The Time Challenge

-Shen Wei-

They keep running for the first ten minutes, turning only in the direction which take them closer to the pagoda of the ruined city, but just as expected, they were intercepted by more than crows soon enough. Shen Wei halted in his dash, to severely blasting a stone golem that came out of nowhere, blocking his advance with a wave of his dark energy, that make the big mount of stones piled together by dark magic, explode in hundreds of pieces that bounced over the barrier he still have over the group.

However, the dust caused by the explosion hid the thick vines that followed them closely, in their mad run and one of them, manage to cross the barrier and entangled itself over Zhu's leg, pulling her backward with force, making her fall and scream, as she disappear under the murky water of a nerby pool at one side of where they stood.

"Zhu Hong!" Yunlan yelled, but he didn't have time to go dive after her, nor anyone else because dozens of vines came at them from all angles.

"Oh, no you won't!" Shen yelled as he extended his scythe and cut them all in a swift turn, but dozen more took their place at the same time.

"Chu! Get Hong!" Shen yelled as he keep slashing the vines and so did the others. Chu moved to send his treads under the water of the dark pool that have formed in one of those big holes, but as his treads were over the water, suddenly something big emerged to the surface.

To their astonishment, a huge scaled brownish leaf viper quite menacing, detangle itself from the multicolored vines, ripping them off, with its fangs and releasing a cloud of greenish poisoning mist from its mouth, making the all vines in the vicinity dry up almost instantly and fall still to the ground. No one moved for a few seconds, watching the dangerous viper of at least twelve meters large, transform back into a woman, with horizontal elongated light green eyes.

"What are you all so surprise? I am a familiar of the Order and Nuwa's descendant, you can't possible believe I will go down that easily..." Zhu said to the bunch of men, with shocked expression. Then, Zhao came at her and hug her, laughing over her shoulders.

"You are indeed one of my Guardians and you were awesome just now..." Zhao said, letting go of her.

"I always knew you were scary, but damn, you are quite the snake..." Lin said sighing. He was relieved to see her back and unharmed and so was Da Qing.

"Of course I am, now let's keep up. Guo is waiting for us." Zhu said, and Shen Wei smiled.

"Let's go up now... Lady Yue, can you please carry the humans? I hope you don't mind." Shen asked with respect.

"My little one, I'm here to help you. Whatever you need of me, it will be done." She said, transforming herself into a fox big enough to carried two humans on her back and then, they jumped to the still standing roofs. That way, their journey to the pagoda was faster, but a new treat emerged.

"You have to be kidding me, are those gargoyles?" Lin asked, as hundreds of flying 'gargoyles' came down from the top of the cave.

"Not gargoyles, but small wyverns." Renshu, the dragon correct him, giving the coming wyverns a nasty look, full of distaste.

"Aren't wyverns dragons too?" Lin asked again, a bit confused, as they keep jumping roofs, not stopping to wait for the new coming challenge.

"Not all types of dragons signed the treaty. Wyverns in particular had always keep away from the main dragons, wanting supremacy of their own. The King of dragons forbid them from coming closer to our mountains centuries ago. With all honesty, it doesn't surprise me they fall this low, helping crows to try make this world come to an end." Renshu explained.

"Never mind that, if they are in our way, they will taste our rage." Yunlan said, concentrating for a second before not one, but dozens of long white fire dragons manifest to intercept them. The whole cave illuminated, as the dragons battle each other with their different fires.

"Yunlan..." Shen Wei whisper to Zhao a bit worry. His dragons were not small and so many of them required inhuman energy.

"I'm fine, babe, this is nothing and we are just beginning." Zhao reply, giving his lover a wicked smile.

"Just don't overdo it, okay?" Shen added as he keep jumping one roof after the other.

"Sure thing." Zhao said. The first hour and a half had come and gone in a blink of an eye, as they fought with endless vines, wyverns, crows but as they came closer to the pagoda, things became even more chaotic.

There was a white light coming from within the pagoda and Shen worry about what could be happening to Guo, because he had no idea if this god called Zillah, was truly on their side or not. Nonetheless, he didn't have the luxury of worry for long because, halfway toward their destination they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of corps like things, which were not exactly alive, yet not really dead.

"Oh man, not zombies... they are really creepy..." Zhu shudder.

"Well, there is no turning back now, prepare yourself." Da Qing said, as the corpses crawled their way to them. Shen Wei blasted away the first wave coming from the north and Chu join him soon after, Zhao then took the east with Da Qing and his sister, the dragon and the lion took the west and Zhu, Lin and Yue took those from the south. They fought against them as they try to keep advancing, but the corpses were definitely slowing them down, just by their overwhelming numbers.

"Shen Wei, this will take us too long if we don't take them all in one go!" Zhao yelled, slashing a few corpses in the process.

"I will give it a try..." Shen said, summoning his shield back, to become the Ghost Slayer, covered with his thick dark smoked cloak. Instantly, all corpses that were within a twenty meters radius, freeze over, becoming nothing more than ice statues. Seen that it had worked, Shen Wei extended both his arms wide and the radius of frost expanded more and more, until none of them could no longer see the border of his freezing colossal circle.

"I'm so glad you are on our side, babe. You are really something else. A shame I can't kiss you when becoming the Ghost Slayer." Zhao laughed.

"Zhao Yunlan!" Shen protested as he blushed under his cloak.

"You shameless god, be respectful of my little ghost or I will do more than cutting your hair..." Lady Yue warned him, coming closer to Shen Wei, which make Zhao shudder and not for the sudden cold.

"Hum... let's keep up... we have less than fifteen minutes now." The lion suggested before the fox and the pervert could begin a fight on their own.

"It's my turn to push Zillah a little..." Zhao said before he make a symbol with a golden light over the air. Once again, his body shined and his hair grew longer again. He recited something in ancient language and in a blink of an eye a golden mist cover them. A second later, they reappear almost at the pagoda entrance.

"Ahhh, Zhao Yunlan, just stop pushing yourself too far. You are just shortening your life every time you do this." Shen warned Zhao, going back to his usual form.

"Don't worry Xiao Wei, I'm not leaving you behind this time." Zhao said, slightly touching his face, pretty much the same way Kunlun did in rare occasions. Then Chu coughed. He was getting impatient in getting his Guo back to let the lovers declare their love for each other again.

"I'm going in..." Chu said moving toward the entrance of the pagoda, not looking back if he was being followed or not. He walked the remaining distance which was amazingly cover with the Ghost Slayed frost all the way to the very entrance and open the decayed door with one foot, making it fly forward with the great impact. He looked all over the place and saw no more treats, so he moved up the stairs to the next level and then on the next and the next, until reaching the last door, from which a white light escaped from the wholes.

"Guo!" Chu blasted the last door with his treads and looked at the suspended body of the unconscious young monk. There was a white flame floating over him. He moved a few steps closer but was halted by a strong barrier that didn't butch even when he tried to slash it with the sharp treads.

"Damn it! Another barrier... just what the hell did you did with him?!" Chu asked angrily, punching the invisible wall in front of him.

"Nothing much, his virtue is so huge that what I took from him to create a wick for your lantern had not make any difference in him. Really, this is such a rare young guy. Even I am impressed and that's a lot to say. I have been around for a very long time." A voice said, coming from below Guo and Chu was able to see a man dressed in black and gold, with long blond hair and a thin gold tiara over his head.

"Lord Zillah..." Zhao said, behind Chu and he moved to pass the impatient guy, slightly tapping on of his shoulders as he did so. "Leave this to me old Chu. I will bring back to you, the one you care for the most." Zhao added, crossing the barrier he couldn't. Shen Wei also tap him in the shoulder and crossed after Yunlan, but aside from the two half gods, no one else could pass the set barrier.

"Kunlun, it's being a long time. You look better now that you did before and you have found yourself a strong lover." Zillah said, looking at Shen Wei, who slightly bowed to the god.

"Yeah, he is quite the wife, but we didn't came here to ask for your blessing. I came for the monk, as you already know, he is a member of the Order, which make him my subordinate, my responsibility. Don't interfere more than you already had." Zhao said a bit angry.

"I apologize for the troubles caused, but we set rules for good reasons. You should know about them as well, because you guard one of the tools too." Zillah said.

"Apparently I wasn't in the mood to test myself, so my temple was quite peaceful and boring in comparison to the last two. Now, please be the gentlemen I know you are and give him back." Zhao said.

"Sure thing, a promise should always be keep. You can take the monk and the wick back with you. He had not been harmed, just a few hours of rest and he will be as good as new. Be warned, Kunlun, hell will not be easy for such a small group, even if the Ghost Slayer and yourself are closer to gods."

"I'm aware of that, but what needs to be done for the sake of this realm, will be done no matter how hard or scarified. I was told a few gods will come as well, are you among them?" Zhao asked, seriously.

"Of course. I will bring you all to hell and back again. You have my word." He said bowing his head in signal of respect to his bow.

"That's good to hear. We are going to end this madness one way or another." Zhao said, as he looked Guo's body coming down, right into Chu's strong arms.

"Indeed. This is the wick for the lantern. Do you have it?" Zillah asked and Shen Wei took out the obsidian obelisk that held the Guardian lantern. The god, took it and infused in the obelisk the white fire taken from Guo's virtue and gave it back to Shen Wei.

"Just one more Wei..." Zhao said looking at him.

"Yes, one more and this will be over." Shen responded back coming closer.

"Oh, please, don't begin kissing in front of me. Go away, I need to clean this place from some wicked crows and wyverns." Zillah said, sending them back to the Ghost Slayer temple once again, back to their room. They looked at each other for a second before Zhao begin laughing.

"They all seems to think that we will give them quite the show..."

"Well, you wouldn't mind..."

"I wouldn't make you that embarrass in front of another god. Now, however we are alone once again."

"Then what are you waiting for, Ah Lan..."

"Ahhhh, that's it, come here, my lovely Wei... the tiger wins tonight."

"We'll see about that..." Shen smiled as Zhao push him over the bed and kiss him passionately. He didn't knew for how long they could be together, but even if it was for another second, he will enjoy it to the fullest.

AN: Thanks for reading, we are reaching the end soon.