Just great. I couldn't even enjoy myself without being interrupted.
Qiren clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The walls of the ledge exploded outward as an armored, worm-like creature burst through, spewing a wave of purplish mist.
"Yīnluò, get back," he murmured, swinging his whip. Qi surged into it, bristles crackling violently as they lashed across the massive worm.
The creature hissed as a deep gash split its exoskeleton, its body distorting as its innate camouflage shifted to earthy brown.
"Skreee!!!"
Its maw yawned open—the cartilage crown-spikes peeled back—revealing hundreds of rows of teeth. The walls shook as more heat signatures surged forward, bursting through the stone.
FWUM—! FWEUUM!
Qiren shot backward through the debris. Yīnluò shielded herself with the fur pelt snagged on her spikes.
She stared at the shattered wall as five more worms emerged. "An insect swarm?"
Qiren turned slightly, about to ask if she recognized the intruders—
When a poison-breath wyrm, the size of an adult greyhound, opened its mouth. Its body glowed like a furnace as a stream of violet smoke poured forth, embers laced with deadly toxins riding the edges of the haze.
"Combat Series—Iron Fan!"
The bristles of his whip fanned out from east to west as he spun violently, generating a gust strong enough to scatter the embers.
But he wasn't finished.
Qiren's talons seized the top of his own head. The stitching along his jaw tore as he ripped it free and hurled it forward.
"Pinball!!!"
The hair on its scalp elongated, transforming into razor-sharp spears.
"Kree! Kree!"
The worms bellowed as they were impaled.
"Azure Release!"
His headless torso reached for the two talismans at his waist. One flared with blue light as he seized it and dashed toward his enemies.
He slammed it into one of them.
The embedded fragment responded instantly to his command—
Detonate. Detonate. Detonate. Detonate.
BOOOOM!!!
Flesh tore apart in blue flames, chunks flying outward as one worm was annihilated instantly.
"Abyss Rift!"
His headless body lashed out again, grabbing the second talisman.
A wave of darkness washed over him. His wings spread wide, the hidden eyes beneath his feathers igniting with purpose—
He skipped three steps forward through space itself.
His torso twisted, fan in hand, bristles slashing outward.
Slash—!
The attack missed.
The targeted worm recoiled, then expelled a poisonous haze. Two more followed, their clouds merging into a massive miasma.
"Krek—hissssss."
Qiren leapt back.
Three columns of poison erupted in rapid succession. Within them, both his head and Yīnluò vanished.
Then—
They reappeared atop the fog, hovering above the ledge just seconds before embers and smoke, surged from the wyrm, collided, igniting the gas into a violent inferno.
BOOOOM—
"Mystic Compass Strike—East to West!"
He swung with all his might, channeling raw precision into the air. A horizontal wind blade tore through the explosion.
"North to South—"
Qiren's head knitted itself back onto his stump as the wind pushed the blast away before it could reach them.
"Lady Yīnluò, are you alright?"
He turned toward the woman slung over his shoulder, one arm wrapped around her lower body.
Yīnluò pushed herself upright, using his back for support as she adjusted the fur pelt around her.
"I'm fine," she said. "Just surprised. I don't understand why an insect swarm would appear here. If I'd been caught in that cloud…"
She trailed off, shuddering slightly.
"Aren't insect swarms common?" Qiren asked, scanning the five remaining heat signatures. His gaze shifted downward as more worms burrowed through the chasm below.
"No." She shook her head.
"Most insect swarms only appear during conflicts between Abyss Adepts. They're drawn to the scent of a fallen Adept's soul, intending to carry it back to their Hive Mistress."
Qiren's gaze lingered on the scorched chasm-edge before returning to her.
"You mentioned earlier that they're attracted to certain types of souls," he said. "What exactly is a tainted soul?"
Yīnluò hesitated briefly.
"A soul bathed in negative karma," she replied quietly. "One steeped in slaughter, despair, or long-term malice. Not an official requirement, but… an unspoken one for becoming a True Adept."
She tightened the fur around herself.
"Such souls resonate strongly with the Abyss. They're easier to refine—or turn into trophies that strengthen one's innate karma circulation."
Qiren nodded slowly.
"But that can't be why they're here," she continued. "There isn't a high-quality soul nearby. If there were, we'd have felt its pull immediately."
Her eyes narrowed as she studied the remaining heat signatures.
"These aren't hunters. They're larvy—newborns at best, likely formed from Dao Fiend spirit fragments. Each generation mirrors the Hive Mistress's strength, so she's only slightly stronger than them—and it's her guards who pose the real threat."
"Then why surface at all?" Qiren asked.
"They're searching for a base," Yīnluò replied. "Somewhere to settle and eventually terraform into a nest."
Her words lingered.
Qiren's gaze drifted downward as he replayed them in his mind.
High-quality souls attract them…
His pupils contracted.
Then why were some attacking him?
If they intended to take over his base, wouldn't they strike everyone at once?
He rose into the air, scanning the captives below. They were scattered—even those with baby wyrms burrowing through nearby walls were being ignored. The attackers were moving upward.
Toward him.
But not all of them.
The worms near the chasm weren't regrouping—they were diverging. One cluster circled the battlefield, while another began burrowing away.
Qiren's head snapped toward a dark side tunnel.
A narrow cave swallowed heat signatures one by one as a separate group disappeared into its depths.
His eyes widened.
"Damn it… it can't be—"
He reached for the bangle on his wrist and poured misfortune into it.
The wyrm that had stood on the ledge screeched, coiling like a serpent. Heat condensed in its throat before it spat a flaming sphere of compressed fire.
Swish—
Qiren swatted the attack aside.
They're attracted to my curses…
That means—fuck. My teleportation array.
His wings snapped shut as he dropped into freefall.
Yīnluò slipped from his shoulder, heart lurching. Her hair fanned wildly as gravity claimed her—before panic could take hold, Qiren caught her and pulled her close.
FWUMM!
His wings flared as he glided toward the tunnel entrance.
"Tell me," he said sharply, "are insect-type demons known to swarm around non-tainted souls?"
"There have been cases," Yīnluò answered quickly. "Some rogue swarms steal trophies or treasures from other demons and bring them back to their queens."
"Most insect demons focus on crafting larvy to build nests, then either create or find relics themselves, operating under the assumption that their offspring will retrieve resources to support them. Unlike non-insect demons, which hunt or forge objects from the start, insects create servitors from their own spirit fragments to serve them later."
She looked ahead as more wyrms burst from the tunnel.
"Their hunts stay close to their territory. If resisted or pursued, they retreat toward their nest—where the Hive Mistress holds a regional advantage."
Qiren slashed at an incoming wyrm, his fan snapping into a whip.
Whiss—!
Repeated lashes tore it apart. His whip twisted, hardening into a spiraling spear as he lunged forward, piercing it before it could unleash flame or gas.
Yīnluò continued, voice strained by the chaos.
"With their hordes constantly feeding trophies into their Daoist Aperture and Spirit Core limiters, the Hive Mistress's reserves of negative karma and Qi never stop growing."
"Wouldn't that make them virtually invincible?" Qiren asked, cutting down another wyrm with one hand. "If they fortified a nest with generative treasures, wouldn't fighting there turn them into endless war machines?"
Yīnluò nodded, arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"That's why True Adepts and Hive Mistresses are so dangerous. Within their regions, they can range from physical brutes to near-unstoppable forces—depending on how much karma and Qi their trophies supply."
So something was attracted to the cursed fruit above my array—planning to steal it as a trophy and claim the area as its nest.
Qiren snorted softly.
"I don't know whether to be offended… or impressed by the audacity."
He chuckled as his muscles tensed.
"It seems I still underestimated demon affairs. To think one could become invincible just by sitting back while lackeys scrape through the dirt collecting trinkets~"
"Hisssss—!"
A wyrm expelled a cloud of sparks and gas.
"Mystic Compass Strike—North to South!"
BOOOOM!!!
The embers collided, igniting into a violent explosion that shook the tunnel.
SWOOSH—! SWOOSH—! SWOOSH—!
Three orange streaks burst through the smoke.
"East to West—South!"
Qiren wrenched his fan diagonally, twisting hard before pulling upward. The wind compressed the fireballs and hurled them back, slamming into a wyrm's chest.
RIP—
Chunks tore free as it collapsed.
"Abyss Rift."
Shadows swallowed him as he surged forward with Yīnluò, slashing through wyrms in rapid succession—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Fireballs detonated against the cavern walls as he advanced, devouring the thin wisps of spirit fragments leaking from their bodies.
None of these had complete souls, he noted.
"Azure Needle!"
He twisted toward the left wall, tongue scraping against one of the dozens of three-inch hairs prepared in his mouth. Qi surged—
Whisssh!
BURST!
A wyrm erupted from the stone, violet flames pouring from its body. Its circular maw gaped wide, jagged teeth snapping toward them—close enough that, without Qiren's acceleration, it would have torn into his abdomen.
The Azure Needle pierced its throat, blue flames igniting within.
"Hiss… hiss…"
It collapsed, internals burning—but this one was different. Its body already radiated intense heat.
It began drawing in Qiren's flames, refining them.
Mixed violet and blue fire spilled from its mouth.
"Krr… krr… KRRREEE!"
Its pores steamed as its glow intensified, coiling in rage as it turned toward them.
Then it unleashed a blazing storm.
Miasma swallowed the tunnel.
Qiren laughed inwardly as he barely avoided the blast.
"I shouldn't have underestimated you~"
He landed behind the wyrm, setting Yīnluò down.
"KREE!"
It spun, throat swelling again—
"I'll get serious now."
Feathers erupted along his limbs, ears reshaping into golden plumes. He became more avian—though his torso and face remained largely human.
WOSSH!
He launched forward.
The wyrm released another torrent—pure violet this time—but Qiren didn't dodge.
He reached into the flames.
The moment they touched—
"Rift—"
His voice was flat, eyes devoid of warmth.
One moment the wyrm stood free.
The next, half its body was embedded into the tunnel wall—not trapped, but woven into the stone. Muscle, tissue, and cells fused seamlessly with the surrounding minerals.
It couldn't move.
"Azure Drip."
Qiren placed a talon against the exposed flesh.
Blue fire bloomed.
It didn't explode.
It seeped.
The flames crawled inward through flesh and stone alike, threading along veins and seams as though they were one.
The wyrm convulsed once—its scream cut off midway as its throat melted from the inside out.
Cracks spread across the tunnel wall, glowing blue.
The creature's struggling slowed, then ceased entirely. Its body wilted, flesh burned into a warped statue locked in eternal agony—half beast, half terrain.
Wisps of pale soul-mist bled from the seams—thin and fractured—drawn into Qiren's talon before dispersing like ash.
"Don't think you'll get away that easily."
He clenched what remained in his fist.
The mist reddened, corrupting in his palm.
"Suffer."
Skree… skree…
Tiny wails echoed between his talons—a bloody cry born of otherworldly agony.