Chen Wuya leaned against the rock wall, blood still seeping from his right palm. The strip of cloth had barely been wrapped before it was soaked through again. He closed his eyes briefly, his breathing slightly labored. Misaligned Force ran wild through his meridians like an unruly muddy current, crashing into old wounds from time to time. Bai Zhi stood some distance away, blood seeping once more through the bandage on her shoulder. She paid it no mind, merely holding her flexible sword across her body as her gaze swept over the crystal that had sunk into its base and glowed with a cyan light.
Mo Feng crouched on the ground, the bronze plaque in his hand split in two. His thumb rubbed along the broken edge as he furrowed his brow. "The signal cut out, then came back. Something seems to be interfering with it," he said quietly. "Something's wrong with the activity to the north..."
Chen Wuya opened his eyes, about to speak, when an unusual tremor suddenly passed through the ground beneath his feet. It was incredibly faint, almost impossible to detect, but in that instant, the Misaligned Practice Connects to Spirit system violently shuddered within his sea of consciousness—not as a warning, but as chaotic feedback, as though the Misaligned Force inside him had resonated with some external power.
"Don't step back!" he barked, keeping his voice low, yet with an urgency that brooked no doubt.
Bai Zhi halted mid-step, forcibly stopping her body just as she was about to retreat. Mo Feng looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion.
The next moment, the rock beneath their feet split apart without a sound.
There was no boom, no warning. The entire ground shattered inch by inch like thin ice, cracks spreading swiftly in a