Chapter 107

  Spiritwood Grove (V)

  The bandit's story was... well, "lengthy" would be one word to use. In part because there truly was a lot that happened, but also in part because the dude loved the sound of his voice just a tad bit too much. Or it could be that he was desperately trying to delay his death for as long as possible.

  Probably the latter.

  Anyway, his story begins north of here--far north, if the words are to be believed, actually. Supposedly, at the northern edge of, well, Innominate Edge was the Eternal Range--and beyond it was a massive city called Silvercrest City. Surrounding it were two important landmarks--Sunless Forest and Eternal River—and the trio, in concert, housed some eight sects (all of which sounded vastly stronger than either Spirit Sword Sect or Fire Sun Sect).

  However, nobody dared venture any further north than the Sunless Forest precisely because of its name--it was Sunless. As in, at a certain point, there was literally no light. It was like walking blind.

  Westward was something he called 'Heralds of Light,' and, apparently, they weren't to be messed with either, and east was the massive Moon Lake.

  For the most part, they ignored anything south of the Eternal Range, as it was considered a 'primitive wasteland'--his words, not mine--until four months ago, when rumors suddenly started spanning the entire triangle.

  Supposedly, somebody discovered an ancient ruin somewhere in the Eternal Spiritwood Grove, and one that had a trace of 'artifact' imprinted on it.

  Thus, all major powers--sects included--dispatched some of their disciples to search for it. After a few months of nothing being discovered, they started believing the rumors were false until about ten days ago or so, when they did actually stumble upon it--the entrance to the ruins.

  However, it was closed... and there was no way in.

  Supposedly, even an Elder at the Void Transformation Realm showed up and couldn't do anything but huddle his tail between his knees and leave in shame. As it usually happens with these places, fights broke out soon enough, and a few were even killed... which was when the change started.

  The barrier to the entrance loosened.

  After a few more 'experiments', they confirmed that the way to get in was to sacrifice enough Life Qi, but only from humans. Rather than killing each other, everyone north of the Eternal Range made a pact to hunt down the Innominate Edge natives, capture them, and carry them over to the entrance, where they were to be sacrificed.

  That was precisely what he and his four buddies were doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, intercepting us.

  It was a ghoulish thing, if you ask me--both that the ruin necessitated human sacrifices to just even open, but also that they were so quick to condemn the entire region of people to death just because they were--well, we were--perceived as lesser.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Whatever little sympathy I had was quickly snuffed, though he did weave the classic old 'I was just following orders'.

  "What kind of a ruin was it? Describe it," Long Tao was the first to ask a question, seeming a bit puzzled... which puzzled me, too.

  "W-what do you mean?"

  "Its appearance. What's the entrance like?"

  "It's, uh, it's like... any other ruin? Partly embedded into the ground, an arched entrance arrayed with ancient runes, black obsidian stone..."

  "Describe the shape of the runes."

  "Uhm, what?"

  "Are they flat? Angular? Wobbly? Curved? Connecting, independent, webbed, chained, stacked?"

  "Aah, they were a bit curved, connected one to another at the edges... why do you keep asking about the ruin?" I asked the exact same question with my eyes as Long Tao's puzzled expression hardened somewhat for a moment.

  "Hm," he crouched and started tracing something with his finger. "Something like this?" He drew rather strange 'letters', you could say, somewhat reminiscent of English cursive, except they went downwards rather than sideways.

  "Yes! Almost exactly like that! H-have you been there before...?!"

  Yeah.

  He probably has.

  Not anytime recently, no, but long before any one of us here was born. Long, long, long before.

  That's when it happened--he flashed the edge of the blade for a moment, the head was dissevered, and blood sprayed out so strongly that I just barely had enough time to toss myself backwards and dodge it.

  The poor bandit still had the expression of surprise and awe at Long Tao's ability to draw the runes, likely never even realizing he was killed.

  "We need to go there."

  "... and you decided to kill the guy who can take us there because...?"

  "..." Oh, wow. He actually missed it. Ha ha ha! Look at his face! "I, I can take us there."

  "Want to bet?"

  "..."

  "Why do we need to go there?" Anyway, what's done was done; I wasn't going to push it too far with a guy that just beheaded someone in cold blood.

  ... yeah. Why are all people around me so quick to kill, and with such grand apathy?!

  "My father once told me about runes like these."

  "Oh, your father?"

  "Yes. He's seen them once or twice back when he was adventuring."

  "Aha."

  "They're runes of the Chaos Spirits." What are those?

  "What are those?"

  "Unnatural things, for the most part," he shrugged. "Dao's rejects, some often called them. They're not evil or good or anything specific, really. They just... don't belong. That's why they are largely extinct, but their remnants can still be found occasionally, especially within the Ancient Ruins. Their favorite nourishment was human blood, and they'd set up special arrays that'd be slowly 'scalped' bit by bit as a means of tricking people. Usually, once the barrier was broken and the humans excitedly went inside to seek treasures, the Spirits would slowly torture them and drive them mad.

  "But we're in luck."

  "Why?"

  "Because of the method your father stumbled upon a long time ago," he replied with a faint grin. "While changing appearances is the primary function, the anti-illusion bit should be enough to keep us sane."

  "Should?"

  "Well, unless there are actual Chaos Spirits in there." He just jinxed us, didn't he?!

  There's no freakin' way that something like that exists--no way!

  "And we need to make it there before the damn fools actually do break the barrier." he added.

  "Why? We'll just be isolated and attacked by everyone."

  "Usually, whatever is sucking up the human blood is feeding on it. The barrier dropping means that it's fed. If we wait for them to complete the condition, who knows what they'll wake up? Though it could be just some ancient, half-baked array that's already barely functional after eons of no maintenance, it could just as well be a slumbering, dormant ancient beast that has just fed on a lot of human blood and has probably developed a deep craving for it."

  "... yeah, we should go there immediately. I imagine your father taught you a way to break through the barrier without killing a horde of people?"

  "No."

  "E-eh?"

  "My mother did."

  "..."

  One day, I swear, one day I'll kick him in the back of his knees and use my secret, amazing, world-hopping movement art to immediately run away. Otherwise my frustration will boil into a bomb that will detonate in my stuffed chest...