Chapter 172: Escape!

With his eyes closed, Wang Zen scanned the energies in the room. This needed finess he lacked but he was sure he could at least find the strongest individuals in th room. Once he found them he walked up to them and convinced them to gatherup.

“So, you have the key to getting us out of here?” one of them said.

Zen nodded and touched the storage stone, a key appeared in his hand. The key was another storage stone which had stored the correct kind of energy to bring down the barrier.

“Why should we trust you?” the girl in the group said.

“Yeah, for all we know this is another trap set by the gargoyle. Why should we trust you?”

The five of the kids started to murmur their agreement.

Zen clutched the stone Lu Daomeng had given him even tighter. “I don’t know what to tell you to get you guys to trust me,” he said. “All I can do is show you the message.”

He stretched out the stone to them.

“Go on.” He urged.

The five kids reached out and touched the stone. Each saw the Thought Message hidden within and each agreed to help Zen but only after he gave the key to their defacto leader. Zen watched as the message was spread to all the other commoner kids and in an hours time, they were prepared.

The strongest and oldest culivators stood at the front, getting prepared to open the barrier and break through the door. They knew they would face enforcers, and it would be their job to break through.

The crystal was turned on and the barrier came down. The door then exploded off the hinges thanks to a few ki technique. Like a flood, the kids ran out. The enforcers were about to use elemental arts but the fastes kids reached and mobed the before they could throw their energies at the kids. They were then engulfed by the bodies as they continued on.

They burst out of the Bronze Holding doors. They ran to the north side of the building and stopped. Enforcers were chasing behind them and they were beginning to panic.

“Do we fight the enforcers?”

“Why have we stopped?”

“We should try to get to the exist.”

The kids began to murmur in panic as some took fighting stances facing the enforcers.

“Where is he?” the defacto leader said. “Where is the weird nose kid?”

“My name is Wang Zen!” Zen said as he emerged from the crowd.

“What do we do now?” he said. “Where is the steed Lu Daomeng said would be here?”

“I don’t…”

A giant creature slammed down before the group. It looked like an ember coloured giant snapping tortoise with leathery orange wings. Plumes of fire mushroomed from the creatures mouth. The kids felt like they were in a choke hold. The enforcers were coming up behind the and this creature had appeared before them.

“What is that?” the defacto leader said.

Zen narrowed his eyes at the silver eyed creature. “I-I think this is Shifu Lu’s steed.”

“Really?” the defacto leader said. “Then go to it.”

“What?”

“Come on, Plan Boy.” The leader shoved Zen forward. He gulped and walked closer to the beast.

“He-Hello.” He said as he slowly approached. “My name is Wang Zen.”

The fire in the beast’s mouth grew hotter the closer Zen got.

“I’m Lu Daomeng’s friend.”

The creature pounced and debris rose up. The kids screamed in horror.

“Oh no, it ate him!” one of the kids said.

When the dust settled, Zen was sitting on top of the beast. It flapped its wings and rose into the air. “Follow us!” he shouted as the beast flew forward.

Zen looked down and saw the commoner kids running after them. Some of the enforcers were taking out the kids one by one, knocking them down and keeping them down.

“Can you help them from the enforcers?” Zen shouted above the flapping of the leather wings.

The beast roared and boulders formed and shot behind like missiles. The enforcers had to scramble out of the way as boulders shot at them and those who could not escape were caught in the wake of the explosion of earth and debris.

“You can use Earth Elemental Arts?” Zen said. “I thought you used fire.”

The beast roared again, sptting out a stream of fire.

“You can use both?” Zen shouted in surprise. He looked down, seeing the enforcers having recovered and coming for the kids again. “Can you create a wall between the enforcers and the commoner kids?”

The creature turned around and from its mouth erupted another intense stream of fire which resulted in a fiery wall. The enforcers stopped and backed away from the heat of the fire wall. The beast continued on.

“Man! You’re powerful!” he said. He looked ahead and saw the academy wall coming up. “What are we going to do abou the wall?”

Earth began gathering around them. The heat around him also rose and he wondered if he would get cooked. The earth totally surrounded and engulfed him. The sphere burst into giagantic flame and suddenly, it looked like a meteor heading for the high and thick walls of the academy. The meteor slammed into the wall and there was an explosion and a section of the wall was toppled over.

When the dust had settled, Zen was still atop the beast. His face was marked with black soot but he was mostly unharmed. Zen thrust his fist up and shouted invictory as the beat joined him in its roar. The commoner kids also shouted in victory as they escaped through the wall.

The beast landed on a tall mountain overlooking the city. Zen hopped off of it. He rubbed the creatures snout.

“You are a magnificent creature.” He said. “Thanks for all your help.”

An explosion in the city drew Zen’s attention. He looked on at it in worry.

“Its begun.”