The Creatures that We Are

Colorless felt her heart seize up, her anxiety compounding.

She pointed at the wall on the left side of the cellar. “The sound came from that way.”

“That so?” War Tiger went up and gently knocked on the wall. The sound was dull. “There doesn’t seem to be a secret chamber on the other side.”

“I heard it from there,” Colorless said with certainty.

“Then it means the wall is thick, at least a meter in depth,” said Azure Dragon.

War Tiger stroked his chin. “That’ll make it difficult to destroy.”

“Give me some room.”

Azure Dragon took off the unwieldy down jacket and threw it onto the wooden barrel on the side.

War Tiger and Colorless backed away.

Azure Dragon took a deep breath, balling his right hand into fist and pulling it to the side of his torso, planting his feet firmly on the ground. His body seemed to slowly tense up with the fist as the point of focus.

He was still for two seconds.

Then in the blink of an eye, he took a step forward and made a lightning quick punch at the stone wall.

There was no Talent or fanfare involved. It was a simple, unassuming punch.

Bam!

Violent corrents whipped past his fist. For a moment, the entire cellar shuddered as dust rose and shards of stone scattered.

Instantly, the stone wall over one-meter thick was shattered, leaving a two-meter wide hole.

Amid the puff of dust, Colorless held her breath and lowered the arms she had raised to shield her face, her expression shocked.

What incredible power!

War Tiger didn’t look that surprised, but his gaze showed a newfound respect for the man. Facing such absolute power, all flashy tricks would be rendered obsolete.

Azure Dragon must have a weakness, and he had to figure out what it was as soon as possible.

Although they were teammates on the same boat at the moment, there was no telling if they would end up as enemies in the future. Even he would think twice before fighting such a monstrous man.

“Let’s go.”

The cellar was on the warm side. Azure Dragon didn’t bother to put the down jacket back on. He entered the hole first with his flashlight raised.

It led to a long, dark tunnel.

Colorless didn’t hear the same wail again, but she was increasingly certain that they were on the right track. There was a subtle change to the air around them. She could sense something like a psychic corruption she couldn’t put into words.

The three of them went further into the tunnel until they reached the end, where there was a stone staircase to the right, leading downstairs. They went down until they reached another flight of stairs, leading to the right again.

In five minutes, they turned right seven or eight times, and the stretch of stairs shortened for each interval.

They knew that they were going deeper down in a spiral.

Finally, they saw a door five meters in height and three meters in width. Through the crack, white light seeped out.

They were taken by surprise. Was there someone on the other side?

“Wah—”

There was the wail again. Colorless stared darkly ahead. “It came from the other side of the door.”

Azure Dragon knew that Colorless and War Tiger didn’t have great defense. “I’ll take the lead. I’ll tell you to come in after making sure it’s all clear.”

“What if there are threats?” War Tiger asked.

“Then come in and help me, or get out of here immediately,” Azure Dragon said without any change to his expression. “You make the call.”

War Tiger smiled faintly. He’s a good teammate. What a shame that he already follows someone else.

Colorless and War Tiger took a few steps back. Azure Dragon went up and slowly opened the door rimmed with white light. At first, he hadn’t noticed the material the door was made of because it was backlit. Now that he had touched it, though, he realized to his shock that it was Black Gold!

What a luxury to be able to create a door this large with Black Gold. With this amount of material, how many Talent-amplifying weapons could be made, and how many jinwu would it be?

This wasn’t the time to dwell on such questions, of course.

Azure Dragon opened the door by half a meter before squeezing himself in.

On the other side was a bright underground space. Or it would be more accurate to call it an underground palace hall.

It was the size of half a sports arena, surrounded by four walls made with large boulders. The walls were cool and hard, but finely polished and etched with beautiful dark patterns.

At the center of the underground palace hall was a towering stone pillar with a strange shape, seemingly propping up the entire space.

Azure Dragon didn’t spot any threat. He gingerly went up to the pillar.

Soon, he realized that it wasn’t one stone pillar, but a combination of twelve dark red pillars.

They intertwined and interlocked to form one structure, yet each of the pillars was distinctive. And they weren’t lifeless straight lines, but strands of living energy that were soft, winding, and covered in divots like vines, sprouting toward the dome of the palace hall from the same starting point.

At the dome, the twelve vines scattered into an explosion of countless capillaries, covering the entire ceiling.

And the capillaries glowed, illuminating the entire space like energy-saving light.

Azure Dragon’s gaze shifted from the pillar at the center to the wall of the far end, on which was a large colored relief of the Godbearer Cult’s symbol—a twisted golden sun consisting of sharp lines. At its center was a vertical crimson eye, slightly lowered like it was looking down on all mortals.

At the bottom of the wall was a hexagonal altar slightly protruding from the floor.

There was something that looked like a stone bed at the center. Dried blood stains could still be made out.

Azure Dragon walked closer and got a better look. The stone bed was lined with grooves, connected to the grooves on the altar, which then led to the twelve dark red pillars at the center of the palace hall.

Azure Dragon pictured what an evil cult would do.

They must be offering sacrifices to their so-called God here. Their sacrifice of choice would be tied to the stone bed before their heart was pierced by a metal stake—just like what had happened with the serial murder.

The sacrifice’s blood would be drained through the grooves, supplying the twelve pillars, allowing them to slowly grow into what they were today.

Lilia could be one such sacrifice. And there might be many more before her.

What was the true reason this place was abandoned?

Could it be that the ritual had succeeded? Perhaps that had led to the Godbearer Cult identifying a bug in the Heavenly Way and making the Crimson Tide arrive early.

Azure Dragon was momentarily lost in thought. When he broke out of his reverie, War Tiger and Colorless had already come up behind him.

“Why did you follow me in already?” Azure Dragon asked.

War Tiger snorted shrewdly. “We didn’t get your signal for quite a while, and there was no sound of a battle taking place. Might as well come in to check if you have found something precious and want to keep it to yourself.”

Colorless didn’t say anything, but she shared the same sentiment.

As a representative of the Hundred Rivers Union, she had to make sure that the Union was up to date as the other organizations.

Azure Dragon paused for a few bemused seconds before sharing his speculation. “This should be the place the Godbearer Cult held their evil sacrificial rituals, but it’s been abandoned for a long time.”

“Wah—”

“Waaaaah—”

Suddenly, there were the sounds of infants crying again. The chorus of wails was clear and overwhelming, sweeping Colorless like waves.

“Here it comes again!”

Colorless started.

This time, War Tiger and Azure Dragon tensed up as well. They heard.

War Tiger’s keen senses picked up on the incoming threat. The killing intent originated from above them.

“Watch out!”

With a shout, he pushed Colorless away.

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