Fourth Brother, Xiao Chen!

In the realm of illusion and reality, time flowed at a vastly different rate than in the outside world. It was a bizarre fusion, caught between illusory phantasms and the real world. Deep within the domain, an old man sat cross-legged inside an eerie array. Eerie white bones surrounded him on all sides, arranged and combined in some profound alignment. Gouges scored the ground in sinister, grotesque patterns. And inverted beneath the old man's ground, as if across a mirror, was Xiao Chen—laden with four people, trudging forward without pausing for a single step. The two planes were inverted, an eerie mirror of each other. Yet Xiao Chen and his companions knew nothing of this. The dripping blood appeared to fall upon the earth and thorns. In truth, every drop landed within the sinister grooves beside the old man. As the blood pooled together, it gave off an uncanny crimson glow. Likewise, wisps of white spiritual light emerged from the old man's body like threads, winding about Xiao Chen. This... was an art waged as a gamble on Xiao Chen's life. Yet... the only thing Xiao Chen could rely upon was his sheer willpower. For the strength he drew from the old man did not feed back into his own body. Even the rate at which he absorbed it fell far short of how quickly the elder siphoned his essence blood. It was a zero-sum contest of attrition. Thus, the three-headed slit-mouthed hound—the manifestation of the elder's spirit—was in no rush at all. It only had to wait until Xiao Chen could endure no more and fell into its jaws; then, the elder would devour and absorb their power. Had his physical body not been so frail, bearing a genuine risk of death in a direct clash with Xiao Chen, the elder never would have resorted to such an inferior gambit. "Heh, a monster?" "Back when this old man was in the Spirit Realm, they used to call me that too..." "Geniuses and monsters exist only to be slaughtered!!" "Let us see how much longer you can last... This blood... is truly delicious!" His hands, withered like tree bark, were stained with blood. He stuck out his tongue and licked his fingers clean. An expression of supreme bliss crept across the elder's face as he closed his eyes in pure ecstasy. The blood runes across his face grew far clearer, and the injuries on his emaciated body healed at a visible rate. Fresh flesh and blood sprouted over his shattered bones and charred burns alike. Meanwhile, Xiao Chen's vision was blurred with sweat and blood, his breath coming in heavy, ragged gasps like a bellows. He had long since torn off his shredded robes and trudged on bare-chested. To lessen the strain, he gripped the spear with both hands, distributing the weight of the four bodies across its length. Because of this, he could not use the spear to clear a path through the thorn-choked mountain. He could only force his way through, tearing through the brambles with his own flesh and blood as he pressed on. Behind him, the scorching waves of heat from the magma seared his back, and the hound's deafening roars felt uncomfortably close. Xiao Chen kept his head down, back hunched, steadily putting one foot in front of the other. He dared not stop, and dared even less to look back. He feared that if he saw any distance between himself and the hound, the temptation to pause and rest would overtake him. One step... two steps... Beads of sweat the size of beans dripped down his chin, yet Xiao Chen continued forward. *Thud!* Xiao Chen stumbled, nearly pitching headlong to the ground. He let go to catch himself against the earth, only for thorns to pierce clean through his palms! As his body dropped, the spikes impaled his knees as well. "Ngh... ahhh!!!" A stifled groan tore from his throat. That brief halt stirred a desperate urge within him to just lie there and stop. "Fourth Brother!!" "Are you alright?" Gu Li drifted out of his daze, regaining a sliver of consciousness through the haze of poison. Xiao Chen gritted his teeth. Turning his face away from Gu Li, he bit down hard on his lip until metallic, sweet blood flooded his mouth, clearing his groggy senses. Slowly rising, he tore his left knee and palm straight out of the thorns by sheer force. Standing back up, Xiao Chen feigned ease as he spoke. "I'm fine. Just stopped to catch my breath." Xiao Chen carried Gu Li across his back, with Ye Feng and Cao Yan stacked atop him. Gu Li could only tilt his gaze up toward the black, endless expanse of thorn thickets; he could not see how Xiao Chen was faring beneath them. At this moment, they were barely eighty-odd zhang ahead of the vicious hound behind them. Gu Li had no idea how long they had been traveling, but he estimated it had been at least seven or eight shichen. Even with Xiao Chen's formidable physique, carrying four people for so long had surely pushed him past his limits! "Fourth Brother, why don't you... put us down and rest for a bit?" Xiao Chen did not reply; he merely shook his head gently. His trembling left hand gripped the spear tightly, the shaft slick with blood. By now, his handsome, fair face was a gory mess. Virtually no intact skin remained, covered entirely in bloody lacerations. Yet his eyes remained resolute. Panting heavily, he said softly, "Hold on a little longer... Just hold on until Eldest Brother comes to save us." And so, Xiao Chen resumed his march, though now with a limp. Limping along, he could not match his earlier pace. The mountain sank faster and faster, and the distance between him and the vicious beast closed with every passing breath. Trudging with his head lowered, Xiao Chen could already feel the heat washing over his back, along with the putrid reek wafting from the hound's maw. Its roars grew ever louder as it excitedly swiped its razor talons and bared its fangs in a wide snarl! Beneath the origin mirror plane, the old man trembled with mounting excitement. As long as he could devour Xiao Chen and the others, he would no longer have to spend so much effort grinding away the hours. By now, the old man looked even more decrepit. He and Xiao Chen were locked in a reciprocal plunder. It was like a balance scale, each draining the other's power. However, the trap laid by the elder was naturally skewed in his own favor. All Xiao Chen had to rely upon was pure willpower. The scorching realm of magma was enough to dehydrate Xiao Chen completely. The boundless forest of thorns and the agony wracking his body pushed his endurance to the brink. Yet the sinking mountain and the snarling beast compelled him to keep moving forward. Xiao Chen desperately wanted to pick up the pace, but he had nothing left to give... The semi-conscious Gu Li wanted to help, yet he remained paralyzed; under the raging assault of the poison, he was as powerless as a mortal. The ground caved in, and for the first time, Xiao Chen could not resist glancing back. The vicious hound was already right upon them, its raised talon smashing down violently! Xiao Chen threw himself into a roll, tumbling to the ground alongside the companions on his back. *Boom!* The collapsing earth plunged into the magma along with the brambles. The hound's three heads snapped ferociously at Xiao Chen. In that split second of crisis, Xiao Chen wielded his spear in one hand and heaved with all his might, flinging his companions several zhang into the air! Suspended in midair, Gu Li's eyes nearly split with horror as he watched. "Fourth Brother!!!" *Riiip!* Xiao Chen's right leg was torn clean off. A blood-curdling scream tore from Xiao Chen's throat. "Ahhh!!!" Yet in the very next instant, Xiao Chen thrust his spear straight into the hound's eye, his strike so blindingly swift it left only an afterimage. *Squelch!* The spear transfixed the eyeball. Howling in agony, the hound violently whipped its head, hurling Xiao Chen far into the distance. Beneath the altar's array, the elder's left eye was reduced to a bloody ruin, weeping tears of mingled red and white. Xiao Chen had no time to think. Scrambling frantically on all fours, he hoisted the others onto his back once more and leaned on his spear as a crutch, dragging himself deeper into the mountain.