novelraw Chapter 228: Farewell Under the Sands
Chapter 228: Farewell Under the Sands
There was no time to savor the bitterness of defeat. The instinct for survival and the sense of responsibility to protect his comrades quickly took over Lin Jie's mind.
He rushed to Julian's side, took William's heavy body from the exhausted scholar, and hoisted him onto his own shoulder.
"Go!"
Lin Jie growled at the stunned Julian, then took the lead, breaking into a run towards the tunnel they had come from, which was constantly trembling and about to be swallowed by darkness.
Julian glanced at Lin Jie, whose steps were steady despite carrying a severely wounded man, then looked back at the grand temple that had been consumed. A trace of sorrow flashed in his eyes.
In the end, he said nothing, closely following behind Lin Jie to cover the rear of their small group.
The entire world was shaking violently, like a dying giant letting out its final lament.
Huge chunks of obsidian kept crashing down from above, each impact causing the ground to shudder violently.
On the walls lining the tunnel, stone slabs depicting terrifying murals were peeling off and shattering, revealing the more ancient, primitive salt rock structures behind them.
The ground beneath their feet was continuously cracking open, deep, bottomless fissures chasing after them, splitting open right behind their heels.Lin Jie carried William and his weapons, a burden of nearly two hundred pounds placing immense pressure on his spine.
With every breath, a burning pain shot through his lungs, and every muscle fiber in his body trembled.
But he did not stop. There was only one thought in his mind: run.
Run with all his might out of this death temple that was about to become their coffin.
He could hear the tremendous sounds of collapse coming from behind, the noise growing closer and closer, a grim reminder that their time was running out.
Just as they were about to burst out of the Judgment Hall and turn into the final stretch of the tunnel they came through.
Lin Jie's footsteps paused for a moment.
He looked back, his gaze piercing through the billowing dust and falling boulders, taking one last look at the white figure standing at the center of the storm.
Yan Xilou was not hastily fleeing after collecting the spiritual essence as he had imagined.
Yan Xilou stood upon the destroyed pedestal, letting countless chunks of stone whistle past him, yet not a single corner of his clothing was harmed.
His bizarre [Nine-Bend Yellow River] was spinning and whirling around him at an incredible speed, precisely shattering and deflecting every approaching threat, forming a safe, "flowing" domain.
He stood like a conductor in the center of a doomsday stage, calmly and unhurriedly collecting his spoils of war.
And at the moment Lin Jie looked back, Yan Xilou seemed to sense it, turning his gaze over.
Their two gazes collided on the borderline between life and death.
There was no mockery, no pity, and no victor's boasting.
What was revealed in Yan Xilou's eyes was something purer.
It was appreciation for a worthy opponent, a sense of recognition that transcended factions and hatred.
He gave Lin Jie a slight nod.
Then his lips moved slightly, silently mouthing a final phrase with his lips.
That phrase pierced through the roaring and collapsing, searing itself into Lin Jie's mind.
"You are interesting."
"We... will meet again."
After saying this, he showed no further attachment, turning and retreating with several Black Lotus Sect Esoteric Masters towards a hidden, dark passage on the other side of the hall.
This cunning and meticulous schemer had prepared a safe escape route for himself from the very beginning.
The other man was right.
They would meet again.
When that time came, Lin Jie would surely settle today's humiliation and defeat in his own way.
"Lin Jie!"
Julian's hoarse shout pulled him back from the brief standoff to reality.
Lin Jie no longer looked back, pouring all his focus back into this race against death.
They charged into the tunnel they came from. Behind them, the Judgment Hall, after the last jackal-headed stone pillar collapsed, was forever buried in darkness and dust.
Yet the danger had not ended.
The collapse of the main hall triggered a chain reaction.
The entire underground structure of the Osiris Temple began to disintegrate.
The caverns and tunnels they had passed through on their way in had now become deadly traps.
The ground was sinking, the vaulted ceilings were caving in, and countless Living Mummies fell from the walls, plummeting down alongside massive boulders to shatter into desiccated bones.
"This way!"
In the pitch-black darkness and chaos where you couldn't see your own hand, Julian displayed excellent directional sense and memory.
Relying on his memory of the map from their journey in and his unique logical deduction skills, he pointed the team in the correct direction towards the path of survival time and again in this constantly changing underground maze.
Sometimes they squeezed through narrow crevices hugging the walls, other times they slid past the edges of huge collapse pits.
Each time, death brushed extremely close.
Lin Jie was holding on by sheer willpower. The weight on his back made every step agonizing. Sweat had long since soaked his clothes, mixing with the blood seeping from his wounds, bringing waves of pain.
It felt like an eternity. Just as everyone felt their physical strength and spirit reaching their absolute limit, about to be swallowed by this darkness and despair.
A faint, cool breeze blew from the far end of the tunnel ahead.
It was wind from the surface.
"The exit!"
Julian let out a joyful cry.
The wild elation of having survived a catastrophe surged simultaneously in the hearts of all three men. Using the last of their strength, they charged towards the direction from which the wind of hope blew.
Finally, when they tumbled out of the entrance hidden beneath the massive salt block altar, the blinding sunlight made it impossible for them to open their eyes for a moment.
When they finally managed to adjust to the light and looked back.
They saw the vast expanse of the dried-up salt lake behind them undergoing a dramatic topographical change.
Centered on the temple entrance, the entire ground of the salt lake was collapsing and sinking downwards, forming a massive funnel-shaped sinkhole.
Countless tons of sand and salt blocks were pouring into that bottomless giant pit.
A tremendous roar echoed across the silent desert.
In just a few minutes, that Osiris Temple, which had borne the ancient Egyptian beliefs of the underworld and hidden countless secrets, along with the Judgment Hall that witnessed their life-and-death struggle, and that mythical armament symbolizing balance and judgment, the [Scales of the Dead], were forever buried under hundreds of millions of tons of yellow sand and salt rock.
This cursed oasis had finally welcomed a peace delayed for thousands of years.
Lin Jie set the William on his back down, plopping onto the ground himself, gasping for air. The feeling of exhaustion after surviving a catastrophe made him not want to move a single finger.
They had survived.
Although they had paid a heavy price, although they had failed to stop Yan Xilou and hadn't found the antidote for Ethan, they had ultimately survived.
At that moment, on the other side of the desert, several equally disheveled figures also emerged from the dust and smoke.
They were the remnants of the Eternal Serpent cult forces.
Having lost Yan Xilou's command and then suffering the temple collapse, they too had paid heavy casualties. Their squad was now down to less than five people, and each one was wounded.
The battered remnants of both sides faced each other from a distance across this sand sea that had just undergone a cataclysm.
Hatred, exhaustion, wariness, and other complex emotions intertwined in the air.
But, no one fired the first shot.
After witnessing that high-level duel and the earth-shattering destruction just now, the hatred between humans seemed to have become somewhat insignificant.
The cult's temporary commander glanced at Lin Jie, his eyes filled with complex emotions: awe, hatred, but mostly a sense of powerlessness.
In the end, he made a gesture towards Lin Jie representing a "ceasefire," then turned and, without looking back, led his few remaining subordinates, staggering towards the other side of the desert.
Like Lin Jie, although they had failed to complete their cult's mission, they had successfully prevented I.A.R.C. from obtaining the [Scales of the Dead]. From a strategic standpoint, they had partially achieved their objective.
Lin Jie likewise chose not to attack.
He was clear about his and Julian's current state, their stamina nearly spent. The enemy, though severely wounded, still retained some fighting capability. Rashly starting a fight would only result in mutual destruction.
Watching the retreating backs of the cult remnants disappear, a mix of conflicting emotions churned in Lin Jie's heart.
The desert wind and sand would cover all traces, but they could not cover hatred and oaths.
Their next meeting might be in the thick fog of London, or perhaps beneath the high walls of the Forbidden City.
When that time came, there would inevitably be a true reckoning between him and Yan Xilou.