The Guardian did not wait.

  The instant its pale, glowing eyes settled upon the ashen robed figures, the ground erupted. Gnarled roots, thick as iron chains, surged upward from the earth, twisting toward the intruders like living serpents. The air vibrated with power, the pressure alone enough to set Jian’s teeth on edge.

  Yet the leader of the ashen robed cultivators did not flinch.

  With a single step, he rose into the air, hovering just above the battlefield, his long robes billowing unnaturally. A sickly crimson light radiated from his fingertips as he raised a single hand.

  Then, he struck.

  A tide of writhing shadow burst forth, the twisted remnants of resentful spirits shrieking as they clawed toward the Guardian. The ground beneath them blackened, an aura of decay spreading outward, leeching the life from the very soil. The Guardian reeled, its obsidian veined form straining against the tide of corruption. The earth groaned beneath them as both forces collided, sending violent tremors through the clearing.

  The other ashen robed cultivators moved as one, weaving complex seals, their combined Qi merging into a formation. The symbols across the rising gate flared in response, pulsing with a deep, blood hued radiance. The very air thickened with spiritual energy, twisting into an unseen force that pressed against Tao’s skin.

  They were activating something.

  Jian gripped his sword tightly. "We shouldn’t be here."

  Tao barely heard him. His eyes remained locked on the battle, mind racing. Every figure in the clearing, Guardian or intruder, was stronger than them. If they were noticed, they would be nothing more than insects crushed beneath a careless step.

  Shenli’s laughter slithered into his mind.

  "Ah… now things get truly interesting. Do you feel it? The beasts of the forest have sensed the Qi disturbances… and they are coming."

  A ripple of wild Qi surged through the forest. A deep, guttural roar echoed in the distance, followed by another, and another. The forest itself awakened.

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  Then, chaos.

  From the darkness beyond the gate, the beasts descended.

  A monstrous two headed serpent burst from the undergrowth, its scales rippling with dark Qi. Spectral wolves, their eyes gleaming with unnatural light, loped from the shadows, their howls splitting the night. In the canopy above, razor winged crows wheeled, their shrieks sharp as blades. The air grew thick with their presence, the promise of destruction pulling forth creatures that had lurked unseen in the depths of the Black Hollow Forest.

  And they were all converging upon the gate.

  The ashen robed figures barely reacted. With a single motion, their formation shifted, their seals morphing into something deadlier. Threads of Qi lashed out, eviscerating the first beasts that lunged into the fray. But for every creature that fell, three more took its place.

  The battlefield was no longer a battle. It was a storm, spiralling out of control.

  Jian inhaled sharply. "We need to leave."

  Tao nodded once. He didn’t hesitate.

  In the midst of the chaos, the dark petals of the Obsidian Cloud Lotus remained untouched, caught between two forces too busy to claim it.

  An opportunity.

  Tao and Jian moved as one, their movement techniques activating in the same breath. Tao’s form blurred, fluttering across the battlefield like a falling leaf, while Jian’s sword light flickered between shadow and steel. They darted through the storm of violence, unseen amid the carnage, mere ghosts in the eyes of stronger beings.

  Tao reached the lotus first. His fingers closed around the stem, and in that instant, power flooded his palm, dense, potent, almost too much. The lotus pulsed, as if resisting him, as if it knew it did not belong to mortals.

  Then the Guardian turned.

  Even locked in battle, it sensed the two closest to the portal.

  A bellowing roar split the air, roots surging toward Tao with terrifying speed. Jian twisted midair, his sword flashing as he cut down the first tendril, buying Tao the fraction of a second he needed.

  And then, the gate opened.

  A blinding glow erupted from its surface, an ancient force tearing reality apart as the symbols along its archway burned with crimson fire. The air trembled, space distorting at its threshold.

  Jian’s eyes locked onto Tao’s. "That’s our only way out!"

  A screech, something massive descending from above. A winged beast, talons glinting with lethal intent, dove towards them.

  No choice.

  Tao and Jian hurled themselves toward the gate. Their movement techniques strained to keep up with their speed. Then suddenly the gate’s threshold loomed before them and they plunged past its blue tinged, opaque interior.

  The moment their bodies crossed the threshold, the world behind them vanished.

  They fell..

  And the battlefield, the Guardian, the beasts, the chaos of the Black Hollow Forest…

  Was left behind.