The wind stopped for a moment. Before I could react, the ground suddenly began to tremble. Fine cracks split through the rock beneath my feet, and a gray-black current burst from underground, shooting straight overhead. I instinctively stumbled back, my back slamming into the boulder I had leaned against earlier. In a panic, I reached for my chest—the protective talisman was still there.
The system had just said it would not issue the second task until twelve hours later, but this disturbance was nothing like a natural phenomenon. Gritting my teeth, I clenched the spirit stone in my left hand and pressed my right hand over the talisman. Coldness crawled up from my palm, not from fear, but from the bone-piercing chill carried by that current.
It was moving.
Like something alive, it spread along the ground. Every stone it passed over turned to powder. I looked down at the tips of my shoes. The black mist was less than half a foot away. One step later, and my feet would have been gone.
"I have to get out of here."
The moment that thought arose, my head buzzed, and the system's voice pressed down on me. "High-risk Chaotic Flow detected. Host's life force is rapidly declining. Immediate relocation is recommended."
I had no time to ask what life force meant. I pushed off with my right leg and slid sideways along the rock wall for three steps. The instant I found my footing, black mist swallowed the spot where I had been standing, leaving not even a sound behind.
I gasped for breath, sweat covering my forehead. I could not stay where I was; this entire area was no longer safe. In the distance was a patch of higher ground, where several massive stone pillars stood vaguely visible. Perhaps they could block this thing for a while.
I started toward them.
Every step was painfully slow, my eyes fixed on the ground. The spirit stone rested against my waist, and I could feel a faint warmth from it, as if reminding me that I was still alive. Before I had taken ten steps, the sky overhead suddenly darkened. It was not clouds blocking the light. The entire space seemed to be twisting, pulled apart by something unseen.
A low rumble rose in my ears, like tens of millions whispering at once—or the earth groaning in pain.
The Chaotic Flow was here.
It was far larger than the one before, surging in from every direction and accelerating by the second. I quickened my pace, but my legs felt filled with lead, every lift taking all my strength. It was pressure, pressure from the air itself. I could feel my body being squeezed, my lungs contracting, my breathing growing difficult.
"Hold on," I told myself. "As long as I reach those stone pillars, I'll have something to rely on."
But there were still fifty steps to go.
Forty steps.
Thirty steps.
A stream of black energy struck from the side and grazed my arm. My skin went numb at once, as if pierced through by icy needles. I did not dare stop and kept charging ahead.
Twenty steps.
Fifteen steps.
Suddenly, the ground beneath me collapsed. I lunged forward, catching myself with both hands before I fell into the fissure. Thick black fog churned within it, giving off a rotten stench. I rolled onto a raised rock nearby, my heart pounding so hard it seemed ready to leap from my throat.
Ten steps.
It was right in front of me.
I gritted my teeth and rose to my feet. Just as I was about to step forward, the entire sky split open. A gigantic vortex appeared overhead, gray-black and dark red intertwined like an opened eye. A gale exploded from its center, sweeping up shattered rocks and dust and hurling me straight to the ground.
I rolled several times, my back striking a slanted stone slab. Pain blackened my vision. I tried to get up, only to find my limbs too heavy to obey. That force was more than wind. It was suppression on the level of natural law, as though heaven and earth themselves rejected my existence.
"System!" I shouted inwardly. "What do I do now?"
After several seconds of silence, the mechanical voice finally sounded. "Hint: Use the talisman to draw qi, use the stone to anchor yourself."
Only eight words.
But I understood.
The protective talisman was not meant to be clutched against my chest. It was meant to be used. Trembling, I pulled the talisman paper from my clothes and laid it flat across my palm. It was very light, and the lines on its surface were faintly glowing now.
"Use the talisman to draw qi..." I closed my eyes and recalled the passage from the Calm Mind Art. Let the breath sink, focus the mind on the dantian, and try to guide the faint warmth within my body into my palm.
At first, nothing happened.
The second time, the edge of the talisman flickered.
The third time, my palm grew hot. A warm current traveled up through my meridians and collided with the chaotic energy outside, producing faint crackling sounds.
It worked.
I immediately pressed the talisman to my chest while gripping a protruding edge of rock beside me with my left hand. The warm current spread outward, forming a thin barrier around my body. It could not block every impact, but at least it let me hold my position instead of being tossed about by the wind.
The vortex overhead spun faster and faster, while the surrounding stone pillars collapsed one after another. I clung desperately to the rock, my knuckles white. The high ground in the distance was sinking. The place I had thought was safe had become the most dangerous place of all.
"I can't go forward anymore." I realized that my only option now was to hold this position and wait for this wave of Chaotic Flow to pass.
But it showed no sign of stopping.
Instead, it grew even stronger.
The current slashed across my cheeks like blades. The talisman's glow began to flicker, and every flash and dimming made my heart sink further. The warmth inside me was weakening too. It would not hold for long.
I forced myself to calm down. Since the system had given me a hint, there had to be a solution. The key was how to use these two things properly—the protective talisman and the spirit stones.
The spirit stones were meant to replenish energy, but I could not absorb them now. There was too little time. I had no chance to circulate the technique. Unless...
I took out all five spirit stones, piled them in front of me, and tried to touch them with the talisman's warm current. The first showed no response. Fine cracks appeared on the second. The third suddenly lit up.
There was a way.
I focused and slowly wrapped the warm current around the glowing spirit stone. In an instant, a new stream of heat rushed through my fingers and into my body. It was not much, but it was enough to let me catch my breath.
I began activating the spirit stones one by one, replenishing only a little each time to maintain the talisman. I could not disrupt the rhythm. Too fast, and I would exhaust them; too slow, and the chaotic current would tear through my defenses.
A minute passed.
Three minutes passed.
The vortex overhead finally changed. Its color faded somewhat, and its rotation slowed a little. But at that moment, the rock beneath my feet let out a sharp crack.
It had split.
A thin fissure extended up from the bottom, heading straight for the edge I was gripping. If that rock broke, I would lose my last support.
I quickly scanned my surroundings and spotted the remains of a broken stone pillar half a meter to my left, driven into the ground at an angle. I could reach it, but the moment I let go, the talisman's balance would be broken.
I had no choice.
I took a deep breath. At the instant the talisman's light shone brightest, I abruptly released my right hand and threw myself toward the broken pillar.
My fingertips touched its icy surface, and my whole body slipped downward. My left arm locked around the base of the pillar, leaving me dangling in midair. The talisman nearly fell away. I caught one corner between my teeth and pressed it back against my chest.
My feet could find no purchase. I could only support myself with my arms. My muscles began to ache, sweat flowed into my eyes, and the sting was fiery. The vortex above was still spinning, but I did not dare look up. All my attention was fixed on my arms and the talisman.
Another spirit stone activated, and warmth rose through me again. This time, I did not immediately use it to reinforce the barrier. Instead, I tried to send it down along the stone pillar. If this rock could resonate with the talisman, perhaps it would hold out a little longer.
Sure enough, when the warm current touched the base of the pillar, the entire stone trembled faintly. Pale golden patterns emerged across its surface, like some ancient script.
It was effective.
I increased the output and sent more energy into the stone pillar. More and more golden patterns appeared until they connected into one, forming a semicircular shield of light that enveloped both the pillar and me.
The wind still howled, but it no longer struck me directly.
I leaned against the pillar and sat down, panting heavily. My strength was nearly exhausted, and my fingers shook too badly to hold a spirit stone. The last one still lay on the ground, covered in dust.
When I looked up at the sky, the vortex was still suspended overhead, not yet dispersed. The surrounding terrain had changed completely. The high ground was gone, the earth was pitted and uneven, and cracks lay everywhere. My position was surrounded by gray-black currents.
The system did not speak again.
The protective talisman's temperature dropped.
I knew this had only stabilized things for the moment. The true center of the Chaotic Flow was still waiting ahead.
Before you continue