Chapter 147 - The Borrowed Face Beneath the Mist
Chapter 147: Chapter 147 - The Borrowed Face Beneath the Mist
The moment everyone saw the cocoons, the group began to realize something was wrong.
Qiao Wen’s face turned pale.
"Those are..."
Before he could finish, Su Bai finally moved.
His figure vanished from where he stood.
Frictionless Phantom Step carried him across the short distance like a shadow sliding over still water.
In the next instant, he appeared behind Luo Shenshui.
Or rather, behind the thing wearing Luo Shenshui’s face.
Su Bai had confirmed it.
Those cocoons below still contained Qi signatures.
More importantly, one of those cocoons carried the same faint feeling as the soul fragment trapped inside the fake’s body.
That was enough.
The fake seemed to sense something at the last moment.
Its head tilted slightly.
But Su Bai was already faster.
He did not explain.
Three black, thin Qi needles appeared between his fingers.
Weeping Needles.
Su Bai flicked his hand.
The three needles vanished.
One entered Luo Shenshui’s throat.
One pierced the space between his brows.
One sank into his chest.
He did not touch the soul fragment hidden behind the fake’s eyes.
That was not the target. That was the hostage.
The moment the three needles entered, Luo Shenshui’s body convulsed.
Only then did the others react.
"Brother Su!"
Qiao Wen’s shout rang out at once.
Chen Feng’s sword almost left its sheath.
Mu Qing’s wood Qi surged wildly.
Zhao Heng’s body moved forward by instinct, then froze because he did not know who he should block.
The others were even worse.
Some raised their weapons.
Some stared blankly.
Some looked as if their minds had been kicked off a cliff.
From their perspective, Su Bai had suddenly appeared behind Luo Shenshui and attacked him without warning.
It looked like betrayal.
But Su Bai did not look away.
Ashen-white frost bloomed from the three needles.
It did not swallow the whole body.
It spread with terrifying precision.
Thin lines of frost crawled beneath Luo Shenshui’s skin, following something the others could not see.
Su Bai controlled the flame carefully.
It moved along the thin black veins hidden under the borrowed face and ate them away one by one.
Luo Shenshui opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
His eyes widened.
Then the faint white lotus glow around him peeled open like wet paper.
Qiao Wen froze.
Chen Feng’s sword stopped half an inch from leaving its sheath.
The others slowly went pale.
Luo Shenshui’s skin thinned.
His face sagged.
The shape of his cheeks collapsed as though the bones beneath them had never existed.
Then something moved under his face.
Mouths. Countless pale mouths opened beneath the borrowed skin.
They were small, thin, and crowded together, silently repeating words no one could understand.
Mu Qing covered her mouth.
Zhao Heng’s expression turned ugly.
Another young cultivator staggered back half a step.
"What... what is that?"
No one answered.
The answer was standing before them.
Or dying before them.
Su Bai’s Ashen-Frost Blight Flame continued burning along the black veins.
The fake’s body trembled violently.
Its fingers lengthened, then softened. Its blue robes fluttered without wind. Red mist poured from its sleeves and collar.
Then... the thing collapsed.
It fell like an empty robe whose wearer had been made of smoke.
The borrowed face folded inward. The pale mouths froze and shattered. Red mist scattered across the ground and was swallowed by the thicker fog below.
For a moment, only silence remained.
Then a dim soul spark drifted out from the torn mist.
It was weak and cracked. But still intact.
The soul fragment.
It trembled once, then flew toward one of the cocoons hanging from the broken posts.
The cocoon shook as the soul spark sank inside.
A muffled sound came from within.
Qiao Wen’s body stiffened.
"Junior Brother..."
Su Bai finally exhaled softly.
The fragment had returned.
If he had struck the wrong place, he might have destroyed it.
If he had waited longer, the thing might have swallowed it completely.
Fortunately, he had seen its true form earlier.
Otherwise, even he would not have known where to attack.
The group recovered slowly.
Qiao Wen opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
"Brother Su... what... was that thing?"
Chen Feng lowered his sword with a stiff expression.
For once, his arrogance looked slightly embarrassed.
"You could have said something."
A few others also looked shaken.
"I thought..."
"Brother Su, forgive us. We misunderstood."
"It looked like you suddenly..."
No one finished that last sentence.
Because saying it aloud felt too awkward.
Su Bai looked at them.
His expression was still hidden behind the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask, but his eyes remained calm.
"I do not know what it was either."
That answer made everyone even more uneasy.
Su Bai continued, "But it was impersonating a real person."
His gaze moved toward the cocoon that had absorbed the soul spark.
"You saw something return to that cocoon. That was likely a soul fragment. It may be the reason the fake knew Luo Shenshui’s name, memories, and relationship with Qiao Wen."
The group’s expressions changed.
Qiao Wen looked at the cocoon below.
His hands clenched.
Mu Qing swallowed.
"Does that mean..."
Zhao Heng finished for her.
"There may be more things like that."
Everyone looked at the other cocoons.
There were more than one. A dozen pale shapes hung around the cracked altar, wrapped in red mist and faintly twitching.
The thought made everyone’s scalp turn cold.
One borrowed face had nearly led them all into danger.
What if every cocoon below could produce another one?
What if other groups had already met familiar people in the mist?
What if someone they trusted had already been replaced?
One of the young cultivators’ voice trembled.
"The elders never told us these things would appear in the outer area."
Another looked around nervously.
"This is still the outer area, right?"
No one answered immediately.
That question was suddenly not comforting.
Su Bai looked at the red fog curling around the basin.
Then he said, "This may be what City Lord Yue warned us about."
Everyone became quiet.
Yue Cangyu’s words returned to them.
At the time, those warnings had sounded cautious.
Now they sounded like someone had seen too many people die.
Chen Feng’s face became ugly.
"So his warning was not symbolic."
Su Bai said, "No."
Qiao Wen’s voice was hoarse.
"Then my junior brother..."
"Check him first," Su Bai said.
That snapped everyone back.
Right.
The living mattered more than fear.
Qiao Wen immediately moved toward the slope.
"Do not rush down blindly," Su Bai said.
Qiao Wen stopped with difficulty.
His eyes were red, but he still forced himself to listen.
Su Bai looked at the basin.
"The miasma below is denser. The lotus barriers are thinning faster here. If you run down without a plan, you may become the next cocoon."
Qiao Wen took a deep breath.
"Then what do we do?"
Su Bai glanced at the group.
"Chen Feng, burn the mist threads near the cocoons, but do not touch the cocoons themselves."
Chen Feng’s expression sharpened.
"Hmm."
"Mu Qing, use wood binding. Pull them from the posts if possible. If the bindings are corrupted, tell me."
Mu Qing nodded immediately.
"Yes."
"Zhao Heng, guard the slope. If anything climbs out, block it."
Zhao Heng stepped forward.
"Leave it to me."
"Qiao Wen, identify Luo Shenshui’s cocoon. Do not answer any voice unless you are certain."
Qiao Wen nodded heavily.
"I understand."
Su Bai looked at the remaining cultivators.
"The rest of you protect your barriers and watch each other. If someone hears a familiar voice, say it aloud first. No one moves alone."
The group responded one after another.
This time, no one argued.
After seeing Luo Shenshui’s face collapse into an abomination, even the most treasure-minded cultivator had become obedient.
A strange structure was no longer exciting.
A strange structure that hung people like preserved fruits was less attractive.
Chen Feng went first.
His sword drew a line of fire across the air.
The fire sword Qi swept toward the basin as a burning arc that cut through the thicker mist around them.
The red fog hissed.
For a moment, the shapes below became clearer.
Mu Qing raised both hands.
Green wood Qi flowed down the slope and formed vines that wrapped around the nearest cocoon.
The moment the vine touched the red mist around it, a sizzling sound rang out.
Mu Qing’s face changed.
"It is corroding my Qi."
"Can you pull it?" Su Bai asked.
"Yes, but not for long."
"Do it."
Mu Qing gritted her teeth.
The vine tightened.
The cocoon shuddered and slowly tore free from the broken post.
At the same time, another cocoon twitched.
Then another.
Then a third.
Faint voices rose from below.
"Help..."
"Don’t leave me..."
"Come closer..."
The group’s expressions changed again.
Su Bai’s voice cut through the mist.
"Do not answer."
The words were calm, but everyone heard them clearly.
Several cultivators who had almost spoken immediately shut their mouths.
Qiao Wen stared at one cocoon near the central altar.
"That one."
His voice trembled.
"That one feels like my junior brother."
Su Bai looked at it.
The cocoon was wrapped tighter than the others. Red mist coiled around it like wet silk. After the soul fragment returned, it had begun trembling more violently.
"Mu Qing," Su Bai said.
"I see it."
Mu Qing changed direction.
Chen Feng’s fire sword Qi swept aside the surrounding mist again.
Qiao Wen released a stream of water Qi, not to strike, but to wrap around the cocoon and stabilize the person inside.
The cocoon trembled.
A weak voice came from within.
"Senior... Brother..."
Qiao Wen almost answered.
Then he bit his tongue.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He forced himself to stay silent.
Mu Qing’s vines wrapped the cocoon.
Chen Feng’s fire burned the red mist strands around the broken post.
Zhao Heng stood at the slope, both arms raised, his body like a stone gate.
The others formed a loose circle around them, guarding the sides.
The first cocoon was dragged upward.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Every cocoon pulled from the posts made the cracked altar below pulse faintly.
Su Bai noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
The altar was not dead.
It was reacting.
The red mist below thickened further.
At the same time, Su Bai felt something strange.
He had expected his spiritual sense to be suppressed here too like the others. But when Su Bai released his spiritual sense cautiously, it spread outward smoothly.
The miasma did not block it.
Instead, the harmful interference twisted the moment it approached him and became strangely easy to read.
Su Bai paused for half a breath.
Then he continued scanning.
He was not complaining. If the Fallen-Star Sanctuary insisted on turning its dangers into tools for him, he would not be polite enough to refuse.
The basin was wider than it first appeared.
Behind the cracked altar, farther through the red fog, there were ruins.
Many ruins.
Broken walls half-buried in red-black soil.
Collapsed stone corridors.
Slanted pillars.
A sunken doorway covered in old dust and miasma stains.
Compared to the exposed basin, that structure still had a roof.
Su Bai’s gaze settled on the sunken doorway.
"There is a structure behind the altar," he said.
Everyone looked at him.
Qiao Wen supported the first cocoon that had been pulled up.
"Brother Su, can we bring them there?"
"That is the plan."
Su Bai looked at the basin again.
"We cannot examine them here. The miasma is too dense, and your pill barriers are being consumed too quickly."
Mu Qing’s face was slightly pale.
"My vines cannot hold much longer."
"Then move."
Under Su Bai’s orders, the group acted quickly.
Chen Feng opened the path with fire sword Qi.
Zhao Heng and the other defensive cultivators carried the cocoons.
Qiao Wen stayed close to the cocoon that contained Luo Shenshui.
Mu Qing used wood Qi to bind and support the others, preventing them from tearing apart.
Su Bai walked at the front.
The red fog thickened as they approached the altar.
The cracked stone beneath their feet was dark and damp-looking, though no real water could be seen.
The altar stood silently at their side.
Its surface was covered in old marks.
As they passed the altar, the red mist around it suddenly stirred.
A whisper rose.
"Su..."
Su Bai stopped.
The others did not seem to hear it.
The whisper came again, slightly clearer.
"Su... Bai..."
His eyes cooled.
So it had learned his name.
Or perhaps it had heard it from the others.
Either way, that was not good.
He turned his head slightly and looked at the cracked altar.
For a brief instant, something beneath the stone seemed to breathe.
Then Su Bai turned away.
"Move faster."
No one asked why.
His voice was calm, but everyone felt the chill in it.
They hurried past the altar and reached the structure behind it.
The doorway was half-buried.
Two stone doors stood crookedly in the frame, one cracked open just enough for a person to pass through.
Su Bai placed one hand on the door.
The surface was cold.
The Ashen-Blood Miasma clinging to it tried to seep into his palm.
Then reversed.
A faint refreshing chill entered his skin.
Su Bai ignored it and pushed.
The stone door groaned.
Dust and red mist spilled outward.
Inside was darkness.
Far within, something faintly glowed. Like an old formation that had not yet fully died.
Su Bai looked back.
"Bring the cocoons inside."
Qiao Wen hesitated.
"Is it safe?"
Su Bai looked at the open basin.
Then at the cracked altar.
Then at the doorway.
"No."
The group stiffened.
Su Bai stepped inside first.
"But it is better than outside."
For some reason, that answer did not comfort anyone.
But after looking at the cocoons, the red fog, and the altar behind them, no one had a better suggestion.
One by one, they carried the cocoons into the ruined structure.