The next morning dawned heavy with mist. A dull gray hung over the estate, muting colors and cloaking movement. The early light barely touched the stone paths as Jun Mo Xie stood at the highest tower of the estate, staring out toward the mountains on the distant horizon.
Four women stood below in the courtyard, waiting.
Lan Xue knelt silently beside a shallow pool, eyes closed in meditation.
Yue Ling leaned against a pillar in shadow, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.
Mei Yun practiced forms beneath a flowering cherry tree, blades dancing like silk in the air.
Fei Yan sat cross-legged on the stone railing, polishing her twin daggers, humming an old lullaby that didn't belong to any clan.
Jun Mo Xie descended the stairs slowly. When he stepped onto the courtyard stone, the mist stirred.
"The time has come," he said simply.
---
The estate buzzed with tension as preparations were made. Packs were loaded with dried rations, maps, and scrolls. Horses were readied. A small unit of trusted guards prepared for the long journey, though most knew only that their young master was venturing to the southern border.
Only the inner circle knew the truth: They were going to investigate the Obsidian Gate.
The journey would take two weeks by horseback, passing through neutral lands, forbidden valleys, and ruins forgotten by most of the cultivation world.
As they rode out, the gates of the Jun estate slowly closed behind them. Behind those gates remained silence... and eyes that watched.
---
Three days into the journey, the group camped beneath a canopy of ancient trees along the river Vian. The forest was quiet—too quiet.
Fei Yan was first to notice. She rose from her meditative stance and whispered, "We're not alone."
Jun Mo Xie stood immediately. "Positions."
Lan Xue, her soft eyes sharpened with focus, placed her hand on the earth, murmuring an incantation. A ripple spread outward.
"Fourteen signatures," she said. "Circling. Fast."
Mei Yun vanished into the canopy in a single movement.
Yue Ling drew a curved dagger from her sleeve.
Then came the attack.
Figures in bone-white masks leapt from the trees, blades flashing, chi trails crackling with corrupted energy. They moved without speaking, without hesitation.
Jun Mo Xie deflected the first strike with his rusted sword. Sparks flew.
Fei Yan's daggers whirled through the air like streaks of silver light, severing a throat before vanishing into another shadow.
Yue Ling danced between her enemies, each movement surgically precise—one cut per foe, no wasted effort.
Mei Yun dropped from a tree branch, impaling two attackers with a single lunge, her face unreadable.
Lan Xue's palms glowed with pale blue light. A wave of healing chi expanded outward, slowing their enemies and strengthening her allies.
Jun Mo Xie moved like a ghost, dodging and striking. Though his cultivation remained basic, his instincts—honed from another world, another life—made him unpredictable. His swordwork wasn't elegant, but it was effective.
One attacker managed to break the line and charged toward Lan Xue.
Jun Mo Xie didn't think.
He stepped in front of her and took the blade through his shoulder.
The masked attacker froze, surprised. That was his final mistake.
Fei Yan's dagger pierced his heart.
Jun Mo Xie stumbled, gritting his teeth.
Lan Xue cried out, catching him. "You're bleeding badly."
"It's nothing," he growled. "I've had worse."
Yue Ling stepped forward, pulling the mask off one corpse.
The face beneath was twisted, almost melted—unnatural.
"They're not alive," she said.
Mei Yun knelt beside another. "Corrupted by something ancient. This isn't rogue cultivation. This is... ritualistic."
Fei Yan looked toward the south. "The Obsidian Gate?"
Jun Mo Xie nodded. "We're getting close."
---
They buried the dead and tended their wounds. Lan Xue worked quietly, her touch gentle, her chi soothing. That night, around a fire, silence reigned.
Then Yue Ling spoke. "We need to change our route. Avoid the ruins near Blackstone Hill. That's where they came from."
"How do you know?" Mei Yun asked.
"Because I once lived there."
The group turned to her.
"I wasn't always part of the Jun Clan's shadow," Yue Ling said. "My family was destroyed by the cult of the Obsidian Gate. I escaped. Barely."
Jun Mo Xie leaned forward. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I didn't know it was them. Not until today."
Fei Yan threw a small stone into the fire. "Then we go around."
"No," Yue Ling said, voice hard. "We go through."
Everyone stared.
"If we're going to understand what's coming, we need to see what they left behind."
Jun Mo Xie nodded slowly. "Agreed."
---
Three more days passed. On the seventh day, they reached Blackstone Hill.
Once a prosperous mountain village, it was now nothing more than blackened ruins and collapsed stone. The trees were dead. The air carried a stench of ash and rot.
The ground was marked with strange symbols, some still glowing faintly.
Lan Xue clutched Jun Mo Xie's sleeve. "This place is cursed."
"I know," he replied.
They stepped over broken altars and shattered bones. No animals stirred. No birds sang.
In the center of the ruins stood an archway of obsidian stone, cracked but still pulsing with energy.
"The Gate," Mei Yun whispered.
It was not tall—barely enough for a man to walk through—but its presence weighed on them like a mountain.
As they approached, the arch began to hum. Symbols ignited one by one.
Then a voice echoed—not aloud, but inside their minds.
**"One returns. Four awaken. The path begins anew."**
Jun Mo Xie staggered. Visions flashed before him:
—A battlefield bathed in black fire.
—A throne of bone.
—A figure cloaked in crimson and gold, laughing.
Then silence.
The arch went dark.
He fell to one knee, panting.
Fei Yan caught his shoulder. "What did you see?"
He looked up, face pale.
"The future."
---
They set camp far from the arch, near a spring untouched by the corruption.
That night, Jun Mo Xie stood watch. One by one, the girls approached him.
Yue Ling sat beside him first. "If this path kills us all... I'm still glad I chose it."
Mei Yun came later. "I don't follow men. I walk beside warriors. You've earned that."
Lan Xue kissed his bandaged hand. "I knew you once. I will know you again."
Fei Yan said nothing. She simply placed a dagger in his palm. "For the next time you bleed."
He nodded.
Together, they
stared into the dark.
And from the ruins behind them, the Gate pulsed once—then stilled.
Whatever lay ahead had noticed them.
And it was waiting.
---
*To be continued...*