[A.B.P.P.E.] Bk 2 - Chapter 57 - Connected System of Arrays

Yin Hu continued down the stairway with Shui and the dragons following along. He could hear the rest of the party slowly trail behind them as they surveyed the massive cavern trying to hide the awe in their voices. No one stopped as they crossed veritable mountains of Superior Qi Stones on their path to the central source of light and energy within the cavern.

The crystal itself hadn’t wavered once since their entrance. 

All of Yin Hu’s worries slowly pulled away as nothing jumped at them during the entrance and subsequent moments after. If anything would have attacked, it would likely have been the moment they stumbled through in a heap of limbs and unable to protect themselves. 

That didn’t mean he would suddenly stop suspecting something going wrong though. 

Just that it might not be as bad as he expected it to. 

Yin Hu held onto Shui’s hand as they pushed forward until they reached said crystal. The little girl was bubbling with excitement and unrepressed desire to dive into the Qi Stones and swim through them. Her and the dragon hatchlings. As their gang boss, none of them started their loot goblin experience until she was released from his grasp. Patiently floating around the two of them, zipping back and forth, but never touching any of the treasure. 

He stood before said crystal, studying its smooth sides and the sharp point it came to. It had to be about as tall as he was and floated just an inch off the ground.

Shui tried to grab at it, but he held her back.

Just in case the Void Blob is still alive in there and just hiding. Never know with something capable of plotting the destruction of an entire race as it had. 

The rest of the group arrived a few moments later. 

“Patriarch,” Zhong Da said as he got closer. “Do you wish I light up the cavern?”

Yin Hu nodded. More light wouldn’t hurt the situation at all. If anything it would expose whatever still existed in this cavern that hadn’t died. Though he had no conviction that anything could have survived without any food or water stuck in here. Not unless they figured out how to turn Qi into their source of existence and sustenance. 

He blinked. 

Isn’t that what cultivators basically do?

“Light up the room. Be wary of anything that may exist in this area.” 

“Yes, Patriarch,” Zhong Da bowed as he waved his hand. 

Yin Hu could feel the air shift within the cavern as small white flames began to spring up in the dozens and growing in number. They spread across the area and soared up to the ceiling, making the entire place light up in a bright, stark white. 

It looked oddly beautiful to see such a strange flame. Giving Yin Hu a sense of purity and tranquility very much unlike anything he had faced so far. 

Everything in this world and even the majority of what he had in his rice bag gave him the sense of evil, destruction, annihilation, and worse things. Even Shui’s hammer, what had been the least threatening thing he had found back then, still inspired a pernicious guardianship he had liked. Anything that attacked his little girl would find themselves crushed by what he later learned was a bear the size of a kaiju. 

Feeling this sense of serenity did not seem right. 

The rest of the party winced at the sudden change in luminosity as well. 

Da Ruis floated past them and around the crystal. Humming and nodding along as he studied something no one else saw. “I see. I see. Quite the genius set up, but… huh… these parts are inverted? Wondering why they would suddenly do that?”

“You’ve learned something?” Yin Hu asked. 

“Of course! This crystal here is connected to the very structure of this treasure room. Centralized as it is, it has the ability to syphon energy from untainted and unaffiliated sources like the Qi Stones that are all on the grounds. It powers itself and releases energy back into the room. Which powers a smaller number of Qi Stones to extend its life by roughly twenty…? Twenty nine percent. Quite ingenious if you ask me. While the secondary release is tainted, it’s the crystals own energy and hence can be used instead of any other thing.”

Yin Hu remembered something like that from the main mural he had found first. Though a lot vaguer. 

They had created the perfect power source.

“You said something was wrong with it? Inverted?”

Da Ruis nodded. “Yeah. Some of these runes and engravings were flipped…” the old ghost frowned. “Oh… Oh wow. How could something be so dastardly?”

The group waited for his final conclusion, but Yin Hu already knew what he was going to say. 

The Void Blob had done a number on these people and turned their very strength against them in a malevolent way. Its sole purpose had been to destroy them and their civilization…

Almost like it was made to do exactly that? Huh? 

“A weapon was released into this area,” Da Ruis rubbed his beard as his expression turned dark. “A void thing. One that isolated the crystal and changed its function to trap everything within its barrier. The amount of power and Void Qi still lingers in the air now that I noticed it. Vile thing that makes even the First Calamity’s use of such destructive energies feel childish and innocent. All this occurred because someone was stupid enough to believe in false promises.”

“False promises? How do you figure that?” Zhong Da asked. 

Everyone else remained unnaturally quiet as they listened to what was being said. This was all far beyond their pay grade. Especially when Yin Hu hadn’t dismissed them from this direct area just yet. 

“You can feel a corruptive Dao. Something depraved that attacks in hidden ways. Striking at your greatest fears and desires to get you to succumb to their desires.”

Yin Hu stared hard at the old ghost until Da Ruis noticed. “You seem very familiar with something of that nature.”

“I-I’ve had my fair share of failures and mistakes. Things I’ll never fall for again,” Da Ruis looked away. 

It’s the black dots. The same ones that surrounded the White Cultivator at the top of the palace. Slowly consuming him and merging to create the Void Blob that eventually killed everyone. Best I tell them about it. Better they know of somethings existence than learn too late. 

Yin Hu made sure they all gathered closer as he began to regale them the story of these people. He could see the questions in their eyes ever since he shattered the first illusion, now they would know exactly what had happened to a race far stronger than they were. It wasn’t just strength that protected you. It was a collective effort that had helped them defeat the Void Blob. 

Even then, after a pyrrhic victory, they had still fallen for its last machinations. 

“...all starting with a white furred cultivator with red eyes who had been at the very peak of cultivation in this realm. If I could leave you all with a single piece of advice. A lesson to never forget. Do not ever grow complacent because there things out there that survive off of fear and destruction as we must breathe, eat, drink, and cultivate to sustain ourselves. While we build civilizations and create wonderful societies, the opposite exists as well with burning hunger to cause catastrophe.”

Yin Hu looked them all in the eyes one by one, only to pause at Zhong Da who had a strange expression. 

“Zhong Da? You have something to add?” he pressed the one-armed man.

He looked up and nodded. Reached over to grab Wu Xui’s hand and held it tight before he spoke. “We were attacked by a white furred bunny with red eyes. The White Demon…”