“Ah!” Zhi Nu, the Weaver Girl, accidentally fell after running for such a long distance and the palace guards were catching up on them. Niu Lang the Cowherd Boy stopped to help Zhi Nu up gently, just like how he would pick a flower from the fields.
Niu Lang would have already given up a long time ago if not for the Heavenly Astral Ox cape that he was wearing. There was no other way he would have been able to run for so long at such a fast pace and keep the Palace Guards away from them.
“Zhi Nu, I think we have run far enough away from the Heavenly Palace. I counted and confirmed that the number of palace guards that were chasing us is all here. Niu Lang stood right in front of Zhi Nu as the Palace Guards, along with Bin Yong and Jia Le, approached them.
“You sure can run fast, but no matter how fast you run, you will never be able to outrun us! Especially me, He Bao!” The senior palace guard, He Bao, shouted at them and with a hand gesture, five other heavily armoured palace guards surrounded them.
“Lady Zhi Nu, for conspiring with that mortal, I am afraid I have to punish you too!” He Bao unsheathed his sword from its scabbard before Niu Lang unexpectedly spoke out loudly.
“You two! You two are mercenary immortals, right? Will you listen to my plea?” Niu Lang kneeled before Bin Yong and Jia Le, begging for mercy. “I am really in love with Zhi Nu. I do not care about what happens to me but I beg you to please take her away from this mess! I am willing to give anything and everything to you if you help her! Even my next life or my future lives will be in service to you!” Niu Lang banged his head against the celestial floor as hard as he could to show his sincerity.
Niu Lang knew there was no way to get out of this alive but if the two mercenary immortals who were rumoured to do anything as long as the price was right truly lived up to their rumours, then maybe Zhi Nu might have a chance to be left alive and escape from this mess. That way, he could buy some time for Zhi Nu to escape.
“What are you talking about Niu Lang?! I will not leave you alone to die!” Zhi Nu cried and immediately hugged Niu lang to stop him from kowtowing in front of the mercenary immortals. She figured these immortals probably received a hefty payment from the Heavenly Empress, which would probably last them for a lifetime.
“Hahaha! Useless efforts by a useless mortal! Your act of cowardice has entertained me sufficiently, now you shall pay the price for loving our Lady Zhi Nu!” He Bao rushed towards them with the intention to kill the mortal. Zhi Nu would be injured by his strike but he knew that the Palace Doctors were proficient enough to fix an immortal up.
*Ba -Clang~!*
A small beetle-shaped bronze shield appeared in front of He Bao and the strike was deflected by it. “Niu Lang, you said you would pay us with everything you had, right?” Bin Yong smirked when he saw He Bao’s stunned face. Niu Lang shouted “Yes! Anything!!!” At that instant, he quickly took out his horn that was carved from the Heavenly Astral Ox and blew into it hard.
*Buuuuu oooooonnnnnnn*
The hunting horn echoed through the area, and the next scene completely befuddled the palace guards. That was because they saw a giant shadow lurking over Niu Lang’s back. “Hmmph, I will take care of them, run away!” A giant black minotaur with leather shoulder armour and leg guards grunted at Niu Lang. Zhi Nu placed her hands over her mouth to mask her shock at the reveal of Niu Lang’s secrets.
Bin Yong had decided to stay behind with the Minotaur to fight against the guards in order to buy more time for Jia Le and the couple to escape. It was not wise to split the party and divide their forces, but Bin Yong figured that if he could keep this minotaur alive, it might prove to be a formidable ally in later fights. He participated in enough of Jin’s dungeons to know that this was just the beginning. In addition, this seemed to merely be the start of the legend, and therefore, only the start of the dungeon, meaning the worst had yet to come.
The minotaur snorted at the palace guards before howling loudly to display his fury. With his two handed great sword, the minotaur bashed a nearby palace guard with it, which caused him to fly towards the Heavenly Palace. Jia Le took this chance to grab Zhi Nu before running off with Niu Lang as they ran towards the Temporal Gate of Heavens which connects the Heavens, Earth and Hell.
“You are not getting away!” He Bao roared in anger and blew into his own hunting horn. Subsequently, two animated stone lions, one black, one white, crawled out from the celestial floor. These were the most common Regal guardian beasts that most senior palace guards were able to command.
The type of material the guardian beasts were made out of showed how powerful the senior guard was. Stone was the weakest while gold was the strongest. Most of the guardian lions that were summoned came as a pair. The Black Stone Lion represented Yin while the White Stone Lion represented Yang.
“Go hunt down this mercenary immortal, tear him into pieces and then track down the others and kill all of them. Go, my stone lions!” He Bao commanded as he continued his fight with the giant Minotaur. “I promise I will kill you!” He Bao cursed under his breath at Niu Lang who pulled such a trick on them.
The summoned Minotaur was proving to be a tough opponent for the Palace Guards, mainly because its origin was the Heavenly Astral Ox, a named entity unlike the palace guards who had only been training without much real combat experience.
Not wanting the Minotaur to do all the work, Bin Yong also went into a fighting stance. Just from seeing the small interactions between the palace guards and the Minotaur, he knew that this would be a tough fight…
———-
“For a place in heaven, it’s surprisingly quiet.” Jia Le casually commented to herself, which made her chuckled. “It’s a dungeon instance! If this were real, I don’t think we would have been able to run away that easily simply due to overpopulation.” That’s what she thought Bin Yong’s reply to her comment would have been and smiled. She and the star crossed couples eventually reached the Temporal Gates of Heaven. However, the three of them were met with another obstacle.
“I am sorry but you are not allowed to pass, Lady Zhi Nu. And little mortal, I have to punish you for escaping my security check! ” Two gate gods, also known as Men Shen, stopped them right at the Temporal Gates of Heavens. These divine guardians of doors and gates were used to protect the heavens against evil influences and to encourage good hearted ones to enter.
“Please! Let us go! All I want is to have a simple life with Niu Lang! Nothing else!” Zhi Nu tried to plead the gate gods for their forgiveness. Niu Lang once again felt useless and felt that he had made Zhi Nu suffered.
Jia Le noticed the look on Niu Lang’s face and recognised it immediately. She patted Niu Lang on the shoulder and said, “Love conquers all. Believe in it!” Upon hearing that, Niu Lang did not know if he should be thanking the mercenary immortal for her advice since he still had no idea whether or not he believed it.
“By the Heavenly Empress’ Decree, I cannot allow you to pass through. However, if you prove yourself worthy through our test of strength! ” The door gods, who were talking in unison, suddenly stopped and came out from their posts at the gates.
“I, Duke Zhuang, Divine Left Gate Guardian of the Temporal Gates of Heavens.” The red faced door god shouted out his name and wielded his two handed mace, going into a fighting stance.
“And I, Duke Zhong Wu, Divine Right Gate Guardian of the Temporal Gates of Heavens!” The green faced door god announced his name too as he swung his halberd out in the open.
“Will battle all of you. Till then, You shall not pass!” Both Divine guardians of the Temporal Gates of Heavens shouted in unison as they readied their weapons against the group.
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