Ultimate Rice System 83 Why Are You Here?

Tianfei pushed a bookcase to the side to reveal a staircase beneath. The stairs were long and there was was no apparent end to it. Although faint, there was a small sound of water dropping deep inside.

"We found this when you were unconscious."

Xin Fan paused while staring down.

"There is only one way to go."

The statues also appeared to point in this direction. The statues have started to change from their previously G.o.d like appearance. Now they resembled more like devils beckoning them to enter. Although there was no ground to this, Xin Fan felt like the end is near. Xin Fan was the first to head down the stairs while being closely followed by Tianfei and Chilong. As they descended, the opaque brick walls slowly became translucent before it disappeared altogether. Like before, despite there being a roof, the sky was clear as if there was nothing there at all. The floor consisted of tiles with a layer of water over it . The water was shallow, only 5 centimeters deep.

*Cluck?*

Xin Fan squinted his eyes to see a figure in the distance. It was some sort of bird however most of his vision was obscured by something. Slowly the water started to swell. Air slowly appeared in the water and bubbles started to form and rise out of the water.

"Careful!"

The bubbles danced gently around them and simply bounced off their skin. Xin Fan slowly headed towards the figure while being careful of his surroundings. The bird turned it's head to look at him. The red crest contrasted greatly with the blue of the water making it extremely noticeable. It's pure white feathers shimmered brightly against the starlight and the water.

"Hey...that's a chicken right?"

"I...I think so...Be careful, It's probably not an ordinary chicken."

The Xin Fan slightly tilted his head and stared at the chicken intently. The chicken tilted it's head in wonder mimicking his actions.

*Cluck?Cluck*

*Drip*

Xin Fan flinched jumping back with caution. He seemed uneasy at the situation.

"S...sorry that was me..."

Xin Fan turned to only see Tianfei rubbing some drool from her mouth with her sleeves. Xin Fan relaxed for a moment before he had a gut wrenching sensation.

*pop*

Xin Fan felt a portion of his back started to hurt. It wasn't a sharp piercing feeling, more like the lasting pain after a bruise. He felt something cold on his back. Xin Fan rubbed his back only to see the horrified expression on Tianfei's face.

"Xin Fan! You are bleeding."

Xin Fan stared at his hands to see a crimson fluid on it. Although it appeared like blood, there seemed to be something mixed in it.

"It's okay...It's a small wound...only a scratch."

Xin Fan stared wearily at the chicken. He slowly approached while avoiding the bubbles around him. The chicken stared at him with eyes filled with no malice. It's eyes trembled as it watched Xin Fan approached.

*Cluck!Cluck!*

The chicken flapped it's wings violently as it tried to scare Xin Fan away. It jumped up high in the air while splashing water everywhere as it flapped it's wings slowly hovering backwards trying to escape. Xin Fan quickly took a step in a retreat while watching the chicken intently.

*pop*

Xin Fan felt something break along the thigh of his right leg. A bit of red started to stain through the red on his robes. Internally, Xin Fan felt a sense of fear to this chicken.

'What a frightening chicken.'

*Pop*

Xin Fan restrained his urge to move trying to take in all the information he could. What he saw next only confused him more. Swelling started to appear along the top of the chicken's wing. It swelled up to around the size of a grape before bursting with a tiny hole allowing red blood to shoot out like a water jet.

'Huh? Why is it getting hurt?'

A white aura started to emit from the chicken as the wound healed up almost completely.

*c.o.c.kADOODLEDOO!*

"Careful Xin Fan...that is no demonic beast...it's a holy beast."

There was always one way of determining whether a beast is an enemy or not; the color of their aura. Xin Fan's eyes sharpened as he looked in caution. Not because he is faced with a holy beast but it simply meant that there was something else that was a common enemy. Xin Fan gave a small bow to the chicken as a small sign of apology before looking around.

"What is it doing here?"

Chilong already deduced that sudden movements were a bad idea. He slowly released his white aura around him to scout the area. In the distance, the chicken too was doing the same thing with it's own white aura. It's sharp talons prodded the ground in search of something.

"Holy beasts are the opposite of demonic beasts. They are are arch enemies. Either the chicken was caught or the chicken is hunting it."

The chicken was vigilant to Xin Fan and Tianfei however ignored the presence of Chilong. It likely a.s.sumed the white aura was one of it's own and simply accepted it.

*Cluck?*

The chicken did a quick jump and lifted it's leg and kicked down. It's leg swelled before popping but not before it made a crack in the ground as if attacking something. It's legs healed up almost immediately and once again the chicken called out.

*c.o.c.kADOODLEDOO!*

"There is something below."

Chilong seemed to have sensed something. As did the chicken, Chilong focused his attention on the ground.

"We need to get it out somehow."

Chilong slammed his axe on the ground not fearing repercussions and created a hole. There was an invisible barrier that separated the bottom and the top. Chilong gritted his teeth as he felt a something bulge on his shoulder. Despite this, he once again lifted up his axe and slammed down creating another hole. This time, nothing happened.

"Xin Fan! Can you think of something?"

Chilong pushed all the work onto Xin Fan to find out how everything worked. Chilong slowly smeared herbal paste over his wounds without making quick movements. The wounds may be small but treatment was always a good idea. Meanwhile, Xin Fan was conversing with Xin Kong for ideas.

'Can you think of anything?'

'Maybe it's invisible.'

Xin Fan rubbed his chin as he looked around carefully.

"I didn't get hurt the second attack."

Xin Fan took a quick glance at Chilong who was still rubbing his healing wounds.

'Didn't get hurt....hmm?'

'Maybe it has a cool down.'

Xin Fan flicked out his arm in the air. Almost immediately a small swell started to form on his cheek under his eye and popped.

"Xin Fan!"

Xin Fan ignored the pain and waited a few moments flicking out his arm. Nothing happened.

'That was 3 seconds.'

After waiting for a few seconds, he repeated it once again. A swell formed around his elbow and burst into a jet of crimson.

'Hmm...around 5 seconds.'

'Why does this number keep coming up?'

Xin Fan wiped the blood on his face and stared at the ground for a brief moment before punching it. He attempted to use an earth technique that he found a while back.

"Earth Crash"