The forest held its breath.

Tao and Jian moved forward cautiously, the oppressive silence thickening with every step. The figures in the shadows had been closing in, yet without warning, they withdrew, slipping back into the depths of the trees. Jian’s grip on his sword tightened. "They're gone? Just like that?"

Tao wasn’t convinced. "No. Something's wrong. They must be planning something"

Then, the world twisted.

The shift was so subtle at first that they barely noticed. A barely perceptible ripple in the air, a faint tug in their chests. Then, all at once, it consumed them. The path ahead stretched unnaturally. The trees, once distinct in shape, became eerily identical, their gnarled limbs clawing at the sky in uniform patterns. The roots beneath their feet seemed to twist in on themselves, leading them forward yet leaving them nowhere.

Jian exhaled sharply. "Wait, this isn't right. Somethings changed."

They pressed on, only to come across a fallen branch lying across the path an hour later. Jian had stepped over that exact branch moments ago. His expression darkened. "We’re walking in circles."

Tao frowned. "That’s not possible. We’ve been walking in a straight line."

Jian turned and made a deep gash in the nearest tree, carving a jagged mark into its bark. They continued forward, more wary than before. The silence of the forest became suffocating, thick with unseen weight. Minutes passed, then…

Jian stopped dead. The same gash, the same tree, stood before them once more.

"Damn it," Jian cursed. "We’re trapped in a formation."

Tao inhaled sharply, his senses reaching outward. The energy around them was wrong… stretched and warped, as if space itself had been rewoven into an endless loop.

A low chuckle curled through his mind, smooth and mocking.

"Oh dear. You really are helpless without me, aren't you?"

Tao’s jaw tightened. "Shenli."

The fox spirit’s voice oozed with amusement. "What an embarrassing display. You can’t even tell where the core of the formation is? How do you expect to survive in the cultivation world like this?"

Jian didn’t notice the voice in Tao’s mind, but he did notice the tension in his posture. "You sense something?"

Tao hesitated. "The formation is distorting space around us."

Jian scowled, scanning their surroundings. "Then there has to be a core somewhere. If we can disrupt it…"

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He was interrupted by a sharp rustling. Both of them turned toward the sound, weapons ready, but there was nothing. Just the same trees, the same twisting path.

Jian let out a slow breath. "Think. There has to be a way to break it."

They tried everything. Jian carved symbols into trees, marking their steps, only to have them appear ahead of them again. Tao sent a pulse of Qi through the ground, searching for inconsistencies, only to feel the same terrain stretching infinitely around them. The more they struggled, the tighter the space seemed to constrict, as if the forest itself were feeding off their confusion.

Shenli sighed dramatically. "Oh, this is painful to watch. Look at you, scurrying like trapped rats. Is this really the best you can do?"

Tao clenched his fists. "If you’re so amused, why don’t you break it yourself?"

Shenli let out a slow hum. "Mmm… tempting, but watching you struggle is far more entertaining. Maybe I’ll let you wander for a few more hours… days, perhaps? Until you start talking to the trees? That would be fun."

Jian threw a rock down a side path, it bounced off a tree, veered sideways, then rolled to a stop at their feet. He cursed. "We don’t have time for this. Has it been a day or longer? I can’t tell how long we have been walking this path."

Shenli sighed dramatically. "Shall I let you struggle a little longer? It is rather amusing."

Tao exhaled sharply. "There has to be a flaw in the array. We just need to…"

Tao felt his patience fraying, but before he could think further, Shenli clicked his tongue, unimpressed.

"Enough. I can’t watch this anymore."

Suddenly, the air around them shattered.

A piercing crack tore through the silence, like glass fracturing in an instant. The trees rippled as if reality itself had been a stretched canvas, suddenly snapping back into place. The unnatural mist that had concealed their true surroundings vanished, revealing the path as it had been before the array took hold.

Jian staggered slightly, eyes wide. "What just happened?"

Tao forced his face into neutrality. "I… don’t know."

Jian studied him for a long moment, his suspicion unmistakable. But before he could press further, the earth rumbled beneath them.

The oppressive silence of the forest changed, shifting into something expectant. Ahead, nestled within the roots of an ancient tree, a black petaled lotus glowed faintly, shrouded in mist.

Jian inhaled. "The Obsidian Cloud Lotus… we found it."

But Tao barely registered the words. Something stirred beneath them.

A tremor. Then another. A deep, ancient groan reverberated through the earth.

The mist swirled violently, forming into shifting figures. Then…

Movement.

From the shadows, ashen robed cultivators emerged, their faces obscured beneath hoods. But they did not approach Tao and Jian. Their attention was fixed elsewhere on the earth itself.

The ground cracked, splitting apart with a hiss of steam. A towering gate, wreathed in forgotten symbols, rose from the depths, roots coiling around its ancient frame. Its power pulsed in slow, rhythmic waves, as if awakening from a long slumber.

And before it, half buried in the earth, something moved.

The being was humanoid, but not human. Obsidian veins pulsed through bark like armour, its massive form entwined with the land itself. Its pale, glowing eyes flickered open, burning with an unnatural light. When it spoke, its voice rumbled like shifting stone.

"Who seeks passage? Do you come as seekers or as trespassers? Speak, or be judged."

The ashen robed cultivators stood motionless.

Jian’s grip on his sword tightened. Tao remained silent, breath slow, controlled, but inside, his mind churned.

In the depths of his consciousness, Shenli laughed.

"Ah… now this is interesting."