Chapter 16 – Carcass Grotto

  Wu Meilan flew next to her fellow Lianhua clan members as they travelled to the Carcass Grotto. They would have 13 spots instead of the normal 8, courtesy of the trade deal their leaders had made with the Zhengyi clan. The plan was to create two teams when they entered the pocket world, though they decided to add several more brutes, instead of alchemists, for protection. They would stick together, at least until the mission required them to split up.

  Several more fliers joined them, guards to protect them to and from the pocket world.

  [Even more of them came?] a fellow alchemist asked. His cultivation was higher than hers, but his alchemy sense was poorer. And in the Lianhua clan, alchemy was the higher standard. [Elder Meilan, did we have this many people the last time the grotto opened?]

  She shook her head. Right now, there were over 20 cultivators flying with her. 12 were going in with her inside the grotto, but the others would remain outside and wait the entire week until they all left the pocket world. The general rule was that the clans who brought the least amount of people to guard outside gained the most face. It meant they were confident in protecting their people with the fewest cultivators. Any group that went excessive with their guards were sneered at, mocked for needing to make up skill with numbers. Such a person wasn’t trustworthy to have your back in a temporary alliance should a situation come up inside a pocket world.

  Unlike other pocket worlds, though, having more guards wait outside the Carcass Grotto was normal. It was a unique pocket world in that the miasma would lower cultivation levels temporarily over time. Normal prohibitions in other pocket worlds gave back the cultivator their full strength the moment they came back outside. That wouldn’t happen with the Carcass Grotto, where the lost cultivation would need time to come back. Someone might take advantage and try to kill a Dharma cultivator who was lowered to the Spiritweave or Foundation realm.

  But they all knew why it was different this time around. The Lianhua clan wasn’t the only group that would be bringing extra guards.

  Su Shuyi, the Golden Warrior of their clan cladded in armor, explained the reason since she was in the know and in charge of their safety outside the pocket world.

  [The Gu and the Honglie clans have doubled their people. And that’s not including the extra allocation spots they’ve obtained. Apparently, the Celing clan sold all of theirs between the other two.]

  That surprised Meilan. [I thought Celing had a good trade deal with Zhengyi. Are they supporting the Gu and Honglie now instead?]

  [No,] Su Shuyi said. [Either their patriarch wants to see if the champion of Zhengyi lives up to the legend everyone wants to make for him, or this is just an indirect vengeance against Zheng Xunran, who’s apparently teaching Fel Yuhan Diyuan as a former Fel himself.]

  Fel Yuhan Diyuan. That name left a bad taste in Meilan’s mouth. She had seen him in person four years ago, when she was a guardian for two of her academy students, Shenbo and Panji. Meilan was an alchemy teacher at the Seven Thought Academy, and those two students had won and were selected to enter their first pocket world. She had picked the Administrator’s Archive, the easiest of them all, but had only learned later that someone with the Fel title was going there too. She thought about cancelling their visit, not wanting them to risk it, but felt more assured after she learned Fel Yuhan Diyuan was simply acting as a bodyguard for a merchant girl.

  But of course things didn’t go as planned. Her youngest student, Shenbo, had fallen unconscious when the Zhengyi clan’s patriarch attacked. She had been too distracted by that to notice Panji had left with the other young cultivators to attack the Fel boy and the merchant girl. Greed for spirit stones.

  Meilan set her jaw. Fel Yuhan Diyuan wasn’t the one who killed Panji, she knew, but she couldn’t help but feel that it was his fault anyway. She hadn’t taken new students to any pocket worlds since then.

  A message talisman flew their way. Su Shuyi caught it and privately heard the message.

  [We just received word on the Zhengyi count,] the golden warrior said. [Their Three Pillars and a Hall Master are coming, along with several other forces.]

  One of their brutes grunted. [You think they’ll go in with the Fel boy? He claimed he’d be unguarded, but I doubt it. Wasting a high-level talisman only to lie. I guess it won’t be as easy to collect the Nether Mark bounty as I thought.]

  Meilan didn’t say anything. Five million spirit stones was the bounty placed on Fel Yuhan Diyuan, announced to everyone on New Years. She suspected others who didn’t know about it previously would want to make a move for it now. It certainly was tempting to collect, since a lot of high-grade materials could be bought with it. She was stuck at the level 5 Spiritweave realm and was almost at the 300-year lifespan limit of her realm. She could force a breakthrough by buying a perfect tier four pill, or she could get lucky and find the items she needed in the Carcass Grotto to make it herself.

  But the bounty couldn’t be their priority. There was a reason they were going in with the larger group of 13, trading resources these past few years just to get the additional allocation spots. The other clans might play their bounty game, but the Lianhua clan couldn’t be reckless. Not with what they needed to do.

  After some time, they finally arrived at their destination. The portal rift to the Carcass Grotto didn’t exist yet, but the evidence of where it would appear was there. The ground was nothing but dead soil, an aftereffect of the lingering miasma that would follow a cultivator who left the pocket world.

  Meilan landed first, followed by her team, making their runic wings disappear. Su Shuyi and the guards remained floating, their own wings still out and ready for action just in case something happened. The Gu and Honglie clans were already there and had done the same, half flying and half grounded each. Surprisingly, there was someone there they had not expected.

  Su Shuyi saluted to a man sitting in a chair, with a table prepared before him. He had a teacup in his hand. His outfit reminded Meilan of a scholar, with their high-neck robes. He also had a monocle on his face. A spirit artifact, she figured.

  “I did not expect Celing clan’s Patriarch Dali to come himself,” Su Shuyi said.

  Patriarch Dali nodded to her salute and sipped his drink. “How could I miss such a wonderful day? The children of this era are certainly interesting. This week, the Zhengyi clan either becomes a laughingstock or they are written in history. I am quite curious how that thief trained the newest Fel.”

  Meilan glanced over to the Gu and Honglie groups. They were supposed to have 8 spots each, but with Celing selling everything, those two had 12 spots now, just one shy from what the Lianhua clan had. Some of the two clans were mixing together, talking and having fellowship.

  [Are the Gu and Honglie clans in a real alliance now?] Meilan asked.

  [No,] Su Shuyi said. [There are different factions here. Some of the Honglie are from different tribes, likely looking to mock the other faction if they fail. There’s friction regarding who the next tribe successor would be. As a result, the others would create special rules for the Carcass Grotto. That being said, several of the expected people aren’t here since they were assassinated just the past week, so their leadership has a bit of a void.]

  [Really? Infighting?] Meilan asked.

  [Unlikely. All the ones that have died owned spirit artifacts that would’ve been quite useful inside the Carcass Grotto. A week is not enough time to clear the blood ownership. Who benefits the most from that?]

  Su Shuyi turned away, not waiting for an answer. But the answer was obvious. The Zhengyi clan had made a move and killed some people just in time for the pocket world to open. Meilan didn’t know anything about factions or clan politics; she was just an alchemist who was in charge of the team for this trip to the Carcass Grotto.

  The Celing Patriarch looked over at them and waved to get their attention. “Golden Warrior Shuyi, I would like to pick at your thoughts if you would allow it.”

  Su Shuyi saluted again. “You need only ask.”

  “Hm. The Zhengyi Fel child is likely to be at the Spiritweave realm. Since he is so weak, why would he challenge everyone? Even to the point of revealing such a bountiful bounty?” Patriarch Dali continued to sip on his tea.

  “This is likely a retaliation from the Zhengyi clan,” Su Shuyi said automatically. “Since the Gu clan issued the Nether Mark, the Zhengyi clan thought the most humiliating way to return the favor would be to use that same low-level cultivator to shameface them all. I believe they spent the past few years training him for this single day, evident with the use of a high-grade talisman.”

  “Hmm.” Patriarch Dali didn’t comment if he agreed or not.

  Everyone turned their heads towards the distant sky. A fiery bird split past the clouds and was coming their way. A phoenix. That would be one of the Zhengyi’s Three Pillars, Yifan. He had achieved a fully animalistic transformation much like the arte style of the Honglie clan. Meilan was able to see the other Zhengyi clan members, but they were much further behind the fiery bird.

  The phoenix remained up near the clouds. But once it was nearly directly above them, it spun. Something jumped off of its back, diving straight to the ground.

  Meilan gasped when she realized it was a person. And not just anyone, but a weak level 5 Foundation cultivator! Yifan the phoenix didn’t seem to care that this lowly person was dropping headfirst to the ground.

  She was about to step forward to do something about it, but Su Shuyi merely held up her hand to prevent her.

  [He’s only level 5 Foundation—he’ll die when he hits the ground!] Meilan protested.

  [Your eyesight is poor, Elder Meilan. That cultivator is the very one everyone is interested in. Fel Yuhan Diyuan. And I doubt he’s actually level 5 Foundation; he’s likely at a prestige level, which can’t be sensed. Best stay away unless you want the Zhengyi clan to think we’re aiming to take the bounty.]

  Meilan realized that Su Shuyi was more interested in examining the others than the falling Foundation cultivator. It seemed like the warrior thought someone would attack Fel Yuhan Diyuan and then flee. The Zhengyi clan was too far away to do anything about it. The phoenix was still high in the air as well. With the five million bounty, this was simply asking to be attacked.

  [Oh,] Meilan realized, [this is bait, isn’t it?]

  [Yes,] Su Shuyi replied. [The person who moves towards the Fel will die. The Gu clan will see through it; the Honglie clan might as well, but they’re the risk takers.]

  Meilan focused on the Honglie clan, to see if any of them would make a move. In about a dozen seconds, Fel Yuhan Diyuan would hit the ground and die, unless he had some way to protect his body from the impact. From the Honglie side, all those that floated in the air weren’t tempted to move, but the ground forces were. She watched as one Honglie cultivator’s arm twitched. He wore a sleeveless robe, showing off an avian creature’s wing as a tattoo on his arms. He was grounded, but a pair of wings suddenly appeared on his back. Not runic wings like normal cultivators, but actual wings of a demonic beast. As it seemed like he was about to fly forward…

  Su Shuyi turned sharply, her spear out and ready to attack whoever was behind them. Meilan turned, but no one was there. The Honglie man flew forward, his hand now fully transformed into a demonic bird’s talon.

  Meilan wanted to shout out a warning, but what could she do? The Honglie man intended to kill Fel Yuhan Diyuan by ripping the boy apart. She may not like Yuhan Diyuan, but after seeing his face this close, she couldn’t help but be reminded of some of her own students. Young, and sometimes stupid. But not evil.

  Despite having no chance of making a difference, Meilan stepped forward. Su Shuyi firmly gripped her shoulder to keep her in place, no longer concerned about whatever invisible threat she had sensed before.

  [Just watch,] Su Shuyi commanded.

  Swish! The Honglie man swung at the falling Yuhan Diyuan. Just before the Dharma cultivator’s attack killed him, the boy vanished! One moment he was there, the next moment he was now standing upright on the ground. All the speed and momentum of falling gone, pushed out with the pulse of air and the reverberating sound that went with it. Meilan had seen that arte only once before; it was when Gu Guoxiong had lost the gambit against him with that very same speed.

  But what happened next surprised nearly everyone. Everyone but Patriarch Dali and Su Shuyi.

  Blue lightning appeared all around everyone. Not actual lightning, but a person. Multiple clones of a blue lightning individual were essentially attached to each person. Meilan’s blue lightning person had held a short dagger to her throat, just like how it held one to everyone else’s. It then left her and zipped forward towards the Honglie man that had just attacked Yuhan Diyuan. The blue lightnings merged together just above, forming a single lightning body.

  “Swift Skull Shatter,” the blue lightning being said with its static voice. It thrust down its lightning dagger to the Honglie man’s head. At the same time, multiple lightning spears appeared in the air and sliced through the man’s head from all directions, piercing it. So many struck true that eventually all that was left was a grotesque headless body that fell to the ground.

  A Dharma cultivator had died in a matter of seconds. Meilan had sensed that he had been level 3 Dharma, a powerful being in the world, but she was seeing firsthand the power difference between level 3 and that of a peak Dharma cultivator.

  The blue lightning person gained a human’s color as the lightning slowly transformed into flesh. Xunran the Blue Lightning appear in its place, floating in the air with his spirit artifact wings on his back, the Spine Blue Lightning.

  The dead body hit the ground with a thud right in front of Yuhan Diyuan. The Foundation cultivator simply looked at it unempathetically with glowing white eyes. It was like the sight did not bother him. Meilan had compared him to one of her students, but she knew her students couldn’t keep their composure like that. It was as if the Zhengyi clan trained their people to be heartless.

  “Uncle Xunran, someone did attack. You lost the gambit. Pay up,” Yuhan Diyuan said, touching the dead body with his foot. The white glow of his eyes slowly disappeared.

  Xunran the Blue Lightning, who was another one of the Three Pillars of the Zhengyi clan along with the phoenix, was about to speak up when an outrage erupted from the Honglie group—or more specifically, a few of the lower-level ones. They immediately created wings, whether real or runic, and flew up in the air to meet Zheng Xunran. A separate set of Honglie clans were watching everything unfold in a detached manner, like the show was a fun pastime.

  “You dare break the treaty and kill one of our men!”

  “He murdered in broad daylight!”

  But before they could reach Xunran the Blue Lightning, a heatwave hit them. A pillar of fire dropped from the heavens and covered both Xunran the Blue Lightning and Yuhan Diyuan. Both appeared casual and unentertained.

  The phoenix descended from the sky, straight through the fiery pillar that it had created. Just as it was about to hit Xunran the Blue Lightning, it curved up and exploded with a pulse of fire. Su Shiyu stood in front of their Lianhua group and held up a hand to create a barrier. The Celing Patriarch kept drinking his tea, unbothered by it all. The Honglie group was knocked back as the fire dissipated. In its place was the human form of the phoenix, Yifan.

  “These accounts are woven in haste, don’t you think?” Yifan the Phoenix said after everyone collected their composure. His long red hair settled. “Patriarch Dali, seeing as how you’ve chosen to step back from the Carcass Grotto’s contest, you stand apart. Might you lend your clarity to unravel this matter with fairness?”

  Xunran the Blue Lightning peeked over behind the human phoenix. “He has the monocle to see, if nothing else. I want that spirit artifact, too.”

  Patriarch Dali let out an audible exhale from his nose. “Do keep my wings warm, Xunran. A thief cannot keep what does not belong to them.”

  “Who’s a thief?” Xunran the Blue Lightning asked.

  “As for the claim that the treaty was broken…” Patriarch Dali raised a brow and looked at the level 5 Dharma guardians for the Honglie clan. They weren’t up in arms and protesting. “Even they know that if any broke the treaty, it would be your headless scout. Seeing as how he already paid the price, your time would be best spent figuring out who would replace him.”

  The angry Honglie members seethed but flew back to their spots. Meilan looked to Yuhan Diyuan, who was watching them with…amusement? Didn’t he realize just how close he was to death? He was used as bait and got lucky. What if the Dharma cultivator was a level 5 instead? What if they used a faster attack? How could he act like none of this affected him? In fact, he continued his pleased conversation with the Zhengyi Grand Elder, which had been interrupted earlier.

  “Uncle, how about we call it clean for my gambit spoils if you let me take the storage ring.” Yuhan Diyuan bent down, preparing to loot the dead body.

  But the move was obviously going to enrage the other Honglie cultivators. A level 5 Dharma cultivator, released a wave of pressure to the area surrounding Yuhan Diyuan. The ground beneath groaned. The air shimmered and bent oddly. The dirt bumps flattened.

  Meilan hated how higher-level cultivators always pressured others.

  [Formation!] Su Shuyi ordered and flew in front. The other Lianhua guards positioned themselves around Meilan and the other 12 party members. The Honglie clan was prepared to do battle. The Gu clan seemed to get ready to enjoy the show. And the Zhengyi clan…did nothing?

  Yuhan Diyuan, unbothered by the pressure, slipped off the storage ring from the body and lifted it into the air, looking through the hole like it was a portal of its own. The color of his eyes was glowing white once again.

  “Neat,” he said.

  [That’s…] Su Shuyi frowned. The other clan members were confused as well. [That is enough pressure to cripple, if not kill, a Foundation cultivator when it persists. How…?]

  A second and a third wave of pressure was added to the first. The air distorted even further. And yet, Yuhan Diyuan still didn’t seem bothered. It was like the gravity meant nothing to him.

  “Uncle Xunran, there’s no spirit artifacts in here, but there are some mid-grade talismans that I can sell. Can I keep it?”

  Xunran the Blue Lightning crossed his arms. “Sure, but some cultivators are putting their gravity on you. Don’t be disrespectful.”

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  Yuhan Diyuan opened his mouth in mock confusion and then looked around him, acting like he only now realized that the heavy pressure was there. He quickly spun in place, a comical recreation of a defeated foe that one might see in street plays, and fell to the ground, lulling one tongue out and rolling his eyes up. But he must have realized something was missing, so he looked at the headless body next to him and borrowed a limp arm, pulling it over his torso before going back to his act and playing dead.

  Yifan the Phoenix inclined his head toward the Honglie clan, his eyes twinkling with mischief as well. “My dear Honglie friends, might I humbly ask for a gentler approach? Our young Diyuan, though spirited, is but a fragile person. I fear he may break until such weighty disapproval.”

  The pressure lifted, not out of respect for Yifan the Phoenix, but out of embarrassment. They all realized that the favorite toy often used by higher-level cultivators had not worked on Yuhan Diyuan.

  [Spirited?] Su Shuyi said privately to all the Lianhua members as she watched. [Notice how the Zhengyi clan didn’t bother to act angry at all? This could have escalated since the Zhengyi clan had legal right to complain—but they didn’t. They let this show play out to shameface the Honglie, and likely to showcase some of his abilities. I imagine that boy has more secrets yet.]

  The other members of the Zhengyi clan made their appearance. The final of the Three Pillars showed up, Huizhong the Stitcher. The Hall Master that showed up was Yuhan Junhao, the father of Yuhan Diyuan. It needed mentioning for several reasons: first, Yuhan Junhao was not someone who would ever show up to guard a pocket world entrance. People speculated whether it meant he would enter into the pocket world himself. Second, it created reactions of hatred and anger from the Honglie group. Apparently, after the Nether Mark was first placed on Yuhan Diyuan, a foreign travel ban was placed. No one from the other clans could enter the Zhengyi territory without explicit approval.

  The Honglie youth were reckless and made a game out of seeing who could enter the land and escape without wounds. The group known as the Yuhan Elite would simply execute anyone they got their hands on. If the Honglie weren’t interested in the Nether Mark before, they certainly were interested in it now.

  The forces that joined the Zhengyi were those same Yuhan Elite and a group called the Xuanying Watchers. A lower-level cultivator named Yuhan Ranxi was also there, sister to Yuhan Diyuan. Other than Yuhan Diyuan himself, she was the lowest level cultivator from the Zhengyi group, being at level 1 Dharma.

  Roughly 30 in total were there to act as a guard for Yuhan Diyuan—the most anyone had ever seen at a single pocket world entrance. Since the Zhengyi clan cared about keeping face most of all, it seemed like they dropped some of it here for the sake of Yuhan Diyuan.

  Every group would start strategizing and reminding everyone their plans. Meilan gave instructions to her second-in-command to go over their rendezvous point and what sort of things to expect. It was all done through sound transmission, so no one else could hear their plans. At one point, Yuhan Diyuan looked over at them when they reviewed their gathering location. Meilan thought the timing was eerie and wondered if he could hear, but knew that was nonsense. Everyone was still using their body language to communicate, even if they spoke via sound transmission. It was likely Yuhan Diyuan was trying to identify people that were hostile to him.

  Meilan wanted to show that their Lianhua group wouldn’t hunt for him, so she saluted him when she got his eye. He saluted back with a mischievous smile. It reminded her more of the students in her classroom.

  [Do you think he’s going to die?] Meilan asked Su Shuyi privately.

  Su Shuyi followed her gaze to Yuhan Diyuan, who saluted her as well. Su Shuyi respected the younger cultivator by responding with a single nod. [Since you’ve been in the Carcass Grotto when it last opened a century ago, you know that Foundation cultivators aren’t openly hunted by the threats inside. They’re seen as bones without meat. If he has a method to delay the miasma, much like your alchemist internal arte, I suspect he’ll wait out until everyone is at level 1 Spiritweave before making his move.]

  [Wait, at level 1 Spiritweave? But isn’t he at the Foundation level? Can he win a fight despite the great realm difference?]

  [He can probably punch up. Considering his confidence, he might be capable of handling groups, but I wouldn’t gambit it.]

  Yuhan Diyuan, who was looking around, gained a bigger smile like he just heard a good joke.

  During the downtime, Patriarch Dali called out asking how the treaty would work in this situation. With only one member from the Zhengyi clan entering, would it be considered a “group death” if Yuhan Diyuan died inside? After all, the treaty still applied, even if someone had a Nether Mark on them.

  Xunran the Blue Lightning offered his suggestion where they might apply a bit of the old war rules. If someone died due to environmental difficulties, then their storage ring was free to take, no questions asked.

  “And since Yuhan Diyuan is only at the Foundation realm, I am fine to assume that his potential death is automatically a result of the Carcass Grotto dangers,” Xunran the Blue Lightning said. But then he added onto that. “Of course, I think the opposite should be applied as well. The groups from the Gu and Honglie clan don’t seem very well equipped to be inside. I don’t see a single alchemist among them. Can we assume their deaths are a result of the dangers within?”

  There was agreement from everyone to accept these terms. Lianhua was left out of it, of course. Though, there was another agreement that if someone “died by environmental dangers” in front of the Lianhua clan, there wouldn’t be any question to it. That was all just a long way of saying they would halt the treaty temporarily for the Zhengyi, Gu, and Honglie clans.

  Yuhan Diyuan, who had been silent since his initial show, decided to put on another show.

  “Ahem, if I may have everyone’s attention. The Zhengyi clan still has two allocation spots available, but it would be a shame for it to go to waste. I am willing to sell them. Since the Honglie clan had someone die, due to a very unfortunate misunderstanding I’m sure, I will sell it cheaply for two hundred thousand spirit stones. Any takers?”

  Meilan couldn’t believe her ears. The Lianhua clan purposely left three allocation spots for the Zhengyi clan when they made their trade deal to keep it reasonable. He should be using those two remaining spots for his personal guards that should protect him when he was inside. Was he really going into the Carcass Grotto without anyone? But Yuhan Diyuan didn’t care. He was scratching his scalp, eyes closed with how good it was apparently feeling.

  But if looked like his eyes started to glow white just as they shut.

  “I’ll take it,” a woman said. Xie Yanshuang. She had an eyepatch due to apparently using her own eye as a gambit. She stood on the ground, in the middle of the Honglie group, and began walking towards Yuhan Diyuan.

  But, instead of waiting, Yuhan Diyuan vanished. He appeared right in front of the Honglie woman, causing her to flinch and several other members to jump back at the reverberating sound that came from him.

  “Excellent,” Yuhan Diyuan said, holding up his storage ring hand.

  It seemed like everyone held their breath. Yuhan Diyuan now stood at the center of the hostile Honglie group with his eyes glowing white. A dozen members around him on the ground, and about the same hovering above in the air. Meilan eyed Xunran the Blue Lightning, to see if he was preparing to act in case something went wrong. But he seemed bored, much like Yifan the Phoenix and Huizhong the Stitcher. Even the Yuhan family didn’t seem to care for the danger that Yuhan Diyuan was in.

  Xie Yanshuang narrowed her eyes, likely unsure if she should give the stones or to just kill Yuhan Diyuan and make a break for it. But in the end, she held up her own storage ring and traded. The moment they were done, Yuhan Diyuan vanished once more, right back to his original spot.

  [That arte doesn’t seem to have an exhaustion period to it,] Su Shuyi said to the Lianhua team. [He’s purposely revealing this information to the teams that want to kill him, and the Zhengyi clan is allowing it. I can’t figure out why, though. For the time being, do not engage with him with the intent to kill at all, do you understand?]

  Meilan nodded, but she noticed some hesitancy with a few of the brute guards that would be entering into the pocket world with her team.

  “Gu Guan, I see you there!” Yuhan Diyuan called out cheerfully. “Long time no see. Since we’re essentially friends at this point, with you putting a Nether Mark on me and all, I’ll sell the last open spot for five hundred thousand if you’ll take it. I know you have more than enough to pay.”

  Elder Gu Guan hovered forward. “And why would I make such an uneven purchase? Xie Yanshuang’s team has six spots, so the cost of two hundred thousand for a seventh might be worth it for the extra security. But why would I need it? I’m not going inside.”

  Yuhan Diyuan pointed to Yifan the Phoenix. “This old man was the one who gave me the arte that’ll make me immune to the miasma. He has that very same arte himself. Can you imagine if he entered with me? He might be level 5 Dharma and would attract every danger imaginable, but he’ll also always be level 5 Dharma, even after a week passes. Having him as my guardian is the same thing as having a free pass through the Carcass Grotto. Would be a shame if he couldn’t come because we didn’t have that last spot.”

  “Did you not say in your proclamation that you would go unguarded and alone?”

  Yuhan Diyuan shrugged. “I also said I wanted to kill a Dharma cultivator before I hit 21 years old. Come on, isn’t that’s just nonsense? A friend of mine says Foundation cultivators lie as easily as they breathe. It’s a tough world we live in.”

  Elder Gu Guan thought for a moment before he finally nodded. Meilan half expected Yuhan Diyuan to fly up and get the stones from him, considering the other unbelievable things he had done so far, but instead it was Xunran the Blue Lightning that hovered over. A small debate took place between the Fel and former Fel, where Xunran the Blue Lightning wanted to keep half of the stones for the painful effort of flying several feet. Yuhan Diyuan managed to bring it down to a hundred thousand.

  “I can see why you’re called a thief,” Yuhan Diyuan said after the exchange.

  Patriarch Dali laughed while Xunran the Blue Lightning gave a mock guilty face.

  But the time for preparations was at an end. The air began to twist and turn in the center of the dead soil. The portal rift opened. It shimmered and hummed a gentle tone. None could see inside and once inside, none could see outside.

  “I sure do hope I don’t die,” Yuhan Diyuan said cheerfully. He was the first to step into the portal rift.

  The other groups waited to see if the Zhengyi clan would break the treaty and go in after him. But once no one moved, the Honglie teams went in. Shortly after, the Gu clan went in. Meilan nodded to her team and followed.

  The Carcass Grotto pocket world began.

  ***

  Su Shuyi watched as Elder Meilan and the rest of her team went inside. She was the Golden Warrior of the Lianhua clan, which was known for their alchemy, not their fighting capabilities. Yet Su Shuyi stood out amongst the very best. She was their champion and suspected she could rival any of the Three Pillars of the Zhengyi clan. Gu Guoxiong, known to be the best among the Gu clan, was someone she could match as well. If an all-out fight took place with the opponents here and now, she was confident that she would walk out alive—even if her entire team was dead by the end of it.

  This week would be mostly keeping watch without any real action taking place. The worst might be if someone came out early, due to draining their cultivation faster than originally expected. Other clans might take advantage of that by pretending to spar throughout the week, where they would attack the portal’s entry if they saw someone come out early. Such an obvious assassination attempt would be hidden under the guise of the playful spar gone wrong.

  Another way to pass the time would be to play the game of gambit, with the board and pieces. Which was exactly what Xunran suggested to Patriarch Dali.

  Xunran flew over and made his own chair appear on the opposite side of the table where Patriarch Dali sat. “Let’s play gambit,” Xunran said as he made his Spine Blue Lightning wings disappear.

  Patriarch Dali exhaled through his nose in annoyance. “Give me my wings back and I’ll consider it.”

  Xunran smiled and held up his palm. He made the wings appear, shrunken down to fit on top of his hand. “I’m willing to place it up as a gambit if you place your monocle. That’s used for formations, isn’t it? I bet I could get a pretty count by selling it to our Shapers.”

  Patriarch Dali made his tea set disappear with a wave of his hand. In its place was now a gambit board. “You would place that as a bet in a game of gambit?”

  “Of course not. For a prize this big, let’s have a real gambit. Hey, Su Shuyi! Are you willing to act as a liaison?” Xunran waved over to her.

  Su Shuyi nodded. For whatever reason, the Lianhua clan seemed to always become the liaison for other people’s gambits. It was true that they were more neutral than most, where they sold pills to other clans for a price. When it came to higher tier pills, the Lianhua clan were the best.

  “Perfect,” Xunran said as he turned back to Patriarch Dali. “Just now we saw a total of 12 Gu clan members enter the portal, and another 12 plus 1 with the Honglie clan. My gambit is this: less than 5 of them will come out alive at the end of the week.”

  Su Shuyi shared the same disbelieving look with Patriarch Dali. Sure, she expected deaths. Even her own Lianhua clan was likely to suffer several deaths if they were unlucky. But to claim that almost entire groups would be wiped out?

  Patriarch Dali raised a brow. “So if there are even 5 total owners still alive between the two clans, the Spine Blue Lightning artifact comes back to its proper owner?”

  The important thing about being a liaison was reading the thread that was woven. What Patriarch Dali said was not the same thing as what Xunran said. Xunran spoke to the individuals that went inside. Patriarch Dali spoke of owners. If it came down to the wire, Su Shuyi knew that Patriarch Dali would state that Gu Guan (who remained outside) was one such owner and should be counted towards the total of 5. The Celing clan was tricky like that. But Xunran should pick up on it…

  “Correct,” Xunran said with a knowing smile. “Normally I’d say zero would come out alive, but it would be too disrespectful to those listening.”

  “Then I agree,” Patriarch Dali said quickly. “We will go with what I said. Strange, though. Such a high death toll is unlikely. Do you assume the groups inside would kill each other to have a better chance at the Nether Mark? You should already be aware that the goal wouldn’t necessarily be to kill the opponent, but to weaken them enough to force them to leave the pocket world early. I suspect we’ll see five escape within the first few days alone. This will be before your Yuhan Diyuan comes out of hiding to attack them when they’re weakened.”

  Xunran chuckled. But not only him, the other members of the Zhengyi clan started laughing too. Patriarch Dali looked up at them in confusion, then back at Xunran with a question on his face.

  “Ah sorry, we’re not laughing at you specifically,” Xunran said. “I would make another gambit, that a Dharma cultivator would die on the first day, but we can’t prove that so I won’t.”

  “…He is a Foundation cultivator,” Patriarch Dali said slowly, as if Xunran had head damage.

  Xunran leaned forward, grinning. “Enough about that, let’s play the gambit board.”

  He may not have continued the conversation, but Su Shuyi suddenly got anxious. The Zhengyi clan had a strange level of confidence in Fel Yuhan Diyuan. She may not know what he could do, but she now hoped the Lianhua group didn’t provoke him.

  ***

  Duan Chenshi was the newest member of the first Honglie party, led by Xie Yanshuang. He agreed to accept only four hundred thousand spirit stones if they ended up claiming the five million Nether Mark bounty. What he brought to the table was his scouting potential. The group had lost their flier scout, killed by Zheng Xunran just now, but Chenshi’s eyes would help make up for it. He was also level 4 Dharma, keeping him under the level 5 Dharma threshold that caught the attention of all nearby lifeforms.

  Right now Chenshi was inside the Carcass Grotto. When he entered the portal rift, it brought him to a random location. He didn’t know where he was specifically, since the miasma was so thick it blocked most of his vision. That meant it was “night” at the moment. The miasma itself glowed a little, giving off a little green glow. That was more useful for the lower-level cultivators rather than him. The acid-like smell made him scrunch his nose, letting him be grateful he wasn’t a scent-based tracker.

  Chenshi crouched down, his long sleeves touching the ground as he did so. Unlike other Honglie cultivators, some scouts would hide the tattoos on their arms. For Chenshi, his would reveal something akin to blades, which might confuse others. His demonic beast was the Shadow Mantis. The miasma might block sensory and visual capabilities, but when he activated his eyes, he was able to pierce through a good chunk of it. During the Carcass Grotto’s daytime, the miasma would essentially mean nothing for him. Though at night, he still couldn’t see as far as others might during the day.

  But the real power behind his Shadow Mantis’ ocelli wasn’t the natural vision, but the echo vision. He would be able to track residue spirit energy left in the air. If someone walked by or used an arte, he could sense it even a day later. It was said an ancestor long dead had evolved the ability so much that he was able to recreate past events just by seeing the echo of it. Chenshi wasn’t sure how much of that was fact or fiction.

  He was able to identify the ground beneath him. Half-dead and half-yellow weed. He was between Blood Sap Pool and the Skeletal Cloud Bone Cliffs. As it turned out, their rendezvous location was just southwest of the two locations, so he should be the first to arrive after a small trek. He decided he didn’t need to bring out his translucent wings, which he could use to glide rather than fly.

  Chenshi had once entered the Carcass Grotto about 200 years ago. It was easy spirit stones. Just pluck a few plants and quickly kill a few demonic beasts, then get out within three days. The feeling of the miasma as it sucked away his cultivation, albeit temporarily, was unsettling.

  As he walked, he sensed residue spirit energy. He crouched down again, unsure if it was a demonic beast or a person. He could only tell something had passed through the area, not who it was or how strong they were. He went closer to it and changed his eyes to the ocelli version. He could tell what direction the echo moved to. It was moving away from his gathering spot. No matter, tracking someone at night wasn’t a wise thing to do.

  [Duan Chenshi?] A sound transmission spoke to him.

  Chenshi froze. It wasn’t a voice he recognized. Not knowing which direction it came from, he normally wouldn’t be able to reply back, but since they reached out first, he could latch onto their communication.

  [Who is this?] Chenshi asked.

  [It’s Pan Mumo, you wit-bereft clod. Can’t you tell by my voice?]

  Chenshi hesitated. The voice was as rude as Pan Mumo, and those words were exactly the same he had used when Chenshi asked for a higher pay than the four hundred thousand spirit stones.

  [Why do you sound so different?] Chenshi asked.

  [I’m using the Clearlit Sight Pill. Either that changed my voice or the miasma interferes with sound transmission. That’s not important. I’m chasing after that Fel brat. His pressure immunity was a spirit artifact. He doesn’t have it anymore, but I’m dodging a baby Netherwind Crane now. Go after him. Can’t you see a spirit energy trail? Follow after it. Looks like we can wrap up in a day after all.]

  Chenshi nodded. The miasma doesn’t change someone’s sound transmission voice, something he knew based on his last visit to the Carcass Grotto. He realized he should have responded with sound transmission instead of a nod, since the miasma was thick, but dismissed the thought. Pan Mumo had told him outside that the Clearlit Sight Pill could pierce through all miasma fog for several hours. It was a powerful fifth tier pill, capable of rendering most illusions null. Since he found Yuhan Diyuan, they could spend the rest of their time in here simply collecting the rare spirit herbs. This was the easiest four hundred thousand spirit stones he had ever made!

  He followed the spirit energy trail. It was getting thicker. The ground was getting wetter as this was in the direction of the Blood Sap Pool. The last thing they needed was for Yuhan Diyuan to get caught by the vines of the pool. Gu Guan needed evidence of his death for the Nether Mark to be fulfilled, and Chenshi had no desire to step into the pool for even a second.

  A cough.

  It wasn’t Pan Mumo, but a younger person. Chenshi wanted to send out a sound transmission to Pan Mumo, but didn’t know where he was at. Instead, he kept following the spirit energy trail. He crept slowly, soundless. His ocelli pierced through the miasma, revealing a crouching Yuhan Diyuan, holding to his side in pain.

  Got you!

  Chenshi forced gravity to that location, locking Yuhan Diyuan in placed. A bit more miasma identified the use of spirit energy and came to suck away at his cultivation, but not enough to matter.

  The boy gasped, and turned to look at Chenshi. The glowing white eyes were wide in shock. Yuhan Diyuan was pressed to the ground, unable to move. Chenshi ran up. Just before he reached him, the boy vanished. A path was cut through the miasma, like a tunnel had been carved into it, slightly tilted up. Chenshi grinned and applied his gravity pressure to the location Yuhan Diyuan landed at, revealed by the reverberating sound of that teleporting arte. The boy kneeled, unable to move.

  Chenshi ran forward. He knew the boy could teleport multiple times according to what they saw outside. But he could chase after him forever. The prize was right in front of him. The ground beneath him squished as he kept running forward…

  Squished?

  Something wrapped around his foot. A thorn pierced through his robes, striking the skin at his shin.

  Chenshi looked down and saw that he was standing on vines that overlapped each other, forming a wet ground.

  The Blood Sap Pool.

  [Moron,] the previous voice said.

  Yuhan Diyuan stood casually, despite the pressure still being applied onto him. He turned, his eyes still glowing white, and vanished again. The reverberating sound could be heard behind him. Chenshi pivoted and formed his translucent wings. He needed to break free without using a spirit artifact or artes—else the vines would eat at him in an instant. He jumped up, his wings attempting to provide him with additional lift, but more vines had wrapped around his thighs, keep him down and stinging him again. He could already feel a foreign substance form inside his legs. Sap petrification.

  The vines continued to wrap around him, around his arms and torso.

  “Pan Mumo! Help me!” Chenshi shouted. He reached out his hand as the petrification froze it in place. It wasn’t a petrification of stone, so his body still looked the same. But the sting of the vines was turning something inside him into sap, giving control of his body to the Blood Sap Pool. He couldn’t use any artes, either, as it disrupted his flow.

  [Pan Mumo was never there, you wit-bereft clod,] said the voice.

  Another sharp, reverberating beat sliced through the air, followed by a humming noise that lingered. Yuhan Diyuan stood before him. Chenshi, capable of moving only his eyes now, looked down at the ground. Yuhan Diyuan stood atop the Sap Blood Pool, but never actually touched it.

  Flying? Floating? But how?

  And how could he communicate when he wasn’t at the Spiritweave realm? [You can use sound transmission at the Foundation level?]

  Yuhan Diyuan laughed, trying to keep it as silent as possible. [You’re about to be dragged under the blood pool, with me pretending to be Pan Mumo and having all the insider knowledge that only you Honglie members should know, but the only thing you’re interested in is that I can use a sound transmission?]

  Desperation started to kick in for Chenshi. [Help me escape. I can help you against everyone. I can give you spirit stones. Or we can pretend that I already killed you and we split the bounty?]

  Yuhan Diyuan reached out. For a moment, Chenshi thought the boy had an ability that could free him. Instead, it was the storage ring that he was interested in. Yuhan Diyuan pulled it off Chenshi’s hand and sensed the contents within.

  [What a neat spirit artifact you have in here. Would be a shame if someone buried it at your gathering spot, attracting the Netherwind Crane.] He looked up at Chenshi. The glowing white eyes had no remorse in them. [Curious, would you count as my first Dharma kill?]

  And with that, Yuhan Diyuan vanished again, landing back on safe land. He walked into the miasma without a care in the world.

  Duan Chenshi was pulled under into the liquid pool. He was unable to scream or shout. The vines created an opening, bringing his stiff body into the liquid of the Blood Sap Pool. He was brought deeper and deeper, until he reached what could only be called the “feeding” area. In the distance he saw some monkey demonic beasts, also trapped, but what frightened Chenshi the most was that another cultivator was floating there, a vine connected to each limb. Chenshi recognized him as a Lianhua alchemist, who went into the same portal rift as him 200 years ago. That alchemist had claimed he found a way to travel across the Blood Sap Pool without triggering their aggression. He had also gone missing.

  But now, that same Lianhua alchemist looked at him. His face was sunken almost to his skull. His eyes pleaded for death. At level 3 Dharma, the alchemist had a lifespan of over 700 years. And since the miasma couldn’t reach them in the pool, their cultivation wouldn’t drop.

  Chenshi’s tongue still worked. He felt the poison pellet he had lodged into the back of his teeth. Since he was unsure if the petrification would eventually affect his tongue, he decided he wasn’t going to risk it. Especially since his own longevity was over 800 years.

  And so, in this Carcass Grott’s instance, Duan Chenshi was the first Dharma cultivator to die.