Chapter 213 - The Scum Is Protected

The fear in their heart increased as their spine became cold and their body froze when they saw the change in the posture of the statues. They are all looking at them while evilly grinning, their hands raised like they were eyeing, and are about to catch their prey.

"Th-th-this - !" Guo Cheng muttered under his breath as he stared at the statues with widened eyes, his mouth agape.

"RUN!" Tang Zhe yelled. His loud voice jolted everyone's mind that turned sluggish from shock awake. He held Tang Yun in his arm tighter as he ran after Guo Cheng and Shan Lu, while Wu Xi ran behind at their back.

Because the rope on their end had burned out, only at its other end where they came from was burning. Their side had started to turn dark, and only their back was alight. However, they didn't have a second to spare to look back. Or, what else could they see? It would definitely be also horrifying, if not more horrifying.

Guo Cheng, who was running in the lead, felt something moved in the wind. Because of fear, his mind reacted slower.

"DUCK!" it was Shan Lu who shouted and immediately pulled Guo Cheng down with him. The wind whistled a few millimeters from their ear.

Tang Zhe immediately ducked after Shan Lu shouted and hugged the unconscious Tang Yun. Behind them, they heard a loud noise of collision. "Wu Xi!" he called.

Something glowed in the dark. It was Wu Xi's Thought Talisman. "I am fine." He told them.

"Take out a night pearl! The statues are attacking us now that we've found them out they can move!" Tang Zhe said. "We have to get out! Find the exit!" he said as he rolled on the ground with Tang Yun in his arms.

"Yes!" Guo Cheng finally reacted and immediately crawled on the ground, dodging an arm of a statue, before he took out a night pearl. His eyes widened in shock after the night pearl illuminated the statues.

The statues' mouth is wide open, as if they were about to swallow something whole! Their arms are flailing to catch them!

Guo Cheng, after having been given a scare a few times, is now psychologically stronger so he made the night pearl roll on the ground forward again to see their path ahead.

He watched with bated breath the path the night pearl passed by before it stopped when it hit something. Then, his eyes lit up when he finally saw a door ajar where the night pearl bumped and stopped.

"I see the exit!" he exclaimed.

"Watch out!" Shan Lu yelled as he immediately pulled Guo Chen by the waist and they rolled beside the low platform underneath the feet of a statue.

The statue, after failing to catch Guo Cheng and Shan Lu, stopped for a while as if searching for their figures. Then, when it didn't see them, it resumed back to its former posture with both arm on its sides.

Tang Zhe, after dodging again, saw what happened. "They can't move from their place! And they can only 'see' what's on the road, but not what near their feet!" he breathlessly said. "Move near their feet and stay in place for a minute!" he told Wu Xi who was lithely dodging the statues' arms.

Wu Xi who heard what Tang Zhe said nodded and nimbly jumped in between the statues' arms that tried to catch him before he landed on a statue's feet. Shan Lu and Guo Cheng waited, and also rested, on a statue's feet.

One minute, two minutes… five minutes. The statues stopped moving and resumed to their former posture. "It worked!" Tang Zhe said with widened eyes.

Guo Cheng caught his breath. "We can't walk in the middle of the road." He said.

"Let's walk near their feet." Tang Zhe said as he slowly stood before carefully adjusting Tang Yun in his arms.

"Da shixiong. You've been carrying him since earlier. Let me carry him this time." Guo Cheng said.

Tang Zhe shook his head. "We can't cross the road." He reminded him.

On his side, there was only Tang Yun who he was carrying and Wu Xi who's by the feet of the statue next to him. Across them are Guo Cheng and Shan Lu.

"Let's be careful not to step in the middle of the road." Tang Zhe said. "Go to the exit." He said.

"Yes!" they answered as they started to walk towards the exit.

After a while…

Everyone. "…" why do they feel they are getting further and further from the exit?

"Illusion." Guo Cheng frowned. It also happened earlier.

They looked at the night pearl that was illuminating their path ahead. They thought that the exit is near, but actually it is far.

"Nngh." Suddenly, Tang Yun stirred. At the same time, the temperature dropped.

Tang Zhe immediately looked at him. "Xiao Yun?" he called.

However, Tang Yun didn't answer and his brows scrunched up in discomfort. Tang Zhe didn't have the chance to speak when they heard Guo Cheng's cry of alarm.

"Shan-shixiong! Why are you hitting me?!" Guo Cheng asked when his arm was slapped.

"What? I didn't!" Shan Lu denied. "How can I hit you?" he asked.

Guo Cheng turned and saw Shan Lu's hand held the hilt of his sword while his other hand was on his waist. It was Shan Lu's usual posture. Both Shan Lu's hands are occupied, so how can he hit him? There's no reason for Shan Lu to hit him, despite Shan Lu is an idiot. He isn't unreasonable and finicky.

If it wasn't Shan Lu, then who hit him? There's only both of them on this side of the road…

Tang Zhe and Wu Xi who turned to the two across them had widened their eyes when they saw a bluish pale figure appeared in between the statues and is raising its hand to touch Guo Cheng again. "Guo-shidi! Look out!" he shouted.

At the same time, Guo Cheng also turned to his side and saw the raised claw with long, black nails and bony palm. His pupils shrank. "AAAAAAAAHHH!!!" he screamed as he stepped back a few steps.

"No!" Shan Lu didn't have the time to cut the claw that descended to the place where Guo Cheng was earlier, intending to claw at Guo Cheng.

Guo Cheng, struck dumb with fear after almost dying, had unknowingly retreated in the middle of the road.

"Guo-shidi!" Shan Lu called as he jumped on Guo Cheng and pressed him down on the ground, just barely dodging a statue's arm that descended on the pale and horrified Guo Cheng.

"Guo-shidi! Shan-shidi!" Tang Zhe called. Then, he felt Tang Yun trembled in his arms. "Xiao Yun?!" he called. His attention was focused on Tang Yun, he didn't notice a claw was coming towards his unguarded back!

Tang Zhe heard the wind whistled past his ear after he was pushed forward. The next second and he heard a shrill shriek! He turned and saw a severed arm with yellow blood flowing out from where it was cut was twitching on the ground. Wu Xi had his sword drawn and stabbed a pale, bluish figure in between the statue's feet.

"Da shixiong! Look out!" Shan Lu cried.

Tang Zhe's pupils shrank and he instinctively ducked. He felt the crown on his hair was moved and pulled his hair after a statue's arm swept past above his head. "Shan-shidi! Guo-shid! Are you okay?!" he asked.

"Yes! What are these creatures?!" Shan Lu asked as he protected Guo Cheng beneath him.

Tang Zhe didn't answer, since he doesn't know. He ducked again to avoid an arm. Suddenly, they saw the surrounding was bathed with a warm, orange light and the cold temperature slowly dissipated.

They turned and saw Wu Xi, after killing a creature, jumped up on a statue's shoulder and leaned over. There was an unlit torch behind the statues' head, which is their blind spot. Wu Xi lit a torch, followed by another, and another…

A magical thing happened. The statue that was beside the torch that was lit stopped moving and resumed to its former posture. The creatures hiding in the dark by the statues' feet shrieked and shuddered as they tried to hide from the fire's light.

Guo Cheng, who finally recovered from his shock, felt the warmth from the fire and he turned. "So we have to light the torches?!" he asked. He didn't wait for the others to answer as he took out fire talismans and accurately threw the talismans on the torches. Then, everything was revealed before them.

There were only a total of ten rows of statues on both sides, and each row consists of three statues. From the entrance where they came from, there's only a small distance to travel to the door ahead of them. However, they went in circles earlier because they were under an illusion. And the culprits are definitely these creatures, which made Tang Yun uncomfortable.