Night

The night was as dark as ink, with a storm brewing on the horizon.

A staggering figure darted through the oppressive, pitch-black mountain forest.

It was a woman with a beautiful face and a graceful figure.

The woman wore makeup and fashionable clothing, unlike the residents of the nearby villages and towns; she was likely a tourist from a major city.

She fled through the woods, her body covered in cuts and bruises from the bushes and branches that lined her path.

Yet, even so, she did not slow down, as if something terrifying in the darkness behind her was hunting her.

The lights drawing closer ahead were, to her, nothing less than the dawn in the middle of the night.

"Almost there, almost there..."

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!!!"

The woman screamed in her heart, and as the lights grew nearer, the hope in her eyes intensified.

Finally, she scrambled over the last steep slope and reached the open, pebble-and-cement clearing in front of the Temple gate.

"Is, is anyone there? Help, help me!!!"

The woman used the last of her strength to cry out for help, collapsing against the closed Temple gate. She pressed her right hand against the weathered wood, trying to push it open, only to find it bolted shut.

"Open, open the door, hurry and open it..."

Her hoarse voice was laced with profound despair.

With the little strength she had left, she could only manage a sound as faint as a mosquito's hum against the door panels.

In the end, she didn't even have the strength to speak...

The woman slumped before the gate, her chest heaving violently like a bellows.

"Wuu, wuu-wuu..."

She looked back toward the darkness, biting her lip, a low whimper escaping her throat.

Perhaps in the next second, that "monster" would burst from the darkness and drag her into an abyss of despair.

"Open the door..."

The woman whimpered.

Creak—

Just as the woman reached the depths of despair, a sound like heavenly music suddenly rang out behind her.

The mottled, dilapidated Temple gate, which looked as if it might collapse in a stiff breeze, opened just as she had wished.

The woman whipped her head around, and a straight, soft beam of light spilling from the Temple illuminated the bridge of her nose.

As the wooden door swung wide, the beam of light hitting her nose expanded, filling her vision until it finally enveloped her entire body.

Her trembling frame froze in that instant.

Then—

The woman saw a clean-faced young man, and her eyes, clouded with mist, slowly widened.

It was as if a drowning person had finally touched something that could offer a sense of security.

In the brief respite of breath, her mind went momentarily blank.

The person who had opened the Temple gate for the woman was, naturally, Moyu, who had just finished his meal.

At this moment, everything within his line of sight was pitch-black darkness.

Moyu merely glanced at the disheveled woman before turning his gaze toward the deep, oppressive darkness ahead.

In that direction, a veil-like glow of Nen was surging in the darkness at an indeterminate distance.

"A person? Or something else?"

Moyu stared at that mass of "burning" Qi in the dark, remaining silent.

Whatever it was...

Since it could drive this woman to such a state of disarray and despair, it was unlikely to be anything friendly.

The woman finally snapped back to reality, crawling on the ground to clutch Moyu's calf with both hands, sobbing in a hoarse voice: "Help, help me, something is chasing me... my friends were all killed..."

"Speak clearly, is it a person or an animal?"

Moyu still did not look at the woman, his eyes fixed on the mass of Qi in the darkness ahead.

Since the opponent remained motionless, he could only maintain his watch.

Hearing Moyu's question, the woman hesitated for a moment before whispering: "I, I was only focused on running for my life... I didn't see clearly what it was, but I heard my friends' screams, they, they..."

Speaking in broken sentences, the woman suddenly glanced at the lights inside the Temple that offered some semblance of safety, and pleaded in a low voice: "Can, can you let me in?"

"..."

Moyu did not speak, simply stepping aside to clear a path.

Seeing Moyu's actions, the woman understood instantly. Despite having almost no strength left, her will to survive made her crawl into the gate like a worm.

Afterward, she struggled to lift her head to look at Moyu, wanting him to close the gate quickly.

It was only then that she belatedly noticed Moyu was staring in the direction from which she had come.

It seemed that ever since he opened the gate, this youth before her had not shifted his gaze once.

Could he... see it?

The woman's eyes were dull, and she could only think of this possibility.

But in search of more security, she had no time to dwell on it; her only thought was to have Moyu close the gate quickly and then call everyone out from the Temple.

"Lock, lock the gate, that monster is almost here..."

The woman pleaded weakly.

If she hadn't been completely exhausted, she certainly wouldn't have asked for Moyu's opinion and would have just run into the Temple herself.

"If your friends were all killed by the 'thing' you mentioned, then what use do you think this broken gate, which even a primary school student could kick down, would be?"

Moyu's expression was calm, his tone steady and forceful.

The woman looked at the wooden gate, which was creaking as it was pushed by the breeze, and couldn't say a word.

At the same time, she found Moyu to be excessively calm, not at all how a youth should behave.

"Then, then call everyone in the Temple out..."

"There's only me here."

Moyu replied casually, just as he saw that mass of "Nen" in the darkness finally move, slowly pressing toward them.

"Wh, why is it just you..."

Hearing that there was only Moyu in such a large Temple, the woman was stunned.

A broken gate plus a youth who couldn't be more than sixteen... how could they stop the monster that had slaughtered her companions in the forest?

The woman fell into deep despair.

Moyu had no intention of worrying about the woman's current state of mind.

Although he didn't know what the "monster" the woman spoke of was, he could be certain that this so-called "monster" knew how to use "Nen," which meant it was capable of posing a threat to him.

If this woman hadn't run here for help and had instead died in the forest, she wouldn't have brought the trouble along with her.

But at the same time, he wouldn't have known that such a dangerous existence was in the forest.

In any case—

From the moment this woman collapsed in front of the Temple gate, Moyu knew he couldn't stay out of it.

Fortunately, he now had the means to counter "Nen."

"Come in."

Moyu retreated while observing the movements of that mass of "Nen."

"Can you give me a hand..."

The woman looked at the retreating Moyu and begged.

Moyu said nothing, only shaking his head.

As far as the current situation was concerned, this "supplicant" who appeared harmless was still within his perimeter of vigilance.

Seeing Moyu so cold, the woman could only drag her body, struggling to crawl into the Temple.

Yet she did not notice—

Under the light, the youth before her had no shadow.

Thanks to the grandmaster "Unrepentant Sorrow" for the alliance leader status; even the pig is shocked. How could someone as short as me deserve such favor from a big shot? Now, this pig's body and heart are yours!!! Also, thanks to the grandmaster "Blood Prison Cold Wind" for the ten-thousand-point reward... You also gave a ten-thousand-point reward when my last book launched. I remember it to this day, thank you so much!