Threads 102-Descent 4

Silver lights, the only sign of her activating techniques, winked in the darkness as Ling Qi began to explore. Knowing that Liao Zhu was moving to scout for the enemy, Ling Qi focused her attention on the odd growth that made up the tunnels themselves, feeling the traceries of qi that surrounded her.

Sixiang was right. This growth was very large indeed. It stretched beyond her senses in some directions. Above, she could feel the solid qi of rock and earth only a few dozen meters above, and behind her, she could feel the same not so far away at all. But below, the growth stretched past her knowing. Yet it didn’t feel like one entity. The closest analogue that came to mind was a hive of bees. The fungus was distinct but united, only a single “mind” or spirit shared between them but assembled from smaller pieces like a child’s blocks.

All around her, the fungus breathed, the fleshy walls expanding and contracting imperceptibly. It did not seem aware of her. It did not seem aware of anything, so far as she could tell. However, she could feel things within it that put her on guard. Here and there, dotted throughout the mass, she could feel other creatures, beasts, trapped inside, not struggling, merely asleep.

<And dreaming,> Sixiang pointed out. <Heh, what a glutton. It’s eating their dreams. I guess I better hope I’m not tasty.>

Ling Qi frowned at the muse’s flippancy and came to a stop in a secluded bend of the narrow tunnel. She rested her hand on the slightly warm fungus. It vibrated slightly under her fingers, but she sensed no other reaction. The beasts it held within were all weak things, mostly first realm with a handful of low second grades slumbering deeper within the fleshy mass. A passive feeder then? It was hard to get a handle on the thing’s power, but she didn’t think it was beyond the third realm.

<It’s just good sense not to expend more energy than you need to,> Sixiang judged. <Might be it has no interest in picking a fight with anything that can fight back, or… No, there is something in the air.>

Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, and the silver flecks in them intensified for a moment. It was subtle, so subtle that she had actually missed it before, but miniscule flecks of dream qi were drifting in the air. They were too weak to affect her, which is why they had escaped her notice, but they would put someone from a lower realm asleep given time.

<It can probably only really sense things when they’re asleep and dreaming,> Sixiang murmured. <I suppose I’m safe since I’m hidden in you.>

<What are we gonna do, Sis?> Hanyi asked impatiently. In the back of her mind, Zhengui shifted as well, seeming agitated.

<We need to keep things quiet for this part. If this thing is passive, all the better,> Ling Qi thought, examining the tunnel. She shifted her thoughts, focusing away from her spirits and instead thinking of Bian Ya, and the flickering node of wind qi that Bian Ya had attached to her flared. She relayed what she had found so far in terse and clipped terms as she continued down the passage.

“Relaying Disciple Liao, enemy presence minimal, chart path, keep east. Ten minutes until group arrival.” Bian Ya’s voice echoed quietly in her thoughts.

Ling Qi nodded to herself. No time to waste then.

She breathed out and merged with the darkness of the tunnel.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, Ling Qi carefully catalogued the tunnels she traveled through in her mind, relaying the information back to Bian Ya as she did so and pausing only to listen to relayed reports from Liao Zhu. The passages through the fungus were twisted, often ending in dead ends, turning back on themselves, or otherwise going nowhere, but she did manage to chart out a route that traveled downward, doing her best to keep east, not only to avoid enemies but also to keep the stone she could feel in range. If nothing else, Xuan Shi could probably set up a passage through a wall if she could find another passage that came near the fungal crevice.

However, the further she descended, the more difficult it became to go forward. The dream qi in the air grew thicker and thicker until it clung to her like a fog. It didn’t harm her, but, when she would take a step, she would find herself turned around or in a passage she had already been in. Once, she had even found herself in a wholly unfamiliar tunnel, and only Sixiang’s careful guidance had enabled her to step through the veil in just the right way to return back to her starting point.

So it was that Ling Qi returned to the entrance to report in person without having found a clear path through. Between Elder Jiao’s cloaking talisman and Xuan Shi’s own concealing arrays, she could not even feel her allies until she was directly looking at them. It was an odd and disconcerting feeling. But she didn’t let that show, instead making her report on the phenomena.

“Do you believe you can penetrate the obstacle given further time?” Guan Zhi asked her. The older girl stood before the others, her arms behind her back.

“It is possible that I could brute force matters,” Ling Qi answered, thinking of the technique she had so recently mastered. Ephemeral Dreamlit Dancer would allow her to cross the space unhindered, pulling a few people along at a time, but the cost to her qi would be prohibitive given the distances involved. “I do not know how much use I would be afterwards though.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Guan Zhi frowned, glancing at Su Ling, who stood stiffly next to Bian Ya and between the two boys.

“The divination was clear. This is a viable path,” Su Ling replied defensively. “Must be something we’re missing.”

“Could burn through,” Ji Rong said, raising a fist. “I got a few things for shredding through shitty dreams.”

He met Ling Qi’s eyes, and she huffed in amusement. Was he thinking of challenging her to a rematch? Some guys were just like that, she supposed.

“And bring down all of our foes upon us, no doubt,” Xuan Shi noted tetchily.

“Your toys not rated for a bit of door busting?” Ji Rong taunted.