When a Temple lost both its 'spire' and Lord, it usually did something known as a self-collapse. Without something powerful in the midst of it, which kept the encased world revolving around it, there was nothing to 'hold' the revolution.
Thus, the world began disintegrating in the form of fragments of mana. Eventually, it'd collapse in the middle and sink back into the earth, giving away what it held.
Zane thought back to what Hua Huiliang had said. The temples were nothing but a spacetime warp, as in something like a wormhole, if you had to get scientific. The system, to prevent the wormhole from eating away the world, would give it its own 'pocket dimension' to continue supplying.
He reached towards one of the fragments that were floating in the air like gold foils. It dissipated into his skin. "Don't touch those things," Lu Huan said from behind him.
"Why?"
"While they might be packets of 'mana', you should know that excess nor depletion is good," Esmeray mumbled.
"What would happen if you were to take in more mana?" Zane asked curiously as they descended the stairs.
Lu Huan thought for a while. "It won't exactly be dire, but there's this one illness that can happen."
"Dungeon Lung is often triggered by exposure to overwhelming mana over time." Esmeray glanced at him.
"So Shu Meiying's son…"
"Yes," Lu Huan muttered. "It was a depressing ordeal for a child that young to perish. We had warned Meiying to unlock the kid's core or send him away to Vaelrun where not everything was mana concentrated."
[Time for the Temple to disintegrate: 5 minutes]
As they exited the temple, Zane's eyes immediately searched for Rhian. However, he could only see an injured medic team herding Lu Huan and Lady Val over.
'Had he still not come out?' Zane thought. He checked once more before confirming it. Rhian was still inside.
[
Zane clicked his tongue in annoyance before he turned on his heel and rushed back into the Temple. He ran up the stairs and used golden thread to pull him over broken floors.
When he reached the fourteenth floor, he was surprised to see Rhian, who was leaning against… the same woman who had shot the arrow at the revenant when they were amidst the war zone. On her back, Zane realized belatedly, was a child.
[Time until the Temple Disintegrates: 2 minutes]
Zane just rushed over and turned around. "Get on my back," he told Rhian.
"What, why?"
"You want to disappear when the Temple becomes a singularity?"
[
"... Touché," Rhian muttered, and Zane slightly buckled at the weight of the older man once he settled on his back.
Zane turned to the woman and opened his mouth.
[
[You've been sponsored 1000 species by various
"Asha," she offered.
'Right,' Zane thought. "I need you to follow me, okay? This might sound a little… unethical."
She raised a brow.
"Rhian," Zane shrugged Rhian awake, who seemed to already be dozing off. "Trigger Hurtle Chase, will you?"
Rhian grunted. He placed his hand on Asha's shoulder, and it was enough that he was touching Zane.
[
[Hurtle Chase lvl 9 > Hurtle Chase lvl 11]
[
Wind whipped around them and Zane began running at par with Asha. Within a few seconds, they were at the entrance again.
[Time until the Temple Disintegrates: 20 seconds]
Zane walked down the stairs and was immediately herded by Hua Yi. "Is he okay?!" she asked, getting on her heels to look at Rhian, who had now, most definitely dozed off on Zane's shoulder.
"I think he will be," Zane said lightly.
Hua Yi pursed her lips but said nothing. "Come with me, let the medics examine him once."
"No," Rhian grumbled.
"Just do it! It's not like they're going to diagnose you with anything!" Hua Yi hit Rhian's back.
"Don't want to."
[
Hua Yi looked at Zane expectantly and Zane raised his hands. "What do you want me to do?"
"Talk to him about getting himself checked out?"
"Rhian," Zane tried.
"Tell her to go away," Rhian mumbled.
Before Hua Yi could open her mouth, a panel opened in front of them.
[Main Trial: Battle of the Corrupted has come to an end!]
[Rewards will be given shortly]
"Hua Yi!" Someone called out to her and Zane took a step back when she glared at the both of them before walking away.
When he glanced at where she was headed, Zane noted that Asha had placed the child in the hands of the head healer.
"Zane?" Rhian asked quietly.
"Yeah?" Zane shifted Rhian's weight in his hand.
"Can you take me back to the Recesses?"
To be fair, Zane hadn't meant to doze off as well. He had no idea which room or where Rhian had told him to go, but all he knew was that the room seemed old.
It was well lived in, don't get him wrong, but it seemed old. It seemed to be some room in the siheyuan Hua Huiliang had met him in.
Rhian had gotten off his back and then had announced he was going to go do 'something' after downing many healing elixirs. Which was how Zane was ditched in that musty place.
Zane had honestly just walked around for a couple of moments before he'd decided to wash up and sit down to look at what the next trial presented. But, for some reason, he'd dozed off as well when nothing was showing up.
[
When he woke up, it was to the sound of someone harshly opening the sliding doors. He blinked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
When the door to Rhian's room (he was presuming) opened, Li Feng stood there, still bloody from the war.
Zane jolted to stand, swaying lightly as his vision grew spots, because the aura that Li Feng was giving out was nothing less than murderous. Then his eyes fell on Rhian, who was lightly snoring on the bed in clean robes.
The commotion seemed to have woken him, as he rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "What's that sound?"
Li Feng crossed the room and Zane immediately stepped aside. The man grabbed the robes at Rhian's chest and dragged him to sit upright. "What have you done?"
"What?" Rhian asked, tilting his head to the side.
"You insolent brat," Li Feng spoke harshly, shaking Rhian where he'd grabbed his shirt.
Zane wondered if he should let things simply play out, but when he glanced at the open door, he noticed Hua Anhe watching with a tight expression. 'Should I interfere?'
[
"Ohh, that," Rhian drawled. "I did what I had to. Do enlighten me with what else I could've done."
A vein showed up in Li Feng's forehead.
"Okay, okay," Zane moved, patting both of them on their shoulders. "Let's stop talking in euphemisms. What did he do?"
Li Feng turned his icy look at Zane. 'Eek!'
[Some
Zane immediately removed his hand. "Right."
"Did you want me to let her die?" Rhian asked.
"Yet you do realize that you might as well have cursed the child, do you not?!"
Zane quietly retreated until he was out of the room, that was when he realized the many people who were gathered there. Out of which, he recognized Lu Huan, who was talking to a medic.
"Sect Leader Lu," Zane started.
The medic whirled around and got in Zane's face. "You can't just address his greatness with such ease!"
"It's okay, A-Chen," Lu Huan said, patting the girl's shoulder. "I needed him to see something either way."
Zane blinked. 'Me?'
The woman huffed and walked away leaving Zane staring at the older man. If he was sure Lu Huan was not betrothed to anyone, it meant he was often the subject of attention.
"Follow me." Lu Huan led them into the main courtyard and stepped underneath the evening sun. "The amulet is lost."
"What do you mean, lost?" Zane asked.
The Sect Leader sighed to himself. "Xiaoshi decided to implant the quarter within the child he saved."
"Wouldn't that—"
"The fifth piece was with Huang Delan," Lu Huan interjected. "Xiaoshi decided to perform the clan's stigma and save the traitor's soul. During that moment, Huang Delan seemed to have given him the remaining piece."
If this was how things had turned out in the fifth trial and had changed this much with Rhian's intervention, then Zane could only imagine what must've led Rhian down that road in his previous life.
If no one had broken him out of the Celestium around this time, Zane had no idea who would have survived and died. And the fact that the fifth amulet piece was revealed, implied…
A sharp pang in his head made him twitch.
[Memories are being reminisced]
It implied that during the later trials, one of the thirtieth ones, a certain trial would be excluded for Xiaoluo. That trial had depended a lot on 'buried' secrets, and had Huang Delan died with the amulet within him, it was quite probable that his body would have been forced to return as the 'enemy'.
"Is the child okay, then?"
"She's," Lu Huan began. "She hasn't awoken yet, but her vitals seem steady. Additionally, she doesn't show signs of turning into a revenant."
Zane paused. "Wait. Shu Meiying did say something about him trying to 'break' Huang Delan."
Lu Huan paused, then his eyes widened. "That man…"
"Probably prevented this situation from becoming even worse."
Lu Huan paused, likely in deep thought by the way his fingers were plucking his bottom lip. "It seems like you've struck me with another proposition, Zane. I shall see you soon, I have to discuss something with Huiliang and Huoqian."
Zane watched as he left whilst in the same posture, most likely reconsidering something vital. When he turned around, he noticed someone loitering outside.
Zane narrowed his eyes and began walking towards them. "Asha," he called to her.
Asha glanced at him. "What's the commotion about?"
"How you and Rhian most likely defeated the 'spire'," Zane replied. "Putting that into the girl's core wasn't the smartest idea."
"It seemed as though at that time," Asha shrugged. "Plus, that guy's evil doppelganger had just about used a lot of its own energy."
'Doppelganger?!' Zane wondered why Rhian hadn't mentioned anything. 'Doppelgangers sometimes formed in high concentrations of pure or diabolic energy, and they usually mimicked the person strongest in front of them.'
"Anyway," Asha huffed. She turned to face Zane and held her hand out. "I'm Asha Vardhan."
Zane took it, shaking politely. "Zane Mor."
She pursed her lips again, eying him as though she was suspicious of something. "Mor… huh?" she muttered, pulling her hand away. "I thought you looked familiar."
Zane had never seen her in his life, but he could assume she looked a little similar too. He took a step back when she got on her toes to look at him closer. Zane raised his hands. "Uhm, don't you think you're too close?"
She snapped her finger. "I remember you," she said. "The Astral Concord!"
Zane thought about it. 'Oh, right, I have been there.' Then he cringed at it, he remembered sneaking out of the Court to get on the ship that got him to Suravana, causing his father to not speak to him for months afterward.
The Astral Concord was one of the biggest music festivals in Draknir; most of the nations took part in it. Prizes were sparingly provided and often given by the royals who sponsored it, given that the winners often got better reputations out of it rather than anything materialistic. But he had been there last when he was nineteen.
"How do you remember me?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I just do. You made me come in third place."
Zane stared at her for a while. Oftentimes, the contestants would wear a masquerade mask in case they didn't want to be recognized. He had worn one himself, and the thing he was absolutely struggling to remember was how she could realize it was him by his face.
"Wow, I smell a superiority complex," she grumbled.
"No, that's not it!" Zane said defensively. 'Seriously, too much happened from 'that' point.'
"I tried to shake your hand after the performance but you just left!"
'Is she holding a grudge because of that?' He rubbed his chin, then peered closer at her face. "Wait," he exhaled. "You registered as 'Ash' didn't you?"
She squeaked. "Well yes."
"I do remember you came to shake my hand, and I did want to congratulate you, it was just that," Zane mumbled, scratching his nape. "I had gone there against my family's wishes and I spotted someone in the crowd who made me bolt."
She raised a brow. "You know what, leave it."
Zane glanced past her and noticed someone approaching. He tensed up and immediately rushed back into the siheyuan, hiding behind the tree that Li Feng had almost chopped down. Asha followed him in. "Saw someone again?"
Zane just pointed his finger outside.
Rynn and Adrian, the two of them, were asking around again. And Zane could vaguely make out that they were, in fact, searching for people, well, Zane and Rhian to be specific.
[
[
"Did you run away from them as well?" she asked, crouching down.
"What do you think?"
"I think it's surprising you're from Dalaznun, aren't you? How come you ended up here?" she asked.
Zane stared at her, then he sighed. "Why do you think I'd tell you?"
"Woah, no hard feelings."
"... Don't ask," Zane grumbled.
She hummed. "Well, I was supposed to come here and live in the Imperial Palace because they're hosting Astral Concord this year, but considering the trial screwing things over, I suppose it'll be moved."
"The Palace shouldn't be as damaged though," Zane replied.
"They're doing damage control," she answered. "Oh, get down!"
Zane sat down, hidden by the thicket of trees. He turned around to see what Asha was seeing. 'Ah.' Rynn and Adrian had walked through the main gates and seemed to be looking around.
"Good afternoon," a voice said, and Zane looked past them to see Lu Huan walking up to them. "May I help you?"
"We are looking for a few people," Rynn offered. "One of them is named Rhian Amren and the other is known as Zephyr Mor."
"I thought you said your name was Zane," Asha asked.
"I only ever used Zephyr for legal documentation," Zane replied.
[
[Many
Lu Huan looked at them, and in all seriousness, shook his head. "I'd know if there were any more foreigners in the area."
Zane knew the Sect Leader Lu had recognized who they were looking for, by the looks of the Sect Leader's relationships with each other, they knew almost everything about each other. Part of which would probably be familial status.
He would have surely recognized Rhian as Xiaoshi, and given that Zane had handed him his surname, it wouldn't be that huge of a guess.
"Listen here, you old man," Adrian said, stepping forward. "If we don't get these people back to where they belong, we're in trouble."
"You mean where they were being held illegally?" Lu Huan challenged. "Don't think I can't trace the Celestium's remnants on you. Plus, I know all about the lack of investigation that had led to that child's arrest."
Zane had to blink, he'd probably seen the sweet version of the other man in that sense. Because whatever Lu Huan was radiating at the moment had to be hostility. Rynn stepped in between both of them and pushed Adrian backward. "Seriously," she grumbled. "We know they're here, our Master had told us that the Myrmidon had dropped them in Xiaoluo."
"Xiaoluo is vast," Lu Huan offered. "If they aren't here, you should check the south too."
Adrian seemed ready to press back, but Rynn grabbed his bicep and began dragging him away. "Phew," Zane exhaled and fell back.
"You're a convict?" Asha asked.
"Not really," Zane offered. "I haven't done anything 'criminal'."
"So you're guilty of doing something."
"Do you often theorize this much?"
"Well, as much as I can. It's fun."
Zane chose not to speak beyond that.
[Main Trial: Battle the Corrupted has been concluded with all Auxiliary's]
[Do you want your rewards?]