Chapter 209.1: A Dead End and a Crooked Path Part 1

Many things arrived without warning, like unrest, disaster, or death. Even if there had been many clues beforehand, enough to put people on alert, no one could know how those scattered traces, buried beneath the Ninefold Earth, would intertwine and take root, or when they would finally sprout into some monstrous calamity.

Again and again, people removed the threats and stayed vigilant. Time after time, they examined and weighed the situation. But in the end, how much could any of it really accomplish?

Once disaster broke through the surface, floodwaters overwhelmed the levees, torrential rain crashed down from the heavens, and a tsunami swept across the land, there was little left to do beyond relying on whatever preparations had been made and reacting as best one could, just as they were doing now.

***

Ten minutes before the mutation in Spring City, at the Association’s construction site...

A pillar of fire rose from the wilderness outside the outpost. The piercing alarm rang until it was cut off abruptly when someone destroyed the circuits. Across the vast worksite, enormous tower-like machines stretched toward the heavens, shining with dazzling arcs of electricity. Torrents of spirit matter burst from the machines, and from the explosions and chaos, the black night sky lit up in a sickening blaze of color.

Then came a wave of horrifying contamination, even more severe than what had spread through Spring City.

Inside what had once been the material storage facility, enormous storage tanks were brought in at some unknown point. Now, they all exploded. Vast quantities of pollution and aberrant dust collected by the Recycling and Processing Department were swept into the sky by the storm, transforming the entire construction site into a demonic wasteland in an instant.

For days, plenty of craftsmen and apprentices had worked themselves to exhaustion, laboring around the clock to extract and separate that contamination. Now, in the cruelest possible reversal, it was being poured back over their heads.

Mutations sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain, emerging from the ground, from the walls, from the pipes and cables, and from every inch of air. Flickering illusions appeared, while wailing figures crawled out of the mud and blood.

Just a few seconds earlier, everything had been proceeding normally. Everyone had been following procedure, seizing every moment to complete the emergency construction. Then, in the span of a few heartbeats, the whole place became unrecognizable.

Atop the broken towers that had turned into flesh, eerie eyes opened, looking down on everything. The overall design had once appeared perfectly ordinary, if somewhat complex, but under the spread of corruption, it offered no resistance at all. Instead, it assumed its form with disturbing ease, as though this were what it had always been meant to become.

As countless spirit circuits were dismantled and reconnected, the entire structure rapidly twisted beyond recognition. It was like an ancient landscape painting transformed by the addition of a few careless strokes and splashes of filthy ink, causing its serene mountains and rivers to turn into a version of hell.

Once the disguise was stripped away, the malice hidden within the original design revealed itself, exposing a vicious face that even its creators had never anticipated. It grinned hideously.

Wails filled the construction site, mingling with an endless chorus of screams and desperate cries. As the smoke and pollution spread, the survivors struggled in misery.

What was going on? What the hell was this? What exactly had happened?

After surviving the initial blast and the first wave of contamination, the apprentices and craftsmen fortunate enough to escape the heart of the explosion staggered through the wreckage, attempting to call for help. Those quick enough to understand the situation concealed every trace of their presence as soon as the initial confusion passed. They slipped into hiding, then fled without looking back even once.

Three feet of ice doesn’t form in a single day[1]. Since the monument of utmost evil had already been built, in the face of the tragic city now standing before them, the best choice wasn’t to think about turning the tide. Preserving their lives came first. Whether there was a traitor in their midst, whether this had all been a trap, or whether they were merely pieces in some greater scheme, one thing was now clear: the Association and the Security Bureau could no longer be trusted.

Behind the door, a cry came from within the sea of fire. “Teacher, save me. Please save me... Teacher, teacher...”

The blood-soaked master dragged himself upright, using a piece of rebar to support himself as he stared at the horrific scene, his face expressionless. Before his eyes, his student slowly burned in the flames while tendrils and various mutated organs burst out of his body.

For a moment, Zhou Zhong opened his mouth, desperately wanting to say something, but amid the thick smoke and burning flames, he couldn’t make a sound. He raised his mangled arm, extended one of his remaining fingers, and pointed toward his student’s face from afar.

The voice cut off abruptly. The boy in the flames ceased struggling and quietly crumbled into ash.

As smoke swirled around Zhou Zhong, murky tears mixed with blood ran down his face. It was impossible to tell how many of them came from grief. He turned his head away, propped himself up, and staggered out of the fire. His mouth opened in a silent shout and curse, but his voice seemed to have been burned away by the flames along with his white hair.

When he finally rushed out of the shattered temporary workshop and stumbled forward, gasping for breath, he saw a figure standing at the center of the construction site. She wasn’t the least bit battered or wounded. Her mottled short hair fluttered slightly in the scorching wind, as if she had been waiting there for a long time.

She turned back and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Hm? You actually survived?”

Zhou Zhong took in her cold expression, then the craftsmen and apprentices lying at her feet, all of them on the verge of death or worse. At last, he could no longer hold back. His eyes turned red, and his face twitched. “Ye Xian! Have you lost your mind?! You actually... Even if you have a grudge against me, what did the others—”

Despite his furious accusation, Ye Xian looked away, utterly uninterested. With much regret, she sighed.

“It seems I gave you too much credit. I thought you were a noble man that transforms like a leopard[2] when the time comes. It appears I underestimated the heroes of this world. With your courage and ambition, Master Zhou, the most you are capable of is ruling over your little fiefdom and working your apprentices to the bone. You don’t even have the nerve to oppose the Association and the Security Bureau.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Forget it. Sleep for now.”

From the shadows dancing amid the blazing light behind her, a strange type of darkness spread out like a pair of eerie wings, extending without limit, and swallowed Master Zhou. In the space of a few heartbeats, the clash, intrusion, defense, interference, and correction of spirit matter occurred at a dizzying pace. Then, just as quickly, it ended.

Destruction continued without pause.

Badly injured and barely conscious, Master Zhou’s vision went black. He collapsed, unable to resist. The only thing he heard was Ye Xian coldly murmuring, “Stay down and don’t get in the way.”

The wing-like shadows shifted and gathered into a giant hand that scooped him up and tossed him onto a pile of bodies. Zhou Zhong struggled to lift his head, wanting to glare at Ye Xian’s back, but he could no longer hold onto his consciousness and passed out.

Ye Xian looked into the depths of the fire. Amid the clusters of aberration, a figure staggered out, a flicker of surprise crossing her face. After a long while, she said, “So that’s how it is. I really did underestimate the people of this world.”

A path opened through the flames. Covered in soot and ash, Master Kong froze when she saw Ye Xian approaching with an expressionless face. She shook her head. “It wasn’t me!”

“I know.” Ye Xian brushed past her. “Those burdens are yours to deal with.”

Just like that, she headed for the area Master Kong had just come from.

1. The saying “three feet of ice does not form in a single day” means that nothing develops, takes shape, or deteriorates overnight. Such conditions are usually the result of a gradual buildup over a long period of time. It reminds us that when examining a problem or dealing with a crisis, we should look for the deep-rooted causes that have accumulated over time rather than expect an immediate solution. ☜

2. The expression “a noble man transforms like a leopard” comes from the I Ching. It describes how a person of virtue refines and disciplines himself over time, undergoing a profound transformation until his character, learning, and conduct become as striking and radiant as the markings of a mature leopard.

The phrase can also refer to someone who casts aside their faults, cultivates virtue, or is tempered by experience, ultimately achieving an impressive rise in status or a remarkable transformation in life. ☜