Chapter 90

The Love Demon’s Lair

Warning Blood

Looking to the others with hope in his eyes, Xie Jie said, “lets go get our man.”

All tense and ready to fight, they moved slowly into the huge gaping maw of the jagged cave.

The inside of the cave looked like any other, the dark rock walls were slick with water seeping through from above. In the half dark there were stalactites and stalagmites forever reaching towards each other, and the air held the musty smell of damp moss.

At the back of the cave, huge rough rocks stuck out in strange angles making it appear blocked, if they hadn’t known this was the right place they would have discounted it and gone on to the other options.

In his mind, Luo Bai thanked disciple Wu for escaping and showing them the way, when he got back he would praise him to Master Pan.

Searching at the back of the cave they found a huge bolder with strange dull runes on it.

Gong Qiu Yu read the runes and his brows drew down, “this is a necromancy temple, we should not be here.”

Putting a hand on his scholar’s shoulder, Luo Bai said, “the necromancers have been possessed too, we’ll release them first, then we can deal with them wanting to kill us for trespassing.”

Making a series of complicated hand motions, Gong Qiu Yu touched a dozen different runes in quick succession with his precise Qi.

The huge heavy boulder silently slid out of the way, exposing a large roughly cut dark tunnel.

Cautiously they moved in with Luo Bai out front, but Gong Qiu Yu stopped them all by saying, “hold on, I want to clear our escape route.”

On the inside there was a simple lever that activated the spell to move the boulder, the same dull runes were written across the smooth metal. The scholar took out a brush and wrote over one of the runes in a strange ink, his quick precise words glowed for a moment and the boulder stayed open.

Satisfied they wouldn’t be blocked in, Gong Qiu Yu nodded and they moved further into the dark tunnel of rock.

The dirt floor sloped quickly downwards and narrowed so they could only move one abreast. The rough tunnel walls unevenly widened out then shrank back in, as it curved back and forth in its descent into the depths of the earth.

Off in the distance Luo Bai could hear the sounds of shouting, making him pick up their pace.

The Leaders and Hao Kong’s enhanced senses meant they could see fine in the dark, distracted by their desire to find Chu Ling they forgot to check with Xie Jie, who luckily as an incubus could naturally see every detail around him. For the umpteenth time he was amazed by his wonderful men.

Suddenly a young lady in the fancy robes of the golden winged sect raced out from round a bend in the dark, tears streamed down her cheeks as she fled. In a second Luo Bai used the butt of his sword to incapacitate the two necromancers chasing her.

Gently catching the young lady, Gong Qiu Yu said softly, “keep going straight, help is on its way,” blushing he said, “try to stay aroused, it’s the only way to avoid repossession.”

The lady’s dark brown eyes went wide and her blush matched the beautiful scholar’s, Xie Jie could feel her attraction to his man, she would be safe with Gong Qiu Yu as her inspiration.

Nodding shyly the lady said, “yes Leader Gong.” Taking a calming breath she pointed to the unconscious necromancers and asked, “please can you help me take them with me? They are innocent in all this.”

The lady’s panting breath caught at the beautiful sight of Gong Qiu Yu’s approving smile, “you do your sect credit.”

Quickly Hao Kong and Xie Jie lifted the necromancers up and put them on the lady’s slender shoulders. With a determined nod to Leader Gong, the young disciple moved unsteadily out of the tunnel.

When the others began to move again, Luo Bai was impatiently ahead of them down the winding tunnel, his brows furrowed with frustration and worry.

At various intervals tunnels branched off from the main one, without so much as a pause, Luo Bai always smoothly followed the sounds of people yelling.

They could hear the muffled cries of the possessed, then there was a clear yell of, “gag him!”

The urgent yell of Chu Ling cut through the other noises, “run! All of y...” then his voice was cut off with a grunting cry of pain.

Rounding a curve in the tunnel, Luo Bai heard a loud thud, followed by Chu Ling’s muffled scream of pain.

Lost to his worry, he raced towards the sound, as he flew full speed down the tunnel the other men struggled to keep up with him.

Just as the others lost sight of the tall martial artist, Luo Bai came to the end of the tunnel, which ballooned out into a massive natural cavern, that was 50 metres wide and 5 metres high.

Above in the dark, long jagged stalactites hung menacingly down to the flat rock floor. The whole place was lit with braziers around the rough hewn walls, making shadows jump around from the flickering fire light. The same strange dull runes from the boulder were carved into intricate patterns on the rock floor.

Across the great expanse of the cavern, on the far wall suspended off the ground was Chu Ling. His arms were tied together by golden ethereal rope, that hung from a large dull metal ring attached to the uneven rock above his head. The golden rope ran down his broad back and tied his ankles together, then was fastened to another dull metal ring embedded in the floor.

Hanging in the air Chu Ling was stretched out to his full length, every muscle of his bound body strained against his restraints as he fought to get free.

Just as Luo Bai entered the cavern, a disciple in a green belt brandishing a long wooden staff hit Chu Ling with all his might, the burly Healer screamed again around the leather gag in his mouth.

Seeing red, Luo Bai charged out into the cavern heading straight for his man, all other thoughts forgotten. The others felt his anger just before they felt the possession.

Luo Bai stopped dead in the middle of the cavern, then stiffly turned to his right, where there was a small dais with an ornately carved throne. The whole area was surrounded by people, some were wearing the simple white robes of Snow Mist Peak, others looked like farmers, a few were from other sects, the rest all wore the same black robes with purple trim of the necromancers.

Sat on the throne was a ghostly pale thin man wrapped in dark robes, he had sharp uneven features, his thinning sandy blond hair reached down to mix with his wispy blond beard and moustache, he smiled maliciously at the tall martial artist he had just caught.

Just as the others reached the edge of the large expanse, the love demon said coldly, “kill Chu Ling.”

Luo Bai’s face contorted with rage as he struggled with every fibre of his being against the possession, but it was to no avail, his body flew at his dear lover while drawing his long deadly sword.

Dun Guanlian shot out his chains to stop him, but Luo Bai had too long a head start, the ancient wonder was as helpless as the rest as he watched in horror.

The Leader’s silver sword flashed as it slashed again and again at Chu Ling, cut after cut raining down on his bound man, Luo Bai’s body strained with every strike.

Deathly silence enveloped the cavern as Luo Bai dropped his sword with a loud clattering clang, the others couldn’t breathe as Luo Bai slumped at Chu Ling’s bound feet.

Hundreds of lines of red bloomed on Chu Ling’s robes, crisscrossing his body with his life’s blood.