Beyond the massive door, Master Lu descended into the depths.
The soft glow from the small orb of light hovering above his palm flickered gently, casting shifting shadows across the cold stone steps.
Though lanterns hung neatly along the curved walls, their dim flames barely held a candle to the clarity of the light he conjured.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Each step echoed faintly in the narrow stairwell, bouncing off the walls with a hollow rhythm.
Master Lu's expression remained unmoved the entire time.
This wasn't unfamiliar to him.
On the contrary, the way he moved, made it feel almost... routine.
Eventually, his foot touched down on the final step, the stone beneath his boots giving way to a strange black surface, mossy and cool.
The floor had a strange texture, almost spongy beneath his heel, yet firm enough not to sink.
From above, the perspective drifted down, revealing what lay ahead.
A lone altar rested atop a slightly elevated platform in the center of the chamber.
The walls curved inward, each covered with worn, eerie murals. The same monstrous forms from before returned here too.
Beast-headed figures with humanoid bodies, legs ending in twisted claws or tendrils.
One image showed the creature outstretching its arms.
Another, devouring a human, biting deep into neck and shoulder.
In one, it knelt over a black square, face turned downward, almost reverently.
The scenes weren't clear, muddied by time, decay, and what might've been intentional ambiguity.
Master Lu said nothing.
He approached the altar.
His eyes flicked upward, settling on the grey statue that loomed before him, a veiled woman, face obscured, body draped in stone robes, streaked in red moss and tangled with creeping vines.
From his sleeve, he drew a small crystal, deep red in colour.
He held it out, palm up.
As his hand neared the altar, something changed. The crystal shimmered, then began to glow.
Softly at first.
Then brighter.
Thin threads of red, like thick vaporized blood, lifted from the crystal and floated through the air.
They stretched out like tendrils, slowly drawn into the statue's surface.
A low, unsettling sound rumbled in the chamber.
Gnchhh… Grrhhkk…
It wasn't loud. The sound of something chewing, wet, fleshy. Like a beast gnawing on meat, its mouth just inches behind the stone.
He didn't flinch.
He just watched.
Soon, the light faded. The crystal cracked. Then shattered completely, ash scattering silently into the air.
He stood still, staring at the statue, something wild flickering in his gaze.
"Just a little more…" he muttered under his breath, voice trembling with restraint. "Just a little more, and I'll succeed…"
Eyes gleaming, he slowly turned away and began his ascent.
The orb of light above his palm flared again with a faint hum, pushing back the growing darkness behind him.
His footsteps rose steadily back up the stone staircase. And before long, he arrived at the heavy ironwood gate once again.
His hand reached forward, fingers just shy of brushing the door's surface, then paused.
He frowned.
Something was off.
Slowly, he tilted his head to the side, angling one ear toward the door.
Silence.
Too much silence.
His frown deepened.
"It's… too quiet outside."
Even with walls and distance, even buried beneath the manor, he should've been able to hear everything, the clink of cups, the shouts, the crude banter.
But now?
Nothing.
Not a whisper.
Midday had never been this still.
He paused.
His hand hung inches away from the door, fingers twitching faintly as unease coiled in his chest. Something wasn't right.
His thoughts ran in a quiet spiral.
"Enemy?"
But who?
He'd never offended anyone above his level, he'd made sure of it.
If anything, he had been careful, even generous, offering fat chunks of profit to various shady factions in exchange for silence and blind eyes.
A powerful monk, maybe?
But why? There was no logic in it.
No matter how he turned the pieces over in his mind, everything stayed murky, clouded like thick mist that refused to lift.
The feeling stirred something nauseating deep in his gut.
And this door shouldn't even be visible.
It only appeared when he was nearby.
To others, it looked like a simple stretch of wall.
An illusion formation layered with anti-detection runes, strong enough that even a Foundation Building cultivator at the early stage wouldn't notice a thing.
Back then, his subordinates had only seen it because he was present, close enough to activate its visibility.
So then… who? How?
A flicker of thought crossed his mind, and his brows sank lower.
"Could it be… that old woman healed herself?"
He scowled, coldness threading into his expression.
The city lord. The ruler of this city.
The rumors about her injuries weren't lies.
She had been heavily wounded years ago. Everyone knew, or thought they knew, that she'd been holed up in the deepest chamber of the City Lord's mansion ever since.
Not a whisper from her. Not even her shadow.
No one knew her current condition.
Still, Master Lu shook his head, lips tightening.
No. Even if she had recovered, there was no reason she'd come out. Not for this place as suddenly as it is.
He exhaled softly through his nose and slowly, carefully pushed open the door.
It swung out without a sound.
His figure stepped into the hall.
He glanced left. Then right.
And frowned.
"…Why is it so dark?"
The main hall, once vibrant and loud, was drenched in an eerie stillness.
The candlelight lining the long wooden table flickered uneasily, their flames unusually dim, shrunken, almost suffocating.
The laughter from earlier? Gone. Not a single voice echoed back. No signs of people either, evaporated from the face of this world.
"What's happening?"
He took a few slow steps forward.
His boots tapped faintly on the floorboards, the only sound in the vast, unnatural quiet.
Something was very wrong.
He stopped beside the table, gaze sweeping the rows of untouched wooden cups. His eyes flicked to the side window, wide and open to the world beyond.
But the world outside was black.
Not just night, void.
A darkness so complete it was almost physical, thick like tar smeared across the sky.
There were no lights.
No lanterns from neighboring buildings. No flickers of torchlight. Just endless blackness pressing against the glass.
"…This isn't right," he murmured under his breath.
There was no way daytime had passed so fast. Not in the blink of an eye.
Which meant only one thing.
Something was horribly, horribly wrong.
He reached out, fingers curling around the nearest wooden cup resting on the table.
Lifting it slightly, he turned it in his hand, weighing it in his palm with narrowed eyes.
"…Still warm."
His voice barely left his throat, more a quiet murmur to himself than anything else.
His gaze slid across the table surface, then swept slowly around the room.
"There's still warmth in the air too… around the table."
He didn't like it.
Not one bit.
And yet, instead of raising his guard like any rational person would've done, he did the opposite.
He loosened his shoulders.
His posture shifted, relaxed.
A trap.
He was baiting whatever it was, feigning vulnerability, waiting for something to reveal itself.
Seconds passed. Then a minute. Still, nothing stirred. Not even a flicker in the shadows.
His brow twitched. Annoyance crept into his eyes.
With a quiet exhale, he placed the cup back down, fingers leaving it gently on the table as he stood upright again.
His steps shifted forward, moving toward the main hall's exit.
Each step caused the aged wooden boards beneath to creak softly, betraying every motion.
His hands hung loosely at his sides.
But his fingers, they twitched, ready to snap into motion at a moment's notice.
Then he walked.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud…
The sound of his boots echoed through the hall, hollow and alone.
He walked again.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
And once more.
Until.
He stopped.
Sweat began to bead at his temple, a slow trickle running down the curve of his cheek as his eyes darted forward, locked onto the far end of the hallway, where the massive exit door should've stood.
Nothing moved.
No change.
But something felt... wrong.
His fists clenched.
That same still air, the unnatural dark outside the windows, it gnawed at his nerves like invisible fingers scraping at his spine.
He forced himself forward again.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
He moved.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
He moved.
Or so he thought.
Until.
He froze.
Both fists clenched tight at his sides now, knuckles pale and jaw locked.
His back felt cold, his breathing ragged.
He scanned his surroundings with wary eyes, then turned his attention back to the exit ahead.
And it hit him.
His eyes widened, voice barely a breath.
"I… didn't move?"
A sharp puff of air escaped his lungs as he took a shaky breath, forcing himself to turn around.
And his pupils shrank.
He was still standing near the table.
He hadn't even moved a meter.
Panic punched through his chest.
No...
His heartbeat jumped as cold sweat poured down his neck, soaking into the collar of his robe. His gaze whipped left, right, scanning wildly.
His lips parted in a curse. "Mutated taboo beings... ?"
A sudden gasp,he sucked in a mouthful of cold air, his lungs tightening as realization set in.
In this world, horror came in many forms. Some were punishments. Some were born from the heavens' malice for humanity.
Taboo beings, they were one of the worst.
Most people assumed taboos were just mindless flesh-hungry beasts, monsters with grotesque bodies and ridiculous healing, hard to kill and harder to outrun.
But that was just the beginning.
There were types.
And among them, the mutated kind.
Highly intelligent. Still starving for blood, still brutal and monstrous.
But with minds sharp enough to rival scholars, and worse, abilities that distorted reality, confused perception, and manipulated even high-level cultivators across realms.
His breath turned shallow.
He didn't need more proof. He'd walked straight into something he couldn't fight head-on.
And the worst part?
If the sky outside was that dark, if it wasn't just a trick…
Then maybe the city had already fallen.
It wouldn't be shocking. Not when dealing with a mutated taboo. These things didn't play fair, and even Foundation Building experts could die rying to put them down.
"This can't be it…" he hissed under his breath, voice low.