Chapter 801 - Ethereal
For an instant, Hao Xuan completely froze. The scene looked like something out of a horror movie where only 1 or 2 people might make it to the end.
"Motherfucking SHIT! Is this because of 'those words I said?"
He didn't even have the heart to repeat them again.
"LORD HAO XUAN!" Princess Helena's irate calling swiftly brought him back to reality.
"I'm coming I'm coming, relax."
He stood up with the unconscious Ma Jiang in his hands and aimed for the bridge the rest of them were at.
It was around 40 meters away which was nothing for him considering his actual strength but the moment both his feet left the bridge, an extremely strong force impacted against him. It canceled out the entirety of the momentum he had built up, leaving him with nowhere else to go but straight down.
"The fuck!"
Thankfully his reaction speed was far above what would be normal for someone of his level and he managed to turn around and grab hold of the stone bridge. With both his hearts in his throat, Hao Xuan looked down at Ma Jiang to make sure she was fine, letting out a short breath of relief.
"Another god damn law! Let alone fly I can't even jump across?!" he cursed loudly but no one was there to respond to his grievings.
There indeed was a law in place that kept everyone and everything grounded. It was meant to do much more than just to restrict movement but due to the Lycan bloodline most of the serious side effects were rendered null.
Hao Xuan pulled himself back up along with Ma Jiang and without wasting any more time trying to find shortcuts he started running at full speed along the normal path, following after the demihuman party that wasn't even in sight anymore.
It was a good thing he could see the obvious trail they had left behind through his senses otherwise he might get lost.
Each of the bridges and stairways he passed were shaking to varying degrees and just when he reached the last one where the demihumans had vanished behind, the creatures had in the end, made it to the top with more than 20 of them blocking his path.
Now that they were on the same level as him he could finally see their true forms in person. They weren't nondescript shadowy figures anymore but actual beings that had physical bodies.
No two were the same and but each one was definitely stranger than the one before. All the ones in front of him were humanoid, albeit only barely.
A great many of them were headless with various colored flames creating rough shapes that resembled deformed half-human heads and half something otherworldly. Their auras were unsteady but none seemed to be above Spirit Realm, those were in the second wave.
But the one thing they did have in common were the elongated forelimbs that ended in razor-sharp claws. These were the smallest of the bunch and hence the fastest since they managed to reach the top first.
Hao Xuan's forehead was drenched in a cold sweat. Not only because he was in quite a precarious situation but the density of Ying Qi had more than quadrupled in the blink of an eye. It was hard to just breathe let alone move freely.
The edges of his clothes were starting to freeze over. He blew some air through his nose that turned into vapor right away.
His eyes locked onto the creatures in front of him while his other senses were focused on the ones behind. But perhaps the strangest part of all this was that they didn't attack head-on. Their movements were jerky and appeared to be quite hesitant.
Those of them that did have heads or eyes were all looking at the same area, his chest. Hao Xuan followed their line of sight which led him to the candle in Ma Jiang's grasp.
Even unconscious she had somehow managed to hold onto it through everything. Her dainty fingers were locked around it so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
"Hmm? Is this it?"
The flame wasn't green anymore but had turned bright white. It was much brighter than it had any right to be but Hao Xuan only noticed it when he looked directly at it.
"Are you scared of this?" he asked while taking a step ahead. All the creatures moved back in unison but their body language became much more aggressive. If he continued to push through using the candle as a deterrent then they would simply overwhelm him with sheer numbers.
'The flame will keep them at bay but they can still push through, huh.'
With a lamenting sigh Hao Xuan's shoulders fell.
"Don't suppose you will let me through if I ask nicely, right?" he spoke loudly, looking towards the creatures that showed no recognition.
They were unresponsive as expected and were getting impatient with every passing second. Hao Xuan peered over the edge and saw the second wave of creatures that was almost upon him. Their auras were much stronger, not to mention the sizes.
If he waited any longer he would be fighting a lot more of them so now was the best time.
Without any warning, Hao Xuan lunged forward from that position and his only free hand pierced through the foremost creature. Its description matched that of a gargoyle's down to a T with the only lacking feature being the wings that were nonexistent.
Hao Xuan's attack came too swiftly and abruptly for it to respond in time. His balled-up fist left a half a meter wide hole through which he could see behind it. He let out a breath of relief because it didn't seem like it was that strong but his expression quickly changed a moment later.
Its indistinguishable homogenous flesh started wriggling, releasing smoky fumes. Hao Xuan quickly pulled back his arm and by the time it had left the gargoyle's body the hole in its chest was completely healed.
More than a little shocked by its recovery speed Hao Xuan used the power of the Chaos law and punched again, this time towards its head that was completely blown away.
"ARGH!"
*BOOM*
But he didn't stop there and landed two more fatal hits onto the next couple of unsuspecting creatures before they could retaliate. They all fell and stayed down this time. But just like last time their flesh started to squirm again, releasing copious amounts of distinct fumes.
'So they really are spirits. It is not actual flesh but some type of energy mimicking it.'
Hao Xuan could see the fumes being pushed back by the power of the Chaos Law, preventing them from healing the wound but every passing second more and more fumes were added to the mix and at most a minute later each of those creatures would be back on their feet.
*Groowl*
*Snarl*
*ROAR*