Chapter 164

Mistakes were made in the beginning of book 3. I failed to mention what was going on with Chen Haoran's armor. The answer as some have said is the restriction of Qi. It was an oversight and I'll be editing it later. I'm not very satisfied with the first chapter looking back at it. There are mistakes in it, its dialogue, and its thinking that I think isn't helpful or logical. It's due for a rewrite.

Next chapter will be on Friday the 14th.

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Chen Haoran gripped the hilt of his sword white-knuckled. He gazed warily at the hundreds of eyes surrounding them, staring at them, calculating them. Once again Chen Haoran was struck by how seemingly empty the jungle appeared only for its inhabitants to emerge from seemingly nowhere. Like the whole jungle was a pool of water that he couldn’t see beneath the surface of until the creatures chose to rise from its depths. Phelps clambered up onto his back and Xie Jin was at his side in an instant, his Beetle Gu tucked away within his sleeves. Purple qi appeared between his fingers and dissipated.

“I won’t be able to fight effectively in the aura,” Xie Jin warned.

“And you’ll die if you try fighting outside it,” Chen Haoran replied.

The eyes stared at them, their predatory light the only indicator they were surrounded. The bodies of the creatures remained obscured within the fog of the Green Hell. They drifted from tree to tree and branch to branch. Floating within the fog like hellish will o’ wisps. By Chen Haoran’s count there were at least a hundred creatures but who was to know if they were the only ones to reveal themselves? If more were not biding their time in the shadows until they too would open their eyes.

“They didn’t run from the noise,” Chen Haoran whispered. Xie Jin grunted in agreement but he had said it mostly for himself. It was supremely concerning that they chose to reveal themselves after he chopped down the tree. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know if he wanted to know why. The only blessing was that they hadn’t already attacked. Were they afraid? Or just waiting for an opportunity? Were they a pack? Or were they all individuals and Chen Haoran and co were about to be at the center of another spree of mass violence?

His fingers twitched toward his storage bag. A brief spike of qi would see it opened up and have his armor wrapped around him. He considered it then ultimately abandoned the thought. It would only make the fighting harder for Xie Jin and Phelps in the short term and him in the long.

Phelps grunted and Chen Haoran spared him a glance while keeping his sense focused on the eyes. Phelps was looking behind them and Chen Haoran appreciated having their backs covered but soon enough realized it wasn’t the eyes behind them the sloth was looking at.

He was looking at the tree.

“What’s the plan, Brother Chen?”

“Fuck this.”

“What?”

Chen Haoran raised his sword.

As above…

The color of the blade merged into white. The Yellow Dragon grumbled in displeasure and sank into his core as far away from the sword as it could. Chen Haoran stared back at the eyes. Stark white spread from his sword to the jungle. The color of the Green Hell cracked.

So—

The eyes vanished. Chen Haoran lowered his sword and color once more bloomed across it.

“It wasn’t like that before,” Xie Jin muttered, staring at the blade. “Enlightenment huh?”

“I won’t lie,” Chen Haoran said. “I kinda miss the old version right now.” He turned around and walked over to the tree stump. The fallen tree bled black sap like a man cut in half. Phelps crawled off Chen Haoran’s back and began sniffing the ground. “Xie Jin, can you get any traces from this?”

“Hold up.” Xie Jin flicked his sleeve and his Beetle Gu flew out and hovered over the tree stump. After a moment he shook his head. “No.”

Chen Haoran grimaced. “Walk.”

——————————

They walked. How long he did not know. How far he did not know. Alone…. he knew they weren’t alone.

“We’re being followed,” Chen Haoran said.

“I could’ve told you that,” Xie Jin muttered.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” He ran his fingers through hair damp with sweat and humid air. “How is it hunting us in this jungle? How does anything hunt in this jungle when the environment can suddenly change and twist directions?”

“A range limit perhaps?” Xie Jin said. “It’s not like we were separated from each other. Or maybe the bewildering effect only occurs around the borders of the Green Hell?”

“I wonder if it has anything to do with their ability to escape the Green Hell,” Chen Haoran wondered aloud. “That’s how the Hell Bugs outside it came about no?”

“A few do leave the Green Hell every year but compared to the numbers we’ve seen so far it’s nothing,” Xie Jin said.

“But they do leave,” Chen Haoran emphasized.

“Yes but that’s not really helpful right now,” Xie Jin reminded him. “Not when we have to deal with our stalker.”

“Can we though?” Chen Haoran didn’t want to speak those words but it had to be said. The silence they caused almost let them blend into the forest. Almost at least. It was hard to be quiet in a place where breathing was loud.

“If it were stronger than us it would have just killed us and been done with it,” Xie Jin said.

“If it were weaker than us it wouldn’t be making noise.”

Xie Jin frowned, his face a mixture of worry and frustration. Chen Haoran sympathized. The natural order in this unnatural jungle was that of quiet. A place where the trees did not let wind whistle through their leaves and where the creatures would rather die like stones than let slip any sound of life. What did it say of their stalker then that it chose to deliberately make a sound in a place where everything had been held to silence?

Chen Haoran held up three fingers and began ticking them down one by one. “Whatever is following us is intelligent, malicious, and fundamentally different from the norm.”

“I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed if Bao Si followed us into the Green Hell.”

Chen Haoran gave Xie Jin a cross look.

Xie Jin merely chuckled. Smoothing out the frustrated lines in his face. “It’s probably a Gu,” he said. “The stealth, the hunting style, the audacity. Some sadist shaman’s Gu probably came to the Green Hell and found home.”

Despite himself, Chen Haoran let out a sigh of relief. A malicious Gu was dangerous but it was a familiar danger. He could deal with Gu.

“Any idea how to lure it out? I want to chop it in half and be done with this,” Chen Haoran said.

“It’s the Stainless Lotus,” Xie Jin said. “If it had the opportunity to use its magic we could find an opening.”

“I can’t exactly turn the flower on and off,” Chen Haoran said. “We kinda need it.”

“We do,” Xie Jin agreed, but Chen Haoran could practically see his mind tossing around thoughts. “We definitely need it to restore our Qi but it’s also our biggest attention drawer. We’ve been lucky so far that we haven’t attracted the attention of anything beyond the Liquid Meridian Realm.”

“So what’s your plan?” Chen Haoran asked.

Xie Jin looked out at the rolling noxious mists of the Green Hell. “Try to adapt. Maybe overcome. Hopefully not die.”

“What?”

“Just stay there Brother Chen. I’m going to test something.” Xie Jin walked to the edge of the purification aura. He pulled from his robes a blue pendant and wore it. Then he stuck his arm outside the barrier.

It was only Chen Haoran’s belief in Xie Jin that stopped him from stepping forward and re-enveloping him within the aura. His fears were proven unfounded when a teal aura covered his arm and it remained unchanged in the mist.

“So it even protects against the Green Hell’s air.” Xie Jin sneered, pulling his arm back into the barrier. “That bastard Lu Aotian really had something good on him. Now I’m even more glad I took it.”

He threw the pendant to Chen Haoran.

“That should be able to cover you and Phelps both so long as he doesn’t move much.”

Chen Haoran’s bad feeling returned in full force.

Xie Jin stuck his arm into the fog unprotected. His arm turned black in an instant, from the tips of his fingers all the way up to his elbow where it stopped upon hitting the purification aura. There was a horrible noise, both sizzling and wet, that Chen Haoran could only liken to rot given sound. Xie Jin merely grunted but Chen Haoran did not need enhanced vision to see the way his jaw flexed and his neck tensed. Whatever the sensation of rotting alive felt like it was not a painless affair.

Chen Haoran stepped forward.

“Stop!” Xie Jin raised his other hand. “Believe.”

Chen Haoran paused. He pursed his lips and frowned but kept silent and did not move further.

Xie Jin slowly curled black fingers into a fist with a squelch. A low whine escaped him and Chen Hoaran felt his qi recoil and writhe and surge to his arm. With a loud shout he yanked his arm back through the aura, the putrid skin sliding off it like a glove leaving the limb raw, pulsing, and red.

Phelps whined in distress and Chen Haoran, unfortunately no stranger to the mess that could be made of the human body, flinched despite himself. Xie Jin’s Gu on the other hand had no such compunctions, leaping from his sleeve and out the aura to devour the rotting pile that used to be Xie Jin’s flesh.

Liquid purple qi tinted with a green light quickly wrapped around Xie Jin’s arm and sank into it. New skin soon followed after that, crawling from his bicep and covering his arm. Xie Jin was pale and sweat ran down his brow in rivulets but his face spoke of satisfaction despite being twisted up from the lingering pain. His Gu returned to him having had its meal, shedding its shell again as it did so. A strip of pure green qi transferred from it to him and Xie Jin finally relaxed. He looked to Chen Haoran with a grin, though he faltered a little upon seeing his severe expression.

“I won’t bother with exclamations or the usual tripe that follows after a boneheaded decision,” Chen Haoran said. He nodded to Xie Jin’s arm. “Was it worth it?”

“Yes,” Xie Jin said, flexing his hand. “Don’t worry. I didn’t let the poison reach the bone. If I can do this a couple more times I should be able to adapt to the air.”

“Good,” Chen Haoran said. “For the record you’re an idiot.”

“I thought you believed in me?”

“I did believe in you. I also believe your an idiot. They aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Xie Jin rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s a step in the right direction. It’s not like anything we do in the Green Hell won’t be some level of stupidly risky.”

The was a scratch of something against wood.

Chen Haoran unsheathed his sword and faced the direction of the sound. Phelps pressed himself flush against his back. Xie Jin went back to back with him. His Gu crawled out his sleeve and settled defensively on his shoulder. There was no panic. Their fear long pressed down in their minds and pushed to the side.

“Took it long enough this time,” Chen Haoran indifferently said. He scanned they jungle for movement.

“The scratching is getting old,” Xie Jin said.

There was a knock against wood.

Then another.

They shut up as their unknown pursuer began rhythmically knocking on wood. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It was a beat of some kind that much was obvious but the meaning of it was unknown. An alert or call of some kind perhaps? Chen Haoran frowned and tried placing the direction but found he couldn’t no matter how much qi he sent to his ears.

“Any idea, Xie Jin?” He asked.

Silence was his answer.

If Chen Haoran wasn’t absolutely sure Xie Jin was behind him he’d be worried. As it was the silence was a concern. “Xie Jin?”

“This is a children’s song,” Xie Jin said. His voice was unsteady. “I remember the nanny’s singing it to us and clapping their hands to this beat.”

“So it’s confirmed to be from outside the Green Hell then. Most likely a Gu like you guessed.”

“Brother Chen has anything you’ve seen of Gu given you the impression they’d ever play children’s music?”

It was a question that didn’t need an answer. As soon as Xie Jin said it Chen Haoran’s memories flashed with every interaction and observation of Gu he had. Unnatural. Supernaturally stoic. Devoid of anything that would make them comparable to even the strangest forms of life.

Chen Haoran held his sword tighter.

Along with the knocking came a low humming, a steady, constant drone completely out of tune with the beat. The knocking slowed and grew weaker while the humming grew in sound and intensity such that the leaves of the devil trees began to shiver and the earth beneath their feet vibrated.

Chen Hoaran could tell the direction of the humming unlike the knocking. Back the way they had come from. He went cold.

Oh.

“That’s not part of the song,” Xie Jin said as he and Chen Haoran came to the same realization at once.

The knocking was one creature. The humming was something entirely different hunting them. Something coming in fast.

The world went dark.

One moment there was light. The next there wasn’t. As if someone had said, ‘Let there be light’ and then took back the decision. Even the light of the Stainless Purity Lotus had disappeared. If it weren’t for the fact he wasn’t immediately dying Chen Haoran would have thought it disappeared.

Even the humming was gone. The sound of it at least. He could still feel it through the earth, growing stronger as it approached.

“Xie Jin.” Chen Haoran mouthed the words but no noise came of it. His voice was gone. Ice cold fear raced through his veins and curdled into nausea within his stomach. Phelps’s arms tightened around his neck then. Chen Haoran could feel his warmth on his back. He was grateful for the pressure. That he wasn’t suddenly alone. He cast his sense out and found it fruitless as he expected.

His free hand reached for where he knew Xie Jin was. He brushed clothed and through a bit of fumbling finally found a hand. The rumbling of the earth suddenly spiked and it felt as if he were standing within and earthquake. Chen Haoran crouched down to steady himself. He could feel the very air vibrating and rattling his bones as something far too large came far too close and he was far too blind to see it.

He felt a growl echo from within him. The Yellow Dragon was staring at something in the unseen distance. Chen Haoran sent a silent plea it way. The thought poked the dragon and though it grumbled the splintered spirit of the river came through and Chen Haoran was allowed to see through its eyes.

It covered the sky.

A solid, circular crystal hovered above them, shining like a green sun. So immense that he couldn’t see the full extent of it, just massive interconnected crystal plates that formed its underside. They surrounded a hole ringed with uncountable crystal pincers and spikes and which led to endless depths of roiling qi.

Chen Haoran watched in horror as a column of green qi dropped from the hole. The light touched down to the jungle floor with a gentleness that belied its sized and it began roaming over it like a searchlight. What it was looking for was soon apparent as hundreds of Liquid Meridan beasts and thousands of Qi Realms rose up through the green light, unwilling pulled going by their thrashing up through the air. The claws surrounding the whole commenced their butchers work, ripping apart and grinding captured beasts and tossing their pieces up until they disappeared within the sea of qi.

It was a mouth. A giant monster was right above them and it was hungry. Chen Haoran tightened his grip on both sword and hand, both felt so small to him right now compared to the behemoth abducting the predators that had harried them since entering the Green Hell. He was struck by the sight. Both in seeing it and the fact he could see it at all. The Yellow Dragon’s vision was originally blocked. Had this creatures approach dispersed all the obscuring mist?

Is this thing the reason why everything’s so quiet?

A morbid part of Chen Haoran wondered if the beasts would finally scream in the face of this super monster. Another part wondered if he would.

The light beam wandered around to and fro. Chen Haoran’s heart rose and fell in his chest every time it approached and passed them by. There was nothing he could do if they were spotted by the thing. It was a Crystal Transformation Realm at the bare minimum. As soon as it found them they were all dead. He almost had the mind to cut the connection between him and the Yellow Dragon, ignorance was almost certainly bliss in this situation. He faintly regretted being curious at all. In the end he did nothing however. Just watched as the light beam swept the nearby jungle of all its monsters before swinging around on a course straight for them.

Chen Haoran pressed himself flat on the ground out of instinct more than any actual utility. He dropped his sword and pulled out the Metal Lotus Treasure. Whether he could use it or not without dying was irrelevant right now. The light beam approached them. It was so direct in its path that Chen Haoran was almost fooled into thinking it wasn’t moving at all. Perhaps the creature in the sky had already seen them long ago and was just coming to finish the job now.

Chen Haoran gripped the Metal Lotus Treasure tightly, ready to throw all the qi he had into it. The Yellow Dragon’s vision filled with green as the light column was almost atop them and—

It stopped.

Just before the light column could touch the aura of the Stainless Purity Lotus it stopped. It receded back into the sea of qi from whence it came and the crystal disc left, the world shaking violently as it moved. Chen Haoran watched it for a long time. Watched it for as long as the Yellow Dragon could before the mists of the Green Hell returned and its vision was obscured once more. Even then after cutting their connection Chen Haoran stared through the darkness in the direction the monster left. He didn’t know how long he stayed like that. Motionless. Waiting. Staring. It felt long, after a while. No matter what though it would feel too short. At least when it was dark he could pretend everything that went bump in the light didn’t exist.

Staying still forever wasn’t an option however. Slowly he picked himself up off the ground. As he rose the darkness disappeared as quickly as it arrived and he returned to the jungle. Phelps’s anxious squeals sounded like music to his hears.

“Holy hell we’re alive,” Chen Haoran said.

Phelps squealed and responded with a wet nose pressing his nose and a rough tongue licking his cheek.

Chen Haoran chuckled and looked to Xie Jin. He was staring at Chen Haoran, ashen faced.

“Brother Jin you wouldn’t believe what…just…happened.” Chen Haoran’s sentence slowly trailed off. Something wasn’t right. They were holding hands but Xie Jin was too far away. His hand felt small too. Chen Haoran hadn’t noticed it before since he was just relieved to have been holding onto something but his hand was completely wrapped around the other hand.

He looked down.

Right into the empty eye sockets of the tiny golden skeleton whose hand he was holding.