Mystique Soul: A Cultivator's Flame
Chapter 115: Lurking Danger

Chapter 115: Lurking Danger

After that fight, it was best if they stopped for now. Feng Jiao Xue decided to back off for now. If they enter the hidden passage recklessly unprepared...

Who knows what would await them?

Absentmindedly, her hand went to her ring, turning it around her finger.

The Qi in the space is still to chaotic, which means that Huang Jin De is still on the verge of trying to regain a rank again.

"If only he was here..."

Her fingers stopped playing with her ring as she caught that thought.

Shaking her head, Feng Jiao Xue snapped at the reality. ’Wrong.’ She scowled at herself in dissapointment. It seems that even when she tries to improve herself... she still unconsciously relied on Huang Jin De on most things.

This... Feng Jiao Xue clenched her fist. ’This is ridiculous. To immediately go to Huang Jin De when she faced a difficulty.’ She strengthened her resolve. ’She can go through this without him.’ If she starts on falling back on Huang Jin De everytime she encounters a difficulty, she won’t be helping herself but giving herself a crutch, a weakness. Something she must overcome.

"Eh?" Mo Tianze stopped as he was about to open their room door.

"It’s fine" Feng Jiao Xue immediately understood her concern. There presence inside their room, three in fact. "It should just be Xia Lian and the others"

"Oh..." Mo Tianze nodded as he entered the room.

Feng Jiao Xue followed after and closed the door behind her and Mo Tianze with a soft click. Inside the small room, Xia Lian was pacing, Chen Rong sat near the window with his arms crossed, and Lin Feng leaned silently against the wall like a shadow.

Xia Lian looked up immediately, her eyes puffy with exhaustion and worry. "You’re back" she breathed out, running over. "Anything?"

"Sorry for intruding" Chen Rong bowed apologetically but Feng Jiao Xue just waved it off.

"It’s fine" She replied observing the three.

They look like they had better days.

Xia Lian seemed to have slept hardly at all. Usually kept neat in a braid, her hair was undone and fraying around her face, strands clinging to her temples where sweat had dried hours ago. Her usual spark dulled by increasing anxiety, she looked older from the dark circles under her eyes. Her robe’s hem was tightly gripped in her fists; the fabric was wrinkled and stained from constant travel. Her lips were raw, a clear indication of her nervous habit, and she flinched slightly at every creak of the inn walls, as though she expected news, or something worse.

The calm Chen Rong had cracked. His arms were crossed, but the strain in his shoulders revealed the storm underfoot. His cloak was soaked at the margins, mud-streaked boots still wet from city streets under search. Usually swept back with military accuracy, his hair now fell unevenly over his forehead. His eyes were red, not from tears, but from tiredness and restraint, a smouldering anger boiling just under his cool front. His jaw tight with unspoken frustration, he walked more than he sat.

Although quieter than usual, Lin Feng lacked peace. He stood with a sharpness, a lean predator just barely at rest. His cloak hung half-buttoned and twisted from one shoulder, as he had thrown it on without thinking. His lips were thin and tightly pressed; his skin was pale. The typical mask of apathy on his face seemed forced now, breaking at the corners under the weight of something unspoken. His fingers trembled slightly at his sides, as though they were itching for a weapon or a point of aim for his anxiety.

Mo Tianze shook his head, tail twitching low and slow behind him. "We asked around from the market square to the northern gates. Nothing solid. Nobody’s seen him."

He glanced at Xia Lian first, his ears tilting back slightly. "You should rest, even if it’s just for a little while," he said, his voice gentler than usual. "Running on worry won’t help him. You look like you’re about to collapse."

"I’m fine," Xia Lian muttered, brushing her hand through her tangled hair. But she didn’t meet his eyes.

He didn’t press further, but his tail curled inward, betraying his unease.

His gaze shifted to Chen Rong next. "How long were you out there?"

"Since dawn," Chen Rong replied curtly. "Didn’t stop once I got wind of a patrol shifting routes by the southern wall. Thought it might be connected."

Mo Tianze’s brow furrowed. "And you didn’t take a break?"

"I’m not interested in naps while Jian is missing."

Mo Tianze opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it with a sigh. Instead, he reached into his coat and tossed a small, wrapped bun onto the table beside Chen Rong. "Eat something before you fall over."

Chen Rong raised an eyebrow. "What’s this?"

"Half-stale," Mo Tianze admitted. "But edible. Picked it up earlier."

Chen Rong stared at it for a moment before nodding once. "Thanks."

Finally, Mo Tianze looked to Lin Feng. "And you? You’ve barely spoken."

Lin Feng didn’t look at him. "Talking doesn’t help."

"No, but letting us know what’s on your mind does," Mo Tianze replied, crossing the room to stand near him. "You’re shaking."

Lin Feng’s fingers stilled at that. "I’m not."

"You are," Mo Tianze said simply. "You’re allowed to care, you know. It’s not weakness."

Lin Feng looked up then, eyes shadowed. "If I let myself care too much, I won’t think straight. I can’t afford that right now."

Mo Tianze was about to say more but Feng Jiao Xue put a hand on his shoulder stopping him as she shaked her head.

"We did find..." Feng Jiao Xue paused, choosing her words carefully as she moved the topic along. "A body.

Xia Lian’s hands flew to her mouth. Chen Rong’s eyes narrowed.

"It wasn’t Wei Jian," Mo Tianze added quickly. "It was the girl who warned me before. She’s... gone."

Lin Feng’s gaze darkened, but he didn’t speak.

There was silence for a moment. The kind that made everything feel heavier.

"Though... unfortunate, she did give us a lead." Feng Jiao Xue said, voice low. "We found a secret passage. Though we couldn’t go in. We got into a fight and had to make a tactical retreat first"

Xia Lian sat down heavily on the bed. "Then it’s true" she whispered. "Something’s really wrong with this place."

Chen Rong finally spoke. "We’ve been asking around too. Quietly. I went to the guards under the guise of renewing our adventurer’s license. They claim they’re still conducting a search for the missing adventurers, but it’s surface-level at best. They don’t care."

"They never did," Lin Feng muttered.

Feng Jiao Xue nodded. "They’re hiding something. And the people..." she looked up at them, "...they’re scared. Everyone’s acting normal on the outside, but the moment you mention someone missing or any strange sightings, they go quiet. Eyes shift. Faces stiffen."

"I noticed the same" Mo Tianze added. "Like they’re afraid someone’s watching them. Or listening."

Chen Rong stood up walking over to the small table and spreading out a worn map. "Then we should put everything we know together. If we don’t want to lose Wei Jian too, we’ll have to figure this out ourselves."

Mo Tianze reached into his coat and placed a small crumpled paper beside the map. It was the same rough sketch he’d made earlier, but with several parts now marked and circled in red.

"These are areas where the missing adventurers were last seen," he explained. "Including where that little girl appeared based on your description. They form a pattern. A crescent arc, curving toward the southwest quadrant of the city."

Lin Feng stepped forward. "That’s where the old catacombs are rumored to be."

Feng Jiao Xue’s brow furrowed. "Catacombs?"

Chen Rong nodded. "Abandoned centuries ago. It used to be a burial site for nobles, but after a few... incidents, it was sealed off. No official entrances anymore, just whispers about hidden paths."

Xia Lian looked up. "What kind of incidents?"

"Bodies going missing. Corpses walking." His voice was quiet, but the weight in it said he didn’t think it was just rumor.

Feng Jiao Xue frowned. "Necromancy?"

Mo Tianze scowled in distaste at that topic.

"Could be. Or something worse."

There was another pause.

Xia Lian rubbed her arms. "It’s not just necromancy. I’ve been hearing strange things in my dreams. Voices. It sounds like Wei Jian calling me sometimes, but warped, wrong. As if something is imitating him."

Mo Tianze’s eyes narrowed. "You should’ve told us."

"I thought it was stress." She shook her head. "But after today, I don’t know."

Feng Jiao Xue stood. "Then we investigate the southwest sector next. No more wandering in circles. We track the pattern, and we follow it deep."

Chen Rong tapped a part of the map. "There’s a district there. Half-abandoned now, ruined by fire years ago. If the city’s hiding an entrance to the catacombs, that’s where it’ll be."

Lin Feng spoke, voice soft. "If Wei Jian’s still alive, he won’t be above ground."

"I’ll go wherever you need me," Xia Lian said, determined despite the shake in her voice. "I just... we can’t leave him."

Feng Jiao Xue looked around the room. They were worn down, anxious, but not broken. And they still had fight left in them.

She gave a small nod. "Then we move tonight."

"Tonight?" Mo Tianze blinked. "Are you sure?"

"If we wait until morning, we might not get another chance." Her eyes were cold, steady. "And I don’t want to add another name to the missing."

Xia Lian gripped her hand. "Thank you."

"We’ll watch each other’s backs," Mo Tianze added, resting a hand on Feng Jiao Xue’s shoulder for a brief moment.

Chen Rong gathered the map and notes. "Let’s rest until then. Just a few hours. Then we strike."

No one argued.

The room went quiet again, the kind of quiet before a storm.

Feng Jiao Xue sat by the window as the others prepared. Her gaze drifted to the cloudy sky, fingers tracing idle shapes on the glass.