Zhao Feng stood surrounded by darkness, questioning his choices. When he had followed Gu Yichen that morning and discovered that he was tampering with the arrays while repairing them, he had just looked on from the side. Although he didn't know much about arrays and formations, his sharp senses did warn him that something was wrong. Well, given that even with his ability to erase his presence Gu Yichen could still have detected him due to the sheer number of arrays that silently hovered around him, Zhao Feng's hands were tied even if he wanted to take action. He didn't dare use the life-saving treasure given by Tian Yao, afraid that it would lead to dire consequences.
And that moment of hesitation was what led to this situation. Just as the sun was about to reach its zenith, Gu Yichen had completed what he was doing, and arrays rapidly spread like a swarm of ants from all corners of the array formation—surrounding the whole estate and drowning it in black. Zhao Feng had tried to escape into the shadows, but the arrays had dragged him out and swallowed him whole. Now, he stood all alone in this dark, empty place with no end in sight, nor even a source of light. Of course, the qi was still there in the air, but it was too thin, nearly ten times thinner than the outside world, which made him feel suffocated.
"Ha!" He let out a self-depreciating sigh. Taking out an artifact from his storage ring, he tried to illuminate his surroundings. Darkness rushed forth. The small glowing orb in his hand lost all its bright luster and dimmed to an empty shell of its former self as if it had died. Comparing an object with a living person seemed a little off, but that was how he felt at present. This thing had died. Or to put it more aptly, been killed. He stored away the dead orb and took out another even brighter one. The result was the same. And it took the same time.
Instead of continuing the futile charade, he carefully took in his surroundings. Empty desolation. He couldn't see anything, not even a faint outline, and neither could he hear anything, as if the world itself had gone silent. Maybe it truly had. Maybe the black arrays had actually transported him to this new world. From what he had observed of Gu Yichen, and the maniac look he always wore on his face when he secretly worked away on his arrays, it didn't seem so out of question. He sharply pinched his wrist, and recoiled from the bolt of pain shot through his hand. At least there were no changes in his body. And since he was able to still breathe air, he didn't need to worry about dying of suffocation. At Core Formation, even if he didn't need food or water, he needed air to survive.
Standing around wouldn't get him anywhere, he realized. With steady steps, he trudged ahead, one cautious step at a time, hoping against hope for a change in his surroundings and a clue to what was happening. The land beneath his feet felt solid yet sinking at the same time, as if a soft material had been melded into this hard surface.
After walking for time unknown, he felt his sense of danger tingle slightly. He wasn't able to clearly understand how it actually worked yet… it just worked, and he knew where the danger was coming from at the time. And right now, it came from ahead of him. His steps halted. He raised his guard as the dark shadow qi circulated throughout his body, emerging from his Golden Core stained with unknown black patterns. He waited. There was no change in his surroundings even after quite some time had passed and the sense of danger had also disappeared. Strange. He carefully treaded ahead, and after several steps, felt himself pass through some kind of barrier. It was a very subtle feeling; something he would have ignored if not for his current predicament and heightened senses.
He halted and the qi in his body flared, ready to face an ambush. Nothing happened. Strange. He was sure a presence was closing in on him just now. It had suddenly disappeared, as if it were never there. After a while, with a single thought, he recalled his qi into his Golden Core. The dozen or so sharp daggers floating around him, their shapes blended into the surrounding darkness, dispersed back into qi that was absorbed by him. As a precaution, a thin layer of qi still covered his skin. It was a good choice on his part, since, just as he lowered his guard, the ground beneath his feet cracked and a thunderous roar came from below. The silenced warnings came back on even louder, numbing his mind, robbing him of the chance to react.
The land beneath his feet gave way. He felt something sharp hit his falling back, and in the nick of time all the qi he could draw out was concentrated at that point. The attack was unable to pierce through his protective qi, instead throwing his body away like a puppet with its strings broken. He turned his body midair and steadied himself just as his feet touched the ground. His attention was not on the pain coursing through his back but on the fact that his senses had failed him for the first time… maybe the second… since they had also failed against the Sect Master when he was caught trying to sneak out a few spiritual fruits from the Spiritual Garden atop the Central Peak. What have you done, Gu Yichen?
Except for everyone forgetting about him as soon as he was out of sight, there were very few moments that frustrated him as much. This was one such moment. His greatest advantage was stripped away. Let alone shadow traversal, he wasn't even able to save his skin due to the absence of any kind of shadow in this dark void. The only thing he could rely on was his keen senses, which were also diminished, and they warned him of an attack coming from his right. He hurriedly ducked down, and his hair bristled from a close brush with whatever had passed overhead.
He drew out qi from his Golden Core and willed it into dozens of daggers hovering about him. The sharp blades shot out in all directions. Whenever they hit the enemy, they would bounce off its hard surface with a sharp clang. Although they did no real damage, Zhao Feng was at least able to sense where his enemy lay from the impacts. Thin qi threads also extended from his fingertips and followed after the daggers. He closed his eyes as his nerves stretched taut, ready to move at the slightest sign of an attack. Getting hit once was enough for him to understand that on the fourth or fifth hit he would die. Saving himself the first time had depleted nearly ten percent of his qi. Qi that was hard to replenish here.
The next attack came from above. As soon as his mind warned him, his feet pushed off the ground and he sprang back. Something slammed down hard where he had stood a moment before, the air rushing past proof enough that it was something quite heavy. Not giving him a chance, another attack came from his left. It swung close to the ground, so he had to time his jump.
As time passed, and after much dodging and countering, he became familiar with the shape of his enemy. It was a huge scorpion, if he was correct, and it loomed as large as the largest Three-Tusked Boar he had seen on the back mountains of the sect, with power comparable to someone about to reach the Nascent Soul realm. It had three tails, not one, each ending in a stinger as sharp as a spiritual sword, and also an extra pair of those large pincers that left less room to maneuver, leading to him having a few red streaks running across his thighs that must have dyed his robes crimson. Taking out a healing pill from his storage ring, he stuffed it in his mouth. It dissolved into a green mist just as it went down his throat, seeping into his blood and bones and gradually beginning to heal his injuries.
Weapons, he had none. They were costly, and he felt no need for them until now. He got by with his own power just fine, except in a few unexpected situations. And at those times, weapons would have been of no use even if he had any. But right now, he keenly felt the need for one. And his cultivation technique, although extraordinary, was only a slightly stronger one among the sea of techniques decorating the scripture pavilion, not providing any intrinsic abilities as he had seen from other inner sect disciples.
As time passed, he adapted to the demonic scorpion's attacks, and was able to get a few hits in, only to realize that they lacked the power necessary to pierce through the beast's hard carapace, which led to the current stalemate. His attacks didn't work, and the scorpion's didn't land. The daggers continued to ricochet off the carapace, their sounds clamoring throughout the area. The thin strings extending from his hand had wrapped around the demonic beast, slowing it down just enough so it posed no major threat. However, with the massive consumption of qi every passing moment, Zhao Feng felt he would not be able to hold out much longer.
In his life, only once had he fought so hard—against Tian Yao—and at that time too, he was not alone. People had flooded her to get the sect inheritance, and she had burned them all to the ground, more like fried with lightning, leaving them with only a single breath in their chest, just enough for them to not die. His thoughts went to the protective means she had given him. The carved stone jostled around in his secret pocket as he sidestepped to dodge one more attack. It was his very last means of survival, to be used when everything else failed.
The demonic scorpion was also gradually adapting to his movements and it was becoming harder to control it with the strings. His head ached. It was difficult to maintain so many constructs at once for such a long duration. He didn't have an accurate grasp on how much time had passed, but it was definitely a lot. As a last attempt, he decided to use all his remaining qi in a final assault. The belly of a normal scorpion was supposed to be one of its weakest parts, and he hoped this one also followed the same logic, at least a bit.
Zhao Feng recalled the strings and most of the daggers and readied himself. The scorpion let out a loud roar and charged at him, its movements being tracked by the few daggers that remained. Just as it arrived in front of him, his senses alerted him to attacks from three different directions: Left, right and above. Instead of dodging, he circulated qi in his legs and pushed them with as much force as he could muster. His body shot forward like a released arrow, narrowly dodging the pincers about to envelop him from the side and the stingers thrusting down from above.
Escaping the immediate threat, he extended his leg and lowered himself, his body sliding close and parallel to the ground. Qi enveloped his hand as it thrust upward. He wasn't able to see it, but his hand felt the relatively soft surface of the demonic beast. The scorpion let out a frenzied roar and tried to move away just as he poured his qi into his hand and shaped an elongated blade that pierced the beast's belly and continued to extend until it met resistance at the other end.
By the time he had moved away from under the scorpion, his whole body was covered in foul-smelling blood and torn pieces of organs. The scorpion thrashed and cried in its death throes. The next moment its body toppled to the side and it could do was twitch. The wound must have been deeper than I had expected. He just sat down where he stood, not moving an inch. The life slowly ebbed away from the demonic beast and in due time it went completely still. Letting out a deep sigh, he continued sitting. Would his end also come like this?
He didn't get much time to dwell on his thoughts. A massive pressure was closing in on him from his left, and this time whatever was coming had no intention of hiding its presence. He hurriedly got to his feet and his knees buckled just as soon. His qi was completely exhausted from the recent encounter, and his body too. Putting his hand into his robes, he gripped the circular stone given by Tian Yao. Then he waited, and he didn't have to wait for long.
The presence halted a distance away from him, floating mid-air. He wasn't able to see who it was, but an oppressive aura washed over him, an aura comparable to that of the Nascent Soul Elders from the sect, and his buckled knees folded further and he fell down. Just before he hit the ground, a foreign power held him and raised him to his feet. The only reason he didn't activate Tian Yao's attack was because he hadn't sensed any hostility from the person before him.
Something hidden deep inside his robe heated up. Reaching inside with his other hand, his fingers touched the guest token of the Gu Estate. "I apologize for dragging a faraway guest into this difficult matter," came an aged female voice. Even with her words humble, she had the air of someone who was accustomed to being in a position of power. Was this a hidden expert of the Gu Family?
"It's okay, senior." He bowed. What else could he say? He didn't have the daring nature of his fellow 'friends' who would speak out loud even in the face of apparent death. "How should I address senior? Also, what is this place?"
"You don't need to know about it," the female cultivator said firmly, with a finality in her words. "And you can address me simply as Yun Xi."
Then, there was light. Unlike the artifacts that Zhao Feng had tried using and failed, the glowing orb in Senior Yun Xi's hand pushed back against the encroaching darkness, bathing the surroundings in a hazy yellow glow. She flicked her other hand and a thin blue thread made of spiritual energy, since that was what the cultivators used after reaching Nascent Soul realm, extended from her fingers and encircled Zhao Feng's hand that reached inside his clothes. There was an abrupt tug and his body was yanked off his feet. Before long he was flying, or hanging, beside Senior Yun Xi, suspended by the thin thread that had pulled his hand out of his clothes, the circular stone still rough against his palm.
"An attack stored in a fake Taixu Stone. Interesting. But we don't have time to check it out right now." Senior Yun Xi flew with a direction in mind, and he was dragged behind her. At that moment a foreign qi invaded his body and he tried to resist it.
"Don't fight it," Senior Yun Xi said. "It is the remnant qi of the slain demonic beast that is attaching to the closest person it could find. Absorb and refine it as we travel. Replenish your core since you may need it. Not that you would be of much help."
Zhao Feng didn't argue back and did as he was told. Normally the qi should have just dispersed into the surroundings, but it seemed like the rules in this world operated a little differently. He circulated the incoming qi throughout his body, directing it through his meridians and removing any impurities he could find. His dried-up Golden Core was half filled by the time he had finished.
He raised his head and looked at the front. Still only darkness. Senior Yun Xi didn't seem to have any intention of harming him, but knowing cultivators, her intentions could change at any moment. With his free hand, he took the 'fake Taixu Stone', as Senior had called it, and stored it away in his clothes. Then, he continued to be dragged away into the darkness.