The gates of the Shen Clan loomed before them, their once-majestic arches now twisted like the ribs of a gutted beast. The crimson pillar above pulsed, casting grim shadows that slithered across the ground like living things. The air itself tasted of rust and decay, thick with the promise of slaughter.
"Kkkrrrkk—"
A sound like grinding bones echoed from beyond the gates. Leng Yue's fingers tightened around her sword hilt, her knuckles pale as winter frost. "You hear that? Sounds like something's chewing on the earth itself."
The brave girl had battled formidable foes in the upper plain and had survived numerous sect missions, while building a reputation for diligence and discipline in the face of adversity. Leng Yue thought venturing into a lower world would be a simple task, but with the growing complexity of the situation came the possibility of losing her life in battle due to a loss of focus.
Li Wei tilted his head, his grin sharp but his eyes dark. "Ah, probably just the Shen Clan's famous hospitality. I hear they serve guests with teeth." The young transmigrater was becoming more adept with his techniques and started relying on his instincts, which had gone well for him up to now.
A sudden CRACK split the silence as the ground beneath them trembled violently. From within the compound, a guttural voice, thick with malice, thundered through the air—
"Liiiiittle morsels… come closerrrr…"
Leng Yue's lip curled. "Tch. If that thing thinks we're walking into its jaws like lambs to slaughter, it's in for a rude shock" The tips of her hair began to crackle with residual energy radiating from Dantian, which was rotating with increasing velocity and began channeling huge portions of Heaven and Earth Qi.
Li Wei cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just lonely. Maybe it wants a hug." The jovial upstart could tell his comrade was going all out against the abomination in their midst, thus the Young Master brought out his latent abilities in an effort to vanquish the scum before them.
"The skirmish ends here," she shot back, her blade already humming with frost-Qi. The young maiden had held back her anger and dispatched the numerous foes that have hindered her path with a cold and calculated calm, but the heinous manifestation in her gaze had ignited a deep hatred that could only be quenched by the blood.
With a final shared glance, they stepped forward—and the gates SCREECHED open on their own, hinges wailing like dying men. The edges of the doors had residual traces of blood and bile, whose origins were likely human from the pungent iron scent wafting from the panels.
Inside, the courtyard was a nightmare given form.
The once-pristine gardens had been reduced to a writhing mass of crimson tendrils, pulsing like veins. At the center, a grotesque maw of flesh and jagged bone yawned wide, its mouth swallowing the very light around it. From within, wet, sucking sounds echoed, as if something were feasting on the world's essence.
"Ah… at long last…" The voice oozed from the abyss, thick with hunger. "You are… the bastard that has been causing trouble in our domain." As it spoke the fleshy blob spat droplets of flesh and mucus, clearly still digesting the remains of the Shen Clansmen.
Leng Yue's grip on her sword didn't waver, but her breath came faster. "That thing—it's not just a demon. It's a monstrosity. We cannot allow it to continue feasting." The shrewd girl had laid eyes on evil before, but the gluttonous nature of the scourge brought her great disgust.
Li Wei's smirk was razor-thin. "Then let's sew it shut." The threat this beast posed was numerous levels above Zhou Mu, it was imperative that they eliminated every trace of this vile existence.
Before they could move, the ground ERUPTED.
THOOM!
Blackened hands burst from the soil, skeletal fingers clawing at their ankles. Leng Yue twisted mid-air, her blade flashing—
SHING!
—and severed three grasping limbs in one stroke. "Persistent bastards!" the warrior had to slash apart the reed like arms that were trying to pull her into the ground.
Li Wei, meanwhile, was already in motion, his palm striking the earth with a force that sent shock waves rippling outward. Innumerable flesh-like monsters poured out of the red pillar and rushed towards him.
[Yang Yaksha Ten Forms - Quake of the Titan]
BOOOOM!
The ground shattered, flinging desiccated corpses into the air like macabre puppets. But for every one destroyed, three more seemed to rise. It was unthinkable the scale this apocalypse could reach, if allowed to spread beyond Crescent Moon city
The abyssal maw LAUGHED, a sound like grinding glass. "Fight… struggle… it only makes the feast sweeter." Few could muster the strength to resist a hideous pile of flesh, who had thousands of mindless subordinates at its beck and call.
Leng Yue's eyes flickered toward the pulsating rift. "We need to close that portal. Now." The artifact recovered by the Shen clan seemed to possess an unholy origin, after assimilating the Shen Patriarch and his clansmen, it was now ripping open a path for creatures from its home world to invade this plane
Li Wei exhaled sharply, rolling his wrist. "Got a plan, or are we improvising?" This was a big problem, which had to be resolved before it grew any larger. The fate of the world laid in the hands of two youths that were not even natives of the plane, fate was strange.
She bared her teeth in a feral grin. "When have we ever needed a plan?" The seemingly timid girl had begun to bare her fangs now that the adrenaline was rising, it was always thrilling to engage in battle. After all, there was no greater gamble than staking your own life.
And with that, they charged—straight into the jaws of the abyss.
Above them, the blood sky SCREAMED.
A hideous eye the size of the moon was trying to force its way through the portal.
The monstrous eye in the sky pulsed, its pupil dilating like a black sun swallowing the heavens. The sheer weight of its gaze pressed down on them, making the air feel thick as molten lead. Leng Yue's knees nearly buckled, but she gritted her teeth, frost-Qi erupting from her in a swirling tempest.
"Li Wei!" she barked, her voice cutting through the unnatural silence that followed the sky's scream. "That thing isn't just watching—it's pulling itself through!" a flash of panic lingered on the calm face of Leng Yue.
Li Wei's grin was all teeth, but his eyes burned with something darker. "Then let's give it a proper welcome!" The young man unleashed his bravado and was prepared to inflict a fatal to his adversary.
With a thunderous CRACK, the abyssal maw at the courtyard's center convulsed, vomiting forth a tidal wave of half-digested corpses and writhing tendrils. The stench of rotting viscera hit them like a physical blow, but neither flinched.
Leng Yue's blade flashed—
[Frozen Lotus Ascension - Thousand Petal Severance]
SHIIING!
A storm of glacial petals erupted from her sword, each one slicing through the oncoming tide. Flesh froze mid-air, then shattered like glass. But for every tendril severed, two more lashed out from the rift, their tips splitting open into tooth-lined maws.
One lunged for Li Wei's throat—
"Tch. Bad manners."
His hand shot out, golden qi erupting in a blazing spiral. The momentum in his strike combined with the ferocious nature of his Qi left the fate of this mindless foe in little doubt.
[Mad Mantis Eight Claws - Sky-Rending Talon]
KRRAK!
The corpse detonated in a shower of crimson ichor, but the spray hissed where it landed, eating through stone like acid. Li Wei clicked his tongue. "Ah. Nasty stuff."
Leng Yue wasn't idle. She'd already closed half the distance to the rift, her sword leaving a trail of frozen air in its wake. But the ground beneath her heaved—
THOOM!
—and a gargantuan, worm-like creature with mandibles as thick as bamboo burst forth, its body studded with screaming human faces. Their mouths stretched wide, howling in unison.
"FEED US!"
Leng Yue's eyes narrowed. "Disgusting." She didn't slow down. Instead, she leapt, flipping over the monstrosity as her blade carved a silver arc—
[Silent Moon's Kiss - Eclipse Slash]
SHLIK!
The worm split clean down the middle, its halves collapsing with a wet SPLAT. But the faces kept screaming, their voices merging into a deafening wail.
Li Wei landed beside her, his sleeves singed but his smirk intact. "You know, for a pile of rotting meat, it's got a real flair for drama."
Leng Yue wiped black sludge from her cheek. "Less joking, more killing."
"Aye aye, General." Despite the blood and gore around them, Li Wei still chuckled incessantly.
The rift pulsed again, and this time, the EYE above blinked.
The world lurched.
Gravity twisted. The shattered remnants of the Shen Clan's courtyard lifted into the air, tiles and corpses hovering like offerings to some unseen god. Leng Yue's stomach turned, but she forced herself to focus.
"The rift's destabilizing reality," she hissed. "Another minute, and that thing's coming through!"
Li Wei cracked his knuckles. "Then we hit it now." His grin turned feral. "You take the left, I'll take the right. This bastard has bad attitude , Let's see how it likes being split in two."
Leng Yue didn't argue. She moved.
[Frost veil Steps - Absolute Zero Stride]
The air crystallized in her wake as she shot toward the rift, her sword humming with gathering frost. Li Wei was a blur beside her, his golden qi condensing into a single, searing point at his fingertips.
The abyssal maw roared, sensing their intent. A dozen new tendrils erupted from its depths, each one thicker than a tree trunk.
Leng Yue didn't slow. "Li Wei—NOW!"
He didn't need telling twice.
[Yang Yaksha Ten Forms - Heaven-Sundering Strike]
BOOOOOOM!
The shock wave ripped through the courtyard, obliterating the tendrils in a storm of golden light. The force of it sent Leng Yue hurtling forward—straight into the rift's gaping throat.
Her blade plunged deep into the pulsating flesh—
[Frozen Lotus Ascension - Final Bloom]
CRACKKK!
Ice exploded outward, racing through the rift's veins. The monstrous eye above SCREECHED, its pupil dilating in agony as the portal splintered.
Li Wei landed beside her, his palm slamming onto the frozen surface.
"Let's send it back to hell."
[Mad Mantis Eight Claws - Shattering Star]
KABOOOOOM!
The rift imploded, a deafening VOID-HOWL tearing through the air as the eye was wrenched backward, its tendrils flailing wildly before *snapping* like rotten rope.
For one breathless moment, silence.
Then—
CRASH!
The red pillar shattered, its fragments dissolving into blood rain.
Leng Yue staggered, her sword arm trembling. "...Did we just...?"
Li Wei wiped his brow, grinning despite the burns crisscrossing his arms. "Told you we didn't need a plan."
Above them, the sky wept crimson.
And somewhere, deep in the court yard, something stirred.