It was the day of Yung’s first excursion into the Warring twilight forest.

He stood by the northwest exit of Dim Gold City. Like the lower town, there was also a fiend butchery here. Yet it was more organised, with less rot and waste.

“See that, young mistress? You guys are kids who can do it if you try!” Yung exclaimed, “The stream looks so pristine. And all the waste is properly disposed of underground. Now do the same for the southern fiend butchery.”

Youjin Chun gritted her teeth, “How many centuries does Ziyou Yung think it took to arrange this place?”

“And every job, from collecting the fiend corpses from the hunters to the butchering, processing, and disposal is divided out. I’m amazed. Wowie.” Yung ignored her complaints, rambling on.

“Three.” Youjin Gangkai grunted.

“Huh?”

“Three centuries.”

“Oh, yeah.” Yung scratched his head. “Why is the young mistress here again?”

Youjin Gangkai didn’t answer. But Youjin Chun bristled and shouted, “I will not, under any circumstances, let Elder Brother Chao go into the forest alone again!”

“I, Elder Gangkai, Uncle Maque, and two other Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm cultivators will be there.” Yung looked at her coldly, “You will only distract him.”

“How dare—”

“They come.” Youjin Gangkai grunted again.

Yung saw Youjin Chao and Ziyou Maque leading a group of armoured out madlanders. The Origin qi cultivators had actual armour of steel and bone, while the Spirit qi bunch donned robes that were no doubt defensive artefacts. Ziyou Ling was there, and so was Fatty Wang.

The Youjin clan fiendhunters coming in and out of the entrance gave the group a wide berth at the sight of Free Sparrow himself. They had been notified in advance, but there wasn’t a scarcity of raised brows and tense shivers.

Youjin Chao was initially waving at Yung, but his mood plummeted when he saw Youjin Chun. Youjin Chun’s mood did too, at the sight of Ziyou Ling’s hands around Youjin Chao’s shoulders.

The mood got awkward before the hunt could begin.

Yung sighed. Ugh, teenagers.

He brought out a sound transmission token and did what everyone did to break unpleasant silences.

He exchanged contacts.

“It is not working, Brother Yung.” Youjin Chao tilted his head.

“That’s the special new and improved one.” Wang Lihou said.

“Oh my, how careless.” Yung put it back and took out a normal token.

“Our guild uses secondaries for this,” Ziyou Maque said, handing over a shoddy-looking thing to Yung, “No sense in ruining good tokens. This one has its transmission power jacked up in exchange for longevity.”

Yung put his one back again and took the thing with wonder. His grandfather was traditional, loath to change designs and push boundaries. Their shop would have never sold this stuff.

“That is not how it is done here,” Youjin Chun said with a smirk, twirling a pristine token. It was of excellent craftsmanship.

“Rich slut.” Ziyou Ling said.

“Dirty whore.” The dislike was mutual.

“Woof woof.” Floofy pitied them both.

Before a catfight could break out, Ziyou Maque cleared his throat with a thunderous rumble.

He laid out their plan for the day. Go in. Scout the path to the cave Silky’s flock was in. Return safely.

The Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm cultivators would be doing most of the scouting. They’d also clear away the stronger fiends.

Ziyou Maque and Elder Gangkai would always stay with Yung (and Youjin Chun, who would stick to Youjin Chao, who would stick to Ziyou Ling).

After all, it wouldn’t be much of a learning experience if no expert was there to explain the environment and the process.

Some tips and tricks were better to be learnt in advance rather than inside a fiend’s acidic stomach.

Wang Lihou had just come to bid Yung and Youjin Chao safe journeys.

What a nice fella.

***

It was as if the sunny spring day had suddenly contracted severe clinical depression.

One moment, they were basking in plenty of light; the next, the world turned to dawn.

Yung had prepared for it, but the experience was no less jarring.

“It be called the Warring twilight forest for a reason, Young Yung.” Ziyou Maque said. “The voidrifts changed the very dao principles of this place.”

Warring twilight forest.

Twilight.

It was a literal name.

The vegetation, the soil, the sky and the water, everything had a grey-blue tint to it. Like the last moments when the sun was barely below the horizon.

And the smell. It was of smoke and ashes, as though hundreds of burnt somethings were just around the corner. Not the fresh air usually associated with twilight.

Yung strode carefully. The ground was littered with strange vines with angular thorns. Above his head, plagued crows screeched as they angled from one massive tree to another.

It was dawn, Yung realised; just before sunrise.

“Means there are more chaosfiends in the area.” Ziyou Maque said, “Or there’s a chaos-spring. Or both. The time changes from dawn to dusk with either more chaos or void qi.”

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“I’ve never seen one. Chaosfiends pop out from these springs, right?”

“Yeah, and for voidfiends, it be voidrifts. And the sky’ll be dusk time. We should be seeing one—Shush.” Ziyou Maque stopped. His two Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm subordinates returned like ninjas.

“A war. Voidfiends are trying to kill the spring.”

Ziyou Maque smiled, “More loot for us. Youjin Gangkai, what’ll ye do?”

The elder grunted, and somehow that explained everything.

“Come, Young Yung,” Ziyou Maque said, “Let me show you why it’s called Warring twilight forest.”

***

It turns out the ‘Warring’ part of the name was also literal.

From atop the canopy, Yung eyed the nearby clearing with horror.

Hundreds and thousands of fiends of all shapes and sizes went at each other.

Wretched hornbeasts, Wretched bloodhounds, and all other wretched monsters on one side.

They screamed, screeched, and, clawed, gleaming sickly purple or putrid green. The ground shook with their advance. The trees withered with every touch. Purplish-green miasma heralded their coming.

They fell by the hundreds each second. But more would rush out from the woods towards their prey.

Their quarry: the chaosfiends.

On the opposite end of the clearing was a large structure. It looked kind of like a fairy circle and kind of like the stone henge, with a circular formation of interlocking stones, varied in size and shape. At its centre, a shimmering pool of liquid burst forth like a fountain, creating a faint smell of earth and ozone. The liquid sparkled in bright hues of purple, green, and blue and emitted a gentle hum, like a distant hymn. As Yung's group had approached the battle, the trickling of water sounds from the fountain blended with the noise of the forest to create a peaceful ambience. The sound grew louder with proximity, and even amidst the chaos of the meat-grinding battle, the bubbling of the fountains mixed with the gentle chimes and tinkles, producing a calming melody that could soothe the most restless soul.

The chaos-spring!

Surrounding it were crystallised grass, flowers, trees and what could only be mounds made out of spirit stone lattices, glows cast from copper to steel.

Every so often, a beast would swim out from the pool. It would shake off the water and snarl, dashing straight to death.

Between the chaos-spring and the horde of voidfiends, the chaosfiend legion stood fast.

Numbering no less than their foes, they at least looked partially like ordinary beasts rather than eldritch nightmares.

Canines, felines, avians, and reptiles. Dogs with three tails, cats with fire for fur, and frogs larger than trees.

With beastly cries, they protected the chaos-spring with their lives.

And they too fell, faster than one could blink.

“Look at them,” Ziyou Maque pointed at other fiendhunter teams stalking the area. “It’s gonna be a good day for all.”

Yung agreed. The smart thing was to be the oriole that stalked the mantis. Cleaning up would pose the least risk for the most rewards.

“Pay attention to the fiends. It might save yer life one day.” Ziyou Maque brought Yung’s attention back to the battle. He named each fiend and explained their habits.

“Chaosfiends are like animals. They can breed normally and grow their numbers even without chaos-springs. The ones at the Harmonious Heaven major realm can take the yao form, from what I’ve heard. It’s said that yao’s ancestors are ancient chaosfiends of unimaginable power. Hard to imagine, that. Anyways, they can be tamed, mounted, and befriended. But most are savage. Those docile like them foxmoths are rare and must be domesticated over decades at least.”

Ziyou Maque went over each of the present chaosfiends in detail, then moved to voidfiends.

“These nasty things aren’t animals. They’re plagues!” There was toxicity in his words. The other’s nodded, even Youjin Gangkai.

“They mindlessly slaughter anything that isn’t them. They can’t breed, don’t get hungry, and never fear death. The moment they see a living creature, they go at it until one of them drops.”

“So, like actual zombies?” Yung muttered.

“Zom-what?”

“Undead creatures.”

“Aye,” Ziyou Maque nodded, “They do resemble the jiangshi.” He continued his lesson, “The only thing to do when you see them is run away or kill them. Or they will chase ye until their bones grind to dust.”

“Creeps.”

“Hateful, but dumb as rocks.” Ziyou Maque said, “They are more predictable than chaosfiends. Chaosfiends are at least somewhat intelligent. They run away when injured, tend to their young, and choose their hunt carefully.”

Yung pointed to the meat-grinding hellhole and glared.

"Okay, there are exceptions of course. Folks say that the heavenly dao creates chaosfiends specifically to uproot the void. They go just as crazy when they sniff a voidfiend as when voidfiends notice a renyao.

“That’s beside the point though. Voidfiends always move in predictable patterns. Even the mighty ones. Stronger ones have more patterns is all, and might be harder to spot. See that Wretched hornbeast? It first turns straight towards its foe. Then bends the leg, gathers qi, and spears straight. Always the same. Easier to dodge.”

Ziyou Maque gave his thoughts on the other voidfiends too.

Yung noticed another detail. Even the colour scheme of the voidfiends was weird. Sickly pale skin or fur, with purple streaks on their mangled flesh, like circuit lines. The only liquid other than the purple blood spilling from their corpses, was the green toxin that sizzled when in contact with anything else.

A plague indeed.

“It’s nearing the end.” Ziyou Maque said.

The tides shifted with the arrival of a Wretched bloodhound about three sizes larger than the others. It was still an Imperfect Heaven 1st order voidfiend, but clearly at the late or peak stages. It mowed through the chaosfiend ranks like a saw.

But the chaosfiends didn’t give up. They jumped into the behemoth of a wretched bloodhound’s path, nicked at its leathery hide, and clawed at its eyes.

But it was useless. The difference in power was absolute.

Yung saw the other fiendhunter teams moving to retreat. They didn’t have the confidence to take the boss monster on.

“What will the voidfiends do to the corpses?”

“Eat’em up of course, like locusts. They don’t even spare the shit. The worse part is, if they get their sickly claws on the chaos-spring, it’ll corrupt the whole thing.” Ziyou Maque warmed up, rolling his burly shoulders. “Now, we can’t let that happen.”

He hoisted a rather ordinary-looking spear from his storage artefact, took aim at the menacing voidfiend boss, and threw.

Zoom!

It raised a shock wave, Yung’s ear only protected by Ziyou Maque’s aura.

The spear blasted a crater into the wretched bloodhound’s body, and that was it.

The other fiendhunting teams finally noticed their group. Realisation dawned on them before they beat an even hastier retreat. No one wanted to get in the way of the Free Sparrow himself.

“Good,” Ziyou Maque turned towards Yung, “We’re mainly here fer your training. About time we did it, no?”

Yung shuddered.

***

After revealing themselves, the voidfiends suddenly turned their attention towards Yung’s group.

They didn’t care that there were chaosfiends left. They snarled undead screeches and rushed towards them like a tsunami of mindless malice.

Ziyou Ling and Youjin Chun had finished warming up by then. They sported a spear and a sword respectively, getting into stance. A bit farther was Youjin Chao, his gauntleted left hand grasping a rusty blade.

Ziyou Ling moved first.

“Yeah!!” She yelled a war cry and threw her spear like her father. It ran through three voidfiends as Ziyou Ling dashed behind her weapon.

A flock of flying voidfiends resembling bats spat darts at her from above.

Ziyou Ling flexed her legs, dodging left. She beckoned her spear, and it flew back to her outstretched hand.

“Meteor Spear!” She muttered softly, and a green glow covered her weapon. She aimed up at the bat flock, and bullets rained upon them as each dropped dead.

“How crude to even shout the name of your technique. Are you a child?” Youjin Chun mocked her rival but only got a “Slut” in return.

The heiress walked casually through a large horde of hundreds of Wretched hornbeasts. With each slash of her sword, tens would fall.

Threads! Yung realised.

Countless threads were attached to Youjin Chun’s sword, almost invisible to the eyes. He only noticed because of link sight.

The threads would render Youjin Chun’s foes apart before they could even approach her. Before long, she had trimmed the horde down to less than a tenth of its initial size.

Yung recognised this spiritual art. It was the first form of the Youjin clan’s signature technique, the Dim gold Severance.

The Spirit qi cost must’ve been taxing, as the heiress panted softly. But Elder Gangkai was at her side, so she was safe.

The rest of the guards, including the two Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm cultivators in Ziyou Maque’s gang, cleared away the more threatening of the fiends. Any above the 6th stage was for them to kill.

The rest were left to the younger generation.

Youjin Chao was not to be overlooked either, not letting his apparent inability to cultivate get in his way.

Because he had drugs.

The first of the fiends approached Youjin Chao. The tall boy dodged left at the last second and swerved his sword laterally.

It cleaved through three Wretched hornbeasts in one smooth motion.

“Not enough!” He said playfully, popping more drugs into his mouth.

What a junkie! Yung’s eyes twitched.

Youjin Chao jumped up, landing on the back of a large bear-like voidfiend heading for Ziyou Ling. He tore its neck apart, then dove down to do the same to the rest.

“And he’s a cripple?” Yung asked.

“Concentrate on your opponent!” Ziyou Maque barked.

Yung tutted, then straightened his pose, his link sight eyeing the Wretched hornbeasts approaching him with murder in their eyes.