Chapter 194: Path of Least Bodies

Yang jolted awake at the sharp sound of a scream. Before his mind fully registered his surroundings, he was already on his feet with a talisman pinched between his fingers, ready to hurl it at whatever threat that had now appeared.

What he found instead across the cavern was Senior Brother Qing An down pinning the Nascent Soul cultivator to the small folding bed while Senior Brother Song Weilong pressed both palms against the man's temples, intense light radiating from them. Unlike before, where the technique had seemed to be soothing, the man was now screaming and writhing violently as though he was being flayed alive.

What a pleasant way to wake up. Thank you, Senior Brothers.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao stood at the foot of the bed watching this with his standard-issued blank expression.

He shifted his gaze and caught Senior Brother Yuan Shen's eye from across the cavern, who gestured for him to come over, where he stood against the wall with Senior Brother Zhen Hao.

Yang made his way there and came to stand beside them since he didn't have any better option, and he would hardly be any help to the desiccated cultivator, gaping again at the foot of his bed.

"Did you sleep well, Junior Brother?" Senior Brother Zhen Hao asked.

"I did. I would have slept longer if not for the—" Yang made a vague gesture toward the ongoing background score.

"Good. You looked like you needed it." Senior Brother Zhen Hao said. "We sometimes forget how much rest the little ones still require."

Yang waved it off. "There was hardly any room or time for rest since we came to this place." He cast a worried look toward the thrashing cultivator. "What happened to him? Did his condition suddenly deteriorate? "

"On the contrary," said Senior Brother Yuan Shen. "He had been getting better. Senior Brother Fan Xiao kept feeding him medicine as he became able to take more. But then, just as his physical body began to improve, his soul destabilized." He looked back at the bed, where the man's thrashing had begun to slow. Whether that was because whatever Senior Brother Song Weilong was doing was working, or because the man had exhausted what little strength he had regained, Yang could not tell.

"Senior Brother Song Weilong is attempting to stabilize his soul," Senior Brother Zhen Hao added shaking his head. "Out of all of us here, he is the only one with some skill in that, though how much it will help is anyone's guess."

They watched in grim silence. Gradually the man settled, though what replaced the screaming was a series of deep, guttural gasps that sounded far worse than the previous shrieking. It reminded Yang of the death rattle that came from people just before they died.

He suddenly saw Senior Brother Song Weilong lean in toward the man's face and Senior Brother Qing An look up at Senior Brother Fan Xiao. But before Yang could work out what had passed between them, the man went still and lost consciousness.

Senior Brother Qing An slowly released his grip and arranged him carefully on the bed, drawing the blanket up to his shoulders.

Senior Brother Yuan Shen put an arm around Yang and Senior Brother Zhen Hao's shoulders and steered both of them toward the group.

"What happened?" Senior Brother Yuan Shen asked as soon as they were close enough.

Senior Brother Song Weilong wiped sweat from his brow as he answered. "His soul has fractured further. I am no soul cultivator. If it deteriorates any more, I won't be able to hold it together."

"How?" Senior Brother Qing An asked, his brow furrowed. "Souls do not simply weaken without cause."

"I don't know!" Song Weilong snapped, a rare flash of irritation breaking through his usual calm demeanor. "I am not Senior Brother Xiao Zhan!" and immediately looked contrite towards Senior Brother Qing An with an apologetic gesture. But before he could apologize, Qing An held up a hand, waving it away. "Weilong, you have been working without rest. It cannot have been easy sustaining that technique continuously without a break."

"Indeed, Junior Brother. You've carried the heaviest burden here," Senior Brother Fan Xiao said, before turning his gaze to the unconscious man. "We cannot ignore the obvious: this place, perhaps this entire realm, harbors an active malice. Whoever can tear apart a Nascent Soul from within is a threat we must treat with extreme caution."

"Whoever?" Senior Brother Yuan Shen echoed. "Weren't we under the theory it was some kind of formation or an artifact?"

"Just before he passed out, he whispered a warning," Senior Brother Qing An said, turning toward Senior Brother Yuan Shen. "'Don't look it in the eye.'" He fixed Senior Brother Yuan Shen with a cold, piercing glare, his voice laced with sudden vitriol. "So unless your precious artifacts have taken to sprouting out eyes and hunting us down, I suggest we assume it's a living entity."

A tense silence fell over the chamber. Everyone stared at him in shock, and even he himself looked startled by his own outburst. The words themselves were entirely in keeping with Senior Brother Qing An's personality, but normally they would be thrown out with an irreverent grin or a teasing smile as he enjoyed himself at his brother's expense.

"We need to find a way out of this place," Yang blurted out, breaking the silence that seemed to have fallen over them.

The others looked at him and then exchanged uneasy glances.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao nodded somberly. "Yes. This place is already affecting us. I fear if we stay too long, we may just end up finding out what happened to him," he said, as he looked down at the man.

"He is not well enough to walk," Senior Brother Song Weilong said, gesturing to the unconscious man. "We will need to carry him."

"We can use my flying carpet," Yang offered immediately. "It would also give us the added advantage of not having any of our qi tied up in carrying this Senior."

"Good idea, Chen Yang," Senior Brother Qing An said. He turned to Senior Brother Fan Xiao. "But which path do we take? I do not like what this place is turning us into."

"The one with the fewest corpses?" Senior Brother Yuan Shen proposed flatly.

"That is as good an idea as any. It's not like we have any better ideas," Senior Brother Zhen Hao said, looking to Senior Brother Fan Xiao questioningly, who remained silent, causing Senior Brother to deflate a bit. "Path of least corpses it is."

Yang summoned the flying carpet and watched as Senior Brother Song Weilong used his qi to tether it to himself, settled the Nascent Soul cultivator onto it, and placed a hand on his forehead to maintain the stabilizing spell.

"You intend to hold that technique while we navigate through the passage?" Qing An asked in disbelief.

"If I don't do that, his already weakened soul may collapse if whatever is harming him strikes again," Senior Brother Song Weilong said. "We are already risking it all by taking him into the tunnel."

Senior Brother Qing An frowned, "Song Wei—"

"Let Weilong do as he sees fit.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao interrupted smoothly. “We’re still here to protect him." He looked at Yang. "Take the bed. You likely do not have one in your storage ring." Yang nodded and quickly summoned the bed into his storage ring.

Within minutes they were ready to set off. Senior Brother Qing An led the way, with Senior Brother Fan Xiao bringing up the rear to keep everyone in his line of sight. Clearly, the effect on Senior Brothers Weilong and Qing An had made him very worried.

Yang also took out his needles and kept them ready pinched between his knuckles.

They stepped into the dark passage.

It was the first time Yang was stepping into the passage, and he wrinkled his nose at the dank, decaying smell that seemed so intense here. They walked past row after row of mummified remains, each one frozen in whatever position they had been in when they finally died. Yang forced himself not to linger on each face as he passed.

They had been walking for close to half an hour when Senior Brother Zhen Hao stopped abruptly. Yang nearly walked into him and caught himself.

He peered around Senior Brother Zhen Hao’s shoulder to see what had blocked the path, only to see it was another corpse, but this one stood out. Through the thin leathery skin of its sunken abdomen, the structure of a tiny form was visible. It was a pregnant woman, curled in a tight fetal position with one hand clamped protectively over her deflated belly, preserved forever in her final moments along with her child.

Yang stood frozen for several seconds before taking a step forward and placing a firm hand on Senior Brother Zhen Hao’s shoulder to urge him forward.

Senior Brother Zhen Hao took a deep breath and forced himself to keep moving.

As they pressed deeper, the number of corpses increased until the ground was chock-full of them, forcing them to step carefully to avoid stepping on the dead.

Then, from somewhere deeper in the passage, the faint sound of dripping water hitting stone echoed through the tunnel.

Everyone stopped. The sound was faint, yet unmistakable, coming from further along the passage. They advanced slowly until the passage opened into a larger chamber with no bodies and four different passage openings branching off from it in different directions. The dripping sound was coming from one of them.

"Should we follow the sound?" Yang asked. "Maybe we'll find a way out."

"No, Chen Yang," Senior Brother Fan Xiao said grimly. "We go in the direction farthest from the water."

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