Chapter 29: The Shadowgold

"Sister!" A foreign female voice emanated from beneath the disguise of a man.

"The disguise is compromised!"

"The Vice-Commander, she..."

"Attack! Attack!"

Several tomb raiders drew long swords from the storage rings on their fingers and charged toward Liu Huaxi and his group.

"It's the White Lion Cavalry!"

Dai Longmei and Lily exchanged a glance. The nimble fox-form creature leaped from Dai Longmei’s shoulder, and a bolt of ethereal energy erupted from Lily’s mouth, striking one of the charging White Lion Cavalry like a sniper round. The blast pierced the rider's skull, and as she died, the charm disguising her form lost its effect. The sight of that beautiful yet sinister face made Lily’s heart tighten, though the sight of brains leaking across that face brought her a sense of relief.

"Trios! Capture and kill Liu Huaxi!" commanded the White Lion Cavalry squad leader, who had stepped in to take command. As the riders channeled their ethereal energy, their own charms took effect, and the fierce, beautiful warriors clad in soft chainmail surged toward Liu Huaxi.

"Old Chairman, watch out! They carry a strange aura!"

Dai Longmei gripped his jade sword and lunged at the incoming riders. He dodged a vicious slash, slid between two furious White Lion Cavalry, and swung his sword like a guillotine; the blade, wreathed in thick jade energy, severed the enemies' chainmail and flesh alike. As the bodies collapsed with a dull thud, Dai Longmei pressed forward without hesitation, engaging the other groups of three in a chaotic melee. Ethereal energy sparked and clashed with steel, igniting fierce ethereal flames.

"Fire! Kill these Stardust monsters!" From atop the circular wall, the elite tomb raiders pulled back their bows, and a rain of arrows poured down upon the White Lion Cavalry.

"Hmph! Mortals!" The riders merely continued their charge. Any bronze arrow that flew toward them was deflected by their ethereal shields or parried and incinerated by their swords.

"Damn it! It's just as the Chairman said!"

"Ordinary weapons can't hurt them in the slightest..." Liu Huaxi leaped onto the tank, stepped on the small pagoda, and muttered, "Jade God, you were right to say we should wait for these children to arrive before acting..."

The agile elite tomb raiders attempted to rush forward to assist Dai Longmei and Lily.

"Stay back!" Lily shouted, but it was too late. The tomb raiders, wielding copper swords, threw themselves at the White Lion Cavalry.

"Argh!" A White Lion rider pierced one of them, and the ethereal fire igniting from the blade burned him to ash.

"What on earth is this..." Even having seen countless ghost soldiers and spectral chariots, the tomb raiders had never witnessed such intangible fire.

"Monsters... they’re all monsters!"

"Fall back! Fire from a distance! Do not get close!" Liu Huaxi commanded sharply. Thus, over a hundred tomb raiders surrounded the remaining six White Lion riders, but they could only leave the fighting to Dai Longmei and the others.

Dai Longmei fought three lions alone, his jade sword moving like a dragon. His footwork was light yet solid, denying the riders any chance to break his defense.

In the distance, however, another squad of White Lion Cavalry formed a triangular formation, shielding themselves from the arrow rain as they charged toward the tank.

"Bamboo!"

"Yeah!"

The task of protecting Liu Huaxi fell to Long Zhu. The hulking wolf-kin warrior let out a roar, his jade sword cleaving toward the lead White Lion squad leader like an axe. The leader parried with her own blade, but Long Zhu’s jade energy surged, condensing upon his sword. The squad leader was stunned; only ten days ago, in the pursuit, Long Zhu’s ethereal energy had been dim, but now it rivaled her own.

*Clang!*

The jade sword struck the leader’s longsword with such force that it halted her charge.

*If not for that damned ethereal wall... my energy would have crushed him already!*

***

The ethereal wall that had suddenly risen over the Luma River had not only blocked the path of the Stardust Army but had also severely sapped the strength of the White Lion Cavalry infiltrating Tianyu. The Stardust people, who usually relied on their "ethereal" advantage, finally tasted the bitterness of being outmatched.

"Hah!" As the leader pondered, Long Zhu let out a shout, his jade sword raining down strikes that forced his enemy to retreat.

"Sisters, help me!" The other two White Lion riders lunged forward.

"Not a chance!" Several ethereal bolts flew from the side, knocking one rider down. Lily, controlling her fox body, darted through the fray, channeling energy into projectiles. Her nimble form and the tactical positioning she had learned from tomb raiding allowed her to strike the riders’ arms and calves with precision.

"Damn fox!" The squad leader wanted to draw her bow to kill Lily, but she remembered Frela’s order: "Bring me the body of that key and the escaping soul. The fox must not die."

*Damn it...*

After being struck in the leg by an ethereal bolt and falling to her knees, she saw Long Zhu’s jade sword descending toward her head. Desperate, she gambled. She pulled a sharp dagger from her ring and, while Long Zhu’s lower body was unguarded, channeled all her remaining energy into a thrust.

The jade sword pierced her right shoulder, snapping through her ethereal shield and embedding itself in her bone. Ignoring the agony, she gritted her teeth and lunged for Long Zhu’s unprotected abdomen.

"Just a novice who only just learned to channel energy! Hahaha, I win!"

*Clang!*

Another jade sword pierced the leader’s wrist from the side.

"Argh!" She shrieked, dropping the dagger, and was immediately decapitated by Long Zhu.

"Bamboo! Be careful!" Dai Longmei pulled his sword free and kicked the kneeling leader over. Long Zhu stood there, momentarily stunned. Nearby, the other three White Lion riders lay twitching in pools of blood, and the final two had been struck in the throat by Lily’s bolts. The little fox was currently sitting on one of them, spitting on her face.

"You must protect your whole body when channeling energy!" Dai Longmei patted Long Zhu’s shoulder, just as his teacher had taught him years ago.

"Hey, I’m just starting, not everything is refined yet. It’ll get better later, hahaha!" Seeing Long Zhu’s nonchalant attitude, Dai Longmei—his own face stained with Stardust blood—cracked a smile.

"Hmph! See? Even if I’ve turned into a fox, I can still defeat these Stardust bastards!" This was not Lily’s first encounter with the White Lion Cavalry, but it was the first time she hadn’t fled, choosing instead to fight head-on and win.

"You’re really starting to think you’re a fox now, aren't you..." Dai Longmei whispered with a grin, and Long Zhu gave a goofy laugh.

"I! Am! Not! A! Fox!"

Watching the three of them finish the battle in ten minutes and joke around the fallen corpses, Liu Huaxi, standing on the tank, also smiled. It seemed he wouldn't need the immortal war-chariot he had prepared. He jumped down, intending to walk toward them.

"Hmph, so you really did bury the things I set up."

"That little deity thought this would give you ethereal energy?"

"Ridiculous!"

"But this refined jade stone can only allow a Jade Person like you to transmit thoughts."

"What a pity..."

A voice Liu Huaxi could not understand echoed in his ears, though he recognized it as the Stardust tongue.

"However, even with ethereal energy... you cannot escape death."

As the voice grew stronger, Liu Huaxi felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his heart, as if it were being squeezed by a powerful force. His entire body began to ache—the source of the pain was the refined jade stone the Jade God had embedded in him.

*So... the Jade God’s calculations were precise...*

*The evil god behind the Stardust... you’ve finally made your move... haven't you?*

"Easterner, if you had just stayed a tomb-raiding mafia boss, I could have spared your life. But you had to get involved with that Jade God..."

***

The evil god’s eerie voice echoed in the dying Liu Huaxi’s mind. "Do you know? My children want fun toys and a place to play. But the Jade God refuses to give it to them. You people of the East are so stubborn. But since you won't give it to them... I will help them take it!"

*Snap!*

With the sound of the refined jade stone shattering inside him, Liu Huaxi’s heart was torn apart by the yellow ethereal energy contained within. The tomb-raiding chairman fell straight to the ground.

"Chairman!" Dai Longmei and the others finally noticed him. They rushed over, only to find he still had one breath left. Though his heart had been shredded by the evil god's power, he miraculously clung to life. Jade-colored energy rose from his body, originating from the remnants of the stone.

The Chairman waved his hand at the surrounding tomb raiders. Though the leaders were reluctant, they bowed in silent understanding and departed.

"Chairman! Chairman!" Lily cried out. She had never liked this stern, sometimes stingy man, but she didn't hate the person who had helped her so many times during her flight and her tomb-raiding journey.

"I am not... the real Chairman..."

This sentence left Lily stunned. Dai Longmei and Long Zhu, who had just met him, were equally shocked.

"I am a body double... I was here to take the fall for the Chairman this time..." The Shadow-Gold agent looked at the three, forcing a weak smile. "The refined jade stone inside the Chairman was a trap the evil god used to tempt him. Tomb raiders dig too deep... we’ve unearthed many things belonging to the immortals." He looked at the tank behind him. "There are things underground far more powerful than this immortal war-chariot... *cough*..."

"The evil god wants the Star Gods and the Stardust to occupy this world... those weapons are difficult to deal with, even for his power. He embedded that stone to control the Chairman, hoping to control those weapons..."

The three listened, their minds struggling to process so much information.

"But the Chairman knew the evil god wanted to destroy Tianyu, to destroy everything we Jade People have." The Shadow-Gold agent’s face softened into a smile. "But the Jade God, our deity... he helped us. The price was that after the stone was removed, the Chairman’s body would become incredibly weak. He had to hide in the shadows to continue leading the Tomb Raiders Guild. According to the Jade God... *cough*... he was to help you, who were destined to arrive..."

"So I... a body double who has served the Chairman for half a lifetime... have finally... *cough*... finally been of some use."

Blood welled up in his throat; his last breath was fading. "There is a token in my robes... Commander Dai... you have the bearing of a great general... I knew it the moment I saw you."

"Brave and decisive, excellent!"

Dai Longmei retrieved the jade token from the agent's robes.

"Although the internal traitor is gone, the news must have reached the White Lion Cavalry commanders by now. And that Liu Neng... as the Chairman said... is also colluding with them."

"The only plan now... is to command the guild’s direct elite units... and head west. Help Miss Lily recover her body... and prevent the Stardust from reopening the Ethereal Gate... *cough*."

The agent could speak no more. His strength was exhausted.

"Go... the Chairman and the others... are waiting at the Western Absolute Land, in the Alchemist Realm..."

The agent breathed his last.

"Rest in peace, brother of the Jade People..." Dai Longmei looked at the man who had been loyal until his final moment. He knelt on one knee, reaching out a hand in a ritual of calling back the soul. "Soul, return... return to the Jade God..."

...

Three figures emerged from the dilapidated gates of the parking lot: a man, a wolf, and a fox. Outside, the tomb raiders, having packed their gear, stood in formation, ready to depart.

"To the West!" Dai Longmei raised the token and shouted. Beside him, Lily and Long Zhu stood tall, their ethereal energy surging.

"To the Alchemist Realm!"

"Obey!"

"Obey!"

"Obey!"

The journey of the saviors toward the Western Absolute Land had begun.