170 Light Tiger Sects God (1/2)
”Mm.” Flair nodded, her eyes glowing white while she stared at the stone wall. She placed her hand against the wall and frowned. ”There's a light barrier too. We'll need to destroy it.”
”Sure.” Ed shot his purple shadow into the wall. The illusion vanished, revealing a glowing white barrier. His corrosive shadow slowly corroded the barrier, releasing sizzling sounds as it did so. It only took a few minutes before the barrier was destroyed entirely.
With the illusion and barrier gone, they could now see inside. There was a stone stele with an inscription of a tiger, as well as the name of the sect. However, the surroundings were still a dark and gloomy dungeon, except the room was much wider and diverged into many more paths. Candles lined the walls, casting small globes of lights on their gloomy surroundings. A bit past the stone stele was an alter with a human skull sitting atop it. Overall, the place looked like a creepy abandoned monastery.
”Heh.” Ed chuckled while placing his hands behind his head and walking towards the alter. ”If it wasn't for the stele spelling it out for us, I'd guess we entered the Dark Phoenix Sect instead.”
”It does seem odd for a sect that's so heavily involved with the light element.” Flair nodded in agreement.
”Well, it makes sense in some ways.” Ed replied. ”The light glows brightest in the dark. It probably allows them to see the results of their practice more clearly. Still, they'd likely make more progress when surrounded by light, so they must have some training rooms or something.”
White light lit up in Flair's eyes once again as she slowly looked around the room. There were dozens of different doors leading to different dungeons. Fortunately, she could see the invisible signs floating in the air. Perhaps the Light Tiger Sect had a technique similar to her own. Or maybe it was something all light cultivators could do upon mastering the default path of light. She pointed at a door. ”That one says training rooms. Looks like you were right.”
”Mm.” He nodded while examining the alter. Other than the skull, there were a few vials of what looked like blood and a thin red cloth covering the center. There were also some medical tools that seemed out of place, but clearly the Light Tiger Sect was some level of crazy, so he didn't bother to question it. ”Just find the archives.” He waved his hand towards Flair without turning around.
Flair looked over the rooms again. ”There's one called library. I think that's probably it.” She said.
Just at that moment, Ed curiously picked up the skull on the alter. 'Why does it have mana flowing through it?' He wondered. It looked completely ordinary otherwise, not even having any unusual colors or features when compared to any other human skull. ”Flair.” He shouted across the room. ”Come take a look at this.”
”Hmm?” She walked over and glanced at the skull. Her eyes seemed to follow an invisible trail as she turned from the skull towards the altar. ”The mana's coming from underneath.” She reached her hand towards the back of the skull, and a hazy white glow covered her hand as she appeared to pluck an invisible string like how a musician would play a stringed instrument.
The mana within the skull vanished, returning it to being completely ordinary. The alter rumbled, causing the ground to shake slightly. Flair's curiosity seemed to have taken ahold of her, as she didn't stop her actions. She moved the thin red cloth away from the center of the altar, revealing an engraved pentagram. She then reached for one of the vials of blood and poured it into the engraving. The blood seemed to be full of mana, and it glowed an eerily bright red color as it flowed through the pentagram.
The shaking grew greater, and a grinding sound echoed as the alter slowly moved backwards to reveal a staircase leading to darkness. A cold air radiated out from below, causing a chill to travel down their spines.
”Let's go.” Ed grinned as he took the lead. 'So interesting, so interesting. I really picked a winning sect to raid. What other secrets could they possibly be hiding? The Purple Origin Sect had the mural with visions of their various gods. Maybe the Light Tiger Sect has an identical mural that's hiding some visions of demons?' He jokingly thought to himself.
The duo traveled down the steps at a leisurely pace. Ed created a small globe of light with his mana-battery once again. Their surroundings were completely silent except for the thudding of their own footsteps. Thud. Thud. Thud. Splash. Ed's foot got wet as he suddenly stepped in a puddle. He lowered his globe of light, revealing a bright red liquid and some broken glass.
Flair glanced at the puddle. ”It's the same blood that was on the altar.” She explained. ”From what I can tell, there's nothing particularly special about it. Someone might have just dropped a vial of it here and didn't bother to clean it up.”
”Maybe.” Ed nodded in agreement as they continued deeper down a dark hallway. Soon, they came to a large set of stone doors. Elegant engravings were carved into it, depicting a battle between the seven nightmares and a brilliant shining light. The quality if the work was to a point that it could easily be placed in any museum. Who knew how long such a thing had been hidden down here away from the world?
Flair stared at the door with her powers activated. ”Those that follow the path of light will gain refuge in God's Holy Kingdom. Those that follow other paths shall fall to the wicked. Those that abandon the path of light shall suffer eternal torture at God's hands.” She frowned. ”So ridiculous. People really still believe in gods?” She scoffed.
”To be fair, there are giant monsters destroying cities all over the world.” Ed replied. ”And our powers don't exactly conform to the laws of physics.”
”Just because we don't understand the reasons yet, doesn't mean we should attribute it to a higher power.” She shook her head. ”That's nothing but a path that encourages laziness and content.”
”Who knows.” Ed shrugged. Truthfully, he didn't believe in God or gods either, but how does one define a god? Depending on the exact definition, there very well could be gods amongst men today. Hell, he himself collected souls of the dead whether he wanted to or not. He had ridiculous powers that would have only existed in fantasy just half a millennium ago. If he were capable of going back in time, what would he be considered if not a god?
Ed shoved the doors open, revealing a bright blinding light. His eyes quickly adjusted, revealing the first well-lit room they had found since entering the Light Tiger Sect. The creepy dungeon floor was replaced by pristine white tile. Marble pillars decorated with red curtains supported the room, making it look like a romanticized building of ancient Rome. A gilded red carpet stretched out in front of them, leading towards a giant marble statue.
Ed stared in disbelief at the marble statue. Its towering height easily placed it at around a hundred meters tall. The God it depicted wore an elegant cape, and the craftsman that had created it must have done so perfectly, as one would easily think the cape was made of real cloth instead of marble upon seeing it. The muscular God was completely bald and wore what looked like a modern jumpsuit. Ed's expression sank more and more the longer he stared at it.
”This is...” Flair muttered aloud.