The sound of the wings flapping seemed about ready to cause a storm in the otherwise silent cave, housing the ruins of the tribe. Su Ming’s eyes were bright with trepidation but he did not move.
Sounds of flapping wings and piercing shrieks echoed in his ears, but Su Ming knew just how long the tunnels were. Even if the sounds arrived first, there would be some time left before the Wings of the Moon actually returned.
There might not have been a lot of time left, but it was still enough for him to make his escape.
Su Ming did not hesitate. He cast his gaze on the words carved into the wall that the strange corpse was leaning against.
"Wherefore doth thou wail, o blue sky?"
These were the very first words carved into the wall. The handwriting was filled with strength and masculinity, revealing a shred of insolence and truculence. Su Ming narrowed his eyes the moment he saw those words.
Su Ming did not truly understand their meaning and could only grasp the basic gist of it. Despite that, he could still feel the sadness and aloofness in the words.
"Wherefore doth thou cry, o blue sky…" Su Ming mumbled. Then he looked at the other lines on the wall.
"The desire to obtain Berserk spreads to all corners of the earth. Let fire burn in mine blood, let mine thoughts burn the skies, let fire burn heaven into ashes… If 't be true the moon of fire appears from the clouds on the endless earth … I wilt sink into deep bethought as the fire in mine blood burns, the nine is the utmost of all, and the one is the law. Light up the Berserker Fires and worship the nine, did let us all becometh the authorities of Fire!
"Thou who control the heavens, only thou art capable of persecuting me!" The words underneath were obviously carved by the same person but, it was no longer a lament. They were words that were difficult to understand.
"Light up the Berserker Fires and worship the nine… did let us all becometh the authorities of Fire…" Su Ming frowned. These particular lines were hard to fathom. Su Ming read them again but even so, he still only got the basic gist of it.
As he was thinking, the piercing roars and sound of flapping wings became louder in his ears as they echoed through the tunnel not far away. Su Ming did not linger any longer but ran towards the tunnel quickly.
He was already in the tunnel, in the blink of an eye. As he stood there, the piercing roars became even clearer. Su Ming turned back and looked at the desolate tribe once more, then ran into the tunnel swiftly.
As he ran, he paid attention to the volume of the roars. When he was dozens of feet into the tunnel, Su Ming stopped and crawled into the crack on the wall next to him.
The crack was not big but Su Ming was tiny to begin with so, he had no problems getting in there. Once he crawled in, he immediately squatted down and stilled his breathing. Using the wall as a hiding spot, Su Ming peeked out of the crack and waited silently as his heart pounded against his chest.
Su Ming counted the time by his breaths. After 10 breaths, he felt goosebumps covering his entire body. He saw thick red mist rolling into the tunnel like an explosion. Within the mist were red shadows flying pass as it let out thunderous roars.
The red shadows were Wings of the Moon!
Looking at the Wings of the Moon at such a close distance made Su Ming’s heart beat even faster, but he did not move an inch. He even narrowed his eyes to a slit to avoid any light reflecting off his eyes.
A huge number of Wings of the Moon kept swarming into the tunnel. One of them even crashed into the edges of the crack and it was just about half a feet away from where Su Ming squatted down.
Su Ming held onto the horn so tightly with his right hand that his knuckles turned white. At that moment, he could not even feel his own heartbeat. It was as if he had calmed down completely despite the extremely stressful situation he was in.
He stared at the Wings of the Moon that crashed into the wall. As he looked at its horrifying face and flapping wings, it flew out of the crack. Su Ming did not let his guard down. If anything, it made him even more wary.
At that moment, he heard cries filled with despair. Su Ming peeked out of the crack and saw the silhouette of a few people captured by the Wings of the Moon in the mist, being brought back to the tribe.
There were nine of them…
Su Ming could not see all nine of them clearly but, as he swept his gaze across them, he saw a person in white, and her beautiful face was filled with despair and desolation.
‘It’s her!’
Su Ming narrowed his eyes. The person in white was the girl from Dark Dragon Tribe he and Lei Chen met at the square – Bai Ling!
Su Ming fell silent.
Time trickled by slowly. Before long, the sounds in the tunnel gradually dispersed. Even the mist had largely dissipated. It was as though all the Wings of the Moon had returned to their nests as the blood red moon left the sky, as though they were all about to return to slumber.
A hot wave of heat immediately spread throughout the tunnel, replacing the cold. Even the crack in the wall was beginning to heat up swiftly. Su Ming heard crackling sounds and right before his eyes he saw new cracks forming on the walls of the mountain cave.
‘So this is how the cracks are formed…’
Su Ming stood up quickly and approached the cracks. As he stood in the tunnel, he could feel the mist becoming thinner. Waves of heat crashed into him from where the tribe was, causing him to be covered in sweat.
The stones on the ground also grew hotter. Su Ming could even feel the ground burning the soles of his feet as he stood there. He clearly knew that very soon, he was not going to be able to withstand the heat in the place!
He contemplated on leaving or staying.
There was a hint of hesitation on Su Ming’s face. Wretched moans traveled through the tunnel. Anyone who heard them would have trembled in their shoes.
‘I already lied to her at the square with Lei Chen. My consciousness won’t allow me to leave just like that…‘
Su Ming was still an honest child deep down. He took a deep breath of hot air and ran towards the end of the tunnel.
‘If I can save her, I will! If I can’t, then at least I won’t regret it.’
Su Ming’s eyes were resolute as he held onto his horn. The closer he got to the end of the tunnel, the more he felt the heat in the place increasing at maddening speed.
Fortunately, the distance was close. Before long, Su Ming arrived at the end of the tunnel. Without bothering about the heat on the walls of the cave, he pressed his body against it and peeped into the cave.
His eyes immediately shone with a dim light. Su Ming saw seven people who were still alive, struggling on the sharp stalagmites situated on top the ruins of the tribe in the gigantic basin. Their stomachs were pierced through by seven sharp stalagmites, and their blood flowed down the stakes. They were still not dead and were letting out cries of agony as they felt the life seeping out of their bodies. All seven of these people were men.
Su Ming looked at them closely and let out a sigh of relief. He knew none of the seven so, it was clear that they were not people from Dark Mountain Tribe.
The other sharp stalagmites around them were melting. As they melted, a huge amount of red magma covered the land like a river…
As he saw that, Su Ming inhaled deeply. He finally understood the purpose of the sharp stalagmites!
‘This place is really strange. Perhaps the Wings of the Moon’s awakening and departure are related to the sharp stalagmites!’ Su Ming thought.
The sharp stalagmites were probably formed from the magma for some unknown reason occasionally but not for long. After the Wings of the Moon returned, they would melt and return to magma.
‘With the amount of stalagmites I saw just now, when they melt completely the basin will be completely filled. The tribe will be hidden once more underneath the magma…’
Su Ming lifted his head and looked at small red trunk which looked like a big tree located at the center of the tribe.
The tree also showed signs of melting under the extreme heat in the basin. It was moving around oddly. If Su Ming had looked closely, he would have seen that there were red lines surrounding the tree. Sometimes, a part of it would fall off. It was clear that it was a Wings of the Moon!
However, the Wings of the Moon that returned to the tree no longer had ferocious looks on their faces. As a replacement, were looks of pain, desolation and sadness. They did not continue screaming but they looked as if they were crying silently. Some Wings of the Moon were even gesticulating weirdly. They kept lifting their claws and biting them to draw blood in the midst of their sorrow. They wiped their claws on their eyes but there was no blood in the bitten claws.
‘Those Wings of the Moon crawled into the tree! What… are they doing..?’
Su Ming stared at the tree. As he was thinking, he felt the heat climbing up even more. He could not stay there any longer.
‘I can’t find her… too bad…’
Su Ming shook his head. He tried his best. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped.
His gaze fell upon the red tree branch situated at the center of the basin. Two faces appeared on the tree. One of them, he did not know but the other was Bai Ling.
Bai Ling’s eyes were empty and void of life as if she had already given up. At that moment, she looked like a mournful beauty.
Su Ming looked at her face, then at the magma gathering slowly downwards. Most of the stalagmites had already melted into magma and had risen about half the height of the houses in the tribe.
The only things visible within the basin were the roofs of the houses. Even the roofs were turning into a hot shade of red.
‘The Wings of the Moon appear when the blood red moon is in the sky. But judging by the situation here, they should also be connected with the heat in this place. They’re really afraid of heat… that’s why they will only go out and hunt when this place becomes cold…
‘When they come back, they will all crawl into the tree. None of them will be outside. All of this is proof of my theory.‘
Su Ming did not act recklessly but he stood there as his eyes flashed brilliantly.
‘I should be able to save her… but I still need to wait a bit longer…’
Su Ming stared at the tree and occasionally looked at the height of the magma down in the basin.
After a while, the heat in the place increased once more. It caused Su Ming to sweat continuously. His skin also showed signs of crying and cracking. The Qi in his entire body boiled as he manifested all 11 blood veins. Su Ming jumped down.
In the blink of an eye, Su Ming landed on one of the roofs in the basin. The moment he landed, he heard a sizzling sound. White smoke immediately came out underneath his feet. Su Ming did not stop. He jumped again and landed on another rood. After a few leaps, he was near the strange red tree.
Just as he was about to reach the tree, Su Ming saw the unknown girl beside Bai Ling shriveling as she let out an agonizing scream. Instantly, she became a pile of bones!
It was like she became one with the tree. Her life and all her flesh were absorbed by some mysterious force.