The world below was a blur of green and brown, a rushing tapestry of ancient forests and rolling hills that passed in a blink. High above it all, five streaks of silver light cut through the crisp morning air. Feng's team was on the move, and the wind itself seemed to part before their arrogant grace.
They flew in a tight formation, heading towards the heart of the southern territories. At its point was Lin Xiao, the scout of the team, her gaze distant as she scanned the horizon. Behind her, the Fire Twins, Huo Yan and Huo Liang, flew flank, their identical silver swords leaving faint trails of crimson Qi in their wake. Mu Chen, the lancer, formed the base of the formation, his presence as solid and silent as the mountains they left behind.
Leading them from the center was Jin Wei. His posture on his flying sword was perfect, his silver-trimmed robes unruffled by the gale-force winds. He broke the silence, his voice amplified by a wisp of Qi, cutting effortlessly through the rushing air.
"Report, Lin Xiao."
She didn't turn her head. "The path ahead is clear for another thousand meters, Senior Brother. No significant beast auras. The air is stable." Her voice was as calm and detached as her expression.
"As expected," Jin Wei said with a faint sneer. "The true threats won't show themselves so close to the sect's influence." He banked his sword slightly, glancing back at the others. "A pity. A quick, decisive battle would have been a more efficient use of our time than this glorified travel."
Huo Liang, the more impulsive of the twins, chuckled. The sound was like the crackle of a freshly lit fire. "We could have been at the Sunken Mire by now if we didn't have to wait for the ground-crawlers to catch up."
"Patience, brother," his sister, Huo Yan, countered, her voice a smooth, dangerous hiss. "Let them stumble through the mud. Our task is to map the threats, not to hold their hands."
"Still," Huo Liang grumbled, "four Foundation Establishment disciples. What was Kai Jin thinking? It's an insult to the mission."
Jin Wei's smirk widened. "He wasn't thinking of the mission. He was thinking of his pride. You heard him, he has a 'keen eye for talent.'" He let out a short, dismissive laugh. "The only talent they possess is the ability to slow us down. It's a waste of the sect's resources, plain and simple."
"They are a weakness in the chain," Mu Chen said, his first words since their departure. His voice was a low, heavy rumble, like shifting stone. "A liability."
"Exactly," Jin Wei agreed, pleased that even the silent Mu Chen saw the logic. "Kai Jin is a brawler, not a strategist. He sees a glimmer of potential and mistakes it for a polished gem. A true foundation is built over years of meticulous effort, not in a few flashy spars." Like mine, he thought, a familiar sense of superior satisfaction warming him. They rushed to their realm. I am perfecting mine.
"Lin Xiao," he commanded again. "Update the main contingent with our progress. Inform them the initial route is clear. Then circle back. I want a high-altitude sweep of the eastern foothills. We will find a true challenge for ourselves before the day is out."
"Understood."
Lin Xiao broke from the formation, her flying sword tilting upwards, climbing higher into the sky. As she relayed the message through her communication talisman, her sharp eyes continued their ceaseless scan of the ground below. A moment later, her voice cut back in, a thread of curiosity in its usually flat tone.
"Senior Brother Jin Wei. I am detecting a mortal settlement approximately two-hundred kilometers to the southeast. It appears… distressed."
Jin Wei sighed, his annoyance palpable. Mortals. Another tedious distraction. "Elaborate."
"The village is situated by what should be a tributary of the Silverstream River," Lin Xiao reported, her sword now circling in a high, lazy arc. "The riverbed is dry. The fields surrounding the settlement are brown and fallow. There is no sign of plant life. The life signs within the walls are weak."
Huo Yan scoffed. "A village of dying peasants. What does that have to do with us? Our mission is to scout for beasts."
"Kai Jin would probably stop," Huo Liang sneered. "He'd probably try to dig them a new well with his fists."
Jin Wei considered for a moment. They were a vanguard unit. Their mandate was to clear a path of spiritual threats. A mortal drought, however unfortunate, was not a spiritual threat. It was a logistical problem for the main contingent, for Elder Wu's formation masters. It was beneath them.
"Ignore it," Jin Wei said, his voice final. "It is not our objective. Send its coordinates to the main contingent with a note on the drought conditions. They can handle the charity work when they arrive." He looked back at his team. "We have a mission. Let's not get distracted by the plight of ants."
The Fire Twins nodded in unison. But Mu Chen was silent. He looked towards the southeast, towards the unseen village. For a brief, flickering moment, he thought he could feel the faint, desperate cry of the dying trees, a whisper of pain on the wind that resonated with the seed he so carefully nurtured within his own core. He said nothing, but a subtle frown creased his impassive face.
"Lin Xiao," Jin Wei's voice cut through his thoughts, sharp and commanding. "Rejoin the formation. We head east from here."
---------------------------
The world became a rushing tunnel of green and brown. The steady, manicured paths of the sect were a distant memory, replaced by a treacherous, root-snaked forest floor. Kai Jin did not believe in easing into a mission. The moment they were out of sight of the South Gate, he had set a grueling pace that was a clear and immediate test of the unit's endurance.
Ren was a ghost a hundred meters ahead, a flicker of motion weaving between ancient trees with the impossible agility of a lightning cultivator. He was their eyes and ears, his movements sharp, efficient, and utterly silent. He was less a man running and more a current flowing through the woods.
Kai Jin himself was the engine that set the pace. He moved with a steady, predatory lope, his powerful frame seeming to glide over obstacles with an unnatural grace. He wasn't breathing heavily; he wasn't even sweating. He was a creature in his natural element, a silent hunter leading his pack.
Behind him, in the core of the formation, the difference in cultivation was starkly apparent. But not in the way the Golden Core experts might have expected.
Lily was a leaf on the wind. Her feet barely seemed to touch the thick carpet of leaves and moss, her movements light and economical. As a Wind cultivator, this kind of rapid, agile movement was second nature to her. A faint sheen of sweat graced her temples, but her breathing was even, her expression one of focused, competitive fire.
Beside her, Alex was a different kind of engine. His steps were heavier, more solid, but they fell in a relentless, metronomic rhythm. While Lily flowed over the terrain, Alex powered through it. His Ironbone body provided the raw stamina, an unshakeable well of endurance that ignored the burning in his muscles. Meanwhile, the Mastered Immortal's Simple Movement Skill was a silent guide, optimizing his every action, ensuring no step was wasted, and no movement was inefficient as he navigated the treacherous forest floor.
He glanced at Lily, who shot him a quick, smug smirk.
"Trouble keeping up?" she panted, her voice a low taunt. "Your feet sound like you're carrying a bag of rocks."
"Don't mind me, just enjoying the scenery," Alex shot back without missing a beat, his own breathing steady and deep. "You should try it sometime. It's very green."
Behind them, the struggle was more apparent. Elara's face was a mask of concentration, her breath controlled in a practiced, meditative rhythm. Her water-form style was not built for high-paced, sustained sprints. She wasn't fast, but she was fluid, her every movement flowing into the next, conserving energy with a discipline born of sheer willpower. She was keeping pace, but it was costing her.
Jay was having the hardest time. His footsteps were heavy thuds against the earth, his powerful frame built for stability, not speed. Sweat poured down his temples, and his muscles burned with the effort of keeping up. But his expression was one of unshakeable determination. He refused to be the weak link. He would not fall behind. He pushed onward, his loyalty a fuel that burned hotter than his aching muscles.
Bringing up the rear, Talia and Kira were an island of calm professionalism. Talia moved with the unhurried power of a glacier, the massive greatsword on her back not slowing her at all, her every step a testament to her immense physical strength. Kira was a shadow, her feet making no sound on the leaf litter, her dark eyes constantly scanning not the path ahead, but the canopy, the undergrowth, every place a hidden threat could lie in wait.
They ran like this for three solid hours, the sun climbing higher in the sky, its rays dappling the forest floor. The only sounds were their pounding feet, their ragged breaths, and the occasional crack of a dry twig.
Then, up ahead, Ren stopped.
He didn't slow; he halted, becoming a statue in the deep shadows of an ancient oak. His right hand came up, signaling everyone to stop.
Instantly, Kai Jin slowed to a walk, his previous relaxed demeanor replaced by a silent, predatory readiness. The entire unit moved, gathering at his position, their movements practiced and efficient, forming a tight, defensive circle with Alex and his friends in the center.
"Report," Kai Jin said, his voice a low whisper that barely carried.
Ren jogged back to the group, his movements now a silent creep. "A mortal village, Senior Brother. thirty kilometers ahead. It's one from the reports, the tributary of the Silverstream. But something's wrong. There are no patrols, no farmers in the fields. And the wind…" he trailed off, a flicker of unease in his sharp eyes. "It carries a foul scent."
Kai Jin's gaze hardened. "Elaborate."
"Rot," Ren said in a low voice. "Not of plants. It smells of death."
A heavy silence fell over the group. The joking insults and the strain of the run were forgotten, replaced by a cold dread of what it could mean.
"Alright," Kai Jin commanded, his voice now a low, sharp command. "We change our approach. We move in silence. Talia, Jay, you have the perimeter. Nothing gets in or out. Elara, Lily, stay with the main group, prepare for anything. Ren, I want you in the trees. Let me know if you see anything." He looked from Alex to Kira. "You two, with me. I want two sets of eyes on this. Alex, be ready with an antidote to counter any poisons, and Kira, let me know if you sense any toxins in the air."
Alex felt a jolt of adrenaline. He gave a single, sharp nod. Kira's dangerous smile returned for a fleeting instant, a silent acknowledgment of the coming hunt.
"Let's move," Kai Jin whispered. "Slowly. And quietly."
The vanguard moved forward, no longer a running pack, but a group of silent predators, their senses on high alert as they approached the quiet, still village and the foul stench that hung over it like a shroud.
They crept through the last of the undergrowth, the gnarled trees giving way to fallow, cracked-earth fields. The silence here was strangely deafening. It wasn't the peace of a forest at rest; it was the dead quiet of a place where even the insects had ceased their chirping. The smell of rot was a physical presence now, clinging to the back of the throat.
Alex moved beside Kai Jin, his eyes narrowed in concentration. To the others, the air was just air, tinged with a foul odor. But to him, through the lens of his Immortal Eyes, it was something far more sinister.
It's not right, Alex thought to himself, a cold knot of dread forming in his stomach. The ambient spiritual energy of the world, which should have been a gentle, flowing current of blues, greens, and browns, was distorted here. A sickly, green, and black haze hung over the entire area, thick and stagnant, like the spiritual equivalent of swamp gas. It wasn't aggressively malevolent like the taint he'd seen in Lyra, but it felt... dead. It seemed like it was the color of spiritual decay, a rot that had settled deep into the very essence of the land.
The feeling it gave him was a primal warning, a sense of dread he hadn't felt since his first day in this world, when he had stumbled onto a battlefield. This was the quiet before the screaming.
He quickened his pace slightly, falling in step beside his commander. "Senior Brother," he whispered, his voice low and urgent.
Kai Jin's eyes didn't leave the distant, dilapidated wooden wall of the village, but his head tilted a fraction of an inch, a silent acknowledgment.
"The Qi ahead," Alex struggled to find the right words. "It's wrong. Stagnant. Like a sickroom where someone has been left to die. Something is very, very wrong here."
Kai Jin's stride didn't falter, but a new, sharp tension entered his posture. He was suspicious of what the senses of a foundation establishment cultivator could discern that he couldn't, but decided to trust the strange perceptions of the boy beside him, because he himself had a gut feeling something was terribly wrong. He gave a subtle, almost imperceptible flick of his fingers.
Kira glided forward, her movements making no sound on the cracked earth. She stopped beside Kai Jin. "Our alchemist senses a spiritual anomaly," Kai Jin said, his voice a low rumble. "What do your senses tell you?"
Kira closed her eyes, her head tilting as if listening to a sound no one else could hear. She took a slow, deep breath through her nose, her expression unreadable. When she opened her eyes again, the lazy, predatory calm was gone, replaced by a look of sharp, clinical disgust.
"I smell death," she stated, her voice losing its seductive edge, becoming flat and cold. "Old death. At least two weeks. There are no birds. No rats. No insects. Even the animals that feast on death are absent." She paused, a shiver running through her. "The only thing alive in that village… is the rot itself."
Her report, coming from a completely different sensory perspective, was a chilling confirmation of Alex's warning. The two of them, the alchemist and the hunter, had arrived at the same terrifying conclusion.
The unit reached the village entrance. A crude wooden gate, emblazoned with the faded carving of a sun, hung crookedly from a single leather hinge. Beyond it, the silence was absolute. The green, black haze of spiritual decay that Alex could see was so thick here that it seemed to dim the very sunlight.
Kai Jin's gaze swept over the silent, dust-caked huts, his hand tensed into a fist at his side. The mission had just changed. This was no longer just a drought; this was a tomb.
"Weapons ready. Kira, use the communication talisman to notify Elder Wu and the contingent party." he commanded, his voice a low, hard growl that cut through the dead air. "Why didn't Feng and his team report this?"