The Immortal Sect's main stronghold materialized ahead of me like a fortress carved from the bones of titans—towering spires of white jade and spirit stone that should have gleamed with pristine cultivation energy.
Instead, the entire complex pulsed with sickly red veins of corruption, the pure spiritual formations twisted into something that made my enhanced senses recoil in disgust.
But it wasn't the corrupted architecture that made me slow my approach—it was the welcoming committee.
Sect Master Bai Zhengming stood at the center of the main courtyard, his usually immaculate white robes stained with something that looked suspiciously like dried blood.
Around him, twelve Nascent Soul elders formed a perfect circle, their auras linked in a formation pattern I didn't recognize.
The geometric precision of their positioning and the way their qi flowed in synchronized pulses indicated that this wasn't a desperate defense.
This was a trap.
