Cang Mu and Ming Ran made their way to the light at the other end of the cave; wincing, they exited to a completely different landscape. A giant, grassy field with a single tree in the middle of it surrounded by ice walls. Ming Ran looked around in wonder. Giant koi fish swam through the air as if they were underwater. They made their way to the middle of the field and looked up at the tree. There was a key in the middle of the trunk.
"A key? To what?" Cang Mu asked Ming Ran. Ming Ran shrugged and reached inside. Light engulfed the both of them and slowly the world faded away around them.
...
Gong June slid down to her knees and panted, cursing between breaths. She glared at the lava river slowly flowing southward beside her.
"Glaring at it won't make this heat disappear." Fa Lin sighed. It had been one thing after another since they came into this dungeon. Wen Quinn looked over his party. All of them looked utterly exhausted. Even Ming Cheng looked like he was on his last leg. They had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion since the moment the tournament started! A few days ago they had ended up in the Shadow Lands, where they were ambushed by hordes of demons. Gong June and Ming Cheng had managed to clear a way to the outskirts where they could finally take a break when, of course, Khan Qing had to pick up some strange object on the ground! Teleporting them to an active volcano.
"I think I found a few places where the final boss could be hiding." Khan Qing came back from her scouting trip. Wen Quinn sighed, warily. Khan Qing flinched and held up her hands in mock surrender, "Look, I am sorry. When I saw the orb, I thought that maybe it might be a clue to a dungeon, not a one way ticket." He sighed.
"You really are the queen of one way tickets, aren't you?" he spat. Khan Qing flinched, looking away.
"Would you stop taking out your frustrations on her every time something goes wrong?" Gong June hugged Khan Qing tightly. Wen Quinn sighed and turned away. They had been stuck in this dungeon for three days now and had not managed to gain any stars at all during their stay here. He needed to get his hands on this prize. Ming Cheng took a deep breath and stood from the place he was sitting. He ruffled Khan Qing's head and moved forward.
"This labyrinth is probably one of the harder ones, we beat this labyrinth, we get more stars than taking out three regular labyrinths." He moved forward. He had gotten used to this role again. With Elle around, there was never much of a need to keep the group moving towards a goal. Her presence was calm and quiet, seeming to melt away any anxieties they were feeling. She always knew exactly what to say or do. Exactly who needed what. Ming Cheng shook the memories from his head, feeling a bit heavy as he reminded himself that she was no longer with them. It had been 21 years since he had reincarnated into this world. If she had been reincarnated too, he would have found her by now, right? Especially, if she was looking for them too. They remembered, why shouldn't she? Unless, she didn't remember. The lava river that flowed next to them shifted slightly, drawing his attention. Wei Ning stood at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the lava pools. He approached him, "What do you feel?"
"I feel uneasy." Wei Ning stared at the lava. Ming Cheng stared at him. He hadn't meant how he was feeling, but staring at the lava pools, he could feel it too. He sighed. It was times like this he wanted to see Ming Ran. His little brother had been kidnapped so suddenly, to suddenly find him at the thousand mountains was like a miracle. However, he was accompanied by one of his kidnappers. A barbarian. An enemy. Married to him. His correspondence to his father had done nothing. Politics and emperors didn't ever come anywhere close to the thousand mountains. It would have to be after they were able to return home.
Suddenly, the caves began to shake as a giant red snake rose from the lava and bared its fangs at them.
"Everyone get out of the way!" Gong June grabbed Fa Lin and dodged a few rocks that rained down from the ceiling. Khan Qing dodged back. Wei Ning had already readied his sword. Bringing his blade up and across, he slashed through two boulders, barely managing to parry the blow from the large serpent's tail. Ming Cheng cut down a few tumbling stalagmites and sliced through the creature's tail. The shrill sound of metal meeting metal rang through the air. By now, everyone had recovered from the initial shock of the sudden monster attack. Gong June and Khan Qing had already begun providing back up for Ming Cheng and Wei Ning. Wen Quinn looked about and tried to find some sort of weak point, he made his way over to Fa Lin.
"Would any of your poison arts work?" he yelled over the roar of the battle behind them. With Gong June and Khan Qing in the fray, the one sided battle was slowly becoming bearable under the heavy assault of the snake. The serpent had been alive hundreds of years longer than the rest of them. This battle would not be easy. Fa Lin looked through her bag.
"There are certainly some that would slow it down, however, if it carries venom that is more potent than what I have on hand," she looked at him meaningfully. Fa Lin had been talented in academia and plotting. She could torture people better than most of the embroidered guard—this did not make her a warrior nor did it make her a poison master. Fa Lin was meant to be an official of the court. At most she would stay until the end of this year, then she would go back to the empire and continue her education in court politics and dynamics. Though the master of her peak had taught her much, she was definitely not suited towards cultivation.
"The eyes and mouth would be the best places to administer poisons." She sighed, accepting the lack of options.
"So, perhaps a numbing agent or sleeping agent?" Wen Quinn nodded. He ran out to the battle and whistled. "Khan Qing, swap out with me!" Khan Qing looked up at the beast and charged in. Wen Quinn sputtered in anger and yelled at her. Out of all of them, the only one who could possibly make it to that snake's weak points was Khan Qing. He cursed and turned to Fa Lin. Gong June had already taken the poison from her and was running back with the vial in her hands. "Support Gong June!"
The snake let out a howl of outrage and the cave began to shake even more than it had been before. Ming Cheng looked up to see Khan Qing hanging off of the hilt of her sword. The sword was jutted out of the snake's eyes and blood was covering her entire body as the beast attempted fruitlessly to throw her off its eyes.
"The cave is collapsing!" Wen Quinn yelled. The earth beneath them began to crack under the onslaught of rocks and boulders raining down from above. Khan Qing saw a white light bloom before her eyes and slowly their world melted away.