Chapter 103: Night camp?

The narrow ravine swallowed us whole, the jagged walls rising so high on either side that the afternoon sun was reduced to a watery ribbon of silver far above. A unnatural white fog clung to the floor of the gorge, swirling around our foots with every step. The air here didn’t just feel cold—it felt heavy with the ancient, dormant arrays Jiang Wei had warned us about.

“Keep your footsteps light,” Jiang Wei whispered from the front, his hand resting on the hilt of his azure blade. “The valley traps are tied to spiritual pressure. If your qi spikes too fast, the earth under your feet will turn into a meat grinder.”

I kept our slow, steady pace, my eyes scanning the high ridges. Ever since breaching the Meridian Stage, my physical senses were terrifyingly sharp. The mist tried to obscure everything, but I could hear the microscopic shifting of loose pebbles on the cliffs above.

Beside me, Qing Yan walked with silent, lethal grace. The translucent red silk of her dress parted slightly against the white fog, her long gold earrings catching the dim light. She had been unusually quiet since the confrontation with Lu Chen, her gaze fixed entirely on the path ahead.

“Hey, Fire Empress,” I murmured, leaning in slightly so only she could hear. “You’re brooding. It’s ruining my mood. If you keep looking that serious, I’m going to have to start making up new nicknames for you.”

Qing Yan shot me a flustered look, She leaned closer, her voice a hushed, irritated whisper.

“Barry, be quiet. We are walking directly through a trap zone, and you are still focusing on your ridiculous jests? I am trying to remember the specific energy pathways of my sect’s Blazing Phoenix Seal in case the demons catch us.”

“The flame is already perfect, trust me,” I chuckled, gently brushing my shoulder against hers. “Besides, you don’t need to stress. What did I tell you back in the cave? Your enemies are my enemies. I handle the heavy lifting.”

She bit her lower lip, her large eyes swimming with that profound shyness that always broke through her pride whenever I brought up our bond. She didn’t snap back this time. Instead, she reached down under the cover of the mist, her delicate hand lightly wrapping around my wrist for a brief second before pulling away.

“Just… don’t be reckless,” she murmured softly.

Behind us, Lu Chen let out a low, frustrated scoff, but he kept his mouth shut. The memory of my Meridian pressure from an hour ago was clearly still fresh enough to keep his jealousy under lock and key.

Suddenly, a cold shudder ran down my spine. My Meridian Stage core violently thrummed, a sharp alarm bells ringing in my mind.

I held up a hand, completely dropping the teasing grin. “Stop. Right now.”

The entire alliance froze. Jiang Wei instantly dropped to one knee, gesturing for the survivors to take cover behind a cluster of jagged boulders. I grabbed Qing Yan by the waist, ignoring her small gasp of surprise, and pulled her flush against my chest behind a massive stone pillar, masking our spiritual signatures entirely with my golden aura.

Through the thick layers of swirling white fog on the high eastern ridge, three massive, dark shapes materialised.

They weren’t ordinary scouts. These figures stood over eight feet tall, clad in dark iron armor that seemed to absorb the light around them. They carried massive, curved crescent glaives that bled a slow, toxic purple vapor onto the rocks. Shadow Vanguard Watchers.

“Demon Lords’ advance patrol,” Qing Yan whispered against my chest, her breath hot against my neck as she peered through the gap in the stone. Her fingers dug tightly into the fabric of my white and blue robes, her eyes instantly flashing back into a burning red. “Those are the personal guards of the Third Demon Lord, Asmodeus. If they are here… it means the main army is less than a few miles behind them.”

“They’re scanning the ravine,” Jiang Wei hissed from his boulder, his face turning incredibly pale. “Their spiritual tracking arrays are looking for human qi signatures. If we move forward, we will trigger the valley’s defensive traps and alert them at the same time. We are completely pinned.”

I looked up at the watchers on the ridge. They were meticulously sweeping the gorge with dark red beams of spiritual light erupting from their eyes. They were powerful—easily floating around the Ascendent Stage—but to my current Meridian Stage, they were completely visible targets.

‘We can’t fight them out in the open pass without alerting the whole valley,’ I calculated, my warrior focus completely taking over. ‘The sun is already starting to dip. If we try to push through the traps now, we’re dead.’

I looked down at Qing Yan, my hand resting gently on her narrow waist to keep her grounded. “We need to wait them out. The sun will be down in less than an hour. Once darkness hits, their tracking arrays will lose efficiency in this elemental fog, and we can bypass the first layer of traps.”

Jiang Wei nodded frantically in agreement. “There is a hidden, shallow alcove just ten paces back, buried behind the rock face. It’s tight, but it blocks all spiritual detection. We can camp there until midnight.”

Moving with absolute silence, we carefully backtracked, slipping into the narrow mouth of a concealed stone cleft in the ravine wall. The space was incredibly small—hardly large enough for the six of us to sit without our shoulders touching.

As the sky outside darkened into a deep, freezing mountain night, the wind began to howl through the cracks in the stone. We couldn’t start a normal fire without alerting the watchers outside, leaving the cave pitch-black and freezing cold.

“It’s freezing,” one of the wounded survivors muttered, his teeth chattering violently in the dark.

Qing Yan sat directly across from me, Seeing the survivors shivering, she closed her eyes, focusing tightly on her core. She raised her right hand, snapping her fingers with a tiny fwhoosh.

A miniature, incredibly compressed orb of brilliant crimson fire erupted above her palm. It didn’t cast a massive glare that would escape the cave, but the sheer purity of her Blazing Phoenix energy radiated a deep wave of comforting warmth that instantly thawed the freezing air in the small space.

“Impressive control, Fire Empress,” I murmured, sliding over until my side was pressing right against hers under the dark shadows.

“Be quiet, Barry,” she whispered back, though she unconsciously leaned her shoulder into mine, letting her head rest lightly against my arm as the small flame danced between us.

From the dark corner of the alcove, Lu Chen’s eyes burned with absolute, silent fury as he watched us sitting flush against each other, the small light highlighting the beautiful curve of her face and the long gold earrings swaying gently in the warmth. But out in the ravine, the thuds of the Demon Watchers’ boots echoed against the stone, reminding everyone that a single mistake tonight would mean absolute slaughter.