Showing me around the Demonic Abode, Cheon Ma suddenly gets an interal Ki message, causing him to suddenly stop amidst his tracks.
"Xing, follow me, I have a few people I want to introduce you to."
Following Cheon Ma's path underground, we enter a narrow tunnel with light bulbs every dozen feet or so, creating an eerie atmosphere. Popping out from a simple door, I'm confronted by a group of people around a round table. The dome roof above was clear like the night sky, showing stars in the shape of each zodiac anime, a few being the Horse and Ox were lit brighter than the rest.
"Welcome" A woman at the head of the round table spoke.
Tall, and elegant, dressed in a long white and gold robe that screamed Orthodox. Her hair was blonde, short and layered with texture, as she adorned a simple golden crown and a few flowery hair pieces.
"I am Xhuang Zhuge." She spoke in a firm, calm, and commanding voice. "I am the Rabbit Zodiac."
(The Rabbit stands for Innocence and Fertility.)
Next was what seemed to be a young man, around my age. Taller than me, and almost as bulky as Yu Yang… He had sharp defining features and tattoo marks all over his visible body. Adorned in an open sleeve robe and slicked back blonde with orange hued hair, he reaches a hand out.
"Geming Jia, winner of the last Heaven and Earth tournament."
Reaching out my hand, I shake his. "Xing, successor of the Ice Witch."
"Ice Witch you say? No wonder you've got so much Yin energy radiating from you…"
Stepping back, the next person introduces themselves. A shorter girl this time, brown hair tied up neatly into a bun with green eyes. "Qing Xie, the Heavenly Doctor."
Without allowing me to conduct a proper introduction, she circles around me and places a palm onto my lower daitain. "It's good… You're a first rate… But you suffer from Nine-Yin Body…"
Geming jolts up from his chair, nearly dropping the greatsword next to him. "Nine-Yin? And a first rate? Can you cure him, Qing Xie? If we can manage to cure him like we did Cheon Ma, he may become one of our greatest assets!"
"Of course. All we need to do is gather some herbs and ingredients and we can force the situations for a Phoenix Rebirth. Is that okay with you, Xhuang?"
Xhuang sits there, contemplating before slowly nodding. "I will interrogate him first. After all, we cannot awaken a monster that isn't on our side."
Qing Xie nods in agreement before returning to her chair.
"Xing," Cheon Ma taps my shoulder, gesturing at the armored woman standing besides him. "This is Qingue Song, my fiance and the Dog Zodiac."
"Nice to meet you Xing…" Qingue pauses. "You two look awfully a lot like family"
Qingue was right, we both suffered from Yin Body as mentioned from Geming, and we even have the same eyes and sharp face, but that was about it. Cheon Ma was much more built than I was because his Yin-Body was cured, and his hair was also tied into a ponytail.
Similar, but we surely aren't family since I'm not of this world… Or timeline, whatever I call it.
"We aren't." Cheon Ma quickly denies, "He's simply an injured warrior that I had found."
Quickly shuffling off, Cheon Ma takes Qingue with him, sitting down in their respective seats as the final person introduces themselves.
"Nice to meet 'cha." The woman does a quirky salute and does a small pole vault across the room, landing before me. "The name's Cuifen. Zodiac of the Monkey, so don't forget it!"
"That's all? Where are the other Zodiacs? Like the Horse, Ox, Sheep, Tiger, Rooster, Pig, Snake and Rat?"
Ehuang points up into the dome roof at the Zodiac symbols. "The Horse and Ox are dead. As for the others, the Tiger is currently at the Murim Alliance holding off the beyonder that we call X. The Sheep has yet to have been claimed and the Rat is with Tiger as support.
As for the Rooster and Pig, they've decided to stay in the mountains. They want some final moments of acceptance before joining us."
"I see…"
"Now, if you're done with questions, please follow me."
Getting up from her seat, Ehuang walks out the door and into the tunnel with everyone following behind. Returning to the surface, we split out separate ways as Qing Xie and Ehuang led me away into what seemed to be their estate.
Opening a few doors and entering past a few rooms, Qing Xie takes a seat at the commodities room while Ehuang drags me further in, reaching her bedroom.
"Now let's begin interrogation." Ehuang walks to the edge of the grand bed, taking off her hair ornaments and then shoes. "Please do not lie to me. If you do, I shall have the Heavenly Doctor outside kill you."
"Y- Yes ma'am."
"Now join me on the bed."
Removing my shoes, I join Ehuang on the other side of the bed as we sit facing each other. She reaches up to her hair and pulls out a stand, curling it up into a ball before placing it into my palm.
"Now with that hand, I want you to hold my hand and close your eyes."
Following her instructions, I close my eyes and hold out my hand. A few moments later I can feel her warm hand on mine, with a radiating fire in between our palms.
"Here we shall lay bare to one another without lies, the Innocence of the rabbit forces the two connected to follow this pact. So if you ever think about lying before me, know that it will not work.
Now, you may open your eyes."
As light returned to my eyes, my gaze landed at hers before looking down into my hand. There was a strand of her hair, lit bright like gold in the sun.
"What is this?"
"This is a link. With this, each person I give this too will know my location and life force, just as I will know theirs. It also prevents them from lying to me.
So tell me, Xing, do you really have it in you to see this world till the end?"
"I do."
Ehuang gently smiles and slowly nods, "Once we cure you, what do you plan on doing with it?"
"I haven't thought that far yet."
"Then what do you think is power?" Ehuang quickly retorted.
"Power is everything. Without it, there is nothing you can do."
"Where do you come from?"
"The demonic cult."
"Hmph." Ehuang gets off from the bed, putting back on her hair accessories. "It seems you are an honest man. How endearing."
Putting her shoes back on, Ehuang leaves the room, Qing Xie entering shortly after. "It seems you've passed with flying colours, how earnest of you."
"Oh… Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm going to be cured now, right?"
"Yes, but we'll have to gather several herbs and Ki pills… It shouldn't take too long, perhaps a few months at most."
"Yikes…"
Before we could continue any further in discussing our plans to achieve Phoenix Rebirth, a voice transmission had been sent to us all. "The tiger has been overwhelmed! X'x mud has infected him with the Void!"
Void? Like the path in buddhism?
Joining Qing Xie, we rush outside and into the court of the Heavenly Demon's Abode, where we're face to face with a small, seemingly young girl."Ehuang, Cheon Ma! We need to bring Geming to claim the Tiger before it's lost to X!"
Cheon Ma seemed concerned, very unlike Ehuang, "Xing, Cheon Ma, Qinge and Geming will go face Li Hu and take the Tiger Zodiac. Cuifen, please guard Qing Xie as she starts collecting ingredients."
Everyone nods in agreement as Cuifen and Qing Xie were the first to leave in a flash, moving through the air with such ease as the two seemed to have transient mastery over Qigong. Our group was the last to leave, leaving through the tunnel that were created by the Rat.
Geming took the lead as Cheon Ma and Qinge stood in the middle, leaving me in the back with the Rat to get to know each other due to the late introductions.
"S- So… I heard from Sister Ehuang that you'll be joining our journey! U- Uhm, even if you have Yin-Body, we'll make sure to protect you!"
"Hmm, that just makes me seem like a hassle then."
"Ah-!" The Rat jolts in surprise and panic, "Uhm, n- no, not like that! By the way, I'm Jiayang Tang, the Rat Zodiac."
"Xing, disciple of the Ice Witch."