"Ughhhhh"
Duō Yī's eyes fluttered open.
Darkness pressed down all around him, thick and suffocating. He tried to move, but something cold and damp constricted his body. He looked down, translucent vines coiled around his arms, chest, and legs, pulsating faintly with ghostly light. Each throb carried a chilling rhythm, like a second heartbeat not his own.
He tried to summon his qi.
Nothing.
It was as if the very air smothered his core, chains pressing against his meridians, sealing his strength shut. Panic surged through him as he tugged against the bindings to no avail.
Then the sounds reached him.
Low groans. Whimpers. The faint, broken cries of men, women and children. His eyes adjusted to the gloom, and what he saw twisted his stomach.
The missing mortals were strung along the cavern walls, suspended in vine-like cocoons. Some still writhed weakly inside, their faces pale as their life drained away. Others were packed into cages of bone and vine, the bars slick with moisture, their eyes vacant with despair.
"The hell…" Duō Yī whispered, voice hoarse.
He turned his head frantically, searching.
There.
Xiǎo Yǔ, bound in one of the cages, her small frame shivering. Her face streaked with tears as she clutched at the bars, staring at the figure beside her.
Hú Lì lay slumped on the floor of the cage, blood pooling beneath him. His breaths were ragged, shallow, his body pale. He hadn't woken since the battle.
A flicker of relief broke through Duō Yī's horror,Zhāng Wei. His senior brother was strung up not far from him, wrapped in the same spectral vines. But unlike the others, Zhāng Wei was awake. His eyes were open, cold and steady despite his helpless state.
Yet he wasn't looking at Duō Yī. His gaze was fixed on something deeper within the cavern.
Duō Yī followed his gaze.
And froze.
A massive cauldron loomed in the cavern's heart, towering twenty feet high, carved from black stone slick with blood. The vines writhed around it, feeding into its open mouth.
Screams pierced the gloom as one of the tendrils lifted a cage of mortals and dumped them into the cauldron whole. Their cries echoed only a heartbeat before a colossal pestle descended from above. With a sickening crunch it slammed into the cauldron, grinding flesh and bone into pulp.
Blood sprayed in streaming arcs. The sound of bodies breaking was drowned by the squelch of paste churning against iron.
Duō Yī gagged, bile rising in his throat.
Then came a voice.
A rasp, grating and cruel, slithered across the cavern. Every word seemed to scratch at the insides of his skull.
"Not enough… not enough…"
The unseen speaker chuckled, a wet, hollow sound.
"I need more… Barely enough for a batch of pills."
A pause, followed by muttering.
"Next province? No, no, no… too close to those sect rats. I'd be sniffed out, torn apart.""Spirit beasts? Bah… useless. The quality suffers."
The rambling shifted into a gleeful tone.
"Let's see the new stock. Perhaps… something good was caught this time."
Shuffling footsteps echoed. From the shadows emerged a man — if he could still be called that.
He was gaunt, his robes little more than filthy tatters. His skin sagged over brittle bones, blotched with sores. His eyes burned with a feverish light, yet his grin stretched too wide, revealing teeth yellowed and cracked. A foul stench of blood and rot followed him as he approached the cages.
Xiǎo Yǔ whimpered, shrinking back, clutching at Hú Lì's arm.
The man's eyes widened with grotesque delight. He let out a laugh so shrill and warped that the captives nearest him convulsed, covering their ears in agony.
"Finally! Something useful!" he cackled. "Oh, but one seems damaged…"
His eyes raked over Hú Lì's broken body.
"Better to use it quickly… before it rots."
"Stay away from him!" Xiǎo Yǔ screamed, throwing herself in front of Hú Lì, clawing at the bars with bloody fingers. Her qi flared weakly, but the vines around her arms tightened, suppressing it before it could bloom.
The man sneered.
"Begone."
With a casual flick of his wrist, a wave of force slammed her against the side of the cage. Her body struck the bars with a sickening thud, blood spilling from her lips before her head lolled. She slumped unconscious beside Hú Lì.
"Xiǎo Yǔ!" Zhāng Wei cried, thrashing in vain.
The man ignored him. With a skeletal hand, he reached into the cage, plucking Hú Lì's limp body as though it weighed nothing. Dragging him like a slaughtered pig, he strode toward the cauldron.
"No!" Duō Yī roared, voice breaking.
The man tossed Hú Lì in without a glance.
The pestle fell.
A wet, crushing boom shook the cavern. The spray of blood hissed as it splattered across heated stone. The laughter that followed was madness itself, echoing until it became indistinguishable from the grinding of flesh below.
"Ahahahahaha! A fine ingredient! Excellent! Excellent quality indeed!"
Duō Yī's vision blurred with tears. His heart hammered with rage and despair. But the vines dug deeper into his flesh, his qi sealed, his body trembling in useless fury.
A low voice cut through his despair.
"Duō Yī."
He looked up. Zhāng Wei's face was cast in shadow, his eyes burning with a cold, heavy weight.
"What do we do?" Duō Yī asked, his voice cracking.
Zhāng Wei's lips thinned. He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, gaze steady even as his face glistened with tears.
"Nothing," he said. His voice was hoarse, bitter. "From that strike just now… his realm is far above ours. Foundation Establishment, at least."
The words hit Duō Yī like a hammer.
Zhāng Wei's jaw clenched, his teeth grinding. His voice dropped to a whisper, as though confessing to the dark itself.
"I knew it. Things were going too well…"
His eyes softened as they turned back to Duō Yī.
"Brother Yī… if by some miracle you survive… tell my clan I have fallen. Tell them not to search for me. Please. I beg you."
Tears rolled down his cheeks, but his tone remained firm, resolute.
Duō Yī's throat closed. He had no words — only a small, trembling nod.
The cavern shook again as the pestle rose and fell, the man's maniacal laughter ringing louder, sharper, unending. The stench of blood and crushed bone filled the air, suffocating, inescapable.
And above it all, the sound of pounding never stopped.