Chapter 1,360 – Hollow Chasm

Zac knew he’d just made a massive leap forward, but he couldn’t shake a pang of regret. He’d been too busy dealing with the hostile Daos and refining his heart to make a concerted push to improve his bloodline. He never overcame the barrier, and his bloodline either ran out of patience or fuel for its ascent.

Zac hadn’t heard anyone mention that a failed bloodline breakthrough came with repercussions as severe as upgrading your core, but failing a breakthrough was never a good thing. The throbbing pain might mean he’d damaged his foundations or exhausted some of his potential. However, his sense of being stuffed indicated it wasn’t all bad. He might have finally replenished the resources he borrowed from his personal Void when breaking through to Late D-grade.

Setting aside the matter, Zac took a look around. Esmeralda had brought him to an underground vault. Judging by the design, it was the treasury of a small clan or a wealthy individual cultivator. The materials that went into its construction seemed extraordinary, and he couldn’t sense anything beyond the wall. Given that it was Esmeralda who’d brought him here, he wasn’t surprised to find it picked clean already.

There was no sign of an exit, confirming Esmeralda had used some of her abilities to sneak him inside. Zac didn’t mind, taking out a prayer mat and incense before sitting down. He needed to consolidate his breakthrough anyway.

While one side worked on settling his Daos and scanning his body for lingering problems, Zac’s human half finally had a chance to assess the situation. He was at the bottom of a crater, and the surroundings didn’t evoke a sense of danger. Instead, a terrifying realization made his heart lurch just as he was about to fly out.

The [Fuxi Mountain Gate] was nowhere in sight.

The Margrave had used the Void Treasure to sneak up on Mox, and Zac had never managed to take it back afterward. Heart racing, Zac frantically started digging through the soil around him. Moments later, he was overcome with relief and slumped onto the ground with the [Fuxi Mountain Gate] in his hands.

The Supreme Treasure looked a bit worse for wear, but the fertile soil seemed to have nourished it as it had nourished Zac. Its protective array had recovered after being damaged by Mox’s attention, though not quite to the state it was in before. Hesitating for a moment, Zac infused his will.

If the outside was weakened, the interiors were the complete opposite. Zac looked at the almost-mended platform with confusion before turning his attention to the arch. The Margrave’s statue was back in its position as if it had never left; the wounds on the stone had diminished by half. That wasn’t something limited to just one statue.

The whole gate had resolved nearly half the resentful Dao lodged in its scars. Along with the other improvements, the floating pieces of rubble beyond the gate had multiplied. By now, the Void Bridge looked like a string of small islands leading into the depths. Had the Margrave made some repairs on his way out?

Or had the [Fuxi Mountain Gate] fed on the vast amounts of Void used in Mox’s prison without his notice? Zac hadn’t forgotten that the platform in Mox’s hidden spatial pocket was made by the First People, just like the mountain gate’s foundation. He’d planned on snatching it if possible. Things had spiraled out of control long before he got the chance.

Seeing the Void Treasure so much closer to being repaired was an unexpected but welcome bonus. It might even allow for prolonged stays at this point, but the pillar peeking above the crater’s crest was a reminder that such experiments would have to wait. If his circumstances were anything like his human side, he needed to get away.

Despite knowing the risks of overstaying his welcome, Zac didn’t immediately jump out of the hole. Before that, he quickly stashed a few tons of the magical soil he’d been buried in. There was no sign of Roan, but the earth in Zac’s immediate surroundings had either been brought out of the memory domain or blessed by the Earth Spirit on its way out.

It still held much of the nourishing energy that had kept him alive over the past days. Not only that, the soil also retained some of the energies from the clash he’d witnessed. Zac briefly wondered if the mottled energy was actually Mox’s tainted Hope Energy, inverted by the Margrave’s mysterious scale. Sin had turned into a blessing that kept him going.

When fused into soil, these lofty Daos drastically raised its value. The loam could easily be classified as at least Middle C-grade soil, far too valuable to leave behind. That went double since it still held Fertile Earth’s blessing. Even mortal crops planted in this soil would grow into Spiritual Plants.

Zac muttered a curse aimed at the Heavens as he jumped out of the crater. The Tribulation Lightning must have destroyed at least half of the blessed soil. His smile quickly returned upon seeing the three new halos added to the Hollow Court’s pillar. He didn’t feel any special connection to them, but they were undeniably his.

The almost blinding levels of Imperial Fate stored in his identity seal further confirmed the conclusion of Mox’s thread of fate. He’d more than doubled his accumulated Fate from already impressive levels. If his stockpile wasn’t the highest before, it definitely should be by now.

Moments later, he took in his immediate surroundings, and the unexpected scene gave him a start. He was standing in the middle of a graveyard, with identical tombstones stretching into the mist. It was the last place he’d expect to appear, considering the lush atmosphere and the valuable soil.

Then again, it wasn’t a normal graveyard. There was no hint of Miasma or resentment lingering in the air. It must have been cleansed by the extremely dense accumulation of Imperial Faith. The graveyard had clearly been abandoned for a long time, and Zac had to inspect two dozen tombstones before finding one whose engravings hadn’t fully eroded.

It was a military graveyard, and his relative position to the pillar indicated where it was located. He was less than ten days’ travel from the Hollow Court, which could only mean he’d been sent to the inner region. Naturally, that didn’t mean he could reach the court in a couple of days. Zac fully expected there to be some form of final hurdle hidden by the mist.

Zac had woken up alone, but he barely had time to take out his trackers before Ogras appeared. He stopped a mile away, and only a string of shadows crept closer.

“Buddy, is it safe to be around you?” Ogras asked from the tendril.

“No safer than usual, but not any worse,” Zac said with a slight smile.

“I’ll take it, seeing as it’s quite the improvement over the past few days. You’ve been quite hungry over the past days.”

“I know; I had to trigger my bloodline to protect myself. Eat the enemy before they eat me, sort of thing,” Zac sighed as he flashed over to Ogras’ side. “Where are the others?”

“Ventus jumped camp—to protect me, I suppose,” Ogras said. “We popped out right next to his handlers, and he told me to run.”

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“Do you think he needs saving?”

“Not sure. He’s quite useful, so he should be kept safe. And considering the next stop on our journey, splitting up might be for the best.”

Zac slowly nodded. “We’ll have to see how things go. What about Tavza?”

“About that…” Ogras slowly said. “She didn’t happen to ambush you inside the Mousetrap, did she?”

“No, why would she—” Zac stopped and looked at Ogras with suspicion. “What did you do?”

“So here I was, just having escaped from Ventus and his new buddies, and I found the Draugr lass lying unconscious. She was covered in wounds that looked just like yours when you annihilated that massive Qriz’Ul back in the Void Star.”

“Chaos?” Zac blurted.

“I guess?” Ogras shrugged. “Anyway, I couldn’t find you, so I played it safe. Miss An’Azol is currently safely tucked away in my hideout, just slightly sealed up in restraints.”

“What’s with you and kidnapping my travel companions?” Zac sighed. “How angry is she?”

“After over two weeks in captivity? Her silence is becoming a bit unnerving,” Ogras grinned. “I’m hoping you can smooth things over for me. We’re heading there now. There are some dangerous things walking the graveyards, and your breakthrough must have drawn their attention.”

“They? Plural?”

“You could say that. You’ll understand in a second,” Ogras said with a crooked smile before leading him through the mist.

“By the way, how did you find me so quickly?”

“The tracker led me to your general vicinity, but something prevented me from pinpointing your exact location. Then again, you were hard to miss with those vortexes popping up. You’re lucky this place is filled with odd phenomena, which makes yours stand out a bit less.”

It was at that moment they reached the graveyard’s edge, where the mist parted.