The screams faded.
The last of the creatures lay twitching on the ground, its blackened blood soaking into the earth. The mist had receded, almost as if the fight had scared it back.
Yuan Tian stood over Wang Tu, chest heaving, blade dripping. Cuts crisscrossed his arms and legs, shallow but burning. Wang Tu was still conscious—barely. Blood oozed from his bitten shoulder, and his eyes fluttered.
"Stay awake," Yuan Tian said firmly, pressing a cloth over the wound. "You're not dying here."
Fei Zhi knelt beside them, face pale. "I've never seen anything like that. They moved like corpses, but… they could think. They hunted."
"Twice, one of them flanked me," Shui Rong muttered, cleaning his spear. "It didn't groan. It waited."
Chen Lei was breathing heavily, arms shaking. "Tch. That many monsters in one place… and the shrine? It was drawing them. Feeding them. Like it was alive."
Yuan Tian's jaw tightened. "We need to report this to the academy. This wasn't a normal mission. This was an extermination… and we weren't told."
Fei Zhi nodded slowly. "We regroup. Rest. Then move back to the outer edge of the village. Can't risk another fight like that if more come."
Wang Tu groaned softly. "I'm… I'm sorry. I wasn't ready."
Yuan Tian met his gaze. "You lived. That's what matters."
---
They retreated to the largest undamaged house on the edge of Jinshui, barricading the doors and posting a rotating watch. Shui Rong tended to wounds with powdered herbs and bandages, while Fei Zhi reinforced the wooden frames with rope and boards.
The house was silent but safe—at least for now.
Night fell like a curtain. The wind outside whispered faintly.
Yuan Tian sat near the hearth, feeding dry sticks into the fire. The flames danced across his expression—grim, thoughtful.
Chen Lei, lying back against the wall, spoke suddenly. "You fought like someone who's seen real blood."
"I have," Yuan Tian replied simply.
Fei Zhi glanced at him from the shadows. "You're good, Yuan Tian. Too good for a beginner."
"I've trained," he said. "I had to."
Shui Rong stirred the pot of rice and dried meat they'd salvaged. "We all had reasons to be here. Doesn't matter where we come from. What matters is we made it out."
Wang Tu chuckled weakly from the corner, despite the pain. "I was just a baker's son. My father cried when I told him I was joining the academy. Said I'd be broken in a month."
Yuan Tian offered a rare, faint smile. "You're still here."
"That's what I'll tell him if I ever make it home," Wang Tu murmured.
Fei Zhi sipped water, then leaned back against the wall. "So what's next, Yuan Tian? You're the team lead for this mission."
Yuan Tian stared into the fire. "We scout again tomorrow. Carefully. We'll avoid the shrine, but I want to check the outer farms. There may be survivors hiding in the fields or woods. If not—we pull out. No glory's worth dying for nothing."
Chen Lei let out a grunt of approval. "Smart. Better to survive than be brave and dead."
---
As they lay down that night, Yuan Tian remained awake, staring at the crackling flame.
Something had changed inside him. This was no longer just training or missions. This was real. Pain, death, terror—they were no longer stories or lessons.
He closed his eyes.
And in the dark of his mind, he heard again the words of his father:
> "The world is layered… you will know them when you suffer."
Yuan Tian clenched the token in his pouch.
He had bled.
He had survived.
And somewhere beyond this veil of rotting shrines and hungry dead, something ancient was stirring.
He would not run.