[Vol. 1] Chapter 38 - Where Spirits Pass
Whoosh. The thick fog suddenly began to form a kind of mini hurricane. Once it settled, golden letters materialized in front of everyone.
It was...!
[Listen well. A surprise test will begin. Rules are simple: flee while avoiding your pursuers.]
Xiaolan's eyes went wide. She immediately knew who it was from the tone: Bai Yu. She had seen snippets of Bai Yu's words in-game... In short, everything he did was psychotic but effective.
The same words had appeared to everyone in different places. The instant they did, everything became urgent.
Swish.
Taka cursed under his breath and immediately used beast taming chants, jumping onto the recently tamed insect.
Yorou's gaze held a serious sharpness, flash-stepping onto its back.
And so a large figure, the mantis, started to bolt away, carrying two figures on its back. Taka's eyes squeezed shut with a tense expression.
The world warped and shifted. Within Taka's consciousness, a kaleidoscope of visions appeared from different places like a cracked mirror.
Tiny insects scattered around the misty peak had already given their multiple eyes to Taka, capturing puppet beasts and some shadow guards clearly on the hunt for them.
"They're here, they're here!" Taka coughed blood.
And as if destiny was proving his point, a mangled puppet beast had already caught up to the speeding mantis.
SHRIEEEKKK!
The puppet beast caught up, and since it was a mere puppet, it didn't fear pain when the giant mantis desperately cut and fled.
"You owe me another for this," Yorou said. She wildly pulled apart her robe with both hands and reached inside to pull out talismans.
They flew toward the puppet beasts chasing after them, exploding immediately upon impact with loud booms that produced fire and scattered dust fumes.
The explosive impact acted like a boost thruster and pushed the mantis unsteadily forward toward an unsuspecting figure.
Xiaolan was in the middle of figuring out her next move when she saw a giant insect thrust toward her.
Yorou saw her and, with a quick set of movements... CRACK—the sound of the mantis's back breaking echoed. With the heavy blow from Yorou forcing the mantis down to the ground, Xiaolan perfectly avoided getting hit.
The big insect's body slid forward, and its mouth stopped barely a centimeter from Xiaolan's face.
Taka gritted his teeth, his voice low like a growl. "Yorou."
But Yorou ignored his call and instead went to Xiaolan's side immediately. "You're lucky we found you, little puppy."
Swoosh.
A talisman appeared in front of Yorou, but she slapped it away. "Ah, no time to talk. Taka, let's have her come with us!"
But Taka couldn't answer immediately. With his mantis taken down, he was too busy fighting the puppet beasts.
It didn't take long for Xiaolan to decide. She grabbed Yorou's outstretched hand and pulled herself up. "Go!"
Yorou grinned. "Good puppy."
But behind them, Taka was losing ground. Two puppet beasts had him cornered, their broken limbs twitching as they closed in.
Shadow guards had appeared and were closing in. Puppet beasts everywhere. They needed to move. Now.
"This way!" Taka shouted, already running toward a narrow crevice between two rock formations...too tight for the larger puppet beasts to follow.
Yorou grabbed Xiaolan by the collar and dragged her along. "Move!"
Behind them, the mangled puppet beast screeched and gave chase.
But the scent trail was a problem. The puppet beasts kept finding them no matter how far they ran.
"Tch. They're tracking us somehow," Yorou muttered, skidding to a halt behind a cluster of boulders. She pressed her back against the cold stone and pulled Xiaolan down beside her. "Stay low."
Taka crouched across from them, breathing hard. "It's the mist. Or maybe—"
"No." Yorou's eyes narrowed. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a small leather pouch. "It's us."
She loosened the drawstring and tipped a fine gray powder into her palm. Then, without hesitation, she blew it into the air around them.
Xiaolan held her breath. "What is that?"
"Olfactory blocker." Yorou scattered more powder across their clothes, her movements quick and practiced. "Masks pheromones scent for half an hour. The beasts rely on smell more than sight in this fog."
Taka's eyes widened slightly. "Since when did you—"
"Since always." Yorou cut him off with a smirk. "You think I survive this long on talismans alone?"
She tossed the pouch to Taka. "Rub it on your clothes. Every inch."
He caught it with a grunt and obeyed.
For a long moment, the three of them waited in silence. The shrieks of puppet beasts grew closer... then began to fade. Distant. Confused.
Yorou's powder had worked.
Elsewhere, outside the foggy trial area, Bai Yu sat on top of Lin Eishou's back, who was on all fours.
His index finger tapped on his own thigh. He sat with one foot over the other thigh. "Keep your back straight, tighten your core. Spread the weight evenly. Focus."
Then he turned to his colleague. "How is it?"
The other Shadow Guard answered, "All of them have been identified. They're..."
"No need." Bai Yu's smile became unsettling by the second. "If they're caught, punish them. If not... then nothing happened today."
Lin Eishou was sweating bullets. His gaze landed on the candles he had set up. He was proud of his workmanship, but in less than half an incense time, the Shadow Guards had appeared.
He closed his eyes in deep despair. Why did he have to follow along?
"Oh? Looks like we have our first capture." Bai Yu's words snapped Lin Eishou out of it. With his index finger, he wrote golden texts that appeared to everyone in the misty trials.
[Correction: Three survivors remain. Hunters, adjust accordingly.]
Looking at the horrifying text like a heavenly dad's verdict, the three remaining people tensed up. Taka did a headcount. "...It could only be Mingyuan."
Roars and shrieks echoed in the distance. The countless puppet beasts had long since lost their tracks, Yorou's skills in drug powders had come in handy.
Xiaolan's blood ran cold.
"So what do we do?"
"I'd say use the insect, but Yorou killed it already." Taka cast a sideways glance of indifference at Yorou.
Yorou only raised both her hands up. "I'll pay for it. You must have an idea how to deal with this, right? You're skilled, after all."
Taka nodded. "30 high-grade spirit stones." Even without receiving a reply from Yorou, he knew she'd keep her word. "Those shadow guards are only illusions. The real deal are those puppet beasts."
Xiaolan didn't make a sound or say a peep the whole time the two were talking, because she knew drawing attention to herself was a bad idea. She stopped herself from asking how Taka knew, casting glances at Yorou, hoping she'd be her voicebox.
Yorou only had a smiling face, a total smiling tiger. She had noticed Xiaolan's glances and only answered with a wink.
Taka continued, "The only way out of here is through the passage gate. But that's not the only way out."
This time, Yorou had an intrigued expression. "So?"
Time had stretched long, and the conversation had ended. Three darting figures could be seen walking out of the spot.
"Are you sure you know where you're going, Xiaolan?"
The sound of crickets and insect chirps followed suit. A tale foretold and passed through generations—shriekk.
"Yes, this is where I've seen a lot of ghosts..." Xiaolan recalled.
"Ghost?" Yorou asked casually, tasting the new term.
"Ah, spirits, in other terms," Xiaolan corrected herself.
A tale unforgotten, a myth retold, where spirits pass and turn to the living not as humans but as bugs. Taka looked at the howling ghosts around the wreckage and ruins.
"I'll have to take back my words of you being useless," Taka dryly chuckled. "This is just what we needed."