Chapter 253: Stepping Stones

~~~

Qing Guo lies flat on his back for several minutes.

He knows he should get back up. It does not matter if this labyrinthine realm makes it nearly impossible for the Fleshcrafter to find him. It happened once. It can happen again. Qing Guo should be trying to escape this place as fast as possible. That is what his mind is begging him to do.

His body cannot move.

It is not as if anything is impeding his movement. The snake construct holding him hostage vanished a few seconds after he crossed the gate. Likewise, the effects of whatever vile technique the usurper used to paralyze his limbs seems to have faded. He is also not too tired or wounded to move. While he lost against the usurper, he did not suffer any injuries. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say his body and Qi are both in perfect condition.

What holds him back is nothing more than simple terror.

Qing Guo can no longer sense the Fleshcrafter’s terrible presence, but that matters little. The memory of that man’s aura lingers within his consciousness, a brand burned into his brain. Qing Guo has never been in a field of corpses, but he understands what that feels like now. The deathly silence. The pungent scent of the dead. Even now, he can feel it in the back of his throat.

How can a person’s aura feel like that? How can someone like that possibly be their ally? No, that’s no ally at all. The man said it himself. He’s after their bloodline. Those with power are always envied, and the Fleschrafter is simply another vulture waiting to feast on them, albeit one bigger and stronger than Qing Guo is used to. His father needs to be warned. General He Bin…

General He Bin…

How could someone like General He Bin not know already? The man is the epitome of competence. There is no way a person like the Fleshcrafter could have hidden his intentions from him.

That would mean that…

No.

Qing Guo shakes his head. He cannot start suspecting the man who has kept some semblance of order in their empire for over a decade. The usurper and his insidious words are getting to him. That is all. It’s best not to think of that person at all.

Even if he saved his life when he didn’t have to…

Even if he’s probably already dead because of it.

“Aaahh!”

A rough, wet tongue licks his cheek. Qing Guo lets out a high-pitched scream and jumps to his feet.

“You vile…creature… thing!” Qing Guo desperately wipes his cheek clean while yelling at the bizarre creature that dares to call itself a dog. “Don’t you know you shouldn’t interrupt this prince when he’s in deep thought?!”

The dog does not reply. It’s a dog. They are not known for their conversational skills. The animal just stares at him with its tongue hanging out, a dopey smile on its face.

How ignorant.

How enviable.

“Damnation! There is no time for this foolishness!” Qing Guo hisses under his breath. “I’m in danger! Father is in danger!”

The words give him pause. A cold feeling washes over his body.

“Father is in danger,” he repeats slowly and with growing realization. Somehow, saying the words makes them more urgent, more real, than when they were mere thoughts in his mind.

“Father is in danger, and I’m just….”

Wasting time? Cowering in fear? After being saved by someone who should be his enemy? Is that what the prince of the Storm Dragon Empire is worth?

“No! This is all wrong,” Qing Guo says, raising his voice to give himself courage. “The prince of the Storm Dragon Empire is worth much more than this! I must find my father and warn him!”

The dog barks. The simple creature has no understanding of words, but Qing Guo chooses to take the bark as encouragement.

“However, before doing that…” Qing Guo swallows nervously. “There is one person we must absolutely see.”

The memory of a beating room flashes across his eyes.

“We must find my venerable Ancestor!”

If there are any answers to be found, they are sure to be there.

~~~

Huang Shing stands up on trembling legs. The odd purple light has left him groggy in a way he cannot quite explain. His body is fine. His Qi is fine. He’s just slightly… out of balance. It takes him a few seconds to get used to the sensation, but it does not go away.

“What is this place?!”

Qing Jin’s servant, Lei Kong, looks like he’s only a few seconds away from leaving them all behind to search for Brother Jin. It’s almost offensive, really. If he trusted Brother Jin, he’d trust him to be well.

“We seem to be in a different spatial realm,” Fan Bingbing says as she looks up. It is only when she does that Huang Shing notices that the ceiling is not a ceiling at all. It is just more corridors. Dozens of them. All twisting around each other, spiraling into infinity.

Huang Shing quickly averts his gaze, instinct warning him that people are not meant to stare at some things.

Besides, it was making him dizzy.

“I see. So this is why Qing Jin’s Qi was immobile when sensed from outside the palace,” Lu Mei says.

Huang Shing blinks.

“Huh?”

“Brother Qing Jin was most likely already within this spatial realm,” Fan Bingbing says, looking directly into his eyes so there is no mistaking who the explanation is for. “His Qi felt static because his movement was only happening within the confines of this spatial realm. Now that we are inside the realm, it seems we can no longer sense him or anyone else.”

“That purple light must have been the spatial realm expanding. However, why did that take so long to happen?” Lu Mei says, her face pensive. “If our entire army had been swallowed up from the moment we broke through the Grand Storm, the enemy would have gained a huge advantage.”

“There is no time for discussion,” Lei Kong says before anyone can theorize further. The air around him is charged with static. “My lord is here somewhere! We must search for him at once!”

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“What an utterly stupid thing to say.”

One of the many doors in the corridor bursts open and out walks a woman Huang Shing immediately recognizes, Shi Qinxia, one of the disciples who went to the Crimson Cloud Tournament.

She also tried to kidnap Young Master Feng Hao in the Dead Plains.

“You find yourself in an unknown place, and your first thought is to rush in recklessly?” Shi Qingxia asks, not caring one bit about the four auras that suddenly flare up in front of her. “Should I laugh or cry? How has someone so stupid managed to survive this long?”

“You are outnumbered,” Fan Bingbing says, her instrument already in her hands. Likewise, the other three are also ready to engage the Core Disciple. “I would not be in a hurry to insult anyone.”

Shi Qingxia snorts and flares up her Qi. In the blink of an eye, the aura of a cultivator in the Fifth Level of the Earth Realm fills the corridor. It is a stark reminder that the person in front of them was judged to be among the strongest of her generation.

Despite that, Huang Shing does not feel outmatched.

“Do you mean to frighten us with that display?” Lu Mei asks, her voice dripping with casual arrogance. Huang Shing has always admired her ability to do that. When people try to be arrogant, they often end up sounding whiny or stupid. However, Sister Lu always manages to project a casual, almost elegant arrogance.

It must be a Feng trait.

“How sad it must be for you,” Lu Mei continues, the air around her growing warmer. “We do not frighten easily.”

“No, I suppose you don’t,” Shi Qingxia replies. “You are, after all, prodigies.”

There is confidence in her that Huang Shing doesn’t like and doesn’t understand. Being in the Earth Realm might make Shi Qingxia individually stronger than them, but they are all people who are stronger than their level of cultivation would suggest. Lei Kong is even on the Earth, just a few levels below Shi Qingxia.