Shining Duos

The group was obtaining great progress passing through the mountain and effectively killing off any beasts or defusing and avoiding any trap that may sprung up at them. The route they were taking was a dynamic one as they took many twists and turns making it seem like they were going through a rocky maze but it did kept them very hidden.

And on this route, there were a number of traps they would either sense or defuse. Traps would include poisonous mist, spike traps or hidden ambushes. But they were able to take on them all on and they never had any true difficulty with beats as they all ranged from 8th level Spirit Formation to 8th level Origin Formation with the rare 9th and 10th.

They also at times taken small pit stops in the dead hours of the night to rest up their energy and like this, they traveled for five days through the mountain and everyone could feel their control over Qi advancing at a consecutive pace.

Having to coordinate attacks, control the power of their Qi and time their attacks helped everyone reach a deeper comprehension in their Qi making their travels much more manageable.

Also during this time, Kazami decided to take on Kuzumi's idea of becoming closer to Lun Yuo and Brenda. He would with Brenda tease her making her go bright red, engage in conversation that would be interesting to her or support her in her battles.

With Lun Yuo he would be a bit more direct in his flirting with her by secretly holding her hand while they were traveling or cuddle with her during night time. He would as well always support whatever decision she had in battle making her feel that much more value.

Surprisingly there was little discord between the two girls as it all went smoothly for him and he had to appreciate his sister for that. Kuzumi would gladly help distract Lun Yuo or Brenda whenever he wanted one on one time with them and if they do notice it with Lun Yuo she slowly install the idea as the first wife of Kazami she must have an open mind.

And she would endlessly praise brother to Brenda making him seem greater than what he actually is and how a man like him will surely have girls falling for him. Being the sister of Kazami and remarkably emotionally intelligent, Kuzumi's words had a lot of persuading power on the two innocent girls.

Kazami even until now still isn't quite sure why his sister wants him to have multiple wives so badly even doing this much for him but he defiantly wasn't opposed to the idea.

As of now, the group was arriving at the end of a cliff and on the other side to them was a large slightly lit ominous looking cave. There was nothing else surrounding the cave and it was covered all in that familiar black ash. But as they were making it there Kazami stopped and was sensing something very odd coming from down below him that made scrunch up his face.

"What's wrong Kazami? Are you feeling alright?" Lun Yuo warmly asked him. After these long five days, Lun Yuo did felt closer to him and would always be the first to notice if Kazami felt confused.

"Don't tell me Mr.Divine Talent came down with a cold?" Brenda jested as she too felt closer to him and would always try to tease Kazami back only to run away from him with a red face.

"Don't tell me you two don't feel anything weird?" He asked them and Kuzumi decided to jump in at this moment saying,

"I just tried brother, I don't sense anything either maybe it's just something you ate."

"You too huh Kuzumi right maybe I'm just exaggerating." If Kuzumi didn't sense it then in his mind he had no need to pay further attention to it since Kuzumi was the only close to his level.

Realizing their little conversation made them fall a bit behind the four them caught up quickly and now they all stood at the edge of the cliff looking down below.

It was pitch black but other than the air blowing, the rest also didn't feel anything from the cliff.

"Good job everyone we've reached the halfway point now all we have to do is make it to that cave." Elder Wayne said which got everyone to perk up. Joe Xiu then asked the elder,

"Is it really in that cave? I mean wouldn't it be easier for us to be bombarded with traps in a cave?"

"Yes it is this cave, it's why we took so long to come here. This cave will lead us directly to the center of the tiger lair and soon we will all be done. And don't fret about traps we was able to gather enough intel to know their very little traps in this specific cave." While some were confused about how it will be done they didn't want to question as they already made it all the way to this point and trusted the two elders to protect them.

Azus had noticed the cave was a fair distance away from there and prompted him to ask;

"Hey, are we going to make a bridge for it? None of us can fly and to jump towards it doesn't seem reliable unless we exert ourselves with Qi." Nodding Elder Michi answers him,

"Yes we are going to make a bridge, Kazami just like last time can you use your ice to make a bridge oh and make sure it's as sturdy as possible by using more Qi this time." Kazami, however, was still staring down the cliff feeling as if a pair of eyes were watching their every move.

Being more up close only now he could vaguely sense something down that cliff but he couldn't identify it's power. Everyone else was completely oblivious to whatever was down there and chose not to bring it up since the elders will shoot him down denying the possibility if even they couldn't sense it just like with the four girls.

'Use more Qi huh. These two, something about them out I can't put my finger on it, doesn't help their expressions give me nothing to go off on but might as well go along for now.' He thought and nodded putting his hand out the cliff.

He made a strong red ice bridge on that radiated Qi and once he was down the two elders took the lead again. Walking on the bridge they all trod carefully and quietly.

But as they were walking suddenly the bridge started to shake and all of them felt an heavy pressure affecting their movements.

"Well well, what do we have here, another pack of lost little lambs marching their ways to death?" A cold female voice blasted into their eardrums making them all feel dread.

At the start of the bridge, a black sludge started growing sealing off their way back and even grew to a point to cover the sky over them.

"Shit everyone rush now!" Elder Wayne called out and right when they started to run a large spider leg crashed upright through the red ice bridge in front of them.

They didn't even have time to react as they gazed down below black spider legs rushing at them.

"Go all out!" Was all the signal they needed it before everyone fully unleashed their Qi and sped towards the cave. They all had to react on instinct and evade the poking legs from skewering them.

"Oh seems like you might make it, can't let that happen now can we?" The cold voice said and from the cliff, a glob of white substance shot right into the cave. It quickly formed itself to be a big spider web that blocks off the cave.

They all gasped and several them tried firing off their Qi to the web but it was only absorb by it. Alain pushed his metal and wind Qi to the absolute limit and coated a gold rank nascent sword in it and chop at the web.

The only thing that happen was his sword getting tangled in the web and Alain having to let go and back off the web.

"Ah perfect now that you're all stuck I'll wonderfully greet the next white slaughtering tiger meal." The cold voice now sounded close than ever to them but what nobody besides Kazami saw was the two elders smirking dangerously below them and to Eran who was at the very edge of the bridge but he was preoccupied with evading spider legs.

"Stuck what bullshit! Eran catch!" Elder Wayne roared and threw a powerful purple tails men at Eran who focuses his attention on him and catching Eran caught on what to do.

He was preparing to throw the tails men at whatever was down there as he was the only one closes to the edge and could make a fast through but out of nowhere, he felt something pull him towards the cliff making fall off the bridge while the tails men activated on its own!

Eran didn't even know what made him fall but he slowly watched a black spider leg rushing at him while the tails man was lighting up purple and right there he felt everything froze up as purple ice enter his vision.

He couldn't even shout as the powerful purple ice immediately froze him up and started to spread around freezing everything up even the monster down below them!

"What the hell is this?!" The monster shouted in confusion everything from its vision was being encased by strange purple ice and soon it would be too.

Immediately the elders and the group wanted to cry out in shock of how Eran just fell off the bridge and die by that tails men but Kazami, Kuzumi, and Lun Yuo gave them no time and transformed into their strongest divine power state and rushed at the web while in their respective aura.

While this time their not taking the time to merge and combine their attacks, they are still attacking at the same time which leads to,

'Riiiip!"

Cutting straight through the web like it was butter the trio tore open a hole for all them to pass through. And not wasting a second they all rushed through the created hole escaping from whatever was down there.

"My my this ice will take some time to break! Seems like we got something interesting this time! See you guys soon heh heh..." The voice was gradually fading away as the group was running as fast as possible away from there.

Once they were at a far enough distance they all stopped and catch their breath after that deadly encounter.

"We've made it and thankfully for traveling through this cave everything will be smooth sailing at least." Elder Wayne told them and all of them was shock by him saying this cave will provide them with no troubles.

"I still don't get it what the hell made Eran just fall off the bridge without warning. He surely wasn't careless enough to simply slip off right?" Hiles thought out loud but Elder Michi said,

"Ah, it was an unfortunate loss it has to be that monster pulling Eran die intending to kill him. We all saw that leg coming from him and he must've instinctively crushed the tails man."

"Are you sure about that?" Kazami asked and with an assuring smile Elder Wayne answered,

"It's the most reasonable explanation and this cave truly won't give us much trouble."