Chapter 28: Underground quarters(2)
But what could that forgotten lord have in common with Moss? It could not be... Moss focused on his inner self and found out that both his bright and dark powers reacted to this corpse. With this, he could tell for certain. That man had also been a dual state moon cultivator. But was it even normal for him to know that instinctively? Were all people who shared the same cultivation technique aware of each other? That he did not know.
Another thing was for certain. By just looking at him, the old disciple knew that his power was tremendously superior to his.
-'Moss, we should get out right now. I need to get out.'
He smiled at her as warmly as he could.
-'Do. I'll join you in a minute, just wait for me downstairs.'
She hurried out of the chapel and the commoner placed focused on the young lord again. It was greedy, but knowing that he was a master of his technique, the old man could not help but try to search for useful things. However, he found nothing. Every walls were free of ornament and besides his clothes, the corpse had nothing. Not that he would have dared to rob it anyway. He also tried to activate the shadow cloak upon his eyes, to no avail. Finally, he resolved to leave empty-handed. As a measure of respect, he pulled the doors close. That encounter had let him strangely excited.
-'What the hell were you thinking? Could you not feel that something was wrong.'
Lauren asked in a terrified voice.
-'This man... I am pretty sure that he cultivated the same technique as me.'
-'How can you tell?'
-'My powers reacted to his corpse. Besides, I just knew it when I saw him.'
-'Does that mean that the dual state moon cultivation art is a demonic technique? Or its shadow technique?'
-'Maybe. I would sooner say that like every tool, it can be used for evil or good, but what do I know.'
-'Anyway, if you do use the same technique, I can understand why you were not afraid. I just hope that you won't become like him. This evil pressure was too much for me to withstand.'
-'Well, I always try to remain faithful to my values, but I doubt I have the potential to become as skilled as he was anyway.'
The girl had nothing to add so they spent a moment in silence, going back to the main area of the complex.
-'Who do you think put him there? Or made these statues? His followers?' Moss wondered.
-'We could probably learn more about that if we spent time studying this place, but I think we should try to find a way out instead. If we find anything else here, I will probably be bad.'
-'That's right. Our food supplies are not unlimited either. Let's get to work.'
And work they did, as getting out of this underground maze proved to be hard. Without their powers, they could never have hoped to succeed, expected by going back from where they had come, and of that, they were not hasty. The disciple prefered to leave the thing that had bothered them behind, even if it meant more efforts. they did not want to take chances to cross its path again.
While searching, they discovered a few things. First, most animals living near the pit knew that what went in it never came out. Second, the cathedral was not the only large space of the complex. There were at least three others and two of them were plunged into darkness. They were a bit smaller as well. Moss's ability to guide them in the absence of light proved useful once again. Eventually, by mean of exploration and primitive mind-reading, they discovered an influx of cold air. Their fortune was good, as it was indeed coming from the exterior. They only had to stop to sleep once while taking turns. After a long walk upwards in a maze of interconnected corridors, they found a single one that led them to the outside. The novices emerged in front of a small river amidst a pile of rocks. Interestingly, as they looked back to try to find a way to block the passage, they only found big stones placed upon each other without any space to let a man pass. What was even stranger was that they had heard no noise at all after getting out. Those rocks looked like they had always been positioned like that.
-'Must be a defensive mechanism that still works to this day.' Lauren said, trying to push the stones aside in vain. 'It's not an illusion.'
-'I take it you want to go back inside.' He smiled.
-'Don't fool with me! I am only interested in the mechanism.'
-'Let's just hope that we are done with that trickster from before.'
The commoner looked at the river.
-'Now we have to find out where we are. Might be we went the wrong way, forward or on the side. With all of these bends and turns, I could not keep any sense of where the stairs are relatively to us. Did you?'
-'No.'
-'No worry. Let's find a high vantage point.'
The river aside, they were back in a forest. However, once both of them climbed to the top of some tall trees, they found out in joy that they had approximatively followed their initial course. What was even better was that the stream was perfectly directed. They just had to follow it. In the beginning, they walked on its shore, but after some time the lack of spiritual plants related to their cultivation techniques encouraged them to wander into the woods and only use the river as a landmark. Once they did, Moss was able to find two spiritual herbs, one for him and one for the sister. Eventually, the stream got muddier and divided itself into forks. The swamps were getting close.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone