Wild Crimson Rose: Beloved Handyman Prince’s Courtesan Wife

The ones in black, on the other hand, merely got up and stood at attention without any wasted movement. Even if they were uncomfortable, no one could tell because of the black cloth covering most of their face. They quietly spread out and took positions at the perimeter of the Yaodu group and the demonic beasts, creating a protective bubble while they healed their shattered spines and radius or ulna. Though most of them probably couldn't hear due to the roar, groaning sounds, cussing, and other complaints were echoing off the walls in the cave.

Shen Tianyu's hearing came back along with a ringing echo as she swiveled her head around to take in their situation. This was the demerit to having better hearing than most. 

She felt the hand that was kneading her lower back pause and tap on her, as if trying to get her attention. She turned around and looked at Rong Jian.

"Are you alright? Need a bit more rest?" Though her ears were still ringing, she could still hear his voice over the background noise. 

"Uh... Yeah, I think we should take a bit more time to reorganize and stuff." Her voice sounded strange to her ears, as if she was underwater but without water at the same time. 

Rong Jian nodded and continued his duties of tending to his wife.

Old Qi was shaking its body and pawing at its ears and head. Old Gu was ruffling its body lightly hitting its head with its wings.

... 

Only after almost everyone in Yaodu had gotten their senses back and were able to stand up and move around did they start to gather up and get into positions again. 

"Okay! Let's gather around and see what was making all that noise!" Shen Tianyu was well enough to stand and walk around so she clapped her hands and got everyone's attention.

The Yaodu members gathered up and Rong Jian's subordinates surrounded them. Xiao Qing and them took up the rear. 

Continuing forward, they eventually found a much larger cavern at the end of the tunnel that had golden yellow light flowing out of it. The place wasn't glowing but it looked like something was emitting an immense amount of light.

"Eh? What is that?" Shen Tianyu asked. That wasn't a color that any lighting mechanism she knew made. Even really old lightbulbs only made yellow light, not golden-yellow. And electricity does not exist here yet so that definitely couldn't be it.

"There's no use standing here. Let's just go and see." Tianhao said as he took the first step forward.

They slowly advanced forward, peeking past the wall timidly. Tianhao furrowed his brow at what he saw and ushered for Shao Wei to come up front.

Curious, Shen Tianyu also came up to look, her partner trailing behind her. She and Shao Wei held onto the wall of the tunnel and peeked into the cave. 

The entrance was already big enough to accommodate a giant, Shen Tianyu really wondered how big the Master of the Monument was for so many places here to be so damn big. The inside of the cave was the size of a football field with its walls extending higher than a seven story building. Somewhat diagonal to the entrance that the humans were at, was a large barrier with a golden tint yet was emitting golden-yellow light that flooded the whole cave. Along the barrier were lines of Ancient Script scrolling vertically. The lines of Ancient Script, probably what made up and maintained the barrier appeared at the top, flowed downwards and disappeared into the stone floor. The shield took up most of the back part of the cave and stretched to the top, seemingly attached to the top like a light pillar. 

Inside the golden barrier with scrolling text was a large mass of… something. It was round and rolled into a brown ball with stony, amber spikes on it's supposed back. However, its legs could still be seen tucked under its head. It's eyes were closed and its back was slightly undulating, as if it was in a deep sleep instead of being sealed or imprisoned.

'... Don't tell me all that noise from before was because this thing was having a nightmare or something? That's so… stupid.' Shen Tianyu thought as black lines appeared on her forehead. 

"That's… quite an old and difficult one. Master might have a better idea of what that is." Shao Wei looked at the lines of Ancient Script and his face darkened.

"Huh? It's that old? Does it say what the creature inside is?" Shen Tianyu, who didn't know anything about Ancient Script asked. .

"It's a Sealing Barrier, quite a powerful one at that. The scrolling text is a by-product of all the lines of Ancient Script needed to create and maintain it. As for the creature inside… I can't really say. It's too hard to see from here and there are sides that I am unable to see from here. But I'm guessing it's some kind of ancient demonic beast or some such thing." Shao Wei patiently explained, pointing at the golden barrier.

"Well, anyone can guess as much." Shen Tianyu squinted and after a while, confirmed that each line of scrolling text differed from its previous and surrounding ones. 

"So… what do we do?" One of the older members that had also been curious and followed them questioned again. 

Shen Tianyu looked at Shao Wei, who shook his head, then at her adoptive father and master. Since she didn't know anything about Ancient Script nor the creature inside it, she wouldn't rashly make a decision. People that made decisions on things they knew nothing about as if they knew everything were all idiots. 

"Father." Shen Tianyu called out to him and he bristled, a blush rising on his bony cheeks as he straightened up. 

"Yes, daughter? What is it? You need daddy to help you?" He asked in a syrupy sweet voice. Shen Tianyu could almost see the hearts hitting her head.

"Master, some giant ancient creature seems to be sealed in the cave. Even Shao Wei is having difficulty deciphering it. What do you think we should do?" Shen Tianyu immediately changed her form of address and asked with a deadpan expression. 

'There's not really any other option but to advance forward. The problem is how to do so. We can go back and find if there's any other paths that we haven't found. We entered this place a bit hastily after all..' Shen Tianyu thought to herself.