For Bai Xu, everything felt like a dream.
Seeing her mother standing before her, alive and smiling, was something she had long stopped hoping for. In that moment, she was pulled back into those forgotten days—days when her world was warm, gentle, and unbearably beautiful.
She took a step forward, reaching out as if afraid the image would vanish.
Then—
A voice echoed from deep within her soul.
It was faint, urgent, as though someone were trying to wake her from a deep sleep.
Her heart trembled.
Bai Xu suddenly realized something was wrong.
This... isn't real.
It felt as if she were dreaming with her eyes wide open.
Her gaze sharpened, and that was when she noticed it—a strange purple light flickering around her mother's figure, faint yet unmistakably sinister.
In the next instant, Bai Xu vanished.
Like a shadow slipping through space, she appeared behind the figure that wore her mother's face. Her hand shot out, cold and merciless, locking tightly around its neck.
Her voice was low, deadly calm.
"I don't like it when someone tampers with my memories."
Crack.
Without hesitation, she twisted.
The neck snapped cleanly.
The moment the figure's body collapsed, it dissolved into thick black smoke, slipping through her fingers and dispersing into nothingness.
The warmth vanished.
The illusion shattered.
Only Bai Xu remained, standing alone in the silence—her eyes no longer soft, but sharp and terrifyingly awake.
The moment the illusion shattered, the world around Bai Xu changed completely.
She was no longer inside the cave.
When she looked around, she found herself standing in a strange and terrifying place—a desolate forest under a pitch-black night sky. The ground beneath her feet was dry and cracked, completely barren, as if all life had long since been drained away.
Scattered across the land were skeletal remains—human bones mixed with the remains of beasts, half-buried in the lifeless soil. Around them stood dead trees, tall and twisted, their branches bare, not a single leaf clinging to them.
Bai Xu froze.
How... did I come here?
I was inside the cave just moments ago.
Confusion washed over her as she tried to understand how she had been dragged from that place into this eerie forest.
Then—
"Ahhhh!"
A distant scream tore through the silence.
Bai Xu's expression changed instantly. She turned toward the sound and rushed forward without hesitation.
As she drew closer, she saw a figure ahead.
Xing-Jiang-Lin
He was sitting on the ground a short distance away, his body slumped, his face tilted toward the sky. One hand was pressed against the earth, as if he were struggling to remain conscious.
"Hey!" Bai Xu ran to his side and grabbed his arm. "What happened to you? Can you hear me?"
Her heart sank.
A thick purple mist clung to Jiang lin's eyes, completely covering them, seeping into his face like living smoke. His gaze was empty, unfocused—as if his soul had been swallowed by something unseen.
Bai Xu clenched her fists.
Whatever this place was...
it was far more dangerous than she had imagined.
Just then, the darkness in front of Bai Xu rippled softly.
It was Dark Moon—her contracted spirit beast.
The rabbit landed lightly in midair and bowed its head, its voice echoing directly into Bai Xu's mind.
"Master, are you alright?"
Hearing this, Bai Xu turned toward Dark Moon, her expression finally easing slightly.
"Where were you all this time?" Bai Xu asked. "Do you know how long I was trapped?"
Dark Moon's long ears drooped, clearly distressed.
"Master, I kept trying to call you," she replied anxiously. "But my voice couldn't reach you at all. I couldn't even manifest beside you. It felt like an invisible force was blocking me... restraining me from appearing."
Bai Xu fell silent for a moment.
"So even you were suppressed," she muttered.
Her gaze slowly moved across the desolate forest—the barren land, scattered skeletons, and dead trees standing like twisted shadows under the black sky.
"I already thought this place was dangerous," she said calmly.
Then her eyes shifted to Jiang lin, who was still sitting on the ground, his vision engulfed by the thick purple mist.
"But it seems..." Bai Xu continued quietly,
"this place is far more dangerous than I imagined."
Dark Moon floated closer, her eyes glowing faintly as she stared at the purple smoke around Jiang Jin, her fur standing on end in alarm.
"Master... that energy isn't normal," she warned softly.
Suddenly, a voice echoed from every direction.
"Oh? So you managed to break my illusion."
The voice was slow, amused, and filled with mocking praise.
"You truly are remarkable, Bai Xu."
Bai Xu's expression hardened. She turned sharply.
Behind her—
the world began to rot.
Thick purple mist seeped from the cracked earth, carrying with it the wails of souls that had never found peace. The ground trembled as a figure stepped forward from within the fog, each footstep spreading decay.
She moved slowly, deliberately. A dark hood concealed most of her face, yet the calm beneath it was far more terrifying than rage. Her golden eyes shone clearly in the darkness, unblinking, emotionless, as if everything before her was already dead.
At her command, the earth split open.
The dead clawed their way out, bones snapping and reforming as they rose. Above her, massive skulls floated like obedient sentinels, their hollow jaws grinding endlessly, violet spectral fire dripping from between their teeth. Each skull imprisoned a soul, and every soul screamed in silence.
Ancient runes carved into her flesh flared violently, growing brighter with each cry—feeding her power.
She raised a single hand.
Bones shattered.
Flesh twisted.
Life ended without resistance.
To stand before her was to understand a cruel truth—
Death was not the worst fate.
Being noticed by her was.
She stood there, unmoving, her presence alone suffocating the land.
Bai Xu's pupils contracted.
This was no illusion.
This was the source.
Bai Xu's eyes turned icy.
"So it was you," she said coldly. "All of this was your doing."
Her gaze sharpened. "Who are you? What do you want? And what does attacking the Academy mean to you?"
A soft, amused laugh echoed through the dead forest.
"Oh my..." the woman said lazily. "Such a tiny life, yet so many questions."
She tilted her head, golden eyes glimmering with mock affection.
"My dear child," she continued, "my name is Hun Luo Zhenren."
Her smile deepened.
"And what I want—"
Her gaze locked onto Bai Xu.
"—is you."
Before Bai Xu could react, a skeletal hand shot forward.
Whoosh!
Cold bone fingers wrapped tightly around Bai Xu's throat, lifting her off the ground. The pressure was overwhelming as Hun Luo Zhenren pulled her closer, bringing their faces mere inches apart.
"You don't understand, dear," Hun Luo whispered softly. "Just how special you truly are."
With her other bony hand, she gripped Bai Xu's face. A sharp claw traced across her cheek.
Slash.
Blood spilled.
A single crimson drop slid down Bai Xu's skin, about to fall onto Hun Luo Zhenren's hand.
In that instant, Bai Xu's mind raced.
She had been in this world long enough to understand one thing clearly—
there was something unique about her blood.
Something dangerous.
The moment she sensed that her blood was about to touch Hun Luo, Bai Xu acted.
Her eyes flashed.
Spiritual energy erupted violently from her body.
Boom!
The skeletal arm holding her shattered into fragments, exploding into countless pieces of bone that scattered across the ground. Bai Xu dropped lightly back onto her feet, landing steadily on the cracked earth.
Hun Luo Zhenren stared at her broken arm.
For the first time—
her expression changed.
"...Interesting," she murmured, her golden eyes narrowing as they burned with newfound interest.
Bai Xu wiped the blood from her cheek, her gaze cold and unyielding.
The air between them trembled.
This was no longer curiosity.
This was recognition.