"What foul and vast qi," Han Guilin said, his teeth chattering.

Ye Xuanhan was not the strongest person Han Guilin had ever observed; that title belonged to the emperor of the Mirror Tides Empire, who was at the peak of the Sun Refining realm. Compared to him, Ye Xuanhan was a whole realm lower. But Ye Xuanhan's qi was so foul that even the boundless qi of the emperor felt more welcoming than his corrupted aura.

"If he's this terrifying, what about his father?" he murmured.

Ye Xuanming, also known as the Demon Beast, was the patriarch of the Nether Lotus Sect and the only Sun Refining cultivator in the sect. Han Guilin doubted the sect leader was weaker than the Heavenly Emperor of the Mirror Tides Empire. The only reason he could not be sure was because he had never experienced the Demon Beast qi, and he hoped such an occurrence would never happen.

The young master cycled his qi, projecting more and more of it outward. The foul qi began to permeate the surrounding area like a miasma, seeping into the world itself, as if trying to corrupt the world.

A chill spread through Han Guilin's body, and his instincts screamed more desperately, urging him to escape. Yet, he could not leave. He was certain there was still more information to gain from this encounter, like the secret mission the elder of the Han clan had failed to accomplish, and much more.

"Explain," Ye Xuanhan said, his tone as cold as the deepest winter night.

"Yes," the elder replied, his voice trembling. "We had finished capturing all the women you and the Patriarch wanted retrieved. All the information the Patriarch gave was correct, and since all of them were mortals, we easily brought them to the Ghost Ship."

Han Guilin narrowed his eyes, trying to decipher the information. It seemed three of the Six Elite Elders had been given a mission to retrieve mortal women—thirty of them, to be exact. Moreover, they had used the Ghost Ship. That vessel was not the fastest, strongest, nor the most important ship the Nether Lotus Sect possessed, but it was one of the stealthiest. It made sense to use this ship for a secret mission, but the mission itself was strange. He knew the rumors about the peculiarities of the Patriarch and the Young Master, yet, from the Young Master's reaction, he knew these women were special.

"After we secured the last person, we realized people were following us. We captured one, but there was another," Han Guilin could hear the elder grinding his teeth, as if containing his anger. "He suddenly appeared and launched sneak attacks. Senior Hou Qiang was swiftly beheaded, while Wei Shuren was split in two and had his head exploded."

Han Guilin heard the young master snorted. "Trash, all of you. Six Elite Elders, my ass! I would forgive you if you had failed because an army assaulted you. But a single person launching sneak attacks?" He spat. "You should have died there too, Han Jiulao. If not because of this assailant, then because you allowed Hou Qiang to die!"

"He was strong, and he was not alone!" the elder countered through gritted teeth. "The person we captured, while weak, commanded two ferocious spirit beasts. These two spirit beasts, along with the attacker who killed Senior Hou Qiang and Wei Shuren, successfully cornered me. I even unleashed my ultimate technique just to survive!"

"Ultimate technique?" the young master laughed. "That dumb technique that sacrifices your body and cores? That's not an ultimate technique; that's a mere Earth Grade Technique! But still, I see what you mean. You met interesting opponents. Tell me the details."

From there, the elder described his battle in greater detail. Upon hearing his tale, Han Guilin couldn't help but widen his eyes. Two spirit beasts as strong as Nether Lotus Sect elders. A cultivator at the Core Splitting realm with only two cores had successfully killed two of the Six Elite Elders and cornered one, forcing him to use his ultimate technique and teleport out.

This was huge news!

The Mirror Tides Empire would be happy to know there were two masters who had seemingly popped out of nowhere! Moreover, one was suspected to be from the Heavenly Thunder Sect, which meant the bastards from the Purple Moon Sect could be dealt with if this mysterious cultivator became involved.

Han Guilin's heart beat with excitement, but then he tightly reined in his emotions. He needed to focus. He could not afford to be emotional, not now, not ever.

"Heavenly Thunder Sect, huh? Now that's a good excuse," Ye Xuanhan said, lifting the qi pressure that permeated the area. "My father said that sooner or later, the five great sects would become involved, but the Heavenly Thunder Sect was predicted to move last. Are you sure this guy is from the Heavenly Thunder Sect?"

"No, it's merely conjecture. But he primarily used lightning attacks, and his mastery over lightning was top-notch."

"Hmm, but it wasn't settled yet," Ye Xuanhan then began emitting another wave of foul qi. But whereas before his qi had spread purposefully, like a swarm of locusts seeking to devour everything, this wave felt almost unintentional, like leaking mist. "Han Jiulao. I admit, your excuse is good. A cultivator from a great sect is troublesome. But, it doesn't change the fact that you failed your mission. Those goods are important to me and my father," Han Guilin heard the young master smack his lips.

"Senior Hou Qiang is dead, and so is Wei Shuren, but it doesn't mean the mission has already failed."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"The guy who cornered me, he has been marked, and I know his exact location. Also, from our brief exchange, I know for a fact that he tried to protect the women at all costs. There's no way a person like that would abandon all those women. He would be escorting them somewhere. Which meant that while I temporarily lost those mortal women, I can retrieve them later."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Hmm, you forgot the other attacker," Ye Xuanhan said. "What if they split the women between them? You can retrieve half, but what about the rest?"

"T-that... I can look for them! It would be easy! With the help of my clan--"

Ye Xuanhan began to laugh. His laughter was booming, and even Han Guilin felt as if the world trembled from it. Han Guilin tried to decipher how he did this. While Core Splitting cultivators were strong, he knew for certain Ye Xuanhan shouldn't be this strong, but after thinking for a moment, the answer was obvious.

Ye Xuanhan was a young master of the Nether Lotus Sect. He was also a talented cultivator. The Patriarch must have given him top-notch scriptures and techniques, which perhaps made Ye Xuanhan a Core Splitting cultivator with a similar level of power to cultivators from the great sects. If so, that certainly explained why his qi felt so powerful.

Ye Xuanhan laughed for a full minute, until finally, he stopped. "Han Jiulao, admit that you failed your mission, and I'll forgive you. Instead of giving you a torturous death, I'll give you a swift one. How about it?"

Upon hearing this, Han Guilin's heart beat faster, and he clenched both his hands.

No, Han Jiulao could not die here. There was another person who deserved to kill Han Jiulao more than this young master. The tiny jar in his heart trembled more and more violently, but he pressed the lid down, keeping its contents contained.

"Y-Young Master," the healer interrupted. "If I may—"

Han Guilin knew the healer was important within the Han clan, not because of his prowess, but because of his connection to the patriarch. He had heard rumors that the healer was kind and polite, favored by the grand elder of the Han clan. In the clan, his position might as well have been a cloud—high and untouchable. Yet, by speaking to the Young Master of the Nether Lotus Sect, this cloud had crossed a boundary.

A wet cracking sound reverberated, accompanied by a howl of agony that grew louder and louder until it suddenly stopped.

Han Guilin couldn't see what was happening in the room above, but he could imagine it clearly. It sounded as if a human being were being crushed by an elephant's foot. The foot pressed down, fast but steady, crushing the unfortunate human beneath it. Bones snapped as he was pressed harder and harder against the floor. His bones and flesh mangled together until the unfortunate healer became a mere paste on the ground.

"Y-you, how dare you!" Han Jiulao shouted furiously. Han Guilin heard a rushing sound, as if the elder had jumped from the bed and lunged at the young master.

"How dare I? Of course, I dare. It seems I've been too lenient, that even trash like you, like him, dares to speak to me!" His shout was accompanied by the sound of a fist hitting flesh. Then, a crash reverberated, loud enough that it sounded like the thick wall of Han Jiulao's private room had been destroyed, and the elder himself thrown outside. "Let me teach you a lesson!"

Han Guilin understood a fight had broken out. He activated his technique and braced himself to teleport out from the tiny room inside the wall. Usually, he needed minutes to brace for the horror he would see, but he had no time. He needed to observe the fight that was happening now!

When he finished cycling the qi and activated the technique, he felt his body suddenly yanked by unforeseen hands. Teleportation was not a unique technique. There were myriad variations, yet all shared one fundamental rule: Teleportation could not make the user simply disappear from one place and reappear at the destination. No, a teleporter needed to appear somewhere in between before they could move to their destination, and this place... was harrowing.

Han Guilin's vision twisted and shifted. Before, he had been crouching in a tiny room illuminated by light from an array formation and small treasures; now, he was suddenly in a vast, boundless dark space.

When he first experienced teleportation, he had thought this was outer space where the sun, moon, stars, and other planets swam, yet he soon realized that was false. While there were countless tiny lights in myriad colors, they were not stars, although he did not know what they were exactly, because once he arrived in this black void and felt its suffocating, pressing presence on his body and soul, he wanted only to get out as soon as possible.

"Come on, come on," he muttered as he cycled his qi, trying to activate the teleportation technique once more. His body felt weightless, the cold chilled his bones, and he felt like a tiny ant swimming in the deepest, darkest part of the ocean. His eyes darted left and right. Then, he saw something move within the vast darkness, and panic flared in his eyes. "Come on!"

That silhouette was dark and immense. From afar, it looked like a swimming crocodile. It had four feet, a long tail, and sharp teeth that looked like they could tear anything apart. Its apparent size seemed no bigger than his own, but Han Guilin knew that was a mere illusion. That crocodile was big, bigger than a hundred mountains combined. If that vast being had a flea on its body, the flea would still be a giant compared to him.

That crocodile was not the only inhabitant of this void; there were other, more harrowing beings that looked so nightmarish that sometimes he could not sleep for weeks because he feared they would appear in his nightmares. But even those were not what he feared most. No, what he feared most was a pair of eyes.

As the technique neared completion, Han Guilin thought perhaps today was his lucky day. But then, just as the technique finished, before he could activate it, a pair of eyes opened directly in front of him.

These two eyes were vast, so vast that he seemed like mere dust floating before a mountain-sized giant. The pair of purple eyes looked down at him, like a god regarding a fly that dared approach. Han Guilin's heart beat so fast he thought his body would explode. In his heart, he chanted that everything was alright. These purple eyes were known to all who could use teleportation. No one could teleport without coming to this in-between place, and these purple eyes were some kind of guardian here. He had heard that some people went mad and perished after seeing these eyes, as if deemed unworthy of using this void. But most of the time, these purple eyes were indifferent.

Most of the time.

As the eyes stared down, Han Guilin, although scared shitless, decided to activate his technique. He knew by now that these purple eyes could stop him if they wished. But instead, the vast darkness, the purple eyes, and even the giant crocodile twisted. A strange sensation, as if his heart were washed with cold water, suddenly struck him, and then he appeared in his room.

As he looked around his tiny room within the clan compound, he swiftly stood up and ran outside. The terror gripping his heart felt unnaturally light.. He knew this feeling intimately. This strange sensation felt as if the void itself were trying to soothe his terrified heart, so he wouldn't be traumatized by the purple eyes and would dare to use teleportation again.

As far as he knew, this feeling was universal, treated as one of the fundamental rules of teleportation. But he knew the warning every teleporter knew by heart.

The more one uses teleportation, the more immune they become to the soothing of the void.

The trauma and the soothing of that void were like creating a hole in a wall and then patching it. One or two times, the wall might hold, but hundreds of times? Even if the hole was closed, scars would remain.

As Han Guilin ran out of the clan compound, trying to observe the fight between Ye Xuanhan and Han Jiulao to glean more truth, the world shook, the castle quaked, and people ran around trying to find shelter.

Han Guilin ran, not knowing what he had just witnessed, nor understanding that he had just escaped certain death.

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