"Is her condition deteriorating?" Huan asked, his voice carrying a heavy tremor of concern.
Bao, who was crouched beside Ming's frail figure, pressed her fingers gently against the girl's wrist, sensing the strange pulse of qi flowing through her meridians. Her brows knitted in quiet frustration as she nodded slowly.
"Yes," Bao admitted, her voice low. "Like I told you before, the strange empty qi inside her body continues to spread. Little by little, it grows. I suspect it was that demon bastard's doing. Perhaps… only he knows the cure."
Huan clicked his tongue in irritation, his hand unconsciously curling into a fist at his side. "What can we expect from a soul cultivator? It was foolish of us to assume he wouldn't leave behind some vile trick. That was our mistake."
The bitterness in his tone lingered in the air. For a moment, none of them spoke. Only Ming's faint breathing filled the tense silence.
Then Chu Na, who had been standing nearby with a worried frown, stepped forward. He gently placed a hand on Huan's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself too much, brother," he said softly.
His words were meant to soothe, though his expression betrayed his unease. "We just need to complete the task he gave us. Surely… he will abide by his own rules and release us afterward. Surely he would keep his word… right?"
Huan turned his head sharply, meeting Chu Na's gaze. He shook his head.
"You are acting childish, Brother Na," Huan said, his voice heavy. "There is no way he will let us go. Do you think men like him ever keep promises? He's a soul cultivator—cunning, vile, and greedy to the core. That task? He likely only wants the pill for himself. If we want to live another day… we'll have to fight him. That's the only path left for us."
The words struck Chu Na like a hammer. He opened his mouth to respond but found none came. He could not argue against Huan's logic, and yet… something in him resisted.
Before the silence could drag further, Bao's quiet voice cut through.
"Maybe," she said, her tone oddly steady, "I could help with it."
Both Huan and Chu Na turned immediately to her, their gazes filled with surprise. Huan narrowed his eyes, suspicion and hope clashing in his mind.
"How?" he pressed. "Do you… have some kind of idea?"
Bao straightened slightly, her hands leaving Ming's body as she looked between the two boys.
"Yes," Bao said firmly. "I do. I might lack the strength to fight directly, but combat isn't the only way to win. Alchemy…" she paused, her lips tightening, "alchemy isn't limited to healing wounds or creating catalysts to push one's cultivation forward. It can also… destroy. It can be vile, insidious, and threatening."
Chu Na's eyes narrowed. His voice dropped low, guarded. "What exactly are you trying to insinuate here?"
Bao met his gaze without flinching. "What I'm saying is this: I will make a pill. A pill that mimics the one I intend to give Sister Ming. The demon will no doubt covet it—perhaps that was his plan all along. And so, I will give him one. But this pill will not heal. It will be riddled with impurities, designed to twist the flow of qi within his body. The moment he consumes it, he will suffer a backlash—qi deviation, meridian blockage. His cultivation will turn against him."
Her words hung in the air like a poisonous mist.
Huan's eyes widened, then gleamed with dawning realization. Slowly, a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "And then…" he said, voice growing sharper with every syllable, "we'll have the chance to overpower him. No, more than that—we can kill him."
Chu Na's brows furrowed. He understood the brilliance of Bao's plan, but there was something unnerving about the venom in her tone. Still, before he could speak, Huan continued.
"Yes," Huan said with certainty, his voice laced with grim satisfaction. "That soul cultivator will fall before us. And when he does, he will pay for every sin he's committed."
Chu Na finally found his voice. He reached out, resting a hand on Bao's shoulder with gentleness. His lips curved into a faint, genuine smile.
"Sister Bao," he said sincerely, "this plan… it's good. Very good. With this, we'll turn his schemes back on him. He will bow before us, begging for mercy, pleading for his life… atoning for his sins."
Huan chuckled, a dark and humorless sound. "Atone? Brother Na, you still cling to such notions? There is no atonement for people like him. He is a soul cultivator. Do you even fathom how many souls he must have consumed, how many lives he has stolen to reach his strength? Some sins," his voice dropped, sharp and cutting, "can never be atoned for."
Chu Na blinked, his chest tightening at the weight of Huan's words. He turned to look at him, confusion flickering in his eyes. "But brother," he said softly, almost pleading, "isn't offering the chance to atone what makes us righteous? Isn't that what it means to be orthodox cultivators, to be a member of the great Chu family, one of the pillars of the Central Continent?"
Huan's lips twisted into a sneer. "Righteousness? Brother Na, don't delude yourself. Do you know how many so-called righteous sects and families stain their hands with blood each day? The number of people slaughtered by them far exceeds the number of demonic or soul cultivators combined. That is a truth no one can deny. From the Four Continents to the hidden realms, everyone knows it. Do not let such fantasies cloud your mind—they will do you no good. You can trust me on that."
His words landed with the weight of a mountain.
Chu Na stared at him, stunned. His gaze shifted between Huan and Bao, both of whom now wore similar expressions. Which he couldn't understand…
He had always believed himself righteous, proud to belong to the orthodox path. He had been taught that the orthodox cultivators were the protectors of the weak, the defenders of the innocent, and that demonic paths were nothing but corruption. He had repeated those teachings his whole life.
But this?
This was not something he could easily accept. Yes, he had heard of executions, had even witnessed them—traitors, demonic cultivators, enemies of the sect. Those were necessary evils… right? They weren't innocents. Right?
Then why did Huan phrase his words like that? Why did it sound as though the line between righteous and demonic was nothing more than an illusion, a lie to comfort themselves?
Ahm!
A cough snapped Chu Na out of his drifting thoughts. His head turned almost instinctively toward Bao, who had been the source of the sound.
Bao straightened slightly, pressing her fist softly against her lips as she cleared her throat. The light bob of her head was graceful, but her words carried a firmness.
"Brother Chu Na, Brother Huan… I think it's about time we move on." Her tone was quiet but steady. "We've gathered nearly every resource we came for—save for the obsidian soil. If we delay any further, we might lose the chance to collect it. Look."
She lifted her slender right hand, pointing ahead toward a shadow that loomed at the very edge of the darkened terrain.
There, half-buried in the jagged earth, lay the monstrous form of the obsidian scorpion. The beast's massive pincers rested motionless on the ground, its segmented tail curled lazily against its back. Its breathing was faint, deep, and rhythmic—proof that it was still trapped in slumber.
"We could get the soil quickly… while it's still asleep," Bao whispered, her voice carrying a faint tremor.
Chu Na and Huan both followed her gaze, eyes narrowing as they took in the terrifying scale of the creature.
Huan's lips tightened into a thin line. "She's right," he muttered. "We need to act swiftly. Nightfall is drawing near, and when darkness covers the desert, that beast will be increasingly harder to spot. At night… an obsidian scorpion is no different from a living nightmare."
The three of them fell silent at those words.
Finally, Chu Na nodded, determination flickering in his eyes. "Then it's settled." Without hesitation, he bent low and carefully lifted Ming onto his back. Adjusting her weight against him, he turned toward Bao.
"Sister Bao," he said softly, "Brother Huan and I will handle the soil. You should stay behind with Sister Ming. Watch over her until we return."
Bao's eyes lingered on Ming for a brief moment, she nodded firmly. "Yes… that would be for the best. I noticed a safer spot earlier, just west of here. It's a few meters away, close enough that you can find us again quickly. There's a tall sand dune there, steep enough to shield us from wandering beasts and far enough from the scorpion's domain. We'll wait for you there."
Chu Na gave her a grateful smile. "Then let's not waste any time."
Following her lead, he carried Ming carefully to the site Bao had described. The dune rose high against the horizon. As promised, it offered cover from both sight and wind. Chu Na lowered Ming gently onto the ground, ensuring her head rested comfortably against a folded cloth. He lingered for a moment, brushing the strands of hair from her forehead before rising again.
"Take care of her," he murmured. Then, straightening his shoulders, he turned back toward the waiting figure of Huan.
When he finally returned, his voice carried a trace of sheepishness as he scratched the back of his neck. "Ah, Brother Huan. I'm ready. Let's go and get that soil."
Huan stood upright, arms loosely folded, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the distant form of the sleeping scorpion. The soft desert wind rustled his hair as he sighed deeply, then turned his head toward Chu Na.
"I know what's going on in your mind, Na." His words were calm, his voice carrying the quiet weight of familiarity. "We've known each other since childhood. Some things… we don't need to speak aloud to understand."
There was an unusual heaviness in his tone, one that made Chu Na frown.
"Na," Huan continued, his voice gentler now, "I know you carry ideals in your heart. Some things you cannot help but reject… others you cannot help but accept. That's who you are. That's who we all are. People differ, and it's those differences that give meaning to who we are."
Chu Na's brows furrowed. "Why are you telling me this now?" His tone was curt. "This doesn't feel like the right time to teach me about people, Huan…"
A small chuckle escaped Huan's lips. "You're right. It isn't." He glanced briefly toward the horizon, where the sun was sinking into the desert sands. "But you seemed… hurt, when I spoke those words earlier."
"What words?" Chu Na asked sharply.
Huan's gaze lingered on him for a long moment before he shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Forget it… Forget this conversation ever happened."
Then, clapping his hands twice, his voice brightened. "Now, how about this? We stop wasting time. We get the soil, and we heal our friend who's waiting for us."
Chu Na blinked at the sudden shift but quickly nodded, letting the matter drop. He strode a step ahead, determination returning to his movements.
"Yeah, we should. And… thanks." His final word was barely audible, muttered under his breath, as though he himself wasn't sure why he said it.
But then—
"CHU NA!!!"
Huan's scream tore through the desert like a blade, gut-wrenching and desperate.
Chu Na froze, eyes wide. His body snapped into full clarity as if his mind had been jolted awake from a haze. He spun on his feet to look back at Huan—
WHIZZ—!
A streak of blinding qi blasted into him, striking his side with explosive force.
WHOOSH—
The world tilted as he was thrown violently off his feet, hurled through the air. His vision spun, his ears filled with the howl of the desert wind.
And in that instant, just before he crashed into the sand, his eyes caught it—
The earth where he had been standing moments ago… stirred.