The cavern was silent again after the echo of Shen Hao's footsteps faded. 40 pairs of eyes stayed fixed on him, unreadable in the crimson glow of the molten trenches. The air was suffocating, not from heat alone but from the pressure of their stares. Shen Hao didn't lower his guard.
Then, from among them, a figure stepped forward.
Unlike the others who stood with their arms crossed or hands resting casually on their weapons, this one moved with unhurried grace. His robe was deep gray, hood raised, concealing most of his face. Yet the lower half visible carried a faint smile, warm, polite, almost too perfectly measured. Two cultivators followed in his shadow, both silent, their presence smothered as though cloaked by some unseen veil.
"Another seeker arrives." His voice was smooth, carrying no hostility, only calm curiosity. "And a rare one at that… I've never seen your kind before."
Shen Hao didn't speak immediately. He studied the man, noting the effortless manner with which he carried himself, the way his companions stood as if part of his very shadow. Strength; hidden, coiled, impossible to gauge.
Lingfeng muttered in his hilt, barely audible to anyone but Shen Hao. "That smile's too pretty. He's either very friendly… or very, very dangerous."
Mo Han's tone echoed quietly in Shen Hao's mind. "Be cautious. The ones who smile the widest often carry the sharpest blades behind their backs."
Shen Hao straightened, clasped his fist in palm, and gave a small bow, the respectful but not servile gesture of a cultivator among peers. "Shen Hao. From Earth."
The name drew murmurs from the gathered cultivators. "Earth?" "Never heard of such a realm…" "He must be lying." The words buzzed faintly through the cavern, suspicion flickering in alien eyes.
But the robed man simply chuckled softly. "Earth… a new realm to add to the mountain's guests. Fascinating." His voice carried no mockery, only an unnerving sincerity. "I am called Yao Jun. These two are my companions." He gestured faintly, though the two behind him neither bowed nor spoke, only lowered their heads in silent acknowledgment.
Shen Hao nodded once, gaze flicking briefly toward the silent figures. He felt nothing from them, no Qi, no intent, only a hollow absence. His brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
"Yao Jun," Shen Hao said slowly, "why do all of you stand here?"
The faint smile widened. "Because the mountain bars the way forward. Look."
He lifted one hand, palm facing the center of the cavern. Only then did Shen Hao notice it, faint at first, but growing clearer as his eyes adjusted. At the very end of the vast chamber, a translucent wall shimmered faintly, stretching from floor to ceiling like a veil of liquid glass. Its surface rippled softly, radiating a pressure that prickled against Shen Hao's skin even from afar.
"That is the barrier," Yao Jun said. "Formed not by any hand, but by the mountain itself. Over countless years it has drawn in the excess Qi of this realm, woven it into a shell that guards what lies beyond. No one passes through by force alone. To break it, we need strength, combined strength."
Shen Hao's gaze lingered on the barrier. The energy radiating from it was immense, steady. His hand clenched faintly at his side.
Lingfeng hummed softly. "That thing doesn't look like it wants to be broken. You sure it's not alive?"
"Alive or not," Mo Han answered, his voice calm but heavy, "such barriers are the mountain's will made form. Alone, you cannot hope to shatter it. But with them…" His tone sharpened. "Stay cautious. They are cultivators, yes. But they are also competitors."
Shen Hao gave the faintest nod. Yao Jun's eyes gleamed faintly beneath the hood as he studied him. "Your aura tells me you are no novice, Shen Hao. You stand at the peak of your current stage, do you not?"
Shen Hao's expression didn't shift, but the faint flicker of surprise in his eyes betrayed him. Yao Jun's smile didn't falter.
"Good," Yao Jun said softly. "Then you are no burden. Walk with us, Shen Hao of Earth. When the time comes, your strength will matter."
The cultivators shifted as though stirred by some silent command, forming a loose circle facing the barrier. Qi began to stir in the air, currents of invisible power gathering like storm winds.
Shen Hao moved with them, his eyes never leaving Yao Jun. The man stood at the center, hands folded behind his back, his composure as unshaken as stone. His companions flanked him, still shadows, still silent.
The pressure thickened. The barrier pulsed faintly, as though aware of the gathering storm of power arrayed before it.
Yao Jun raised one hand. "Together, then. On my mark."
Qi surged. Shen Hao felt the air tremble as twenty cultivators drew in breath, their power condensing into blazing cores of energy. He inhaled sharply, guiding his own Qi into his palm, focusing it until it burned against his skin.
"Now!" Yao Jun's voice cracked like thunder.
Twenty streams of power erupted at once, blazing beams of Qi lancing forward like spears of light. They struck the barrier in unison, the cavern shaking with the force. The air screamed, walls trembling, molten trenches splashing upward in violent sparks as the combined assault hammered against the translucent wall.
The barrier shuddered, ripples spreading across its surface, but it held.
"Again!" Yao Jun commanded, his voice sharp but calm.
They unleashed another volley, each cultivator's roar echoing through the cavern. Shen Hao's Qi burned in his veins as he drove it forward, his beam joining the storm of power battering the mountain's wall.
This time, the barrier screamed back, a sound like stone fracturing under unbearable strain. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, light bleeding through the fractures.
And then, Whirrrrrrr.
Shen Hao froze. His ears caught it before anyone else, a sound he knew too well. The beating of countless wings.
Mo Han's voice snapped instantly in his mind. "They've sensed the Qi surge. The swarm returns!"
The sound swelled, multiplied, until the very walls trembled with it. From every hole, every crack, every shadow in the stone came the rising hum of wings.
Lingfeng's voice cut in, sharp with alarm. "Master… you're about to have more company than you'll ever want."
And then the cavern walls split open.
Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of insects poured forth, their armored bodies glistening purple in the molten light, their mandibles clicking in hunger. The swarm surged like a living tide, flooding the cavern, their wings deafening in the enclosed space.
Shen Hao's pulse thundered in his ears. The barrier was cracking, but not yet broken. And the swarm was already here.
The cavern erupted into madness.
Wings thundered like a storm. Shadows blackened the walls as the swarm poured through every fissure, a river of mandibles and claws that blotted out the molten glow. The cultivators turned, their faces hardening, Qi erupting in a hundred colors.
"Hold the barrier!" Yao Jun's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. "Do not stop!"
But already the first line of insects crashed into them, shrieking as they dove. A wave of chittering bodies slammed against glowing shields, claws scraping, mandibles snapping, wings beating like war drums.
Shen Hao spun, palm lashing out, a burst of blazing Qi blasting through three of the creatures at once. Their bodies crumpled mid-air, dissolving into smoke before they struck the ground. But ten more surged through the gap, their armored shells glinting violet, their fangs dripping venom.
Lingfeng roared from his hilt, his single eye glowing as wind blades slashed outward. "Master! Left!"
Shen Hao twisted, ducking under the slice of a serrated limb, his fist blazing with Qi as he smashed upward. The insect shrieked, its body shattering against the cavern ceiling.
But there were too many. For every one he crushed, five more poured out, their bodies writhing, wings beating in a frenzy.
Behind him, cultivators roared, beams of power still hammering at the barrier even as they fought desperately to hold the swarm back. The translucent wall crackled under their assault, fractures spiderwebbing wider, brighter, glowing like molten lightning in the stone.
Yao Jun stood firm, one hand raised, his Qi a steady torrent feeding into the combined strike. Yet even he turned his head slightly, eyes narrowing as the swarm descended. His two companions moved at last, shadows flowing from their forms as they cut into the tide with terrifying precision, their movements sharp, silent, efficient.
Mo Han's voice burned in Shen Hao's skull. "It won't hold, Shen Hao! Not against this many! If the barrier doesn't break soon....n..."
A thunderclap silenced him.
The barrier screamed. Cracks split across its face like shattered glass, light pouring through them in violent beams. Shen Hao's eyes widened.
"It's giving way!" Yao Jun shouted. "One last strike! Now!"
Every cultivator unleashed their Qi in a single blinding surge. The cavern shook as if the mountain itself were groaning. The barrier's fractures burst outward, shards of light cascading into the air like burning rain,
Shhhhhhhhhhhrrrkkk!
The wall shattered.
A gale of ancient Qi blasted through the chamber, a roar that shook every stone, nearly throwing Shen Hao off his feet. For one heartbeat, the cultivators froze, awe flickering in their eyes as the path forward yawned open.
Then the swarm shrieked as one, a sound that made the marrow in Shen Hao's bones crawl. They surged, every tunnel vomiting insects into the chamber, their hunger doubling as if the shattering barrier had driven them into a frenzy.
"Move!" Yao Jun's voice thundered. "All of you, move!"
Shen Hao didn't need telling twice. He shot forward, Qi igniting under his feet, Lingfeng streaking beside him in a whirl of blades and wind. Behind him, cultivators blurred into motion, bodies flashing as they dove through the shattered barrier.
The swarm crashed after them, a tide of wings and claws flooding the air, the sound deafening in the narrow passage beyond. Shen Hao's pulse pounded as he sprinted, the cavern twisting into a blur around him.
They flew through twisting tunnels, Qi blazing at their heels as the swarm pursued, faster than thought, hungrier than flame. Shen Hao risked a glance back, and his chest clenched. The entire passage behind them was gone, buried beneath a wall of writhing bodies, thousands of glowing eyes locked on them.
Lingfeng laughed breathlessly, his voice sharp with both fear and exhilaration. "Well, Master, you wanted company. You've got enough to last a lifetime!"
"Not helping!" Shen Hao barked, diving under a jutting stone as a spear of venom hissed past his face.
The cultivators ahead scattered through the twisting passage, their light flashing wildly, their voices lost in the chaos. Yao Jun remained in sight, his form impossibly calm even as his robe snapped in the gale of their flight, his two companions flanking him like shadows that never broke.
The air grew hotter, harsher, the stone glowing faintly under the pressure of the mountain's molten veins. Shen Hao felt sweat streak his back, his chest burning with every breath.
Mo Han's voice snapped. "Faster, Shen Hao! They won't stop, not here, not now. They'll hound you until your bones are dust!"
Shen Hao gritted his teeth, pushing his Qi harder, faster, ignoring the searing ache tearing at his muscles. The swarm's screeches filled his ears, venom sizzling as it struck stone, limbs clattering, wings hammering in endless pursuit.
And then the tunnel ended.
Shen Hao nearly slammed into the stone wall before skidding to a halt. The cultivators ahead froze, their faces twisting as realization dawned.
A dead end.
The swarm closed behind them, a tide filling the tunnel, sealing every path of escape. The sound of wings reverberated like a funeral drum, the smell of venom thick enough to choke.
Shen Hao's stomach sank. His eyes swept the cavern, searching for any gap, any fissure, any way out. There was none.
Then he noticed it. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. Thick with webbing. Purple strands layered over one another until they formed walls of their own. And in the center of the chamber, half-hidden in shadow, rose a mound of silk so vast it looked like a hill.
A nest.
Lingfeng went silent for once.
Mo Han's voice came cold and low. "You've run straight into their hive."
The swarm's shrieks grew louder, more frenzied, echoing in the sealed chamber. The cultivators formed a ragged circle, backs to one another, Qi blazing in every shade of light.
And then, from the center of the nest, the silk stirred.
Something enormous shifted in the shadows.