The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well – Day 3
The morning mist over the dual-colored lake was thick. Arthev stood at the edge of the safe zone, staring South.
Beyond the protective barrier of the extreme Yin and Yang energy, the forest changed.
The trees didn't just look old, they looked sick. The leaves were a bruised purple, and the bark oozed a sap that looked disturbingly like coagulated blood.
Dugu Bo stood behind him, arms crossed. The Poison Douluo looked healthier than he had in years, but his face was grim as he followed Arthev's gaze.
"I told you," Dugu Bo grunted. "Nothing good lives down there. It's a dead zone."
"It isn't dead," Arthev corrected, his black eyes tracking the movement of a twisted vine. "It is too alive."
Arthev turned to the old man. "I need to go there, Senior."
Dugu Bo scowled. "Do you have a death wish? You just saved my life from my poison, and now you want to feed yourself to the Flesh Pit?"
"The filtration process is working," Arthev lied smoothly, using his Scholar persona.
"But to create the permanent Soul Bone filter for you, I need a binding agent. The herbs here are too pure. I need something... aggressive. Something that understands rapid regeneration to counter the corrosive decay of your venom."
"You want a sample from the corrupted beasts," Dugu Bo realized. He looked at the boy like he was insane. "You think you can harvest that rot?"
"It is a calculated risk," Arthev said. "Tell me, Senior. Why hasn't the Spirit Hall or the Empire burned that forest down? If it is such a cancer, why let it grow?"
Dugu Bo laughed, a harsh, barking sound.
"Because it's useless, Arthev. Soul Masters are greedy creatures. They hunt for two things, Soul Rings and Soul Bones."
Dugu Bo pointed a clawed finger at the dark tree line.
"The beasts down there... when you kill them, they don't release Soul Rings. Their souls are broken, fused into the meat. And their bones? They are soft, rotting sponge. No value. No glory. Just a waste of soul power and a high risk of infection."
"So it is ignored because it is not profitable," Arthev mused.
"And because I am here," Dugu Bo added with a smirk. "My poison fog surrounds this entire mountain range. Most sects think the corruption is just a side effect of my presence. They fear the Poison Douluo, so they leave my backyard alone. It suits me fine."
Arthev nodded. It made perfect sense. Dugu Bo was the unwitting scarecrow protecting a cosmic horror.
"I will be back before sunset," Arthev said, adjusting his gloves. "Do not follow me. Your poison aura agitates the corruption. I need to go in quiet."
Dugu Bo hesitated, then threw a small green jade token at Arthev.
"If you get eaten, scream. I might come collect your bones. If there are any left."
---------
The Southern Zone
Arthev crossed the invisible line.
The temperature didn't drop, but the humidity spiked. The air tasted like copper ,the taste of blood.
He moved silently, leaping from branch to branch. His stealth, honed by years of training, made him a ghost.
'Matatabi,' Arthev projected. 'Analysis.'
'Atmospheric composition is abnormal,' the Two-Tails reported, her voice losing its usual politeness.
'Oxygen levels are 40% higher than normal. Spore count is critical. Do not inhale deeply without filtering.'
Arthev landed on a thick branch. The wood felt soft, almost fleshy under his boots.
Below him, a pack of wolves moved through the undergrowth. But they weren't normal wolves. Their fur was matted with moss. One wolf was missing half its head, the skull exposed, yet it walked without a limp. Another had a second jaw growing out of its shoulder.
They didn't growl like usual wolf. They made wet, clicking sounds.
'Zombies?' Shukaku asked, sounding disgusted.
'Not undead,' Arthev observed. 'They are regenerating too fast to die, but mutating too fast to function. Their genetic code is being overwritten constantly.'
He continued deeper. The Pulse Dugu Bo spoke of wasn't audible yet, but Arthev felt it in his chest. A low, thrumming vibration that synced with his own heartbeat.
Thump... Thump...
Suddenly, a shadow loomed ahead.
It was the creature Dugu Bo had warned him about. The Iron Spider.
Arthev crouched in the canopy, observing.
It was a Man-Faced Spider, perhaps 50,000 years old in terms of size. But its shell wasn't chitin. It was grey, bulbous, and twisted, looking like calcified bone that mimicked metal. Its legs were uneven, some thick as tree trunks, others thin as needles.
It was using its bladed legs to slice apart a writhing lump of flesh, a mutated boar that wouldn't stop screaming.
The spider worked with terrifying, jerky efficiency.
Snip. Snip. Snip.
It wasn't eating the boar. It was burying the pieces into the soft, red soil.
"It really is gardening," Arthev whispered. "It's recycling the biomass."
The spider froze.
It didn't have eyes in the traditional sense. Its face on the abdomen was a twisted knot of sensory organs.
It snapped its head toward Arthev's hiding spot.
SCREEEE!
The spider launched itself into the air. It didn't spin a web, it simply jumped with explosive force, its blade-legs aiming to bisect Arthev.
Arthev raised his hand. Wood Release.
"Bind."
Branches exploded from the tree Arthev was standing on. But he didn't aim to crush the spider. He aimed to connect.
The wooden roots wrapped around the spider mid-air. Usually, the corruption would rot normal wood. But Arthev's wood was fueled by the Ten Tails, the progenitor of nature.
As the roots touched the spider, Arthev felt it.
Chaos.
There was no mind. No soul. Just a screaming command loop: GROW. FEED. GROW. FEED.
"It's a drone," Arthev realized. "Biological hardware running a corrupted software."
The spider thrashed, breaking the roots with unnatural strength. It landed on the branch, shrieking.
Arthev jumped back, landing on the forest floor. The spider pursued, crashing through the canopy.
"I don't have time to prune you," Arthev muttered.
He reached under his shirt and pulled out the Pendant.
The pendant was glowing . It vibrated violently, reacting to the proximity of the artifact.
HUMMMMM
The sound from the pendant was a pure, clear note.
The spider froze. The wolves in the distance froze. The bleeding trees stopped swaying.
For a second, the entire forest paused, as if a master had walked into the room.
The pendant pulsed once, a blinding flash of azure light.
The space around Arthev simply collapsed into the light.
ZAP.
Arthev was gone.
The forest returned to its grotesque rhythm. The spider finished its jump, landing on empty soil, clicking its mandibles in confusion at the prey that had vanished into thin air.
To be continued....