A Plaintive Cry

The sound of beating wings came whistling closer, stirring the air as though wind and clouds were churning through the quiet ruins of the tribe. Su Ming's eyes flickered, but he did not move.

Though the beating wings and sharp cries echoed around him, Su Ming knew how long the passage was. The sounds had reached him first, but the Moon Wings were still a short distance away.

That time might not amount to much, but it was all he had left here.

Without hesitation, Su Ming focused on the line of writing carved into the rocky wall beside the strange skeleton.

"Heaven above, vast and blue—why do you alone weep?"

The writing began with those words. Its strokes danced like dragons and phoenixes, wild and domineering. Su Ming's pupils contracted as soon as he saw them.

Su Ming only half-understood what the words meant, and even that understanding was hazy. Still, the desolation and lonely pride that shone through them left a deep impression on him.

"Heaven above, vast and blue—why do you alone weep..." Su Ming murmured, then looked toward the remaining Barbarian Tribe characters.

"Now, the desire of the Barbarians for the Dao reaches the ends of the eight directions. I fuse my blood with the remaining fire; one thought burns the heavens, and when all thoughts are spent, the firmament blazes... When the Fire Moon rises from the clouds, between heaven and earth, vast and boundless... At that time, silent contemplation: Blood Fire Stacking. Nine is the limit; one is the law. Burn the Barbarian fire and bow nine times, and the Fire Worship Technique shall be complete!

"Heaven above, vast and blue—only you stand alone, Linggu!" The writing below was clearly carved by the same person, but it was not an expression of emotion. It was a passage of rather complicated words.

"Bow nine times to the Barbarian fire... complete the Fire Worship Technique..." Su Ming frowned. The passage was complicated and difficult to understand. He read it again, but it remained a blur.

As he pondered, the cries and beating wings coming from the passage entrance grew more and more intense. Su Ming's eyes flashed. He did not linger; with a swift leap, he darted toward the passage entrance.

In the blink of an eye, he reached the passage. The sharp cries rang ever clearer in his ears. He looked back once more at the desolate tribe, then turned and ran deeper into the passage.

As he ran, he kept track of how loud the shrill cries were. After covering several dozen yards, Su Ming stopped short and abruptly slipped into a crack in the rock wall beside him.

The crack was narrow, but Su Ming was slender. Once inside, he immediately crouched down, even quieting his breathing. Hidden by the stone wall, he felt his heart pounding as he peered through the fissure and waited in silence.

One breath after another passed. Ten breaths later, every hair on Su Ming's body stood on end. He clearly saw a thick red fog burst through the passage like an explosion. Deafening cries boomed from within it, and streaks of red shot past.

The red streaks were Moon Wings, one after another!

Watching the Moon Wings from such close range made Su Ming's heart race, but he did not move a muscle. His narrowed eyes did not let even a glimmer of light escape.

There were far too many Moon Wings. They continued to rush through the passage, and one even slammed into the edge of the fissure, less than half a yard from where Su Ming crouched.

Su Ming gripped the Bone Horn tightly in his right hand. His palm had gone white from the strain. For that instant, he could not even feel his heartbeat. Amid such intense tension, his whole body seemed to grow completely calm.

He stared at the Moon Wing that had accidentally crashed into the fissure, watching its hideous face as it beat its wings and darted back out. But Su Ming's vigilance did not lessen; it only grew.

Just then, cries of despair suddenly rang out. Through the fissure, Su Ming clearly saw several figures in the fog outside, seized by a swarm of Moon Wings and carried toward the tribe at the end of the passage.

There were nine of them in all...

Su Ming could not make out each person's face, but in the instant he looked, he saw a figure dressed in white—and a beautiful face full of despair and emptiness.

"It's her!" Su Ming's pupils contracted. He recognized the woman at once. She was Bai Ling of the Black Dragon Tribe, the woman he and Lei Chen had met at the Tribal Market!

Su Ming fell silent.

Time passed slowly. Before long, the cries in the passage outside the fissure gradually faded, and most of the fog dispersed as well. It seemed all the Moon Wings had returned to their nest. As the Blood Moon vanished from the sky outside, they seemed ready to sink into slumber once more.

A wave of scorching heat quickly spread, replacing the chill. Even the walls of the fissure grew hot, and a series of crackling sounds echoed around him. Su Ming watched as several fine cracks appeared in the rock beside him.

"So that's how the cracks here formed..." Su Ming's gaze sharpened. He quickly rose and stepped out of the fissure, standing in the passage. The fog around him had grown thin, and waves of heat blew toward him from the tribe at the passage's end. The instant they struck him, he was drenched in sweat.

The rocks on the ground were heating up quickly. Even stepping on them felt like stepping on hot coals. Su Ming knew clearly that it would not be long before the heat here became too intense for him to endure!

Should he go, or stay?

A trace of hesitation crossed Su Ming's face. Wails rang out, filled with such misery that hearing them made one's heart tremble.

"Forget it. Lei Chen and I deceived her at the Tribal Market, and now I've run into her again. If I leave her here, I won't be able to live with myself..." Su Ming was still only a child, with a kind and simple heart. He took a deep breath of the hot air and dashed toward the end of the passage.

"If I can save her, I'll save her! If I can't, at least I'll have no regrets." Resolve filled Su Ming's eyes. He gripped the Bone Horn, and the closer he came to the passage's end, the more fiercely the heat climbed.

Fortunately, it was not far. Before long, Su Ming reached the end of the passage. Ignoring the heat of the rock wall, he pressed himself against it and cautiously peered inside.

At the sight, a glimmer flashed in his eyes.

Below, in the tribe at the bottom of the vast basin, the place where Su Ming had previously seen numerous sharp spikes jutting up was now filled with seven people, still alive and struggling.

Seven spikes had pierced through their bodies, entering through their backs and emerging through their chests. Blood ran down the spikes. They were not dead yet; they wailed in agony as they felt their lives slowly ebb away.

All seven were men. Su Ming looked closely and felt a little relieved. He did not know any of them; they clearly were not members of the Wu Mountain Tribe.

All around them, the remaining spikes were slowly melting before his eyes. As they melted, vast amounts of dark red lava spread across the tribe's ground, flowing like a river...

Only then did Su Ming take a deep breath. At last, he understood what those spikes were!

"This place is strange. Perhaps the Moon Wings waking and leaving has something to do with these spikes!" Su Ming made a vague guess: for some unknown reason, the spikes must have formed from lava at intervals, but the transformation did not last long. After one night, when the Moon Wings returned, the spikes melted and turned back into lava.

"Judging by how many spikes there are, once they've all melted, they'll probably fill the basin and bury the tribe beneath the lava again..." Su Ming abruptly raised his head and saw a red tree trunk rising from the center of the tribe like the tip of a great tree.

In the heat of the basin, the trunk seemed to be melting too, writhing strangely. If one looked closely, countless lines could be seen winding inside it, and from time to time a corner of something emerged. It was unmistakably a Moon Wing!

But the Moon Wings that had entered the tree trunk looked nothing like the fierce creatures he knew. Their heads would occasionally emerge, their expressions filled not with ferocity but with pain, desolation, and sorrow.

They no longer shrieked. Their expressions were like silent cries of grief. Stranger still, many of the Moon Wings made bizarre movements: amid their suffering, they repeatedly raised their claws, bit them, then smeared the bloodless fingers over their eyes. The bitten skin showed not a single drop of blood.

"The Moon Wings actually entered that tree trunk! What... are they doing?" Su Ming stared at the trunk. As the heat grew more intense, he felt he could not stay much longer.

"I can't find her... Forget it..." Su Ming shook his head. He had done all he could. He was about to leave at once, but the moment he moved, he suddenly stopped.

His gaze fell on the red tree trunk in the center of the basin. Two faces were emerging from within it. He did not recognize one of them, but the other was Bai Ling.

Bai Ling's eyes were open, but they were empty and lifeless. She seemed to have given up on survival, her face touched with a tragic beauty.

Su Ming gazed at her face, then looked at the lava slowly gathering below. As the many spikes melted, the lava had already spread into a thick layer, rising to about halfway up the tribe's houses.

From here, he could see only the roofs of the stone houses emerging from the basin. Even those roofs were gradually turning red.

"The Moon Wings' emergence is related to the Blood Moon, but looking at things now, it must also have something to do with the heat here. They seem to fear heat... so they only fly out to hunt after this place turns cold...

"And when they return, they all enter the tree trunk. Not one stays outside. That matches my guess." Su Ming did not act rashly. He stood there, eyes flickering.

"I should be able to save her... but I'll have to wait a little longer..." Su Ming watched the tree trunk, glancing from time to time at the lava level in the basin below.

A moment later, the heat climbed again. Sweat poured down Su Ming's body, and his skin seemed on the verge of cracking. His gaze flashed; his blood qi surged, and the power of eleven blood lines flooded his body. He stepped forward and darted away.

He was so fast that, in the blink of an eye, he landed on the roof of a house in the basin. The moment his feet touched down, a sizzling sound rang out and white vapor rose from them. Su Ming did not stop. He leapt again, landing on the roof of another house. After several more leaps, he was already close to the strange red tree trunk.

Just as he approached, Su Ming saw the unfamiliar woman beside Bai Ling's face let out a piercing scream. Her face withered at terrifying speed, and in the blink of an eye she had become a skeleton!

It seemed that after her body had been absorbed into the tree trunk, some strange force had drained away all her flesh and life.

Everyone, let's push those recommendation votes a little harder! There'll be another update at midnight!