The door creaked open inward from the old monk’s push. The old monk’s face and exposed skin shriveled and grayed at a visible rate. He held the door open with his body and his left arm, panting at Luoshan Zi, Sue and Turner Ouyang: “Quick - they’re in here. ”
Behind the metal door was a spacious room. A complicated array etched in bricks and cement spanned across the entire floor of the room. One smaller, less complex sub-array resided at each of the eight corners of the array. In each of these sub-arrays, sat one figure. They were in taoist cloaks, monk robes, or even completely naked. But clothing would not matter to any of them right now, for some kind of foul corruption had already consumed much of their bodies. Flesh and skin was stripped away from their rib cages, their arms and legs, and even their faces.
All eight of these figures reacted to the door being open. More than half of them no longer had working eyes but empty black holes on their faces, yet Luoshan Zi, Sue and Turner Ouyang felt their gaze at the same time.
“Leave.” The one with the most flesh and skin on his body said to them, using a voice coming from his chest cavity: “We are beyond saving. Leave NOW! Save yourselves!”
Luoshan Zi shook her head, fighting back the tears as she looked around in the room. Sue and Turner Ouyang went in slightly to check around. Several metal buckets sat in the corners of the room. And in the back of the room, stood three altars, one was made of jade, one was made of amber, and the one in the middle was made of some kind of entirely black stone. Large cracks crawled all over the jade and amber altars, while the one made of black stone seemed to have completely crumbled before, but was rebuilt and stuck together using some kind of dark yellow glue.
“I should have thought of that. The altars are broken. The ritual naturally lies more heavily on the shoulders of the pillars.” The old monk heaved a heavy sigh, his voice was rather calm, yet the torment and sadness could not be covered up: “Please. Make way.”
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Luoshan Zi, Sue and Turner Ouyang immediately stepped to the side, leaving a clear line of sight for him.
“My friends, my brothers.” The old monk bowed: “Thank you for your effort in hiding me and protecting me. But like you, I am beyond saving. And like you, I have made my decision.”
A strange wave of energy blew through everyone. For Luoshan Zi, Sue and Turner Ouyang, it was as if the grimness in the air had been lifted slightly.
Tears flowed down from the old monk’s face as he faced Luozhan Zi, Ouyang Turner and Sue: “Such is fate. Such is destiny. Namo Amitabha, brave donors, please leave, be safe, protect the hostages and let what is done here known.” He coughed and squeezed his throat. A small piece of white marble appeared between his teeth. It was his living sarira, a piece of gem formed from his years of cultivation and meditation. He took a deep breath in, then spit the gem out, right at the center of the array.
The entire array shook from coming into contact with the gem. “RUN!” The old monk raised his voice as high as he could.
Luoshan Zi turned around, grabbed Turner Ouyang and Sue by their shoulders and charged towards the entrance of this subway station.
Right now, the groups of hostages under here had mostly made it out. By the time Luoshan Zi caught up, they were already out of the entrance and on the surface. There must have been around at least thirty hostages here. A staggering number already, considering the officially documented number of scholars, sages and monks.
“We need to go! We need to go further!” Luoshan Zi raised her voice at everyone: “Please! Go as far as you can from here! ”
“Boom!” Something exploded from below, and the earth shook from it. The noises of walls and ceiling crumbling followed. A gust of foul air shot out of the entrance and hit everyone in their faces and backs. Sue and Turner Ouyang almost vomited right then and there.
“Run east! Run east!” The driver’s voice echoed in their radio: “I’ve sent out a signal for help. But they’re coming your way! They’re coming - ” His voice was cut short by a string of gunshots.
“Go east!” Ming raised his voice using his Qi and alerted everyone present: “Go east! ”
Just at this time, headlights from at least six vehicles on the bigger side came rushing at the group. The group turned and tried to make for the east, but some more vehicles came right at them and in but a moment surrounded the entire area.
Luoshan Zi did a quick check on Ming, Keying and Liao before walking out of the group, ready to face whoever was about to come.