Chapter 132: BEAST OF MIST

CHAPTER

132

BEAST OF MIST

JIEYUAN

—∞—

Once swindled, twice guarded. Jieyuan had learned his lesson.

This time around, he didn’t just stand there waiting for Meiyao to get them into another mess. The moment he realized what was happening, he rushed over and grabbed her shoulder—all the while bracing himself in case she lashed out like last time.

A tremor ran through Meiyao’s body—he saw it, and felt it through his hand on her shoulder—before she turned to look at him. There was still something distant about her eyes. Something unfocused.

“Jieyuan?” she asked. Her voice was soft, indistinct. She’d barely spoken before she started turning her head again, toward the cave entrance.

Oh no, you don’t. Not on my watch.

Keeping one hand firmly on her shoulder, he reached up to her chin with the other and gently but firmly turned her face back toward him.

“Meiyao, look at me,” Jieyuan said. “Look at me. You’re falling into a trance. Your bloodright’s acting up again. Snap out of it.”

Her stare remained blank for a few moments. Then she started frowning. She tried to look away again, but his hand on her chin kept her from turning. Her frown grew stronger.

At least she didn’t try to pull away. A good sign.

Daojue approached quietly from the side. He’d put Gleaming End away earlier to climb the Violetsoul eagle, but he had it out again, both hands on the spear.

Meiyao’s eyes cleared. Fully, this time, all the blankness driven away.

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a firm nod.

Jieyuan searched her face, looking for any sign something was off. Finding nothing, he let go of her chin but kept his other hand on her shoulder. “You’re good now? You sure?”

“I am.”

“What happened?”

Meiyao frowned again. She reached up to her own shoulder and took the hand he had there. Then she firmly pried it off—but didn’t let go, shifting her grip so they were holding hands instead. “It’s calling me.”

“Calling you?” Jieyuan narrowed his eyes, squeezing her hand. Calling. Meiyao had used that same term back in Viridian Death City. He didn’t like the sound of it one bit. “What is calling you?”

“My blood,” Meiyao said. “My blood’s calling me.”

Jieyuan didn’t think it was possible, but he liked the sound of that even less. “Meiyao—”

“I’m sorry,” she said, and he felt his heart drop. “But I need to answer the call. I need to go inside.”

That was exactly what he’d feared hearing. Word for word.

“Meiyao,” he said. She tried to speak, but he cut her off. “You remember what happened in Viridian Death City.”

“I do. But, Jieyuan—”

“You remember the conversation we had afterward.”

She looked pained now. “You don’t—”

“You remember,” Jieyuan stressed, “what we decided. That the next time something like this happened, we would listen to my instincts. Not yours.”

“I…” She seemed like she was about to say something else, but then stopped, catching herself. She bit her lip, then asked, softly, “What are your instincts telling you, then?”

Jieyuan reached for Huaxin, prodding at their bond.

There was no response.

Huaxin was quiet.

Jieyuan frowned, tried it again. Huaxin? I really need you right now, buddy.

A pulse came back. Vague confusion, edged with frustration. The same feeling Huaxin had given him when the Violetsoul eagle appeared.

“Jieyuan?” Meiyao asked. She was looking at him intently now. “The Fatebloom Heart. What is it saying?”

“It’s…” Jieyuan worked his jaw. Just for a moment, he considered lying. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not to Meiyao. He sighed. “It’s unsure.”

If not for the way she’d slipped into a trance, he wouldn’t have argued about entering the cave. If anything, he’d have pushed for it. A Violetsoul beast had brought them here. Whatever this was, it was big. It might be death waiting inside—but it might just as easily be an opportunity.

But that trance… He couldn’t stop thinking of what had taken place in the Viridian Cradle, with Meiyao and the Sacred Source. Couldn’t stop wondering what would have happened if he hadn’t managed to drag Meiyao away.

He didn’t want to find out.

“I see,” Meiyao said. She nodded toward the cave. “If… If you don’t think it’s a good idea, you can wait out—”

“Don’t,” Jieyuan bit out. “It’s not my safety I’m afraid for.”

Meiyao’s gaze softened. “Jieyuan, a Violetsoul beast brought us here. Brought me, to this cave. Do you really think we can just turn around and leave?”

“I know,” Jieyuan said. “Trust me, I know. But we can at least try to figure out some other way, or at least think this—”

Meiyao tipped her chin at the trees behind them. “Those trees behind you—do you know what realm they are? Violetsoul.”

A chill ran through him. “You mean—”

“We’re in a Violetsoul zone,” Meiyao said. “All the beasts here should be Violetsoul, too. More importantly… this is it. I can tell it now.”

“It?” he asked.

“The center,” Meiyao said. “We’re at the center of the Dome.”

“Oh.”

The center—what they’d been chasing since the moment Meiyao claimed it was their way out. She’d never explained how she knew or what it meant. Only that whatever lay in the center was their ticket out.

It had been a long time since he’d really thought about it. It had seemed so far away. He’d thought it’d take years—decades—to reach it.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He turned back toward the cave, eyeing the fissure in the cave wall. It still rubbed him the wrong way, how Meiyao had fallen into a trance like that. But he didn’t have any more ground to stand on.

If this was their destination, it had to happen sooner or later.

Jieyuan shook his head. Chuckled.

Might as well get it over with, then.

“Well,” he said, “color me convinced.”

Meiyao smiled. But as she turned back to the cave, her smile faded, her lips pressing into a line as she took on a resolute look. She unsheathed her saber, then let go of his hand to hold it properly. Then she nodded at him and set off toward the cave.

Jieyuan kept pace, walking by her side. His hands hovered over the shafts of the Shifting Feathers for a moment, but he went for a pair of scale daggers instead. He didn’t think they’d be of that much use—they were only Orangesoul, and at least one Violetsoul beast was involved here—but he’d still get more out of them than his short-glaives.

Daojue was on his other side. He hadn’t voiced an opinion or otherwise said anything, but Jieyuan hadn’t expected him to.

Meiyao didn’t hesitate for even a second as she reached the mouth of the cave, just brushed off the vines hanging over the entrance as she walked straight inside. But she’d barely taken another step when she suddenly stopped.

Jieyuan and Daojue stepped inside only to stop too. The entrance opened into a tunnel just wide enough for the three of them to stand side by side. The ground, walls, and ceiling were rough and uneven, lit only by the glow of the viridian mist.

What gave them pause, though, was how just three feet in front of them, the viridian mist thickened, blocking off the view.

Jieyuan shot a look at Meiyao. She was frowning, but looked fine otherwise. No signs of another trance. Still, he inched closer to her, just in case that changed.

Xiaohu was still standing on Meiyao’s shoulders, the viridian prowler as alert as Jieyuan had ever seen her.

“Do we keep going?” Jieyuan asked.

Meiyao glanced at him and, without a word, stepped forward—then stopped. Her frown deepened.

Puzzled, Jieyuan stepped forward as well. The thick wall of mist slid back the same distance as his step.

Meiyao took another step, then another. Jieyuan and Daojue followed suit. And Jieyuan found that the distance between him and the thicker mist stayed perfectly constant. A yard away.

The viridian mist was already bad enough as it was, but now it couldn’t even play by its own rules.

They did have someone with them who was supposed to be immune to the mist, though.

“Meiyao,” Jieyuan said, “can Xiaohu tell anything?”

That earned him a look from both Meiyao and Xiaohu. Meiyao glanced down at the little beast on her shoulders, and Xiaohu twisted her neck up to look at her owner.

Meiyao shook her head. “She can’t. The mist here’s hitting her as hard as it hits us. Her abilities aren’t working.”

Xiaohu let out a soft, whiny yip.

“Rot. So what now? Keep going?”

“Keep going,” Meiyao confirmed.

They kept going.

Half of Jieyuan’s attention stayed on the tunnel and the mist. The tunnel was uneven. Width and ceiling height shifted with every step, but never by much.

The other half stayed on Meiyao, ready for the first sign she might slip into a trance again.

They walked in silence. The only sounds were the ring of greaves on rock and the grit crunching underfoot. The denser wall of mist kept its neat yard of distance, step for step.

Close to half an hour later, it happened.

The mist ahead thinned all at once, pulling back like a curtain.

There wasn’t any more tunnel beyond, but a massive cavern.

A vaulted, dome-like ceiling arched high overhead, the floor beneath spread wide and oddly level. The air changed too—colder, stiller—and their last footsteps before they came to a sudden stop returned to them with a clean, hollow echo.

It was empty—a vast, hollowed-out space in the mountain—except for one thing.

One creature, lying at the center of it.

If it even counted as a creature.

Thick, glowing viridian mist wrapped a large, bulky form, roiling and churning.

From where it reclined on the stone, Jieyuan could only make out its shape.

Four powerful legs, folded under it. A broad chest tapering to a sleek body. A thick tail, almost doubling its length, curled along its flank. And a long neck that rose off its chest to a narrow, angular head.

Only the eyes showed through. Pure green orbs, brighter than the mist. From just above them sprang the silhouettes of two massive, twisted, antler-like horns, reaching back into the air.

The eyes stared at them, unblinking.

Lying there with its neck up, its head was about level with theirs, if not slightly higher up. This new beast was big—but only by Redsoul standards. The Violetsoul eagle from before could’ve easily swallowed it whole.

But it wasn’t just the eagle’s size that had set Jieyuan’s instincts screaming; rather, it’d been something about its presence. He got that same feeling from this new beast.

Only much stronger.

Way stronger.

With the eagle, he hadn’t been able to describe just what that feeling was. It’d been too vague, more of an itch in the back of his mind than anything else.

Now it was much clearer. It was a presence—an impression, like the feedback from soulsense. But not soulsense. As far as his soul was concerned, there was nothing in front of him, just a void.

No, this impression came to him on a deeper level. One he hadn’t even known existed.

And he knew what it was. It was power. So much of it that it had weight. That it radiated on some fundamental level, spreading outwards, permeating the space—the reality—around it.

Bearing down on him.

Jieyuan took a step back.

Or at least he tried to.

Nothing happened. His body didn’t move.

Jieyuan’s blood turned to ice.

He tried again—to turn his head, to move his leg, to do anything. Nothing worked.

It wasn’t even that he felt resistance or something holding him in place. His body just didn’t move. He could still feel his body, but when he tried to make it do anything, nothing happened.

Jieyuan was no stranger to paralyzing effects. Absolute Will Command could have that effect—both on the target and on the user. But this was different. There was no external will here to fight his own. There was nothing he could push against, nothing he could force.

His body just couldn’t move, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t even move his eyes, his field of vision fixed. He could just barely see Daojue to his left—frozen just like he was, unnaturally still even by Daojue’s standards—but Meiyao was entirely out of sight.

Jieyuan wasn’t breathing, either—and suddenly he found himself awfully grateful that cultivators didn’t need air, even if they still breathed out of habit. The blood in his veins kept moving, and his heart kept beating, but all of it was internal.

He tried to use Absolute Will Command, then—but it was no use. Just like when he’d been on the back of the Violetsoul eagle, he couldn’t sacrifice his chroma.

There was only one thing Jieyuan could do—watch. Watch as the mist-coated beast slowly stood up, unfolding its legs from underneath it and pressing up against the floor.

At least he hadn’t panicked too much before getting himself under control. His experience on the eagle’s back earlier had prepared him for this, in a way.

It rose. And then it kept rising, and Jieyuan realized it was bigger than he’d first assumed. Lying on the ground, it’d been about eight feet tall, measured from chest to head. Now that it was standing, it was close to double that height.

The outline of the beast was clearer now, too. The massive tail aside, it reminded him of the elks of the Fatebloom Woods.

All the while, the thick coat of viridian mist around the beast kept twisting and turning.

And then Jieyuan heard it—a voice.

DAUGHTER. AT LAST.