Chapter 56: Deviant Spirits

Next morning, they were preparing to depart when Lin Feng had a thought.

"You know this token on my wrist? They’ve warned me not to venture inside some restricted zones or even try to enter and if did, that would be breaking the sect rules. Do you know anything about that?" Lin Feng asked.

Yu Mei finished adjusting the strap on her spear and didn’t look at him. "They are what they are. Restricted zones. Things both the swamp and Orchid Veil prefer remain undisturbed. Even I don’t walk those paths casually."

"Figured." He rolled his stiff shoulder. "I should probably check in with the sect and resupply. Problem is I don’t feel like hiking the entire long way back."

"There are exit paths from every layer," Yu Mei said. "They grow more dangerous the deeper you are. The routes are usually swarmed by things worse than ordinary beasts."

"Worse?"

"Sometimes way worse." She finally glanced at him. "It is time you surfaced anyway."

Lin Feng nodded. "You’re protected, so you don’t need to come all the way."

"I am protected within limits," she corrected. "I can remain relatively safe even in deeper zones. But near the exits I become most vulnerable."

"Then just point me in the right direction and stay here."

"Never mind. You’re most likely to get lost." Yu Mei turned and started walking. "It’s been a long time since I’ve taken some risk. I’ll take you to the exit path I know, then wait at a middle layer marker for your return. Memorise the marker. If you miss it, I won’t search for you."

They then set off. The terrain shifted gradually with fewer wide residual platforms, more vertical root walls and narrow ridges. Mist thickened in irregular patches. After a while Yu Mei spoke again without slowing.

"Be mindful. The particular exit we are using is not guided by a beast. It is held by deviant spiritual beings known for leading travellers astray."

Lin Feng raised an eyebrow. "Spiritual beings. That’s something new atleast."

He didn’t ask for more details. The swamp had already taught him that extra questions rarely made the next problem smaller.

The mist grew much more without warning. Distorted, eerie, wet noises drifted from the sides before slowly changing pitch. And then a woman’s voice threaded through the fog. It was soft, clear, and beautiful. She was singing his name in her beautiful voice.

Lin Feng’s thoughts slowed as the voice pulled him in that direction. Shapes started forming ahead in the thick white. A woman stood on a low root platform as if she had always been there.

She was tall, blonde and stunning.The exact face and body of a celebrity he had spent too many late nights staring at as Jack on Earth. The thin, water-dark fabric she wore clung and shifted with every small movement.

All the recent frustration, residual aggression, and simple deprivation hit him at once. His feet started moving toward her on their own.

[WARNING: ANOMALY DETECTED]

[Host was consumed by delusion]

[Deviation source: Desire-aspect spiritual entity]

[Countermeasure available. Cost: 800 Rage Points]

The system burned the points without waiting for permission.

[800 Rage points spend on behalf of host]

[Current Rage Points : 19,196]

Pain like a cold needle lanced through Lin Feng’s skull. He staggered, blinked hard, and the perfect woman flickered. She was still there, but now translucent, edges glowing with a faint, hungry light. Exhaustion slammed into him as he felt qi being drawn out through his meridians. He jerked backward so violently he lost his footing and sat down hard in the wet roots.

Nearby, the sound of repeated impacts and low, vicious cursing cut through the mist.

"You Fucking BASTARD!"

Yu Mei stood over a kneeling figure, driving the butt of her spear into it. The figure wore Flowing Wind Sect robes and had Yue Qingfeng’s face. She was calling him a bastard, idiot, and several more creative terms while she was beating him up.

Lin Feng stared for a full second, then forced himself up, crossed the short distance, and grabbed her from behind. Pulling her off took more effort than it should have. The illusion of the Sect Master already began dissolving into the mist.

Yu Mei’s body went rigid, then she sucked in a sharp breath and stopped resisting.

"Fuck," she muttered. "I knew it would happen."

Shapes moved in the fog around them,multiple translucent figures, male and female, all beautiful. They drifted closer. Lin Feng’s hand dropped to his remaining tools. He snapped a Choking Blacksmoke Pellet against the nearest root. Thick smoke billowed out and immediately vanished into the already dense mist without any visible effect.

Yu Mei’s voice cracked like a whip.

"Idiot! It’s already thick fog around us. Do you think smoke is going to bother them?"

"I panicked, okay?!"

The figures kept closing. Lin Feng didn’t waste another breath. He grabbed Yu Mei around the waist, triggered Fleet Footed Dash, and launched them along the only ridge that still felt solid. He chained the short slips one after another, ignoring the burn in his injured shoulder and the way the mist tried to curl back around their legs. Behind them the beautiful voices rose in a chorus that was no longer seductive, only hungry.

They broke out into thinner air several hundred steps later. Both of them were breathing hard. The oppressive pull slowly faded. Yu Mei coughed once, then looked down pointedly.

Lin Feng followed her gaze. One of his hands was still cupped firmly over her breast from when he had grabbed her. The heavy softness under the inner robe was unmistakable. He left the hand there for a fraction of a second longer than necessary before her glare finally registered. He released her and stepped back with a sheepish, unapologetic smile.

"So," he said, trying to change the subject, "do you wanna talk about it?"

"No!!"

"Okay. Touchy subject." He glanced around at the unfamiliar root formations. "Anyway,how am I supposed to get out now?"

Yu Mei scanned the mist in both directions, jaw tight. "I don’t know. I’ve never come this far toward this particular exit."