The screams of disciples who desperately held onto the railing for their dear lives reverberated through the ship. More and more people flooded out of their cabins, only to join in with the chorus as their surroundings became completely engulfed by blue and white fog. Ghostly limbs grabbed a hold of them, pinning them to the floor. Even the pets weren’t spared. A deathly chill passed through Jun’s body as a hand grabbed him by his scruff, daring him to move a muscle.
When they finally passed through the fog, everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Then, they saw hundreds of black crystal towers, rising through the jungle like spears of giants. Thousands of bloodshot eyes ran along the structures, snapping open and focusing on the intruding ship. As if that wasn’t bad enough, on top of every tower was a cultivator wearing heavy-duty armour, made from the same crystal, but somehow even more menacing. Crossbow-like artifacts, five times the size of a human, were being pointed straight at the disciples by every one of the soldiers.
From one of the taller towers, a cultivator conjured forth an illusory horse and rode through the air to meet them. Not a single inch of the man’s skin was revealed, and through the helmet, his eyes glowed red.
‘His armour has spikes. I repeat, it has spikes! No good guys in history have had spikes as their motif.’ Jun mentally shouted, still warily lying on the ground. A lot of disciples opted to crawl out of sight before they could be shamed for practically soiling themselves when the ghosts arrived.
After a lengthy examination process of Huang Jie and everyone else, they were quickly ushered through the death trap that was known as the “third layer.” Now, having a name like that naturally brought up questions. What was the second layer? Well, after a few more hours of flying, and after passing through a less terrifying yet still ethereal barrier, they quickly found out. Or, better yet, something found them.
A wingless dragon thousands of feet in length coiled around their ship, bringing its head face to face with the immortal. Deep blue scales that were covered in thousands of scratches reflected the sunlight, and a single eye, larger than the entire ship, seemed to strip the disciples of their deepest secrets. The very air around them became charged with electricity as Jun’s fur stood on end. He could vividly smell the pungent smell of ozone. Everything around him gained a blue haze, like he was peeking into a world he had never experienced.
“Oooooh… It’s the ship from the Abyss Treading sect. You may pass through.”
The last part of the sentence was relayed to them by Huang Jie later. The very first letter instantly burst the eardrums of every single living thing on the ship. It was like a bolt of lightning had struck them, and the deafening noise of thunder shook their very core. The horrifying monster looked like it was laughing or saying something sagely to Huang Jie while the disciples dropped to the ground.
The dragon eventually left, and the monks healed everyone else on board, but this experience would stay with them for a long time. And yet, there was still more to see. A humongous Peng, whose wings covered the skies, freely floated in the Atmospheric Winds, each flap carrying it thousands of miles ahead and creating hurricanes below it. An entire mountain range shifted in response, carried away on a turtle’s shell as the creature relocated somewhere where it wasn’t as windy, each step causing an earthquake. Then, a few minutes later, a white tiger roared at the flying ship in a challenge, and a single swipe from its claws cleaved the clouds asunder, barely missing the ship. Activating every formation, they prepared to flee, but before they could do so, a swarm of ten thousand scarlet-red jellyfish descended onto the unfortunate beast, incinerating it to dust before it could even blink.
Jun squinted his eyes until they began to water in order to look at the strange sights below them. How many of these beasts were intelligent? How many had awakened their bloodlines? How many could transform into humans at will, but chose to stay here? The questions would lay unanswered as they moved past the breeding ground of monsters and passed through the final barrier guarded by hundreds of cultivators. And then, there it was—the first layer of defence. A city of metal surrounded on all sides by an infested jungle, cut in half by the River of Decadence.
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It was hard to begin to describe something so foreign to his eyes, so he took in the things he understood first as they began to descend. Majestic pleasure crafts, dragon boats, lantern ships—they were all anchored in the middle of the river, featuring a constant stream of smaller boats ferrying cultivators to them. From this altitude, they were like tiny ants, slowly mingling with each other, making deals that seemed so insignificant. Small canals and waterways featured cultivators setting up shop, selling to those travelling the waters.
The buildings were the lifeblood of any city, and the ones here were extremely well-fortified. Labyrinthian streets wove together with dark steel structures, featuring even more spikes, parapets, and watchtowers. Despite it being nighttime, not a single street was engulfed in shadows. If it wasn’t magical lanterns, it was the blue moss and fungus that had infected every building, illuminating every corner. Even from here, he could spot armoured cultivators, constantly patrolling the busy streets.
There was still much, much more to describe, but Jun simply didn’t have enough time to observe it all. Much too soon, they landed in the busy port, almost smashing a one-man boat to smithereens when they docked at the pier. Wary-eyed cultivators moved out of the way as a procession of soldiers encircled the airship, their weapons high despite the disciples passing through three layers of security checks.
“You already know the drill. Take the disciples—I don’t want to stay any longer than needed in this cursed place,” Huang Jie yelled in annoyance as a soldier pointed a sword at him. Then, someone who looked like an officer stepped out from the crowd.
“Move off the ship one by one,” he addressed the disciple, and then turned to another soldier holding a bunch of bamboo slips. “Standard procedure. Compare them with the records that the sect sent. Run them through the usual techniques and issue them a badge with the appropriate sect.”
Jun thought the security measures were too extreme until he remembered the doppelganger they had met in the inner sect—a single person could do a lot more harm in this world than on Earth. The line slowly moved forward, and he saw the disciples being rounded up in small groups and taken away by the soldiers in every direction. The band of monks was split in five, which caused an interesting “trial of faith” amongst the Buddhists who were once so zealous about this journey. They vowed to quickly find a place of worship in this place.
When it was their turn, five different cultivators cast techniques on Chen Hao, the dog, and the rabbit. And that’s when it all went wrong. You see, there was something wrong with this ragtag group.
“Colonel, there’s an extra rabbit,” a soldier said, grabbing Guan Yu by the ears and hoisting him up in the air. Immediately, weapons were drawn and an officer marched straight towards them.
“He’s just… my pet. Just like Jun here,” Chen Hao nervously said as dozens of eyes beheld him for the first time. The rabbit kicked and flailed in the air to no avail.
“The dog is registered with you. The rabbit is not. Take it away,” the colonel barked an order at the soldier.
“Wait! Hold on! He’s just a small rabbit. What threat can he pose? What will happen to him?” the boy shouted, growing more agitated by the second.
“Calm down. Do not become agitated. We are going to lock him up, run a few tests, and observe his behaviour. Your memories are not to be trusted. A devil could have snuck on board and manipulated your mind, making you think that this ‘innocent rabbit’ has been your friend for years. This would not be the first time this has happened,” the colonel said, keeping his hand close to his sword.
“As for you… The techniques didn’t detect any false memories, charms, or illusions, but one can never be too sure. I don’t know whether you’re lucky to have the rabbit or not. Head over to the Black Wind Barracks—you’ll be assigned a proper squad, and I will inform the squad leader that you and your dog must undergo a few extra tests.”
With that, the colonel rigidly turned and went to examine the other disciples, the duo sadly watched as Guan Yu was carried away, letting out a lonely shriek. The soldier with the bamboo slips handed them a hexagonal badge that had their name, a number, and their sect attached to it. Similarly to the sect badge, it also had something called “Valor Points.”
“Newbies have it tough, but you’re the unluckiest one of this batch,” the soldier chuckled, slapping his gauntleted hand against the boy’s shoulder. “The rest there will have some time to settle in. You, on the other hand, have been assigned to the biggest barracks there are, reserved for the elites of the sects. More fights, deadlier missions. You get the idea.”
Jun cursed the entire nine generations of Guan Yu’s family. He was the most unfaithful disciple he had ever seen.
“Good luck. You’re going to need it.”