Pathway

Ju Feng continued to block and backtracked, until he found the opening he was looking for. The critter was expecting the same routine. It would slash with its claws while Ju Feng would block. But when Jufeng saw the opening, he stepped into the beast's left and rolled under its left hand. He swung the longsword in a low blow, slicing the softer under-arm of the critter.

The critter, instinctively, swiped the back of its claws at Ju Feng. The force of the impact, sent Ju Feng flying further back into the tunnel where he was sprawling on the ground. It was as if he had been hit by a titan's hammer. He thought he was fortunate it wasn't the razor ends of the claws. Those would have been fatal to him, talisman or not.

Quickly, he staggered upright and regulated his laboured breathing. He looked at the place his sword had made contact on the critters' body and smiled. The critter had been making cuts on his body, and now, he had actually managed to inflict one good cut on the critter.

Yes! His sword had drawn its own blood. How did that feel, critter?

But the wound and the trickling blood further infuriated the critter. Its claws began to glow in a sizzling hunter green color. The death and rotten aura coming from it was becoming exceedingly overpowering.

Organic poison.

A dangerous form of necrosis. There were some creatures created with some portions of the elements in their organs. The nephilia critters and spiders were one of them. They were created with poison glands in their bodies which they could harness into their claws. That made them extremely dangerous.

Ju Feng watched the sizzling green claws in shock. How could that, even, be fair? Before, the fight with the critter was more or less at a disadvantage to him, but now, the fight was on survival. His survival. Since the talisman couldn't prevent the cuts, he musn't allow the poisonous claws to come in contact with his body. He had no medicinal pills, and the poison could be deadly.

Despite not knowing the dangers that could be lying further into the tunnel, he agreed with himself that it was time to flee in that direction. Probability of a death was better than the certainty of a death.

He contemplated using the much faster swiftsteps, but decided to stick to the flashsteps. Since he didn't know what sort of traps or creatures he could run into, it was better for him to be flexible. The less faster flashsteps would allow him to adjust his tranjectory in the shortest notice when faced with incoming dangers.

He took off and the two nephilia critters followed. They were as fast as lightning, really fast. He was carefully watching the passage as he ran by. The critters were almost on him when the passage shifted again, throwing them off balance as they came to a halt. Ju Feng realized they were now in a lighted circular area, engraved with symbols and signs of various letters and designs. 

And a dead end.

There was nowhere to go. The critters, sensing blood, went in for the kill. They attacked him together.

With his back to the wall, Ju Feng was preparing to defend himself when the ground of the circular room, opened. The two critters couldn't control their momentum and they fell into the hole. As they began to spiral down the large hole, the last one of the critters reached out with his right claw and caught the robe of Ju Feng who was trying to gain his footing.

Jufeng, who was desperately struggling at the edge of the opening to retain is footing, was dragged down the hole into the chasm beyond. It was as if he had been falling for a thousand years, athough it took only seconds. It had to be an ancient mystical art. The main effect wasn't even the eerie feeling of forever falling, it was the force of impact. The impact knocked the air out of him, making lose consciousness for a time.

When he came through, he discovered he was on top of one of the critters. The claws of the one he was on, was inches away from his face. Any closer, they would have gored his head. The two critters had been impaled on the obsidian spikes that protruded out of the ground. How fortunate he was to land on one of the critters. If not, he would have been on his way to reincarnation by now.

He managed to sit up and looked around. He needed to leave the area of the obsidian traps. Using the bodies of the critters as cushions, he managed to propell himself out of the area. Upon landing, he checked himself for any sizzling wound from the poisonous claws but couldn't find any, much to his relief. Although his robe was torn in many places, his body only had the normal cuts.

Relieved, he removed some turtle meat and lily tubers from his sac, and began to chew on them. He found a place close-by and rested for a moment. After regaining most of himself, he carefully checked where he was.

The place was just getting stranger by the passing time. The rocks in the place were not black diamond or topaz, but Palladium. He knew right away that he was no longer inside the mountain he had entered. He was in a very different place. The tunnels here were larger and were made of Orbash Palladium. And more noticeably, there were orbs of eternal fire located higher on the tunnels.

He decided to take the tunnel on the left. He had walked a short distance when he saw two young kids, of his own age, battling one death-eater and quickly turned back. On a closer look, the kids were like ones of those demigods. Demigods!? How could that be? Weren't the demigods suppose to be inside Death-Keep tunnels. So why were they here? Could it mean he was now inside the deathkeep tunnel? It couldn't, and shouldn't be!

All the tunnels he tried were filled with kids battling various creatures. Only one tunnel was free from the sound of clashing metals. But the tunnel was too silent for his comfort. He was contemplating what to do when a death eater suddenly appeared to his far right. The decision was made for him. He quickly took the silent tunnel. If only he could find a spot to hide in there. He hadn't gone far when a hand suddenly reached out and pulled him.

"Uh?"

He found himself staring at young kids like himself. But the place he was standing now had been an empty space a few seconds ago. Why was he now looking at other kids when there suppose to be no one there? Invisibility? Force-field? The kids had deadpan seriousness on their faces which made Ju Feng cautiously watched them in utter silence. Although they'd surpressed their auras, but from their looks, he could guess they were Asuras.

That meant he was definitely inside the Death-Keep. He reasoned it had to be when he fell into the obsidian hole. He was still looking at them questionably, when one of the Asuras, the same girl he saw at the mountains, held a finger to her lips and pointed at the path ahead. 

What could possibly be at the front that could scare the demigods more than the death-eaters? But as for him, he was much more concerned about the death-eater. There was no way he wanted to face one. 

Ju Feng followed the girl's pointed finger's, and soon saw what she meant.

"A plane-drifter."

The powerful immortal the tree had told him to find inside the mountain. He was meant to deliver a message to him. Ju Feng could only hope the immortal wouldnt kill him before he'd delivered the message. There were powerful immortals who could easily move from one plane to another without much difficulties. One of those immortals was the Plane-Drifter. 

Now, that was a true walking death.

Upon getting to the edge of the silent tunnel, the death-eater stopped and made a calling sound. Only for it to be hit with one massive and lightning-fast light of blade. Ju Feng stared at the corpse of the death-eater, who was cut into two, in shock. He was turning his attention back to the plane-drifter, when the figure suddenly looked straight at them.

"You three are in my spacd, you know. Drop that little cover, and step closer. Now!"

The plane-drifter looked at the two demigods with pure contempt.

"You two should know better than entering this tunnel. I'll let you live, but don't ever come back here. Now, leave."

Turning away from the Asuras, he pointed at Ju Feng.

"You, stay."

After the two Asuras had diappeared in a flash, the plane-drifter observed Ju Feng keenly. 

"You have something for me, mortal. Speak before I change my mind."

Ju Feng ruminated on the words the grey tree had told him, carefully. If the plane-drifter was not in the mood, either he would oblitrate him or let him live, for now. Nevertheless, he needed to speak.

"Senior, I'm told to ask you where I should I go if I'm lost in the tunnel?"

"Emberless grove."

"Please, forgive me senior. Who am I going to ask for?"

"I admire you courage, child. You ask for Regallash. Now, speak.

"Senior, I'm asked to show you this scroll."

Ju Feng produced the scroll of sentience and handed it to the plane-drifter before continuing.

"And to tell you that, 'when the sun and the moon sings, eternity dances'."

The plane-drifter was quiet for a long time, appearing lost in thought. Then, he turned and settled his gaze on Ju Feng.

"What do you seek in return, mortal?"

"Senior, all I seek is the Mystic-Order."