“Find a way out of the sect,” Abby repeated Sun Cai’s instructions.

Meanwhile, Sun Cai would attempt to break free of the sealing collar that restricted his cultivation with Arden’s help, and her mother would begin to gather the secret rebels that would escape from the sect with them.

“To think they were planning this all along.” Abby felt a flash of anger at not being included.

“I realize Gou Jia was watching me like a hawk, but that doesn’t mean they had to keep secrets from me!” Abby whispered her frustrations into the cold night wind. Above her, the moon was nearing its full strength, meaning that her cultivation was also nearing its most powerful phase.

Abby hopped from roof to roof as she descended to the outer sections of the Bloodthorne Sect. As she travelled, silent as an owl on the prowl, she noticed how the alleyways were filled with people rushing about.

“New sect orders! You are to remain in your homes! Even outer disciples must abide by Sect Leader Gou Jia’s orders!”

An inner disciple with embroidered robes shouted at a pair of cowering outer disciples as they rushed into their home. He repeated the message along the streets with a mean bark, scaring anyone with a single snap of his bloodied whip against the ground.

Abby felt the urge to stop the inner disciple, but she let the feeling pass. If Gou Jia was already coordinating an effort to restrict everyone, then she didn’t have much time. Abby’s face hardened as she carried on and arrived atop the outer sect walls.

“That’s not good.”

Abby watched with concern as their only ways out of the sect, the tied rope and wood bridges, were cut from their posts. Abby counted the seconds to see how far the bridges had fallen into the ominously lit-up violet mist below, but she assumed the worst when she didn’t hear a colliding noise at all.

“Not even a peak Qi Condensation Cultivator can survive that drop. Maybe a Gateway Foundation cultivator, but that won’t save anyone but Sun Cai.”

A disastrous thought wiggled into Abby’s mind that she hurried to dispel: Would Sun Cai run away without them?

“Sun Cai will stay with us and fight. He wouldn’t run away.” Abby reassured herself. But then, the skin on Abby’s neck bristled as a reply she wasn’t expecting made her turn around.

“That drunken coward will do what he has to do to survive. Do you know how we caught him?”

Abby looked to see Gou Jia twirling a condensed, red droplet of blood around his finger. In his other hand, he dragged an unconscious Arden with lacerations cut all across his body.

“He was supposed to guard a wealthy travelling caravan but deserted them when he met my sister Gou Jing. We killed the rest and garnered a profit that lasted for generations. If it wasn’t for Gou Jing changing her heart and Sun Cai following alongside her….”

Gou Jia dropped Arden to the ground without remorse and continued walking toward Abby.

Eager to not let Gou Jia draw close, Abby let her Water Qi run amok. She summoned watery whips attached to her hands and snapped toward Gou Jia.

“Abby, there is so much more to Qi Condensation than I've taught you. For instance, do you know how long I’ve been at the peak of Qi Condensation?” Gou Jia asked as the single droplet of blood flew from his fingertips.

The droplet raced with amazing speed as it drilled holes through Abby’s whips and rendered them meaningless by the time they touched the hem of Gou Jia’s clothes.

“So, so long. At least, that’s what it feels when you don’t know if you will live or die tomorrow.”

The drop of blood lengthened into a circle and chopped off Abby’s water whips from her hands, just narrowly missing her fingers. Then, it compressed and suddenly shot toward her forehead, stopping just before it could contact her skin.

“Kneel. Then, don't move.” Gou Jia warned.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Abby’s eyes quivered as she looked at the droplet. How was Gou Jia this strong? She knew his control over Water Qi was strong, but for it to be this strong…

Thud.

Abby was forced to drop to her knees as the droplet pressed into her forehead. Meanwhile, Gou Jia drew closer to Abby, revealing his face by the grace of moonlight.

He looked so angry.

As Abby stared into Gou Jia’s eyes, she watched the way his emotions swirled like a whirlpool of wrath, regret, and above all else, self-loathing.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, letting you and your family roam free like that.” Gou Jia admitted.

“You know exactly what you were thinking.” Abby countered. She had grown used to countering what Gou Jia spoke about, but the usual relaxed tone he used after was nowhere in sight. The blood droplet sliced a line across Abby’s lips and returned to her forehead.

“Don’t talk.” Gou Jia commanded her like so many others he held control over.

Gou Jia arrived before Abby and kneeled down to where she sat. His eyes turned tranquil as he tucked a hair from Abby’s face.

“She was just like you… Gou Jing was just like you.” Gou Jia’s eyes blanked as the image of Gou Jing overlapped with Abby’s face.

“Abby, can you keep a secret?” Gou Jia whispered and then leaned into her ear without her agreeance. There, he spoke a secret that nobody else would ever know.

“I hate The Matron. I wish she and the Bloodthorne Sect would burn in the deepest parts of the Abyss. But on one of the coldest nights in the harsh winter, when my sworn brothers and sisters were starving and on the brink of death, she gave us hope that we could survive.”

“I signed a contract with a devil that day.” Gou Jia finished and pulled away from Abby. With a relieved breath, he closed his eyes and felt a brief instance where the weight on his shoulders lifted just the tiniest bit. When he reopened his eyes, it was with the gentle look that Abby was used to seeing.

“Do what I did, Abby. I’ll be the devil. All you have to do is abandon Sun Cai and bond with The Matron. If you do that, I can guarantee your safety.” Gou Jia offered and watched as Abby stared at him. Her eyes squinted to a close as pity raged inside her. When she stared back up, Gou Jia had his answer without her speaking a word.

Sigh.

Gou Jia’s energy sapped out of him as he shifted his steps. Before Abby could realize it, Gou Jia had already struck the pressure points in her body, rendering her incapable of moving. Abby fell onto her side, with her hand brushing against the edge of the wall. Her last sights were of Gou Jia, the nearly-full moon, and the faint wisp of violet mist that went to wrap around her finger.

Abby’s eyes slowly closed as the violet mist violently retracted from her finger, unable to bear being near someone like her.

“It’s almost time.” Gou Jia whispered as tears began to well in his eyes, and his face contorted. With a body crumpling in pain, he let out a scream that echoed into the night sky.

*****

“I’ve got you.” Gou Hui whispered.

An ominous red light filtered out from the crack in Gou Hui's closed eyes as what he saw was no longer the cobblestone dome. Instead, he saw through the beast that The Matron had granted him.

The Two-Horned Bramble Beast.

He watched as it pounced on its brethren, ripping them to pieces in seconds as it searched for signs of the Violet Earth Warrior. Finally, after an entire night of searching, Gou Hui noticed a trail of dead bodies.

“If it includes horned bramble beasts, then it has to be them. They're the only one strong enough to kill them.” Gou Hui smiled, and mentally, he ordered the Two-Horned Bramble Beast to follow the trail. It didn’t take long before the beast slowed its incredible speed, and Gou Hui laid his eyes upon the Violet Earth Warrior himself.

Gou Hui’s lip twitched.

“That’s not possible.” Gou Hui’s body began to uncontrollably shake.

“That’s not possible! It can’t be him!”

Gou Hui shouted his words into the distance, trying to voice his disbelief.

“HE SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE!”

*****

I was exhausted.

I had never fought so many of the bramble beasts one after the other; it was taking its toll on my mind, which began to grow weary as the violet mist thinned in the area.

I now realized the thinness was because the violet pool cave collected and condensed the nearby violet mist into water form. Of course, the cracks I made in the pool basin meant that was for nought…

Growl!

I twisted the head of the leaping bramble dog by slamming the back of my fist into its jaw, but that opened my back up to an attack by a swooping bramble bat. With a vibrating swat, the bat was reduced to meat scraps that landed harmlessly on the ground.

Dog this, bat that. Did these things come in any other form? I had seen bramble ants; that was promising. Where were the Bramble Cats? The Bramble Goats? Please! Please, if you’re going to throw a mountain of bloodthirsty bramble beasts my way, at least vary it up, ok?

I smashed another bramble bat and smiled as I saw the violet pool cave not too far away. There, I could at least find some form of sanctuary from the various bloodthirsty—

Growl…

My body initially froze on instinct, but I forced my head to twist as I looked back, immediately regretting my thoughts from earlier.

I take it back.

Bramble dogs and bramble bats are enough! In fact, they're perfect! You don’t need to throw anything more at me!!

Hiss…

My eyes widened, reflecting the image of a bramble beast I had never seen before.

Its claws weren’t the elongated kind like the single-horned bramble dogs. Instead, they were shorter and curled into a fine point. The scaly fur pattern across its body was enough to show me that this thing was no regular mammal, either. I thought I was big, but this beast was taller than me and double as wide.

Most importantly, the tail that usually swung at me in battle was now hissing at me, baring its no-doubt-poisonous fangs.

A two-horned bramble…chimera? A Bramble Chimera?