The sound came again.
A wet, low growl—not an animal sound, but something… looser. Hungrier. The mist near the treeline shifted unnaturally, curling like fingers across the forest floor.
Joseph stepped back, heart hammering against his ribs. His broken sword hilt felt useless in his palm. He tightened his grip anyway.
Across from him, Han Bo had gone still, face pale and alert. Even his usual smirk had vanished. Liang Jun stepped in front of the glowing amulet, hand near his own blade, though he hadn't drawn yet.
Then Lin Yue moved.
Her hand came up, fast, sharp, a command more than a signal. "No sudden movements."
The group froze.
Joseph's lungs ached with tension. Every breath of mist felt heavier than the last.
"What is it?" he whispered.
Lin Yue didn't look at him. Her gaze stayed fixed on the mist ahead, body poised like a drawn bow. "Not a normal beast. Not a rogue demon either."
Then she said the word like a blade dropping: "Mist demon."
Liang Jun swore under his breath.
"That's it we are doomed" Han Bo said tightly.
"They avoid the paths," Lin Yue replied, voice steady. "Unless something lures them. Like unstable jade energy."
A shape moved between the trees—slim, tall, and wrong. A silhouette where no figure should be, almost human, but twitching, tilting unnaturally as it crept forward.
Joseph couldn't help it, he stepped back.
The thing didn't follow yet. But it knew they were there.
"We run," Lin Yue said, voice low but commanding. "Now."
"Wait—" Han Bo began.
Lin Yue turned, fierce. "Now, Han Bo. Or would you rather fight a qi-warped demon with three outer disciples and a cracked amulet?"
That shut him up.
She pointed behind them. "Back the way we came. Stay low, stay silent. Wei Shan—take the rear. Liang, keep pace with me. Han Bo, don't argue."
No one did.
They ran.
Not in a panicked sprint, but a disciplined retreat. Feet thudded over damp pine needles. Branches whipped past. Joseph's breath rasped in his throat. The mist was everywhere, but thinner now that they moved fast. The whispering returned—quiet at first, like voices on the edge of memory.
The forest was alive, and watching.
The path twisted, then narrowed. Lin Yue stopped abruptly, arm snapping up.
Everyone skidded to a halt behind her.
Ahead, the mist thickened into a wall. From its heart, a low, grating whisper crawled forward.
Joseph couldn't see it clearly—but he felt it. A presence, dark and suffocating, stretching into his chest like a hand.
Liang Jun whispered, "We're boxed in."
"No," Lin Yue said. "There's a slope—left. Over that ridge. It loops back toward the lower shrine. If we reach the old torch stones, the protective formation should still hold."
"How far?" Han Bo asked, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Five minutes."
"That's an optimistic five."
A long, sinewy limb reached through the mist—blackened, scaled, yet shifting like smoke. It dragged clawed fingers through the earth.
"No time," Lin Yue snapped. "Move!"
They bolted again, this time off the path, crashing through underbrush. Roots snagged their boots. Joseph stumbled once, caught himself. The whispers behind them grew louder—like laughter, broken and hungry.
The thing followed.
Not fast, but steady. Unbothered. Relentless.
Joseph didn't dare look back, but he heard it moving. Trees creaked. Branches snapped. He imagined it smiling—if it had a mouth.
"Faster!" Lin Yue called, her voice cracking. "There—up ahead!"
Joseph saw it too now—ancient stone torches, weathered but still standing. A clearing opened just beyond, bordered by moss-covered carvings.
They sprinted into it, panting. The air felt lighter here, the mist thinner. Something old and sacred still lingered in the stones.
Lin Yue skidded to a halt and spun, drawing her blade fully for the first time.
The mist demon stopped just short of the stone edge.
It stood tall—twisted and robed in vapor, a skeletal face barely visible through the shifting veil of fog. It didn't cross the threshold. Instead, it watched.
Its head tilted slowly.
Then it let out a breath—a sound, not wind but memory, cold and broken.
Joseph shivered.
The thing turned and sank back into the forest, vanishing without a trace.
Silence.
No one moved.
Then Han Bo collapsed onto the grass, groaning. "Okay. Not fun. Not fun at all."
Liang Jun sat down beside him, wiping his brow. "What the hell just happened?"
Joseph leaned against one of the stones, heart still racing. "It… didn't follow us in."
Lin Yue nodded, still holding her blade tight. "This shrine was built in the honor of the sect first supreme elder, said to have reached the Martial Longevity Unsheathing Stage.
Warded to repel qi disturbances and guǐ manifestation. That's why I remembered it."
Joseph looked at her. "You've done this before?"
"No," she admitted. "I read."
Han Bo let out a short, bitter laugh. "And thank the stars you did."
They rested in silence for a moment, letting the tension ease out of their bodies.The mist demons couldn't follow them through this path, as the shrine disrupt their presence.
Then Lin Yue spoke again. "We can't go back through the path. Not with that thing wandering now."
"What then?" Liang Jun asked.
"We circle east and descend toward the herb fields. Once there, we send a spirit message to Elder Mu using my transmission paper talisman."
Han Bo raised an eyebrow. "Elder Mu? Isn't that overkill?"
Lin Yue shot him a look. "A mist demon manifested. An inner sect artifact was found cracked. And the outer disciple who carried it shouldn't have had it. Yes. It's an Elder-level matter."
Han Bo muttered something under his breath but didn't argue.
Lin Yue turned to Joseph last. "When we report this, speak only what you know. No guesses. No half-truths. If you tell the truth, the sect will protect you."
Joseph looked at her, throat dry. "And if I don't know what the truth is?"
She stared for a moment, then finally sheathed her sword.
"Then start figuring it out. Fast."