Mystique Soul: A Cultivator's Flame
Chapter 22: Out of the breath and into the Jaws

Chapter 22: Out of the breath and into the Jaws

The groups walks silently aside from the occasional sobs, muffled, silenced, yet it does not fail to cut through the heart of others.

Worn, they walked on, their feet dragged on the ground, each companions holding those that needed them. Some were worse of than others.

Like one of the cultivators that Feng Jiao Xue remembered to be quite jolly and bouncing about. His chubby cheeks always stretched wide with an open grin, brown eyes twinkling brilliantly and a bellowing laugh following each of his jokes and antics. Now, he looked at the others that looks as if life itself was sucked out of them with guilt and conflict still trying and failing to be funny to lift the atmosphere up.

All he saw was neither a lost loved one, a parted or departed companion but just a fantasy. A busty red head with green eyes like that of a siren, long deinty fingers beckoned him closer, red tempting plump lips calling to him as her juicy lemons bounced, with every sway of her hour glass hips. "Dear Jing~" the lady of his wet dreams had called to him alluringly, tempting him, seducing him.

He took a big gulped and wiped below his chin. "hehe~ Hello, my-!"

"Crash!" He fell to the ground. The next thing he knew, he foolishly blinked, looking at a majesty deer with shimerring mane and gleaming antlers, his butt aching and forehead with a hoof.

he crashed back into reality and before he called below to the heavens to "Bring back his beautiful goddess" the chaos around him made him look around and suddenly, it didn’t feel so good anymore as his companions, as anyone who travels with him is a companion to him, grieved while the deer callously throdded everywhere stomping on the people pulled into the illusion.

Then there where those like Feng Jiao Xue who saw people they long could no longer see beyond their memories.

One of the younger cultivators, a boy named Wen Hao, stumbled to his knees. "I saw her... my sister. She told me to stay with her, that I could save her this time," he muttered, clutching his head. "But it was all a lie, wasn’t it?" His voice cracked, raw with anguish. "I thought this time, this time if I can just run faster..." he choke slightly as his friends sorround him. " She was just there, I cold have, I could have taken her out of the fire this time"

A black-haired girl knelt beside him, her usually rough demeanor dulled. "You weren’t the only one," she admitted, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "I saw my father. He... he was smiling like he used to before everything fell apart. I almost didn’t leave." She swallowed hard, her hands trembling as she spoke. "I almost prefered to believe it was real..."

Each of them wore the marks of the trial, not of battle wounds but of something far more insidious. The mist had not merely threatened their bodies but had clawed at their minds, conjuring phantoms of those they longed for, loved, or desired.

"It was just an illusion," someone muttered, though the words sounded hollow even to their own ears.

Han Qing broke the quiet, his voice firm but strained. "Illusion or not, the mist knows how to strike where we are most vulnerable. It doesn’t make you weak to feel shaken."

"Hey, look ’I see the Light!’" Wei Jian announce, raising his hands up towards the direction of the feignt light trying to ease the mood. The faint glow of sunlight piercing through the dissipating fog was a relief, yet the warmth it promised did little to thaw the chill lodged deep in their hearts.

Looking at Mei Lin that was just silently following along with her head down, supported by Chen Rong, his mood dampen again as Chen Rong shaked his head with a forced smile.

"My man, you sure it’s not just old Wong’s head?" The jovial cultivator that was also trying to cheer his companions up from the other side of the barrier immediately quiped and Wei Jian looked at where he had raised his hands to and laughed, forced but booming, since below the shimmer of light was the sight of a bald head of a magician was reflecting the light from his wand, though it did make him look more dignified, it was still comical.

"You brats! It’s called being an eye catching, good looking ladies man" The mage heard them and tried to join their effort.

"No, it’s called being a light bulb" A female magician near the mage also teased trying to lighten the mood with a good banter. "More than this glowing narcissist that always attracts attention" she nudges her sullen companion with a teasing smile yet concerned gaze.

Soon enough, everyone started ridiculing others or their companions to take the minds of those that have been badly affected out of the gutter.

From the sideline, Feng Jiao Xue watched with cold, blanked eyes and just kept walking, shutting down Huang Jin De’s attempt to talk to her. While the prince and his entourage tried to stay near here without his presence being obnoxious by minding the distance between them.

Yin Xiao stepped forward with ease, his silver antlers catching the fading light. He let out a calming, resonant sound as if to reassure the shaken group and most of all, his friend. Nudging her gently. Feng Jiao Xue glanced at him briefly but said nothing, her own emotions locked behind the frosty mask she always wore. Yet, even she couldn’t completely hide the slight tremor in her hand as she adjusted her cloak.

"Everyone, rest," Liang Feng finally said, his voice firm yet calm. "We need to regain our strength. The mist may be behind us, but the mountain ahead won’t be any kinder."

The group nodded reluctantly, their movements sluggish as they set up camp. The fire crackled to life, casting long shadows against the trees, and the oppressive silence stretched on. No one wanted to speak of what they had seen.

If they glanced down below, on the foot of the mountain, the mist still thrumed. Beautiful, peaceful yet cruel.

The group’s campfire crackled softly, its golden light battling the encroaching darkness of the night. From their elevated vantage point, they could see the poison mist sprawled below, a ghostly ocean stretching endlessly across the foot of the mountain.

The mist swirled lazily, its movements almost hypnotic as it reflected the silver glow of the moonlight. Tendrils of pale vapor curled and danced like ethereal ribbons, painting a scene that was hauntingly beautiful. It seemed tranquil, serene even, as though it held no threat, just a peaceful veil cradling the world below.

Yet, the group knew better. The mist’s serene allure belied its true nature. A predator lying in wait, whispering promises of warmth and reunion while clutching mercilessly at the souls of those who dared to linger too long. From here, it looked harmless, even enchanting. But the cruel reality of its grasp was fresh in their minds.

"It looks so calm from up here," Lin Rui muttered, her gaze lingering on the mist. Her voice held a bitter edge. "But we know better now, don’t we?"

The others didn’t respond, each lost in their own thoughts. Feng Jiao Xue’s cold eyes studied the scene below, her hand unconsciously brushing the hilt of her sword. In the distance, the mist began to glow faintly, as if catching the light of the moon in some secret dance. It was a view one might call mesmerizing, but to those who had survived its cruel embrace, it was nothing more than a deadly façade.

"Wonder what caused it?" one mage couldn’t help but question.

"Whatever did better rot in the nether realm where it belongs..." Muttered another.

Another sighed before reluctantly opening up, her voice trembling slightly as her gaze remained fixed on the mist. "What is that stuff, really? It’s not just poison. It... it showed me my brother. He’s been gone for years, but it felt so real. Like I actually forgot where I was, whati was doing... and the fact that he is... no longer in the lands of the living. I almost..." Her voice cracked, and she quickly bit down on the words, glancing at the others as if ashamed.

"It’s no ordinary poison," Han Qing said, his tone calm but grim. He crouched by the fire, poking at the flames with a stick. "Poison kills the body, but this... this strikes at the heart and the mind. Something created it, something powerful."

Liang Feng joined the group. "The better question is why it is not anounced yet? Something like this should be known by now."

"Maybe it’s recent?" One shurgged.

"Or no one managed to tell get out and tell the tale" Chen Rong grunted as he came out of a tent. Mei Lin curled up inside, the feiry girl looking so vulnerable in that moment until the flap of the tent closes.

"It was eating, feeding. Do you guys think, do you thinks ’it’s’ alive?" A scholarly looking cultivator asked.

"No." Feng Jiao Xue replied since Huang Jin De assured her of that but she can’t tell them that she has an ancient vermillion bird living in her space ring. "At least that’s what I think. To the mist, you are not prey... just a source to sustain its nature."

The scholarly mage that reminds Feng Jiao Xue of the elves in the mythology of her previous world, he had pointed ears, silver hair, emerald phoenix eyes that reminds you of nature and the popularize cold and aloof demeanore and snow white skin. He nodded along with what she said. "I agree. The mist isn’t alive in the way a beast or a spirit is, yet it possesses an uncanny purpose. From what I observed, It moves not with thought but with instinct, like a force of nature drawn to warmth and vitality. It clings to those who wander into it, seeping into their minds and feeding on the emotions it stirs. Like an unseen maw, it devours fragments of their will, their memories, their essence, not out of malice, but simply because that is its nature. It exists to consume, to sustain itself on what others hold dear, leaving emptiness in its wake. "

Their words, though calm, carried an unnerving weight, and the group fell silent, staring at the malevolent haze below, understanding for the first time the true, indifferent cruelty of the mist because somehow, they agree.