Spiraling Staircase

The hallway was dark, and there were only couple torches hung on the walls that dimly lit the surroundings.

William was seated on Noy's shoulders. Noy was a Body Forger of the first rank, his huge frame allowed William's small toddler body to sit on his shoulders without hindering his speed or movements.

Noy proceeded forward ever so cautiously, none of the steps he took made any sound.

His dominant right hand was arched in a certain combatative degree that allowed Noy to react almost instantaneously upon encountering danger.

As for his left hand, it was holding a lit torch. Allowing him to navigate through the darkness of the pitch black hallway.

Both William and Noy's lips were sealed tightly, in fact they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

There was the occasional rumblings of explosions ringing outside, shaking the entire place and causing rubble and stone to fall from the ceiling. At this point both Noy and William deduced that they were somewhere underground, which proved detrimental to their escape plan.

Everything happening right now is akin to something out of a horror movie, the dark hallway, the occasional rumbling, falling rocks, the tricky situation, the ominous atmosphere... Even Noy was having issues at staying calm.

They have to worry about that white-haired Rank one Ki Refiner, and more importantly, that Rank three monster who kidnapped them.

Noy's divine power reserves are depleted due to the godchains, he had to spend an entire hour absorbing the natural energy of Heaven and Earth before he can regain some of his former powers.

With Noy's current state, the moment they stumble upon that Rank one Ki Refiner, it would spell doom for him and William.

As for that Rank three monster? Even when Noy and the others, at their most optimal states, fought against him, they didn't stand a chance, let alone now...

Rumble.

The entire hallway shook violently, to the level where even Noy, a Body Forger with a divine body, lost his footing and almost fell to the ground.

"I can feel that a heaven-shaking fight is going on outside, the undulations coming off tells me it's a battle between Rank three existences... Perhaps master came to rescue us?", Noy whispered, his voice carrying with it a tinge of hope.

"Father?", William murmured, a strange expression on his face.

The light coming off from the torches casted their hope-filled shadows on the ground, if the cultivator that's causing a disturbance outside is really William's father, Dustin, then their rescue is almost guaranteed.

After walking for god knows how long, both William and Noy finally reached an intersection.

The previously-long hallway now branches into three directions, they all looked the same and apparently, there was no lighting in sight which made it extremely difficult for William and Noy to discern the right direction to pick.

William got off from Noy's shoulders, but didn't dare to wander away, he stayed near him in fear of something unexpected may happen.

As for Noy, he crouched down and studied the stone floor. Looking for white-haired man's footsteps.

The floor was made of stone which made it nigh-impossible to search for 'clean' footsteps without special tools and methods, however Noy was a Body Forger!

Immortals and cultivators possess inhumane physical and mental faculties, with Noy's heightened senses, finding someone's footsteps in such a floor is as easy as flipping his head.

After looking around for a bit, Noy shook his head in disappointment.

Nothing!

Strangely enough, the footsteps ended here. They could not discern which way the white-haired cultivator went.

William was surprised, but he stayed silent. He did not bother to ask for an explanation because not only he would not understand, but he will be possibly alerting whoever at the end of the 'tunnels'.

Relying on his instincts, Noy picked the middle direction and moved forward, with William quickly following behind.

This time, the hallway was even darker, with no torches on sight.

Noy was worried that he picked the wrong direction, so he stopped in his tracks. As for William, he stood to the side, silent.

"Weird... My instincts are telling me to go this way...", Noy murmured softly, and William's ears couldn't help but perk up. But after hearing what Noy said, he felt worried and a bit disappointed.

'Relying on instincts? Seriously? We're in a life-or-death situation, and yet you're relying on instincts to guide us away from this place???', William couldn't help but be mad. He was given a second chance at life, and wants to cherish it dearly this time, yet to him, it looks as if Noy is just half-heartedly guiding him out of this place by relying on 'instincts' and 'feelings'.

William's expression turned dark real quick, relying on 'instincts' and 'feelings' are unreliable.

What he ought to do is carefully analyze the surroundings, and judge which is the correct way to go.

Although all three of the directions looked dark, the ones that leads to the outside ought to have some form of lighting in it. A completely dark hallway, just like this one, definitely leads to even deeper levels of this underground structure.

In fact, ever since they picked this direction, the rumblings and explosions from the outside kept getting fainter and fainter, to the level where the walls stopped shaking.

Just from that solely, William judged that they are getting away from the surface. Yet he believed in Noy.

Noy was an illustrious immortal, a reverred cultivator, a Body Forger of the first rank, someone with vast experience and knowledge. He figured it's the best decision to follow Noy's lead, relying on such a figure is definitely the right choice, right?

William subconsciously looked back from where they came from, he quickly shook off his head, getting rid of these distracting facts. Even if he gave out voices to his complains, Noy will just brush them off to the side.

After all, William was nothing but a one-year old child, why would you take a toddler's opinion and suggestions seriously even if that toddler is a monstrous genius?

Plus, this is neither the right time nor the right place to be talking and making noise, let alone arguing about which direction is the right one to pick.

William let out a silent, tired sigh. Although he wants to cherish this life of his, if he dies he dies. He won't be regretful or rueful, he spent an entire year in an unknown, fantasy-like world.

To William, that's more than enough. If he perishes here, then he can only blame himself for not being strong enough to change fate.

With that, William silently followed behind Noy.

The darkness of this place made it extremely hard to see, if it were not for the torch Noy was holding, neither William nor Noy would be able to tell what's left and what's right.

Pitter patter. Pitter patter.

Noy's footsteps were silent while on the other hand, William's baby footsteps echoed creepily throughout the damp hallway.

Soon after, a dimly lit staircase appeared in both William and Noy's view.

It was a spiraling staircase that led... down.

To even deeper levels of this underground structure.

Seeing this, William did not know whether to laugh or cry. He couldn't help but look at Noy with a strange expression, the ounce of respect he had for this revered cultivator is now gone.

'Aiya! It's too late to go back now.', William smiled bitterly to himself. Since he and Noy already embarked on this path, they can't go back and pick another direction. Because it's too late, that white-haired man was in the middle of doing something very dangerous to William.

Once he takes care of the affairs outside, he will definitely return back IMMEDIATELY.

If Noy and William decide to go back, then they're basically handing themselves to the kidnappers.

Seeing William's bitter expression, Noy said enthusiastically, in a way to encourage his young master and lift his spirits up: "Leave it to me, young master. After all, I'm a Body Forger of the first rank!"

He puffed his chest comically, a brilliant heroic-like light flashed past his eyes. But William was having none of it. He sighed depressively: "Let's just... go."

Both William and Noy walked down the spiraling staircases, delving into the lower levels of this underground structure.

Meanwhile...

"Dustin! Come back, don't be foolish!", Deirain's voice boomed as he tried to catch up frantically to Dustin, "It's clearly a trap! Don't rush into action and think rationally for a second!"

Unfortunately, no matter how much he shouted. Dustin just gave him the cold shoulder, still flying towards a certain direction at unbelievable speeds.

As for the imperial guard who wore the emblem of the Draetrohan Empire, his cultivation base was the lowest, and found it extremely hard to catch up to Deirain, let alone Dustin. Sooner or later, both Deirain and Dustin disappeared in the horizons in his view, leaving him all alone.

He sighed hopelessly and made his way back to the Ciwood city with the intents of staying on-guard and making sure law and order is kept in check.

After flying for almost forty minutes at unbelievable speeds, Dustin arrived at an abandoned ruins in some forest. Shortly after Deirain caught up, he was drenched in sweat from head to toe. If it were not for his special cultivation method, it would be literally impossible for him to catch up considering Dustin's cultivation base.

After arriving, both Dustin and Deirain stayed silent. Instead, they looked towards the inconspicuous-looking ruins of a temple in the heart of this forest.

"One of the Buddhist Sangha's former abodes?", Deirain couldn't help but ask the question that was in his mind.

Dustin's eyes narrowed as he studied the run-down temple carefully with his eyes. He nodded in affirmation, helping Deirain solve the doubts in his mind.

"This is nothing but one of those rats's temples before they were chased all the way to the Demon Continent.", Dustin added.

The Buddhist Sangha was once a dominant force of the Southern Domain, it was hailed as one of the top ten powerhouses of the entire world due it's absurd number of believers, cultivators and immortals.

Unfortunately, due to some disputes with the Daoist-path. It had a fall-out with almost every single sect, kingdom, clan and power in the world.

They were pushed to the brink of the collapse, and were chased to the deserted, harsh Demon Continent. Forever to be banished from stepping foot into the other four continents ever again.

However, that was a very long time ago. The Buddhist Sangha of the modern-era is nothing but a shell of it's former glory, a remnant vestige that was once feared and revered by many.

Both of the esteemed cultivators flew down to the ground, landing on their feet lightly and walking closer to the temple.

William's eyes opened abruptly as they shone with a terrifying light.

WHOOOSH.

Instantly, a tyrannical wave of divine will scanned the entire temple, not leaving a single particle untouched. The divine will came in waves, with each wave stronger than the previous one.

It seeped through everything including walls, cracks, holes etc...

With such a thorough investigation of the temple, not even an ant would go unnoticed.

After couple seconds, William frowned.

"Nothing."

The word that came out of his mouth was jarring to the ear, when Deirain heard it, all the hairs on his back stood on it's end. He can feel the terrifying killing intent within, he knows Dustin very well.

When both of them were adventuring together, Dustin's name was once a synonym to the devil.

He was such a terrifying swordsmaster who slaughtered his opponents in such a vile, brutal way that invoked fear and terror into even the most demonic figures of the continent.

if his one and only son went missing, this demonic swordsmaster may very well go on a rampage in the Southern Domain. Considering his cultivation base, even the Draetrohan Empire will find it extremely hard to stop it.

"Wait.", Deirain's voice could be heard from behind, "Look carefully for any hidden or bewitching formations, perhaps this place is protected by such a formation."

"Are you saying my rank four divine will is not enough?", Dustin replied in a seemingly casual, extremely calm manner. But that only served to terrify and alarm Deirain.

When Dustin grows incredibly calm, then his killing intent must've reached an all-time peak.

Now, Dustin is akin to a volcano that is ready to erupt with the slightest provocation.

Still, Deirain was Dustin's best friend. He took a step forward with determination: "Yes, some bewitching formations can even trick rank five experts, let alone you.", Deirain headed towards the run-down temple, Dustin was looking at him very carefully with his viper-like eyes, his hand never left the hilt of his sword.

"I'm a master of formations, perhaps with my assistance... You could rescue your son."