55 Nezha's escape (7)

The tunnel was not long, only a kilometer from the big room in the cave to the hill near the mountain. Since most former generations of Akkee sect people who decided not to stay on the mountain would go to a town nearby.

There was a cave inside and many ferocious animals lurking around, it was a rule for Akkee sect discipline to not wander into the hill, those wanted to practice would go another way.

With the strong sect located nearby, the authority did not claim the land as its own, so the hill was not occupied by any household and covered by forest.

No one knew that the hill was hiding the exit of the secret passage from the top of the mountain. From the first time it was constructed, this secret gate never used for its purpose and only once in a while the patriarch of Akkee sect would occasionally check its condition.

Nezha led his people through the tunnel, it was good that only the youngest of them were the victims. There was nothing Nezha could do for a baby who already died, but for the rest, each of them had to get into pair clinging on the hope that Nezha words were right.

Nezha himself was not sure whether his choice was right or wrong, he could recollect some fragments of his high school chemical knowledge that some poison gas which could easily fund in a cave, sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide were heavier than air while methane was lighter than air.

He was not affected like the people that were lying sleep on the ground, and he did smell something similar to rotten egg so he believed that it was hydrogen sulfide. Well, if it was methane, he would already unconscious due to the lack of oxygen or it would already explode by now.

Hydrogen sulfide was a highly toxic gas which could quickly cause death perhaps less than five minutes. Not only that it was also highly flammable and certain concentrations in the air led to exploding upon ignition as its flash point was very low.

Since the cave was lower than the surface outside and the path would lead them to the exit on the hill, the map clearly showed that the tunnel path would steadily turn upward.

As Nezha thought that staying here was absolutely not a better choice, he betted that this was hydrogen sulfide and went to the exit. If it was methane gas, then hoped that it would flow to the top, not the tunnel.

He needed to hurry as he did not know when the air could explode just by having a torch.

Nezha counted himself lucky that he did bring the silk thread with him. It pained him but he would not let these poor boys and girls walked carelessly in the pitch black tunnel ahead.

It was also going in his favor that the crisis at hand did not drive these people to panic, instead the remaining were calm and compromised enough to listen to him.

Nezha carried his mother on his back, gave the thread to the others and warned them not to lose it. All people began to walk, Nezha was on the front to lead, his female cousin who was helping another girl walking behind him, while his father volunteer to be the rearguard.

Nezha did not want to see the man face and did not observe the man closely, but anyone who looked closely at the man would see that this man was not that tried as he said at all. His words were right they surely needed the gold in the outside world added that he was the oldest and highest rank here, no one complained.

The man alone could carry two poor girls with both hands and put one on his back but all he carried was the bag of gold, Nezha was too disgusted that he did not want to argue and just let the man did as he wanted.

As he walked through the path, finally in front of him was a large door with the key, the map did not have anything about this key.

Nezha confused for a bit but he soon understood after looked at the key closely.

He put his ring out of his finger and pressed it in the key, opened the lock at the gate. What's in front of him was the way to the outside world.

"Nezha, this is the path to the outside right?" She was staying at the mountain almost all the time training and studying inside the sect very rarely set foot to the outside. Although she was still exhausted from all the works she did today and scared with everything that happened with her life so far she still excited like any normal girls.

For protect against explosion, Nezha now ordered everyone to extinguish the torch. Because the tunnel was manmade and the path was clear with only the crossroad for confusing the enemy, only Nezha who led at the front would hold the torch.

As they walked further from the gas leaked point left the closed gate behind, the air became better and their chest felt lighter. Losing some boys had made them lost heart but this made the people regained their trust towards Nezha's leadership.

After most of the group had reached the end of the tunnel, there was another gate as the map had shown with another key as the previous one.

Nezha put his ring in the key and opened it when he took it out he was hesitant a little but still decided to take it back, in the end he could not leave these people with that man as the leader.

After he opened the gate, there would be a big rock closing the way. This rock was huge and so heavy that it could not be able to move from the other side, but easy to move from the side Nezha's group was.

He hoped that the room ahead would not has anything danger lied await, he wanted to sleep before went out to the outside world.

After a hard night, Nezha finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel from the other side.

But after a few seconds of happiness, he suddenly felt it was wrong.

"Where did the light came from?"