Li Hui held the lantern in front of her, a conduit for her light powers, she was a advanced lightseeker and so practiced light laws the most. She had been in Sword City when she was drafted for the war.
To her side, Wang Qiang had gauntlets on with blades running up his forearm; beside the unusual blade style he was the average Sword City cultivator except his strength.
On the other side, Zhou Yan wore a hooded cloak and kept his cultivation style secret.
The three of them all saw Yuan Ting's distress flare and came to answer. Quickly they spotted his strong and followed it while moving. It gently until it broke as they got closer.
Eventually they were reaching the end when,
"Over there! I see a figure, it could be the one who sent a flare out, you two be careful but not intimidating." Li Hui pointed forward to the distance at the edge of her light.
Wang Qiang laughed aloud and slammed his gauntlets together, "I have no fear!" and as he spoke he pushed off the ground and ran towards the figure they had spotted.
***
Yuan Ting saw the quickly approaching mass, hoping it was the reinforcements, and bowed with his fists together.
As they came close, he spoke, "Hello senior, I am Yuan Ting. Thank you for answering my flare."
Wang Qiang stopped just before him and listened to what he said, folding his arms. He huffed, "It is fine Now tell me where the enemy is, I will defeat them for you little one."
Yuan Ting held back his annoyance, he was a little one compared to the man that came to him. He was large and could barely stand up in the tunnel, and compared to the already-small Yuan Ting, he was a giant.
He stopped bowed but maintained a submissive posture, "I shall wait for the others to come before saying, if that is fine with Senior."
Wang Qiang huffed but didn't try to force him, instead looking back to wait for the rest. In just a few mints they arrived and Li Hui, as the quasi leader, politely curtsied.
"I am Li Hui of the Lightseekers, level 70. This is Wang Qiang l, whom you may be familiar with, level 63; and this is Zhou Yan." She introduced all of them then looked past Yuan Ting into the darkness.
"So what's the issue, why did you call us?"
Yuan Ting also looked back into the darkness, composing his answer, before turning back, "I believe there to be a high level fight, mid 80s or higher occurring here."
Wang Qiang sniffed, "I don't sense anything happening."
Yuan Ting looked up to him, "That's actually something I fear…if the fighting has stopped it might be that Yi Sect's side has won."
Li Hui started to walk forward, as if to step past the darkness, and Yuan Ting had to quickly side step and move into her path. He blocked her with his body, "I would highly suggest not…entering."
She furrowed her brows, "And why would that be?"
Yuan Ting conjured his experience from before and tried to explain it, "You all should have noticed, right?"
Li Hui and Wang Qiang seemed oblivious but the mysterious Zhou Yan lifted their hand. They spoke in a crackly voice like popping firewood, "The oppression if laws, I can feel it. Some force…"
Yuan Ting continued, "Wrll that force becomes inextricably stronger past the boundary I don't even know how I survived, I should have died."
Lu Hui looked down upon Yuan Ting, who was still standing in her way, "You are…what, level 30? If you could survive, we should be able to enter, worry not."
She side stepped and continued walking forward, Yuan Ting knew he couldn't stop her again, so grimaced and hoped that she was right. He recalled when he first entered, after a moment the impression hit and he almost died.
Just before she entered she felt something come to her and stopped, "Say, boy…how would you describe the effects of the 'force'?"
Yuan Ting raised an eyebrow and tentatively explained his findings and feelings, "I can explain with an example…here in the tunnel my light barely reached a few feat in front whereas in there it was just a foot. But…"
"But?" Li Hui urged.
"Well, it didn't feel like just impression from someone stronger…I dont think so. And it wasn't like the darkness laws combatting the light laws Blet out, no…it was more like my laws were transformed."
Li Hui stopped and turned around, she looked to the other experts too, "I fear the boy was right in calling us…we may not even be enough. If I'm right, this seems linked to a recent phenomenon found in the earlier round."
She looked around and explained. In the first round there was another light seeker who had called for help and fought with some vampires. Though they lost contact with them all, knowing only one survived, they could observe from a distance the field which was recognized by someone from Nine Clouds Sect.
Yuan Ting listened carefully and once finished murmured the main point, "A Reversal Field…do light tire ed to darkness. And I guess why my light laws were so depressed is because of my control and comprehension, which is why you did not notice…and would not unless you entered there." He looked towards the pit.
Li Hui pulled out a slip and started to contact her superiors when suddenly–
Crash!
Bang!
An earthquake hit and the tunnel started collapsing, Wang Qiang took the opportunity with rash nature jumped into the darkness past Yuan Ting.
The others, seeing the inevitable collapse, despite their best judgement, followed. Yuan Ting gritted his teeth, hopefully the same effect from before would allow him to not die, or if the other experts would save him.
They all fell into the mud veins and for a second felt nothing unusual until it hit…they all fell down to one knee except Yuan Ting, who had the causality rule around him still.
They humbled up together and looked at Yuan Ting in a new light. They now understood the strength of the Reversal Field.
Li Hui held up her lantern and flared it, causing the light to burst even stronger. She cultivated mostly just light laws so she could sustain it for a time.
As she did, she illuminated a distant movement…