"How did this happen?"
"MASTER HOW DO WE PROCEED?"
The young cultivators were in complete panic.
Their master seemed more annoyed than disturbed by the situation.
"PREPARE THE CHAINS!" he shouted to his disciples.
The disciples took, from a magic bag, massive gold chains. Each link was as big as a watermelon and had to be held with both hands. The disciples had a hard time extracting it completely from there.
Such enormous and sumptuous spiritual instruments were typical of the Yang sect of Jilin, who took every opportunity to show off their wealth.
But at the same time, such instruments were as expensive as they were effective; however, on such an occasion it could be said that they had done well not to spare any expense.
The young cultivators, with no small amount of effort, surrounded the beast. With their spiritual powers and their combined action they moved the chains to bind it.
However, if the sword is good but the swordsman is inexperienced, one cannot expect positive results.
As if nothing had been done to it, the mole began to growl and wriggle again.
It stretched out its front legs trying to free itself, when, before the cultivators could realize it, a cloud of dirt hit them from above.
The mole had started digging.
Shi ZhenXian looked up. Now, where the ceiling should have been, there was a huge hole left by the animal that had wriggled out of its chains.
Some rocks began to fall and a rumble similar to that of an earthquake echoed through the walls.
Those present looked around in confusion as they tried to retrieve the chains.
"EVERYONE OUT! EVERYTHING WILL COLLAPSE" It was Shi ZhenXian who noticed.
The young disciples did not need to be told twice. They all started running in the direction from which they had come.
"STOP! FIRST GET THE CHAINS!" The master shouted at them, while he was the first in line to run away.
Shi ZhenXian turned up his nose, as he let him pass in front of him too.
They all poured into the chamber that preceded the other, which was also slowly collapsing on itself. Shi ZhenXian looked back every now and then to see if everyone was there.
As they advanced, more and more dirt fell from above, erasing those tunnels forever.
Damn, where did Lin JingYu go!
At that moment it would have been impossible to go back, so the Taoist wanted to trust the skills of that cultivator and continued without looking back.
But the biggest worry was always that he could run away!
"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Shi ZhenXian shouted when he saw the light outside.
Finally they managed to resurface. The sun was now high in the sky and was casting a few rays through the leaves of the thick vegetation.
Most of the disciples collapsed to the ground. They had been carrying the heavy chains in their runs, and were now exhausted.
Without even having time to catch their breath, the mole re-emerged from the ground.
Shi ZhenXian looked around but there was no longer any trace of the mole man.
At the same time, he realized that no one would be able to do anything.
"DO YOU STILL HAVE THE CHAINS?"
"Yes!" Wu Muyang replied.
Shi ZhenXian jumped and pulled them up with him with his spiritual powers. He almost felt himself being pulled to the ground because they were so heavy.
The mole screamed in a frantic manner as he tried to grab the little disciples. A few braver ones were in front of the others with their swords drawn. Wu Muyang was among them too.
They were about to be hit when Shi ZhenXian, who had finally lifted the chains, used his skills to wrap and hold the mole.
The mole was temporarily immobilized so that the disciples could move further away.
However, that moment of peace lasted only a few seconds. The mole began to wriggle so violently that with its strength and weight it was able to throw Shi ZhenXian to the ground.
Shi ZhenXian felt the blood rising in his throat, but he could not leave things half done, there was no one else who could do anything.
He quickly stood up. With one hand he still held the chains, which he wrapped around the mole again.
"WU MUYANG, DO YOU HAVE THE LOCK!?" Everyone shouted to try to overcome the beast's roars.
"YES!" Wu Muyang took the magic bag again and, helped by another disciple, put in a giant padlock.
"IT'S HERE!"
Shi ZhenXian took that too and finally closed the chains, thus sealing the mole's spiritual powers as well.
Phew, what a struggle.
"Shi ZhenXian Qianbei are you alright? You had a good flight earlier." Said the disciple still next to Wu Muyang.
"Yes, everything is fine." Shi ZhenXian once again suppressed whatever was in his throat.
The disciples breathed a sigh of relief. Simple words like 'thank you and sorry' would have been more appropriate, but those didn't seem to be their priorities. That Shi ZhenXian was fine and would not eventually go and complain to their sect leader, was much more important.
Marching footsteps echoed through the forest.
"What's going on here?" A man in his fifties spoke, accompanied by six other men. All in uniform.
"They are the emperor's officers." could be heard whispering.
Finally!
Shi ZhenXian thought to himself.
"My lords, how did you get here?" He said to them.
The officer seemed to understand his words.
"Shi ZhenXian Qianbei, what a coincidence meeting you here. We have received reports of a dangerous beast roaming these woods, but I see that you have already taken care of it."
"Yes, the situation is under control now. It is all thanks to the spiritual chains of the Jilin Yang Sect. You should thank them."
"Ha ha ha, you are always so modest." It was clear that the officers were not in the least willing to exchange a single word with anyone from the Yang Sect.
Wu Muyang, as the representative since his master is no longer there, approached them.
"Mister Officer, the situation is under control now thanks to Shi ZhenXian Qianbei. Qianbei…" He said this time addressing the Taoist. "I wanted to thank you on behalf of the Jilin Yangs." he continued, cupping his hands and bowing.
However, his gaze betrayed his thoughts. Given the pride that characterized his sect, he could not help but grit his teeth while acting that part.
Shi ZhenXian returned with a nod.
"But these are the territories of the Jilin Yang sect, it is our responsibility to take care of them so we do not want to cause any further inconvenience to any of you." He said, also addressing the officers. "We will personally dispose of the beast according to the directives of our Sect Leader."
Then he turned to Shi ZhenXian.
"Shi ZhenXian Qianbei. I am sure that our Sect Leader will invite him to our sect to thank you properly."
"It would be an honor for me." Shi ZhenXian replied with courtesy. He knew well that 'The Sect Leader's Invitation' was just an excuse to make sure he kept his mouth shut.
"Officer Qiang, we will report to you later. For now, we still have some work to do."
The chief officer nodded.
Wu Muyang bowed and slunk away with everyone else.