Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Bleeding Grounds
The inner sanctum was a living nightmare. The sky—if it could still be called such—bled crimson, stretched taut with streaks of black cloud that churned endlessly across the expanse. It offered no light, only a dull pressure, as if heaven itself bore down in contempt.
Below, the crystal waters of the sacred springs had soured into pools of pungent red, their surfaces curdled like rot simmering under a false sun. The once-verdant trees—silent sentinels of an age gone by—now stood bent and broken, their bark sloughing off in patches, leaves turned a diseased grey.
Li Wei’s gaze roved over the defiled landscape, his expression unreadable. Yet beneath that placid mask brewed contempt.
The hills that once nurtured jade-laced grasses and wind-kissed moss now jutted like fractured teeth from the earth, their slopes carved with grotesque visages. Crude faces—screaming, weeping, grinning with too many teeth—etched into stone by hands not born of this realm.
The stately abodes of the sanctum’s ancient scholars were now reduced to carcasses. Beams snapped, tile rooves sagged, scrolls burned to ash. Where once refinement dwelled, only ruin remained.
Even the cobbled paths, once polished with the gentle tread of meditative feet, had turned into grim mosaics—slick with old blood and foulness best left unnamed. The pungent reek of fermented bodily fluids clung to the wind, thick as smoke.
Amidst the decay, the gardens—the last pride of the old clan—had not been spared. Their herbs now sprouted twisted and wrong: thorns where petals once bloomed, veins writhing under translucent skin, blossoms that hissed when disturbed.
Leng Yue knelt near one such plant, brow furrowed in disgust. "This was once Goldshade Root," she said. "Used for purifying the qi meridians. Now it hungers."
She rose, hand gripping her blade tighter.
Li Wei surveyed the corrupted realm with narrowed eyes. "A cultivation sanctum defiled... this is no mere tragedy—it is blasphemy."
His breath misted in the stale air. "The one responsible will be cleansed. Even the heavens have rules. This..." he gestured across the valley of rot, "...spits in their face."
Suddenly, from the hollowed remains of a scholar’s pavilion, a great crashing echoed. Windows shattered. Beams cracked.
Dozens of figures spilled forth from the surrounding structures—mutated warriors bearing remnants of sacred armor now fused to warped flesh. Where once their eyes gleamed with clarity and focus, now milky orbs rolled in empty sockets.
Their mouths opened in unison—no words, only a deep, rattling RRRGGHHHHH~
"It seems we have company," Leng Yue muttered, already sliding into her stance.
Li Wei exhaled once through his nose. "Let’s not waste any more time."
He stepped forward, qi gathering at his palm. The air trembled.
Then—
~THOOM~
He struck the ground with a forward palm. The earth shattered beneath the force, a shockwave rippling outward like a stone dropped in a tainted pond.
Five abominations exploded into pieces, their bodies snapping like brittle sticks. The others reeled back, howling, their forms quaking under the invisible pressure that rolled from him.
Leng Yue was already moving—her blade a sliver of silver in the blood-hued light. She wove through the encroaching horde like a spirit unbound, each motion refined through discipline and hatred.
"Left!" Li Wei called.
"Handled."
~SHHK~ Her blade pierced the soft underjaw of a charging beast. With a twist, she severed its neck and used the corpse to block another.
Li Wei formed another talisman, casting it forward. It unfolded in midair, then detonated into a cascade of pale fire. Screams followed—dry, broken sounds of what once may have been men.
But they kept coming.
"This may be endless," Leng Yue said, breath calm despite the carnage. "They are not driven by instinct. Only by command."
Li Wei nodded. "Then we find the one giving orders."
From the far end of the sanctum, atop a warped stairway that led into the heart of the mountain, a figure stood watching them. Draped in tattered ceremonial robes now fused with shadow, the creature’s face was hidden behind a cracked porcelain mask—familiar in shape, but marred with crawling runes.
Its voice did not rise in volume, yet it reached their ears as though whispered directly beside them.
"Return what was never yours..."
Li Wei’s eyes narrowed. "There it is. The first guardian." He spoke in a calm tone, sizing up his opponent with a measured gaze. The being before them was an amalgamation of the darkness that had consumed this place, it had likely spent its days absorbing the vengeful qi that had been lingering in the air for decades.
Leng Yue smiled faintly. "This one could prove to be a formidable adversary... we will strike first."And with blood still steaming on the stones behind them, they broke through the encirclement and pincered the guardian from two sides in an effort to decapitate it directly.
The guardian responded by growing another set of limbs and parried the attacks with a resilient form, it was hard to believe this being was no longer alive. Li Wei and Leng Yue did not relent and unleashed waves of attacks upon the guardian to weaken the runes shielding it.
RRRGHHHHH~
Just as they were beginning to gain an upper hand on the reanimated creature, another guardian appeared with several underlings in tow. The situation had completed flipped in favor of the monsters.
"Since you do not wish to return, then die!"
One of the guardians vanished out of thin air and appeared behind Li Wei, it savagely drove its grotesque forearm towards the midsection of the young man. However, just before he was about to be perforated, Li Wei spun his torso and met the oncoming attack with a blazing palm strike.
~CRACK~
The guardian’s limb bent inward with a sickening snap as Li Wei’s palm connected—an explosion of heat and force surging through the creature’s corrupted flesh. "RRGGHHH!!! Accept your fate!!" Its shriek tore the air, a sound less of pain and more of fury denied.
The shockwave from the strike flung the guardian backwards, skidding across blood-slick stone and crashing through a collapsed column.