"Brother Bai!!" Bai Xuengen exploded. It was him! it was really him after all!

"Now we have a chance!" he said, turning to the speechless Lan Hui all the while Shin Sumi joined them.

"You..." started Lan Hui. He had a dumbfounded expression which confused Bai Xuengen.

"What is it Lan Hui? Is there something wrong with your wound?

- No it's just... excuse me, but who are you?"

...

Silence. None of them spoke for what seemed like a long time.

At first, Lan Hui who had never heard the name Bai Fulong before thought that this mysterious 'Bai Fulong' had been one of his friends who had simply given Bai Xuengen a made up name.

But now, with the red robed youth in front of him, he realized that the aura, the trace of Shinsoo given off by the newcomer was not that of one of his friends. In fact Lan Hui was positive he had never crossed paths with that person before.

Bai Xuengen was the first one to break the silence, Shin Sumi still at a loss at what to say.

"Well... It's Bai Fulong of course. You must have been hit in the head or something, he is the one who saved me before and who asked me to look after you!"

A look of puzzlement across his face, Bai Xuengen turned to Shin Sumi for help, expecting her to reveal her true identity in order to clarify things.

Reading his eyes perfectly, Shin Sumi shook her head, "who I am doesn't matter right now. I sense a few divine senses from the south. Let's get going. Are you two alright?"

Bai Xuengen replied affirmatively immediately, maybe a bit too fast for Lan Hui's taste.

"Wait a second, Senior Brother Bai."

The two young men in front of him turned towards him at nearly the same time. Of course, they were both called 'Bai' and Shin Sumi was good at this game.

"I mean Bai Xu.. Yellow robed Senior Brother Bai" he said, almost forgetting the formal form of addressing a senior, "What about the Black Cloud Curse? If you trust Senior Brother Bai Fulong, then he should be made aware of that. Unless we have a way of dealing with the curse, it's useless to try to escape forever."

Bai Xuengen clenched his teeth. Lan Hui was right.

"Black Cloud Curse?" Shin Sumi asked, curious and worried by the scary name.

"It's a magical spell that originated from the Chu clan. Chu Erlong cursed Senior Brother Bai when he first rescued me and..

-Chu Erlong??!"

Shin Sumi was taken aback. Chu Erlong?! What was she doing here? Was it her doing? Why?

"Do you know her?" asked Bai Xuengen.

"Mn. I know who she is, yes. I never thought she would be the one to give you such troubles..."

Lan Hui went on to explain rapidly what had been going on thus far and what they knew about the curse, all the while getting on the move before their assailants could reach them.

Bai Xuengen didn't know what to think. First the mysterious red robed boy had saved him life in battle, showing prowess which he himself was incapable of despite the color of his robes. Then he had admitted to never having heard of him, a yellow robed disciple! But now he was saying that he knew of the orange robed Chu Erlong? Her clan was at the top of the sect, but still... Something didn't make sense.

"I may have a way to deal with the curse, but we need to find a source of water first."

"Water?" the two boys thought in unison. How could they know Shin Sumi was thinking about using the curative properties of the little grey nut hidden in her wrist?

From her standpoint, Shin Sumi was certain getting rid of the curse was the main priority. Only then would they be able to escape Chu Erlong's group.

If what the boys had told her was true, then Chu Erlong had already amassed enough followers to be really dangerous, even for her, and they would need Bai Xuengen to be in full health.

The group of three advanced quickly through the tunnels, not bothering about trying to orient themselves in the maze.

Less than an hour after they had begun moving, a group at least twenty disciples strong arrived where Shin Sumi had met them.

"Tch. So now there are three of them?" asked Chu Erlong.

Liu Qing answered, her head bowing towards the orange robed girl, "yes, I heard them call for a certain Bai Fulong. By the tone of Bai Xuengen's voice, he must be a friend of his and he even called him 'Brother'. Do you know of him, Big Sister Chu?"

Chu Erlong's lips pursed in a teasing manner, her eyes unreadable.

"No I don't. But I'm certain he's not yellow talented or else I would have known that name. Bai Xuengen is the trash of the yellow robes, so his friends wouldn't be much better I imagine. Let us keep going. Liu Qing, you go on first."

The shy Liu Qing nodded before leaving the group. She wasn't willing to contradict her boss but something felt wrong about that Bai Fulong. Her guts were telling her that the situation wasn't as simple as it seemed.

Following the global indications of direction provided by Chu Erlong's link with the curse on Bai Xuengen's hand, Liu Qing advanced stealthily. Chu Erlong still needed her to ascertain the path towards her target. The curse only gave a rough direction and distance but the maze was still a pain to navigate through.

Far ahead, Shin Sumi lead her small group through more and more tunnels, now perfectly unaware of which direction they were going in. Sometimes going up stairs, sometimes down slopes, she still hadn't found a way to understand which was forwards or backwards.

Bai Xuengen coughed up another clot of black blood.

"This is the third time since I'm with them, and this has been going on for weeks! How does he still manage to endure?" she asked herself in silence. "He's running on fumes now, we need to find a solution soon!"

Bai Xuengen had told her about his golden compass, but was unsuccessful at using it. He had lost too much Shinsoo already and couldn't activate it's divination powers with what little was left in him.

Shin Sumi could only toss him another spirit fruit, the only source of Shinsoo she was willing to spare at the time.

"It's not that I don't want to give him high grade spirit stones or enhanced beast cores, or even golem cores, but there is still time and I can't afford to lay bare all my trump cards just in case."

"There! On the left!" Lan Hui had yelled.

In her worried thoughts, the room at the end of the left hand side corridor had escaped her spiritual perception.

Stopping dead in their tracks, the group of three turned abruptly towards the place indicated by Lan Hui. It was a large room nearly perfectly square that had a series of holes on the floor.

Traces of tiles that had been removed a long time ago made a swirling pattern all around the main hole. From the strange shape of the wall that flowed seamlessly into a dark opening above their heads, it was easy to see that at some point water had been running through the place.

In fact it wasn't the first time Shin Sumi had seen a room like this in the maze. In all probability this was another place of devotion for water deities, as confirmed by the remains of broken statues and pedestals.

Thankfully, unlike the previous similar rooms, this one still had an intact pool in the middle.

The central hole was illuminated by blue crystals embedded on the sides, making the still water shine with a holy light.

Not wasting any time, Shin Sumi helped the coughing Bai Xuengen down the hole. The water rippled slightly when he broke the surface, producing a gentle melody that soothed the soul.

"Lan Hui, you guard us. If I am correct, thirty minutes to an hour should be enough to get rid of the curse."

The boy didn't ask any of his dozen questions. If Bai Xuengen trusted that Bai Fulong, then he would to. It didn't matter which color were his robes if he was competent enough, and the mysterious youth's determination was convincing.

Standing close to the single entrance to the room, Lan Hui turned his head towards the darkness, ready to alert Shin Sumi if ever something came across his divine sense or his sight.

Chu Erlong and her group were a threat, but they couldn't forget that this was all part of a trial by fire where devious beasts could attack at any time.

Carrying the floating Bai Xuengen that was on the verge of passing out unconscious, Shin Sumi sank to her waist. A cold blue light illuminated her masculine face from below as she summoned the little nut from her wrist.

As soon as the nut got out, Shin Sumi felt the familiar feeling of regenerative magic coming from her tiny companion. Almost instantly, the feverish Bai Xuengen looked relieved, the wrinkles on his face disappearing with his tension and exhaustion.

Shin Sumi put the little nut right above Bai Xuengen's abdomen, first helping the yellow robed young man to gather more Shinsoo.

"That will help fight off the Black Cloud Curse, rather than letting the nut do all the work. If it even works..."

Breathing out for a long while, Shin Sumi was relieved. They had only taken a few hours to find this place. Luckily it was also the first time she had seen one of these rooms that still had water.

In fact they had been really lucky.

The nut in the water also reinvigorating her from a distance, Shin Sumi closed her eyes for a second. She was about to call Lan Hui to take her place in order to benefit from the strange magic while she stood guard outside when she felt a bit of a current against her submerged ankle.

Opening her eyes, Shin Sumi stole a furtive glance at the blue waters right as a shadow disappeared from her view.

Quick to react, Shin Sumi yelled "Lan Hui, come help me take Bai Xuengen away from here, there is-"

Her sentence had suddenly been cut off by the water level rising to her head.

"No, I am being pulled down!"

At some point in time a scaley claw had grabbed her ankle, yanking her down under the surface of the water closer to the center of the massive pool.

Somehow the creature had perfectly escaped Shin Sumi's divine sense perception. Opening her eyes, she could barely discern a long grey shadow that seemed to avoid the light all around it.

The creature was snake-like in all aspects except for the torso that was vaguely humanoid. The creature was covered by scales that rubbed painfully against Shin Sumi's legs.

Wishing her Shinsoo perception to envelop the creature, Shin Sumi found herself completely dumbstruck. According to her spiritual senses the pool was completely empty!

"It is just as if the creature was one with water! I can't sense it, I have to use my eyes."

Shin Sumi reacted quickly, it wasn't the first time she fell for a trap. Her sword appeared soundlessly in her hand but her underwater movements were so sluggish that the creature escaped the first blow effortlessly.

As soon as her arm slowed down, the Water Ghoul grabbed her legs once more, continuously dragging her down towards the depth of the water.

Up above, Shin Sumi discerned Bai Xuengen's floating silhouette, unconscious and defenseless but thankfully unbothered by the attacking creature.

Shin Sumi struggled as best as she could, conscious that she couldn't get dragged for too long for lack of breath.

A cultivator's body and aptitudes were not comparable to that of a mortal but still Shin Sumi needed air to breathe. Below the Liquid Realm, a cultivator still couldn't last more than a few minutes submerged.

Her powerful legs kicked the creature's torso by chance, removing the clawed hands from her for a few precious seconds.

As she swam up as fast as she could, Shin Sumi was relieved to see that at least the creature was not too strong, if a kick could land like that.

A cry like a low bellow of anger agitated the waters under her.

"Oh great, now it's angered!" thought Shin Sumi. Two claws grabbed her this time, a bit stronger than before.

The bubbles escaping Shin Sumi's lips twirled upwards as she debated once more.

But suddenly something changed. Just like a person would feel when falling from really high up, Shin Sumi experienced a sudden retching, making her lose more air.

In front of her open eyes, the bubbles that came out of her mouth and nose plummeted towards the depth, apparently sucked by some sort of gravitational pull.

Apart from it's hard scales and claws, the Water Ghoul had one powerful ability that made it hard to beat.

Unbeknownst to Shin Sumi, angering it had caused its tail to split open in four directions, revealing a dark spinning orb.

The Water Ghoul core was the source of its powers which could cause a strong water current. The pull was simply that, a pull and didn't hurt directly the Ghoul's target but was certainly strong enough to keep any air-breathing creature from reaching the surface.

Shin Sumi was rapidly dragged down by the descending beast keeping a safe distance between it and her.

She passed the bubble that had previously escaped. The surface was now almost a dozen meters away from her, and her lungs were at least a third empty by now.

"What is dragging me down?! I don't understand, I can't do anything, is this the end??!"

Shin Sumi was not only sad but also mad.

"Such an obvious trap and I fell for it!" In her precipitation to save Bai Xuengen as fast as possible, she had momentarily forgotten about all the dangerous aspects of the trial by fire besides Chu Erlong and her group.

Her stomach suddenly retched once more in the opposite direction, making her loose even more air.

"The pull... stopped?"

The red core of the Water Ghoul had stopped spinning, protected by the tail. It may have been one of the most formidable opponents she had faced thus far, it was a low level beast and needed to replenish a bit more Shinsoo before attacking again.

Shin Sumi was halfway to the surface when the claws returned to her ankles, this time making sure the beast couldn't be kicked.

As low as the creature's level was, it still remained really hard to beat in its natural habitat, and Shin Sumi was desperately dragged back down again.

Her sword was too slow, her legs immobilized, and her lungs slowly emptying. It was at that time that the Water Ghoul decided to use its magic to pull her down again, just to make sure. All hope was lost for Shin Sumi.

Unless...?

A distant splashing noise reached her ears, and the blue light from the crystals distorted slightly. Something had happened close to the surface.

Shin Sumi looked up to see only a small shadow try to move. A red light flashed from the shadow's right hand before picking up speed and whooshing past her face.

The red thing was spinning too fast for her eyes to follow as it plummeted, pulled by the Water Ghoul's magic just like everything else.

The grey silhouette of the Ghoul hid momentarily the red weapon as it passed behind it and reached its split tail.

A bellow ten times more painful than before erupted from the beast right before its core was destroyed.

All along its length, the scales started to disappear, the grey looking more translucent with each passing second before they dissolved into the water.

In half a second, the Water Ghoul was gone, the only testimony to its existence being the nausea in Shin Sumi's stomach as she hurried to the surface.

Her jet black hair stuck to her male face, obstructing her view when she finally breathed in a delicious, life-saving mouthful of air.

She parted her hair to reveal a dripping wet and worried Lan Hui, hurriedly supporting her.

"Are you okay Senior Brother Bai? It was a Water Ghoul wasn't it ?!"

Shin Sumi put up one finger in the air, asking him to wait while she breathed a bit more normally again.

She described the creature briefly before Lan Hui confirmed her the name of the creature that had almost killed her.

"How did you know what to do? And how did you kill it by the way?"

Lan Hui responded respectfully "A Liquid Realm Senior once told me about the danger of Water Ghouls, and how strong their magic was in water. I threw a Flying Sword underwater as soon as I felt the tug from below..."

Shin Sumi was impressed. It was only then that her eyes opened in a panicked way and she started looking around anxiously.

"Senior Brother Bai Xuengen is okay, I pulled him out of the water before he could drown."

"You saved us both then, Brother Lan!"

The boy was taken aback by the form of address from this mysterious senior and quickly replied.

"No, no, it's nothing. I heard Senior saved Senior Brother Bai's life before, and he saved mine. It was only normal for me to help you, I had a favor to repay!"

Shin Sumi lips curled upwards and her smile soon turned into a laugh.

"You are right, we all saved each other I guess! There's no need for you to call me Senior now. Do you think we can lower Bai Xuengen down in the water again now?"

The still unconscious Bai Xuengen resumed his recovery after Shin Sumi discreetly checked that the nut was still there. Somehow it had the intelligence to stick to Bai Xuengen's body as soon as she was pulled away.

A question still pervaded her mind though.

"What was the point of having a dangerous creature here? It wasn't a trial for a treasure?"

The perfectly well timed answer came by itself almost as fast as the thought when a brilliant light shone from the depth below.