Chương 57: Chapter 56: BEAST OF MIST

Meiyao was right in front of him, in the middle of the pocket. She was in her usual green robes, sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, preparing herself for her breakthrough to seventh-step Redrealm. She'd been at it for a while now, chanting softly. With his soulsenses, he could feel her pulling into herself the last bit of chroma she needed to make the push.

Her Orangerealm saber lay on the ground beside her, and Xiaohu was curled up on her lap. A month had passed since his own breakthrough; it'd also been about a week since Daojue had advanced himself. Now it was Meiyao's turn. Daojue was on Meiyao's other side, on his feet, Gleaming End in hand. Further beyond, at the edge of the pocket, was the edge of a pond. The water was dark, greenish, and the smell coming from it was nothing short of rancid. The air was thick, humid.

There were other pools of water spread throughout the pocket; smaller ones, like craters in the ground. Normally he'd have liked to stop somewhere else (somewhere free of water, preferably), but that wasn't an option. About two weeks ago, they'd entered some bog-like region, and the end of it didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. This was one of the driest pockets they'd come across in a while.

The only saving grace was that the mist pockets here were much bigger; this one in particular was nearly a hundred feet in every direction. Meiyao shuddered, and he focused back on her. He couldn't sense the chroma flowing into her body anymore. Xiaohu abruptly stood up in Meiyao's lap, raising her head to stare unblinkingly at her owner. Jieyuan tensed, keeping his eyes on Meiyao. He'd be better off paying attention to their surroundings; if danger came, it'd be from outside. He couldn't help it, though.

His last breakthrough might have been a month ago, but the memory of it was still fresh in his mind (in no small part because of his newest Redtalent); he knew just what Meiyao was going through right now. And as he took in the way her face twisted, the way she trembled, the tightness of her jaw, it was like he felt the pain she was under right now as his own. He counted the seconds, watching as her shaking intensified. He had to force himself to keep still.

It didn't matter that there wasn't anything he could do to help her. He couldn't help but feel like he had to do something. Meiyao's body suddenly slumped like a puppet with its strings cut. Barely an instant later, Jieyuan was in front of her, kneeling down, his arms wrapping around her. For a while, there was no sound besides that of Meiyao's heartbeat against his own. She buried her head into his shoulder, her hair tickling his ears, her breath on his skin.

And then he felt something warm and soft pressing against his neck, over the shroud. And then another. And then again, just a little higher. Meiyao, kissing him. Jieyuan shivered as she made her way up his neck, and then past his chin, peck after peck, until she planted one final kiss to his lips. Then she pulled away, her arms still wrapped around his shoulders as she smirked.

"You know I'll be expecting this kind of treatment after every breakthrough now, right?" she said. She was still a little pale, but already he could see the color returning to her face.

"I'm sorry," Jieyuan said, "but remind me again who was it that clung to me for nearly an hour after my own breakthrough?"

"Hmmm." Meiyao cocked her head, adopting a pensive look.

"I'm not sure. But she sounds like a keeper. Should I be jealous?" As she spoke, she leaned forward into him, forcing him to sit down. And then she hugged her legs around his waist as she settled herself fully into his lap, her body melded against his. Jieyuan glanced to the side of her head, where Xiaohu was looking at him from her perch on Meiyao's neck.

"I don't know. Should she, Xiaohu? Will you be stealing me away?" Meiyao blinked, stunned. Before she could say anything, Xiaohu yipped and jumped over to his shoulders, before curling herself around his neck. The little beast then raised its head to look up at Meiyao and gave another little high-pitched bark. Jieyuan had never thought a yip could sound so smug.

Meiyao had told him once the little beast wasn't supposed to be that much smarter than its mundane counterparts, but it sure seemed awfully intelligent sometimes. Meiyao pouted, and his heart skipped; she made faces like that all the time, and somehow they always got him. He should've built up some immunity to it by now, but it hadn't happened yet. He was starting to think it never would.

"Traitors," Meiyao said.

"Rotting traitors, the both of you—" Jieyuan took her lips, and then there wasn't space anymore for words between them. But they didn't go beyond that. They never did; the fact that they were in a forest was an issue, but Jieyuan reckoned that Meiyao wouldn't mind it all that much. And neither would he, honestly. Daojue's presence, on the other hand, was very much a problem, as much as the man could be like a statue most of the time. Eventually, they broke apart.

Nothing felt better than having Meiyao in his arms, but there were things that did come quite close.

"Feeling up for a spar?" Jieyuan asked. Meiyao was now lying with her head on his lap, her eyes closed as he brushed her hair with his fingers. Usually it was her who would hold him like this, but every once in a while she liked to switch it up, and he was only too happy to oblige. Meiyao hummed without opening her eyes, shifting her position in his lap.

"In a little while, I guess." Xiaohu was lying draped across Meiyao's body, her little head moving up and down with the rise and fall of Meiyao's chest. The viridian prowler hadn't moved for a while, content to just lie there. Normally, Xiaohu would just stay there until Meiyao moved before finding another position for herself. So when the little beast suddenly jumped off Meiyao's body, landed on the ground next to them, and whipped her head up, Jieyuan knew something was wrong.

Meiyao was on her feet the very next moment, swiping her Orangerealm saber off the ground as she did; Jieyuan was just behind her. Daojue, who'd been sitting some distance away, also jumped to his feet, readying Gleaming End as he moved to their side.

"Meiyao?" Jieyuan asked. She was looking up, just like Xiaohu. Frowning.

"There's… something. Something's coming." Normally Jieyuan wouldn't be too worried. Occasionally some beast would fly in, but nothing had ever come out of it. Again, the only ones that were ever trouble nowadays were snakes, so it shouldn't be an issue. But Meiyao was too tense, and so was Xiaohu, for it to be just another friendly encounter. Jieyuan could think of an answer for that.

"Some kind of flying snake?"

"No," Meiyao said. She was still staring fixedly upward, as tense as he'd ever seen her. Frowning, too. Like she was confused.

"It's… It's something else."

"What is it, then?" he pressed. He focused on his bond with Huaxin, but he didn't get much from the Fatebloom Heart except a vague feeling of confusion and frustration. As if it wasn't sure what was going on.

"It's—" Two massive pairs of wings broke through the mist from above. Just the tips of them, four feathered arcs. They moved, flapping, and more of the wings appeared, descending, while a gust of wind buffeted Jieyuan, sending his robes flapping. Between the wings, a pair of strong, muscular legs that gave way to huge talons. A second flap, another rushing gust of wind, and more of the body was revealed. Oval, coated in softly glowing green and white feathers. And so big it blotted out the view.

The beast drew lower, closer to the ground, and its talons reached down, sinking into the earth and water. With all of it in sight now, the beast folded its four wings tight as it loomed over them. The viridian mist roiled and twisted around the creature in a frenzy. Jieyuan stared up at the creature's head. He had to crane his neck to get a good look. A pearl-white curved beak set in a feathered head, with two pairs of eyes sitting above it.

Eyes that were bigger than Jieyuan's head yet looked like pinpricks on its body. It was a bird of prey; an eagle, unless he was off the mark. And it was so big that its head brushed the top of the hundred-foot-tall mist pocket they were in. Chromal beasts weren't necessarily bigger than their mundane counterparts, and realm didn't correlate to size. Xiaohu was proof enough of that. Jieyuan had met massive Redrealm beasts and tiny Orangerealm ones.

But Jieyuan had never come across a beast even a fifth as big as this colossal bird. The biggest beast he'd seen until now had been the two-headed snake, and it might as well have been a worm in comparison to this newcomer. His soulsenses couldn't detect the beast. It was like there was this massive void in front of him, a great expanse of absolutely nothing. It wasn't at Orangerealm.

Jieyuan didn't know what it was about it, but he just knew— knew, on some primal, instinctual level—that this creature was on a completely different level than all the beasts they'd come across so far. The four-eyed, four-winged eagle stared down at them, silent, unmoving. Jieyuan risked a glance at Meiyao. She was standing there, frozen just like him and Daojue, her eyes wide. The color had drained from her face. Xiaohu was on the ground beside her, just as still as she also stared up at the beast.

The first Orangerealm beast they'd come across was a vulture. It'd flown down, landing in front of them, and Jieyuan could still recall the fear he'd felt then. But he could also recall how Meiyao hadn't panicked. She'd been tense—maybe even a little afraid—but she'd soldiered through, worked her charm on it, and eventually sent it away. Jieyuan had never seen Meiyao so close to fear since then. A little afraid was as much as he'd ever seen from her. He'd never seen Meiyao scared.

Part of him hadn't even thought she was capable of it. That wasn't true anymore. Meiyao wasn't just scared right now, though. She looked terrified. The seconds passed. Nobody did anything. Jieyuan kept looking from Meiyao to the massive eagle. The bird wasn't staring at them, he noticed. Like most beasts they came across, it was focused entirely on Meiyao, all four of its eyes fixed on her.

And she was staring right back at it, that frozen, terrified look on her face, like she couldn't look away, couldn't bring herself to move. Huaxin was still eerily quiet in his chest. Their bond felt distant, muted; Jieyuan would've been more worried about it if he didn't have even bigger concerns at hand. It was maybe a minute later—though it had felt like an eternity and a half—that something changed. Jieyuan had no idea what it was that happened, but Meiyao relaxed.

Not much, just a fraction; she was still tense, pale, but her eyes weren't as wide.

"It wants to take us somewhere," Meiyao said, slowly, not looking away from the beast. Jieyuan wasn't sure he'd heard it right. The beast hadn't had any reaction to Meiyao's words, so he took the risk and whispered back to her, "What?" Meiyao didn't look at him.

"It wants to take us somewhere," she repeated. Slowly, the massive eagle turned around, taking its time with the movement. And then, when it was fully facing the other direction, it leaned down, the rest of its body disappearing beyond the pocket. Jieyuan stared. Now he wasn't sure if he was seeing right.

"Does it— Does it want—""It wants us to get on its back," Meiyao confirmed. She sheathed her saber, then grabbed onto his arm, her hand closing around his wrist.

"Let's go." Jieyuan stared at the huge beast. Its legs alone were more than thrice his height. He'd have to climb the legs to get on its back.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked, quietly, as Meiyao led him forward. Daojue followed from the side. Meiyao glanced at him just as they reached the leg.

"No. But it's the only idea." Her jaw trembled a little. Her grip on his arm tightened.

"Unless," she said, shakily, "you think we have a chance against a Violetrealm beast." —∞— It hadn't even been a year since Jieyuan became a cultivator. He might have prepared himself for it all his life, but there were still a lot of things about this new reality he was getting used to. Rules and facts and truths that had nothing to do with the mundane world he'd left behind. So it wasn't rare for Jieyuan to find himself confused sometimes. Lost, even.

It was happening less and less, sure, but it still happened every once in a while. Even more so with how he kept hanging around Meiyao and Daojue, who were involved in matters no cultivator their realm should've had any business with. Jieyuan was fairly sure, though, that he'd never been this lost before. He was completely submerged in feathers. Underneath, he knew, was the body of the Violetrealm beast he was riding (and, Heavens, wasn't that a sentence), but right now that was all he felt. Feathers.

Feathers, and the viridian mist. He'd known from the start that something was off about the mist. There were all sorts of things wrong about it, really, but one of the first things he'd noticed was how it acted as if it were tangible even though it didn't seem to have any substance. The thing was, the viridian mist felt awfully substantial at that moment. A thick layer of it was wrapped around his back, pressing him down. Physically pressing him. The mist wasn't just acting tangible anymore; it was tangible.

Jieyuan was still holding onto the feathers, but he was fairly sure that even if he let go, the mist would do a good enough job holding him in place. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It had happened just after they'd climbed onto the eagle. He and Meiyao and Daojue had gradually worked their way up the eagle's back, pulling on the massive, human-sized feathers as they climbed. And then the mist had suddenly wrapped around them. And that had been it.

Jieyuan didn't know what had happened next. Heavens, he didn't know what was happening now. Whether they were moving or still. Whether they were on the ground or in the air. Right now, his world was only made up of two things. Feathers and mist. Meiyao had been right by his side before the mist had solidified around them. Now he couldn't see or hear her. Or sense her. The solid viridian mist blocked his soulsenses.

He could extend it downward, toward the feathers beneath him, but it wasn't like he could sense those anyway. As far as his soulsenses were concerned, he was surrounded by absolutely nothing at all. Like he was floating in some kind of void. Jieyuan let out a slow breath. Despite everything, his heart beat steadily in his chest. Huaxin was still as infuriatingly quiet as it'd been since just before the eagle appeared. When Meiyao had told him of its realm, she'd not been alone in her terror. Violetrealm.

It'd been his goal from the start. And he'd never been so close to it—though not quite in the way he'd had in mind. His mood hadn't been helped any by the climb up the eagle's back—and the sharp awareness that there was absolutely nothing he could do. And then, when the mist had wrapped around him, and he'd lost all contact with the outside world, he'd panicked. But his panic hadn't lasted long; anger had quickly replaced it: a hot, blinding rush of it. Both at the fear he felt and at his helplessness.

At his powerlessness. There was no feeling in the world— none whatsoever —worse than being at someone else's mercy. But not even a Firesoul could burn forever. After a while, he cooled, calmed, and began to think clearly again. One of the first things he'd done afterward was try to summon Maeva—if nothing else, for the comfort of her presence—but it hadn't worked. He had no way to tell if it was the work of the mist or something the Violetrealm had done, but he couldn't use his bondskills right now.

He could sense Absolute Will Command in his mind, the mark it'd left behind from the moment he'd bonded it. But he couldn't sacrifice any chroma to power it, not even to use it on himself. That had left him with nothing to do but think. So that was what he'd done. He'd thought about the situation. Considered their circumstances from every angle he could think of. He'd weighed the odds of himself and Meiyao and Daojue making it out of this alive. And, to his surprise, he'd found they weren't that bad.

The truth of the matter was, if the Violetrealm beast wanted them dead, they'd be dead, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. And once he'd gotten over the shock of Violetrealm —of just what that word meant, in this situation—he'd realized just how absurd it was for a creature at that realm to take an interest in them. There was only one explanation, really. This was about Meiyao.

She was the one with a special connection to the Dome, and it'd been Meiyao the Violetrealm beast had been staring at. Jieyuan didn't quite manage to convince himself this was a good thing, but he was fairly sure, at the very least, that it wasn't the end. Jieyuan was still immersed in his thoughts when the mist suddenly pulled back and his senses—physical and spiritual—returned. He turned his head to the side and found Meiyao looking right back at him.

She was only inches away, just like she'd been when he last saw her before the mist solidified. Xiaohu was wrapped tightly around her neck. The mist was still around them, but sparse and intangible again, harmlessly glowing. What was nearly tangible, on the other hand, was the relief that came over him at the sight of her. He flashed her a smile, even as he continued taking stock of the situation. With his soulsenses, he could feel Daojue on his other side. He could sense the ambient chroma again.

And beside the massive void that was the Violetrealm bird they were on, there were hundreds of other voids, many of them almost as big as the eagle. Heavens' sake— A spike of alarm hit him, but then it passed as he noticed just what the shape of these voids was. Straight, almost cylindrical, rising straight upward, like pillars. Trees, he realized. Not beasts.

Hands still gripping the feathers for support, Jieyuan leaned back as far away from the eagle's body as he could and swiveled his head around, trying to get a sense for the area. Feathers blocked off most of his view, but at the edges of his vision he could see… rock? Stone?

"Jieyuan," Meiyao said, quietly, and he focused back on her.

"We should get off." That, Jieyuan reckoned, sounded like a really good idea. He looked down, confirmed that the way was clear, and then let go. Meiyao and Daojue did the same, and they all dropped down. They landed on solid ground, right between the eagle's talons, their greaves crushing the undergrowth. Jieyuan was about to cast a look around when four great masses swept down from up above, and a blast of wind buffeted him, knocking him to the ground. He was back on his feet just a beat later, ready for anything.

But then he realized what had happened. The Violetrealm eagle was gone. Just like that. Jieyuan didn't even get to think on the abrupt departure. Because with the eagle gone, he could finally see where they were, just what lay ahead of them. A barrier of dark rock coated in green moss and crawling vegetation. A mountain, rising off the ground as straight as a wall.

Looking up, Jieyuan found that the great rocky mass went on and on, disappearing past the top of the pocket they were in, which seemed to be as big as the ones back in the bog. And then Jieyuan saw the hole. It was off to his left, not quite hidden from view but not all that obvious, either. A sparse curtain of plants had grown over it, loosely masking the entrance. It started at ground level, reaching up about a dozen feet tall and spanning maybe half as much across. Glancing behind him, Jieyuan saw trees.

The ones whose voids he'd noticed earlier. Tall and broad trunks capped with full, broad crowns. All of it glowing. Brown for the bark, green for the leaves. They were similar to the first trees he'd seen when they entered the Dome, only bigger. And, of course, at a higher realm. Nothing about them really drew the eye, though. Not like the cave entrance had. There was no way that the Violetrealm eagle had picked them up just to drop them in some random location on a whim. They had to be here for a reason.

And Jieyuan felt it was safe to bet that the cave had something to do with it. He turned to Meiyao.

"What do you—" She was standing frozen in place, staring at the cave entrance. Xiaohu was perched on Meiyao's shoulders. Just like her owner, she was staring fixedly at the cave. The look on Meiyao's face froze Jieyuan. That look. Jieyuan hadn't seen it in months, but he still recognized it on the spot. He remembered it all too well. He doubted he'd ever forget what happened the last time she'd looked like that, perfect memory or no.

How she'd fallen into a trance and walked toward the Sacred Source—almost killing him when he'd tried to stop her—and then touched it. And, in doing so, woken up the death trap that was Viridian Death City. Between this look and the sheer terror Meiyao had shown when the Violetrealm eagle appeared? Jieyuan would take the latter any day, any time, thank you very much. This time around, Jieyuan didn't just stand there waiting for Meiyao to get them into another mess.

The moment he realized what was happening, he rushed over and grabbed her shoulder while bracing himself in case she lashed out like last time. A tremor ran through Meiyao's body before she turned to look at him. There was still something distant about her eyes. Something unfocused.

"Jieyuan?" she asked. Her voice was soft, indistinct. She'd barely spoken before she started turning her head again, toward the cave entrance. Oh no, you don't. Not on my watch. Keeping one hand firmly on her shoulder, he reached up to her chin with the other and gently but firmly turned her face back toward him.

"Meiyao, look at me," Jieyuan said.

"Look at me. You're falling into a trance. Your bloodline's acting up again. Snap out of it." Her stare remained blank for a few moments. Then she started frowning. She tried to look away again, but his hand on her chin kept her from turning. Her frown grew stronger. At least she didn't try to pull away. A good sign. Daojue approached quietly from the side. He'd put Gleaming End away earlier to climb the Violetrealm eagle, but he had it out again, both hands on the spear. Meiyao's eyes cleared.

Fully, this time, all the blankness driven away.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a firm nod. Jieyuan searched her face, looking for any sign something was off. Finding nothing, he let go of her chin but kept his other hand on her shoulder.

"You're good now? You sure?"

"I am."

"What happened?" Meiyao frowned again. She reached up to her own shoulder and took the hand he had there. Then she firmly pried it off—but didn't let go, shifting her grip so they were holding hands instead.

"It's calling me."

"Calling you?" Jieyuan narrowed his eyes, squeezing her hand. Calling. Meiyao had used that same term back in Viridian Death City. He didn't like the sound of it one bit." What is calling you?"

"My blood," Meiyao said.

"My blood's calling me." Jieyuan didn't think it was possible, but he liked the sound of that even less.

"Meiyao—""I'm sorry," she said, and he felt his heart drop.

"But I need to answer the call. I need to go inside." That was exactly what he'd feared hearing. Word for word.

"Meiyao," he said. She tried to speak, but he cut her off.

"You remember what happened in Viridian Death City."

"I do. But, Jieyuan—""You remember the conversation we had afterward." She looked pained now.

"You don't—""You remember," Jieyuan stressed, "what we decided. That the next time something like this happened, we would listen to my instincts. Not yours."

"I…" She seemed like she was about to say something else, but then stopped, catching herself. She bit her lip, then asked, softly, "What are your instincts telling you, then?" Jieyuan reached for Huaxin, prodding at their bond, but there was no response; Huaxin was quiet. He frowned, tried it again. Huaxin? I really need you right now, buddy. A pulse came back. Vague confusion, edged with frustration. The same feeling Huaxin had given him when the Violetrealm eagle appeared.

"Jieyuan?" Meiyao asked. She was looking at him intently now.

"The Fatebloom Heart. What is it saying?"

"It's…" Jieyuan worked his jaw. Just for a moment, he considered lying. But he couldn't bring himself to do it, not to Meiyao. He sighed.

"It's unsure." If not for the way she'd slipped into a trance, he wouldn't have argued about entering the cave. If anything, he'd have pushed for it. A Violetrealm beast had brought them here. Whatever this was, it was big. It might be death waiting inside, but it might just as easily be an opportunity. But that trance… He couldn't stop thinking of what had taken place in the Viridian Cradle, with Meiyao and the Sacred Source.

Couldn't stop wondering what would have happened if he hadn't managed to drag Meiyao away.

"I see," Meiyao said. She nodded toward the cave.

"If… If you don't think it's a good idea, you can wait out—"" Don't," Jieyuan bit out.

"It's not my safety I'm afraid for." Meiyao's gaze softened.

"Jieyuan, a Violetrealm beast brought us here. Brought me, to this cave. Do you really think we can just turn around and leave?"

"I know," Jieyuan said.

"Trust me, I know. But we can at least try to figure out some other way, or at least think this—" Meiyao tipped her chin at the trees behind them.

"Those trees behind you, do you know what realm they are? Violetrealm." A chill ran through him.

"You mean—""We're in a Violetrealm zone," Meiyao said.

"All the beasts here should be Violetrealm, too. More importantly… This is it. I can tell it now."

"It?" he asked.

"The center," Meiyao said.

"We're at the center of the Dome."

"Oh." The center. That they'd been chasing since the moment Meiyao claimed it was their way out. She'd never explained how she knew or what it meant. Only that whatever lay in the center was their ticket out. It had been a long time since he'd really thought about it. It had seemed so far away. He'd thought it'd take years, if not decades, to reach it.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes." He turned back toward the cave, eyeing the fissure in the cave wall. It still rubbed him the wrong way, how Meiyao had fallen into a trance like that. But he didn't have any more ground to stand on. If this was their destination, it had to happen sooner or later. Jieyuan shook his head. Chuckled, despite himself. Might as well get it over with, then.

"Well," he said, "color me convinced." Meiyao smiled. But as she turned back to the cave, her smile faded, her lips pressing into a line as she took on a resolute look. She unsheathed her saber, then let go of his hand to hold her weapon properly. She nodded at him and set off toward the cave. Jieyuan kept pace, walking by her side. His hands hovered over the shafts of the Shifting Sisters for a moment, but he went for a pair of snake-scale daggers instead.

He didn't think they'd be of that much use (they were only Orangerealm, and at least one Violetrealm beast was involved here), but he'd still get more out of them than out of his splitfangs. Daojue was on his other side. He hadn't voiced an opinion or otherwise said anything, but Jieyuan hadn't expected him to. Meiyao didn't hesitate for even a second as she reached the mouth of the cave; she walked straight inside, brushing off the vines hanging over the entrance.

But she'd barely taken another step when she stopped. Jieyuan and Daojue stepped inside only to stop as well. The entrance opened into a tunnel just wide enough for the three of them to stand side by side. The ground, walls, and ceiling were rough and uneven, lit only by the glow of the viridian mist. What gave them pause, though, was how just three feet in front of them, the viridian mist thickened, blocking off the view. Jieyuan shot a look at Meiyao. She was frowning, but otherwise looked fine.

No signs of another trance. Still, he inched closer to her, just in case that changed. Xiaohu was still standing on Meiyao's shoulders, the viridian prowler as alert as Jieyuan had ever seen her.

"Do we keep going?" Jieyuan asked. Meiyao glanced at him and, without a word, stepped forward. Only to stop again, her frown deepening. Puzzled, Jieyuan stepped forward as well. The thick wall of mist slid back the same distance as his step. What's this now? Meiyao took another step, then another. Jieyuan and Daojue followed suit. And Jieyuan found that the distance between him and the thicker mist remained perfectly constant. A yard away.

The viridian mist was already bad enough as it was, but now it couldn't even play by its own rules. They did have someone with them who was supposed to be immune to the mist, though.

"Meiyao," Jieyuan said, "can Xiaohu tell anything?" That earned him a look from both Meiyao and Xiaohu. Meiyao glanced down at the little beast on her shoulders, and Xiaohu twisted her neck up to look at her owner. Meiyao shook her head.

"She can't. The mist here's hitting her as hard as it hits us. Her abilities aren't working." Xiaohu let out a soft, whiny yip.

"Rot. So what now? Keep going?"

"Keep going," Meiyao confirmed. They kept going. Half of Jieyuan's attention stayed on the tunnel and the mist. The tunnel was uneven. Width and ceiling height shifted with every step, but never by much. The other half stayed on Meiyao, ready for the first sign she might slip into a trance again. They walked in silence. The only sounds were the ring of greaves on rock and the grit crunching underfoot. The denser wall of mist kept its neat yard of distance, step for step. Close to half an hour later, it happened.

The mist ahead thinned all at once, pulling back like a curtain. There wasn't any more tunnel beyond, but a massive cavern. A vaulted, dome-like ceiling arched high overhead, the floor beneath spread wide and oddly level. The air changed too—colder, stiller—and their last footsteps before they came to a sudden stop returned to them with a clean, hollow echo. It was empty—a vast, hollowed-out space in the mountain—except for one thing. One creature, lying at the center of it. If it even counted as a creature.

Thick, glowing viridian mist wrapped a large, bulky form, roiling and churning. From where it reclined on the stone, Jieyuan could only make out its shape. Four powerful legs, folded under it. A broad chest tapering to a sleek body. A thick tail, almost doubling its length, curled along its flank. And a long neck that rose off its chest to a narrow, angular head. Only the eyes showed through. Pure green orbs, brighter than the mist.

From just above them sprang the silhouettes of two massive, twisted, antler-like horns, reaching back into the air. The eyes stared at them, unblinking. Lying there with its neck up, its head was about level with theirs, if not slightly higher up. This new beast was big, but only by Redrealm standards. The Violetrealm eagle from before could've easily swallowed it whole. But it wasn't just the eagle's size that had set Jieyuan's instincts screaming; rather, it'd been something about its presence.

He got that same feeling from this new beast. Only much stronger. Way stronger. With the eagle, he hadn't been able to describe just what that feeling was. It had been too vague, more of an itch at the back of his mind than anything else. Now it was much clearer. It was a presence, an impression, like the feedback from his soulsenses. But he wasn't perceiving it with his soulsenses; as far as his soul was concerned, there was nothing in front of him, just a void. No, this impression came to him at a deeper level.

He was reminded of when he'd used Fatebloom Incarnation and how it had unlocked a new set of senses. His Lawsenses, he'd called them. He'd tried to access them afterward to no avail, but now he was in touch with them again. Or at least that was what he thought was happening; the sensation he was getting now wasn't as deep as what he'd felt when he used Fatebloom Incarnation, but it felt similar enough. Whatever the case, he knew what he was sensing right now. Powe r.

So much of it that it had weight, that it radiated on some fundamental level, spreading outwards, permeating the space—the reality —around it. Bearing down on him. Jieyuan took a step back. Or at least he tried to. Nothing happened. His body didn't move. Jieyuan's blood turned to ice. He tried again—to turn his head, to move his leg, to do anything. Nothing worked. It wasn't even that he felt resistance or something holding him in place. His body just wouldn't move.

He could still feel his body, but when he tried to make it do anything, nothing happened. Jieyuan was no stranger to paralyzing effects. Absolute Will Command could have that effect, both on the target and on the user. But this was different; there was no external will here to fight his own. There was nothing he could push against, nothing he could force. His body just couldn't move, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't even move his eyes, his field of vision fixed.

He could just barely see Daojue to his left—frozen just like he was, unnaturally still even by Daojue's standards—but Meiyao was entirely out of sight. Jieyuan wasn't breathing, either; and suddenly he found himself awfully grateful that starting from fifth-step cultivators didn't need air, even if they still did it out of habit. Chromal Sustenance ensured the blood in his veins kept moving, and his heart kept beating, but all of it was internal.

He reached for Absolute Will Command, tried to use it, but it was no use. Just like when he'd been on the back of the Violetrealm eagle, he couldn't sacrifice his chroma. There was only one thing Jieyuan could do. Watch. Watch as the mist-coated beast slowly stood up, unfolding its legs from underneath it and pressing up against the floor. At least he hadn't panicked too much before getting himself under control just now. His experience on the eagle's back earlier had prepared him for this.

The mist-wreathed creature rose. And then it kept rising, and Jieyuan realized it was considerably bigger than he'd first assumed. Lying on the ground, it'd been about eight feet tall, measured from chest to head. Now that it was standing, it was close to double that height. All the while, the thick coat of viridian mist around the beast kept twisting and turning. The outline of the beast was clearer now, too. The massive tail aside, it reminded him of the elks of the Fatebloom Woods. And then Jieyuan heard it.

A voice. DAUGHTER. AT LAST.