Zhou Ru had been too late, but fear had held her back. The darkness was ominous, so how could she not feel scared when looking at it? It was as if she was looking straight into the abyss.
Her body had been frozen when she saw Huang Yang's body dissipate into what looked like nothing. No muscle in her body could move. She felt as though she had failed completely.
It didn't take long before her ears heard the faint sound of someone running. The speed of the person was unbelievable and it even appeared to be more than just one person, to be honest. It was multiple pairs of feet.
Soon she felt a hand land on her shoulder. With great difficulty, she looked up. There was Pen Min. He had arrived before the people running. "Step back, we'll take care of this matter".
The other people began arriving. Huang Yang's father and grandfather were the people who got the notice. They had met Li Feihui, who immediately told them about what had happened to Huang Yang.
They felt like cursing at themselves for never having noticed the cave. It was so close, yet had never been found. What was in there and why did it draw in Huang Yang. Unfortunately, they had no time to think about the matter, as the only thing they needed to focus on, was Huang Yang.
"Have any of you ever seen something like this before?", Huang Shi asked. He was worried down to the bone. He wouldn't know what to do if he lost Huang Yang, his pride. His father simply shook his head with closed eyes, but Pen Min answered.
"Yes, I have once... It was a long ago when I was traveling the world, but I never thought that I would see it again...", he said. It was clear that Pen Min felt a sense of fear. Not planning on letting the others wait, he explained what it was.
"This is a devil's lair. A place hidden from even the heavens where they normally stay when trying to cultivate", his voice almost trembled, yet he held back.
It was normal for devils or demons to have a place where they could kill and eat while cultivating. If a devil was really in there, then they could do nothing. Demons normally had different power levels, but devils always held great status and power.
Pen Min had once found such a place when he was traveling. In there was a wounded devil, but no matter how hard they tried, not a scratch could be left on it. Great cultivators had joined in, but nothing could be done.
Huang Shi and Huang Canfeng both violently trembled with fear, simply imagining the sinister power not far away from them, almost scared them to death. But they could not simply leave Huang Yang, he was the hope of the family.
Pen Min told them to stand back, as he tried to approach the cave. His steps were slow, but he still advanced. He stretched out his hand, waiting for the resistance to hit him. He was ready to use all of his power if needed.
Yet this thought only lasted for a second, as he felt a terrifying force blow him back. His blood reached the air as he violently coughed it up. He was sent flying, breaking multiple trees.
The others ran to him, with great worry in their eyes. If Pen Min had no chance of going through, then how could they. Soon they all simply looked at the cave with great worry and sadness.
Within the woods, in an unseen place was another thing standing. It would normally look at the Huang family with contempt as it waited for Huang Long to advance enough. It had the built of a giant green snake with black eyes.
It was unknown how people did not see it since it had a body longer than the courtyard and main building put together. A dark green sinister energy was running from its body while corrupting the wildlife running by it.
It was clear that it held incredible power, but if a person looked closely, it was as if it was wounded while not being completely physical, almost as if it was still an awakening martial spirit, yet it had its own intelligence.
Unlike normal, it now had a somewhat fearful expression as it looked at the cave Huang Yang had just walked into. It had sensed something, that even it was scared off.
"The plan must be pushed forward, I felt an aura from that boy... One that I have only felt from one other being...", a reminiscent look surfaced in the snake's eyes before it slowly dissipated into nothing.
.....
Within the cave was a small orb, besides this, there was nothing. But this changed as Huang Yang came walking in. The darkness stopped hugging him as he came closer and closer to the orb.
"What is this?", his eyes were still dazed, but he obviously knew what he had done. He had walked into the cave all by himself, not caring about the others who tried to stop him. He needed to know what was calling for him.
He had a feeling that this place was supposed to be evil, but he found it refreshing, he could feel that this place was where he needed to be, almost like the orb was his home.
The shadows of the cave seemed to embrace him in many ways, but he didn't understand why. He could honestly live here if he wanted to.
He stretched out his hand in a calm motion, he was going for the orb. The orb contained no color, only a black swirl that seemed to absorb all the light in the surroundings.
His brown eyes seemed to gradually darken for every second he came closer. He could feel it, he wasn't sure what it was, but something was awakening deep within him, as if a spark of blood which had always been a part of him, was reaching out.
The cave soon disappeared from his field of view only to be replaced with a dark space filled with nothingness, the only thing was slight ripples of water beneath him, yet not even that held any color.
.....
More people had gathered outside the cave. In reality, it was the whole Huang Yang faction, who would normally be together when the birthdays were held. Xiao Shu was leaning against Huang Shi. They were all deeply saddened.
Most of them had thought that the bad luck, which seemed to haunt Huang Yang, would end after the incident with Huo Yu Bo. While not much time had passed since then, it still felt long. In some ways, Huang Yang's young life seemed to be divided into episodes.
Slowly the intensity of everything seemed to increase as if it was all planned. Every minute was like an hour, but soon it all came to an end.
A giant explosion sounded out from the Huang family hall. Giant flames were spreading towards the forest while people were screaming in the distance.
None of the people knew what to do, this came to sudden, they were all simply waiting for Huang Yang to come out in good condition, but now someone was actually attacking them. Their home had clearly already taken the hit and now the enemy was seeking them out.
They had no idea about what they needed to do.
"I have waited for this day brother HAHA!!", screamed an elderly voice from the flames.
The others clearly knew who it was, they had heard the voice many times before. It was Huang Hong!
From the flames came Huang Hong, his steps were slow while his smile was grand. It was not only him, but also Huang Lang, his son, and the father of Huang Zhilan, along came Huang Rou, the daughter of Huang Hong.
They all looked rugged and almost resembled peasants. Their auras were clearly more intense than usual. They had grown stronger.
While Huang Canfeng still held anger within his heart, he was a bit calmer, since he knew the origin of the attack. His own younger brother.
He was somewhat sad since he knew that his power was stronger and that he would have to kill him for what he had done. He mostly felt sad, perhaps his brother could not endure seeing Huang Yang grow stronger, which led him to attack knowing that he would die. He could only sigh.
"Oh brother, do not pity me, do you think that I would attack knowing that I would end up dead... No, no, no, this is the will of the master", Huang Hong said with a wide smile. His lips almost touched his ears.
The others sharpened when they heard this, who was this master with the ability to come here and attack them. They all remembered the demon who took control of Huang Zhilan.
"Master allowed the plan to start earlier, so now you can all witness the glorious power he has given me HAHA", with his last laugh his aura boomed. His Flame Lion martial spirit emerged, yet it was green in color and gave others a demonic feeling.
Behind him, Huang Lang and Huang Rou followed suit. The flames were all green and filled with evil qi. They suppressed the others and almost made the opposing side kneel in fear.
Huang Ran walked to Huang Canfeng. Since everyone from their faction had gathered, she was also there. "Dear elder brother, we know what we have to do...", she said with a sad voice.
They both looked at their brother. How sad they felt. They had all grown up together, shared glory and defeat and now they stood here, as enemies. Was this due to the existence of Huang Yang or was something else behind all of this, a person or a thing who had the power to manipulate people?
They could not figure it out, but only accept what was going to happen. They would have to strike down their brother. Maybe this was destined to happen from the beginning, whether Huang Yang was there or not.