Immortal Demon Grotto
Tao, who was currently waiting for Meng Hao's return. All of a sudden froze, he could hear and feel the vibrations of not one, not two, but four footsteps.
All of which were greatly more powerful than Meng Hao's.
And Tao didn't know why, but something told him that he needed to hide the fact that he was awake. Or else something would happen that wouldn't be in his favor.
Something that he would not like at all.
So, Tao wasted no time. He put his body to sleep with the limited control that he currently had over his soul.
His soul's strength continuously growing was the reason he was able to listen and see all around him to a certain degree. And every time he grew a bit stronger; his body would twitch here and there.
This was to show that the time needed for him to wake up completely was getting closer. And this was ahead of the time known to Meng Hao and these black cloaked individuals.
After playing his body to complete sleep, Tao slowed down his soul's activity. He effectively put a mute button on it. Making it look weaker than it actually was, he could no longer see and feel things.
But he could still hear whatever happened near him.
He hoped this would work out for him, cause if it doesn't. Then he was screwed greatly.
No sooner did he do all of this, did those four people in black cloaks arrive.
They moved neither fast nor slow, but with a purpose. That sense of arrogance could be felt even greater as they got closer and closer to Tao.
You could see by how relaxed their shoulders were, and you could tell that they truly thought everything was in the palm of their hands.
Soon they were right in front of the chaos crystal.
They stood very still, making no sudden movements.
Then one of them spoke, "The worm has grown tremendously these past few years."
After this person spoke, two others followed suit.
"Yes, he has." One of them on the left spoke, shaking his head in agreement.
"Of course, this is all of our lord's grand design." The one closest to the middle echoed his agreement behind the other one.
Only the person in the middle didn't speak, his sight was on the crystal. or more importantly Tao himself. He felt that something was either off or different about the worm in the crystal.
Not sure of what this feeling was, he peered even deeper. Releasing his divine sense in a very precise and controlled way the man scanned Tao's body from every cell, blood vessel, brain, and flesh.
The other three people were startled by this. But they kept quiet, the one in the middle was the strongest of them after all.
The person in the cloak frowned, as he still couldn't quite catch that source of discomfort.
The person hesitated, they wanted to scan the soul for any changes, but they didn't want to seriously injure the soul of Tao.
The person was stuck with what they wanted to do for a while. Until they all caught the sound of Meng Hao's voice coming from the entrance of the grotto.
Once the one in the middle heard that, they withdrew their divine sense.
The person's thoughts were unknown, but they did decide to keep a close eye on the surroundings just in case. Nothing could go wrong with this mission, nothing must happen.
With a solemn aura, the person turned around and went towards the corner of the grotto that had the sealed corpse of the female.
Watching their leader move on to the next part of their plan, the rest of the cloaked individuals also decided to start their preparations as well. Each of them took out a basin sized black rock; this black rock oozed out a very familiar energy.
Demonic Qi!
They began placing them in position around the chaos crystal, after that they began chanting.
Each of the stone's energy began moving out from the stone and into the crystal. And then it was absorbed into Tao's body. Further strengthening his fleshly body, pushing it past a certain limit.
Unknown to any of them, Tao just let out a big sigh of relief. And he continued to listen very closely to all of what any of them said.
Tao wanted to learn any and all of what he could with the time he currently had.
And he truly would need it.
.....
Time waited for no one, and the days went by in a flash.
The demonic qi was all but gone, completely absorbed by Tao's body. He spent his days just learning all he could and waiting for the end to come.
Tao watched as Meng Hao came and went each day, bringing more and more people to this place. He watched as those weird black cloaked people chanted words and drew symbols in the air.
Some brought in other types of materials, while Meng Hao brought in even more flesh.
That's when Tao heard one of those black cloaked individuals say something about them every once in a while.
A few of them were children.
There was no discrimination, they killed them all. Every single one of them, Meng Hao and his little group of insane people spared no expense in their plans.
If Tao's mind wasn't as numb as it is thanks to what they did to him and what he has been through, he'd already have gone insane.
The level of hatred Tao had for this man and those cloaked people was... just indescribable.
It was to the point that Tao didn't care if he even lived.
His mind was like as long as he could just destroy them all, destroy their homes, their wives, their clans.
Even their kids, if they had any. Then it would be worth it.
Tao swore that he would especially rip the flesh off of each person Meng Hao was related to and make him watch as he slowly did it. Then feed him all of their flesh just to make Meng Hao choke on it.
Only then would Tao kill him. Only then would he feel some type of peace.
That was just for Meng Hao, as he was the only one Tao saw actively do these sick and twisted things. The cloaked individuals were the ones giving out the orders from what Tao has seen so far.
And yeah, it may seem hypocritical from a certain point of view.
And Meng Hao may have a story of his own. But Tao no longer cared, every day he spent in this place, Tao lost every shred of goodness and kindness from his first life as a human.
The miniscule pieces of it that he had, they were all being erased with each day that passed. And now there was only an ember left of it.
He could thank Meng Hao and those cloaked people for that.
But the premise of him being able to do all of that, could only happen if he escapes. Each day that passes is like a clock ticking down.
And once it reaches zero, then it's over for him.
At the moment, Tao could hear them currently speaking about an eclipse, and that it was time for their grand plan to begin.
As he heard that, Tao's mind went blank.
It was over... time ran out and he stuck! He'd cry, but a soul tears sometimes goes unheard.
Only their agony could be felt.
Tao could wonder if he'd be able to reincarnate once again, but something made him feel that it was not possible. And that this was truly the end for him...
Unknown to Tao, deep in his soul, that last ember of humanity he had was now flickering in and out of existence. That ember looked to be wailing out for mercy, trying to desperately hold on to something.
But the pitch-black darkness was like an enormous maw that surrounded it. The darkness cared nothing for its pitiful cries. In fact, it was slowly crushing it, like it was taking its time and slowly savoring this process.
The ember could only weep and struggle.
It was this time that one of the men walked towards the chaos crystal.
...
Unknowing of the current chaos plaguing Tao, the black cloaked individuals were talking heatedly.
They were finally in the endgame of the grand plan.
At this moment, Tao's actual eyes opened wide and he calmly took in his surroundings.
He was now out of the crystal.
Pale crystalline blue eyes devoid of emotion looked at his body that surprisingly was in the air.
Tao's naked young body could be seen calmy floating in the air about fifty feet. His arms and legs were bound with stark grey chains that twisted with a sick glee. Each ripple of the metal created a dull sound.
Even his neck had a chain around it.
Wisps of grey light could see revolving around the chains as it held Tao in the air. The chains themselves had a certain restraining effect on whoever it held. You could see that it grew hotter and tighter with each passing moment.
His arms and neck were burned by the chains, making marks on his body like you would see in a sculptor's work utilizing marble.
All in all, from a certain point of view, it was quite beautiful. But the truth behind this scene was quite sinister.
Next to him, covered in a black gas was the female corpse. He still avoided looking at her, his mind was just not yet ready for it.
After taking in his surroundings, Tao looked down at the people responsible for his current state.
The people beneath obviously sensed him waking up, but they cared little of it. Tao was going to be dead soon anyway. And to them this was just another day.
The only person who calmly looked at Tao was the leader of the black cloaked people.
Seeing such lifeless eyes startled him greatly. And he's seen quite a lot in his very long life.
You'd expect some type of curiosity and wonder in the newly awoken soul, but no. It was like all the wonder and curiosity was basically non-existent in Tao's eyes. Almost like he knew what was about to happen.
Which was impossible.
Right?
The leader shook his head and cleared his thoughts of those things. Even if Tao knew, there was nothing he could do, nor anyone for that matter. It is finally time to put a thousand-year plan into action.
Underneath the cloak the man grinned, and by some sense of sick twisted pleasure, he allowed Tao to see his twisted grin. He calmly rose up his head and allowed his purple, cracked and dry lips to show.
His mouth was full of crooked yellow teeth that surprisingly were in good condition, they were just yellow and crooked. The man expected to see something, hate, anger, something.
But nothing was reflected in Tao's eyes, no hate, no joy, they were just simply empty.
Not getting what he wanted, the man just shook his head and took out a red flag.
"Brother One, it is time is it not?" One of the cloaked people spoke to the leader. Said leader had a blood red flag in his left hand.
A dark and eerie aura emanated from the flag. It reeked of a sick and depraved feeling.
"Yes, it is time. This is the last flag needed for the array. Once it is placed, begin the chant. Oh, and Meng Hao...."
Meng Hao nervously stood up, seemingly ready for what was about to happen.
"Yes, my lord?" He asked respectfully.
The man only glanced at him, "Be sure to follow my instructions by...the...letter." The man spoke each word slowly and meaningfully.
Meng Hao just bowed and said, "Of course my lord."
The leader just nodded and thrusted the last flag into the black rocky ceiling of the cavern.
Once the flag was inserted, it pulsed, along with seven others that were already embedded into the ceiling.
Each of the red flags was strategically placed along the cave's ceiling. They were in the shape of a dipper, like the constellation. But the aura it gave off was nothing of the normal beautiful constellation.
No, it was full of depravity and such greed that it was tangible. Wisp of red gas began to emerge along the individual flags. The gas, like it had a mind of its own, extended towards the other flags connecting them together.
Once that was completed, the red gas grew stronger and much bigger. it looked as if a red cloud was in the cavern with them. But the red gas never went out of the big dipper shape.
It was like a docile kitten inside the array.
The big dipper glowed with a horrible, and foul feeling.
Meng Hao almost hurled from being in its presence, but he bit his tongue and swallowed it back into his gut.
The leader, seemingly satisfied, spoke once again, "Meng Hao, come to the center of the array."
Meng Hao obeyed, and he calmly walked towards the center of the array, once under it, and a heavy feeling began pressing down on his neck, shoulders, and back.
It was a pressure like no other, and he almost collapsed from it. But the black cloaked man behind him cared not for it. He just spoke once more, "Disrobe and kneel on the ground.
Following his instructions, Meng Hao got naked and kneeled.
The man nodded and said, "Begin the chant once I make the first mark."
All of the other cloaked ones nodded.
The leader then proceeded to take a small black pristine blade. At the bottom part of the handle, there was the symbol of any eye.
This eye had double pupils.
The entire blade gave off the same aura from the red gas above.
Tao took all of this in, one thing at a time. He was eerily calm for the moment, just waiting to self-implode his soul at the very last moment. Tao felt no joy, no want, he was simply empty.
All he had was this last card to implode his soul, and that would be it.
As Tao was watching the ritual, the cloaked individuals carried it out. Nearby covered in the black gas, one the many strands of white silverish hair began to entwine with the other strands of hair near it.
It was fast and quiet, no one knew what happened.
So many strands of hair entwined and formed what looked to be a sword made of hair. The hair was so tightly compressed and fused with the other hairs that along with the color of the hair, it could actually pass to be a sword made of metal.
Once all of the long hairs were fused and compressed, the sword severed itself at the base of the woman's head. Then it simply vanished without a trace, it moved like a specter. Unseen and unheard, just gone.
It was also at this time that the leader had made the last mark onto Meng Hao's body.
From a distance Meng Hao looked to be covered in blood red tattoos. But the truth was that all along his arms, back, stomach and forehead. All of them were engraving made by the leader with that blade.
He had slowly and perfectly carved symbols all over Meng Hao's body.
Said person looked to be near death with how much blood he had lost. But a wide smile was plastered onto his pale face. And his eyes were clearer than they had ever been in his life.
The other individuals were still chanting some ancient dialect unknown to most who are alive today.
As they did, the leader put away the blade, and he began to chant.
After a certain amount of time, the red gas up above Meng Hao began to move down towards him. At the same time, a strand of it moved towards Tao up in the air.
Looking at the red gas coming towards him, Tao lamented his own fate and his weakness.
After struggling for so long and surviving by any means necessary, his story was going to come to a pathetic end. He found some solace in the fact that once he imploded his soul, this red gas and those people down there would fail in their endeavors.
It almost made him crack out a weak grin, but his face remained like stone. He couldn't give the enemy any sign that he was about to make a move.
With a weak laugh echoing in his head, Tao began his suicide.
Just as the crimson gas surged toward him, ready to rupture his soul and obliterate him from existence, something unforeseen occurred.
Something no one had anticipated.
A sharp, piercing whistle cut through the grotto like a shrieking gale, a sound so potent it sent shockwaves rippling through the air.
And then—it appeared.
A silver-white sword, celestial looking. Forged from the strands of the dead woman's hair, materialized in the space between Meng Hao and the towering Big Dipper Array.
An overwhelming sword intent exploded into existence.
Majestic. Absolute. And icy beyond measure.
The very fabric of the grotto quaked beneath its presence. The air itself froze—time had ceased to move. Meng Hao's breath caught in his throat, his entire being locked in place by the sheer, suffocating force of it.
The black-cloaked figures who had just moments ago stood with unwavering confidence were now statues, their bodies paralyzed, their souls seized by the grip of an intent so vast it transcended mortal comprehension.
The sword did not hesitate.
It swung.
A seamless, moonlit arc of radiant white sliced through the array's main flag with absolute precision.
A moment of eerie stillness.
And then it all ruptured.
A clean, brilliant cut tore through the black stone ceiling as though it were mere tofu. The very walls of the Immortal Demon Grotto trembled, cracks spreading like the veins of a shattered mirror.
But the sword strike did not stop.
It pierced through space itself.
A thousand-mile rift ripped open along the spatial boundary, shattering the protective veil that had concealed this forbidden place for so long. The Immortal Demon Grotto—once hidden from the world—was now laid bare.
For the first time in untold ages, its existence could be sensed by the outside.
But even as the outside world stirred, within the grotto itself, a different battle was taking place.
A battle of words.
One speaker and one unwilling listener.