With the battle over, Tang Tiantian had them all rest and check themselves for injuries. Wu Jian was mostly free of wounds. He had a few small ones, but they healed quickly.
“Um, excuse me.”
While the rest of them were resting from their grueling battle, Ruo Chong had walked up to Wu Jian. He looked up into the woman’s lovely face. She normally looked arrogant and haughty, but now, she appeared strangely innocent and uncertain. The way she chewed on her lower lip was far more fetching than any of the seduction attempts he had seen from her.
“Yes?” Wu Jian asked.
“Thank you… very much!”
Ruo Chong’s body quivered for a moment like she was fighting against her natural instincts, but then she lowered herself to the ground and bowed to him.
While the martial bow was the most frequently used gesture of respect, there were several other bows that served a purpose. What Ruo Chong was doing right now was called a kowtow. The name was derived from an ancient word, which meant “knock the head.” Someone had to kneel and touch their head to the ground as an expression of deference, homage, or submission. It could also be seen as a sign of deep gratitude or respect.
Kowtows were most often used in the imperial courts of various nations. A person would kneel, then bow their head three times. This was not merely a physical gesture but also carried significant cultural and symbolic meanings. It symbolized the acknowledgement of one’s inferior status in relation to the recipient of the bow and the recognition of the recipient’s authority, power, or virtue. Refusal to kowtow to one’s lord was often seen as a sign of defiance or rebellion.
“… Why are you thanking me?” asked Wu Jian. “Is it because I saved your life?”
Ruo Chong, still in kowtow, shook her head.
“That’s not it.”
She finally raised her head and gazed at him, eyes filled with gratitude. It was an expression he had never seen on her. From the gawking faces of Lili Ling, Master Yun Fei, and even Xaio Wei, this was not a face that she had ever made.
“You saved my apprentice. Xaio Wei is precious to me. I… I love him very dearly. When your clone almost killed him, I thought my heart was going to stop beating. At that moment, I would have gladly thrown myself in front of him, but I am too weak. I would have never made it in time.”
Ruo Chong lowered herself once more into a kowtow.
“Thank you so much for saving him!”
I see. So even she knows how to love.
Ruo Chong had never struck him as the type who knew how to love. While he didn’t have the same experience with her as Master Yun Chi or Lili Ling did, what little he had seen of her personality led him to believe she was a loose woman with even looser morals. And she was. She definitely was. However, he guessed that like all human beings, Ruo Chong was multifaceted.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I could save him.”
Ruo Chong stood up. Her ears were red, as though she were embarrassed by her own actions. She dusted her outfit off, then presented him with another look.
“I Will not forget to repay this debt. If you ever need anything from me, do not hesitate to ask.”
“I’ll come to you should I need something then.”
“Un.”
Master Yun Chi stood up from where he had been sitting and approached them. He seemed almost wary. The way he looked at Ruo Chong as though she was an unknown entity almost made Wu Jian laugh.
“Are you… planning to stick around?” he asked. It was amusing how he seemed almost cautious of this woman.
Ruo Chong shook her head. “No… my bodyguards are gone, and I do not wish to impose upon your group. I plan to meet back up with Shā Shing Yue’s group. I’ll wait there while the rest of you explore this tomb.”
Nobody expected this once arrogant woman to back off like this, least of all Master Yun Chi, who looked like he had been struck dumb. He couldn’t keep himself from gaping.
Ruo Chong and Xaio Wei soon took their leave, bowing to Wu Jian and their group one last time before disappearing down the corridor. There were still a few clones that hadn’t been slain. Master Yun Chi and Lili Ling’s clones were still roaming around, but they weren’t combat oriented. Actually, it was possible the Echoforge Essence had decided not to replicate them since they could not be used in battle.
Their group began moving again soon after. They needed to find the Echoforge Essence and kill it soon. However, that was much easier said than done.
The Echoforge Essence was constantly on the move within the tomb, and because it never stayed in the same spot, finding it was near impossible, especially since this tomb was exceedingly large. The small maze-like area they had come from was but a tiny piece of a much greater whole.
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Sometimes they would come across a massive room filled to the brim with traps and puzzles, other times they would find themselves traveling over chasms full of floating blocks that would sink when you stepped on them. There were also a myriad of strong magical beasts at the Seeker Realm. This was on top of the Echoforge Essence, which continued to send out replicas of them.
“What… is all this?” asked Lili Ling.
“Whoa…” Tang Tiantian let out a low breath.
Wu Jian just whistled.
They had been traveling through the tomb for some time and had reached a room far more massive than anything else they had come across thus far. It was impossible to judge the size of this room. Wu Jian would have said it was similar in size to the Wu Clan’s compound. Standing tall in evenly spaced rows were two pairs of columns, which spanned the length of the entire room. They were massive structures. Five Wu Jians could have encircled them. Intricate designs and patterns depicting a woman in skimpy but flowing clothing was carved into each column.
What really got Wu Jian’s attention, however, were the statues standing on either side of a gigantic door made of gleaming jade. The door looked like ice, a beautiful crystalline structure with a sealing array delicately embedded into the surface. The statues were about twice as tall as an adult male. Both were beautiful women with bountiful figures and skimpy clothing. A skirt with hip accentuations wrapped around their waists, and around their chest was a shoulderless top that showed off their stomach and clavicle. Neither of them wore any form of footwear.
One of them carried a pair of scimitars. The other wielded a massive shield.
“I don’t like the look of this,” Wu Jian muttered. “My instincts are telling me not to go down there.”
“That’s just as well,” Master Yun Chi said with a sigh. “Those two statues standing near the door are terracotta guardians, animated clay statues imbued with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities. They serve as guardians. If we go down there, they will come to life and do their best to kill us.”
Terracotta guardians were not sentient creatures but more like magical artifacts. To create one, a cultivator would mold a special clay infused with chi called jingyun clay, then apply a sealing array over the guardian using a special ink made with their own blood. While these two terracotta guardians were shaped like people, they did not have to be. These creations came in many shapes and sizes. What shape a terracotta guardian took depended on the aesthetic sense of the one creating it.
“How strong are they?” asked Tang Tiantian.
Master Yun Chi shook his head. “You’re guess is as good as mine… though if I had to guess, I’d say they are at least as strong as a Realization Realm cultivator.”
“Isn’t that a little too much for us to handle?” Tang Tiantian said dryly.
Realization Realm cultivators were extremely rare. The Heavenly Sword Sect had a handful of elders who had reached this realm, as did the other two members of the Three Celestial Sects, but most nations did not have one. The Tang Dynasty only had two Realization Realm experts. One of them was the emperor himself, and the other was his right hand man, Commander Yuan Chishang.
The Xia Dynasty also had several Realization Realm experts. They were the only nation that had comparable power to the Three Celestial Sects.
“I… can probably kill one,” Wu Jian confessed.
Tang Tiantian and the others turned to stare at him in shock.
“You can?!” Tang Tiantian asked with a shout.
Wu Jian nodded. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I haven’t revealed yet. They should be enough to kill them in a one-on-one fight, but I won’t be able to fight them both at the same time. Can you and your group keep one of them occupied long enough for me to destroy one of them?”
“Hmmm…” Tang Tiantian glanced at the two statues for a long moment, hand cupping her chin, then nodded. “I think we can… if all five of us team up.”
“It will be dangerous,” said one of the men. What was his name again? He had brown hair and brown eyes and looked very… normal. Wu Jian would never be able to pick him out from the crowd.
“We also need to be wary of the Echoforge Essence,” Master Yun Chi said. “I do not know if we should fight those guardians when that thing is still around.”
“But we can’t find it,” Tang Tiantian muttered with a shrug. “I’m beginning to believe we’ll never find it. It’s just too good at hiding.”
It was true. They had spent a long time searching high and low for the Echoforge Essence and hadn’t discovered even a single trace of it, though they had run into several replicas of themselves.
“We also need to be wary of our supplies,” Wu Jian said. “The longer we remain here, the more supplies we’ll use up. We might have plenty of alchemy pills now, but those will eventually run dry, and what will we do then?”
Master Yun Chi sighed. “That is a very good point.”
Thanks to Master Yun Chi, they had begun this excursion with 50 of each type of recovery pill; chi replenishing pills, physical recovery pills, panaceas, and bone-mending pills. However, they had already been forced to use quite a few. Wu Jian still had 40 of everything, but Tang Tiantian and her group had used around 20 each, meaning they were almost down to half their original amount. Sure, Wu Jian would give them what he had and he’d still probably be fine, but when those ran dry, they would have no choice but to retreat.
It was decided they would battle the terracotta guardians. Their hope was to defeat both before the Echoforge Essence sent more replicas to attack them.
While Master Yun Chi and Lili Ling held back, Wu Jian, Tang Tiantian, and the four bodyguards with them walked into the massive hall. Lights burst into existence as they stepped forth. He glanced at the torch set upon the column to his left. Unlike a normal touch, which burned red, this one produced a brilliant purple flame.
“It’s a beast flame,” Tang Tiantian said. “Though I can’t tell which type of magical beast it came from.”
“Mmm.”
They soon reached the massive door guarded by the two terracotta guardians. A pair of steps led up to the door. However, before they could climb even a single step, the two statues lit up. Blue lines of chi flowed over their figures, forming ancient symbols. Then they moved. A loud creaking sound echoed around them as the two statues lifted a single foot off the ground and set it back down, creating a loud rumbling that echoed through the hall. The one on the left removed its scimitars from its sheathes. Meanwhile, the one of the right readied its massive shield.
“Prepare for battle, everyone!” Tang Tiantian shouted as she readied her bo-staff.
The four bodyguards each readied themselves, while summoned Pale Moon and set it on his shoulder. He gazed at the terracotta warrior that he was to fight and wondered just how well he would fare against a creature two realms above him.