Two figures walked through a space without a sky.
The ground was dark like wet stone. There were no stars above them, only a heavy mist that moved slowly, as if it were breathing. The shadows around them reacted to their presence, stretching and shrinking in irregular ways, like restless creatures.
The taller figure moved forward cautiously. The other kept a certain distance, watching everything with cold attention.
"Don't force it," said the woman. "Shadow isn't something you push. It's something you accept."
The taller figure took a deep breath. His shadow began to move across the ground, slowly separating from his feet.
It was Lin Feng.
And the woman beside him was Lira.
Ever since they returned from the first hunt, she had taken him to a place far from the main hall of the castle. A space where the air felt heavier, as if the world itself was closer to the bottom. Lin Feng could still taste the metallic flavor of the soul he had absorbed. The emptiness in his chest hadn't disappeared, but it was calmer now, waiting.
I don't want to be controlled by it. But if I don't learn to use it, it will devour me first. I just want to live. Nothing else matters right now.
"You're still trying to control it like a regular cultivator," Lira said, stopping and crossing her arms. "Flow, direction, pressure. That works with qi. But this isn't qi. This is hunger."
"I don't want to be controlled by it," he murmured.
"Then learn to give it shape."
Lira extended her hand. A small dark sphere appeared in her palm, and the emptiness in Lin Feng's chest reacted before he fully processed what he was seeing, animal instinct responding to the scent of something it needed.
"A soul."
"Yes. Weak. But stable. A mercenary who tried to flee the Abyss and died in the attempt. It carries no strong hatred. No deep guilt."
She released the sphere into the air, where it floated slowly.
"Now shape it."
Lin Feng reached out. His shadow detached from the ground and rose like living smoke. It wrapped around the soul, circling it in slow spirals. At first nothing happened. Then the shadow began to condense.
First a vague outline.
Then arms.
Then legs.
A feminine figure appeared before him, made of solid darkness, with pale eyes like distant stars. She fell to her knees without making a sound.
Lin Feng felt something new open in his chest. It wasn't hunger. It was connection — an invisible thread stretching between him and that shadow form, different from anything orthodox cultivation had ever given him.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Your first servant," Lira said, stepping closer to observe. "A Pleiade. Simple form. Simple function. Obey and grow."
The creature slowly lifted its face. There was no emotion there. Only empty purpose waiting to be filled.
"Can it become stronger?"
"Yes. All shadow servants can. But not here."
Lira pointed to the dark space around them.
"The Abyss is where they grow strong. Where shadows become dense. Where remnants of souls reorganize into something with real weight of their own."
"So I send her there?"
Lira shook her head.
"You don't send. You open."
She placed her hand on his chest, her cold fingers touching the fabric of his robe.
"Focus on the emptiness. Don't think about the castle. Think about what lies below."
Lin Feng obeyed. The space around them trembled slightly. The shadow beneath his feet began to stretch too far. The ground darkened. A black crack appeared, opening slowly like a toothless mouth.
The Pleiade was the first to be pulled. She tried to hold her shape, but the shadow beneath her feet stretched and dragged her downward with brutal force.
"Wait," Lin Feng said, reaching out.
The crack suddenly widened. The air began to spin in a spiral. The mist was sucked in. The ground split into black lines that spread like living veins.
Lira's eyes widened.
"You're opening something deeper — close it!"
The force grew violent. The shadow beneath Lin Feng's feet tore apart. His body was yanked forward as if invisible hands had seized the emptiness inside his chest. It felt as if the Abyss was pulling not just his body but his very existence.
If she lets go now I don't know what happens to me in here.
Lira grabbed his arm with all her strength, but the space around them warped. The crack widened like a wound that refused to stop tearing.
"Don't let go!" she shouted, her voice mixing with the black wind that now howled around them.
The ground gave way completely. It wasn't a fall. Something was dragging them down, the Abyss awakened and decided they no longer belonged in the safe place. Lin Feng felt his chest being crushed. The Pleiade had already vanished into the darkness. Lira's fingers were slipping.
"Hold on!" she yelled. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"
* * *
In the throne hall, shadows bowed before an ancient throne.
"They were pulled into the Abyss," they said in unison.
The Mother of the Abyss opened her eyes slowly, without surprise.
"So he has already begun to answer the call."
She closed her eyes again.
"Even without knowing it."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"Everything is proceeding as it should."