The whole of Liang Duan Mountain shook. Rubble fell down the mountainside and the ground of the Valentine Valley below cracked.
Xiao Bai dropped to the ground in a panic, afraid to move a muscle.
After a while, the mountain became silent once more.
Xiao Bai looked up and shook his body, throwing off some dust and bits of stone.
Atchoo!
He sneezed, shook his head, and carefully started toward the eastern slopes of the mountain.
…
Jiang Shaoliu slowly stood up on the hillside below the third platform and stretched out, patting the dust off his clothes and hair.
Yin Manshu got up from the ground and patted herself angrily, then turned around and barked, "I didn't ask you to save me!"
"I know, it was just my natural instinct as a man!" he shouted back. "I'd be more than willing to punch you in the teeth right now, if you prefer!"
Lin Yuetao and the other two masters stood up, watching the mountaintop.
A thick cloud of dust still hung over the mountain, blocking their vision.
"Doctor Jiang," Lin Yuetao said, "shall we go and see what's up there?"
Jang Shaoliu squinted his eyes and nodded: "Yes, but be careful."
They were about to move when Yin Manshu shouted angrily, "Jiang Shaoliu, this changes nothing! We're still enemies!"
"Whatever." Jiang Shaoliu rolled his eyes and rushed to the mountaintop with Lin Yuetao.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao glanced at each other and followed suit.
The image of Jiang Shaoliu hugging her and carrying her down the mountainside appeared in Yin Manshu's mind. Her face became bright red and she quickly ran after him.
"Is that…?" Jiang Shaoliu stared.
The giant stone containing the ball of vines had broken apart. The ball of vines was rotating slowly, a little indistinct as it was covered by a heavy coating of dust.
Lin Yuetao's picked up a shard of the giant stone and squeezed it as hard as he could with a silvered hand, but couldn't crush it.
"It's hard stuff." Jiang Shaoliu picked up a piece of rubble and squeezed it with both hands.
It crumbled to pieces.
Lin Yuetao stared at Jiang Shaoliu as if he was looking at a monster: "How are you so much stronger than me…?"
"Not that much." Jiang Shaoliu waved dismissively and threw away the rubble, walking off. "There's some golden light up ahead, let's check it out."
Lin Yuetao followed him, frowning. "Where? I can't see it."
Yin Manshu, Bai Long and Chi Xiao followed them hesitantly.
After a few steps, Jiang Shaoliu suddenly felt a little nervous.
The air was still thick with dust, but there seemed to be a deep crater up ahead. Some sort of… energy seemed to be emanating from inside it, rising slowly. The golden glow coming from within the crater kept getting brighter and thicker.
"This won't do." Lin Yuetao stopped next to Jiang Shaoliu, a determined expression on his face. "There's too much dust. Let me deal with it."
He opened his mouth and his chest began to swell slowly as air rushed inside.
Yin Manshu and the other two ran for cover while Jiang Shaoliu clenched his fists and remained by Lin Yuetao to protect him.
Lin Yuetao raised his head and let out his roar, blowing the dust away in a massive pressure wave.
When he ran out of breath, the dust was gone and the peak of the mountain was clear.
Jiang Shaoliu and the four greatest masters of Yungang stared at the crater warily.
The sound of something very big breathing came from inside. Two giant, furry arms stretched out over the lip of the crater, golden-yellow and more than three meters in length.
Thud, thud.
The two arms dropped on the ground, cracking the edge of the crater and causing a shower of pebbles to tumble in.
The arms bent and strained against the ground as a tall and muscular figure crawled out of the crater and slowly stood up.
Its body was covered in dense, short fur gleaming in gold, it had thick legs and arms and a head the size of an adult cow. Its eyes were like two fiery lanterns and two curved ox horns stuck out from its temples.
A second massive form climbed out from the crater. It had the same figure as the giant ox, but a horse's head, with enormous nostrils and ears like spades.
The ox-headed giant revealed two rows of gleaming white teeth as Jiang Shaoliu slowly approached.
"Oxhead and Horseface?"
All five masters, including Jiang Shaoliu, were stunned.
…
Ruo Feng stared at the screen of his smart watch on the western peak of the mountain with great astonishment.
There was great excitement among the livestream audience.
"Damn, what the hell is that? Looks about ten meters tall from here."
"Is that mountain in the sky a portal to Hell or something?"
"Do you think they're there for the rare fruit too?"
"Does that mean demons and shit are real!?!?!!11"
…
Horseface looked over the small humans before him and rolled his enormous, dark brown eyes, snorting loudly. Then he spoke a few words in a strange language before glancing at Oxhead with great satisfaction.
"What's he saying?" Jiang Shaoliu and the others exchanged a few puzzled glances amongst themselves.
"Hold on, this thing's got a translation feature." Lin Yuetao frowned and began tapping the screen of his smart watch.
After a few seconds, an electronic female voice peeped, "Speech not recognized. Please try again."
Lin Yuetao waved his smart watch at Horseface and shouted, "Please repeat that, I didn't get what you said just now."
Oxhead looked a little confused and stretched out his massive arm toward Lin Yuetao's hand.
Lin Yuetao jumped back out of reach, followed by the rest of the group.
Horseface neighed angrily. He looked about to charge but was stopped by Oxhead, who shook his horned head and stretched out one finger as if saying, "Let me show you."
Horseface pointed at Lin Yuetao and the others and shouted angrily at Oxhead.
But the ox shook his head and seemed not to care at all.
Ignoring this, Horseface grumpily turned away.
Oxhead leaned forward and sniffled, rolling back his thick lips and saying, "Blablablablabla…"
The smart watch on Lin Yuetao's wrist quipped, "Speech not recognized. Please try again."
Lin Yuetao threw up his hands as if to say, "Now what?"
What kind of language was it speaking?
He braced himself to go forward and lifted his arm high again, "Try again?"
Oxhead flew into a rage, breathing heavily and roaring, "Moo!!!"
Horseface joined Oxhead and the two roared at Lin Yuetao together, and then roared at the other people as well.
After about a minute, the two giants seemed to calm down. They began discussing something among themselves, occasionally glancing at Jiang Shaoliu and the others, before turning away and heading toward the vine ball.
"They are going for the rare fruit!" Yin Manshu screamed. "Stop them!"
With these words, she became silvered and rushed out.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao looked at each other and joined her.
Lin Yuetao hesitated for a moment before dashing off like lightning.
Jiang Shaoliu clenched his fist and stared at the two giants, his true qi gushing violently inside him as the stones cracked under his feet.
Something roared behind Jiang Shaoliu and he instantly turned around, on high alert.
Xiao Bai's furry head appeared over the edge of the third platform.