The bustle and prosperity of Star Luo City gradually faded into the distance behind them. The splendor built on gold and blood gave way to the withered shrubs rushing past along the official road. As the carriage rolled eastward, the mountains around them grew increasingly desolate, their jagged rocks crouching across the wilderness like silent giant beasts.
After stocking up on enough festive goods to fill half a room, Gu Tian set off on this unusual journey with four peerlessly beautiful young women. Although Na'er's Spatial Teleportation could carry them across a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers in an instant, Gu Tian had waved that idea aside. For once, he'd hired a spacious carriage drawn by four sturdy horses and traveled slowly along the bumpy road like an ordinary traveler.
"Brother Gu Tian, where are we going? The sky looks so gloomy out here, and even the wind smells of sand and dust." Na'er slipped a pale hand beneath the heavy curtain and lifted it slightly. Outside, the vegetation had turned from lush green to withered brown, and even the birdsong had gradually disappeared.
Gu Tian lounged against a soft velvet cushion, idly turning over the jade pendant carved with mysterious dragon patterns. His gaze seemed distant, as though it had pierced the mountains before him and reached into the depths of his memories. "I'm going back to my hometown, a place on the edge of the Star Luo Empire's territory, almost forgotten by the world—Ancient Dragon Village."
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been sitting silently in the corner, suddenly narrowed her cool eyes at the words "Ancient Dragon Village." It seemed she had remembered something terrifying. She stared at Gu Tian in disbelief. "Ancient Dragon Village? Do you mean... that 'forbidden land' in Xingyao Principality?"
"Well, well, I didn't know you knew so much." Gu Tian's lips curled into an amused smile, his tone light and teasing. "Even you've heard of that backwater, the sort of place even merchant caravans won't set foot in?"
Rather than easing at his teasing, Zhu Zhuqing grew even more serious. She unconsciously gripped the hem of her skirt and said quietly, "I once saw incomplete records about that region in the Zhu Family's royal archives. Xingyao Principality is remote, poor in resources, and badly underdeveloped. But what makes the Soul Master World tremble is a hidden valley in the mountains there, said to be cursed. A hundred years ago, several expedition teams led by Soul Emperors and even Soul Saints tried to enter it in search of treasure, but none ever returned. Even the few lucky survivors who made it to the outskirts soon found their Soul Power drained and their looks ruined. The outside world calls it a graveyard for Soul Masters. Gu Tian, did you really live in a place like that?"
At those words, Xiao Wu's ears, which had been swaying lightly, sprang upright. Unease filled her delicate face, and she instinctively edged closer to Gu Tian, as if his arms were the only safe harbor in this wilderness.
Gu Tian glanced around at the tension on the girls' faces, and a mischievous idea suddenly crossed his mind. He deliberately lowered his voice, making it sound especially eerie and sinister in the dim carriage.
"That's right. Most of those rumors... are true. They say the valley is shrouded all year in restless ghosts, with fiends lurking there to devour the souls of Soul Masters. Once the fog clings to an outsider, their Soul Power leaks through their pores like sand through a sieve. It feels as if your life force is being drawn away bit by bit, until you wither away in despair and become a lifeless corpse."
"Ah!" Na'er gasped softly, fear written in her violet eyes. Even her breathing grew cautious.
Gu Yue gave a displeased snort and shot Gu Tian a sharp look with her dark green eyes. "Young master, stop scaring them with those absurd tales of ghosts and monsters. How could there be such exaggerated fiends in this world? Even if something strange is going on, it's probably some powerful natural formation or a Soul Power field."
"Who knows? I'm not lying to you." Gu Tian pointed solemnly toward the window. In the distance, a faint purple mist was already visible between the mountain passes. It seemed dreamlike, yet carried an ominous aura. "Once we cross that steep ridge ahead, you'll experience true terror for yourselves."
Half a day later, the carriage slowly came to a halt at the foot of a mountain strewn with strange rocks.
Gu Tian paid the driver double and told him to turn back at once without stopping. Then he led the four girls onto the final stretch of the journey on foot.
"Why didn't you let Na'er teleport us straight up there? This mountain path is so hard to walk, and the brambles are everywhere." Xiao Wu grumbled softly as she struggled over the slippery rocks. A Soul Master's body was far tougher than an ordinary person's, but the oppressive feeling weighed on her so heavily that every step seemed like a burden.
Gu Tian walked at the head of the group, his steps remarkably steady and light, as if the treacherous mountain trail were a smooth, level road.
"When I was still a cripple, I climbed this path alone under the scorching sun to get out." Gu Tian looked back at the ridge shrouded in thick clouds, his eyes flashing with a rare depth of feeling. "It's only been a little over half a year. Flying straight back feels like it would take away the ritual of looking back on the past. They say a successful man should return home in glory. I ought to set foot on the ground and see whether the scenery along the way is still the same."
As they climbed higher, the air around them began to change in a strange way. The mountain breeze, once damp, turned dry and bitterly cold. A faint purple fog with a metallic sheen began to spread soundlessly through the forest.
As an agility-type Soul Master, Zhu Zhuqing had the sharpest senses. She soon noticed something was wrong with her body. She tried to secretly circulate her Nether Soul Power to ward off the cold, but was horrified to find that the power, which usually flowed through her meridians as smoothly as water and obeyed her like an extension of her arm, had become viscous and sluggish.
It felt as if her Soul Rings had been shackled. Every cycle took twice as much energy and concentration.
"My Soul Power... its flow is out of control? No, something out here is forcibly draining my energy!" Zhu Zhuqing gasped for breath. Fine beads of cold sweat covered her already pale face, and her steps began to falter.
Xiao Wu and Na'er also looked unwell. Since they had once been Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in human form, they sensed the energy of heaven and earth more purely. This restriction suppressed their cultivation, but also provoked a rejection deep in their blood, making their chests feel tight. Only Gu Yue seemed unaffected. She controlled the origins of many elements, and though the "restriction" here was overbearing, it seemed to naturally avoid the Dragon Ancestor.
"Brother Gu Tian... I... I'm so tired."
Zhu Zhuqing's voice had grown feeble, with a faint quaver of tears in it. She had already been worn down by years of being shunned at the Zhu Residence, then further exhausted by the long journey. Now, under the assault of the dense purple fog, the Soul Power in her body poured out as if through a breached dam.
"Hold on. Once we cross this ridge, we'll see the village." Gu Tian pointed toward a cliff ahead.
In the distance, a small village could just be seen, surrounded by purple fog. Wisps of pale gray smoke rose from the scattered thatched roofs. Against the heavy, oppressive purple haze, they carried an almost absurdly ordinary warmth. It looked as though this was the end of the world.
"That... really is where you were born?"
Leaning against a withered old tree, Zhu Zhuqing watched the scenery overlap and blur. The once-sacred, oppressive purple mist had now become a pitch-black abyss, swallowing her reason.
"Thud!"
A dull sound rang out.
The last taut thread in Zhu Zhuqing snapped. Her delicate body went limp like a fallen leaf in the wind, and she fainted right into Gu Tian's arms.
"Zhuqing! What's wrong?" Xiao Wu cried out.
Gu Tian moved swiftly, catching Zhu Zhuqing securely. As he felt the freezing, trembling body in his arms, a deep blue light flashed in the depths of his eyes.
Fine beads of cold sweat kept seeping from Zhu Zhuqing's pale forehead, dampening the black hair at her temples. Her normally cool features looked especially fragile just then, rousing the fiercest desire to protect her in Gu Tian's heart.
"Lin Xi, what's going on? Zhuqing's always been frail, but she's still a proper Soul Master. How could she suddenly become this weak? Is the fog poisonous?" Gu Tian urgently asked in his mind.