Land (1)
Heian Ciemnosc walked ahead of everyone else, with his Eternal Return Team, Yun Tang and Yun Nitu, behind him as they chatted. 15 had passed, and Heian Ciemnosc finally gave the order. Some Teams left their side and went on their own way, either because of greed or Heian Ciemnosc's violent actions. Either way, the main group finally advanced.
“... Heian Ciemnosc!” After chatting with her new girlfriends, Yun Nitu walked until she was walking beside Heian Ciemnosc, calling him out and taking a square-shaped object from her Covert Space bags. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc kept his Spirit Sense down to show responsibility after reading everyone’s faces and identifying those following him. He still had his overly-cultivator-ish 5 senses and nature reading.
One of the Teams following him was that gal who doubted him in the Sect’s Carrier and questioned him just a quarter of an hour ago. She was her organization's representative, bringing more or less 100 people with her, not one of them missing.
“What is it?” Heian Ciemnosc slightly turned his head to the left and side-glanced at Yun Nitu. The pretty young woman walked side by side and bumped his shoulder. She started the conversation, “I heard you sampled the food for Riquel? Hm? How was Cara? Miss being so fickle?”
“Are you scouting for Elena?” Heian Ciemnosc helplessly shook his head slightly and looked directly at the device Yun Nitu was carrying as she stuck her tongue out towards him. Yun Nitu shrugged and said while looking ahead, seemingly worried. “I was just curious. You weren’t so ‘easy’ when we first met. I wonder if my relationship with Tang Tang would’ve been worse off if you preyed after me.”
“Silly,” Heian Ciemnosc commented, shaking his head slightly again. Yun Nitu felt a little more relieved. Heian Ciemnosc added as if knowing her little thoughts, “Stay behind me a little more. I can’t see or know where we are. If we need to ‘behave’ or if we’re free for most casual actions… But if we must take precautions, I will know.”
“Mn,” Yun Nitu understood the message. She slowed until she was 2 steps behind Heian Ciemnosc and continued walking. Heian Ciemnosc spoke without looking back, “Is that a box?”
“:.. No.” Yun Nitu’s response came a little late. Heian Ciemnosc just had to twist his head to look at a troll's face, tilting her head to the right. Yun Nitu giggled and shut her eyes, granting Heian Ciemnosc the chance to feel funny and smile lightly. As Heian Ciemnosc looked ahead, Yun Nitu elaborated. “This is the strange thingie we’re using to reach the coffin. Don’t worry about it for now. According to my Master’s guidance… we’re at least 2 weeks from that place at this pace.”
“I understand, but it might be earlier than you think,” Heian Ciemnosc said, looking ahead and looking negligibly tall and imposing from behind. Yun Nitu wasn’t the only one to notice this seemingly subtle but ‘positive’ change in him. Even his Eternal Return Team, always with him, barely seemed to notice.
“Why do you say so?” Yun Nitu asked with a slight frown. Heian Ciemnosc casually replied, “This Semi-Space makes my nature reading a little dizzy. That either means I’m too weak, or there are space contortions… It’s a good thing. That means we can look for other treasures while we’re here.”
“Ah…” Yun Nitu half-nodded, unsure what to think. Heian Ciemnosc said nothing more and remained silent. Yun Nitu felt a little pressured to speak again without Heian Ciemnosc initiating the conversation, and so did the others behind them after the two went silent. That changed just 15 minutes later when Heian Ciemnosc suddenly stopped and seemed to have become paralyzed.
“Cough.” - “Argghh.” - “Ahem.” - “Yaawnn…” - “Achoo!” - “Scratch, scratch… Ahh, my ass itched!” - “Be careful…” - “Groan, sigh.” - “Ah- ahem!” - “Cough, cough.” - “Haaah.” - “Mmmmhm.”
Heian Ciemnosc’s right hand suddenly raised, and the signal made everyone nervous for an instant. The group started making noises, relieving themselves from the anxiousness as they tried to let it all out before entering a dangerous zone with ghosts. Just understanding what it meant made them petrified. Heian Ciemnosc proceeded to walk after the comical, sonorous chain, much to the other’s fear.
Yun Nitu followed after Heian Ciemnosc without slowing her steps, keeping Heian Ciemnosc’s pace, which was the same as before, but she didn’t feel anything after passing through the place Heian Ciemnosc stopped. Nevertheless, she felt more at ease now that she could remain silent without wanting to speak.
It was the same for the others. Things became awfully silent. They walked through the platform and didn’t notice anything different. Some cultivators extended their limbs and grazed their platform’s so-called walls, the goldish smog around them. Heian Ciemnosc didn't do anything to stop them, letting them ‘feel’ its ethereal form as it deformed and moved depending on their motion like stardust.
They walked for hours, with the silence of the place sometimes making some of them react strangely. Some parts of their heads felt itchy or as if something just went past them, causing them to respond strongly and jolt their heads. Heian Ciemnosc would twist his neck and give them his profile sides as if to warn them each time that happened.
However, it never went beyond that. Heian Ciemnosc continued walking, and the Crimsonbreaking Faction, Phosphorescent Flower Sect, and Golden Terra Sect’s cultivators continued trekking, following Heian Ciemnosc, keeping his orders at bay, and protecting him.
Heian Ciemnosc was like the ‘savior’ nobody asked for, but they slowly realized they needed. He was weaker than them, or at least from most of them. However, he was the only one capable enough to lead their group, while only some left on their own and departed before they did. Among them, the other person to doubt Heian Ciemnosc in the Carrier.
Tak- step- “...mm!”
Step… “...” Heian Ciemnosc suddenly stopped. He looked back and watched a young man trip over the smooth, flat floor. However, looking at how the young man nearly smacked his face on it, there must’ve been something in it. Evidently… However, Heian Ciemnosc only momentarily looked at this happen, his skin already numbing. What took his attention was Yun Nitu’s, whose left nostril suddenly bled… obscure red blood.
Step, step, step- pshift-click!!... -Step…! Heian Ciemnosc rapidly passed by Yun Nitu towards the young man who nearly tripped. The young cultivator was picked by another person who helped him avoid meeting the floor head-on. Yun Tang looked at Heian Ciemnosc before staring at Yun Tang, but with Heian Ciemnosc’s glare, he didn’t dare move away from the spot to help her.
“Huh? No- no!” The cultivator looked at where everyone else was looking, only to find Heian Ciemnosc coming at him with that scary, large, dark claw on his right hand. A few guards followed Heian Ciemnosc, and they only moved depending on how Heian Ciemnosc walked and if he instructed them.
Phhshk!! “Aaaaacckk!!” The cultivator roared with 5 long, dark claws stabbing through his throat. It came out as a choked scream with blood forcing its way from the stabbing wounds, his mouth, and even ears and nostrils. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t stop there, and he waved his right dark claw up and down to slowly tear all the skin from the young man’s body. He carved the organs out and grabbed his hurting skeleton by the shoulder bones before throwing him off to the side.
… … … … Wheeeesh!!
“HAAAAAA- grwwwwwwwwww~~!!” The young man screamed at the top of his lungs as enhanced Neutral Energy thundered below the platform. However, amidst his cry, he was either stopped or stimulated. The noise became as sharp and high-pitched as unimaginably, and it felt as if something hit the cultivator hard, kidnapping his last moments of life below the platform far away.
The cultivators atop the platform even felt they could see the young man’s image of suddenly being ‘hugged’ by something and brought away with his face becoming terrorized like nothing ever could. Shaking them to the core.
Heian Ciemnosc’s Vocón Link rapidly ate the skin and organs on the platform as Heian Ciemnosc remained on the spot. He also went through the same thing and felt his consciousness stolen away for an instant. It wasn’t a new sensation to him. His Master ‘trained’ him like this in the past. However, the others were mortified and surprised, unaware of the ‘opportunistic’ revelation they just experienced.
…Step, step, step. Heian Ciemnosc made another gesture with his left arm above his head, and the cultivators’ attention was taken away. They rapidly sobered, and after glancing one last time at the seemingly equally peaceful and tranquil goldish smog they left behind and was at their sides, too attractive to want to look away, they somehow found strength and kept walking.
“...” Heian Ciemnosc nodded at Yun Tang, who immediately walked to Yun Nitu and helped her. He cleaned her nose and looked at her face before rebuking her with an eye-to-eye contest. Yun Tang sternly warned her, but Yun Nitu’s eyes melted as she looked at him and placated the big, towering fella.
As everyone resumed their walking, Heian Ciemnosc arrived at the front, passing by the Yuns and supporting Yun Nitu with a light touch to the back of her right arm. After taking a look at her, Heian Ciemnosc took the lead, and nobody ever said anything about his actions. On the other hand, they slowly realized what happened to their pretty leading figure, Yun Nitu.
The team leader in charge of the young man might feel pained, but he understood now, as did others. And what’s more, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t do anything to the person who helped the young man not meet the floor. Whether Heian Ciemnosc did it on purpose. This caused them to think about the dangers of just walking. Finally, the cultivators thought about looking for each other.
With how strange the development resulted, if the other comrade hadn’t grabbed the young man in time… would it have been worse?
“...” Heian Ciemnosc felt something from the bottom of his heart. He sneakily looked backwards. The group tensed and looked at themselves before scanning their immediate surroundings. Their Spirit Sense was limited to their inner bodies, analyzing for any abnormality, but found nothing.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
No. What Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes fell onto wasn’t the cultivators but a figure far behind them. It was a kneeling young man without a face and a disjointed throat, seemingly made from grime and sludge. It simply stood there, doing nothing. It remained in the same spot as the group left it behind. Just before Heian Ciemnosc planned on turning his head and staring ahead, more sludge formed from nowhere and created a hand that seemed about to wave but just stood there, paused as Heian Ciemnosc stared.
“...” Heian Ciemnosc returned to face the front, and his face sombered up. He became a little tense, and it was easily noticeable from behind. Yun Tang continued to support Yun Nitu for a few minutes before the latter sent the former back to the rest. She held the box resiliently and followed Heian Ciemnosc’s back, using it as a beacon for distractions and strange ‘pulls’ that attracted her to look sideways.
Yun Nitu wasn’t the only one feeling these strange notions, but she felt them more powerfully than anyone else. Heian Ciemnosc’s Team and the other cultivators had their own methods to deal with it, too afraid to look where the unknown scary thing was. Meditating, remembering their lives… depending on their heart. To each their own.
However, and thankfully, after a few hours, that fear and nervousness became tranquility and slight tension. It wasn’t as bad as before, and the group noticed that the less fearful they were, the more the ‘pull’ lessened. Yet, it remained there like a reminder that they were always being watched.
“...an…”
Tap. Heian Ciemnosc suddenly stopped again. The group tensed up immediately, and everyone felt a creep cross from their feet to behind their ears, trembling and flaring their pores on and off. He looked at a person who barely made a noise with a yawn. The young man looked at Heian Ciemnosc with eyes fully open, seemingly not believing he was in trouble. But as he looked around, everyone looked at him…
“!!” The young man tried escaping. He wasn’t giving his life away! It was not fair! His peak Second Step cultivation base stood out, his aura becoming more prominent, and suddenly, the cultivators felt that ‘presence’ become more assertive as they sensed it more.
Whoooooosh!! Dash~~!!
Heian Ciemnosc’s body shot into the air, just above their heads, and flew towards the young man with a Crimson in the peak of the Second Step flying beside him. Other guards followed behind. Heian Ciemnosc’s dark claws extended while his Vocón Link shot forward. The unprepared young man felt his legs coiled by something stupidly powerful. Despite his Neutral Energy, he couldn’t escape the vice grip!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Heian Ciemnosc’s guards pinned the man down, with the peak Second Step Crimson Auxiliary Soldier striking the young man from the back. The merciless action gained more tension points with the cultivators as they watched Heian Ciemnosc walk towards the cultivator, lift his right dark claw, and aim at the throat. But at that moment…
… paaaagghh~... -Phhshk!!
A seemingly noiseless whisper echoed behind Heian Ciemnosc. His pupils and irises constricted, rapidly stabbing the young man’s throat and sending Vocón Link to eat the rest from within by penetrating from the throat to the torso. Heian Ciemnosc rapidly looked back at the person behind him, a young woman with gray hair and eyes. She stared at Heian Ciemnosc, or rather, in his direction.
Her eyes started melting as if layers of skin scraped off her eyeballs, and droplets fell off from the same. Heian Ciemnosc strode forth once before holding the young woman’s head with his right hand while his left dark claws’ tips poked at her collarbone. The young woman moved her lips, but nothing came from them. Heian Ciemnosc no longer waited and thrust his reverse knife stance claw into her body. His right, darkened hand abruptly tugged her head, detaching it from her body.
Ckrsheeeeeerrrrr~!!... Phhshk!!
Heian Ciemnosc’s left claw immediately soared, stabbing the young woman’s brain before quickly walking to the side and throwing her head and skin from her neck off the platform. The group watched as Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Tail, 3 meters long, coiled around the young woman’s corpse before the dark whip consuming the young man’s body returned and shot towards the young woman’s headless body.
Heian Ciemnosc’s left darkened hand hid its individual claws and folded his index, middle, and ring fingers. His guards looked stunned before tensing. The other cultivators noticed it but didn’t know what it meant as Heian Ciemnosc’s bodyguards looked at them as if trying to find someone else. But when Heian Ciemnosc’s left shoulder suddenly jolted, and his breathing turned heavier out of nowhere.
‘...’ Heian Ciemnosc kept even his head off any thought of forming a word as his heart felt as if it was slowly clenched by endlessly long fingers with crooked nails scratching his heart’s thin fabric. Then, when the feeling intensified, he felt a new presence around his dark Soul!!
Sara had hidden away with his instructions, but there was something new and so sudden around his dark Soul!! However, and thankfully… the presence dissipated after, seemingly not interested in his dark Soul… or something else.
“Hahh…” Heian Ciemnosc exhaled heavily and with difficulty breathing air back into his lungs. The cultivators looked at his back as if he had fucked up, but no one dared to make a move, not without half a dozen peak Mythical realm cultivators surrounding him as if ready to give their lives up.
At the front, Yun Nitu looked as her lacrimals shed some blood, blinking and breathing with ease after feeling a strange, heavy toll. It suddenly disappeared after Heian Ciemnosc touched the young woman, and she seemed to see through something but nothing at the same time.
… Step, step. After resting for an extra minute, with nothing happening and the cultivators' shock at that realization striking them, Heian Ciemnosc turned and walked back to the front. The 2 bodies were eaten away, and the young woman’s head was thrown off the platform. It must’ve been something horrible, but it worked as intended.
The group continued walking afterwards. Nothing happened for hours, having finally realized of the many things they must look for just to not make noise. Now, the cultivators who tripped put their lives on the line to not even make noise with their feet returning to the ground, and when one felt a sudden impulse that resulted in forming a sound, they self-harmed themselves or asked someone else to help them stay sober by pinching, hurting, or tightly holding their bodies.
Sometimes, various cultivators had to hold 1 person together to keep them quiet. They no longer touched the sides, the goldish smog, and barely looked at them, focusing their gaze ahead. The realization of the other Teams who didn’t follow them of their survival made them a little more apprehensive and saddened.
There was nothing they could do. They chose their path, and to be fair, the cultivators who followed thought about detaching from the main group. They could only be glad at themselves for choosing not to, in the end, or they would be onwards to their deaths if not already.
So far, it was peaceful, except for the 3 casualties Heian Ciemnosc forced. At last, Yun Nitu felt the dependence on Heian Ciemnosc as he demonstrated just a little, but that was enough to convince her group and the rest of the cultivators following them.
… Like this, 2 days passed. Heian Ciemnosc was just walking as usual, looking at the front and relaxing most of the time. Occasionally, looking back at the cultivators and at his people. Yun Nitu was calm and collected, spending these 50 hours in peace without complaint, keeping Heian Ciemnosc’s tranquility.
“We are good here.” Suddenly, Heian Ciemnosc raised his right arm and gestured with his hand before speaking. His calmly spoken words were like a calm thunder lazily striking above their heads and to their sides, surprising them.
“... Pheeeeeeew~!” Clanton stretched his arms up and exclaimed. Cara, staring ahead with a dumb, auto-pilot face, suddenly reacted and yawned. “Yaaaaaaawn~! No wonder I felt like something lifted off my shoulders! Ahhhhh! So comfy~!”
Her body became more prominent after stretching. This was enough stimulation for the others to wake up and start relaxing. It wasn’t a lie. They and other peak Mythical realm cultivators could sense something dissipating from their inner bodies after a couple minutes of walking. As the other cultivators saw the ‘VIP zone’ relax, they also dropped their tension and meekly spoke for the first time in a couple days.
“... sigh,” Heian Ciemnosc slowly fell his bum on the floor. He sat cross-legged as he felt the tension pressuring on his back diminish. Whatever the reason was in a Semi-Space, something he could not comprehend, their emotions and nature seemed so much heavier, as if overly articulating everywhere.
Rustle, push- push. Yun Nitu silently walked behind Heian Ciemnosc and placed her slender hands on his shoulders before pinching them with all her mighty strength. She knew only like this could she give him a massage. Then, she gently said, “Now, now. Our hero deserves some relaxation. Ah, ah. There you go. How about my elbow? Is it good? I’ve been training with Tang Tang. He’s so easy to manipulate with mass-”
“Who’s Tang Tang?”
“Ah!” A voice started her from behind. Both Heian Ciemnosc and Yun Nitu looked back, only to see Yun Tang look genuinely confused about who that ‘Tang Tang’ ape stealing his girl was. Yun Nitu rolled her eyes as she returned to massage Heian Ciemnosc’s back, beating the shit out of it with her arms and even headbutting him a little.
Heian Ciemnosc smiled slightly and shook his head before facing the front and lowering his head. After a while, he felt relaxed enough and let the lass know. Yun Nitu stood up, content with her efficient ‘arts’ before looking at her waiting tower. Yun Tang cupped her face, and both idiots started idiotizing behind Heian Ciemnosc, looking so lovely they could melt icebergs.
“... Aah,” Heian Ciemnosc exclaimed as he stood up after a few minutes. He felt his cultivation base quiver, about to break through. But he had to deal with something else first. As he stood up and his Team noticed him, he talked with Sara. “Where is it?”
For a place such as a Semi-Space, more dangerous and enigmatic than any Dimension, which Heian Ciemnosc already couldn’t decipher from its creation and laws, of course, he couldn’t figure anything from it. However, he had his sweet, little lolita to make up for his current faults. The future Heian Ciemnosc might know these things, but it did not matter now.
“Just go to the left. You’ll see a little passageway. It’s a real one, though. But only if you keep your heart steady. Don’t worry. These places used to be like challenges for the Lords I’ve seen. You all are being tested of your will even though this place is no longer functional. And there are those ghosts lurking all around you.” Sara neatly responded.
“Oh? How many have died?” Heian Ciemnosc asked, lifting his eyebrows as he walked to his Team, where the Yuns and some Golden Terra Sect team leaders also were. Sara vividly said, “Mmmmm, like all of them?! Only 2 Teams remain, and they are running from the same thing. It divided itself into 2 and is playing with them. Damn, each of their steps is like asking to be eaten. If it wasn’t for this ghost, they would’ve been mauled by tens of thousands of others.”
“So there’s a hierarchy,” Heian Ciemnosc said and thought inside his head. Sara nodded, “Yup! But not how you think. They have no cultivation base. Hurry up! It might leave soon!”
“Mn,” Heian Ciemnosc hummed before addressing his Team and the others. “I found something, but I have to go alone. Stay here and wait for me. We’ll return after I either fail or obtain something.”
“What is it, Heian Ciemnosc?” Yun Nitu stood up, not doubting Heian Ciemnosc’s words but wondering about his reasons. Heian Ciemnosc nodded and said while stepping backwards towards the platform’s edge. “It should be a treasure. Wait here, don’t move, and if something happens, use this.”
Whoosh… tap! Step, step, step…
Heian Ciemnosc threw something at Yun Nitu, and when she caught it, she found a gold-transparent little cube. Heian Ciemnosc nodded one last time and turned around to face the ethereal passageway he could barely notice. He became pensive as the group watched him and finally stepped into the goldish smog.
The cultivators were left astounded, but as Heian Ciemnosc continued and he didn’t fall and instead stepped into the goldish smog at ease, they could only keep quiet and ask later… With caution, of course.
…