“Don’t!” Seeing that the group was about to unleash attacks owo shadows, Master Liaoran raised his voice using his Qi: “They are the shadows of the cil - the very people who ruire array. You ’t harm them, not without interrupting the array and bring about uable oute.”
“You ’t do it. You ’t - tou shouldn’t.” A shadow that looked like an old woman, whose chest, ned face were all heavily wounded by acid, said: “You’ll doom the ey.”
“People will die. tless people.” The other shadow, that looked like an old, boney old man with sores and gaping, rotten holes all over his body: “You have no idea what you’re doing - this array is what keeps this ey safe, safe from the damned spirits and apparitions born from the dragon’s curse!”
“Lies!” Marcus barked: “You’ll pay for all you’ve done! All those children - how dare you pretend you even care about a yourselves?!”
“And you sunk that cruise ship, killing hundreds of people, just so you be in your positions of ploria spoke through her teeth: “We are doing this. e at me if you must! I’ll rip and break all of your old crusty bones!”
“There is simply no way you stop it.” Master Liaoran stood up: “There are only four of you left. Even if you are at your most powerful, you will never be able to plete this cycle without the curse shing back at you. Then, even grahat you get through it this time, you will not be able to pass the cycle of Earth. ”
“You have no idea of what the cil is capable of, disgraced and traitorous monk!” The old man’s shadow cursed: “You broke your deal with us. You broke your word! And you fooled these poor souls into this quest of personal vea of yours. You’ve failed everything you cimed you stand for!”
“This monk knows. And they know all they o know.” Master Liaora out a whole-hearted ugh. A ugh of relief, a ugh of triumph. Before either of the shadows could react, both his hands lit up in golden and thrusted in the air in grabbing forms. Two golden shadows of his hands shot from his arms and nded right on both shadows’ chests. Both shadows screeched in pain. They struggled, but the golden hands had locked into some crucial parts of their bodies which reheir attempts futile and helpless. “Go! Get to the tail end of the bridge!” The master raised his voice at the rest of the team.
Marcus and Gloria took one final look at the two shadows before leading the way towards the exit through which they came onto the bridge.
“Those - those people of the ‘cil’...” Tae Kuo panted as he ran behind Kevin and Mick: “They’re - they’re not dead, nor are they alive - ”
“They’re iween?” Kevin asked.
“No - not really, they’re - her.” Tae Kuo sighed: “These people, what the fuck were they up to…”
As the rest of the group retreated from the tral crystal chamber, Master Liaoran shot at the position with his two hands still holding on to the two shadows. His entire body began to glow as he closed in. By the moment he reached the chamber, his entire body had turned into a human-shaped struct of golden energy. His robe turo ash, scattering into the air through his eh. In but a moment, he went through the crystal wall, dragging both the shadow cil members along with him.
“No!” Marcus saw this and froze where he was, which led to Kevin and Mick bumping into him. He caught them in time so they did not fall off the bridge, and only after a short moment of hesitation he proceeded to run towards the way from which they came.
“Marcus, Gloria. Everyone.” Master Liaoran’s voice permeated through the space before his glowing body would collide with the crystal chamber: “Get ready to run. This entire pce will bee hostile and could even be leveled. The effects of the purple talisman should help you navigate through it. Find Liaowu after this and run as far as possible.”
“Master? Master!” Tae Kuo turowards the crystal chamber: “What are you doing?”
“Remember, there’s more to be doer this.” Master Liaoran’s voice echoed in the room: “This monk - I, chose not to tell you this: in order to ‘reboot’ this entire array, I will o mend this sword pte. It and I will have to bee a new pilr for the array. And you - you will know what to do .”
“Master! ” Marcus roared: “No!”
“Go! You have done enough!” Master Liaoran’s voied a gentle shockwave, pushing the rest of the team gently at the door from which they came: “I only have enough power to hold them for a moment. Leave, NOW!”
“You heard then master!” Keryn spped Marcus, whose eyes were still fixed on the crystal chamber: “Go! We must go!”
“Boom!” The entire crystal chamber burst into thousands upon thousands of transparent grains. At the ter of the chamber was a stone sword with its tip pointing upwards at the sky. Uhe sword ptes they saw before, this one had some kind of thick, crooked bck outer coating. The master, still in his golden energy form, had both his hands on the bde of the sword pte. With every pulse of energy ing from his chest, the energy from his body cracked the dark coating around the pte by just a little bit.
“Go! Get out of here!” Master Liaoran’s voice was resounding but calm: “You know what to do, and do everything you to achieve them!”
“Boom!” Another explosion came from the master and the sword pte. The energy radiating from the old monk’s body finally broke through the thick dark shell, and resonated with the energy of the pte itself.
A beam of golden energy shot from the tip of the sword, straight up through the pilr above it. The ceiling and the levels above all began to crumble, yet no debris actually fell into the abyss below, for they just turned into dust and ash in the air.
