Heaven's Peak

The two moved fast, given their injuries. Before the end of the second week of travelling, the black jade and her strange mutated companion had come upon a deserted mountain pass.

From miles away, Zero could see the dark coloured clouds that gathered overhead this jagged ravine. The sky overhead was a constant dark grey and the miniscule wind brought a perculiar smell of rot.

It smelt oddly sweet.

Daiyu looked about the area in the distance with an indescribable emotion. Her eyes were glued to the rough mountain peaks for a while. She turned the unburnt half of her face to Zero.

"Stay close. Keep your head down and say nothing until we pass through the valley."

He did not ask why but he could tell due to his newly sifted memories. This abandoned stretch of land was one of the most corrupted lands in the entire Chu Empire. How could it not be? Several great cultivators and demons had fallen to their deaths here. In one of the many battles of the Nascent war. This was one of the unfortunate battle grounds.

The infamous Heaven's peak. Once a haven for a mighty sect, now a hidden route for criminals and vagabonds.

The imperials either did not know of these activities, which was highly unlikely, or they simply could not bother to tarnish their yang energies with the extreme yin breeding here.

Whatever the case, Heaven's peak was now the site for the black market trades. Not only were the people here dangerous, but the lands were host to strange creatures. And with the sudden appearance of shadowbeasts, who's to say how bad it had gotten?

Daiyu grunted and pulled her dirty coat tight over herself and begun descending down the small hill they were on. Zero glanced at the stagnant grey skies above. It was like he had entered another world.

Everything here was stale. Even the wind seemed to float rather than flow. It was a strange thing to describe, this place.

The young man tucked his head down and followed in the lady's footsteps. He had at most, a week and a half left.

So far, he had not killed any more people. The Voice had warned not to do so before the quest. He was on edge, truly. Anything could happen.

Daiyu walked ahead of him, limping slightly. She did not like walking side by side. Since he noticed this, he kept his distance and always stayed a few feet behind.

Throughout the days they had travelled, there were no words of conversation or the like. Zero had always found it hard to socialize, given his previous state as a cripple and now a budding demon. And Daiyu spent her time either staring into space or looking for something hot to put her hands into.

A very awkward duo.

On the rare times they spoke, it was the switch ups for the night watch and a rare, "Keep your head down, boy " from Daiyu.

Asides that, nothing. Zero much preferred it this way.

They had descended down the hill. Between this hill and the mountain range in the distance, was nothing but an open field.

At first, Zero did not understand why snow did not fall here. Back in the Twisted Canopies, even with the Corruption, snow still fell as heavily as in the cleaner parts.

It wasn't until he sighted a singular flake of something that was supposed to be snow. It was the same substance that covered the entire expanse of land. A dirty green looking clump.

"Keep up. Don't want to be open for long." Daiyu hissed, turning back slightly.

He looked away from the falling flake and kept his eyes on the mushy ground. Each step they took was like walking in sticky, ankle deep clay.

It wasn't clay though. It was decay.

Centuries worth of decomposed fallen heros and demons. Both enemies caked into one grand, slushy goo. The world had long since moved on. The constituent people in the slush, had been forgotten a long time ago.

Zero trudged on.

It was hard to cross the plains because it was getting harder to walk. Daiyu had no problem moving. She was injured but she was a golden core after all. Zero was just still only a puny mortal.

Well, a yin spirit — although that made him even more fickle.

The woman was already at least ten feet or so away from him. She did not seem to care that he was lagging behind. There was still a good deal to cross and she intended on getting there before nighttime.

While she moved, she remained alert, listening and looking for the slightest disturbances. It was very odd.

The path to Heaven's peak was never so empty.

Sure, some influentials would be using invisibility techniques or choose to use flying talismans but even then, they would still be easy to spot.

However, there was no one. No one but them. It was strange.

"Move faster, boy." She hissed again, caution growing. The mountain pass loomed over in the distance. A total of three valleys to get through.

Zero tried his best to catch up to Daiyu but the decay paste clutching at his ankles had become too thick. It was hard enough to take one step.

Dark green snow flakes had begun to float down from the grey canvass above. A few landed on his cloak, bringing a stench so vile that it surpassed even the rot of the flesh shadowbeasts.

The boy grimaced and ploughed through as fast as he could.

For a trade route, it was weirdly deserted. Looking back to the hastening Daiyu, he could understand her rush. This was not normal.

There had to be a good reason the plains were lonely...

As if to answer his question, a great moaning sound tore through the stagnant wind and a torrent of stink hit him in the face.

Daiyu froze in place and so did he.

"Blast..." She cursed.

Another drawn out, beastly cry sliced at the tense air again. It sounded closer.

"Quickly now! We don't want to be here when that thing gets here!" Daiyu said, raising her voice over the torrent of stench filled winds. The green snow came tumbling down faster.

Zero drew the hood lower over his face and forced his feet forward. It was no use. No matter how he struggled, the slush of the dead held fast to his boots, annulling his efforts. He wanted to take another step forward but was hooked back.

Daiyu turned back to look at him. She was at least twenty feet away.

"Do you want to die?!"

He did not answer, struggling to breathe. He could not answer even if he tried.

Something had torn through his cloak from behind and pushed its way into his spine.

"Zero?!" The wind was impossibly loud and visibility was reducing as the green flakes multiplied by the second.

"Zero?!"

Zero was like a puppet in a master's hand.

The thing that had entered his spine was fleshy in nature, and was connected to something Daiyu could obviously not see.

Loud and clear came the inhumane groan again.

The lady had started coming back his way. She could not leave the boy. If she was to report to her superiors, she could not do so empty-handed. However, as she moved through the sludge, she noticed something, sharp dark eyes pinpointing the slightest detail in the turmoil.

There was a powerful Gu cultivator in the vicinity. She could sense the fluctuations in the movements of the dark Qi. It was someone like her.

But even more ferocious.

She stopped in her tracks, observing the silent boy. He raised his head and from within the dark hood, silver eyes shone bright and ghastly brown fumes emitted from his body.

Someone was attempting to forcefully corpsify him.

Daiyu's jaw clenched. This was a formidable enemy.