The scene snapped into focus, deep inside a canyon shrouded in eerie purple mist.
Jagged cliffs towered in every direction, warped and twisted like the broken ribs of some ancient beast.
Leafless trees loomed along the edges, their gnarled branches clawing silently into the fog-choked sky.
Then, whoosh.
Four figures cloaked in dark robes descended from above, landing like owls.
Their feet touched the ground without so much as a whisper.
No ripples. No echo. Just stillness.
Through the puppet's vision, Liam scanned the place.
"It's been a while since I last stepped in here," he murmured, voice low and raspy behind the mask.
It bled into the silence, swallowed by the mist.
This place, he remembered it vividly when he was a bit younger back then. There were three of them, him, Old fu, and Old Lin.
They came here to hunt down shadow worms to complete the city commission.
But failed miserably so due to how fast these shadow worm moves.
He moved forward, slow and deliberate, fingers brushing across the bark of a withered tree as he passed.
A dry twig cracked under his touch, and in the next breath, it disintegrated into black ash, scattering like smoke in the air.
In his eyes, he vividly saw the outline of the scenes from the past.
A tall man with a sunny smile, tied ponytail hair on the back, black in colour, and he was wearing a green robe.
On the right, it was him.
Younger, the same appearance as the current one and also the same expression of someone who didn't want to be there.
On the left...
It was a beautiful woman draped in a beautiful blue tight fitting outfit, dazzling blue hair, and confident pair of eyes.
Sigh...
Liam shook his head, and slowly walked away, "Old times... "
Then, he continued walking forward.
Soon enough, he stopped again.
"The mist here…" he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
"Full of corrosive properties. They say a powerful demonic beast lives somewhere in the deepest pocket of the canyon. That it's the source of all this."
Of course, that was just hearsay. Liam wasn't here to investigate legends.
This place, tainted and unnerving, happened to be the perfect breeding ground for something else.
The shadow worm.
An insidious, naturally-born demonic creature. It didn't just kill.
It lingered.
This was the breeding ground for them
Fed on flesh and blood. Preferred women. And it didn't finish its prey quickly either.
The victims were kept alive as long as possible, long enough for the creature to nest.
Long enough to hatch an egg inside.
As for how the process went, you could already guess how it went.
And no one quite knew how these creatures bred on their own, without hosts.
Even Golden Core cultivators had ventured into the depths of this cursed place… only to return empty-handed.
Or not return at all. The deeper one went, the thicker the mist. Thick enough to corrode even golden-core-grade spiritual energy shield.
"And it's all just…" Liam exhaled, gaze tilting upward, "a hundred and fifty kilometers from the city."
Not far at all.
At least, not for him.
For a typical Qi Refining cultivator? It was days of treacherous travel, if they even made it here.
Liam took a moment to think, then raised a hand.
"Go first," he said simply.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
The other three puppets obeyed instantly, leaping into the canyon's heart.
Seconds passed. No signs of danger.
Then Liam stepped forward, and dropped.
Swoosh...
It took quite the time.
Then.
Boom.
His knees bent under the weight as he hit the ground hard. Dust and mist surged upward in a slow spiral. Straightening up, he let out a short breath and glanced around.
"Roughly two kilometers deep," he noted. "If not for the slope along the edge, this puppet would've shattered from the drop."
He turned forward.
But all he saw was mist. Even with his divine mind, his vision couldn't reach beyond twenty meters.
"Let's make this quick."
He gestured silently.
One of the puppets nodded and pulled a storage bag from its robe.
Out came heaps of monster flesh, dismembered limbs, blood-caked hides, shredded bones, and even a few corpses that reeked of spiritual corruption.
They weren't fresh.
They were bought from the market.
Well… most of them.
Some of the "evil" cultivators that had gone missing recently might have ended up among the bait too.
A bit of good deeds here and there while the puppets were out.
No big loss.
The pile was dropped a short distance away. Then silence returned.
Liam didn't speak. None of the puppets moved. Their spiritual presence faded, vanishing into the canyon like they were nothing but stones.
A basic method that almost every cultivator was able to use. But the proficiency depends on the person.
Still. Unmoving.
Dead wood.
Because the shadow worm... didn't have eyes.
As expected, one finally slithered out from the thickest part of the mist.
Now, from the name alone, shadow worm, most people would probably assume it burrowed through dirt like any regular worm.
But that assumption would've gotten them killed.
This thing didn't crawl through the soil. It glided through the air.
And the name? It made sense the moment you laid eyes on it.
Liam's gaze flicked toward the shifting haze as the creature crept closer.
He and the three puppets stood completely still, not even a ripple of spiritual presence leaking out.
With how lifeless they looked, even an experienced cultivator might've mistaken them for oddly shaped trees under the first glance.
The shadow worm had no eyes, but it scanned its surroundings like a predator sensing motion.
Perhaps heat sensor?
No one even bothered to study this creature to be honest.
Then, it came fully into view.
A grotesque creature, long and bloated, its black skin slick and pulsing with swirling purple veins that shimmered faintly like shifting ink.
The patterns across its body almost made it blend into the mist.
It hovered effortlessly, drifting closer, eerie and silent, until it arrived at the pile of flesh and carcasses left on the ground.
The front of its body opened up into a massive maw, gaping wide, easily half its entire body length.
No other limbs. No features. Just that one horrifying mouth, yawning as it prepared to feast.
"Disgusting as always," Liam muttered quietly from behind his mask.
Then, he lifted a hand.
Boom.
The air exploded under the weight of descending force.
In an instant, a suffocating pressure crashed down from above, slamming the creature into the air like a bug pinned under a hammer.
It let out a piercing shriek, thrashing violently as it tried to twist away. If it was him before, performing such a move wouldn't be possible.
But the current him allowed an easy crushing victory.
It was already caught.
Pinned like a rag beneath an invisible hand.
"With enough prep and overwhelming strength…" Liam's voice was calm, even as golden energy began to swirl out from beneath his sleeve, "...these things can't even run."
The golden strands slithered through the air, wrapping around the squirming shadow worm like glowing chains.
The creature screeched again, one last desperate cry, before its body was fully enveloped.
And then.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a new species into the pocket space. The database has been updated. The new monster can now be deployed into the dungeon at any given time.]
The system's voice echoed inside Liam's mind.
He smiled beneath the mask.
In a flicker, the shadow worm disappeared, taken away into the pocket space.
Not even a ripple left behind.
Only the three puppets remained, motionless and silent on the mist-covered ground.
Liam scanned the surroundings through the puppet's vision.
No heat signatures, no spiritual fluctuations, nothing lurking in the haze that he'd missed.
He only needed one after all.
As for any other extra intentions to explore?
None at all.
Satisfied, he was ready to leave, to enter the divine space and exited through the other side at the house.
But then…
Booooommm...
It wasn't an explosion.
It was something else.
The kind of guttural rumble that came from something massive, and Liam without a doubt wouldn't want to wait around and find out.
The ground trembled underfoot. Loose stones scattered and bounced. Even the thick mist around him started to quiver.
"…Huh?" he muttered, brows furrowing as he turned his gaze toward the distant depths of the canyon.
The sound rolled in again.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Then, through the fog, came a scream.
"Run!!"
"People?" Liam murmured.
The clang of metal rang out next. Again. And again.
Something was clashing violently, like weapons smashing against stone, or worse, bone.
Liam's expression darkened.
"…Tch." His lips curled in slight irritation. "How troublesome."
Clearly, someone had provoked something they shouldn't have.
And now they were headed his way.
That alone would've been annoying enough, if he didn't have an escape method. But more importantly, this wasn't even his real body.
So, no real risk. Just… unnecessary involvement.
Without urgency, Liam casually turned around, unbothered by the rapidly approaching thundering steps echoing through the canyon floor.
"…They've provoked something strong," he murmured with a chuckle, shooting one final glance over his shoulder.
Through the mist, vague silhouettes came rushing in, ten of them. Men and women.
Some limping, others carrying their wounded comrades. Blood stained their robes.
Third-rate sect disciples. That much was obvious from the cheap, mismatched outfits and panicked aura.
"Tch. Bunch of troublesome kids," Liam muttered, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Definitely not from any major sect…"
Still, just as he was about to dismiss them entirely, his gaze paused, drawn to one figure.
A woman.
She stood out starkly from the others.
Clad in a flowing cold-blue robe that shimmered faintly in the mist, her figure was striking, curved in all the right places, the fabric of her robes clinging slightly from exertion.
Her face was pale with panic, strands of hair plastered against her cheeks.
Even in a state like that, she was... beautiful.
"A shame," Liam said with a soft sigh, voice devoid of warmth. "Such a face. A pity to die out here."
But he had no intention of helping.
Swoosh.
Without hesitation, the three remaining puppets beside him were absorbed back into the storage bag.
Then.
The last puppet flickered once, and vanished.
No trace left behind. No hint he was ever there at all.
And the group running desperately through the canyon? They wouldn't even know someone had just watched them from the mist... then left.