Khanh fell into the dreamscape once again. Perhaps from sheer exhaustion, he had fainted. Yet the instant he opened his eyes, he knew—this was neither dream nor waking reality.
Darkness pressed in like the depths of an abyss. Beneath his feet floated fragments of shattered stone, adrift in emptiness. In the distance, blood-red lanterns hung suspended, casting a sickly glow over countless cracked and twisted masks. From below, broken whispers rose like pleas for salvation.
A thin figure stood at the edge of the stone, hollow black eyes fixed on him. As Khanh instinctively stepped back, the rock beneath his feet split apart, and countless ashen hands stretched upward from the abyss, clawing at his legs.
> "This… this isn't real…"
His voice scattered in the air, drowned by the whispers.
At the very moment he was about to be dragged under, a cool breeze surged from nowhere, cutting through the fog of darkness. The gaunt figure dissolved. Khanh plummeted into a blank, formless white—then woke with a jolt.
---
He sat upright inside the shrine, cold sweat soaking his clothes. His breath came short, his heart still shackled by the terror of that abyss.
Morning light seeped through the cracked roof tiles. In the corner, Vy stirred awake, her gaze falling upon him.
> "Another nightmare? … It's morning already."
Khanh lifted his eyes. Indeed, the night had fled. Pale sunlight filtered through the forest outside, dispersing the chill of lingering evil.
Vy rose, slung her three-section staff over her shoulder, and spoke with quiet resolve:
> "By day, the fiends are fewer. We must move quickly."
Khanh nodded, still weary, yet the shrine's spiritual aura had restored part of his strength. They gathered what little food remained, then pushed the shrine doors open.
---
The old wooden doors creaked. Standing before them was a young woman. Her figure was slender, her long hair cascading over her shoulders. With her back to the sun, she smiled faintly, her voice gentle and clear:
> "You too… have wandered here?"
Her gaze flickered, hesitant, carrying a frail helplessness—like someone lost, seeking aid.
Khanh hesitated. Vy narrowed her eyes; a subtle chill crept through her instincts.
The girl slowly stepped backward into the trees, looking back over her shoulder as she called softly:
> "Follow me… it's much safer outside."
Within the shrine, the air thickened, as though some lurking force waited for them to leave its threshold.
Leaning against an ancient tree, the girl's smile deepened, her eyes hazy yet penetrating, as if peering into one's very soul.
Vy stepped forward, staff gripped tight, stance shifting into readiness.
> "Who are you?" — her tone slow, cold.
> "Human?" — The girl tilted her head, lips curling. "Not exactly…"
A damp, icy breath spilled over them, like the last chill of midnight mist. Life itself seemed to ebb from the air.
Khanh stiffened, every instinct screaming.
> "Stay away from the shrine…" he warned under his breath, scanning the shadows.
> "Oh? Is that so?" — The girl chuckled, moving closer to the gate.
With each step, the cold thickened.
Then her body began to shed its disguise.
Skin cracked and split like a snake's molting shell. From within unfurled a creature: the upper half a woman, the lower half the immense body of a white-silver serpent, nearly two fathoms long and as thick as a temple pillar. Her coils writhed with suffocating menace.
From her mouth spilled black fumes that clung to the shrine's central idol.
> "No—!" Khanh cried, but it was already too late.
The shrine's glow snuffed out, like a flame doused in water.
The idol split down the middle.
The spiritual aura within drained away, bleeding into the earth.
> "With no guardian here… I may enter freely." — The Serpent-Fiend's whisper slithered like a tongue into their ears.
Khanh and Vy had no choice left—only to flee.
---
From the fiend's body poured black smoke, coalescing into another identical form.
One serpent surged toward Khanh, while the other coiled itself before the ruined shrine.
> "Split up!" Vy shouted, and they darted in opposite directions.
Khanh plunged into the forest, branches slashing past him.
> "Why did it track us here?" He clenched his teeth.
The answer came, echoing directly in his skull:
> "The scent of a vessel… You are ripened fragrance. The lesser shades' smoke only led the way. All I need… is a breath."
A chill ripped down his spine.
Then his leg throbbed sharply.
Patterns of earthen lines unfurled across the ground like the roots of a vast tree.
Khanh stamped down.
BOOM!
The earth cracked open, swallowing him—
—and in the next instant, he emerged behind a tree twenty paces away.
---
> "Teleportation…?" He gasped.
But he did not pause. He rushed back toward Vy, seized her shoulder, and channeled what little energy he had left. The current split three ways—one into Vy, one into he