Crimson Stain
CRASH—!!!
A thunderous explosion shook the forest, so deafening that it left their ears ringing.
The earth beneath the stone platform split apart into jagged fragments as a pitch-black aura erupted from below.
It was a Yin Qi Demon—something that should never have appeared within this region.
A gigantic, twisted creature resembling a spider rose from the earth, as though it had been born from the fury and resentment buried deep beneath the ground.
“GRAAAAAAAH!”
“Lanyi! Watch out!”
Bajie shouted at the top of her lungs and launched herself forward like a streak of crimson lightning.
At that critical moment, Lanyi’s body went rigid as stone.
This was the first time she had ever encountered a demon.
The distorted and corrupted Qi emanating from the creature sent an uncontrollable chill through her entire body.
‘Th-this… is a demon!?’
Some instinct within her screamed a warning.
‘I… I must seal my Qi immediately!’
Lanyi turned toward the Dark Jade Bracelet and lunged forward to seize it.
But the demon’s razor-sharp claw swept past her face, missing her by the narrowest possible margin.
BOOM—!!!
A violent blast of frenzied Yin energy struck her directly and hurled her from the stone platform.
Her slender body skidded across the rough ground. Sharp branches tore through the fine silk covering her upper arm and side, ripping the fabric and cutting into her skin.
Bright crimson blood immediately began seeping through her clothes.
“Ah!”
The young woman cried out as pain and the crushing impact stole the breath from her lungs.
“Lanyi!?”
Bajie roared.
Golden Yang Qi exploded around her body like the blazing light of the sun.
She drew the fan from her waist and swept it forward with tremendous force.
“Hyaaaah!”
A vast, razor-sharp wave of golden Qi tore through the air like an enormous blade and struck the spider demon.
The attack was so powerful that the creature’s massive body was sliced cleanly in half within a single instant.
But it was not over.
As the giant body collapsed, it suddenly broke apart into hundreds—then thousands—of tiny spiders.
The creatures crawled over one another in a writhing mass, surging toward Lanyi as she lay injured upon the ground.
Lanyi tried to escape, only to discover that her legs and torso had somehow become bound by nearly invisible strands of sticky spider silk.
“M-my legs…! My body!? I cannot move! I cannot get away!”
The Rouling’s eyes widened in horror.
Hundreds of eight-legged creatures crawled closer, their gleaming fangs drawing nearer with every passing moment.
With no means of escape, Lanyi could only squeeze her eyes shut in overwhelming terror.
‘No! Father! Help me!’
Fear brought tears to her eyes as she held her breath.
“Aahhh!”
Her Rouling Qi suddenly poured from her body in an uncontrollable torrent.
The energy flowed toward the spider demons, allowing them to absorb it and grow larger.
‘This is bad! Those demons are feeding upon her power!’
Bajie snatched the Dark Jade Bracelet from the ground and urged her golden Qi to its limit, racing toward the swarm before time ran out.
“Disappear at once, you filthy demons!”
Her slender hand spun the fan continuously, generating a powerful golden whirlwind.
WHOOSH—!!!
The spiraling current swept the swarm of spiders from the ground and sent them flying through the air.
The evil creatures were driven completely away from the area surrounding Lanyi.
“Lanyi! Hold on!”
Bajie rushed forward and dropped to her knees beside the Rouling, whose body was still pinned to the ground by the spider silk.
“Just wait! I… I will take care of it!”
With frantic, unsteady movements, she placed the Dark Jade Bracelet back around Lanyi’s slender wrist.
The black Yin energy surrounding the young woman vanished in an instant.
At the same time, the bracelet released a dark, smoke-like aura and trembled violently, as though an earthquake were occurring within it.
Bajie’s hands shook so badly that her heart seemed ready to stop.
“C-calm down. I will cut these threads away!”
She used the Qi from her fan to sever the sticky strands binding Lanyi’s body.
There was no trace of playfulness left in the usually arrogant and unruly Zhenyuan’s eyes.
Only overwhelming concern remained—so intense that she had nearly forgotten how to breathe.
“There… It is all right now. Everything is all right…”
Lanyi’s entire body trembled, just as violently as the Dark Jade Bracelet around her wrist.
Gradually, both the bracelet and her unstable Qi began to settle.
What remained was a battered body and a heart shaken to its core.
‘Damn it… She… she is injured. She looks so frightened… What… what am I supposed to do?’
Bajie could only stare at Lanyi in helpless distress.
The terror of having narrowly escaped death still consumed every part of the Rouling’s mind.
The image of hundreds of gleaming fangs nearly sinking into her flesh remained burned into her memory.
As the numbness of the initial shock slowly faded, it was replaced by a sharp, burning pain from the wounds along her shoulder and side.
Blood continued to seep from the torn skin.
‘A d-demon!? That was a demon! A real demon!’
This truly was the Cursed Lands.
This was the terror of a demon—something no book she had ever read could have prepared her to face.
‘I… I nearly died!’
Her breaths became uneven and broken.
Bajie carefully placed her hands around the trembling woman, attempting to support her.
The warmth of her touch and the gentle current of her Qi gradually pulled Lanyi back to awareness.
“Y-you are all right… Lanyi. I… I will take us back to the estate now…”
But as Lanyi’s blurred vision began to clear, the first thing she saw was the face of the red-haired Zhenyuan who had brought her there.
The fear within her immediately transformed into the rage that had been building in her heart.
“This is all because of you!”
Lanyi shouted, her voice trembling beneath the weight of her emotions.
“N-no, Lanyi. Listen to me first—”
“Is this not all because of you!?”
Lanyi forced the words out through her tears.
“You deliberately brought me here. You deceived me into removing the bracelet so that you could display how powerful you were while I had no way to defend myself!”
Her voice shook with anger and pain.
“You wanted to make me into a burden—a weak and helpless person! You are more of a demon than those spiders!”
“No… it was not like that.”
All color drained from Bajie’s face. Her hands trembled as she attempted to reach out and support Lanyi.
“I only…”
“Merely to show off, you were willing to go this far!?”
Lanyi shouted over her.
Her eyes were filled with bitter disappointment and hatred.
“I had to be injured? I had to nearly die, merely so that you could feel proud of your own strength!?”
Bajie attempted to move closer to inspect her wounds.
Lanyi screamed and violently slapped her hand away.
“Do not touch me!”
Her cry rang sharply through the ruined forest.
“Go away! I never want to see your face again!”
Bajie froze in place.
She no longer knew what to do.
Every trace of the confidence she once possessed vanished when she saw the tears upon Lanyi’s face.
She could only stand with wide eyes and watch as the injured woman struggled to force her trembling body upright.
‘This is my fault! It is all my fault… I should never have trusted her!’
Lanyi roughly wiped the tears from her face.
Clenching her teeth against the pain of her injuries, she began limping alone in the direction of the Wei Estate.
“I was such a fool…”
She left the once-fearless Zhenyuan standing alone amid the silent ruins of the Willow Forest.
Although Bajie’s body had not suffered so much as a scratch, at that moment she felt an unbearable pain.
‘Why…?’
It did not come from any physical wound.
Instead, it tightened deep within her chest until she could barely breathe.
‘Why did everything become like this?’
Her mind became filled with questions that turned back upon her and caused her even greater pain.
‘Was this not what I wanted?’
‘A situation in which the little Rouling would feel weak and long for the protection of a Zhenyuan like me…’
Bajie clenched her hands tightly.
Her gaze followed the crimson blood staining Lanyi’s clothes and the painful limp in each of her steps.
Yet she could not move closer to support her.
A question pressed heavily against her heart.
‘Why am I trembling?’
‘Why do her words hurt more than any sword I have ever encountered in the martial world?’
‘What have I done?’
Bajie slowly followed behind Lanyi.
The mind that had once been filled with clever schemes was now completely blank.
She could not think of a single thing she could say to apologize.
“Lanyi… I… please allow me to support you. Your wound…”
Bajie tried to step closer, offering help with a kindness filled with defeat.
“Do not touch me!”
Lanyi’s shout trembled, yet it carried such genuine disgust and determination that Bajie immediately stopped.
When Lanyi looked back at her, there was not the slightest trace of gentleness left within her eyes.
They were filled with pain and suspicion, leaving Bajie too frightened to approach within even three steps.
‘Even if I must die today, I will never allow her to help me again!’
That rage shone clearly within Lanyi’s eyes without the need for words.
“I… I am sorry…”
But those words were entirely useless now.
In the end, the fearless Zhenyuan could only lower her head and silently follow Lanyi throughout the entire journey back to the estate.
Her fists remained clenched so tightly that her palms began to ache.
‘She…’
The silence along the path felt unbearably long and torturous.
It was as though the entire world had collapsed upon Bajie’s heart beneath the weight of a mistake she could no longer undo.
‘She hates me now…’