Ch 4 - Through the Cave

Xu Ming thanked the man and got ready to fight the other langurs.

The man spat, "These langurs are the most despicable creatures in the region..", and took up his sword from the ground.

Another langur screeched and appeared in front of the man, swinging its claws at him, but the man parried in time and shouted, "Boy! Attack now!"

But Xu Ming had already made his move, swiftly dispatching of the creature as he put a hole through its body with his spear.

"Well done- ah!", the man hurried blocked another langur that fell from the trees.

This time, he wasn't able to escape injuries, and suffered a wound to his shoulders.

"Goddamnit! These bastards!", the man spat.

Xu Ming got ready in his stance again, and focused.

He could hear the abject screams of everyone around him, and it seemed like some people had fallen to these langurs. It wasn't just the women and children, some warriors had also bid their goodbyes to the world. Xu Ming simply shook his head and focused on fighting the langurs.

15 minutes later.

Xu Ming went up to the man who had fallen on the floor, supporting himself up by only his sword. He himself was not in a good condition, and had claw marks all through his body. But it seemed the crisis was mostly averted by now, and the corpses of both the langurs and people were scattered on the floor.

"Hey uncle, you alright?", Xu Ming asked.

The man replied in a weak voice, "Not good. One of these bastards clawed straight through my stomach. I don't have much time left. Please tell the boss to take care of my wife and children back home."

Xu Ming had a grave face but he merely nodded his head, and went up to him, and closed the man's eyes as his breathing slowly subsided.

Xu Ming walked around to the front of the camp and saw a few people gathered around, bandaging themselves.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lin Feng.

"Hey! You're still alive!", Lin Feng shouted as he let a weak smile at Xu Ming.

Xu Ming nodded at him and walked to the uncle in charge of the caravan.

"How many people are left now, uncle?", he asked.

The man looked at him and sighed, "When we set off, we had 97 people in our caravan. Now, most of the women and children have died, and there are only about 12 of us remaining. But at least we killed all of those bastards too."

Xu Ming nodded with a sad expression.

The man said, "Go and rest for a while. We'll set off to the nearest town right after we tally the survivors.", to which Xu Ming nodded.

Xu Ming tiredly sat down near the fire, and rested his aching bones.

"Lin Feng, how did you survive? Do you know how to fight?", Xu Ming asked him.

"Just a little bit. I'm lucky to have survived, actually, I don't-"

Lin Feng didn't get time to finish that sentence before the familiar hellish sound played again, the same old horn that doomed them the first time.

"Everybody RUN! They're coming in a second wave!", a horrified scream came out of the caravan leader as he took flight.

Xu Ming had already gotten up and ran eastwards into the forest, and Lin Feng followed him.

The vile screeches of the Bluetail Langurs echoed behind them as Lin Feng and Xu Ming ran with sweat poring down the side of their faces.

They didn't talk to each other. They were focused on getting out of there as fast as possible, but the threat of the langurs behind them seemed to be getting more prominent by the second.

The voices seemed to be getting louder and louder.

But nothing happened. After 5 minutes of running, Lin Feng and Xu Ming collapsed on the floor, tired and exhausted.

Lin Feng panted and whispered, "I think they've given up chasing after us."

Xu Ming looked uncertain, and nodded.

Just then, a familiar creature fell from the sky and bared its teeth at Xu Ming.

Xu Ming and the creature looked at each other for a good few seconds before Xu Ming jabbed it in the face, prompting it to screech as loud as it could.

Xu Ming grit his teeth and ran deeper into the forest with Lin Feng, and as they were tumbling down the hills, Xu Ming noticed an opening into the ground.

Xu Ming didn't hesitate and ran downwards into it, hoping the little bastards wouldn't follow. Lin Feng also made the same decision, following Xu Ming.

Not long after, hundreds of langurs with distinct blue marks on their tail popped out of the jungle, but hesitated following them into the caves. They were wary of something about the cave, and left the two alone, climbing back into the jungle.

Xu Ming and Lin Feng weren't aware of this. Lin Feng whispered to Xu Ming, "Let's go deeper into the cave and see if we can find an exit. It's too dangerous to go back out, in case they're waiting for us."

Xu Ming shared the same sentiment. The two of them slowly crawled along the cave, feeling their way through the darkness.

"I can't see anything at all.", Lin Feng grumbled.

The cave was eerily silent, and the only sound was that of their feet and their own thoughts.

Xu Ming wasn't sure how long it'd been now. It could have been either 2 hours or 30 minutes, but he'd lost his sense of time, and directions, travelling in the darkness. Thankfully he had Lin Feng to keep him company, otherwise he might have lost his sense of self too.

"Do you hear that?", Lin Feng suddenly spoke.

Xu Ming listened carefully and his eyes widened.

"Sounds like water falling. It must be up ahead.", Xu Ming said.

They walked for a few minutes before they saw a faint light on the other side. Walking through it, they found themselves on the side of a great ravine, through which an enormous waterfall fell with great tempest. The scale of the cave made everything seem tiny, and the pale blue light falling from the ceiling illuminated this scene. Faint crystals glowed with slight amour through the walls of the cavern.

Lin Feng's jaw fell at this sight. Xu Ming too, could scarcely believe such a beautiful sight, having been subject to terrible conditions in his past life.

After a while, they regathered their senses.

Lin Feng turned to Xu Ming and said, "Let's go down and look for a way out."

Xu Ming and Lin Feng spent hours combing through the walls of the ravine, searching for a way out, but didnt find anything more than a dead end.

Lin Feng said, "To be honest, Xu Ming, I don't think there's any other way out. I must be truthful though. I've been feeling a faint connection in the direction behind the waterfall. Let's follow and see where it ends up."

Xu Ming didn't mind, as he had no other plans, and nodded at Lin Feng.

Trekking up to the waterfall, Lin Feng swiftly noticed an entrance to the area behind the waterfall, and they made their way through as the great curtain of water fell besides them.

At this point, both Lin Feng and Xu Ming were terribly tired. But they both knew they had no choice but to go onwards, because they had no food, and they couldn't take the chance to wait the langurs out.

Xu Ming and Lin Feng walked another long period of time through the claustrophobic walls of the area behind the waterfall, when all of a sudden, Xu Ming noticed signs of smooth stone slabs inserted into the cave walls and the floor.

Lin Feng grinned when he observed this, and said, "Looks like we're either close to the surface, or close to some place where civilisation exists."

Xu Ming also finally let out a weak grin as they walked onwards. It wasn't long before they came to a small clearing, where the path stopped.

They reached the edge of the path, overlooking a massive chamber where the natural light from outside fell into a small man-made structure in the middle, the ruins having been affected by the passing of time.

There was an abundance of greenery, trees and shrubs both alike, and a fresh brook flowing on the sides of the central platform.

Lin Feng looked at Xu Ming with awe and he said, "I feel like something is calling me there."

Xu Ming looked at Lin Feng and said, "Well, let's take a look at what it is."

Lin Feng nodded and they made their way to the centre of the chamber slowly, walking down the slippery slopes of the walls of the chamber.

As Xu Ming jumped over the gap between the grass and the central platform divided by the water, they approached the structure slowly.

There was a singular tablet made of stone in the middle, a mahogany coffin right besides it, and seven majestic heads hanging from the walls of some marble columns.

Xu Ming could not even look at their faces straight without feeling some apprehension and tension just from their auras alone.

Lin Feng apparently seemed to feel the same, and he whispered, "They must've been really powerful when they were alive. Even just their figure makes me feel pressured."

Xu Ming nodded, and he looked at what the stone tablet said, but he could not make out the contents.

Lin Feng squinted and surprisedly spoke, "It's the Kaelic script!"

Xu Ming questioningly looked at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng explained, "This is a script from over tens of thousands of years ago from the empire that ruled the continent at the time for a very long time, but it's archaic nowadays. I didn't expect to see it here."

Xu Ming nodded with surprise and said, "Well, what does it read?"

Lin Feng went closer and began reading making out the title, and slowly spoke, "The Kingslayer's tomb."

Xu Ming beckoned him to continue reading.

"In a dark, gloomy tomb,

lay seven heads hung.

Above them, stood a man,

Of which the angels sung.

The Epitaph under the Kings,

So bold and in large strokes.

So said it, so it goes :

These here are the men who with their power,

Built vast empires and countless towers.

Yet doing so, wasted countless lives in vain,

Thus their heads lay; The Kingslayer has slain."