Unhindered by the rock formation came hulking out a body, ancestor to the ones that lay there dead. Against the dark cavern wall it was a graffiti of preposterous aesthetic, taller than any man a mother ever gave birth to.
As the dust began to settle, the spirit cultivators looked up at this freak of nature with dread settling in on their tired faces. It seemed Yan Sha's worries would not melt away for nothing.
At this moment, something stirred within Siha Ma's heart. Something that gave rise to a pang of anxiety. The wide cavern narrowed in his vision as it came to be focused upon the human figure protruding over the creature's horrid face; almost centaur-like in appearance if not for the great disparity in their sizes.
He could not tell what suffering the little girl had been through, only that it had left a decrepit corpse, skinless, now held between the creature's fangs. This elicited a change in his bearing as his companions turned to look at him.
After its spectacular entry, the giant spirit monstrosity had taken a pause to measure up its would-be victims. Sensing the abundant vital energy that its prey emanated, it threw aside the mummified corpse with no ceremony and rushed to battle; the hunt was on!
As the towering figure hurtled towards them, Wang Du and Yan Sha spared no words before jumping back and away from Siha Ma, who stood with his fists clenched; a noble spirit - unseen by the naked eye - had shrouded him. He looked straight ahead, unflinching and belying his recent demeanour.
Planting their feet into the ground, the duo focused their gazes on the massive foe, and then the friend that stood against.
This friend had promised to bring the girl back safely. The promise was broken; blood streamed down a corner of his mouth. An energy similar to Spiritual Qi, but far stronger, rose from his body. It was Dao Qi! And this made him a Daoist!
If Heaven and Earth together could give rise to Qi, then so could the Path, Dao!
Each Daoist differed from another, and in spiritual weakness Siha Ma had always been able to find momentary physical strength. It was the Dao Spell that belonged only to him - Vengeance. Dao Spells all had marvellous effects, but they were exclusive to Daoists, for such spells required the elusive Dao Qi to operate. It was a privilege neither Yan Sha nor Wang Du had.
No shout arose from Siha Ma's throat, but inside his mind a rumble spread, as he called upon his sword to glow with cold radiance. His Path was Justice. He was the Judge and he was the Executioner. It was unreasonable, but it was Dao!
When his promise had been broken, he had been pushed back on his Path, suffering an injury to his Dao cultivation. It was just the way things were, and he would have to deal with its detriments later.
Filled with mysterious power, he ran headlong to meet the spirit monstrosity in batte.
And although the creature sensed the change in him, it was too crazed, and too stupid, to care. It bore down with the intent to crush; its momentum was such it would turn a hundred needle treasures and their user to paste if the latter was unfortunate enough to meet it head-on. No bodily cultivator - man or woman - could tackle it either.
Still one man and his sword dared scheme of its demise. As the creature dawned upon him, Siha Ma swung hard with both hands as the cold radiance erupted from his instrument of execution. Where metal met monster, anxiety was born in the hearts of his two supporters against their will; reason tried to pacify their minds by beckoning the memories they held of the spell.
Stolen novel; please report.
And as reason had foretold, their worries turned to sighs as the man and beast met in a fantastic contest of strength. Each tumbling back for a second, regained their footing and began exchanging blows torrid of the other's blood. His sword was still unable to cut through its carapace, so he used it as a club to counter what limbs his foe threw at him.
Yet it seemed fervor would carry him only so far. Crevices were snaking their way onto the metal that held death at bay.
"Judgement!"
The sword began to cave, but its master wouldn't let it. Aura heightening, he fed into his weapon a Qi flow near-akin to half-step Foundation Establishment, a far cry from his usual 7th layer. And with their foe's momentum halted, Yan Sha and Wang Du hurried within range of their own specialities: the former behind it in an attempt to divide its attention, and the latter, in her simplicity, on top of it, raining down blows that visibly shook the creature.
Yan Sha soon found out how futile his efforts were. The needles were fast and made to pierce; the force they carried was not enough to annoy the crazed thing. Moreover, he had no spell to force his Qi flow beyond his cultivation at the 8th layer. Thus, leaving instinct to govern his robed body, he shifted his thoughts and senses to encompass the battlefield.
His sword-bearing ally had entered a state of immersion in his Dao and could not think about much else, while consideration of tactics was an activity foreign to the girl with immense fleshly strength. Only Yan Sha's mind held sway over the outcome of the battle. With the cracks on his ally's sword counting down to the arrival of the reaper, he began to look for the path to victory in this battle without wits.
And it wasn't long before he witnessed the towering figure roll once to the side, bringing abrupt pause to the booms ringing atop it, and causing their perpetrator to land beside him. He spared no glance for the beautiful face, for in that moment he had seen the light.
Under the hulking mass of the creature was the path to hell; it was where its weakness lay as well. If it was on its back long enough, Siha Ma would sunder its vitals by means of his unreasonable strength. Holding a hand out to his right, palm towards Wang Du, he said in his usual low voice, "Hold this rope as you climb back up. Annoy the thing so it begins to roll, then jump to the other side and pull the rope down."
"And not tie its legs instead? You could manage to flit among them if I protect you," came back the inquiry. Although she expressed doubt, Wang Du still followed his plan; she jumped pulling along the rope that glowed with motes of light as it exited the pouch on Yan Sha's waist, which was special in its own right for being able to hold an item far larger than its volume.
Hurried footsteps rang out below Yan Sha as he moved near the cavern wall to the right of their foe. "The magical rope is part of the emergency supplies. It already requires some luck for it to hold the creature in place long enough."
Lacking in the way of pure strength, he instead commanded his flying needles to pin the rope to the ground, each one seperated about a meter. Fourty meters away from the monster he stood, his back to the cavern wall.
Yan Sha did not believe in a higher power, only deeper schemes. It was what his Master had taught him: "Believe in your eyes. If you must believe in your heart, have it believe in someone whose eyes you can trust."
And at that moment, as he stood seperated from his allies by the hulking mass of grey, he believed in the plan laid out before his eyes, and he believed in his allies with his heart. As he used this short while to divine what fruit his plan would bear, the gate to his own Path opened an inch further.