The eastern sky was heavy with smoke when they arrived.
After two days of walking along broken trails and silent ridges, the silhouette of a caravan station emerged from the forested slope—partially built into the cliffside, partially suspended by ancient ropes over a winding ravine. Bright red flags hung limp in the still air, marked with the crest of the Crimson Flame Caravan: a coiling serpent over a furnace.
A sentry atop the watchtower spotted them and gave a shrill birdcall. Moments later, the gates creaked open with the sound of chains dragging across stone.
Rael kept his hood up.
Lin Shuang said nothing, her steps measured.
They didn't trust trade routes. But they needed them.
---
Inside, the outpost bustled with a strange rhythm.
Merchant cultivators barked prices. Beast cages rattled. Tents lined the platform edges, filled with the scent of roasted meat, alchemical fumes, and burning talismans. A bald man hawked beast cores from a cracked table. Nearby, a scarred woman polished a severed claw still leaking Qi.
Even here, blood was currency.
Rael's eyes scanned the crowd. Instinct guided him more than thought.
His vision settled on a cloaked figure sitting by a brazier at the far corner, hands wrapped around a rusted metal bowl. The man looked like a beggar—eyes pale, hair silver from age or misused arts.
But his Qi… it swirled like oil over a buried fire.
Rael approached.
---
[Passive Detection: Concealed Qi Signature – Rank: Hidden Master]
Name: Unknown (Alias Registered: "Three-Needles")
Faction: Independent | Affiliation: Former Sable Orchid Sect (Disbanded)
Status: Injured. Qi Channels: Cracked. Spirit Sea: Dormant. Mental Core: Fragmented.
Current Activity: Brewing Scorched Fog Elixir | Potency: Unknown | Side Effects: Unstable.
---
"Traveler," the man rasped before Rael could speak, "you smell of old cities and fresh blood. Have you seen a dying god lately?"
Rael crouched beside the fire. "I saw something bound beneath stone."
The man chuckled, teeth stained black. "Then it wasn't a god. Merely another prisoner pretending to be one."
He stirred his bowl. Smoke rose in patterns that didn't fade.
"You came for trade?"
"Information. Supplies."
The old man's gaze flicked to Lin Shuang, then back. "Payment?"
Rael pulled the bone scroll from his pouch and tossed it.
The man caught it mid-air—despite his shaking hands.
His smile vanished.
"Lanxu's vault," he whispered. "You opened it."
"Just a fragment."
"That's all it takes."
He sniffed the scroll once, then pressed it to the brazier flames. It didn't burn—but a rune flared blue.
"The Heartbound Harness," the man murmured. "Old arts. Forbidden even before the Orchid fell."
Rael leaned in. "I want to make it."
"Then you'll need three things. A beast with enough will not to die. Blood ink made from its essence. And someone mad enough to draw the sigils on your spine."
---
They left the brazier in silence, scroll returned, nothing gained but direction.
"Do we trust him?" Lin asked.
"No."
"Then why listen?"
"Because he's not lying."
---
They traded in the lower stalls.
Rael sold one of the lesser jade slips for thirty-five spirit coins—enough for food, talismans, and a new pair of forged bone gauntlets. Lin bartered her old twin blades for a single curved fang-dagger—its edge dyed green from poison Qi.
Neither of them mentioned the beast that would be needed for the harness.
Not yet.
But fate moved faster than thought.
---
That night, a scream tore through the camp.
Rael was already moving before the second cry.
By the time he reached the outer rope bridges, the scent of blood was heavy in the air.
A cage had been shattered. Two guards were dead.
And something slithered through the mist toward the cliff's edge.
He saw it just before it vanished—a serpent, pale as milk, with wings made of translucent flesh and a single golden eye on its head.
---
[Wild Entity Identified – Pale Veil Serpent]
Class: Silver Vein – Young Stage
Status: Injured. Frightened. Qi Flow: Disturbed.
Known Trait: Camouflage Veil – Renders body partially invisible under moonlight.
Combat Role: Agile, Precise, Defensive Escape Specialist.
Bonding Compatibility: High (Pending Personality Clash)
Capture Chance: 22%
Note: Spirit Core viable for integration with Heartbound Artifact.
---
Rael moved.
Not because he was ready.
Because he didn't want anyone else to take it.
He hurled a binding talisman forward—blue netting surged from the scroll, tangling around the serpent's body. The creature shrieked, twisted, bit into the talisman—
—and shattered it.
But not before Rael reached it.
His palm slapped against its neck.
Qi flowed.
And in that instant—he saw it.
---
A cold plain.
A child serpent hissing beneath its mother's corpse.
Poachers.
Ropes.
Cages.
A hundred failed attempts to escape.
And now—this moment.
Another hand. Another cage. Another predator.
---
Rael didn't crush its will.
He whispered, "I'm not your captor."
The serpent stared.
Then collapsed, breathing slow and soft.
---
[Bonding Imprint Initiated – Entity: Pale Veil Serpent (Female)]
Core Compatibility: 67% – Stable but Incomplete.
Warning: Heartbound Harness Blueprint Not Yet Forged. Beast Traits Dormant.
Temporary Bond: Visual Connection | Qi Link (Low-Level Pulse Only)
New Objective: Craft Core Vessel & Prepare Beast Blood Ink
Time Limit: 7 Days Before Core Degrades.
---
Lin approached, eyes narrowed. "You're keeping it?"
Rael nodded. "It's fast. Smart. Loyal, if treated right."
She smiled faintly. "You've never even trained a dog."
"No. But I've killed a lot of predators."
She looked at the serpent again.
"…What'll you name her?"
Rael thought.
"Veil."
---
They carried Veil in a wrapped silk shroud, her body curled around a jade orb to stabilize her core. Every step now mattered. Every delay risked her death.
And ahead—only one path.
Through the Silver-Fanged Hills, where a rogue blacksmith was said to live in exile—one who once forged battle harnesses for the war clans of the Eastern Frontier.
And who owed a life-debt to the Orchid Sect.
---