The path south twisted into a landscape most travelers avoided unless they were desperate—or stupid. Unfortunately for Lin Feng, he was rapidly becoming both.
Dark, sprawling, and forever shrouded in a drifting grey mist, the Black Stone Marshlands stretched outward like a decayed kingdom. Jagged obsidian spires pierced the ground, coated in moss and slick shadow-water. Every few breaths, something cracked beneath the mud. Sometimes bones. Sometimes… not bones.
The air tasted metallic, heavy with a suppressed spiritual force.
Lin Feng tugged his cloak tighter. "I'm starting to think we should've gone the other way."
Xuanyu Ye walked beside him, fan swaying lazily.
"The other way led to a Scarlet Veil Sect outpost," he replied cheerfully. "Unless you wanted to greet them personally?"
Lin Feng's face twisted. "…No."
"Then this is the better path. Trust me."
Lin Feng looked around. "The ground smells like rotting nightmares."
"Better than rotting cultivators," Xuanyu said lightly. "Though the marsh may contain both. Don't step on anything that squishes aggressively."
Lin Feng stared at him. "Aggressively?"
A wet, angry squish echoed somewhere in the fog.
Lin Feng swallowed. "This place hates me."
"That's impossible," Xuanyu said. "You haven't even introduced yourself."
"VERY FUNNY."
Every step sank a little deeper.
Black mud clung to Lin Feng's boots like hungry fingers. The mist thickened until their visibility was only a few meters. Strange croaks and clicking sounds echoed from the distance.
Lin Feng lifted his qi slightly around his skin. "Feels like the swamp is… alive."
Xuanyu arched a brow. "Oh, it is."
Lin Feng froze. "…Explain."
"The marsh is a spiritual anomaly," Xuanyu replied, tapping his fan against his palm. "It reacts to qi. Too much movement, too much aura, too much fear—"
A low glurrrrrrrp vibrated under their feet.
Lin Feng lifted his boot slowly. "Okay, I'm done."
"You cannot be done," Xuanyu said. "We are in the middle of it."
Another glurrrrrp.
Followed by a bubbling.
Then, the ground swelled.
Lin Feng's eyes widened. "Uh… Xuanyu—"
The black mud surged upward, forming a mound.
"Nope nope nope—"
The mound split open, revealing glowing red eyes and a gaping maw full of jagged, stone-like teeth.
A Black Stone Marsh Wurm.
And it was enormous.
The wurm lunged, snapping its stone-crusted jaws at Lin Feng.
Lin Feng leapt back, lightning cracking under his feet. The wurm smashed into the ground, spraying mud like a geyser.
Xuanyu sipped tea from his gourd. "Oh, that one is only a baby."
"A WHAT!?"
The wurm roared, spraying corrosive black slime.
Lin Feng dodged, rolling across wet stone. "What do you mean baby!? This thing is the size of a house!"
"Adult ones swallow cities."
Lin Feng's eyes nearly popped out.
Xuanyu closed his fan. "Well, smaller cities."
"STOP TALKING!"
The wurm coiled, its obsidian plates grinding like swords drawn in a narrow hallway. Its body glowed faintly with spiritual corruption.
Lin Feng summoned his qi.
Lightning burst around him in a violent aura—
the atmosphere crackled—
and he launched himself forward.
Raged Thunder Strikes!
Lightning coiled around his arm and slammed into the wurm's face. The blast lit the fog like a storm lantern.
The wurm shrieked, thrashing violently, but it didn't fall.
Lin Feng cursed. "This thing's hide is too tough!"
"Yes," Xuanyu said calmly. "It's made of shadow-infused obsidian."
"AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS NOW!?"
The wurm lunged again.
Lin Feng leapt onto a rock pillar, sliding as the ground shook beneath him. Lightning danced across his back.
He inhaled sharply.
Fine. Let's test my movement technique.
He focused his qi. Lightning surged.
Flashstep Gale!
He vanished in a streak of blue-white light just as the wurm slammed into the pillar, shattering it into shards.
Lin Feng reappeared behind it, panting. "Okay, that's fun. Terrifying, but fun."
The wurm coiled completely around him.
Not fun.
Very not fun.
It lunged—
—and a white sleeve brushed past Lin Feng's vision.
Xuanyu Ye flicked his fan.
Just once.
The wurm froze mid-attack.
Frozen.
In the air.
Like a painting.
Lin Feng stared. "…You froze it?"
"No. I convinced it temporarily that movement is unwise."
"That means you froze it."
Xuanyu shrugged elegantly. "Semantics."
With another flick, the wurm was launched sideways like a boulder fired from a cannon. It crashed through six black stone spires and slid half-submerged into the marsh, unconscious but alive.
Lin Feng blinked repeatedly. "Xuanyu?"
"Yes?"
"…Are you secretly the reincarnation of a Heavenly Emperor?"
"No."
A pause.
"…Probably."
"WHAT DOES 'PROBABLY' MEAN!?"
Xuanyu smiled warmly. "It means I don't remember."
Lin Feng nearly screamed.
The mist thickened again.
Xuanyu resumed walking as though nothing had happened.
Lin Feng followed, heart pounding, wiping slime from his sleeve.
"Xuanyu," he said breathlessly, "are all the monsters here like that?"
"No," Xuanyu said thoughtfully.
Lin Feng sighed in relief.
"Some are worse."
Lin Feng's relief died instantly. "You know, I could've lived without that information."
"You asked."
"You could've lied."
"I don't lie to friends."
Lin Feng paused mid-step.
"…Friends?"
Xuanyu nodded casually. "Of course. You're amusing to travel with."
Lin Feng tried to find a response.
Failed.
Settled for clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Well… at least this place can't get any worse."
The marsh rumbled ominously.
Xuanyu sighed. "Lin Feng."
"Yeah?"
"Never say that again."
From somewhere deep in the mist, far beyond their sight, a pair of massive eyes opened—
glowing blue, intelligent, ancient.
Watching them.
Waiting.
A voice vibrated through the marshlands, soft as distant thunder:
"Lightning… returns to me…"
Lin Feng shivered, unaware of the oath forming in the fog.