Dark Moon Era

The moment Tang Ling heard the laughter, goosebumps rose all over his back and he was covered in cold sweat.

As a matter of fact, the moment he stepped into this strange house, Tang Ling had a feeling that something was living inside, but he never believed in the ghost that Ro Li mentioned. The feeling lingered in his heart as he moved through the stairs. He thought he might be able to summon whatever that lived in the house after Ro Xin deciphered the second formation.

“Tang Ling.” Ro Xin’s hand was sweaty as she tugged Tang Ling’s sleeve.

This time around, Ro Li did not stand behind his sister. Instead, he chose to follow Tang Ling.

“Brother.” Ro Xin bit her lower lip. That ceaseless laughter made her panic, but she still managed to stand up and followed Tang Ling and her brother.

No matter what, the three of them had stuck together and since Tang Ling had decided to go this path, she could not simply abandon the two of them.

As for what to do next, it was Tang Ling’s choice. After a deep breath, he stopped thinking. Even though the laughter was scary, irritating, and would easily cause one to panic, they could not just stand there forever.

Tang Ling trusted his guess and Ro Li’s instinctive judgment. Without any further hesitation, he climbed up the remaining seven flights of stairs to arrive in the dark corridor.

The moment his foot landed in the corridor, the scary laughter stopped and muffled pops echoed throughout the corridor. The candles embedded on both sides of the wall started to light up one after another, but they did not burn with the usual orange flames. Instead, they were blue in color. The waving flames shed its ghastly blue light over the corridor, making it extra creepy.

Ro Li and Ro Xin were behind Tang Ling, not daring to even breathe heavily.

“Ro Xin, this path should be the correct one.” Tang Ling’s sight went to the end of the corridor. Despite the dim blue candles, he was still able to spot the closed door at the end.

Maybe the real exit is beyond the door! Tang Ling had a strong feeling about it.

Even though the strange laughter had stopped, Ro Xin was still quite shaken as anxiety rumbled in her heart. She whispered, “I’m not sure.”

As for Ro Li, even though he claimed that this second floor was the correct way and he followed Tang Ling up, he looked more afraid than anyone else.

“Whatever. Let’s go!” Tang Ling was also nervous. It was not easy to face the unknown, but staying behind was not an option either, so Tang Ling took the first step forward.

Holding the edge of Tang Ling’s coat, Ro Li also took his first step, but before his foot landed, an old man’s sigh came, followed by some rattling coughs.

“Arghh!” Terrified, Ro Li shrunk behind Tang Ling who clenched his fists tightly and managed to land his first step firmly, followed by the second. Right after his second step landed, squeaks sounded throughout the corridor.

With a closer look, Tang Ling realized a dozen doors on both sides of the wooden walls, and all the doors were in the same color as the wall. There were no frames or any obvious logo, so upon first glance, it looked like it was part of the wall.

“Here it comes!” Ro Li screamed like a little girl. Even with his huge size, he was able to completely recoil behind Tang Ling.

Ro Xin was also afraid and could not help but grab Tang Ling’s hand tightly.

“What are you afraid of!? We’ll also become ghosts after we die, so…” Tang Ling was actually not as afraid as Ro Li, but his scream irritated him and cause his anxiety to bubble up, so he had to say something to calm the siblings down.

However, before he could finish his sentence, a dozen figures floated out of the doors at the same time.

“It’s the illusion from the formation. We might have picked the wrong path,” Ro Xin anxiously said behind Tang Ling.

Tang Ling fixed his gaze on the dozen figures, and upon a closer look, he realized that the figures appeared weird.

They were only two-thirds of a normal man’s height. Although they were covered in black hoods and mantles, judging from how flappy the hoods seemed, they were rather scrawny.

The hood over their heads covered their faces, but there were two dim blue lights beneath. Were they eyes? Regardless of whether they were eyes or not, they were not the eyes of a normal human being.

Tang Ling grabbed his alloy longsword from his back. Be it the punishment for choosing the wrong path or the final test before they broke out, since they had arrived, they might as well fight their way out. Armed with his sword, he started to walk towards the mantled-monsters, but then the old man’s voice spoke again, “Gona ǖΡngcua, ÈYe gahηθ….”

It was a strange language. After Kun restored part of Tang Ling’s memories, he was able to master several languages. Therefore, with the knowledge in his head, he was able to make out some unfamiliar languages and distinguish their origins.

However, the words from the old man were entirely new even to Tang Ling, so he was not able to differentiate which continent was it from.

Ro Li was also confused. He popped his head over Tang Ling’s shoulder and peered around. Only Ro Xin responded differently. She seemed to be able to make out the language and was muttering some strange words in response. Unfortunately, she was very soft, so Tang Ling could not hear what she was talking about.

Half a minute later, the old man’s voice stopped. Tang Ling looked at Ro Xin and wanted to ask her something, but something fell off the ceiling of the corridor, landing in front of them.

Tang Ling picked it up without a second thought. The item fit his palm and was exquisite. It seemed to be a rhombus connected to a cylindrical body.

The material should be a type of composite alloy as it shone with a silvery-white sheen. On top of the item were some complex patterns, and upon a closer look, some magical symbols were interweaved between the patterns, going through the cylindrical body.

More importantly, on top of the rhombus was a huge blue gemstone embedded. The blue gemstone was crystal clear and pure. It glimmered softly under the blue candlelight and was fascinating to look at.

Tang Ling was tempted to bag the item, but Ro Xin snatched it and as she tugged Tang Ling’s hand, the bottom of the cylinder poked his finger.

“Ouch, it hurts! What are you doing?” Tang Ling grumbled. He did not expect a tiny needle to be at the bottom of the cylinder. He did not know what Ro Xin had touched to cause the needle to emerge and poke his hand.

A drop of blood was engorged on his finger as he grumbled and the strange item absorbed it!

Then, as the blue gemstone shone, something similar to a small bolt of lightning struck Tang Ling, numbing his body. A dozen more blue light spots instantly appeared in his head.

Instinctively, Tang Ling discovered that he could make contact with these blue spots in his head with his spirit, but he had a feeling that his own spirit was not the one that the blue spots demanded. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to create a connection with the blue spots.

The whole process took no longer than 20 seconds. After multiple attempts and ultimately ending in failure, the blue spots disappeared from Tang Ling’s head.

“Can’t you control it?” Ro Xin asked.

Tang Ling might not know what Ro Xin meant by trying to control it, but she should be referring to the blue spots. He shook his head in disappointment. A tinge of disappointment flashed in her eyes. Then, she poked herself with the little needle.

Twenty seconds later, she failed as well.

“Fine, I guess we’re unable to get the prize for deciphering the second formation,” Ro Xin lamented in disappointment.

“What do you mean? Did you understand what the old man said?”

“Not entirely, but only partly. It’s a Celtic language, a type of magical language. Our family once did research on this so-called magical language in order to study this magical formation, so I learned a little. Never thought it would be useful at such a moment,” Ro Xin explained.

A magical language?

Right before Tang Ling could ask anything, Ro Li said pitifully, “Xin, you’ve only poked yourself, and even Tang Ling has tried too. However, you haven’t poked me, yet you already declare that we’ve failed?” Annoyed, he was not as scared as before since he realized that the mantled figures with blue eyes were not moving.

“You haven’t even recovered yet. You are still…” Before Ro Xin could finish, Tang Ling snatched the strange item and poked Ro Li’s hand.

“Ough!” Ro Li screamed before he bellowed, “Give me a heads up fir-”

Before he could finish, he was petrified. He stood in the middle of the corridor dully and seemed to have fallen into a trance of sorts.

Tang Ling passed the strange item back to Ro Xin. “He might not be fully recovered yet, but his talents are still within him. I have a feeling that Ro Li is the one who has the highest chance to get the gift or the reward from this place.”

“You really look highly upon my brother.” Ro Xin chuckled. “You must wonder what the old man said, don’t you?

“Actually, I’m not too sure myself, but it should be more or less the same. The voice told me about a gift for those who managed to decipher the second formation, something like a ‘puppet’. If the visitors are fated, he or she will be able to control the puppet. The key to control the puppet is within this Azure Light Scepter. Use the scepter to poke the fighter, and offer it a drop of blood to test whether one is fit to control the puppet.”

“Interesting.” Tang Ling rubbed his chin. “So, is there really a language used just for magical purposes?”

“Hmm, how should I put this? It’s not exactly a language. More precisely, it’s how should I say it? Like an eastern incantation. If you are being realistic, I guess you can say it is a slang of the world and only certain people can understand each other…Something like that.”

“Oh….” Tang Ling nodded and a strange feeling arose within him. Why did the Purple Moon era turn some legends from the old civilization into reality? How? What were the connections between them?

Did the old civilization miss out on something in their legacy which was, in turn, inherited by the Purple Moon era?

If his theory was valid, did it mean that another civilization existed on this planet before the old civilization? Where would he find evidence to prove it though? At least, the old civilization history and recordings did not mention anything similar.

The conversation between Tang Ling and Ro Xin surpassed 20 seconds, and even after two minutes, Ro Li still stood there like a statue.

Tang Ling got bored waiting. He walked to the black mantled-figure and lifted its hood because he wanted to find out what these puppets were like and what they were doing there.

However, he was shocked when he lifted the hood. The face resembled a human, but the shape was strange. The nose, brows, and mouth were crudely drawn with red ink on the white face like a child’s drawing. As for the eyes, there were two holes that glowed blue.

The one who made these puppets must be the old man. His sense of design was really lousy!

After Tang Ling familiarized himself with the appearance of the puppet, he knocked on its face with his finger. It sounded clear and crisp, and it felt like he was knocking on porcelain or metal. He then lifted the rest of the mantle.

Under the mantle was the body although it was ridiculously designed. The body looked like a bamboo connected to four limbs. Upon closer inspection, he realized that there were complex circuits on the bamboo-like body and limbs.

The circuits rang a bell in Tang Ling’s mind as he remembered that the patterns on the super-advanced machines shared similar circuits, albeit not the same. It felt like they came from a single source or civilization.

With that in mind, Tang Ling touched the puppet’s left arm in an attempt to test its integrity. To his surprise, clinks and clanks came from all over the puppet’s body like its joints were moving. Tang Ling looked up and saw the puppet’s head turn as it stared into his eyes with its ghastly blue lights. The ghastly blue lights without any sense of life caused goosebumps to crawl on his scalp.

Did it move? Had it come alive?!

Grinning, Tang Ling suddenly threw a punch at the puppet. Although the puppet might be clunky, it raised its arm and met Tang Ling’s punch with its own.

Tang Ling remained where he was after their fists met, but the puppet faltered a few steps backward. While Tang Ling felt pain around his knuckles, the puppet’s arm that met his punch did not even change in shape!

“Great!” Tang Ling exclaimed and he turned around to Ro Li. “Don’t move. Let me try slashing it with my sword.”

Ro Li pouted. Did he realize what happened?

Tang Ling raised his alloy longsword and wanted to slash the puppet.

Clang!

A clear clunk later, Tang Ling’s sword rebounded off and the puppet’s mantle was torn. On its bamboo-like body was a very shallow cut.

Is it this tough? Tang Ling and Ro Xin were surprised. With these puppets on their side, the soldiers from the Stardust Council might not pose such a huge problem anymore.

“Hey, bow down, peasant! I can control the puppets!” Ro Li declared joyfully.

“Yeah, Your Majesty. I’ll leave the Stardust Council to you then.” Tang Ling gave a big thumbs-up to Ro Li. At the same time, he started to wonder about the true legacy of the Ninth Ruins.