Qiao Min was still distracting the turtle.
His breath came harsh through his teeth, and the sweat on his brow had long since stopped being from effort alone. It was fear too, the kind you didn't admit out loud.
Deng Hai had already slipped into the pond. Kang Loen was injured and hidden back in the trees. That meant Qiao Min was alone out here, dancing in front of a peak Qi Foundation spirit beast and praying his friend surfaced before his luck ran out.
He had even swallowed a mid common Qi-replenishing pill to keep his legs from turning to stone. The pill stung as it dissolved, heat spreading through his throat and chest like a rough hand forcing his dantian awake.
"Come on…"
The turtle drove another slam down at him.
Qiao Min twisted aside and dodge.
He lifted his sword again, ready for the next stomp.
Then the turtle stopped.
Not hesitated. Not slowed.
Stopped.
Its head jerked toward the pond so fast it looked unnatural on such a heavy body. The amber eyes fixed on the dark water, and the pressure around it shifted, turning sharper, colder.
"What?" Qiao Min blurted, not understanding.
It turned, ignoring his blade, and surged toward the pond with frightening speed. Each step made the ground tremble. Water still clung to its shell and legs, slinging off in heavy drops.
Qiao Min sprinted after it, panic biting into his bones. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
He slashed at its feet, again and again, aiming for joints, softer places, anything. His blade rang dullly, scraping hard skin. The turtle did not even glance at him.
"Get back here, you overgrown rock!" Qiao Min tried to mock. "You want to run? After you've been hit? Is that all a beast is good for?"
It still didn't care.
In a few breaths it reached the pond, and its heavy body began to slide back into the water.
Qiao Min's face went pale.
Deng Hai was still in there.
He couldn't stop it. He couldn't dive in after it either. Charging into a pond with a peak Qi Foundation turtle was a good way to die without even knowing how.
So he hovered at the edge, sword shaking slightly, staring into black water that refused to show him anything.
"Come up… come up already."
Deep beneath the surface, two people realized the same thing at the same time.
The turtle had returned.
Yue Rin froze in the darkness, her lungs already burning. The other cultivator's silhouette was close, moving upward with the stolen glow clenched in his hand.
Had Qiao Min been beaten?
No. That didn't feel right.
The more likely answer slammed into Yue Rin's mind like a stone.
The turtle had sensed it.
It had sensed the spirit herb being plucked, and abandoned the bait to protect what mattered.
Fear sank its claws in.
Dark water pressed around them, cold and heavy. A massive shape rushed through the pond like a living boulder. Yue Rin couldn't see details, but she could feel the pressure of it, like the pond itself was being pushed aside.
Worse, both she was also running out of air.
Yue Rin pressed herself against the pond wall and kicked upward, keeping close to the stone. The turtle would probably go after whoever was holding the spirit herb.
And that wasn't her.
Then something struck her cheek.
A soft bump, followed by a faint glow tumbling past her face.
Yue Rin's eyes widened.
The spirit herb.
They had thrown it at her!
For a heartbeat, Yue Rin was too stunned to even get angry. This person stole it, and now they didn't want it? Now, when the turtle was coming?
Shameless. Absolutely shameless.
She grabbed it on instinct, fingers closing around slick leaves that gave off faint warmth even underwater. The glow lit her hands just enough to make her skin look pale and unreal.
She searched for the other silhouette and found it, blurry, struggling upward.
Yue Rin hurled the spirit herb back at them.
It floated in a slow arc toward Deng Hai, glowing like a stupid little beacon.
And that glow was exactly what the turtle locked onto.
It surged.
Deng Hai reached for the herb and missed. Or maybe he touched it and fumbled. Either way, the turtle reached him first.
Its beak-like mouth clamped down around his waist.
There were no sharp teeth. No tearing bite.
Only crushing force.
Deng Hai's bones creaked. Pain exploded through his body, and a bubble of sound tore from his throat and turned into swallowed water.
The turtle dragged him down.
It dove deeper, trying to drown him where the light never reached.
Deng Hai thrashed. He punched at its head with his fists, desperate, strikes clumsy in water. He tried to kick. He tried to twist. He even reached into his robe with shaking fingers, but the turtle's grip tightened until his hand went numb.
He couldn't breathe.
He didn't want to die like this.
And then, without warning, the turtle let go.
Deng Hai jerked in confusion, body floating for a fraction of a second. He barely had time to register relief before the turtle's shell slammed into him from the side. The impact sent him spinning. Stars burst behind his eyes.
His mind went gray.
As consciousness began to slip, he saw one last thing through the fog.
Above him, closer to the surface, a silhouette was waving a faint glow like a taunt.
Yue Rin had the spirit herb again.
Yue Rin's lungs were on fire.
She didn't have time to wonder how the herb had drifted back into her reach. It had. That was all that mattered.
The turtle surged upward toward her, enraged now, truly enraged, its pressure cracking through the pond like a warning bell.
Yue Rin waited until the last possible moment.
Then she twisted aside.
The turtle's head slammed into the pond wall with a heavy, sickening thud. The impact made the water shiver. For a breath, the spirit beast looked dizzy, its body jolting and correcting.
That breath was all Yue Rin needed.
She kicked upward, hard, forcing herself toward the surface. Qi ran through her meridians in a rough surge as she pushed Falling Leaf to its limit, even underwater. The technique didn't feel clean like it did on land. Water resisted it, stole speed, made the burst uneven.
Still, it gave her something.
She slapped a light step talisman against her soaked sleeve with trembling fingers and fed it Qi. Warmth flared along her legs. The boost was dulled by water, but it helped her reach the surface faster.
Her vision tunneled.
Her lungs screamed.
She broke through the surface with an explosion of water and air, dragging in a breath so deep it hurt.
* * * *
Qiao Min had been waiting for too long.
His hands were cold on his sword hilt. His thoughts had already spiraled into the worst places. Deng Hai was dead. Deng Hai had drowned. Deng Hai had been eaten under the pond while Qiao Min stood here like an idiot.
He wanted to blame himself more.
If he had listened to Deng Hai earlier and retreated, they would have left with nothing but their lives. Now he might not even get that chance again.
Qiao Min could only pray that he was able to crush his token, but he still decided to wait.
Then a figure slammed onto the far shore, coughing and gasping, water pouring off their cloak.
Qiao Min's heart leapt.
"Deng-"
Then he saw purple strands stuck to the hood, and his mind froze.
Not Deng Hai.
A stranger.
Before he could lift his sword or speak, the pond erupted again.
The turtle surged out with a second explosion of water, anger rolling off it like heat.
The wet cloaked cultivator scrambled up and ran.
Qiao Min watched in shock as the turtle chased them, stomping across the clearing, water spraying with every step.
The cloaked figure didn't even look back. They snatched a backpack from beside a tree mid-run, dodged a water jet by a hair, and vanished into the darkness between trunks.
Qiao Min took one step after them.
Then movement in the pond caught his eye.
A body floated upward.
"Deng Hai!" he shouted, and dove in without thinking.
He hauled Deng Hai out by the collar and dragged him to the shore, ignoring the sting of cold soaking his clothes. Deng Hai's face was pale, lips tinged blue, eyes half-lidded.
Qiao Min pressed an ear to his chest.
A heartbeat.
Weak. Fading.
Relief hit him before he noticed Deng Hai wasn't breathing.
"Shit," Qiao Min hissed.
He flipped Deng Hai onto his side. Water poured out of his mouth and nose, but not fast enough.
Qiao Min hesitated for half a breath.
Then he swore at himself and did it anyway.
He pressed his mouth to Deng Hai's and forced air in, rough and panicked. Again. Again. Again.
Finally, Deng Hai jerked and coughed violently, water spraying onto the dirt.
Qiao Min sagged back, breath shaking. "You bastard, don't die on me." he muttered in a hoarse voice.
Deng Hai lay there coughing and wheezing, barely conscious.
Qiao Min glanced around sharply, as if the trees themselves might gossip.
No one saw. No one.
Unfortunately for him, Kang Loen had been half-awake behind a tree, watching with wide eyes and a bright red face.
* * * *
Yue Rin ran until her legs felt like they weren't hers anymore.
She used Falling Leaf whenever she could, forcing distance between herself and the pond. Her body felt wrong. Heavy. Cold. Her clothes clung to her skin like wet bindings, and the night air sliced through the waterlogged fabric.
Her neck stung. Her head felt fuzzy. Her breathing came in ragged pulls.
Everything was miserable.
The turtle was fast in water. But on land, it was still terrifying, but it wasn't built to sprint through dense forest forever. After a while, the stomping behind her faded and the pressure loosened.
Still, Yue Rin didn't stop.
She kept running through darkness, not knowing where she was going, only knowing that anywhere was better than being close to that pond.
By the time she finally slowed, she was shaking.
She leaned against a tree and heaved, fighting the urge to vomit. Her hands were numb from cold. Her fingers trembled around the faintly spirit herb she'd somehow kept.
She wanted to collapse and sleep.
Her body begged for it.
But her mind refused.
Not safe. Not yet.
Adrenaline still churned through her veins, cruel and stubborn.
So she forced herself to move again, half-walking, half-stumbling, until the trees opened into stone.
A cliff wall rose in front of her, dark and steep. Near its base was a small cave mouth, barely large enough for three people to stand inside, and that was only if they didn't mind bumping shoulders.
For Yue Rin, it looked like mercy from the heavens.
She crept close, drew her sword, and checked the cave the way she'd read you should.
Nothing.
No eyes glinting in the dark. No beasts curled in the corners.
Only cold stone and stale air.
She slipped inside, set her backpack down, then went back out and gathered what she could. Fallen branches. Dry leaves tucked under shrubs. A mess of brush and dead vines.
She piled it around the entrance, not sealing it, just breaking up the outline. At a glance, it would read as a natural tangle, not a hiding place.
Then she carried in a second armful of kindling and crouched in the cave, flint and steel in hand.
The first spark died.
The second caught.
A small flame licked at the leaves, then spread into the thin wood. Light filled the cave, weak at first, then warmer, pushing back the damp darkness.
Yue Rin's shoulders sagged.
She peeled off her soaked outer clothes and laid them near the fire to dry, keeping her inner garments on. The heat was a blessing and a torture at once. Her skin prickled as feeling returned.
She remembered to put the spirit herb in the preservation box and then used her backpack as a pillow, stretched out on the cold stone floor, and stared at the flickering firelight on the cave walls.
Sleeping on stone was better than sleeping soaked.
Better than sleeping where a turtle could find her.
Her eyelids drooped.
"Good night," Yue Rin whispered to the fire, to the cave, to herself.
And finally, exhaustion dragged her under.