The Gou Brothers were worn with worry as they descended on the floating platform. They couldn’t help but ache as the violet mist that sealed The Matron was converging alongside them.

“Disperse!” Gou Da used his Gateway Foundation power to dispel the area around them, but the violet mist was like a starving wolf that had smelled the blood of injured prey. It refused to leave.

When the floating platform landed and The Gou Brothers made it inside the cobblestone dome, the first thing they noticed was the violet mist that drilled against the root’s injury. What was originally only an indented chop mark had turned into a rotting hole threatening to sever the connection between The Matron and the outside world again.

“Hurry, Gou Da! You have to seal off the area!” Gou Jia yelled as he rushed to the root. With a grunt of pain, Gou Jia pulled out a dagger from his robes and sliced a vertical line along his arm. Gou Hui followed close behind and mimicked his brother’s actions.

Gou Jia’s blood oozed onto the root’s injury and, upon contact, started to foam with a sour smell.

“Disperse!” The sceptre in Gou Da’s hand smashed against the cobblestones, unable to break them, but lit up the end of his staff with a blood-red glow. The glow expanded as it gobbled up the violet mist and formed a circular barrier inside the dome.

The screaming echoes lingered as the violet mist disappeared from the area, and the strength contained in The Gou Brother’s blood healed the root’s injury.

The root rapidly regrew free of the violet mark and soon pulsed with a red glow, and within seconds, it was resuming its duties of filling the air with red particles that gradually wore down the cobblestone dome.

Whew.

Gou Jia and Gou Hui looked pale and took a few crimson pills out of their robes to regain energy. Gou Da followed soon after, in much better condition than his brothers, as he investigated the area.

“We all saw that injury. We know what it means.”

Gou Jia looked towards the ground in pain while Gou Hui continued Gou Da’s implications.

“Another Violet Earth Warrior has been born. Or maybe they’ve been hunting us since the beginning. Whatever the case, they tried to attack The Matron.” Gou Hui flashed with anger.

“I’ll hunt them down and skin them alive!”

“No.” Gou Jia spoke simply.

Gou Da and Gou Jia looked at Gou Jia with confusion. They watched Gou Jia’s hand trace along where the root was injured, and he looked at his brothers with a keen eye.

“The injury here wasn’t a blow from a Violet Earth Warrior. They could cleanly sever the root and attack the seed if they tried. The one that attacked this couldn’t even cut through the root. They're the weakest Violet Earth Warrior we’ve ever seen.”

Gou Jia looked Gou Da in the eyes and faltered, unsure what to say. In the end, he had no choice but to relive past memories.

“How did you kill Gou Jing?” Gou Jia asked.

Gou Da’s brow scrunched in as a pang of guilt raced through his heart. His lips quivered as he realized the implications he faced.

“You think she is still alive? I remember my hand ripping out her heart. Not even an undying—” Gou Da felt a rising anger inside himself.

“No.” Gou Da looked at the ground and around the area, searching for more details to confirm his thoughts. Unfortunately, the one that attacked the root had left little behind.

“If you say you killed her, then I’m sure you did. But what happened afterwards might be more important than we realized.”

Gou Da’s anger thinned, and he tried to reflect on that memory from only a few months prior.

“I was never able to give chase. You both nearly died in that battle, and I had to come and save you after giving Gou Jing the lethal blow. The Matron told us she sensed her death but could never give us the exact location after the injuries she sustained that day. Even after she healed, The Matron couldn’t find her since she was already dead. Likely, she set up a shroud with her sword as a—”

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Gou Jia’s eyes lit up.

“We never recovered her sword.” Gou Jia’s fingers curled as he connected some ominous dots.

“If the sword was left behind, it could choose another to wield it. There must be another chosen, but the person is too weak to finish the job that Gou Jing started.” Gou Jia began to mutter to himself, and Gou Da and Gou Hui could only look on as their brother's train of thought ran in circles.

“Violet injury… The Violet Sword… but no, it could cut through it… would they? If they were… no… but then they’d need…” With a sudden pause, Gou Jia turned back to his brothers.

“They need to come back.”

At his brother’s confused looks, Gou Jia elaborated.

“The Violet Earth Warrior needs to come back to finish the job. If they’re committed to dealing a blow to The Matron once, they won’t stop until The Matron dies or is sealed again. This one is too weak to seal it, or maybe they don’t know how since the previous Violet Earth Warrior died.”

“If they want answers or to kill The Matron, then we will be here to stop them.” Gou Jia looked at Gou Da and shook his head.

With a frustrated expression, Gou Jia ran his hand through his hair.

“But now we have a rebellion slowly rising in our sect that we have to deal with. We’ve no doubt given them time to prepare now that we’ve rushed down here. They know we want to kill them, and they won’t take that lying down.”

Gou Jia growled as he looked up at the violet mist, still trying to get through Gou Da’s barrier.

“We have to split up.”

Gou Jia looked at Gou Hui, who shrunk at his gaze.

“Brother, I’m not strong enough to fend off a—”

“You have to be. For The Matron.”

“For The Matron.” Gou Da repeated and looked toward his younger brother with encouragement.

Gou Hui looked frazzled and was about to voice his fear when Gou Jia’s look turned cold.

“Consider this a punishment for telling Arden and the others about the bramble beast bond. If you don’t face this, I’ll strip you of your rights as a sect leader. Even if The Matron has chosen you, she will not have one of her leaders shrink in her time of need.”

Gou Hui’s words got stuck in his throat, and he had no choice but to swallow them down.

“For The Matron.” Gou Hui reluctantly replied.

“For The Matron.” His brothers replied and walked their way back to the floating platform. Gou Jia spoke to Gou Da as they walked.

“We need to limit the activities of the sect members. Have the inner sect disciples that have proven their loyalty halt any movement in and out of the sect. We can’t have the sacrifices escape, and we certainly can’t let any more in to add to Sun Cai’s numbers. I trust I can leave killing Sun Cai to you?”

Gou Da was about to reply with his agreement when the image of a vined collar flashed on Gou Jia’s arm. Gou Jia yelled in anger and faced Gou Da.

“Sun Cai just broke the restrictive collar. We must find him and the others fast before they tear up the sect or flee.”

“You have my word. He will soon not live.” Gou Da spoke. With a stare, he addressed what concerned him.

“Does that mean you will track down Abby and the others?”

Gou Jia’s eyes flashed, but ultimately, he nodded his head.

“I will capture them. If Sun Cai decides to hide like a rat, we will use them to bring him back to us. Even if that requires the threat of their death.”

Gou Da’s wrinkling forehead eased as he looked at his brother. His calm voice echoed into the violet mist as the platform raised the two brothers back towards the sect.

“That’s the brother I trust. Before long, you will be like me, a proud Gateway Foundation Cultivator. As soon as we kill Sun Cai and offer him up, The Matron will bestow you with the same power he possesses.”

Gou Da smiled as he felt the power of a Gateway Foundation Cultivator course through him.

“The same power I took from Gou Jing with her heart.”

…

Gou Hui nervously watched from below as his two brothers left on the floating platform. A vicious look floated on his face, and as soon as the brothers had disappeared into the clouds, he voiced his discontent.

“Swine! Leaving me down here to die against a Violet Earth Warrior. I'll show them. I‘ll take down this violet earth fake with my own two hands!”

Gou Hui made to step into the violet mist but stopped as the violet mist amalgamated and formed a needle that pointed toward his throat. If not for Gou Da’s barrier protecting him, the needle would have gone through his throat.

A bead of sweat rolled down Gou Jia’s brow, but he quickly resumed his confident demeanour.

“You hear me, Violet Earth Warrior! Come out here and face me!”

Gou Hui watched and waited, but the mist simply dispersed and resumed its natural drifting state, waiting for another opening to pounce on the root inside the cobblestone dome.

“Coward can’t even come out to face me….” Gou Hui muttered, and his head drooped a bit.

“How am I supposed to kill someone and prove myself if I can’t even enter the violet mist?” Gou Hui almost lost his hopes of impressing his brothers when a sickly-sweet voice rang in his ears.

“… Do you seek… power?...” The voice drifted from the nearby root.

“Matron!” Gou Hui yelled and fell to his knees before the root.

“… I gift… a beast…” The sickly-sweet voice spoke out, then deepened into a malevolent tone.

“… Kill…”

A crimson flower sprouted on the root's end, enticing Gou Hui to come closer and kneel. Gou Hui closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet scent the flower gave off when suddenly, the crimson flower spewed a dazzling amount of red particles that entered Gou Hui’s body through his eyes. Red veins momentarily snaked along Gou Hui's forehead, forming a mark of a demon with two curled horns.

“Matron!” Gou Hui cried out as a bestial roar let loose beneath the cobblestone dome. Soon after, a pair of blood-red eyes opened from its slumber, eager to hunt.

“… KILL!…”