Damn it. Yu Rael's jaw clenched under her hood, her teeth clamped together. The dry, blistering wind shrieked across the Tir'khal Basin, tugging at her robes and pinging grains of sand into her face.
Why the devil did those old farts send me here? A Golden Core master, dispatched to get something like that. She clicked her tongue, the annoyance burning hotter than the sun overhead. This was not what she'd agreed to. Three months. Three months of well-deserved leisure time, gone. She could have been enjoying wine, snacking on roasted lamb, and basking under moonlight. But, no. No, she was stranded here in this accursed desert, waiting for some so-called "ancient ruin" to materialize.
She snorted, folding her arms under her cloak. If it even existed.
And then. That man.
Her gaze drifted over the sea of people assembled before her, sweeping over the cloaked throngs, each as faceless as the next. Aristocrats. Mercenaries. Local clan folk. All these individuals were looking for the same thing — a chance at whatever wealth lay within the veiled world. But she was not looking for those.
Her gaze settled on one individual in particular.
Him.
That blind man in the Oasis Tent, why is he here. His image still lingered in her head like a thorn, pricking her mind. She shivered just thinking about it. This was something that did not become a Qi Refining cultivator, was he? This was nastier. Deeper. Older. Like something ripping itself out of a primordial abyss.
Why should a blind man feel so.uncomforting?
Yu Rael crossed her arms, acting nonchalant. That figure hadn't left her mind since she first noticed it. Then she dismissed it as an accident. A misunderstanding. But now, to run into him again by the gateway to the hidden world — a coincidence?
No. Coincidences were not found where they were.
"Hey," someone grumbled beside her. A towering, hooded figure with the sign of the Black Sand Clan. Peak Foundation Establishment. Skinny. "The formation is strange, right? Why are we even wasting time here?"
Yu Rael didn't even bother replying. Her eyes were set on Vaen. He was standing at the edge of the formation, his head tilted slightly upwards as if he could see the formation's complex runes even though his eyes were empty. His hands rested at his sides, fingers curling. Was he… feeling the formation?
She narrowed her eyes.
The circle lay along the earth, a vast circle of interlocking runes that pulsed with a thick, formless red. In the center, a bloodstone altar rose, its surface dry and blackened with blood and mysterious markings. The atmosphere around it hummed with tension. The reek of iron and death hung heavy, coiling in her nostrils.
Blood sacrifice. That was certain.
Whose blood?
Before she had time to even consider it, a ripple in movement caught her attention. Vaen stepped forward, eyes blindfolded but fixed on the bloodstone altar. The wind ceased. The world held its breath.
"Friends," the blind called out, his voice cutting through silence like a knife. "This alignment will only come to pass when the weaks are cleansed."
Yu Rael's eyes widened. What was he even talking about?
He raised a hand. Dark energy seeped from his fingers, twisting like dark mist tendrils. And then, there was the sound of air cracking apart. Red runes erupted, twisting like serpents, lacing through the crowd.
The runes adhered to the gathered cultivators, searing into their skin. Wails filled the basin as the runes branded themselves across foreheads, necks, arms — hot metal burning. Yu Rael glanced down at her own hand. Unscathed.
Out of the fifty people gathered, six remained untouched. The blind, herself, and four others dressed in thick robes, insignias hidden under their hoods. The rest were branded now.
The blind man's hand dropped. The air was filled with the stench of burned flesh and fear.
"What in the hell is this?!" one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators shouted, tearing at the rune on his forehead. "What did you do to us?!
The blind man said nothing. He unsheathed his sword. The blade glowed, glowing with the red runes that swirled around him.
Yu Rael's breath was caught. That man. Was he going to.
"Only the strong shall live," Vaen said with icy calculation. He clenched his grip on the sword. "The formation demands a sacrifice of blood."
And then he attacked.
A blur. A shadow. A flash of silver slicing through the air between them. Blood splattered. Screams followed.
He was the first to hit the Foundation Establishment practitioner who had spoken. He crashed into the sand with a sodden impact, eyes staring in terror. The rune on his brow flared once and then extinguished.
Yu Rael's fists folded up beneath her cloak. What is this man? How is he so strong?
The other five cultivators, unmarked, awoke. Swords belted at their hips, they leaped into the fray, cutting blades. The blind's aura grew, dark and suffocating, a malignant force that crawled beneath Yu Rael's skin. He was precise, every blow a death strike, every movement calculated and ruthless.
Yu Rael swallowed. If she did not move, she would be next.
But as she stepped ahead, the blind man's head twitches in her direction. His blind eyes locked on her with unnerving accuracy.
"Going to join, or just stand?" he said in slow, even tones.
Her heart skipped a beat. How did he… How was it possible for him to see her?
Yu Rael grit her teeth. The other five were already knee-deep in gore, slicing through the weak with ease like cattle. There was no point dawdling. The formation demanded blood, and if she wanted to gain entry.
She unsheathed her scimitar. The light reflected from the silver blade off the bloodstone altar, and it shone like a crescent moon. Her face expressionless and cold, she walked forward, her scimitar flashing as it entered the carnage.
Each kill earned her a scream. Each drop of blood washed into the sand, soaking into the runes of the formation, making them shine more intensely.
And above it all, Vaen was at the center of the chaos, his sword a whirling mist of death, his aura somber and oppressive, his blind eyes fixed upon the bloodstone altar as if the latter were invisible to him.
And in that moment, Yu Rael was certain of this: That man was not blind.
Not as they thought.