13 Heavens: Rise Of The Bloodline Dreg

The Hermit of the Chasm

The old man's spear point didn't waver. His eyes, clear and sharp as broken glass, scanned Leo from head to toe. He saw the silvery lightning-scars on Leo's hands, the faint, unhealthy purple tinge under his otherwise perfect skin.

He smelled the conflict on him the clean, sharp scent of high-level refinement clashing with the sour ozone of the chasm's corruption.

"You are poisoned, boy," the old man stated, his voice like gravel. "And you are hunted. The Aetherius grey doesn't hide well, even when it's torn."

"I'm not with them," Leo said quickly, holding up his empty hands. He was exhausted. His body felt like a battleground between purity and poison.

This cave, this pocket of normal air, felt like heaven. He couldn't afford to be turned away. "I escaped them. They chased me here."

"Fool's choice," the hermit grunted. "Better the cage than the crawler's belly. Or the slow madness." He tilted his head. "But you're not mad. Not yet. And you're standing. That's... unusual."

"My name is Leo," he said, hoping a name would make him seem more human, less threat.

The hermit was silent for a long moment, his gaze piercing. Finally, he lowered the spear a few more inches. "Elias. Come in.

But know this: you bring your chaos to my peace. You will control it, or I will put you back outside. I've survived this place for ten years. I won't die because of a stranger's bad luck."

Leo nodded, relief washing over him. "Understood."

He followed Elias into the cave. It wasn't deep, but it was a marvel. The ceiling was embedded with chunks of glowing white crystal spirit quartz, but uncorrupted.

A small, clear stream trickled through one wall and out another. There was a bed of dried moss, a fire pit with cold ashes, and shelves carved into the rock holding simple tools, jars of dried herbs, and a few well-read, pre-Revival paperback books.

It was a fortress of sanity in the heart of madness.

"Sit," Elias said, pointing to a flat stone by the cold fire pit. He fetched a wooden cup, filled it from the stream, and handed it to Leo. "Drink slowly. The water is clean."

Leo drank. It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. It washed the metallic taste of corruption from his mouth. His System hummed quietly.

[Analysis: Pure water. Contains trace ambient Qi. No contaminants detected.]

Elias sat across from him, watching him like a hawk. "Now. Talk. Why do the Aetherius want you? And how are you not a babbling wreck after an hour in my front yard?"

Leo weighed his options. He couldn't tell the whole truth. But he needed this man's help. He needed to understand this place.

"They think I have a secret. A new cultivation method," Leo said, which was technically true. "I don't. I just... got lucky. I'm tougher than I look."

Elias snorted. "Luck doesn't leave silver scars that smell of both heaven and hell." He leaned forward. "You assimilated it, didn't you?

You didn't just resist the corruption. You took it in. You're walking a razor's edge, boy. One misstep, and your own energy will turn on you and burn you from the inside out."

Leo's eyes widened. "You know about that?"

"I've watched the Chasm for a decade," Elias said grimly. "I've seen beasts mutate. I've seen Hunters come in, their shiny Qi like a beacon, only to have it curdle inside them. They either die quick or go mad. You... you did something else. Something stupid and brave."

"Can you help me?" Leo asked, the desperation creeping into his voice. "I can't stay contaminated. I need to purify it, or find a way to balance it."

Elias studied him for another long minute. "Maybe. There's a way. Not a safe one. But it's the only one I know." He pointed a bony finger deeper into the cave, toward a narrow tunnel Leo hadn't noticed.

"The stream comes from there. From a spring. The water is pure because it filters up through a bed of 'Heart-Stone' a rock that eats chaotic energy and radiates calm. It's what keeps this bubble safe."

He fixed Leo with a hard stare. "If you sit in that spring, at its source, the Heart-Stone might... leach the corruption from you. Might. But it will also pull on your own cultivated energy.

It could drain you dry, leave you a hollow shell. Or, the conflict between your energy and the corruption could shatter the stone and poison the spring, destroying my home and killing us both."

He stood up, his decision made. "So. You have a choice. You can stay here in the main cave, safe as long as the bubble holds. You'll live, but the corruption will slowly spread. You'll weaken, and eventually, you'll become a threat I'll have to deal with."

He walked to the tunnel entrance and looked back.

"Or, you can follow me to the spring. And we roll the dice on your life, and mine. Choose."

Leo didn't hesitate. Staying still, waiting to rot or go mad, was not an option. The Path of the Perfect Foundation demanded forward motion, even through fire.

He stood up. "Show me the spring."

A flicker of something respect, maybe pity crossed Elias's weathered face. "Fool," he muttered, but he turned and led the way into the dark tunnel.

The tunnel was narrow and damp. The sound of water grew louder. The air grew colder, but also cleaner, sharper. After fifty meters, they entered a small, round chamber.

In the center was a pool of perfectly still, black water. It wasn't dirty; it was dark like a night sky. Above it, water trickled from a crevice in the ceiling.

And around the edges of the pool, embedded in the rock, were chunks of a soft, blue-grey stone that pulsed with a gentle, soothing light. Heart-Stone.

The peace in the room was overwhelming. The chasm's whispers were completely gone. Leo's churning Qi instantly began to calm.

"This is it," Elias said, his voice hushed. "The heart of the bubble. The anti-chasm." He pointed to the pool. "Get in. Sit. Meditate. Try to guide the corruption out. The stone will do the rest. Or it will kill you."

Leo stripped off his torn shirt and boots. He stepped into the pool. The water was icy, a cold that went straight to his bones. He sat down, the dark water rising to his chest.

The moment he was fully immersed, it began.

The gentle pulse of the Heart-Stone grew stronger. He felt it as a pulling sensation, not on his skin, but deep inside his core, in his marrow and his lungs. It was tugging at the silvery, chaotic threads woven into his energy.

At first, it was a relief. The cold pressure of the corruption lessened. He saw faint, purple wisps seep out of his skin and dissolve in the black water.

But then, the pull changed. It found his pure energy the diamond-bright power of his Skin and Marrow, the storm-perfect energy of his Lungs. The Heart-Stone didn't distinguish. It pulled at all foreign energy.

[Warning: Vital Cultivation Energy is being leeched.]

[Assimilation Protocol being counteracted.]

[Corruption Extraction: 12%. Pure Energy Drain: 4%.]

He was being cured, but at the cost of his hard-won power. He was losing his levels.

"Focus!" Elias barked from the edge of the pool. "You have to guide it! Imagine your pure energy is a fortress! The corruption is the enemy outside the walls! Open the gates only for the enemy! Don't let the fortress itself crumble!"

Leo gritted his teeth. He focused inward. He pictured his perfect, 13th-Level foundations as a brilliant, impenetrable citadel. The silvery corruption was a toxic moss trying to grow on its walls.

He willed the citadel to stay strong, to repel the draining pull. At the same time, he imagined the gates opening, pushing the toxic moss out, inviting the Heart-Stone to take it.

It was an impossible mental task, like trying to un-bake a cake.

The draining slowed. The corruption extraction sped up. He was doing it. He was finding the balance.

[Corruption Extraction: 35%. Pure Energy Drain: 5.1%.]

He was winning. He was purifying himself without losing his core strength.

Then, the System flared a new, urgent warning.

[Alert: High-Grade Corrupt Energy Source Detected.]

[Location: Approaching this chamber. Signature matches... Evolved Variant of previously encountered Crystal-Stag.]

Leo's eyes snapped open. "Elias—"