“Go!” Master Liaoran urged and poio the staircase on the right: “You go down this one, I’ll go dowher.”

  “Master, are you alright?” Marcus asked with a frown. He had never seen the master this way - he ale, sweaty, and with gray, bruise-like marks scattered around his ned his shoulders.

  “Fighting the corruption is difficult. This monk still manage.” Master Liaoran shook his head then forced a smile: “Remember Marcus, whehing here is dohere is some more to be done.”

  “I uand fully, master.” Marodded. The scroll given to him before they embarked on this quest, was kept securely in his inner jacket pocket and had always kept his focus on it.

  Master Liaoran took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment, the color of blood came back to his face, just a little. “Go.” He uttered with a slightly hoarse voice: “And be careful - they could still e after us, even as we went down there.”

  “What do we o do when we go down there?” Tae Kuo asked.

  “The tral pilr’s base will be locked. And it could require the efforts of several in order to open. That, this monk could not do alone.”

  “Go it.” Tae Kuo the master: “Please take care as well, Master.”

  “What is ‘The Utter Un’? ” Marcus asked Tae Kuo the moment they ehe dark staircase. There was only a little bit of lighting provided by some small lights embedded in the walls on both sides behihid foggy gss, thus they all o be extra careful with each step.

  “It’s some kind of by-product of evil rituals. ” Tae Kuo shook his head: “You know the kind of bck tarry slime that oozes from the cracks and ies of haunted pces or even just deserted residential areas? It’s a bit like that but intensified by more than a thousand-fold. It’s - corrosive to an unimaginable degree. A droplet of it turn a whole city bloto haunted houses, killing everyone in a matter of days in the process.”

  “How could anyone use it?” Mick asked.

  “No one could. It must be diluted before it could be tained and onized.” Tae Kuo frowned: “But even so, it’s hard to think someone could fight it just using their own strength…”

  “Will he be okay after this?” Marcus interrupted Tae Kuo.

  “I don’t know, detective. Wish I knew.”

  The staircase was not long, only the narrowness and the phting made their journey down trying and depressing. The moment they came out of the staircase and the wall in which it was embedded, they found themselves at the end of a bridge leading to the tral pilr. The bridge was just wide enough for a small car to drive on, with waist-tall handrails on both sides and humble but somehow dirty looking gray tiles on the surface.

  Master Liaoran appeared on the bridge to their right, apparently the staircase he chose led him farther away from where the entrance was.

  Far ahead from Marcus and Gloria’s position was the pilr with a hexagon base made of matte semi-transparent white crystal. The final and unoccupied bridge was ected to a closed red metal door oher side.

  “You go first, I’ll stay at a safe distance.” Master Liaoran Marcus and Gloria from his position, as he sat down in a meditative pose: “Tell me know what you see. If this mooo close, the unsed un could affect the arrays at the base.”

  “Uood.” Marcus took a deep breath, trated his Qi and began walking forward. His eyes shifted regurly to the other bridge and the road beh his feet. The giant hole made by the debris from higher levels was still dropping smaller pieces of stone and bricks, most of which just fell to the bottomless hole below, some of which fell onto the empty bridge.

  The group without Master Liaoran reached the base of the tral pilr after less than five minutes. And immediately they saw what was inside of the base: a stoe, the size of a car, and shaped like a sword.

  “A sword pte.” Tae Kuo gasped as he went around the base, trying to find a spot where he could see through the foggy and matte crystal wall. He tried out several spots, then turowards Master Liaoran: “Master - there’s a sword pte in here!”

  “A sword pte?” Master Liaoran asked: “Are you certain?”

  “Yes! He’s right!” Marcus answered for Tae Kuo as he circled the entire crystal chamber: “Looks like there’s no door from around - does it open from below?”

  “Are there any symbols around the base? Or are there any symbols on the wall? ” Master Liaoran asked.

  The rest of the group immediately studied the entire crystal chamber, from almost every ahey could fix their eyes on.

  “I’m afraid there’s nothing.” Gloria shook her head and said to the master: “And the thing’s pletely sealed off from every er. Where do you suggest we look?”

  “No. This monk could uand what it was for now. It would seem it was designed in a way that those with physical bodies would not be able to enter.” Master Liaoran sighed: “Which means, this would require oo be the same way in order to do what we o do.”

  “No! You ’t!” Just this moment, two gray shadoeared in the air above the crystal chamber.