The mist hung lower now, hugging the ground in slow-moving currents. It clung to the ankles of every step, swirling sluggishly around boots before breaking apart again. The air was thicker here, heavy with the scent of damp soil mixed with the lingering stench of beast blood. It clung stubbornly to the back of the throat, making each breath taste faintly of iron.
The seniors wasted no time after securing the chains around the fallen beast. They moved as though the fight had been nothing more than a warm-up, their puppets stepping back into formation without pause. Yun adjusted the bindings on her puppet's wrists, Lian gave a short glance toward the path ahead, and Feng merely nodded for them to continue.
There was no moment to recover, no pause to wipe the mud from their clothes or the blood from their weapons. The forest waited for no one.
The juniors trailed after them, some glancing over their shoulders toward the corpse they were leaving behind. None spoke about it aloud, but their expressions betrayed the thought, leaving a creature like that without even cutting a trophy from its body felt wrong.
Muye walked near the middle of the group, his boots finding careful footing between exposed roots. This was the most balanced position in the formation, not at the front where the first strike might land, not at the back where danger crept up unseen.
His breathing remained steady. The forest around them was alive with sound, faint rustles, distant cracks, the whisper of mist shifting with the breeze, yet none of it sent his pulse racing.
Why am I still this calm?
The question had lived in the back of his mind since they entered the forest. It had been there when they first passed under the arching trees. It had been there when the first beast emerged from the mist. And now, after everything, it lingered still.
It did not feel like courage. Courage carried weight, a resistance against fear. But here, there was no resistance, no fear at all.
His eyes scanned the treeline as they moved. The shadows between trunks seemed to breathe, stretching and shifting with the mist. The canopy overhead was a weave of branches and wet leaves that blocked most of the light. It was dim, yet the world felt sharp to his senses.
A faint creak broke the rhythm of their footsteps. It came from above, from somewhere in the canopy.
The sound was too heavy to be the wind.
Before anyone could react, something dropped from the branches.
Thump.
The impact was brutal. The junior at the front stumbled back, the pale blur of a creature slamming into his chest with enough force to drive him into the mud.
A wet crunch followed, and then there came a scream that pierced the air, raw and filled with terror. It was short-lived, ending with a sickening snap that silenced the clearing, hanging like a ghost of dread. The juniors froze, the forest around them holding its breath.
The creature that had attacked was smaller than the first beast, no taller than a man's shoulder, but it was fast. Its hide was a patchwork of exposed bone and stringy flesh, its limbs long and crooked. Its teeth were jagged and uneven, yet each was honed to a lethal point. Faint wisps of corpse Qi curled from its nostrils as it hissed, its eyes a dull yellow that locked on the nearest moving shape.
"Control your puppets," Yun ordered, her voice sharp but without urgency, as though the loss of a junior meant nothing more than a note in a report.
The seniors moved instantly. Yun's iron-plated puppet barreled forward, its heavy steps pounding the wet ground. Lian's bladed puppet slipped to the side, chain-sickle uncoiling in a metallic hiss. Feng's brawler puppet stomped into position, its gauntlets raised.
The creature darted between them. It was quicker than its size suggested, weaving under a strike and leaping sideways to avoid the brawler's crushing blow. Its claws scraped against metal, sending sparks into the mist.
The juniors stumbled back, boots sinking into the wet earth. The smell of fresh blood hit them hard, turning a few faces pale.
Muye's gaze fell briefly to the body of the fallen junior. The boy lay sprawled in the mud, his neck twisted too far to be natural, his chest unmoving. Blood seeped slowly into the moss and soil beneath him.
Then it began.
A faint pulse in his dantian.
It was not the fierce hunger from before, but it was there, subtle, insistent. The bone stirred, not quite awake but no longer still. The sensation was like the slow spread of warmth in his gut, except it was not warmth. It was want.
The creature's corpse called to it.
Muye held his stance, forcing his breathing to remain calm. The pull was weaker this time, but the feeling was familiar enough to unsettle him. It was like an itch he could not reach, a whisper in the back of his mind urging him toward the fresh kill.
The fight was short, but brutal.
Boom.
The brawler puppet's fist collided with the creature's ribs in a sickening crunch that echoed through the mist. The harsh metallic clang still reverberated in Muye's ears as the beast's shriek sliced through the air like a blade. Adrenaline coursed through him, his body tense, muscles coiling as he prepared for another attack.
Whrrshhh.
The bladed puppet's chain-sickle caught the creature around the neck, its hooks biting deep into soft tissue.
A final hiss escaped the beast before the chain tore through, severing its spine. The body sagged and collapsed in the mud with a dull, heavy thud.
The pull in his dantian grew for a moment, then began to fade as the corpse cooled. It left behind a strange emptiness, as though the hunger had retreated but not vanished.
"Dispose of it. We will collect the materials later," Yun said. Her tone was flat, her eyes already shifting toward the trees ahead.
Two juniors stepped forward, their movements stiff, and dragged the body of their fallen companion toward the side of the path. Their hands trembled as they grasped his lifeless form, and a few tried to meet each other's gaze, searching for reassurance that it would not be them next. Faces went pale, and as they dragged him away, an unspoken grief hung heavy in the air, a sorrow too immense to articulate.
Muye watched without speaking. He understood now. In the eyes of the Inner Sect, juniors were tools. Their worth lay in what they could contribute, not in who they were. If they fell, the mission continued.
A low voice broke the silence. "He was right in front of me."
Another replied, quieter. "If you hadn't stopped to fix your strap, it would have been you."
No one else spoke.
When they moved again, the formation changed. The juniors stayed closer together, each one keeping a sharp eye on the space above as well as the path ahead. Someone muttered about how the mist seemed thicker again. Another tried to lighten the air with a joke about one of them having a leaf stuck in their hair, earning a few strained chuckles.
It was not much, but it was enough to keep the silence from pressing down on them completely.
Muye listened carefully. Each strained whisper, each nervous laugh stitched together an intricate tapestry of their fears and resilience. "Do you think we'll make it back?" one junior asked, his voice barely above a murmur. "If we do, I swear I'll never step into this forest again," another replied, bitterness lacing his tone.
By the time they paused again, the mist had thinned. Pale shafts of light slipped through the canopy in thin, wavering columns. The ground was less tangled here, though still slick with damp moss.
The seniors spoke quietly, discussing the route forward. The juniors lingered together, bound now not by orders but by the unspoken understanding that they had all survived something that could have claimed any of them.
Muye's gaze drifted to the path ahead. Somewhere deep inside him, the bone rested in silence. But he knew now that it was only waiting for the next corpse.
For now, the forest was quiet again.
Yet the quiet was deceiving, heavy with the weight of anticipation. Every student understood that the woods were filled with many more creatures lurking just out of sight, waiting to pounce. A shudder ran through the group, each senior remained composed, their eyes keen, and yet Muye could feel the tension ripple among the juniors.
The atmosphere had shifted. Where laughter had echoed moments before, now there was only the sound of cautious breathing as the seniors directed the group through a narrow, winding path. They navigated between trees with gnarled roots, some of which seemed to reach out like skeletal hands.
It was strange being surrounded by so much life while knowing how quickly that life could be extinguished. A bird called from somewhere overhead, the sound trailing off into the expanse of greenery. A few juniors glanced upward, their bodies tense and alert. Muye could not help but wonder if it was merely a bird, or another beast poised to strike.
"Keep your wits about you," Lian said softly, his voice cutting through the unease. "The further we go, the more danger we invite."
He was right. The shadows stretched longer in the fading light, and Muye caught sight of every dark corner ahead, every cracked branch, and whispering leaf that could disguise a threat. It was as if the forest itself was conscious, a living entity that would no doubt revel in the sensation of chaos.
He felt eyes upon him, an urgency to stay alert feeding his instincts. His dantian pulsed gently, a reminder of the primal connection he had with death, the energy swirling like smoke in his gut. With each heartbeat, he felt that connection strengthen, a bridge formed between himself and the remains of creatures past.
Occasionally, their puppets would swing into action and test the unknown. A leap into the waiting darkness, a clash against unseen foes, all borrowed moments in a deadly dance. Muye observed the discipline in his seniors' moves. Each perfectly executed maneuver reminded him of how desperately he wanted to attain similar mastery. Was it ambition driving him, or a reckoning with the instinct to survive?
What is death if not simply a gateway? What awaited beyond, if anything? The thought hung in the air, a dark echo of uncertainty that left him unsettled. It was both a craven curiosity and a terrifying abyss, what power lay in the hands of those who understood its secrets?