Void Veins: The Forbidden Ascension

Chapter 14. Acid Rain and the Secrets of the Formation

The fringes of Qinghe City were nothing less than a spiritual wasteland—nature’s very dumping ground. The land lay barren, a desolate expanse of ash-grey and dull brown, while the air hung thick with lingering toxins bled from illicit alchemical pill mills. Even the rain that fell here was caustic; let it touch mortal flesh too long, and it would burn and blister.

Beneath the shelter of a wide black umbrella moved Lin Ye, his features veiled by a simple cloth mask. He stirred no suspicion—here, every soul appeared sickly, or already halfway to the grave.

Master Gu’s dwelling stood at the dead-end of a narrow lane: a ramshackle hut ringed by a bamboo fence that looked ready to topple at a breath. But Lin Ye’s eyes pierced the illusion. Each slender stalk was in truth a formation pillar, low-grade defensive wards woven into a single linked array. Force an entry, and a warning ward would shatter the silence—summoning city guards, or far worse, shadowy killers.

He did not storm the gate. Instead he settled cross-legged in the rain-soaked mire before the fence, closed his eyes, and let his yin qi sink deep into the earth. Mo Yuan guided his perception, tracing the array’s pulse until the flaw stood clear.

“A breach lies in the northeast sector,” Mo Yuan murmured. “The one who laid these wards worked in haste… or left a deliberate backdoor, for an old ally.”

A faint smile touched Lin Ye beneath his mask. He glided forward to the third bamboo pillar from the left and pressed a precise sequence of nodes into its root. A soft click echoed—faint, mechanical. The fence parted just wide enough for one person to slip through.

Within the courtyard, a gaunt elder tended a fire of burning scrolls. His face bore the crisscross of ancient burn scars, and one eye was sightless. This was Master Gu.

“You have arrived sooner than I anticipated, Shen Kui,” the elder said without turning. His voice grated like sand rubbing stone.

“I am not Shen Kui,” Lin Ye spoke, stepping from the shadows. “I come as an envoy of the Abyss Shadow.”

Master Gu’s hands stilled. He turned, his single good eye fixing on Lin Ye with a gaze that cut deep. “The Abyss Shadow? That network is no more—purged from the world three days past. Who sent you? And why do you reek of freshly spilt death?”

Lin Ye said nothing, his hand resting light and ready upon the hilt of his short blade. These were not idle questions—they were a test.

Master Gu let out a dry, rasping laugh. “Easy now, young cultivator. Had I wished you slain, the formation beneath your feet would have erupted the instant you crossed this threshold. Even now, you stand upon a qi-detonation trap.”

Lin Ye did not flinch. He knew the threat was true. In their world, blind trust was folly; but to recognize another’s strength—that was wisdom.

“What know you of the Void-Walker clan’s nullification formation?” Lin Ye asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

Master Gu narrowed his eye. “The Void-Walkers were never destroyed… they withdrew into the shadows. And that formation? It was never meant to conceal an object. It was forged to veil a soul.”

Lin Ye’s mind flew to the oilcloth parcel he had carried that morning. A soul? What exactly had he been entrusted to deliver?

“Whose soul?” he pressed.

“Ah—that is the question worth a million gold coins,” Master Gu replied. “But I do not barter knowledge for coin. My price is life. Someone hunts me, for I know too much. Guard me through this night, and I shall tell you whose soul rests within that parcel… and where the last of the Void-Walker line hides.”

“Who is your hunter?”

“The Eighth,” Master Gu answered, his tone heavy with meaning.

A cold dread coiled about Lin Ye’s chest. The Seventh marked the slain. The Eighth was the blade that struck them down. And should he fail, he himself would be next.

“One night,” Lin Ye said. “But if your words are false… I shall end you before your hunter even draws near.”

Master Gu grinned, revealing teeth stained black as charcoal. “It is agreed. Now—extinguish the light. They have already arrived.”