"Are you sure?"
Yuan Tianzhu looked seriously at the middle-aged man. His heart pounded as his blood seemed to freeze completely.
Tie Xin nodded.
"…Partially… but I'm sure my guess is correct."
"Why?"
Yuan Tianzhu asked.
"…."
Tie Xin remained silent for a long time.
Grab!
Yuan Tianzhu immediately grabbed Tie Xin's arm.
"Tie Xin, we don't have time for riddles or hiding information right now! If you know something, you must speak now. If not, we're all going to die!"
Yuan Tianzhu's blue eyes shone with intensity akin to hungry and ferocious beast.
Tie Xin opened his mouth but, at the last moment, shut it again.
Yuan Tianzhu's face darkened.
"What?!"
What was he hiding that was so important that he wouldn't even care about his own life, even while being threatened by a monster? Yuan Tianzhu couldn't understand. They were all on the same boat, and if one sank, they would all drown together.
Tie Xin looked into Yuan Tianzhu's blue eyes—deep like the ocean—and his heart wavered like waves. He closed his eyes for a moment.
Yuan Tianzhu didn't interrupt him. He knew Tie Xin was making an important decision. Maybe it wouldn't be the answer he wanted, but anything was better than indecisive silence.
Tie Xin opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What do you know about the Abyss Wraiths?"
Yuan Tianzhu frowned.
'What do I know about the Abyss Wraiths? Not a damn thing!' Hearing Tie Xin's question, Yuan Tianzhu suddenly had the urge to slap him, hoping to knock some sense into his head. How was he supposed to know anything about the Abyss Wraiths when he had just started participating in the Dao Trial?
Since…
Since when, exactly?
Yuan Tianzhu froze. He couldn't remember. He had no idea how much time had passed since he entered the Dao Trial. Logically, it should have been just a day… But for some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with his sense of time. He didn't know why, but it made his heart sink.
Tie Xin sighed helplessly upon seeing Yuan Tianzhu so confused.
'Looks like he noticed.'
But in the end, noticing or not made little difference. Sometimes, ignorance was the lighter burden to carry.
Tie Xin repeated:
"I'll ask again. What do you know about the Abyss Wraiths?"
Yuan Tianzhu looked at him, his expression dark. After thinking for a few minutes, he could only conclude—
"Nothing."
Tie Xin nodded.
"The Abyss Wraiths are creatures that inhabit the Black Forest. They test our mental resilience and survival instincts. They don't appear very often, but when they do, they have only one goal: to reduce the number of Dao Trial participants as much as possible—"
"Why do they do that?" Yuan Tianzhu couldn't help but interrupt.
"Shhh."
Tie Xin raised a finger to his lips, signaling him to be silent.
"As you may already know, Abyss Wraiths feed on the fear of their victims—whether in the real world or within their mental domain. But that's not all… They also feed on the seven emotions: fear, joy, anger, sadness, love, hatred, and desire."
Yuan Tianzhu was a little surprised, but deep down, he had already expected something like this. After all, if Abyss Wraiths could consume fear, what would stop them from consuming other emotions as well? He always prepared for the worst—though he hadn't prepared for the existence of a clone of the Abyss Wraith King. But that was another matter.
"That's exactly what you just heard. But… you don't seem as surprised as I expected."
Yuan Tianzhu simply ran a hand through his hair.
"You don't need to be a genius to guess that. As long as you're observant enough, you can deduce it easily. Sorry for interrupting, please continue."
Tie Xin nodded.
"As I was saying, Abyss Wraiths feed on the seven emotions because that is the role the King gave them. However, they don't appear very often."
"And why is that?" Yuan Tianzhu furrowed his brows.
He remained silent on the outside, but inside, his head was exploding with curses. 'Why so much damn suspense?! Just say it already!'
Tie Xin continued:
"Because they need us."
Yuan Tianzhu's eyes widened.
"What? Come again?"
"We are not just their food… We are the reason for their existence. Without us, they cannot live."
"That means…?"
"All Abyss Wraiths were created by the Abyss Wraith King. If they don't consume the seven emotions, they simply die. That's why they terrorize us until we break like puppets. W-We are just…"
Yuan Tianzhu felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"Pigs waiting for slaughter." Tie Xin completed. "If they don't feed on our emotions, they disappear."
He paused and, with a heavy tone, added:
"The only one who can survive without feeding on the seven emotions… is him. The Abyss Wraith King."
Tie Xin looked into Yuan Tianzhu's eyes and firmly declared:
"No one wants to die. Not me. Not you. Not them."
Yuan Tianzhu remained silent for a long time, absorbing the information.
Then, his deep blue eyes narrowed.
"You seem to know a lot."
Tie Xin frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
"I want to know how you have all this information." Yuan Tianzhu crossed his arms. "I doubt you've lived long enough to discover all of this on your own."
He took a deep breath before continuing:
"The Dao Trial affects our perception of time. That means you should have been here much longer than me. At the beginning, you told me that 50 people were devoured by the Abyss Wraith King. However, I can't shake the feeling that there were more people than that. A normal human could never defeat the Abyss Wraith King.
"For you to know so much about him, you must have encountered and fought him more than once. This isn't something you learn without trials and errors. And… without sacrifices, of course. This only means that you and the others did not enter the Dao Trial at the same time as me. You might be one of the oldest and most experienced here… but that's just a possibility."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"If I'm right… You're the second oldest here, aren't you? Only behind that old stinky man."
Tie Xin was silent for a moment before letting out a small laugh.
"Heh… You really are different from the others."
He then sighed helplessly and nodded.
"It's true. I am the second oldest in this trial. The young woman and the late Little Yu are the youngest. The ragged old man is the oldest one here. Everything I know, I learned from him."
Tie Xin spoke in a grave tone, his gaze lost in distant memories.
"I don't know where he came from… Neither him nor the young woman. To this day, I don't even know her name."
He sighed before continuing:
"When the Abyss Wraiths attack, they always target the youngest first. Because they are the ones who have yet to experience their true terror… and their emotions are purer—more delicious to them."
Yuan Tianzhu furrowed his brows.
"But why?"
"I don't know… But one thing is certain: they always reduce the number of people to four. And if that balance is broken, they attack."
Tie Xin stopped speaking for a moment and looked directly at Yuan Tianzhu. His eyes were filled with emotions—fear and guilt. Mostly the latter.
"And that's exactly why they attacked now. Because you appeared."
Yuan Tianzhu's face hardened. Now it all made sense. That was why they were suddenly attacked. That was why he had felt that Tie Xin and the ragged old man had wanted to kill him back then. His arrival had broken the delicate balance maintained by the Abyss Wraiths. But then… Why did the ragged old man sacrifice his own grandson… instead of him, a complete stranger? The first was his own blood.
And yet, he sent him to his death without a second's hesitation.
"Is he really that cold?" Yuan Tianzhu murmured in his heart. "Why would he do that?"
Tie Xin lowered his head, staring at his trembling legs.
"The ragged old man has always been here. From the very beginning… He has always been here."
He swallowed dryly before continuing:
"Even the few seniors I met all said the same thing: 'Never… never enter the bad books of the ragged old man.'"
Suddenly, a shiver ran down Yuan Tianzhu's spine. His entire body froze. His head throbbed with an indescribable pain, making buried memories resurface. And then, he remembered. That gaze. Those emotionless eyes staring at him back then… At that moment, he felt his strength dissipate like mist atop a mountain.
"Wait."
An indescribable light flickered in Yuan Tianzhu's eyes.
"Yes?" Tie Xin frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Yuan Tianzhu hesitated.
"What if…"
He swallowed hard, his throat dry as a desert.
"What if…"
"Speak already!" Tie Xin huffed impatiently. "Don't leave me in suspense!"
'Fuck you!' Yuan Tianzhu cursed in his heart. 'Weren't you the one who left me in suspense countless times too?'
Then, he looked directly at Tie Xin and finally said:
"What if the ragged old man is the Abyss Wraith King?"
"…Eh?"
Tie Xin took a step back, nearly stumbling.
"Come again?"
"What if the ragged old man is the Abyss Wraith King?"
"I heard what you said…" Tie Xin's face turned pale as a sheet. "But… that's impossible, isn't it?"
"Who said it's impossible?"
PAH!
Yuan Tianzhu slapped Tie Xin to snap him out of it.
"Hot heart, cold mind. Don't let your emotions take over. Analyze the information we have."
Tie Xin winced and rubbed his sore cheek.
"What do you know about the ragged old man?"
"I… Hm… Euh… practically nothing. Just that he's been here longer than me, and that my predecessors always warned me not to provoke him."
"Exactly."
Yuan Tianzhu nodded, his eyes gleaming with a mysterious light.
"We know nothing about that damn old man. Not even your predecessors knew."
He leaned slightly forward, locking eyes with Tie Xin.
"Now, stay with me: he's been here longer than we have. He knows the Abyss Wraiths deeply. He knows the Abyss Wraith King intimately…"
"B-but that doesn't mean he is the Abyss Wraith King!" Tie Xin protested.
"Shhh."
Yuan Tianzhu shrugged, a small smile appearing on his lips.
"Of course, I know that's not enough…"
But remembering those cold eyes…
Shudder.
Yuan Tianzhu trembled involuntarily.
The wind howled through the Black Forest. The black leaves and dry branches swayed erratically, as if whispering dark secrets. The metallic scent of blood permeated the air, like a macabre perfume.
Wait…
Blood?
Where is it coming from—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"