The Horde

Chapter 17

The two entered the valley, slowly following a jagged path so thin that one misstep would mean certain death.

Rocks crumbled into a deafening echo as Wuji looked downwards at the bottomless chasm.

The ominous chasm was dark and besides the dripping water, little else could be heard. Wuji followed the sound of Edmund's shallow breathing, hugging the wall tightly as he followed him through the path.

Soon, the air seemed to change, becoming more sinister and cold. The two shivered.

Besides the temperature, Wuji didn't sense anything off until they got closer to the chasm's end- or at least, what seemed like it. He tensed up as he looked on ahead.

Bright lines surrounded the entire area, like lasers around a security vault, only green. They intercrossed each other, the lines laced so that one would have to know their location if they wanted to cross safely.

"That- that's the entrance", Edmund pointed vaguely at the location of the lines, trembling.

"Hmm. Interesting."

Wuji's finger lit up with a greenish hue, unnoticed by Edmund. A green wisp extended from his finger to the lines ahead, probing it carefully. The two didn't seem to be in conflict and instead merged together.

Wuji eyes lit up. It seemed that he had guessed correctly. Smiling, Wuji continued forward unworried. These lines were familiar to him after all- they were essentially the same spirit chains he used to control objects with his own power.

Edmund's steps stopped abruptly behind him.

"Wuji, I- I don't think I can go on ahead."

Edmund's hairs were standing on end.

"I, I feel like if I go one more step, something very bad will happen."

Wuji turned his head, perplexed, but then quickly nodded. Edmund was probably unable to see the spiritual lines guarding the area, but his gut feeling warned him of the danger. No wonder this area was sealed off for him and the rest- it was likely that if they touched the lines, it would activate some trap.

That made him wonder- if the village elder could go through, did that mean she was the one who set up the spirit barrier? And she could definitely see the spiritual links as well. Wuji was looking forward to meeting her.

Reassuring Edmund that it was ok, Wuji told him to return to the village. Waving goodbye at the worried guard, he continued onwards alone, trying his best to not to activate any of the Spirit Sensors. He was trying his utmost to be careful.

At least, that's what Wuji should've been doing. But as he continued ahead, Wuji leisurely played around with the spiritual threads, using Spirit Grab to simply reposition them, sometimes bending them into funny shapes. If anyone else saw Wuji treating the danger zone as a playground, their eyes would pop out of their sockets.

Eventually, Wuji reached a large door. His eyebrows furrowed. It was a door, or at least it looked like one. The path had lead up to a solid rock wall, but in front was the frame of a door and a doorknob that somehow floated in the air. It was like someone had drawn a door but had forgotten to fill the rest in with color.

Vexed, Wuji studied the transparent door closely, but he couldn't get anything from it. Holding his breath, he stood a safe distance away and used Spirit Grab to open the door slightly. What happened next blew his mind. The door opened, somehow, and inside was a completely different world.

A bight, sunny sky and green grasslands greeted him. Clouds drifted by slowly, being touched by faraway mountain peaks. Past a large hill was a forest of dark-black trees. The wind blew gently, the smell of grass and dirt entering Wuji's nose. Overwhelmed by it all, he closed the door.

It all disappeared. He opened the door again. The sun, grass and trees returned. The scent of nature. Wuji tried to maintain his excitement.

It- it was bigger on the inside!

Hmm. Wuji racked his mind silently, his hand cupping his chin as he was deep in thought. There were a few things that could explain this door, at least according to previous games he had played, as well as Wuxia novels. One- it was either a pocket of folded space. Or two- it was a door leading to another dimension.

Although he wasn't sure exactly which category the door fit into, Wuji ascertained that either way, this was likely the reason for the Spirit Sealing Valley's existence: to seal something. But what? And why make an entirely new world for whatever it was?

Wuji looked at the world inside the door, dark shadows creeping out from the trees. Was it just his imagination? He shivered. No matter what was inside, it was probably dangerous. It was also probably way beyond his current level.

...

Opening the interface, Wuji stared silently at the two ongoing Quests and their rewards. The rewards of the Legendary quest were unknown, but the 1,000,000 EXP for the SSS-ranked quest made Wuji's heart beat faster. Nibbling his lip, he tried hard to resist the temptation. That was when he saw it in the corner of his eye.

A strange looking plant, its colors changing from light green to dark green, its leaves like sharp blades. Looking at it made one feel as if it was drawing in their soul, trapping it forever.

A small name popped up above it:

[Soul-Refining Grass]

The grass was not that far away, in fact it looked as if it was getting closer by the second.

Of course, Wuji did not just rush in. It seemed too easy that the grass was just there, waiting for him to pick it up. Smirking, he chuckled lightly as tendrils of spirit energy gathered at his fingertips.

A trap? It's too bad you haven't met me.

"Spirit Grab!"

A large strand of spirit energy gathered towards the grass, which began to quiver and shake. A large mouth appeared on its stem, a loud shrieking sound emanating from it. What the hell?! Wuji covered his ears from the terrible noise.

His eyes widened as he saw little green creatures appear in the air, surrounding the plant. They were like little fat blobs of jelly. They would've looked cute had there not been a gigantic mouth filled with sharp teeth in middle of their slime-like bodies.

At first it was only two of them.

And then five.

And then twenty.

And then a hundred.

Eventually the green creatures blotted out the sky, shielding the spirit grass completely. When Wuji's spirit energy touched the creatures, it fizzled as he lost the link to them.

His eyes twitched as he saw the terrible monsters gobble up the threads of spirit energy like a snack.

"Burrrrp!" One of the green creatures looked straight at him, although it had no eyes.

The hairs on Wuji's neck stood up as he quickly slammed the door shut.

Panting, he cursed aloud.

"Holy sh*t!"