ㄚㄖ凵尺 尺凵几几丨几Ꮆ.

ㄒ卄卂ㄒ'丂 卂ㄥㄥ ㄚㄖ凵 乇ᐯ乇尺 丂乇乇爪 ㄒㄖ ᗪㄖ, 丨丂几'ㄒ 丨ㄒ?

ㄚㄖ凵尺 卂ㄥ山卂ㄚ丂 尺凵几几丨几Ꮆ. 尺凵几几丨几Ꮆ 千尺ㄖ爪 卩乇ㄖ卩ㄥ乇, 尺凵几几丨几Ꮆ 千尺ㄖ爪 ᗪ卂几Ꮆ乇尺.

尺凵几几丨几Ꮆ 卂山卂ㄚ 千尺ㄖ爪 ㄚㄖ凵尺丂乇ㄥ千.

ㄚㄖ凵尺 ㄒ丨尺乇ᗪ.

山乇 匚卂几 丂乇乇.

ㄚㄖ凵尺 千卂ᗪ丨几Ꮆ 丂ㄥㄖ山ㄥㄚ.

ᎽϴႮᎡ ՏϴႮᏞ ᏆՏ ᎪᏞᎡᎬᎪᎠᎽ ᏔᏆͲᎻᎬᎡᏆΝᏀ ᎪᏔᎪᎽ, ͲᎻᎬᎡᎬՏ Νϴ ᎡᎬᎪՏϴΝ ᏔᎻᎽ ᎽϴႮ ᏟᎪΝ'Ͳ ᎫႮՏͲ ᏞᎬͲ ᎽϴႮᎡ ᏴϴᎠᎽ Ꭰϴ ͲᎻᎬ ՏᎪᎷᎬ?

Ꮐϴ ᎪᎻᎬᎪᎠ. ᏞᏆᎬ ᎠϴᏔΝ ᏆΝ ͲᎻᎬ ՏϴҒͲ ᏴᎡϴᏔΝ ᎬᎪᎡͲᎻ,ᏔᏆͲᎻ ͲᎻᎬ ᏀᎡᎪՏՏ ᎪᏴϴᏙᎬ ᎽϴႮᎡ ᎻᎬᎪᎠ ᎪΝᎠ ᏞᏆՏͲᎬΝ Ͳϴ ՏᏆᏞᎬΝᏟᎬ.

ժօղ'Ե ճҽ բɾíցհԵҽղҽժ, վօմ հαѵҽ ղօԵհíղց Եօ բҽαɾ. ցօ αհҽαժ, Եαkҽ մs մթ օղ օմɾ օբբҽɾ, Եհҽɾҽ's ղօ ղҽҽժ Եօ ճҽ հҽsíԵαղԵ.
IԵ աíll ճҽ թҽαcҽբմl, աҽ թɾօตísҽ.

Waking up in a cold sweat TaiFeng fearfully looked at at her surroundings.

'I'm still here. That voice, no, there was more than one voice wasn't there?....What in the hell was that? Bad dream? Result of too much stress? Yeah, that must be it, too much stress has me going loopy.'

Looking around at everyone's peaceful sleeping figures her eyes lingered on Xichen.

'Hah, dear Xichen, what was I thinking? Loving you? I can't even love myself, no, I never can and never will love myself. But for you? It seems that I love you so much that I forgot to hate myself, even if it was rather short lived. It seems as though all the self loathing caught up to me in the end. Truly, how pathetic.'

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she slowly stood up and stretched her aching joints. What she wouldn't give for a lumbar support pillow.

'If Xichen isn't up yet then it's probably before five.'

Gently caressing the hairpin in her hair, she sent a surge of spiritual energy towards it. At the same time she once again felt a sharp pain in her arm.

It was as if she had awakened something she residing inside of her, something too powerful for her to keep under control.

"Mn, Er-jie, your already awake?" Jiang Cheng said, loudly yawning, waking up a few of the others in the process.

"The early bird catches the worm. Or in this case the killer tortoise." She chuckled.

"Huh, what's going on? Are you both up already?" Wuxian grogily asked, rubbing his eyes, slowly getting up.

"Ugh, Er-jie, your story telling skills are far too good."

"Oh, how so?" She asked.

"All I dreamt of was dragons and fierce battles! Honestly, couldn't King Thorin have just shared the gold with the people of Laketown like he promised? Unbelievable!" He whined.

"Only cowards go back on their word." Jiang Cheng added.

"Mn, indeed. Oh, and speaking of going back on your words.... Wei Wuxian." TaiFeng said crossing her arms.

"So far you've gone back on you promise twice now, which begs the question. Are you going to be a man of your word, or am I going to have to save your ass a third time?"

"....I'll be good, I promise." He sniffed.

"Er-jie, you did it. You tamed the untamable." Jiang Cheng mocked.

"Only temporarily." She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Is everyone prepared?"
She addressed everyone, looking around.

There was a sea of yeses and affirmative nods.

This was it, it was now or never.

Going forward with a few disciples, ChenHe threw a rock towards one side of the cave.

The Xuanwu ominously appeared from underneath the murky waters surface. Bobbing it's head about,it tried it's best to pinpoint where the noise had came from.

ChenHe pulled out a fire talisman and threw it to the side.

Entranced by the bright orange light, the Xuanwu went closer to the flames, inquisitivly moving it's head around the burning fire.

While it was distracted, Gao Song and Gao Liang carefully dove down under the water to assess the exit point.

After a few seconds of tantalising silence, they both appears from the water.

"It's big enough for two to four people to go through at a time." Gao Liang whisper yelled.

"We should hurry, the fire talisman won't last forever." Gao Song added.

"Everyone,we need to get out quickly." TaiFeng said in an authorative tone, still whispering.

"Those that can swim should aid those that can't."

In groups if four, the disciples all waded into the water. The disciple a that couldn't swim were all being aided by Yunmeng Jiang disciples, as they are used to being by the water.

So far more then half of the disciples were already through the cave.

'It's still distracted. Ugh, I really don't want to do this.'

Sucking in as much oxygen she could, TaiFeng held her breath and dove under the water and into the shell of the Xuanwu.

"This. Is. The. Grossest. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen. In. My. Life."
Looking around she saw fleshy walls covered in foul smelling slime.

The worst part was having to see the partly decomposed bodies of the Xuanwu's victims.

'Wuxian, Xichen-ge, Wangji, can you hear me. ChengCheng, is this thing working?' She said, using the Mind sharing ability.

'TaiFeng, I can hear you.' Xichen replied back, while Lan Zhan simply mned.

'Who are you calling ChengCheng?!'

'Er-jie, what's it like in there?' Wuxian asked.

'Positively disgusting. Ugh, this thing reeks. It hasn't fully digested it's last meal, if you get what I'm saying.' She said, wading around in stomach acid stew, being careful not to step on any...chunks.

Immediately, her copper eyes landed on a dark and twisted looking sword.

Not hesitating for a moment, she reached out and grabbed the handle.

Almost instantly, her head has filled with pain along with a sea of endless voices.

ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ
ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ
ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ ժíҽ ᗪ丨乇 Dɪᴇ

"No, stop! Go away! I won't give in! Stop it, leave me alone!" She screamed,clutching her head. She fell to her knees in pain, not even caring she was up to her waist in liquefied human remains. The pain in her arm was getting unbearable and her eyes were now fully yellow and narrowed into impossibly thin slits, shaking in fear.

Jiang Cheng, Wuxian and Xichen all clutched their heads in pain at the bombardment of ominous voices flowing into their skulls.

'TaiFeng! Are you alright?!' Xichen worriedly inquired via mind link.

'Er-jie, what happened?!'

'Er-jie, what's going on?!'

On the inside of the tortoise, TaiFeng was shakily doing her best to stand up on her own two feet, using her sword as a crutch.

Trying her best to come to her senses, she felt a large gust of hot air come from directly behind her.

"...I really just can't catch a break, can I?"

Turning around she was met with the Xuanwu Slaughter. For a fraction of a moment their eyes met. Red meeting Yellow. Good meeting evil. Lightning meeting fire.

The moment didn't last very long as the Xuanwu didn't hesitate to try and bite TaiFeng's head off.

Quickly dodging she steeled her nerves and pulled out the sword.

Ingonring the massive headache she unsheathed Juexin, and took a swing with both swords.

"THE NAMES INOSUKE HASHIBIRA, BITCH!" She yelled, while swinging both swords at the beast.

Quickly avoiding the swing the Xuanwu lunged it's head forward at an insanely fast speed.

But TaiFeng was faster.

Quickly ducking while cursing every five seconds, she tried to find her way out of the the shell.

Diving out under the water with both swords she did her best to avoid the constant underwater attacks from the beast. However, she let herself get careless and she already had quite a few gashes along her back.

Appearing out from the waters surface she took a deep breath in.

"We need to leave, otherwise-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as the Xuanwu had used it's head as a battering ram and sent her flying across the cave.

Immediately the four attacked the beast head on. Jiang Cheng going in strong with his Yunmeng sword style, while Wuxian used his sword alongside talismans.

The Twin Jades were as ethereal as ever with their gracful and shrinking swordsmanship. All of them were spectacular fighters in their own rights.

However the real mvp had yet to make an appearance.

Slowly sinking under the water, TaiFeng was clenching both the swords with white knuckles.

'Zhishu, looks like it's showtime.'

Opening her fearsome yellow eyes, she sent out a enormous surge of spiritual energy out from under the water. Her hairpin was glowing a mesmerising blue.

Back above water, everyone felt a huge presence of spiritual energy.

Slowly making her way out of the water like an eerie water ghoul, she stepped higher and higher until she reached the water surface.

To say the four were stunned would be an understatement.

Taking a huge leap in the air, she held both sword high above her head.

Without missing a beat, the rest helped out dusdpute their dazed state.

All of them lunged towards the beast body with their swords, while TaiFeng went straight towards its neck.

With the dark sword eminating black smoke while Juexin radiatated a pure white light. It was as if she had harnessed the very power of Ying and Yang itself.

"DIIIEE!!!"

Triumphantly leaping forward she let let both swords make contact with the beasts flesh.

The beast head was severed with a perfect clean cut.

'I did it.' She proudly thought as she closed her eyes and fell into the water.

Xichen ran towards her at light speed, a terrified yell ripping out of his throat.

"QIAN HONG!"

To anyone wondering, TaiFeng has a leather sword harness around her waist. So no, she didn't just drop her sheath into the water.