CHAPTER NINETEEN

Hai Wangzi and Hei Guafu flinched hearing a scream echo within the cave. They got to their feet and went toward the white clothed covered pit.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Wangzi asks. Guafu shrugged.

"Do you forget how that pit works? First it shows you your worst nightmare, then it shows your desires and the last stage is your fear"

Wangzi nodded. Zixin must be going through his fear by now, he sighs.

"I wish we could help him, should I send Cihuai to take a look?" He suggests. Guafu shrugged again.

"Sure but Huli shouldn't know, you know how she is"

Wangzi nodded and opened his palm. He nicks his left forefinger with his teeth, uses the blood to write a spell formation on his palm. A bright green locust appeared. It crawled up Wangzi's arm and nuzzled his cheek making him smile.

"Be my eyes, show me where Wei Zixin is" he whispers. The locust jumped into the cave.

"Let's go outside to avoid suspicion" Guafu says. The two men sit outside sharing warm wine. Wangzi's left eye glowed green as he saw what the locust sees.

"I found him. He's on the floor, asleep"

"Then he must be dreaming about the events. How does he look?"

"He looks the same, no change at all"

Guafu scoffed. When he was in that pit, his hair got longer and the colour changed, that's why he has red tips. Wangzi on the other hand had changed the most, the man was once short with a bald head and now he was tall, buff with blue and black hair.

"Let's hope he changes otherwise he'll be in there for who knows how long"

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"Did you find anything?" Jiang Ji asks his brother. Xin Ai showed him a lock of hair he had found.

"The person lost some hair when they ran away, it doesn't smell familiar though"

Even the colour was unfamiliar. The strands were a lighter brown and Zhang Wei had dark brown hair even Shao Wen. Chang Pei took the locks and exmained them.

"These belong to a female, there's a hint of cocoa which means she's not from here"

Jiang Ji nodded.

"Let's focus on finding Lan Fei now"

Just as he said that someone came running to them,

"Wait for me!"

They looked and it was Lan Fei, he was covered in mud and dirt.

"What happened to you?" Hua Ling asks as he cleaned him up using the sleeves of his robe. Lan Fei sighed.

"When the statue dropped into that tunnel something grabbed me by the collar and i was sent out. Then i saw Jiang Qiang and his brother but I was knocked out before I could call for help. I woke up in a rice farm"

Xin Ai couldn't help but laugh. Seeing Lan Fei like this was comical.

"Let's head back then. Lan Fei, we will use the mind reading spell once we return" Jiang Ji says and walks forward.

Hua Ling gave his friend a sympathetic smile. That spell was a double edged sword, they'll have to go through Lan Fei's memories since morning.

"Let's hope you have nothing to hide in your memories"

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Blood splattered on his face once he had killed the walking corpse with a brick. The heavy smell of the body's fermented blood made him nauseous.

WAH! He threw up next to the decaying corpse. He wipes his mouth and stands up.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"

Birds flew away hearing his screams. Zixin dropped to his knees, tears trickling down his face, he sniffles.

"I just want to go home"

"You can"

His head whips around as he heard a voice in the distance. He gets up.

"Who's there?"

The tree leaves rattle with the wind and the atmosphere changes into night. The wind was cold. A heavy scent of heavy musk filled his nose making him freeze in place. That smell was the scent of a black mamba!

Up ahead he sees two glassys eyes in the grass. A long red forked tongue pokes up once in a while making him shudder.

"What do you want?"

The snake seemed to have scoffed.

"You're supposed to be the snake king? You look weak and pathetic"

"So what? You're supposed to obey me"

"Hahahaha" the snake laughed, taunting him.

"You? My king? Humph, you're not even capable of defeating me"

Wei Zixin stood his ground.

"That may be true....but I'll die trying"

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"Lay down and relax. Let the smell of incense calm your mind"

Lan Fei did as told, the thick smell of burning incense made his body relax as if he was in a tub of warm water.

Jiang Ji placed incense sticks around the bed, Xin Ai and Hua Ling who were watching from the door seemed to be intrigued by this spell.

Jiang Ji sat down and turned to Xin Ai.

"Come join me"

Xin Ai was taken aback. Usually he dealt with fights and wars while his brother cultivated in seclusion so hearing this shocked him.

He sits next to his brother. His guqin appears after a rumble of lightning. They start to play the spell notes.

They watch the incense smoke form a screen, pictures start to appear. All they could see was Hua Ling.

The said boy frowned seeing this. Was Lan Fei keeping an eye on him?

"Let's skip ahead" Xin Ai says, his brother nodded. They play the spell faster.

They see the statue start to appear. Just like Lan Fei said, someone pulled him by the collar. It seems Lan Fei saw the person before he got knocked out. The person was wearing a blue robe with a mask covering their face. Then the screen disappears.

Jiang Ji received a slap from the Zheng as one of it's strings snapped.  Blood slowly flowed from the cut.

"That person must be powerful to turn the spell against me"

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"I'LL KILL YOU!"

He ran towards the snake hidden in the grass. He tumbles down as he tripped over a log. But that log moved, this was no log. It was the body of the snake!

"Hahaha, I'm going to enjoy eating you" the snake hissed. Zixin felt his eyes shrink, he grabs a thick stick making the snake laugh even more.

"A stick? Really? Don't make me lau-"

WACK!

The snake slithered back. Zixin had just hit the snake on the head with a stick.

"Stupid human, I'll kill y-oof!"

He had hit it again. Zixin saw red. All he wanted now was to go home. He doesn't know what this place is but he knows he'll escape.

"I just want to go home" he says hitting the snake again. It landed with a thud on it's back, tongue out of it's mouth.

Zixin walked to it's face. The stick in his hand now snapped in half. The mamba yeiled in defeat.

"You're truly worthy of being a king, your highness"

He sticks the other half of the stick into the snake's eye and watch it writhe and scream in agony until it all ended in silence, it had died.

He takes a deep breath. Pulls the fan out of his sleeve and draws two lines on the white paper with the snake blood. He raises it to the sky.

"I AM THE SNAKE KING! ALL THE SNAKES IN WORLD NOW OBEY ME!!!"

Thunder rumbled in the distance. The white and red lights flashing down on him. It started to rain heavily and Zixin stood there enjoying the cold bath.

"I'm coming home"