The mountain breeze trailed along me. My hair waved along with it. The coat on my shoulders sagged like a dying beast. I shrugged it off, letting it fall into the dirt.
I didn't need anything from them anymore, not even their pity disguised as cloth. I took the flower from my pocket, inhaling its scent as I walked.
The ring on my thumb vibrated, pulsing once, twice, like a heartbeat. Weak but alive.
Good.
The serenity I now felt was more refreshing than the stressed life in the sect. If possible, I wanted to open a small tea shop in the city and live the rest of my life in contentment.
Perhaps finding a man to marry would be a good idea. A smile graced my lips, only to freeze at the people who suddenly appeared in my sight.
The temperature appeared to have suddenly plummeted as the sun hid partially behind the rugged mountains.
James Fang leaned on a tree, his two canines flexing their muscles before him. They lunged in my direction upon seeing me, blocking every possible path I could take.
"Surprised?" James smirked haughtily, raising his chin. His attempt to appear dominant was overshadowed by the memories of his bruised face when I beat him before.
His two canines hadn't stood a chance with me before, as they became punching bags whenever they annoyed me. Despite not being a woman, I was the number one fighter in the whole apprentice circle.
There were no boys who hadn't challenged me in the sect. Without surprise, everyone lost to me. James wasn't the strongest of them, but he was a persistent one.
He always challenged me, and so I made him miserable every time he came to me, that way he wouldn't annoy me for a few days.
What I was trying to say was that he's rather peculiar. Almost like a masochist. I cracked my knuckles, stretching my shoulder muscles, ready to fight.
Since he came, it was better to give him his daily dose. Consider it my leaving gift. His two canines visibly paled.
I smirked.
"What, already become a coward to mommy's fist?"
Both of his canines were fat, but unlike Bai Qing's, their muscles were stuffed together, almost like meat shields. I liked to beat them as unlike others I didn't need to suppress my physical power.
My words seemed to agitate them. Normally, these would be enough for them to rush at me. However, today they didn't.
'Strange. Does they become smart? No way!'
They sweated, trembled, and their eyes were evasive. I frowned. Something was wrong. Surely.
I peeked at James. He also had the same expression as them. Almost like he was trying to hide his guilt. It alarmed me enough to turn serious for the first time.
"S-Sara…" James gulped. "Did you think about my offer before? You don't have to become a maid, I promise…"
"Shut up," I snapped at him. It was strange, he was begging. Unlike his usual demanding tone. This strangeness made me anxious.
My instincts were screaming danger at me. But how could that be? I looked around. There was no one except the four of us. I was sure of it.
I might be talentless, but my perception was top-notch. Even the sect master hadn't escaped it. And in Broken Sky, she was the strongest. So technically, no one could escape from my senses.
'There's no one nearby, no traps… then what's this odd feeling of danger?'
The same danger I felt from Bai Qing. Like a venomous snake had marked its scent on me.
"Then, I'm sorry," James's next words pushed my panic to the edge, "sleep now, everything will be fine afterwards." He said this before pulling out a container from his pocket.
A pungent smell invaded my nose as he opened the container. Sounds of slithering suddenly came from every direction.
"What are you doing? And what the hell is this?" I snapped at him. His face had a surprised look, almost like he was caught off guard by the same thing.
"James…" I strolled to him, evading the gasps of his two canines and side-stepping into his front before tripping him to the ground.
However, my attempts to get the container from him failed as this fool accidentally threw the whole liquid on me.
"You bastard…" My throat retched at the pungent smell, my voice dropping the moment I saw the colour of the liquid.
Purple with golden circles. Void Caller. My face paled at the understanding.
There was a cursed pond in Broken Sky Sect that could call the void. It was protected under the sect with an array, sealed from releasing its scent to the atmosphere and thus preventing a Void Fracture.
"V-void… v-void…" James gasped in horror, clutching at my legs in sheer terror.
"Y-you… I-I am sorry. I didn't know…" He stuttered, shivering into me.
The slithering sounds intensified as the forest seemed to come alive. I took a deep breath. There was no turning back. Once one called the void, it would answer back. And we have to question it.
The next second, like a transparent screen shattering into pieces, the atmosphere around me started to shimmer. I pulled James by his collar, stared deep into his eyes, and asked,
"Who gave this to you?"
There was no way this fool could lay hands on something like Void Caller. Even his grandfather wasn't influential enough to do so.
There was another person behind him, someone who wanted me to die. From the stunned expression and betrayed face James showed, I was sure he was being used as a weapon by that person.
Whoever that one was, they wanted me dead.
'If they have enough influence to obtain something like Void Caller, why use such a dangerous move to kill me, an expelled disciple?'
Such a person might have the strength to remove me without going to such extremes, right?
After all, the appearance of a Void Fracture doesn't just affect the people pulled into it. If the pulled people fail to clear it, the monstrous entity coming outside would turn catastrophic to the surroundings.
Knowing such disastrous consequences and still using it meant whoever was trying to kill me, the purpose wasn't simply to kill me.
The surroundings around me started to disorient. Because of the liquid on me, I could feel the pull to that distortion increasing with every passing second.
I turned down to look at James. His canines happened to stand a little distance away from both of us, so they were now standing outside the fracture, trying hard to break the distortion.
'These fools.'
Both of them were bleeding. Their hands had almost turned to bone. Even their fat bodies filled with muscles had now become thin.
James was also in a panic, clinging onto me like a koala. I asked him again,
"Tell me, who gave this to you?"
He snapped out of his senses. Then, gritting his teeth, muttered, "Bai Qing…"
"Oh…"
Surprisingly, I felt nothing. Because I knew, she couldn't have done that without assistance. And I was sure, just like she used James, she was also being used.
I lowered my head near his ears and muttered, "Tell her, whoever is behind you granted her an enemy. An enemy she shouldn't have provoked."
"What?"
I turned deaf to his words as my body used its full strength to throw his body out of the fracture.
Void Call had another feature. Except for the person who called it, the fracture never wanted others.
That's how I reached this hellish place… a place that hid another version of me. A version of mine I never wanted to meet.