Inside The Black Mist

"Follow me."

Hearing the barking, Tianyang immediately made a decision. He gestured for Xiaoniao and Yan Bing to follow, and the three of them ran back, retreating into the rocky cave from which they had entered the underground hall.

The cave passage was winding and full of jagged rocks, providing plenty of natural hiding spots for the three of them.

They had just concealed themselves when a familiar red glow flickered faintly in the distance. The light wasn’t particularly bright, dim, and murky, giving off a sense of confusion.

It was like thick, coagulated blood, with a faint malice lurking within the glow.

Tianyang activated several functions of his tactical eye, zooming in the image. He immediately saw, within that blood-red light, a mysterious and eerie figure moving.

A heavy cloak covered the figure’s head and face, with various bone carvings and metal pieces adorning the dark gray fabric. In its hand was a dark red wooden staff. At the top of the staff were three grotesque faces, each showing a different expression.

Although the appearance was different, Tianyang was certain it was a sorcerer!

Unlike the one they had encountered before, this sorcerer didn’t wear the inverted triangle insignia. However, the same indescribable sense of gloom and mystery surrounded it.

Behind the sorcerer were several Mad Dogs. They occasionally turned back, letting out low, pleading whines. These creatures, which seemed to be grotesque fusions of human and dog, appeared timid, though it was unclear what they feared.

Tianyang quickly found out. From behind the Mad Dogs, a mass of tentacle-like roots emerged from the red glow. One of them easily captured a dog, dragging it forcefully into the light.

The dog scrambled frantically, trying to resist. The sorcerer ahead stopped, turned around, and gently raised the staff with the human faces.

From one of the faces' empty eye sockets, black flames erupted. The color was so deep that within the flames, faint, brilliant purple sparks flickered.

These made the fire appear dreamlike, as though the starry night sky of summer had been captured within the flames.

The Mad Dog suddenly stopped struggling and was dragged into the blinding red glow. Moments later, a massive plant root, as thick as a giant python, slithered out.

Its sides bristled with countless tendrils and thin branches that, like insect legs, scraped against the ground, allowing the root to move with ease.

In the blink of an eye, the sorcerer had arrived in front of the strange pregnant woman-like plant. Behind it, the last Mad Dog was swallowed into the gaping maw of the root.

The root squirmed, as if digesting the dog inside, and the pods on its surface began to glow, like giant red light bulbs.

When the light dimmed, the sorcerer raised the staff, and blasphemous, malevolent whispers echoed through the cold, desolate underground hall.

It sounded like demons softly murmuring at the gates of hell, thin, ephemeral, and dripping with pure evil.

The root, as if guided by some invisible force, slithered toward the pregnant woman-like plant. Its upper end lifted and coiled around the part resembling the woman’s legs.

When it reached the bulging belly of the plant, the tip split open, its outer skin unfurling like petals, revealing wriggling tendrils inside.

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With a series of soft sounds, these tendrils penetrated the swollen belly-like structure. Finally, the split skin closed again, clamping tightly onto the "belly" of the entity.

Once the root, which resembled an umbilical cord, fused with the entity, the belly of the pregnant woman-like figure began to slowly expand and contract.

As the belly swelled, the plants tangled around it were stretched apart, revealing layers of tissue, riddled with nerves and blood vessels, beneath.

No matter how one looked at it, that tissue didn’t seem plant-like; it resembled something more... alive.

At that moment, the expressions of Tianyang and the others darkened. Why had the dark creatures planted such bizarre plants underground? And why did the sorcerer use Mad Dogs as bait to lure a root here to connect with the pregnant woman-like entity?

What were these creatures trying to accomplish deep underground?

Tianyang had a gut feeling that the battlefield for this joint operation might not be on the surface in that small town at all!

After the massive root connected with the pregnant entity, the sorcerer seemed to finish its work. It stopped whispering those eerie incantations and turned around.

But instead of leaving, it stood motionless.

"Is it planning to guard this place?" Xiaoniao asked softly.

Tianyang shook his head. The behavior of these Inverse Universe beings defied common sense. The more encounters he had with them, the more convinced he became of this.

Suddenly, the sorcerer raised the staff with the human faces.

A strong sense of danger surged through Tianyang, and he shouted, "Something’s wrong, it’s found us!"

The sorcerer’s staff struck the ground.

In an instant, the sorcerer’s figure spun and contracted like a phantom, vanishing from its original spot.

Almost simultaneously, that sinister figure appeared in the middle of the three!

Clang—

The Crimson Moon Warblade was drawn, and Tianyang slashed at the sorcerer’s shoulder before he could even channel his astral energy into the blade.

The sorcerer raised the staff with the human faces, and without any warning, a sharp sound pierced the ears of everyone simultaneously.

Waaah!

It was like the cry of a baby, yet also like the scream of a woman! The indescribable sharp noise felt like an awl piercing through the ears of all three.

Even Yan Bing, who wore a fully enclosed helmet, couldn't block out the invasive sound.

Tianyang felt as though his head had been struck by a hammer, his vision doubling as the colors around him grew more vivid and intense. The overwhelming dizziness prevented him from completing his strike.

The sorcerer turned around again, pointing the human-faced staff at Tianyang. From the eyes of the three faces on the staff, black flames flickered, shimmering with starlight.

Instinctively, Tianyang raised his hand to block, but he felt no heat. What was going on?

“Tianyang, I hope you leave the Night Walkers.”

A familiar voice echoed in front of him. Trembling all over, the young man slowly lowered his arm in disbelief.

Standing by the window of a small shack, gazing out at the quiet flowing water of the canal, was his mother, Nanfei.

Tianyang looked around and realized he was back in the shanty house in the lower district. His mind blanked, unable to process the situation.

“Tianyang, did you hear what I said?” Nanfei frowned slightly, turning away from the window.

Tianyang shook his head. “Impossible. This is impossible.”

“What’s impossible? What are you talking about?” Nanfei walked over, gently placing her hand on his forehead. “Are you running a fever?”

He could feel the warmth of her palm, the softness of her touch, and the care he thought he would never experience again.

The young man shouted, knocking her hand away. His eyes reddened, reflecting Nanfei’s startled expression.

“What’s wrong with you? Tianyang, why are you crying?”

Nanfei moved closer...

“Don’t come near me!”

Tianyang yelled, “I don’t know how you did it, but my mother is already dead! You bastard, let me go back right now!”

“I know this isn’t real! It’s not real!”

Nanfei looked worried. “Tianyang, what are you talking about? I’m right here, alive and well. Are you sick?”

Tianyang raised his Crimson Moon Warblade and pointed it at her. “You’re not real. I remember it clearly. I buried my mother’s ashes with my own hands!”

“This is all an illusion...”

Slap!

Nanfei slapped Tianyang across the face. “Tianyang, how could you say such things! What do you mean I’m dead? What ashes? I’m your mother, Nanfei! What’s gotten into you?”

His face burned from the slap, and Tianyang held his cheek, staring at the woman in front of him in a daze.

Tears streamed down like broken pearls. Nanfei reached out, wanting to cup his face, but hesitated, afraid he might reject her. Her hand stopped in mid-air.

Tears welled in her eyes, and she asked sorrowfully, “My child, what’s happened to you? Did something terrible happen to you in the Inverse Universe?”

“I...”

Tianyang’s mind was muddled. Was this not an illusion? Or had his previous experiences all been just a dream?

If that had all been a dream... then perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad.

At least she was still alive.

At that moment, Tianyang’s arm suddenly felt icy cold, as if it had been plunged into a snowdrift. Then a familiar voice called out by his ear, “Tianyang, Tianyang, wake up!”

He shuddered as if waking from a deep dream. The scene in front of him shifted once more. The shanty and his mother disappeared, and he found himself back in the cold, dark underground.

Nearby, the sorcerer was dodging and weaving, avoiding the beams of light that Yan Bing was firing at him.

Xiaoniao’s rapier was pressed against Tianyang’s hand, and the frigid aura radiating from the blade nearly froze his blood.

Seeing the clarity return to Tianyang’s eyes, Xiaoniao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly removed her sword. “You were just hypnotized. That sorcerer seems to have the power to put people into dreams. Luckily, it can only affect one person at a time.”

“So... it was all just a dream?”

Tianyang wiped his face, and his fingers came away wet. He suddenly felt a strange sense of gratitude toward the sorcerer. At least it had allowed him to see his mother again in that dream.

In the dream, Nanfei’s love for him hadn’t diminished one bit...

A sudden cry rang out as Yan Bing was flung into the air by an invisible force, crashing onto the rough ground of the underground hall. He tumbled twice, and his rifle slipped from his grasp.

He quickly scrambled to retrieve his weapon, but the sorcerer appeared before him in a blur, its staff unleashing a spray of flame.

This flame was clearly different from before. It was a ghastly green, with flakes of ashen white dancing within, like patches of mold.

The grayish-green fire coiled around the staff and came crashing down toward Yan Bing’s helmet.

At the last moment, a Warblade, its edges glowing with a crimson light, slid in between the two, clashing against the staff and deflecting both it and the green flames to the side.

Tianyang extended a hand to pull Yan Bing to his feet, pointing his blade at the sorcerer. He shouted, “Xiaoniao, we need to keep it pinned down, don’t give it a chance to teleport!”

His response came in the form of a swift slash from Xiaoniao’s rapier, which cut downward from the sorcerer’s blind spot. The blade radiated a frigid chill, and even before it struck, frost began to creep up the dark gray fabric of the sorcerer’s cloak.

Tianyang darted forward with his own attack, trying to ensure that the sorcerer couldn’t escape.

The sorcerer had no choice but to swing the staff wildly, occasionally spitting out tendrils of green flame to fend off the combined assault from Tianyang and Xiaoniao.

After forcing Tianyang back, the flames on the sorcerer’s staff turned from green to black. Tianyang’s expression changed, and he shouted, “Watch out! Don’t let it hypnotize you again!”