Chapter 29 Awaiting
Chapter 29 Awaiting
"My foundation is bleeding out."
Ye Chen sprinted through the dense mountain forest. He blurred past pine trees like a hunting shadow.
He channeled the volatile Demonic Qi from his Dantian directly into his legs. The dark magic fueled his Phantom Shadow Step with terrifying relentless stamina. His boots barely touched the dry earth.
The speed carried a massive physical cost. The uninitiated demonic core acted as a starving parasite. It actively devoured his golden Chaos Qi to sustain the endless sprint.
His chest felt hollow. The freezing Yin energy threatened to consume his internal furnace. He ignored the creeping frost and pushed his body harder.
He reached the outskirts of the Capital just before midnight.
The sprawling city was ablaze with torchlight. The iron gates were barred shut. Azure Cloud Enforcers patrolled the high stone walls with drawn crossbows.
They used the rumors of roaming ghouls to impose brutal martial law. Dozens of fresh corpses hung from the city ramparts. The Enforcers executed anyone caught fleeing the slums.
Ye Chen bypassed the blockades. He scaled the stone wall in the darkest corner of the outer district. His maxed Agility carried him over the stone parapet in a single bound.
He dropped silently into the filthy alleys of the lower slums.
He tracked the faint spiritual signature of his looted communication jade. The signal led him through a maze of narrow streets. He stopped before a massive brick warehouse.
Heavy iron chains locked the front loading doors. Ye Chen circled the building and found a shattered skylight on the sloped roof. He slipped through the broken glass and landed on a wooden rafter.
He looked down into the dim interior.
Bai Yun sat near a dying campfire in the center of the warehouse. The dropout looked like a walking corpse. Dark bruised bags hung heavy under his eyes. He gripped his short sword with shaking hands.
Zhang Ling lay on a soiled mattress nearby. The young girl coughed a wet rattling cough. A dozen other surviving mortals huddled in the deep shadows.
Ye Chen dropped from the rafter. His boots hit the stone floor without a sound.
Bai Yun jumped to his feet and raised his sword. He recognized the shredded gray tunic and lowered the blade. A massive breath of relief escaped the young man's lungs.
"You came back," Bai Yun whispered.
"Give me the sitrep," Ye Chen demanded. He scanned the terrified faces in the shadows.
"The Enforcers are sweeping the streets with fire," Bai Yun reported grimly. "But the real slaughter is happening in the dark. The valley horde reached the city."
Bai Yun looked at the sleeping form of Zhang Ling.
"The ghouls are tracking the scent of human resentment," Bai Yun explained. "This girl suffered for years while her father bled for medicine. She is a beacon to them."
Ye Chen frowned. The demonic plague was organized. It hunted those with resentment in them to feed its own growth.
"We lose one person every night," Bai Yun stated. His voice cracked with exhaustion. "The victims just vanish into the shadows. We find their bodies frozen solid in the alley the next morning."
The mortals in the shadows heard the conversation. Panic began to boil over.
A frail man stood up from the dirt floor. He clutched a rusted iron pipe.
"I am leaving," the man declared wildly. "I will take my chances with the Enforcers. I refuse to sit here and wait for the ghosts to eat my soul."
The panic proved infectious. The other mortals stood up. They gathered their meager belongings. Terror overrode their basic logic. They preferred the cruel whips of the Azure Cloud Sect over invisible monsters.
Ye Chen stepped out of the shadows. The firelight illuminated his cold dead eyes.
The mortals froze. They recognized the boy. They remembered the muddy logging camp. They remembered the Enforcer Captain dying with a ruptured chest.
"Sit down," Ye Chen commanded. His voice echoed across the massive warehouse.
"The ghosts will take us," a woman sobbed near the wall.
"There are no ghosts," Ye Chen lied smoothly. He projected absolute authority to crush their hysteria.
"You are being hunted by mortal men," Ye Chen stated. He paced in front of the dying fire. "Elder Wang hired rogue cultivators to track you down. They use cheap stealth talismans to hide in the dark and collect the bounties on your heads."
The mortals murmured among themselves. The lie provided a tangible enemy. A rogue assassin was terrifying but it was human. It could bleed.
"I slaughtered the Enforcers at your camp," Ye Chen reminded them coldly. "I will slaughter these assassins tonight."
He pointed toward the heavy iron chains locking the main doors.
"I will stand guard at the front gate," Ye Chen vowed. "No one enters this building. Now go to sleep."
The confidence in his tone worked. The mortals slowly lowered their makeshift weapons. They believed the butcher of the logging camp. They retreated back to their dirty blankets.
Ye Chen looked at Bai Yun.
"Move them into the reinforced cellar," Ye Chen ordered quietly. "Lock the heavy steel door from the inside. Do not open it until the sun rises."
Bai Yun nodded. He understood the grave reality. He roused Zhang Ling and ushered the remaining mortals toward the back stairwell. The cellar door slammed shut. The steel deadbolts clicked into place.
Ye Chen stood alone in the massive empty loading bay.
He dragged a sturdy wooden crate to the center of the room. He sat down facing the main sliding doors. He rested the broken leather hilt of his ruined sword on his knees.
The warehouse fell dead silent. The dying campfire sputtered and went out.
Ye Chen checked his internal status. His balance sat at 980 System Points. He needed twenty more to force the ultimate evolution. He needed this bait to work.
Hours passed in the pitch black room.
The heavy iron chains on the main doors suddenly rattled.
Ye Chen did not move. He regulated his breathing. He allowed the volatile Demonic Qi in his Dantian to rise to the surface of his skin.
A dense fog began to bleed under the gap of the wooden doors.
The temperature in the warehouse plummeted in seconds. A thick layer of white frost climbed the interior brick walls. The freezing mist pooled across the stone floor and crept toward Ye Chen's boots.
A sound pierced the suffocating silence.
It was the chilling sound of a woman weeping. The cries echoed from the dark alley outside the doors. The sobs sounded wet and hollow.
Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. The prey had found the trap.
He activated the Nine Hells Devouring Art. Pitch black smoke erupted from his bare fists. The dark aura swirled around his arms and fought back the encroaching frost.
The weeping stopped.
A heavy impact struck the massive wooden doors. The thick wood groaned under the unnatural force.
Ye Chen gripped his broken hilt. He waited for the breach.