Mist Rises

The passage was still extending downward.

The slope gradually grew steeper, and standing water began to appear beneath their feet; in the shallow spots it covered the soles of their shoes, while in the deep ones it reached their ankles.

The water was bitterly, bone-chillingly cold, carrying a fishy, astringent scent like rust.

The light from the fire-starters was mostly swallowed by the darkness, illuminating only a zhang or so ahead of them. The seven walked very closely together, able to hear each other's breathing.

Li Xuan walked five paces behind Shadow, his gaze never leaving the cave walls on either side.

As they gradually penetrated deeper, those axe-chiseled marks grew newer and newer.

They didn't look like old marks from thirty years ago. The edges and corners of some chisel marks were distinct, neither rounded away by the scouring of currents nor layered with accumulated dust.

They looked much more like someone had worked on them in recent years.

He slowed by half a step, turning sideways to look at a branch tunnel on the right.

That branch was half as narrow as the main passage, its opening piled with rubble like an uncleared collapse site.

Yet upon the pile of rubble, the positions of several stones were wrong; their surfaces were free of accumulated dust, as though someone had moved them and put them back.

Even so, the current information was still far too scanty.

He withdrew his gaze and said nothing.

"Stop."

Shadow spoke abruptly.

Everyone halted in unison.

The passage ahead suddenly narrowed, turning into a fissure that allowed only a single person to pass. The rock walls on both sides of the fissure were smooth, as though polished by something rather than formed naturally.

Shadow crouched, reaching a hand into the edge of the fissure.

"There's wind."

The expressions of the group tightened.

Wind meant that behind the fissure lay a connection to a larger space, not a dead end.

"I'll go through first," Shi Yong said.

He turned sideways, squeezing into the fissure with his heavy saber held horizontally across his front.

His broad-shouldered and thick-backed physique could make no headway at all in the narrow space; he gritted his teeth and forced his way through, his leather armor scraping a harsh screech against the rock wall.

After three breaths' time, he managed to forcefully squeeze across.

"We can pass," his voice came from the opposite side of the fissure. "Everyone come over, watch your footing."

Shadow was second.

His build was lean, and passing through the fissure was like a fish swimming through water, utterly silent.

Li Xuan was third.

He squeezed in sideways, one hand gripping his saber hilt. The narrowest part of the fissure was less than two feet across, requiring him to suck in his stomach and hold his breath to pass. The left rock wall was cold and smooth, but the right rock wall was somewhat different—

It was rough, and possessed tiny protrusions.

He tilted his head and glanced.

Those were no rock wall protrusions.

They were carved marks.

Dense, densely packed carved marks, overlapping layer upon layer, new and old interlaced, like countless people using their fingers, saber tips, and teeth here...

He withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace.

Three breaths later, he walked out of the fissure.

The view suddenly opened up before him.

This was a massive natural karst cave, towering over ten zhang high and a hundred paces around. Stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling resembled the fangs of giant beasts, and a pool of standing water lay at the cave floor, its surface reflecting the faint glow of the fire-starters.

Yet everyone looked toward the center of the cavern.

A stone platform stood there.

It was roughly a zhang in height and three zhang across, its surface flat with chiseled marks along the edges. At the four corners of the stone platform stood a stone pillar each, their shafts carved full of runes—originating from the same source as that symbol at the cave entrance, yet a hundred times more complex.

At the center of the stone platform sat an object.

They could not clearly see what it was. The distance was too great, and the light from the fire-starters could not reach there.

"What is that?" Su Ying asked softly.

No one answered.

Shadow walked to the edge of the water pool, crouched down, and reached a hand into the water. After a moment, he stood up.

"The water isn't deep. We can cross."

Shi Yong looked toward the others.

"Go over and take a look. Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu stay here and guard the fissure. The rest of you, come with me."

Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu nodded, retreating to either side of the fissure with their backs against the rock walls and long swords drawn.

Li Xuan was the second to step into the pool.

The water was deeper than he had imagined, rising above his thighs. Beneath his feet lay fine slag and gravel, every step feeling as though he were treading upon an unstable foundation. Lowering his center of gravity, he advanced slowly.

Behind him was Su Ying, her hammerhead submerged in the water and dragging out a long ripple.

Xu He was behind her with an ugly expression, clearly disliking this chilling standing water.

Shadow walked at the very rear, his footsteps silent as though gliding across the water's surface.

Ten paces.

Five paces.

Three paces.

The stone platform grew closer and closer.

Those runes also grew increasingly distinct.

Surprisingly, they were not carved on, but embedded in.

Some kind of black stone had been filled into the chiseled marks, polished flat, and fused as one with the rock face. The black stone cast a dim radiance beneath the firelight, resembling the pupils of a living creature.

Shi Yong stepped onto the steps at the edge of the stone platform—one step, two steps, three steps—

He stood at the center of the stone platform.

Then he froze.

"What is it?" Su Ying asked.

Shi Yong did not answer.

He stared fixedly at the object in the center of the platform, not moving an inch.

Li Xuan quickened his pace, stepping onto the stone platform.

He saw it too.

That was a corpse.

Yet it was no ordinary corpse.

The corpse sat cross-legged with an upright posture, its hands forming a mudra before its abdomen. The flesh had long since withered and shrunk, clinging tightly to the skeleton in a deep brown color, like wind-dried cured meat. It wore tattered robes of an indistinguishable color, but the style—

Li Xuan's pupils narrowed slightly.

Those were the robes of a barbarian shaman.

A wolf head totem was embroidered upon the chest; though faded and tattered, the outline remained.

A shaman.

A barbarian shaman, dead within the abandoned mine shafts of the Crimson Firmament Sect's territory.

Dead thirty years ago?

Shi Yong crouched down to examine the corpse.

"How long has he been dead?"

Xu He hurried up, pinched a piece of shriveled flesh, and turned it over to examine it for a few breaths.

"Hard to say. It's cold and dry inside the mine shaft, so corpses rot extremely slowly." He paused. "At least ten years or more."

"A barbarian shaman, dead within our sect's territory?" Shi Yong frowned. "Did that batch of miners who met with disaster back then have something to do with this?"

No one could answer.

Li Xuan's gaze shifted away from the corpse and swept across the surroundings of the stone platform.

The edges of the platform were carved full of runes, identical in origin to those on the cavern walls. But there was one place that differed—

Behind the corpse proper lay a slender fissure, extending from the edge of the stone platform all the way to the cavern wall. The fissure was not wide, about two fingers across, and bottomless.

He stepped forward, crouched down, and peered closely.

Inside the fissure, something was moving.

An extremely faint mist slowly welled forth from the depths of the fissure, resembling the exhaled breath of a living creature.

"Shi Yong," Li Xuan said, his voice pressed extremely low.

"What?"

"Look here."

Shi Yong walked over, crouched down, and followed his line of sight to look into the fissure.

He saw that mist as well.

"This is—"

Before he finished speaking, a dull thud sounded from behind them.

The two turned their heads simultaneously.

Su Ying stood at the edge of the stone platform with her long-handled hammer planted on the ground, her expression dazed.

"I... I didn't move."

Yet everyone saw that the water pool three feet behind her had ripples on its surface.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

The ripples grew larger and larger, as though something were rising slowly from the depths of the water.

"Fall back!" Shi Yong roared low.

The seven retreated simultaneously, gathering toward the center of the stone platform.

The water surface broke.

A black shadow rose up from the water.

It possessed a human shape.

Its entire body was wrapped in black silt, its features indistinguishable save for two pools of eerie green light in its eye sockets.

It stood upon the water's surface as though treading on solid ground.

Then it strolled toward the stone platform.

"What is that?!" Xu He's voice trembled slightly.

Shadow drew his saber in wariness.

Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu, seeing the commotion from the fissure, charged into the water pool together.

Yet that black shadow moved even faster.

It stepped onto the platform's edge, less than three zhang from the group.

Li Xuan gripped his saber hilt tighter.

Right at that moment—

The shriveled shaman corpse beside him suddenly opened its eyes.

Within the eye sockets, there were no eyeballs.

Only two pools of green light.

They were completely identical to those of the black shadow.

Shi Yong cursed aloud, his heavy saber slashing horizontally!

The blade edge cleaved into the shaman corpse like striking decayed leather, leaving behind only a shallow mark.

The corpse did not move.

Yet the stone platform beneath it began to vibrate.

Those black runes embedded in the edge of the platform lit up one after another.

Green light surged out from the corpse's eye sockets, spreading along the runes and diffusing in all directions.

Li Xuan lowered his head.

The runes beneath his feet had lit up.

Within the fissure beside his foot, the speed at which the mist welled forth suddenly accelerated.

The mist crept past the edge of the fissure, crept across the surface of the stone platform, and crept over the tops of his shoes.

It was chilling.

It was sticky.

It writhed like a living creature.

"Fall back!" Shi Yong shrieked. "Everyone, fall back!"

Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu had already rushed to the edge of the stone platform, reaching out to pull Su Ying. Su Ying's face was deathly pale, her legs seemingly nailed to the ground and unable to move.

Xu He was the first to turn and dash toward the fissure direction.

Shadow drew his saber to cover the rear, his gaze fixed dead on the black shadow.

Li Xuan moved as well.

He turned and sprinted toward the fissure direction.

Beneath his feet lay the water pool, every step splashing water. Lowering his center of gravity with his saber grasped in his hand, his gaze locked onto that narrow fissure ahead—their sole exit.

Behind them, the mist grew denser and denser.

That shadowy figure stepped onto the center of the stone platform and stood shoulder to shoulder with the shaman's corpse. The two clusters of green light turned toward the direction everyone had fled. There was no sound, but the chill pierced the backs of their necks like something tangible.

Li Xuan did not look back.

He ran very fast. The foundation of Shadow Step was still there, and even in the water, he could barely use it.

Ahead, Shi Yong had already charged to the mouth of the fissure and was hoarsely shouting, "Quick! Quick!"

Li Xuan was just about to speed up—

In the corner of his eye, a figure stood frozen in place.

It was Su Ying.

She stood in the middle of the pool, seven or eight steps from the fissure. Both hands gripped the War Hammer, but she did not swing it. Her whole body seemed nailed in place as she stared at the shadowy figure behind her, her face deathly pale.

She could not move.

Li Xuan did not slow his steps.

He swept past her, seized the back of her collar with his left hand, and gave it a fierce yank forward.

Su Ying stumbled ahead, the hammerhead dragging a trail through the water.

"Run!" Li Xuan growled. He released her and continued charging forward.

Su Ying staggered into the fissure, with Li Xuan close behind.

Behind them, a cold hand reached the edge of the fissure—

Then stopped.

It was as if something had blocked it, making it impossible to enter.

Li Xuan did not look.

He passed through the fissure, his feet landing on solid rock, and kept running forward.

Only after he had run twenty zhang did he stop and turn back.

On the other side of the fissure, the green light had vanished.

There was only thick fog, slowly roiling at the mouth of the fissure, as if an invisible wall had blocked its path.

"E-Everyone made it out?" Shi Yong's voice came from nearby, rough with heavy panting.

Li Xuan counted the heads.

Seven.

Everyone was there.

Su Ying collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. At some point, the hammer had slipped from her hands. She looked up at Li Xuan, her lips moving as if she wanted to say thank you, but no sound came out.

"That thing didn't follow us?" Xu He's voice trembled.

"It can't cross." Shadow stood at the edge of the fissure, staring at the invisible barrier. "The fissure has a restriction. It was set up thirty years ago."