelling seemed to agitate the Crazies more.
" Can you shut the fuck up ! " Mo Ling was yelling at Zhang Anying. " You're idiotic screaming is making them mad." he roared.
" You're yelling yourself " Zhang Anying yelled back.
Yang Changtian shot an arrow towards a Crazy perfectly striking it through the neck , the Crazy immediately fell down and twitched for a few seconds before stilling.
Da Xiong shot at another Crazy that was approaching them. The both of them worked together to create a path to reach Mo Ling and Zhang Anying .
" What happened ? " Yang Changtian questioned them , " Why are so many Crazies cornering you two ?"
" Well , genius Zhang Anying here thought it would be okay to throw a rock there to check if anything was hiding in the dark." Mo Ling replied pointing to a direction.
Yang Changtian activated his all-seeing eye technique again , and he scoured the area around them. They had their back turned to a wall , and they were surrounded by Crazies , they were even blocking the exit. To make matters worse it seemed like all the Crazies in the cave were gathering around them.
" This isn't good , we need to get out soon . How many arrows do we have ? Yang Changtian asked, turning to Da Xiong.
Da Xiong shook his head grimly , " We don't have enough to take on a quarter of them , let alone half . I'm guessing we have around 25 arrows or so left collectively."
Yang Changtian broke out in a cold sweat .
The Crazies gathered around them forming a semi circle , these dastardly creatures were just waiting, sneering at them.
Yang Changtian clenched his hand, " Listen , we can't confront them alone , we need to distract them first , I'll distract them. You three take the chance to escape, I'll follow you after I lose them .
" But Brother Yang - " . " No, Mr.Yang." , " How can we do that Oldest Senior Brother?" All three of them began to protest.
" Stop whining , I have my all-seeing eye skill , I can evade them easily , but if you're with me , it'll only be a burden."
The three of them didn't argue after that , it was indeed true that with Yang Changtian's skills he had a greater chance of getting out unharmed. So the three of them only nodded.
" Now ! " Yang Changtian whispered , he then shot at a Crazy and leapt up ,and landed on a small ledge he discovered while surveying the area he then pulled out a rock from the rock samples he gathered for Liu Ying and chucked it at the Crazies. He then launched himself off the ledge , before using a Stalactite to propel himself over the wall of approaching Crazies.
Mo Ling , Zhang Anying and Da Xiong bolted towards the exit, they shot down multiple Crazies who tried to follow them, and they managed to escape.
On the other hand Yang Changtian , was leaping from left to right , avoiding the Crazies ,who were chasing him , getting more agitated by the second.
After he was sure that the other's got away safely , he flipped over the Crazies and did a somersault to stabilize himself , before dashing towards the exit. The Crazies began to give him a chase. Yang Changtian just managed to get out of the cave , when he felt his blood run cold. Multiple crazies were slowly creeping out from the lake , they were likely agitated by the growls of the Crazies chasing him . From the corner of his eye , Yang Changtian spotted Mo Ling , Da Xiong and Zhang Anying fighting Crazies , he felt relieved when they reached the rope. But his relief was short lived as he witnessed a crazy lunging at Zhang Anying, who didn't even notice it.
Making a split second decision , Yang Changtian stopped in his tracks , the Crazies now catching up to him , he quickly took aim before shooting the zombie , he managed to take out the zombie launching the sneak attack at Zhang Anying .
Yang Changtian turned around quickly to analyse his own situation, only to discover that the Crazies was extremely close to him , he could only pull out his sword and start slashing the Crazies, but as expected it wasn't working , in fact it only made them more aggressive. The wave of Crazies soon overwhelmed Yang Changtian .
Mo Ling , Zhang Anying and Da Xiong could only watch helplessly , as Yang Changtian was swallowed by the wave of Crazies.
" Oldest Senior Brother ! " Zhang Anying wailed. Da Xiong and Mo Ling felt bad for Zhang Anying but they couldn't comfort them and currently they were still hanging from the ropes. The Crazies that originally followed them , also turned their attention to Yang Changtian.
Mo Ling and Zhang Anying bowed their heads. Da Xiong continued to watch the Wave of crazies rushing towards the already swallowed Yang Changtian.
But Da Xiong spotted something that made him wipe his eyes and recheck , a faint blue light was emanating from the lump of crazies, and it was getting stronger.
"Mo Ling , Zhang Anying , look." he yelled at the others.
Mo Ling and Zhang Anying both lifted their heads , and they too were shocked to see this.
" What is that ? " Zhang Anying whispered . Mo Ling and Da Xiong shook their heads as they didn't know either.
The blue light only got stronger and stronger ,and suddenly the whole cave was illuminated with a burst of blue light , this blue light blinded Mo Ling , Da Xiong and Zhang Anying.
They quickly covered their eyes , and when they opened their eyes again , they were surprised to see Yang Changtian enveloped by a blue barrier in the shape of a lotus.
Just moments ago , Yang Changtian was slashing at the Crazies but they were overwhelming him. He felt himself being knocked down by the Crazies , he instinctively closed his eyes , but the pain of being torn apart didn't come , instead he felt a cold feeling enveloping him. Now the underground cave and lake themselves were cold , but this cold felt different , it felt .. familiar.
Yang Changtian's eyes shot open , and he found a blue light engulfing him , acting like a barrier to keep him safe , suddenly the blue light intensified , blinding him momentarily. The light died down and he saw that the light had pushed the Crazies away and they lay around him stunned and unable to move.
Suddenly he felt his sword vibrating. He lowered his head to look at his sword and he saw a faint blue light emanating from the lotus charm . 'Jingyou…' he sighed out softly. Yang Changtian gripped the lotus charm hard . " I knew you were alive." Yang Changtian whispered to himself , his voice breaking. He lifted the blue lotus charm , placing it on his forehead softly , he closed his eyes and enjoyed the familiar feeling. But he was interrupted by Da Xiong yelling at him.
" Mr. Yang , you're okay ! . Quickly you need to get out before they wake up." Da Xiong yelled.
This brought Yang Changtian back , he quickly looked around and rushed towards the rope and he quickly joined Mo Ling , Da Xiong and Zhang Anying.
They managed to scale up the rope in record time. All of them collapsed on the ground after they reached the top .
Yang Changtian quickly instructed the disciples to cut the ropes off , to prevent any Crazies from climbing up. The disciples sprang into action and followed his instructions.
Yang Changtian collapsed back onto the floor. His hand gripped the blue lotus charm again.
Mo Ling sat up after a while and stared at Yang Changtan strangely.
Zhang Anying sat up soon after," Oldest Senior Brother , for a while there I thought you were a goner. But I thought your spiritual power was white not blue ?" he asked confused.
" That's because it wasn't his spiritual power." Mo Ling broke the silence , his voice low. He then turned to Yang Changtian ," That was Oldest Senior Sister's spiritual power."
Zhang Anying was shocked to hear this, he whipped his head around to look at Yang Changtian, who had his head lowered.
Da Xiong , who was sitting next to Yang Changtian, was shocked to see him crying. A single tear flowed down from his eyes and landed on the lotus charm.
Yang Changtian gripped the lotus charm harder, mumbling to himself. ' I was right…she's alive.'