Chapter 139: This Young Master Vents
First came silver light. Then came a mouth full of sickly sweet, bitter death. Chen Haoran unconsciously inhaled, and his lungs were filled with stinging air. As soon as he started to feel the burn, his qi adjusted, and the feeling vanished. The burning did not go away; however, instead of poison, it was adrenaline that now set his lungs aflame. Chen Haoran's hands flew to his empty back, and he whirled around to find Phelps fallen on the ground behind him. A single panicked thought called an antidote pill to his hand, and Chen Haoran fell to his knees, trying to feed the pill to Phelps.
It was in vain.
Phelps was perfectly fine.
Through his sense, he could feel the shifting of poisonous air as Phelps breathed. Just before it entered his body, the air met a film of his qi serving as a filter; the heavy poisonous elements were lightened and separated from the air before he breathed it in. It was an intricate working of Phelps floating power that required a deft and deeply ingrained control of qi to have it constantly operate.
Phelps blinked hazy eyes at Chen Haoran and haphazardly swung a claw. Chen Haoran allowed the blow to hit him to no effect and stuffed the antidote pill into Phelps's mouth. He saw the problem in an instant, as instinctual as Phelps's reaction to filter out the poisonous air was he still breathed in some of the poison. Honestly, that made his feat all the more impressive. Chen Haoran knew he was talented, but this was a bit ridiculous. Had he always been like this? Were it not that he was so focused on Phelps with his sense, he might not have even noticed what he was doing.
Clarity returned to Phelps's eyes as the antidote did its work, and with it came recognition. An aborted squeal became a raspy cough, black gunk being spat out with every heave, the remains of the poison after being neutralized. Chen Haoran flipped him over and patted his back, softly encouraging Phelps and, at the same time, finally observing their surroundings.
They were surrounded by trees, similar to the jungle outside but more wretched in appearance. Their bark was dark, and their trunks twisted, their branches grasping claws festooned with sickly green leaves with dropping pointed ends like a canopy of knives hung overhead. There was no underbrush or plant life growing beneath these trees. Theirs was a choking shade, not a shield, and the ground was rough and broken through with large roots that seemed to want to strangle each other to death with how inter wrapped they were. The air was thick and unpleasant with a subtle green tinge. It was heavy to breathe and opaque enough at a distance to make even his Liquid Meridian vision little better than a normal man's. However, the poisonous air was remarkably less deadly than he'd thought for a place that presumably drew energy from the Green Hell.
Chen Haoran had scoured the area for danger with his sense and found none, which was why he was able to focus on attending to Phelps. Actually, setting eyes on the place, however, instilled a creeping sense of dread in his heart. No matter how much his sense told him there was nothing threatening around them, the jungle did not inspire any sort of safety.
His observing the area also made another thing clear.
Xie Jin and Bao Si were gone.
Despite being right next to him when the silver light bloomed, they were now nowhere to be seen. Was Phelps here then because he was clinging to Chen Haoran? Would Xie Jin and Bao Si be here with him if he had been faster? If he had been at a higher Layer? There were other possible answers. Perhaps Phelps didn't count towards whatever criteria the silver light used to teleport them. Despite other potential answers, however, there was always an inexorable attraction to the one that made everything your own fault.
Phelps hacked up one final wad of black gunk and squeaked at him with a scratchy voice. Chen Haoran picked Phelps up and wiped his mouth of black residue. "Not gonna lie, buddy, this place reminds me of the Spa Cavern in all the worst ways."
Unexpected entrance into a mysterious secret realm? Check.
Hostile environment? Check.
Visibility shot to hell? Check.
Being used to mysterious ends by local power? Well, that remained to be seen.
Pan Gong had confidently told him the trial entrance would be a gate they'd take turns walking into, not a teleport. He didn't think it was a lie. At least, there was no reason for Pan Gong to lie to him. He didn't think this was some plan by the Garrison to exploit them either. Or rather, the Garrison was definitely planning to exploit them. They just didn't need to be sneaky about it. The Crystal Transformation Shaman certainly wasn't when he press-ganged Chen Haoran into service.
Chen Haoran slapped his cheeks. "Save the reasoning for later. Find Xie Jin and Bao Si first." He pulled Phelps onto his back. The sloth wrapped his arms around his neck and finally found his voice again, squealing loudly directly into Chen Haoran's ear. Fortunately, qi was the best protection against tinnitus. Chen Haoran scratched Phelps's chin. "Let's hope we can find them soon, buddy."
Chen Haoran took a moment to amend his previous statement. To find someone 'soon' would necessarily require one to know an approximation of time with which they could compare the word 'soon' against to judge whether or not someone was, in fact, found 'soon.' To have such an approximation of time, however, required one to have a means of telling the time. Means that Chen Haoran was sorely lacking when the secret realm had no sun, moon, or stars in its sky and instead was just naturally bright from light that emitted from who knew where.
Lacking the ability to tell the passing of time wasn't the only thing that hampered his search. The environment proved itself to be in no way helpful at best and downright lethal at worst. It wasn't even the air. His creeping sense of danger was proven valid when he accidentally stepped on a tree root and snapped it, causing the suspiciously knife-like leaves to fall atop his head like actual knives. Their serrated edges were proven to not be for show when they acted more like a living poisonous trap than an actual place of rest. As if to add a final topping to his crummy cake, his compass didn't work either.
Granted, his 'search' for Xie Jin and Bao Si was more reliant on them finding him than any potential success on his part. If only one of their Gu caught a whiff of his scent, then they'd be able to track him or send a signal for him to find and would make finding the other much easier. It was something far more likely to occur than him randomly finding them by wandering aimlessly through the endless sea of trees. Such aimless wandering was the best he could do when presented with an area of unknown size. There was a complete lack of any and all significant landmarks that he could use to orient himself. He couldn't even leave marks on the trees, given how sensitive they were and how readily they would drop their thousands of leaves atop his head at the slightest disturbance.
They honestly made him miss the Spa Cavern's monster crickets. The only saving grace was that his Liquid Qi served as an effective shield against the leaves. He was always left with a constant feeling, however, that he'd yet to find the proper danger of the secret realm. It was intended to be a trial, after all, and besides some ornery trees, he hadn't found a speck of other life or sign of testing. Or treasure, for that matter. For a place that had been untouched and left to accumulate energy and resources for at least two thousand years, it was bare of both. Chen Haoran was just waiting now to learn that the damn trees had sucked the life out of everything else in the trial, which would be both relieving and disappointing. It would suck to experience so much suck in so short a period of time and have nothing to show for it in the end, but at least he knew the trees couldn't hurt Xie Jin and Bao Si.
The other thousand Liquid Meridians, on the other hand….
Chen Haoran redoubled his pace.
Depending on where they were teleported and who they might be near, things could go so very wrong for his friends, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He cast his sense in every direction in search of a sign, any sign, of anyone at all—anything he could use to learn where he was. Phelps, seemingly feeling his urgency, stretched his nose in the air and sniffed like a dog. It was an admirable effort, one that Chen Haoran appreciated, even if an actual dog would be more useful for tracking than Phelps was.
Phelps squealed and leaned over his shoulder in a direction his fancy hundred times improved compass said was every cardinal direction at once.
A pillar of silver light shot out into the sky where Phelps was looking.
Chen Haoran's reaction was instant, qi flooding his legs and pushing him forward and through the gnarled trees. Liquid qi flooded out and surrounded both him and Phelps in a protective shield that battered down the trees in their way and insulated them from the deadly leaf storm Chen Haoran's sudden acceleration created. The silver light pillar swayed and shifted as if being pushed by some invisible wind, its height reaching into the pseudo-sky of the secret realm and beyond, disappearing from view. In a matter of moments, Chen Haoran discovered the source of the light—a pyramid, like the one outside but in miniature. Miniature in that rather than rivaling skyscrapers, it was a much more reasonable two hundred feet in height. Like the outside pyramid there was a room at the peak, of which from the roof rose the pillar of light. Chen Haoran skidded to a stop at the base of the pyramid right as the person who activated the light show exited the room at the top.
Logically, despite knowing it would be nigh on miraculous for it to be one of his friends, he was still disappointed when he saw a red uniform instead. Less disappointing, however, was that he recognized the owner of the uniform.
Li Mou stopped and did a double-take when he saw Chen Haoran. A slow, ugly smile filled his face, halfway between a smirk and a grimace. "Well, well, what do we have here."
Chen Haoran scowled. Li Mou was nowhere near him when they teleported. That fact he was here meant the silver light had truly flung everyone in random directions. Xie Jin and Bao Si could be anywhere.
Li Mou continued speaking. "Heaven must have decided to be kind to me today after being humiliated. To think it would present you to me after I've fully recovered."
Chen Haoran started walking up the stairs. Phelps detached himself and floated away to a safe distance. "I have questions. If you answer them honestly, I won't bother you anymore."
Li Mou chuckled. It was a grating, nasally sound. He walked down the stairs. "Oh, after I'm done with you, you'll never bother me again. Pan Gong isn't here to save you anymore."
"I'm thankful to you," Chen Haoran suddenly said.
Li Mou paused. Arrogance briefly replaced by confusion. "Begging for mercy already?"
"I'm glad that out of all your infinite possibilities, you chose to be a piece of shit. I was looking for an acceptable target."
"You dare—!?"
Chen Haoran surged up the steps in a torrent of liquid qi. Orange qi like liquid fire flooded out from Li Mou in the same instant, and the forces collided. A feeling of weight pressed on Chen Haoran's chest as the two qi's crashed and enveloped the other. In the clash, he sized up Li Mou in an instant. Profound-Rank.
Li Mou sneered as he simultaneously studied Chen Haoran. "Do you think I am a fool? As if I could not recognize from your confidence that you had some means. You're mistaken to think I can't deal with an Earth-Rank."
Li Mou flexed his qi, and it surged out in every direction and threatened to surround Chen Haoran. Yellow liquid qi flooded out from him in every direction and scattered the orange qi out of Li Mou's control, where it fell like a rain of fire on the pyramid's stones. In terms of quantity of qi Li Mou just barely edged him out. It was a minute difference made irrelevant thanks to the advantage of Chen Haoran's water element to Li Mou's fire. Li Mou frowned and gathered his qi into a solid orange wall that he held firm. His qi flared like real flames and obscured him from view.
"Yellow Dragon."
Chen Haoran's silent call received an answering roar, and he surrendered control of his liquid qi. Divorced from his guiding his hand, the liquid qi condensed and narrowed into a wedge. The Yellow Dragon roared, and the wall of orange qi was wrenched open. Li Mou was revealed with a look of triumph, his sword glowing bright with flames.
"Die!" he roared. As he swung his sword, he slammed his qi into Chen Haoran's own with brutal force. Li Mou's burning sword cut through his yellow qi like butter and swung toward his neck.
Blossom-Picking Palm
The reversal was instant. Yellow qi fell back onto itself, absorbing the force of Li Mou's sword and diverting it ever so slightly that the flames barely grazed Chen Haoran. In the same instant, Chen Haoran stepped forward with green palms. Twenty-five hits. One to break the wrist of Li Mou's sword arm, the other twenty-four to break every single rib.
Li Mou's sword flew off into the distance, and he was flung into a wall with a ghastly expelling of the air in his lungs. To his credit, he immediately rose to stand, but Chen Haoran was there in the next moment, grasping his head in his hand and smashing the back of his skull into the pyramid's stone bricks until they were red with blood. Li Mou still strained against his grip despite that, orange qi bubbling along his skin. Liquid qi spilled from Chen Haoran's palm and rippled with a dragon's roar. Li Mou's qi scattered. He groaned as blood rushed from his eyes, nose, and ears. His broken chest bulged up and down in unnatural waves, and he coughed out a river of blood and bits of flesh.
"Don't," Li Mou croaked. His bloodshot eyes were wild with fear. "I am a son of the Li Family. If you kill me, you'll be hunted down by the Garrison forever."
"Did the Garrison know everyone would be teleported?" Chen Haoran coldly demanded. His voice boomed, backed by the echo of a dragon's roar that trailed after every word.
Li Mou shivered—even the echo wracking him with pain. "I don't know. I don't know."
Chen Haoran squeezed, and his fingers dug into Li Mou's head.
"Stop, stop!" Li Mou begged. "We didn't expect this to happen. This wasn't in our briefing."
"Where are we now?"
"A Trial Pyramid." Li Mou practically breathed out every word in short, panicked spurts. "As long as you defeat another trialist or wait long enough, then the prohibitions inside will open, and you can receive a reward."
Chen Haoran remained stone-faced. "What else do you know?"
"I don't know anything else. I swear. I haven't been able to contact any of my co-officers."
Chen Haoran stared at the hand holding Li Mou's head. "The Crystal Transformation Realm Shaman outside. What's his name?"
Even in the situation he was in, the question was enough to give Li Mou pause. "Are you talking about Lord Zhang Yong?"
Chen Haoran growled. "Is that his name?"
"Yes, yes, he's a shaman with the Gu Department. I don't know why he's here. He just suddenly showed up."
"I see," Chen Haoran said. His voice was abruptly empty of emotion and dragon echo. "Remember that name."
He crushed Li Mou's skull.
Chapter 140: This Young Master's Sloth Advances
Li Mou didn't have time to react before Chen Haoran crushed his skull. It was the only mercy he was given. Following his final breath came a flood of burning orange qi. Li Mou's body was vaporized to ashes as his liquid qi became out of control. For a Liquid Meridian, death was their most dangerous moment. Chen Haoran had plenty of experience in that regard both from observation and personally killing a Liquid Meridian himself. As a Qi Realm, Chen Haoran had to rely on others' help to escape the range of the Liquid Meridian Realm's death throes. Now facing a Final Flood yet again, he calmly reached out with a hand wreathed in liquid qi and smothered the escaping qi with a dragon's roar, grabbing Li Mou's storage bag before it could be burned to ashes. He smoothly retreated after securing the bag to avoid the worst of the flood.
Li Mou's last gasp crashed against the stones of the pyramid and fell down its slopes in a wave. The Yellow Dragon growled, and a shield of yellow qi flowed in front of Chen Haoran that deftly swept the orange qi to either side of him. After a few seconds, the last of Li Mou's qi dissipated into the air, and the shield of yellow qi fell back into his body. Chen Haoran stood there unscathed and curiously observed the pyramid. While their fight may have been brief, it was no less intense for it. Yet despite their battle and Li Mou's Final Flood, not a single mark was to be seen on the pyramid. The pillar of silver light shuddered and collapsed in on itself, falling back down and disappearing into the building atop the pyramid.
Phelps squealed and came floating over, cradling Li Mou's cast off sword. Chen Haoran smiled. "Thank you, Phelps." Chen Haoran reached out to pat his head but paused when he saw his bloody hand. A brief flash of qi scoured the blood from his hand, but he still swapped to his other to pat Phelps's head.
He wouldn't lie. Killing Li Mou had been cathartic, and it wasn't even because he was an ass. After having his body puppeted by that Crystal Transformation Realm, he felt like a fighting bull seeing the red uniforms of the Garrison. His anger had uselessly paced inside his chest like a caged animal, but there was nothing he could do to the shaman. His subordinates, on the other hand….
"Zhang Yong, huh?"
It was wrong, admittedly. Just because they were part of the same force didn't make the Garrison soldiers responsible for their leader's actions. Chen Haoran wanting to hurt them was just him trying to find a weaker scapegoat he could take his anger out on. It was a thought worthy of giving him pause. Was that what was going on in this world? People couldn't do anything when they were bullied by cultivators stronger than them, so they took their anger on those below them instead. Well, the idea sounded a bit simplistic, but it was something to keep in mind. Perhaps it was just another reason of the various ones that he was only now just discovering firsthand for himself.
That was neither here nor there, however. The state of the world wasn't really important to the situation at hand. Assuming Li Mou wasn't lying, then the Garrison was as caught off guard by the random teleport as Chen Haoran was. That was worrisome. When it came to the ignorant, they were never wrong about just one thing. If the Garrison was wrong about how to enter the trial ground, then they might be wrong about other aspects of it, too, like that danger.
….no. The real issue wasn't what else the Garrison was wrong about. It was why. The Garrison had sent nearly six hundred Liquid Meridian Realms to these ruins, including talented and powerful individuals like Pan Gong. How many cultivators like that did they have in Reservoir Town? Surely not enough to let them deploy so many into a situation of unknown danger and potentially high loss. Pan Gong had caved in Li Mou's chest for damaging a wall just because it might have contained something useful for their researchers. That didn't sound like an organization that would go into a situation half-cocked. The Garrison was confident about the ruins. That much was clear. Yet despite this confidence and the professionals they had studying the ruins, they were wrong. Why?
"This is gonna suck," Chen Haoran mumbled to himself. He took Li Mou's sword from Phelps and let the sloth clamber on his back. "Come on, bud. Let's see what this reward is all about."
Chen Haoran entered the top of the pyramid, wreathed in a protective covering of liquid qi. The inside was a carbon copy of the pyramid outside, just smaller in scale. There was even another circle of silver runes though this time it was on the floor surrounding what looked to be a stone altar. The runes flashed in succession before light flashed on the altar, and a transparent, glass-like fruit appeared on the altar. It was perfectly round, unnaturally so, only broken up by a stem surrounded by five leaves on its top and seemed to be filled with water. Chen Haoran was still not versed enough in this world's supernatural fruits and plants to identify the majority of them on sight. This particular one, however, was extensively detailed to him by Xie Jin on their way here, given its importance.
Liquid Core Fruit.
Chen Haoran cautiously approached the altar, stopping just a few paces away from it. He mentally prodded the Yellow Dragon, who grumbled at being disturbed for something it considered beneath it, but nevertheless complied with his request. A thin tendril of liquid qi stretched out and delicately wrapped around the Liquid Core Fruit before pulling it away from the altar and bringing it to Chen Haoran's waiting hands. The silver light dimmed, and the rune circle disappeared. After a few tense seconds of waiting, there was no further reaction, and Chen Haoran finally relaxed.
"Thank you."
The Yellow Dragon huffed and returned to gathering ambient qi. Chen Haoran didn't mind its sass. It was far more skilled at manipulating liquid qi than he was. It was why he could so easily overwhelm Li Mou. Four hands were always better than two in a fight.
He played around with the fruit in his hand. It was surprisingly squishy like he was holding a water balloon instead of an actual fruit. Phelps leaned over and sniffed the fruit curiously. According to Xie Jin, the Liquid Core Fruit did everything a Heavy Core Pill did but better, and unlike the pill, it could be used by cultivators of any element.
Even animals.
Maybe it was a good thing that they were separated. Xie Jin would kill him if he knew what Chen Haoran was about to do.
"What do you think, Phelps?" Chen Haoran asked, holding the Liquid Core Fruit toward him. "Fancy a level up?"
Phelps squealed and fell from his back. Chen Haoran placed the Liquid Core Fruit on the ground before him and stepped back to guard the entrance. Staying at the pyramid was a bit of a double-edged sword. It was safer than being out in the jungle, but at the same time, there might be other people on their way after seeing the silver light pillar. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing for more people to come.
Phelps looked at Chen Haoran, then at the Liquid Core Fruit. There was no more hesitation. He snapped the fruit up in one bite.
Received Hundred-Fold: Liquid Crystal Fruit
Interesting. He had noticed it before, but there was a clear difference between certain spiritual herbs. Some, like his Stygian Lotus and the Banquet Peach, had their age improved but otherwise remained the same. Others like this Liquid Core Fruit and the Monk Flowers from the Spa Cavern were turned into new varieties entirely. It was something due for investigation in the future. Now, however, Chen Haoran crossed his arms and focused his sense on Phelps.
There was no change initially when he ate the fruit. Phelps laid down and steadily breathed. Then he shuddered, and his qi began to spike. Chen Haoran tried to observe Phelps's changes with his sense but failed to get an accurate picture. He mentally poked the Yellow Dragon again, and this time, it didn't grumble as much as it peered curiously through his body at Phelps. Chen Haoran's vision blurred, and the world became split between water and not water. Fortunately, Phelps aligned with water element energies and, under his shared vision, lit up into a diagram of meridians coursing with blue qi. They were different compared to a human's meridians. A little less in number but wider and thicker.
In an ephemeral space by Phelps's stomach was a growing sphere of clear qi. Some of the energy escaped into his meridians and filled them to the brim. The majority of it was trapped in his core and soon became tinged with the blue color of Phelps's qi. It spread across the sphere like wildfire, and the originally clear qi now shone brightly like a blue star. Then it collapsed. Chen Haoran flinched in surprise at how sudden it was. The sphere contracted violently and condensed into a droplet in a single motion. It was far faster and even more reckless than when Chen Haoran himself condensed his first drop of liquid qi. It didn't stop there; however, only the sphere was condensed. There was still more energy in Phelps's meridians. Chen Haoran looked on in concern as Phelps's qi madly rushed to his core. He canceled the shared vision for a moment and observed Phelps's condition.
He was asleep.
Chen Haoran looked incredulously at his pet. He knew beasts cultivated differently compared to humans, but sleeping while advancing was a bit ridiculous. Still, ridiculous or not, as he switched back to the shared vision, he couldn't deny the facts in front of him. Phelps's qi gathered around the drop of liquid qi in his core and easily merged with it. The droplet grew larger, far larger than what Chen Haoran condensed during his own advancement, until there was no more qi left. Slowly, inexorably, it fell from Phelps's core and into his meridian. From there, it drifted along the natural qi cycle through his body. Around the droplet, gaseous qi drawn from the outside began to gather. As the droplet grew, it attracted more and more qi. It was a slow, steady accumulation. After what felt like half an hour, however, there was a shift in the air.
The droplet had become a flowing stream of liquid qi and now reached critical mass. The air began to distort as a large amount of ambient qi suddenly moved all at once. The liquid qi within Phelps expanded exponentially, rushing throughout his body until both ends finally met and created a continuous whole. Phelps's eyes flew open, and he rose with a shriek. His body bulged, and he grew nearly twice in size while his aura spiked. That wasn't the end of it. Phelps flexed his qi once, twice, before finally releasing a flood of blue liquid qi.
Chen Haoran laughed as the Yellow Dragon directed his liquid qi to block Phelps's sudden flood. To his surprise, his qi began to float out of control as soon as it collided with Phelps's. Even the Yellow Dragon was briefly startled before narrowing its eyes and letting loose a roar that saw his qi return back to his control. Phelps, in the meantime, seemed to realize what he had done and squealed. His liquid qi halted its flood. Phelps grunted, and the deluge of qi was slowly drawn back to his body, ebbing and flowing like ocean waves before he finally reabsorbed it all and shrunk back down to his original size.
Chen Haoran sighed in relief, both for Phelps's successful advancement and that his size increase was a temporary thing. He didn't know how he would lug a 5-foot sloth around. The fact Phelps learned to release liquid qi directly after becoming a Liquid Meridian Realm was a surprise. He remembered Song Yuelin saying it wasn't something they instinctively knew how to do the way humans did. It just proved more that Phelps was a genius. The smartest sloth in the world, if Chen Haoran said so himself.
"Good job, Phelps. I knew you could do it." Chen Haoran opened his arms for a hug, and Phelps squealed in joy upon seeing it. Unfortunately, Chen Haoran only realized something was wrong too late when Phelps shot like a cannonball through the air and tackled into his chest. Before he could react, he was swept off his feet, and man and sloth went tumbling down the long flight of stairs together. They were halfway down when Chen Haoran finally had the sense to cancel his momentum with a wave of liquid qi. He lay splayed across the steps, Phelps in his arms, while he waited for the world to stop spinning.
Chen Haoran laughed. "Damn, if I shouldn't have expected that."
Phelps squealed and started licking his face, leaving Chen Haoran covered in slobber.
"Enough. Enough I said!"
Chen Haoran pushed Phelps's head away and laughed again. Phelps finally settled down and seemed content to just lay on his chest. They spent a brief moment like that. Chen Haoran staring at the skyless sky of the secret realm while Phelps softly crooned.
He sighed and stretched out a qi-covered hand.
"I guess I should eat my fruit too."
A rich, dense peach smell filled the area, even through the isolating cover of his liquid qi. Sitting in his hand and shining like a bright sun to his sense was a full and ripe golden peach.
He wondered what kind of face Xi Wangmu would make if she knew she effectively handed him an 80-thousand-year-old Banquet Peach.
Chapter 141: This Young Master Takes Another Steroid
Chen Haoran thought he was being funny, imagining what Xie Wangmu's face would be if she knew the level of Banquet Peach he was eating. Now he had a good idea of what that face might look like. He'd returned to the top of the pyramid and left Phelps on guard outside while he prepared himself to take the peach. Only after he took the first bite did he realize the thing he should've watched out for wasn't the fruit's energy but its taste. What felt like 80 thousand years worth of sour decided to violate the Geneva Conventions on his taste buds. Did the 800-year one taste this bad? Phelps didn't give any indication it was any sour. Was he tough, or was Chen Haoran just weak? No, that didn't matter. What mattered was that the sour taste screwed his mouth more shut than if he tried to throat two packs of saltines dry.
Then the kick hit.
Peach-gold energy rushed into his core and exploded throughout the rest of his body. Just one bite flooded him with more energy than all the pills and cultivation supplements he'd taken since he entered the Liquid Meridian Realm. Through his sense, he could feel his entire body dyed the color of peach, and he still had more of the fruit to go.
Chen Haoran took a deep breath, flooded qi to his mouth, and wrenched his jaws open. The second bite was no better than the first in terms of taste, even worse actually. He could taste blood on his tongue. An equal amount of energy poured into his body like before, filling him up till, to his sense, he looked more like a blob of peach liquid than a human. He could feel the Banquet Peach's energy take up every available space it could find and, when there was no more to be had, start seeping out his pores into the air. He could feel even more leaving the peach itself in his hand. This was untenable.
"Yellow Dragon."
The Yellow Dragon had been leisurely swimming within the peach energy. At Chen Haoran's call, however, it seemed to wake up from whatever relaxed stupor the energy had put it in and roared. Yellow liquid qi-tinged peach flooded out from him and wrapped around the Banquet Peach to arrest the escaping energy. Chen Haoran immediately brought the peach back to his mouth and he and the Yellow Dragon bit as one. There was no sour taste this time. There was no peach either. All that was left was the Yellow Dragon, or maybe Peach Dragon would be more appropriate now, considering it was glowing the color like a lamp.
The Yellow Dragon roared and began to dance a cycle around his meridians. As it did, the energy within his body began to swirl. Instead of pressing outward, it now turned inward, centered around his core. As the Yellow Dragon completed its revolutions around his body, the peach glow around it began to fade and be replaced with bright yellow. Another revolution saw yellow qi emerge further. The revolution after that saw the Yellow Dragon leaves behind a thin trail of yellow qi. Amidst the overwhelming ocean of peach-colored energy, the contrast of the yellow trail was stark, and Chen Haoran watched the Yellow Dragon trace it all around his meridians before connecting the ends together. Even so, it was not done and followed the trail it had laid out unerringly, letting it grow wider and brighter with each revolution.
There was something hypnotic about watching the Yellow Dragon at work. It was far from the first time Chen Haoran had seen it cycling through his meridians, and yet, seeing the outline of yellow qi, it had made felt like he was seeing it again for the first time. It wasn't. Even the trail wasn't. The Yellow Dragon had done it when he'd advanced to the Liquid Meridian Realm after all, and yet. Something just felt different. Chen Haoran lent his will to his qi and followed the path the Yellow Dragon laid out, adding his own efforts to refining the Banquet Peach's energy. He quickly found himself lapped by the Yellow Dragon. It was a uniquely embarrassing feeling to be left to bite the dust in his own arteries. Chen Haoran doubled down his focus, clinging to the trail like it was a lifeline and using it as a crutch as he directed the attention he'd usually spare on visualization to speed. It worked for a time. He did indeed go faster, then the Yellow Dragon twisted and coiled and danced another lap around him despite his effort. The Yellow Dragon cast an arrogant eye backward and huffed, Chen Haoran has the distinct impression it was mocking him.
He was doing something wrong. Even if the Yellow Dragon was a living fragment of his cultivation technique, it was still his body. Being this much better than him was ridiculous. He had kept pace with the Yellow Dragon before. How? The Yellow Dragon, unfortunately, didn't seem keen on answering him and ignored Chen Haoran's attempts to merge their presence's, deftly dancing around him and speeding off.
It was….wait….
….dancing?
Chen Haoran didn't quite know what kind of realization he had at that moment, but he began to wiggle to and fro in an awkward attempt to ape the Yellow Dragon's graceful movements. Immediately he faltered, and his speed dropped to a standstill. It was hard to envision. How did one imagine themselves tap dancing inside their own veins? Worse, in this case, he wasn't really dancing. It was more treating his meridians like a twisting waterslide he was sliding through. That wasn't quite right either, though.
The Yellow Dragon snorted, perhaps tiring of Chen Haoran's fumbled copying, and abruptly merged with his will. In that moment, Chen Haoran had the feeling the Yellow Dragon was exasperated with him, but before he could explore the feeling further, the trail of qi they'd been feeding finally filled his meridians. After a period of buildup, his qi seemed to reach some kind of critical mass because when the Yellow Dragon roared, his qi broke the banks of his meridians and spilled into the rest of his body—drowning and mixing with the Banquet Peach's energy.
When Chen Haoran had eaten the Stygian Lotus, he'd experienced two things. First, it tasted like dirt. Second, its energy made him feel like he was scraped raw with a physician's scalpel. Now the Banquet Peach tasted even worse, but its energy was…. intoxicating. It felt like waking up after the most comfortable night's sleep, like doing shots of energy drinks and shooting caffeine up your veins. It felt like the spurt of energy that came when you imagined doing something productive but really wouldn't. It was energy. It was life. It didn't insert itself into his cells like a knife. Instead, it covered them like a peach-scented balm and slowly, inexorably, worked itself in.
Chen Haoran shivered from head to toe and shot up from his meditative position. His sudden movement saw him fly into the air and bash his head against the ceiling. It didn't hurt, however, not even when he landed in a heap rather than trying to land properly. He felt itchy. So very, very, itchy. He rolled along the smooth stones of the floor in an attempt to scratch himself but found no relief. His hands fumbled at his robes, gently trying to remove them, but despite his efforts, ripped the silks clear off. With the effort wasted, he ripped the robes off entirely and dragged his fingers across his skin. It peeled away in layers, and beneath it was new, flawlessly smooth skin. It wasn't the only thing growing either. Chen Haoran bit off six-inch fingernails and used the stone floor to grind down toenails the same length. His long hair became a veritable mane and went all the way down to his feet.
It was too much. He needed to move. Chen Haoran bent his knees and leapt for the doorway. Even without putting qi into the movement, he went flying off the pyramid and into the jungle, startling Phelps something fierce as it was now Chen Haoran's turn to soar overhead. Chen Haoran crashed into the ground feet first and sank at least a foot into the dirt. Disturbed by his landing, the trees rained down a hail of knife-like leaves onto him. Liquid qi burst out of Chen Haoran like a cannon and cleared a 200-foot radius around him. It still wasn't enough, though. He needed more.
Phelps floated over, and Chen Haoran's eyes lit up. He beckoned Phelps with an outstretched hand and flexed his qi. "Phelps, attack."
Perhaps it was because Phelps always wanted to stretch his muscles, but he instantly responded, sending a wave a blue liquid qi down on Chen Haoran's head. Chen Haoran clenched his fist and flooded qi to his arms. First, it was just the qi already in his arm. Then it was the qi from his shoulder stretching to his other arm. Then it was qi from the upper half of his torso. Chen Haoran's arm bulged as he filled it far beyond what would have been safe for him before. Phelps's liquid qi was only a hairsbreadth away.
He swung.
There was a loud crack as the air was displaced, and Phelps's liquid qi was blown away. Phelps himself tumbled wildly through the air from the aftershocks. Chen Haoran stood still, his arm trembling. He stared at his fist and whistled.
"Thank you Xi Wangmu."
Stronger. Tougher. More alive. Chen Haoran took stock of the various changes in his body. He flexed his arms and gazed down at his chest. The Stygian Lotus had cut out fine lines of muscle and left him lean. The Banquet Peach filled him out. His chest was broader, his arms thicker, and his back…. well, he couldn't see it, but he felt cool when he flexed, so it must be good. He now looked like he could actually tank the hits he'd been tanking. Inside, his meridians shone brightly to his sense. They showed no sign or strain from the intense energy that had been flowing through them moments before. His body felt fresh and alive beyond what qi could already do. He had yet to really test the recovery ability Xi Wangmu said the peach would give, but he could take a guess.
Phelps hissed at Chen Haoran from a distance away, turning around with a pointed huff when Chen Haoran turned to pay him attention. He hadn't quite liked being sent flying. Strange, given he had no problem doing it drunk. Perhaps it was an ingrained Liquid Meridian pride?
Chen Haoran ignored his sulking pet and ran through some simple exercises: pushups, jumping jacks, squats, and lunges. They weren't for actual training. Workouts like these hadn't done anything for him since he was a Qi Realm, but they were an effective way to adjust to his new changes. He tried lightly jogging over to a nearby tree and left furrows in the dirt as he skidded to a stop in front of it. He flicked the trunk with his finger, and the entire tree shook, dropping its knife leaves on his head.
Blossom-Picking Palm
Chen Haoran's palms glowed green, and he plucked three hundred of the leaves from the air before letting his liquid qi vaporize the rest. He carefully jumped up to grab a low-hanging branch and proceeded to alternate between chin-ups, pull-ups, and swinging himself over the branch like a gymnast. After doing a hundred of each, he was finally satisfied and began to clean up. A quick flush of liquid qi removed the rest of his dead skin. His ungainly hair was roughly chopped to a more reasonable length. His nails were carefully filed using Li Mou's shitty Profound-Rank sword. He mournfully gathered the scraps of his torn robe and put them in his storage bag before putting on a new red one.
After making himself presentable, he finally remembered Li Mou's storage bag. Given the quality of his cultivation and his weapon, Chen Haoran wasn't expecting much, and he was right. Inside the storage bag were just spare uniforms, some books, pills, of which some Chen Haoran recognized and others he didn't and would thus not be feeding to Phelps, and a red and white eagle medallion. Besides the books, Chen Haoran wasn't interested in anything else. The medallion, at least, he recognized as being the symbol of the Garrison. Perhaps it was for communication? He dumped the medallion onto the ground and pressed it into the earth till it was out of sight. The clothes were shredded and dispersed, and the rest of the things were transferred to his storage bag. He did have the idea to try and put Li Mou's storage bag inside his own, but unfortunately, they seemed to have some kind of repulsive force that pushed them away from each other, sorta like magnets.
Oh well. Li Mou had said he was a son of the Li Family, not the son. Whatever status he thought he had in the Garrison obviously wasn't enough to actually furnish him with some decent wealth.
"Man," Chen Haoran said. "What a fucked up thing to think after killing someone."
Not that Chen Haoran was overly bothered by it. Phelps floated over and perched himself on his back as per usual, finally having gotten over— oh, nope, he was still sulking. Phelps refused to lay his head on Chen Haoran's shoulder. Chen Haoran helplessly sighed. "I'm sorry okay? Don't be like this forever. I need you in top condition."
Because try as he might, Chen Haoran didn't think today would end without him killing a few more people.
He pushed aside those thoughts and moved toward the jungle. "Come on, bud, let's go find our friends."
Phelps grunted and tightened his grip.
Chen Haoran shook his head and continued on before suddenly pausing.
"I forgot to ask that asshole how we're supposed to leave."
Chapter 142: This Young Master Needs To Watch His Words
Chen Haoran picked a random direction and hoped for the best. He didn't really have the means to orient himself in the secret realm. The Trial Pyramid didn't have any useful information in that regard. Where was he? How big was the secret realm? Was it a circle? Was he going toward the center? These were all very important questions that he had very few answers to, which was quickly becoming a running theme in his life. At the very least, he could guess the secret realm shouldn't be too big. Assuming Pan Gong had been correct that it was a place where promising cultivators came to train and compete, then it couldn't be too big. The Trial Pyramids were added evidence that they required defeating another trialist to receive a reward quickly and actively became a visible beacon to everyone around would be pretty moot if it took the contestants days to arrive.
Chen Haoran's thoughts froze.
…How did Li Mou know how the Trial Pyramid worked? Not only know how it worked but the specific ways one could receive a reward.
Did he discover it himself? No, impossible. It was too short a time for him to have hit multiple pyramids before meeting Chen Haoran. He wasn't lying either because the pyramid worked exactly how he said it would. So how did he know? Chen Haoran's best guess was that he was informed by the Garrison, but if their information was so specific that they knew about the inside of the Trial, how could they have gotten the means to enter it so wrong?
Chen Haoran sighed. "I'm going to need to find another Garrison soldier."
Knife tree. Knife tree. Knife tree. Knife— oh, fruit. Seeing the spiky fruit was such a breakup in the usual monotony of the jungle that Chen Haoran stopped to observe it. It reminded him a bit of a durian—
The fruit fell.
Chen Haoran erected a shield of liquid qi just in time to block the immediate explosion as the fruit hit the ground. What he couldn't block, however, was the most godawful smell of rotting meat. He gagged as the scent easily penetrated his liquid qi and flew into his nose and mouth. As soon as it entered his throat and lungs, the putrid smell liquefied and began dissolving his flesh and organs. Phelps hissed and erupted with blue liquid qi. Chen Haoran let his useless shield fall and allowed Phelps's to cover them. Immediately their surroundings became better smelling as Phelps filtered out the foul odor. Chen Haoran hacked a cough as his qi went to work to neutralize the poison gas. He massaged his throat and, after a few moments, swished around his tongue and spat out a glob of sickly yellow spit that started smoking as soon as it hit the dirt.
Chen Haoran wiped his mouth with a look of disgust. "What the hell." He reached back to rub Phelps's head. "Good work, bud, that stuff was rank."
Phelps squealed and ducked his head when Chen Haoran tried to pat him. As soon as Chen Haoran shook his head and tried taking his hand back, however, Phelps did a complete 180 and stuffed his head into Chen Haoran's palm.
"Needy little shit," Chen Haoran said with a chuckle.
A pillar of silver light bloomed in the distance.
"Well, not quite what I'm looking for, but I'll take it. C'mon, Phelps."
Chen Haoran raced through the jungle, using less than half the qi he'd have used to achieve similar speed before eating the Banquet Peach. Before long, the Trial Pyramid came into view, yet again identical to the previous Trial Pyramid. Whatever civilization built this place wasn't really interested in spicing up their venues, it seemed. Perhaps their decoration budget was spent on the death trees.
Like with Li Mou before, Chen Haoran arrived just as the cultivator who activated the pyramid exited it. To his disappointment, however, she wasn't wearing the Garrison's red uniform. Just a random Liquid Meridian cultivator then, and judging by the lack of bone decorations on her, she wasn't even a native.
Chen Haoran sighed. Oh well. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd have the answers she wanted. "Excuse me, miss. I'm looking for my friends."
The woman didn't speak. Instead, black mist gathered around her feet, and she swept down the pyramid like a phantom. Black lightning danced between her fingers and transformed them into claws. Chen Haoran sighed again and, when she slashed her claws down, flexed his qi and punched her back up the pyramid. The woman spun wildly through the air like a ragdoll, clipping the stone stairs and disappearing into the altar building.
A bit disappointing. Hopefully, this wouldn't happen again.
"Hello, sir. Have you seen these Qi Realms—"
"The treasure is mine! Thousand Pound Sword!"
"Pardon me, but I've lost my friends. Would you happen to know—"
"Meet them in hell! Death Point Strike!"
"Have at thee!"
"Wait! Wait! Before you attack, I'm looking for two Qi Realms."
"Oh? What a coincidence. I met two Qi Realms looking for a Liquid Meridian too."
"Really?"
"Dog-Beating Staff!"
Received Hundred-Fold: 40-thousand-year-old Blood Nut Seeds
Received Hundred-Fold: Five High-Grade Spirit Stones
Received Hundred-Fold: Two Top-Grade Spirit Stones
Chen Haoran sighed. He'd gotten some nice rewards from the Trial Pyramids that had been promptly fed to Phelps. Unfortunately, the answers he was looking for were in far shorter supply. None of the cultivators he'd met and beaten up were Garrison soldiers. The only thing of note that he learned was that the trial rewards were randomized. Nothing about the strength of the trialists involved seemed to affect the rewards in any way.
Chen Haoran looked at the red-faced Eight-Layer Liquid Meridian he was holding by the collar of his robes. He was an elderly-looking man who could have been anywhere from 80 to 120 years old, given cultivation life extension nonsense. His white beard was stained with blood from his split lip and one eye was very visibly swollen. It was an exaggerated reaction considering swelling that bad typically took hours to form, but then again, Chen Haoran had punched him hard enough to cave in a normal man's skull, so it wasn't really the weirdest thing about this situation. The man's metal staff lay twisted and bent beneath him after his sneak attack failed. Despite his Eight-Layer cultivation base, it was only Mortal-Rank quality making him by far the weakest cultivator Chen Haoran had fought in the secret realm so far. Just one punch had been enough to convince the man to stop all resistance.
Chen Haoran shook him. "The Dog-Beating part of that technique wasn't literal, was it? Because I'm going to have to punch you harder if it was."
The old man quickly shook his head, his beard swinging with the motion. "I swear it is not so, Young Hero. I, Qi Dong, have never beaten a dog in my life. On my family's honor, I haven't."
Chen Haoran squinted. Qi? Something about that name was familiar, and as Chen Haoran gazed at the old man's features, he felt a striking sense of deja vu. "Are you related to the Qi Family of Reservoir Town?"
Qi Dong woodenly smiled. "This foolish old man is embarrassed enough to be the Qi Family's leader."
Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. "You're the Patriarch? That tracks, I guess. You should teach your kid not to be an ass."
Ugly recognition dawned on Qi Dong's face. "Ah. To think I would accidentally insult the great benefactor who taught my son a lesson. Do not worry, Young Hero, I'll make sure to beat some sense into that brat when I return."
"Well, I don't think child abuse is the answer either, but you do you man," Chen Haoran said. "Anyway, just remember what I said. If you find who I'm looking for, then I'll make it worth your while."
Qi Dong rapidly nodded. "Of course, of course. I won't allow my eyes to blink the entire trial until I set eyes on them."
"There's no need to go that far," Chen Haoran said.
"As you wish, Young Hero," Qi Dong said. "May I be let down now? I need to take my antidote pill soon."
Chen Haoran snorted. "Yeah, let's get you on your way before you get the courage to use that knife in your sleeve."
Qi Dong paled. "I would never dare, Young Hero! That knife is there so I can disembowel myself for disrespecting you!"
"Whatever you say." Chen Haoran winded his arm back and held Qi Dong above his head. "Be grateful I'm not a thief, and let you keep your storage bag."
"Young Hero!?" Qi Dong croaked.
"The punch was for the sneak attack," Chen Haoran explained. "This is for lying." Chen Haoran flexed his qi, and his arm cracked like a catapult's release as he pitched Qi Dong out of the pyramid and clear into the jungle. Phelps squealed in glee and clapped his claws together.
Chen Haoran rubbed his head. "Thank you."
He covered Phelps's eyes as the rune circle around the altar flashed behind them before dimming. Floating above the altar, ensconced in a cocoon of silver light, was a three-foot-long stalk of golden bamboo. When Chen Haoran grabbed it and dissipated the protective light, he was surprised by how heavy it was—far more than what he'd expected from bamboo. Its golden coloring had a distinctly metal sheen to it. Static buzzed through his hands as he held it, and when Chen Haoran flicked the stalk with his finger, it rang like a bell.
"Interesting," Chen Haoran said, voicing his thoughts aloud for his audience of one. He passed the bamboo over to Phelps. "What do you think, bud?"
Phelps grasped the bamboo with greedy claws, fumbling for a moment with the weight and size given his awkwardness with his newfound strength. Soon enough though Phelps had the bamboo in a comfortable hold and started gnawing on it. Sparks flashed where his teeth scraped against the stalk, but not a mark could be seen despite Phelps's Liquid Meridian cultivation. It looks like he'd gotten quite the good thing from the Trial this time.
"Okay, bud, hand it back, I'll hold it for you till you can actually bite into it." Chen Haoran reached to take the bamboo back and paused.
Received Hundred-Fold: Ninthgold Sword Bamboo
"Never mind. That's helpful. But do you think it's a toy or food?"
If it were the former, then Chen Haoran's options would open up significantly. As he watched Phelps futilely chew on the Sword Bamboo, the silver light pillar above them crashed back into the pyramid. Right as it did, another pillar lit up the sky not far away.
"Fifth time the charm, I guess," Chen Haoran said. He looked at Phelps, who was contentedly gnawing, and hesitated. Maybe it would be okay to put the stalk in his storage bag. He wasn't taking it from Phelps, just holding it for him. On the other hand, he didn't really want to play around with his power on the off chance Phelps got moody if he took the bamboo, and the Gifting Power responded to that. He couldn't very well let Phelps keep holding the bamboo on his back, however.
In the end, Chen Haoran compromised and tucked Phelps into his arm like a football, positioning the bamboo such that it was like a lance, albeit one that extended backward instead of in front of him. Package secured, Chen Haoran sped off once again to the next Trial Pyramid. If he were lucky, he'd finally find some Garrison soldiers. If he were super lucky, he'd find out where Xie Jin and Bao Si were. If he were even luckier, then he'd find both and get the Trial Reward on top of it too. Thoughts abuzz with hope, he flooded a bit more qi to his limbs and accelerated to top speed, crashing through the jungle in a straight line, ignoring knife leaves and bomb fruits. He dug in his heels and skidded his way into the pyramid clearing, smashing directly through a tree and turning it to kindling.
Two red-robed Garrison Liquid Meridians standing at the base of the pyramid immediately swerved to face him. One Third-Layer with a peach tree medallion carved from bone hanging at his waist. The other a Sixth-Layer.
"Finally." Chen Haoran thought. He placed Phelps down and left him to his business and approached the soldiers with a spring in his step. "Hello! I come in peace, and I hope you do too because I'm not above beating you up to get the answers I want."
The soldiers frowned, but before Chen Haoran could get any closer, a booming laugh from the top of the pyramid stopped him dead in his tracks.
"I've been party to many bold statements before, many of them said directly to me even. But this is the first time I've seen someone openly threaten my soldiers in my presence."
Pan Gong emerged from the altar-building and crossed his arms. "Friend Song. If you want to exchange beatings for knowledge, then you may as well come up here. We'll see how far your coin stretches."
Chapter 143: This Young Master's Trial Went Wrong, As Expected
Foot. Insert mouth. At times like these, Chen Haoran was grateful at how consistent he was at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. At least he had enough experience to fall back on rather than flail around in panic. Phelps stopped his chewing and clutched the metal bamboo tighter in his grip.
Ignoring his pounding heart, Chen Haoran waved to Pan Gong. "Fancy meeting you here, Officer Pan. You're just the man I was looking for."
Pan Gong looked amused. "So you could beat me for answers?"
Chen Haoran relaxed his shoulders and shrugged. "Whatever do you mean by that? I clearly said I had peaceful intentions."
Pan Gong raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I didn't hear you threaten to beat my fellow soldiers?"
"If you thought it was a threat, then I'm sorry," Chen Haoran said. "Given the circumstances, though, I think I can be forgiven for a bit of stress. Surely the Garrison won't punish someone asking for help."
The two soldiers bristled, but Pan Gong overrode whatever they wanted to say with a booming laugh. "Shifting the blame to us, eh? That's quite the strategy you picked, Friend Song."
Chen Haoran innocently tilted his head. "What do you mean? How could I have a strategy? I'm just presenting myself to the Garrison. The Crystal Transformation outside specifically recruited me to assist the Garrison's operation in the Secret Realm."
Pan Gong chuckled. "Are you sure you don't want to join the Palace School? You certainly have the tongue for it."
"You flatter me," Chen Haoran replied.
"Seeing as how you're 'presenting' yourself to the Garrison," Pan Gong said, the air quotes in his words obvious to all. "Have you met any other soldiers?"
"Nope," Chen Haoran said. "I've only met other unaffiliated cultivators."
Pan Gong didn't react, but the Sixth-Layer soldier sighed.
"While we're on the topic. Have you seen the Qi Realms I was with?" Chen Haoran asked.
Pan Gong shook his head. "I have not."
Chen Haoran slumped. "Great."
"I'm sure they'll turn up eventually," Pan Gong said. "Though if they have any sense, they'll stay away from the Trial Pyramids."
Well. That was true. Searching the pyramids like he was wouldn't help him find his friends. There was no way they'd risk confronting a Liquid Meridian like that….well, at least Bao Si would. He was 50/50 on Xie Jin.
….actually, he wasn't sure about Bao Si either now that he thought about it.
The worry must have shown on his face because Pan Gong tried to comfort him. "They shouldn't run into any problems from the other Liquid Meridians so long as they don't treasure something above their station. Most everyone should be busy looking for treasures."
"Yeah, that's true." Chen Haoran pointed to the silver light pillar. "Speaking of treasure, are you gonna take that?"
"If you want it, then my previous offer still stands," Pan Gong said.
Chen Haoran held up his hands. "I didn't say I wanted it." He did. "Just curious."
"We're letting the time run out so that other soldiers can find us," Pan Gong said. "It lowers the reward you get from the pyramid, but I wasn't interested in what the Outer Ring had to offer anyway."
"Outer Ring? Are you say—"
Chen Haoran looked over his shoulder at the same time the other two soldiers stretched out their senses. Pan Gong's presence weighed down from above, and four different pressures converged on a single tree causing the wood to groan.
The elderly Patriarch Qi sheepishly stepped out from behind the tree, trying and failing to hold his staff behind his back. "Greetings, Young Heroes."
The Sixth-Layer groaned. "It's just another nobody."
"Didn't expect to see you again, old man," Chen Haoran said.
"Nor did I," Patriarch Qi said with a pinched expression.
"You know him?" Pan Gong asked.
"He's the leader of the Qi Family in Reservoir Town," Chen Haoran said.
"Never heard of them."
"I would be honored if you heard of a miserable family like mine," Patriarch Qi said, stowing away his staff in his storage bag when he thought they were distracted, but they totally saw him do it. "My apologies for disturbing your conversation. I'll just see myself out."
"Why are you even here?" Chen Haoran asked. "I threw you in the opposite direction."
Patriarch Qi clasped his hands and bowed. "I didn't want to disturb you, Young Hero, so I tried going as far away as possible, but I was stopped by the barrier. So when I saw the light pillar was still here—"
Pan Gong came crashing down in front of Patriarch Qi, hitting the ground hard enough that the elderly Liquid Meridian almost lost his balance from the force.
"What barrier?" Pan Gong demanded. "Show me."
Chen Haoran, Phelps, Pan Gong, and the Peachblood soldier followed the nervous Patriarch Qi. The Sixth-Layer had been left back at the Trial Pyramid in case other soldiers showed up. They passed the pyramid Chen Haoran had thrown Patriarch Qi from and, after only a few minutes of running, found the barrier he had been talking about.
A long white pane of energy cut through the jungle. The higher Chen Haoran looked, the thinner the barrier became until it disappeared entirely. He wouldn't make the mistake, however, of thinking that because he couldn't see it that it was gone. Back on the ground, there were several fallen trees on either side of the barrier. One had even been split straight in half.
The Peachblood crouched and ran his hand over one of the trees and glanced at its cracked stump. He looked at Pan Gong. "These are fresh breaks. The barrier should have been activated when we entered the secret realm."
Pan Gong hummed and yellow liquid qi spilled from his feet and dug out the dirt in front of the barrier. After going about three feet down and still seeing white energy Pan Gong stopped. Then to everyone's horror, he stepped forward and knocked directly on the barrier. Ripples appeared in the still pane and spread outward from where Pan Gong hit it but other than that there was no reaction.
"Pure defense." Pan Gong thought aloud to himself.
Chen Haoran cast his sense out, and to his surprise, it passed through the barrier easily. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the other side, at least, nothing stranger than what he'd already experienced so far. All he found were the same trees and the same poisonous air. Even the ambient qi wasn't much different.
"If I may be so bold to offer my opinion," Patriarch Qi said. "I assume this barrier is another test by the trial. Perhaps it will open after we meet its criteria." He deliberately glanced toward Pan Gong when he said this. His intention to fish for information was clear.
Good thing Chen Haoran had the same idea. "I'm no specialist, but usually, when you think of barriers in trials, it's to separate different levels. Now I dunno about you guys, but I, for one, can't see how that side is any different from this one." The Peachblood and Patriarch Qi frowned in contemplation. Pan Gong's face remained unmoved. "Officer Pan, you were saying something about an Outer Ring earlier. Do you know if this direction leads out of it?"
"No," Pan Gong slowly said. "It doesn't. I'd wager to guess the direction to the inner rings is blocked as well." He dragged his hand across his face and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Someone is getting demoted for this. Hopefully we get lucky and one of our Formation specialists is nearby. See if they can find a way around this. We'll have to map out the extent of the barrier, too, find the nodes, and—ugh. What a waste of time."
Going by Pan Gong's genuine dread, it sounded like the work ahead of them would be long and suck. Two combinations of things that Chen Haoran wanted no part in. Being trapped on the wrong side of a wall was definitely not a position he wanted to be in either. He drummed his fingers along his thighs in thought. Phelps observed the barrier curiously. He shuffled his bamboo between his claws poked used it to poke the barrier, happily squealing as it rippled.
"Yellow Dragon."
The Yellow Dragon opened closed eyes. Chen Haoran blinked and opened his eyes to swirling qi. Connecting his eyes to the Yellow Dragon allowed him to see the abundant water qi in the secret realm. It mixed with noxious green gases to create cloying poisonous air. It interacted with the qi of the trees and was absorbed, increasing their auras by the slightest increments. It wasn't just the trees that absorbed it. The barrier had become a flowing white river to Chen Haoran's eyes. Blue water qi and green wood qi were drawn from the air into the white river and dragged along its current to somewhere unknown. Even if the Yellow Dragon saw the world in terms of energy, it was still limited by distance. What Chen Haoran saw was enough, however. He looked past the barrier into the area it separated. Like he thought it wasn't different at all.
"The qi in the barrier is flowing in one direction," Chen Haoran said.
Pan Gong's head snapped to him. "Where?" he barked.
Startled, Chen Haoran met his gaze. Through the Yellow Dragon's vision, the vast ocean of Pan Gong's yellow liquid qi was exposed. The Yellow Dragon snorted. The ocean briefly froze, and Pan Gong looked away.
"Can you see which direction?" Pan Gong asked.
"To the left," Chen Haoran said.
Pan Gong pursed his lips and looked down the barrier. If he saw something, he didn't let it show on his face. Despite his looks, Pan Gong was not nearly as boisterous and talkative as one might expect. "Let's return. This is a problem better solved with more heads."
Chen Haoran nodded, but his vision suddenly morphed. He connected his eyes to the Yellow Dragon, but that didn't mean it was using them. It was just polite enough to look in the same direction Chen Haoran was. Now it swiveled and Chen Haoran experienced a brief vertigo as he 'saw' in one direction while his eyes were pointed in a completely different one. Past the barrier, past sight obstructing air, were seven energies: five bright green, one red, one brown. They were standing atop a pyramid pulsing with silver light. His confusion at what exactly the Yellow Dragon wanted him to see was soon cleared when the five green qi's surrounded the other two and snuffed them out.
The connection cut.
Chen Haoran rapidly blinked and rubbed his wet eyes.
"Are you alright, Song Yuelin?" Pan Gong concernedly asked.
Chen Haoran waved off his worry. "I'm alright. Just not used to the technique yet."
Pan Gong nodded. "Pupil Arts are some of the most difficult to learn and use. That you wield one is proof of commendable talent."
"Thank you," Chen Haoran said.
"Thank you, too," he thought.
The Yellow Dragon huffed and closed its eyes as it continued drifting through his meridians.
"Come on then," Pan Gong commanded. The Peachblood nodded, and even Patriarch Qi fell into step behind Pan Gong.
Chen Haoran cast a glance back toward the murder he just watched before he turned around and followed them.
When they returned to the Sixth-Layer they were greeted by three more soldiers who'd seen the beacon. Following the high spirits of their plan succeeding, Pan Gong led the group to other pyramids in the direction of the inner ring and repeated the process. Over five pyramids, they variously struck out or got lucky. Sometimes no one showed up, and the reward was wasted. Other times it was only unaffiliated cultivators who quickly ran off after seeing them. A few times, they had soldiers appear in ones and twos. They found five more soldiers this way and then got even luckier on the way to the sixth pyramid when they ran into a group of five led by two Eighth-Layers.
Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi were the odd ones out, being the only non-Garrison cultivators. It wasn't really to Chen Haoran's interests to give up so many potential rewards by traveling with the Garrison but they were the ones with all the information and so he followed along. Patriarch Qi was the real oddity. He didn't look like he wanted to be there at all, especially as the other Eighth-Layers showed up and his nature as a paper tiger was on full display. Yet he also couldn't seem to work up the courage to actually leave. In an amusing twist of fate, he actually stuck close to Chen Haoran despite his earlier beating. Chen Haoran had to admire just how thick-skinned the old man was. He was a good conversationalist to pass the time. What Patriarch Qi's long years, all 120 of them, hadn't given him in strength, they'd provided him ample experience. He was actually born in Zumulu, shockingly enough, a fact he revealed with a small and nigh unnoticeable bone bracelet hidden under his sleeve. Their branch of the Qi Family had migrated from the Central region to the South a hundred years after the conquest.
Pan Gong also made sure to keep company with Chen Haoran when he wasn't busy privately conferring with other officers. There'd been more than a few side-eyes for it, but as the highest ranking and most powerful person in the group, no one had decided to comment on it. It allowed Chen Haoran to finally grill him for the answers he wanted the most.
"Officer Pan, how are we supposed to get out of the trial? Is there a time limit or a gate or something?" Chen Haoran asked. Pan Gong started walking next to him after they left pyramid six. Behind them was the almost twenty-strong group.
"Unfortunately, the only way out is by finishing the trial," Pan Gong said. "In the center ring, there's going to be a final pyramid that will open up after a few days. From what we gathered, the top talents will all gather there to compete for the reward inside, and once it's claimed, the secret realm will teleport everyone out."
"And that's confirmed?" Chen Haoran cautiously asked.
Pan Gong laughed. "I've lost my credibility eh?" He silenced Chen Haoran's attempt to make excuses. "You're right to be concerned but don't underestimate the Empire's means. Before we entered, our Formation experts mapped out the secret realm and its arrays in their entirety. After cross-referencing it with the records we've dug up at the site along with previous finds we were able to confirm the existence of the exit and the nature of the trial. We would have never entered here otherwise."
Chen Haoran started. "Really? That detailed?"
"We have tools and techniques today that the people who built this secret realm could never imagine," Pan Gong said with a smile. "It's not the sophistication of this secret realm that's stymied us—just the age. Formation styles are always rising and fading away, but what we have now is far superior to what they had then. The ancients weren't better than us. They were just first."
"That's…. surprising," Chen Haoran said. On the one hand, the words made sense. On the other, he knew a cranky old ghost who would homicidally contest Pan Gong's point.
"Why be surprised?" Pan Gong hooked a thumb toward a middle-aged man with middle-ranked cultivation of the Fifth-Layer. "You'll be able to see for yourself."
Beyond their expectations, they actually had managed to find one of the Garrison's Formation specialists who'd entered the trial. Now they were headed for the Inner Rings, and soon enough, as Pan Gong had predicted, the barrier stretched all the way to here and blocked them from leaving. On the other side of it was more jungle, though this time it was denser and infested with thick vines that would have served as an impenetrable natural wall were it not for the unnatural impenetrable wall in front of it.
The specialist pulled out a golden compass from his storage bag that bloomed with various lenses and intricate whirling clockwork pieces when he opened it. He held it up to the barrier like a scanner, and it flashed with golden light. No one said anything, and made sure to be out of that way as the specialist paced up and down the length of the barrier frowning at whatever he saw in his compass. Finally, he stopped and turned to face Pan Gong.
"Your judgment was correct, Captain Pan. This Formation isn't part of the secret realm. It was overlayed and kept unconnected to the qi pathways we observed, which was why we never noticed it."
"Which means something or someone connected them as soon as we entered," one of the Eighth-Layer officers darkly said.
"An Artifact Spirit?" another one theorized.
"Is there any way you can open it up?" Pan Gong asked the formation specialist.
The man shook his head. "Not from here. The barrier's flowing qi will make any such opening energy intensive and nigh impossible to maintain. We'll have to find the emitting node or the receiving node. I'll be able to properly break it from there."
More walking. Great. Chen Haoran sighed, but what could he do? Although, now that they were facing the inner realm…. He prodded the Yellow Dragon to connect his vision. The Yellow Dragon opened its eyes and—
Roared.
Chen Haoran felt a chill run deep into his bones as their eyes became one. "Get away from the barrier!" he roared.
Pan Gong reacted instantly and rushed to the Formation specialist. The specialist looked dumbly at them all as if he couldn't understand what they were saying. His golden compass slipped from his hand. The specialist looked down at the bloody spear point protruding from his chest. The question of why there was a spear in his chest when his back was facing the barrier was obvious on his face. He tried to grab for the spear, but his hands fell away as he was raised into the air. From the jungle behind him emerged a man covered in vines shaped into armor. The vine armor man raised his spear, and the impaled specialist with it and stepped through the barrier.
Then the vines in the jungle receded and revealed the army waiting for them on the other side.